I've always loved machines and engines.
I like a bit of nostalgia too.
Here's a 1962 Twin Tub in action - I spent many happy hours in the company of a machine just like this as a child!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvs1aJ7ES60
Have you got a favourite machine or engine?
My favourite engine is a Rover V8. I've had a few in various cars from an SD1 to a TVR and it's a joy to work on. Very logical, very simple, very small & light. Even the fuel injection was a doddle to work on. So many modifcations available to improve them. A perfect design.
The rover v8 was a much sought after engine back then,, as you say small in over all size, light and was used in just about anything and everything, I was lucky to own A p6 3500 automatic, wedge shaped, way ahead of its time, the whole dash reminded me of a space craft, so many dials and each lit up in green at night, very quick car, drank petrol, the reason I was lucky was that it was screeching and the owner was told it couldn’t be fixed,, was siezing up,
I guessed it wasn’t, took a chance, paid very little for it.
It was a blocked oil strainer, took Off the sump oh boy thick sludge,, cleaned it, changed the oil, turned it over, screech for a second then all nice and quite, it had fairly good oil pressure considering, they suffered with ever decreasing oil pressure anyway, I owned that when I only had a provisional license, my parents sat besides me or one of my mates with a full licence. Thank you for the memory mr plastic,
I liked the P6 - interesting suspension for its day - horizontal front springs and a DeDion rear end.
I like the way the original 3500 V8s can be swapped for a 4600 with no mechanical mods - 150bhp magically becomes 330bhp for the cost of a scrap Range Rover.
You were lucky the engine had hydraulic lifters - low oil pressure stops the valves opening fully so self-limiting engine power when there's no lubrication to protect the bearings. Another accidental good design....
another great one was the bloke manning the reception while OH took his motorcycle theory test. He starts making conversation with me (I was waiting for hubby to come out) and after a while asks whether, if he passes and gets a bike license, I will be following in his footsteps. That's a very sexist comment, I teased, prompting a look of alarm at the realisation that he has slipped up. His face when I said "not exactly, I've had a full bike license for 30 years) was a picture
I have a few great ones - being a female biker makes it even more common. one of the best was when my then boyfriend and I stopped at a bike shop, where he wanted to discuss trading in his bike against a new one. The salesman wanted to take a look at it, so came outside. A look of confusion as he took in the single seat on BF's bike .... then he looks at me and asks "but where do you sit?". I'm not going to lie, I really enjoyed pointing to the (considerably bigger) bike parked next to it, and replying "on that. why do you ask?" :-D
Yeah - I had the 1.3 GXL with all the 6-dial instruments. It had rust everywhere - the front wings each had about 3" of metal holding them on, the cills needed to be replaced, the rear arches needed 6" nails to bridge the gap to support the mesh to bodge them up, the lower rear quarters had disolved so the fuel tank flapped in the wind - a real rust bucket.
ha ha the escort would probably be worth a mint these days - if it hadn't dissolved of course!
hubby spends many a happy hour dealing with "light on dash", which seems to be the common malaise of anything modern. Our old beasts don't suffer to the same extent due to the lack of ECUs and other electronics to go wrong :-)
If you consider that most cars get zero maintenance and that most failures are minor electrical niggles that don't really matter, the fact that cars just start & work every day when left out in all weathers is just amazing. I drive a 16-year old car - passed its mot with no problems just last week. It is spotless and everything works.
My first car was a 10-year old Mk1 Escort - it was knackered! Rust everywhere!
My better half is a mechanic and would probably disagree about cars being too reliable these days. In his view, most are now built down to a price, and that usually means making sure it holds together until the 3 year warranty is up. He has seen 3 year old cars with bits hanging off them because they were so badly made, and that's not necessarily "cheap" ones either.
This is why I refuse to part with my 18 year old car. It was built properly (maybe that's the kind of vintage you meant when you referred to like new 15 year old cars) and is not overburdened with computers and ECUs to go wrong. If she ever gives up on me, I would buy something older rather than newer!
Yeah - Even the Fiat 500 is really a Ford Ka underneath. But the punters have no clue. Like an Aston Martin being a re-badged XJS from the 70s. There's a good website that lists the cheaper Jag parts so the Aston owners don't get gouged too badly by the garage.
There's a good chance the cheapo radio in your Skoda was made next to the Blaupunkt-badged one.
There's a saying that we live in the most technologically dependent times with the least number of people having any clue about the technology they use every day.
Like years ago, a Jaguar, mondeo base wasn’t it?
so many are mass produced and badged differently.
As a small company pick up truck, we had Skoda Felicia based ones, so basically a Felicia estate with open back,
I turned up at a job where there was a Volkswagen caddy, the guy said “ oh you have one of those cheap copies of a Volkswagen one”, no I said they are based in a Felicia estate, if they were Volkswagen then what model of Volkswagen were they based in?
No reply as he realised I was correct, the Felicia estate exited before the pickup. The main difference between each pick up was the radio, a blaupunkt in the vow and basic thing in the Skoda.
Certain big vans, Renault, Peugeot, are interchangeable in most ways, some Renault vans if you take a piece of trim off you will see Peugeot stamped inside.
Mass produced rubbish.
Mercedes lost their way trying to cover every market, they just stick badges in low end models to save making quality cars themselves.
There is no pride in owner ship and if asked what car they drive they seldom even know, never check anything, it is a commodity.. changed often, just a means for showing how much credit they are willing to have.
No one much fixes cars or indeed even washes and polishes them, under the bonnet??? What’s under there, doesn’t everything get done when serviced?
Land yiu do not have to know how to drive anymore as the car will have, anypti livk brakes, so close eyes slam in the brakes and hope it will all be ok.
It will park itself, if not drive into a parking space front first, find the tightest space possible, feel your way out in reverse, no concept of spatial awareness.
I have seen many people check their tyres, meaning go into a supermarket garage, just put the connector in and without realising let their tyres down as the machine resets to a low figure after use, they have no concept of setting it to balance the cars weight or speed with tyre pressures, one person I know thought the pressure in the side of the tyre wall was the pressure to set it too, that is a maximum for tyre, single axle and double axle application.
Clueless,
unaware.
Don’t really care.
No concentration.
They assume it’s a given right to drive, no thought of how lucky they are, no feeling of pride.
Rant over.
society has lost its way.
Sadly.
My Princess was metallic bronze - exactly the same as the one in Gaydon museum. I had a beige Marina for a while too.
The UK is expert in producing high-end and specialist vehicles.
There are two problems with mass car manufacting - the first is that cars are too reliable these days - they just keep working. Cars used to rarely get to 10 years in the past - now, a 15 year old car is still almost like new.
The second problem is globalisation. The venture capitalists create a new car factory in some backwards 3rd-world country and they produce perfectly competent, bland, boring little cars for tuppence. They get badged as a new Ford or VW and sold for a fortune in the West. Factories based in the west cannot possibly compete.
The manufacturers are trying to blame everyone and everything for their managerial incompetence but the public now see cars like a washing machine so it's getting more difficult to shift their overpriced products.
The Princess was great
I liked my dad's, it was very nice and roomy. His was that BL/Austin beige that they used on so many cars, Itals, Marinas, very much of it's time, but that's the appeal. Unfortunately his ended up absolutely wrecked. The brakes on his were faulty. Thinking of it though quite a few design points on the Princess and Ambassador have stayed around now that you point it out.
It really is a shame what has happened here. The Leyland DAF factory, gone, Rover, gone, Land Rover, on the brink, Jaguar, on the brink, and for public transport and Metro Cammel, gone. All of these factories were a big part of the community here. I can walk to the Jag factory in 15 minutes. I used to walk to work past the visitors entrance, and there was an XJ220 and an F1 Jag in a big glass building. 10 feet from the pavement. The worlds fastest production car at the time, and an F1 car made just down the road. I walked past them everyday. They're gone now, and from the rumblings I hear from people that work there Jag might be at risk too. They made the Spitfire engines in that factory. Shame if it's gone.
The Princess was great - huge inside and a brilliant ride due to its Hydragas suspension - they were originally designed to have a transverse Rover V8 so the engine bay is enormous - but due to the oil crisis just before its launch, they bottled out and fitted an old MGB engine instead.
They were also one of the fist cars with a proper rust-proofing so they only got scrapped because of age or mechanical failure (gearbox failure on mine).
As for the brakes - they were 4-piston callipers on vented discs (to cope with the V8 power) so they are a must-have upgrade for many other BL-based cars like Lotus & TVR.
At a time when most car radios were options, my Ambassador had twin carbs, electric windows & mirrors, power steering etc. and with the hatchback, it was really useful. Its revolutionary design is pretty standard these days.
Talking of Lotus, I had an Excel with an injected V8 conversion.
Thank you Plastic and Lonewarrior. I had fun reading this. I grew up in Rover/Austin/Jaguar territory. Near the factories. I worked in the supply chain and in the distribution area. Mainly on Defenders. Lots of memories of dad, my uncles, and other people I knew tinkering with models you mentioned, showing me little bits. The Austin Princess almost killed my dad though! Brake faliure, and it was a bit rear heavy. A bit of a nail.
scrap Range Rover
Please tell me it was beyond saving. The Land Rover 3 series was wonderfully functional! I worked on the manufacture of Defenders. RIP the real Land Rover models.
scrap Range Rover
Please tell me it was beyond saving. The Land Rover 3 series was wonderfully functional! I worked on the manufacture of Defenders. RIP the real Land Rover models.
