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Things Aren't What They Used to Be - Fortunately!


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@DavidDavis

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From 2011 to 2013 this was my daily driver! I've owned it since 2008. I drove it to Interlaken in Switzerland in 2010, and Ballenstedt in the old East Germany to attend the European Helicopter Championships in 2012. It never missed a beat on either journey:

 

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It had a full bare metal respray in 2014, and now only gets light use. It has been completely reliable the whole time I've owned it.

 

I bought a new one back in 1969 to replace a Sunbeam Imp which had proven to be an utter disaster! Water leaked into the Sunbeam when it rained, and oil leaked out of it. It needed a new cylinder head and valve gear before it had even finished running in, as they had never been hardened properly. Rust started appearing when it was only a couple of months old, and the ignition needed re-timing weekly as the distributor clamp didn't clamp properly! The heater never worked, but the final straw was a total brake failure one night! It was only 9 months old when I traded it for the SAAB which never gave me a problem the whole 7 years I owned it. I only sold it (and it broke my heart!) when I was told in no uncertain terms, that it was no longer big enough for an expanding family!

 

After the experience with the Sunbeam, I swore I would never again buy a British car. A decade later, I succumbed and bought a Rover SD1 2600. That proved to be even worse than the Sunbeam had been - except the brakes didn't fail on it. Indeed, I think they were the only things that didn't fail in the short time I had it....

 

Oh, and I still have my Bonner Digimite-8, bought second hand in 1968, and still working - though now retired from active service!

 

So yes, some things are just as good now as they were back then!

 

--

Pete

 

 

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4 hours ago, David Davis said:

My daily driver is a 1998 VW LT28 van but with the price of fuel these days I think I'll get my bike out!

 

Mine is a Ford Econovan, van 2 litre, reg 2000 and yes, I use my bike as I have done for decades. It used to be 20 km a day but now retired, down to about 9 km, three days a week. This includes getting the groceries. Good panniers and saddle bag on it. And the other bike is a Claude Butler which goes back to about the 1980s.

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2 hours ago, Peter Christy said:

@DavidDavis

DSCF0567_red.jpg.c6d5f6ec4ad45409c25e55f7bab6e7ad.jpg

 

From 2011 to 2013 this was my daily driver! I've owned it since 2008. I drove it to Interlaken in Switzerland in 2010, and Ballenstedt in the old East Germany to attend the European Helicopter Championships in 2012. It never missed a beat on either journey:

 

100_3200_red.jpg.5b1b348f130c00b6084fa8613c8a62a6.jpg

 

It had a full bare metal respray in 2014, and now only gets light use. It has been completely reliable the whole time I've owned it.

 

I bought a new one back in 1969 to replace a Sunbeam Imp which had proven to be an utter disaster! Water leaked into the Sunbeam when it rained, and oil leaked out of it. It needed a new cylinder head and valve gear before it had even finished running in, as they had never been hardened properly. Rust started appearing when it was only a couple of months old, and the ignition needed re-timing weekly as the distributor clamp didn't clamp properly! The heater never worked, but the final straw was a total brake failure one night! It was only 9 months old when I traded it for the SAAB which never gave me a problem the whole 7 years I owned it. I only sold it (and it broke my heart!) when I was told in no uncertain terms, that it was no longer big enough for an expanding family!

 

After the experience with the Sunbeam, I swore I would never again buy a British car. A decade later, I succumbed and bought a Rover SD1 2600. That proved to be even worse than the Sunbeam had been - except the brakes didn't fail on it. Indeed, I think they were the only things that didn't fail in the short time I had it....

 

Oh, and I still have my Bonner Digimite-8, bought second hand in 1968, and still working - though now retired from active service!

 

So yes, some things are just as good now as they were back then!

 

--

Pete

 

 

Very nice Peter, does it have the 1.5 or 1.7 Ford V4 engine? Always had a soft spot for early Saabs. Almost had a Saab 900 as a company car but when my wife sat in the driver's seat and moved it back to the correct position for her to drive there was about 2 inches of rear seat legroom so I got a VW Passat estate, you could hold a tea dance in the back of one of those!

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Hi Shaun,

 

Its got the 1.5. However, it has been mildly "breathed on". It has a Weber twin choke carb on the proper S&R manifold, and a stainless steel sport twin exhaust. I did similar mods to my original one back in the early 70s, and it halved the 0-70 time, without having any effect on MPG - which tells you a lot about Ford carburettors! 😆

 

This one is quick by 1970s standards - about on a par with a Cortina GT, but with much better handling and roadholding! Its not particularly quick by 21st Century standards, but is more than capable of holding its own in modern traffic.

 

Its one of the few cars I've been able to drive for hours without getting back-ache or "numb-bum" syndrome. The seats are wonderful! 😀

 

--

Pete

 

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On 13/07/2022 at 08:52, GrumpyGnome said:

Neither my wife nor my son know how to check oils, brake fluid or washer levels...... they both say there'll be a warning light to tell them, then they'll get me to do it/take it to the local garage.....

 

I don't think any of my first 3 or 4 cars visited a garage apart from for new tyres or new exhausts; everything else was done by me or a friend. I remember the worst job ever was changing the clutch in a mini (the proper one not the over-large one you can get now)

I love these TV programmes that go on about 'classic cars '. Heaps of leaky junk even when new. Talking of old minis; radiator by pass hose between head and engine block, 850 cc mk. 1 ?.........

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Had my MGTD since 1965, only let me down once - tracking across the rotor arm which must have been over 40 years ago. Still use it regularly but have to tie down the models with the hood down! Love it to bits. Had an MGB for over 50 years which I used as daily transport with a "breathed on" engine as we used to say. That only let me down once again with poor connection on the points (my fault). The problem running these cars these days is the poor quality of some of the spares.

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  • 2 months later...
3 minutes ago, martin collins 1 said:

Yep. remember changing that by pass hose **************** 🤬

But did you replace it with the fast fail concertina type or struggle with the reinforced heavy duty type? I had an Austin 1300 and on reflection it was easy to maintain, performance from the blueprinted engine (dad showed me how to do that) and quite economic.  Of course the rust bug killed it in the end.

 

Daughter has a VW UP, totally blows it away in build quality, fuel economy and driveability, but why of why such a nightmare to change its every 6 year cambelt! It would be easier to list what they didn't have to take off the engine to get to it....

 

PS its has a starter battery smaller than some large EDF..😆

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On 16/07/2022 at 08:44, GrumpyGnome said:

Loafs of challenges on those old minis.... Great fun though. I han. 'breathed on' 1275 in mine. VERY quick to about 40 with a top speed not much more than that. Driving in the rain was problematic because of the position of the distributor cap....

If the good Lord had intended Mini dizzy caps to work in the rain, he wouldn't have created Marigold gloves 😄

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I 'married' a 1965 Mini deluxe in 1967 🙂  At the time my only means of transport was my legs or my motor bike.  I used to drive the Mini in auto tests and once in a production car trial (where FWD was a definite disadvantage.  In auto tests a good handbrake is necessary in order to execute tight spins and the Mini one was difficult to get working well because bell crank bearings in front of the rear wheels tended to seize up as there wasn't a grease nipple.  I had a plastic feed bag over the 'radiator grille' to keep water off the distributor in wet weather and Paddy Hopkirk grille buttons to make removal easy when changing the oil filter.

 

We replaced it with a 1967 M IV Austin Healey Sprite (1275cc with pram style hood that was easy and quick to erect or stow).  There were a few problems with it over the 100k miles we did but I did 90% of the repairs myself.  We went to Italy in it in 1970 and despite that I had removed the flow regulator in the radiator we had to drive it on the water temperature gauge - it was always in excess of 212 deg F.  The only car I've ever truly enjoyed owning and driving.

 

I have no idea how to repair our current automatic Vauxhall Astra Estate - you can hardly see the engine when you raise the bonnet 🙂

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This Jaguar XK8 was bought from a delightful, "little old lady" who was about 80 years old. 

 

However, this little old lady was a complete hooligan.  🤣 

She had taken it to some specialists who  upgraded the "sport" button to give an extra 100 bhp. 

 

It's great fun.  My grandson loves it too.

His T-shirt says it all..... 

It's an oldie but it's a goodie. 

 

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