............

Edited 22 August, 20232 yr by TMB

.............

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 22 August, 20232 yr by TMB

Before looked fine to me, after is show condition.

 

 

4 minutes ago, TMB said:

Changing the clucth (I used to lie underneath and bring the gearbox down onto my chest ).....

The follies of youth - sometimes turn into the aches and pains of older age. 😄

 

..............

Edited 22 August, 20232 yr by TMB

I'll just do mySkoda's.
MkII Fabia Kombi sold in Hamburg in 2019.
MkI Fabia 1.4 Comfort. Bought for £500 and sold back to previous owner (BossFox) for £500. I did do a lot of tidying up on it. 
MkI Fabia 1.9TDi Elegance. M favourite and wish I never sold it on. Did a lot of work on that.
 

1 hour ago, @Lee said:

MkI Fabia 1.9TDi Elegance. M favourite and wish I never sold it on. Did a lot of work on that.

 

I remember something happened to the engine?

50 minutes ago, TMB said:

 

I remember something happened to the engine?

Yeah, cam belt slipped and had teeth missing causing it to cut out as I stopped at a motorway exit. Towed back home. I managed to get it running again (ATD engine is a non interference engine so valves etc were fine). I sold it on to Tech1e for a good price with loads of bits n bobs. He drove it from Southampton back to his in Malvern with no problems and changed the cam belt. He then got rear ended in it and it was written off. The second rear end it had. The first was by a Freelander driven by a dozy woman on the M27 who wasn't paying attention. New crash bar and about £1Ks worth of work to put it right.

1 minute ago, @Lee said:

He then got rear ended in it and it was written off. The second rear end it had. The first was by a Freelander driven by a dozy woman on the M27 who wasn't paying attention. New crash bar and about £1Ks worth of work to put it right.

 

That sucks, I've had two cars rear-ended, once by another car and once by a motorbike.

18 hours ago, TMB said:

What cars did you guys pass your test in? I learned and passed in a white 1979 Chrysler Sunbeam 1.0LS.

 

1972 Austin 1300 Van Den Plas - my first car:

 

 

Gaz

 

Edited 10 February, 20224 yr by Gaz

^ Vanden Plas, very posh 😁

Edited 10 February, 20224 yr by TMB

2 hours ago, TMB said:

^ Vanden Plas, very posh 😁

 

Rose tinted glasses: Nice leather & walnut interior.  Hydrolastic suspension that was actually quite nice.

 

Reality:

155x13 crossply tyres

A Subframe that was more rust than metal

Needing to correct the timing and top up the SU's dashpot every Saturday

Headlights so powerful you could overtake them

Brake bands slipping like hell

Drum brakes

Misfires directly proportionate to how hard it was raining 

An oil leak that would put the Amoco Cadiz to shame

Trying to not turn the heater blower on coz of the smell that something might've died in the pipework

Manual choke that either raced or choked it to death - nothing in between

 

Gaz

 

Vanden Plas 1300 so twin carb(?) very posh I only had an 1100 as my third (I think) car in 1978/79. - You didn't mention the Princess bit. 😄

 

Gax, yours must have been even more down on its heel than mine or you knew less about maintenance than me, which would have been difficult but I was more willing to give it a go then.  Certainly you shouldn't have needed to top up the dashpot(s) oil unless they had wrong parts and the headlights should have been reasonable for the time, plus the built-in fog lights.

 

Leather seats with front and rear seat armrests, wood fold down picnic tables on the back of the front seats with chrome inserts, plush carpeting and roof lining, rear courtesy lights, rear wood dash and door capping - made top level Fords and Vauxhalls seem low rent.

 

If you were to see a good example now you'd be surprised how much room they have inside and the boot, many went over to Japan in the '80(?) and '90s.  Large thin rimmed steering wheel, large chrome hub caps with large centre vp logo - lovely.

 

This interior photo is a non-period off t' web - ETA: I've just noticed this is an auto too.

 

 

 

Below is genuine period as those that were there then will easily tell, all these period "correct" programs with very shiny and forever clean cars. 🤣 

 

The pre-added yellow spot/fog(?) was reversed into a few days before by a 'hit 'n' run' and the car was dark blue not green, old photos fade and change colour.

 

1966 'D' reg, Vanden Plas 1100 (single carb).

 

 

Edited 10 February, 20224 yr by nta16
ETA:

12 hours ago, nta16 said:

the headlights should have been reasonable for the time

Only if you think a 45W/40W sealed beam tungsten candle was a "reasonable headlight". My Dad bought a Cortina with them, and after a wet trip down Loch Lomond, replaced them with Wipac Quadoptic 60W/55W halogens.

he he - Austin 1100s and 1300s - we had two in the family - a dark blue 1100 and, following that, a dark green 1300 that was eventually replaced by an Allegro, all of which were my mum's.

 

They were all good cars and reliable for their time - but boy did they rust - i remember spending hours with my dad with filler and aluminium mesh fixing holes in them - in fact we nearly set the green one on fire one cold day as my dad, in his wisdom, decided to use a candle underneath the car to try and help get some filler to cure...   which set the underseal on fire!

1 hour ago, KenONeill said:

Only if you think a 45W/40W sealed beam tungsten candle was a "reasonable headlight". My Dad bought a Cortina with them, and after a wet trip down Loch Lomond, replaced them with Wipac Quadoptic 60W/55W halogens.

I suppose I was just used to the lights at the time, many on the BMC/BL cars would be underserved as the electric connections could be furred up from the battery posts on but particularly the bullet connectors, and the stalk and IIRC(?) foot button(?), cleaning them can make a noticeable difference to the amount of light they give out.  Cleaning the outside lenses also helps but seems to be beyond many including modern drivers, if there's not a button in the car for it it doesn't get done. 🙂

 

From memory those sealed beam units were Lucas ones and lived up to the Prince of Darkness jokes!

Yeap sealed beam as I recall.  I've had seam beams on cars including my present one until about 10 years ago.

 

I've never followed this Lucas Prince of Darkness stuff as I know vehicle owners with many Lucas parts that are still in use 40, 50, 60+ years from new.  I'm sure there would have been some badly made parts but I think a lot of the problems might have been down to users and garages use/abuse and bodges.  I see and hear about this a lot with those that buy "classics" (over-priced and over-valued old cars), sometimes I wonder how anything electric on the car works or that there aren't small or large fires.

 

Lucas brand is now over two (or perhaps more) companies and these modern products can be very poor and not long lasting.

 

I am guessing this is about 30 + years ago on my much loved Fiat Strada.

Alcohol might have been taken at the Aberfeldy Raft race to have me practicing my surfing on the bonnet with my C&A specials shirt & shorts.

Edited 11 February, 20224 yr by roottoot

22 hours ago, TMB said:

 

Ah, another Imp owner, and another J-reg too! You must have been a masochist like me

 

And another, well nearly. Mine was a Singer Chamois - a dreadful little thing that I keep for only two weeks! Bought me a Triumph 1300 (FWD) which was absolute luxury by comparison. I later upgraded to an 1850cc Dolomite, for which, at the age of 19, the insurance cost more than the car!

 

Learnt to drive in a Triumph Toledo 1300 (RWD) as the driving school decided a Mini would be too small (well, I am 6' 5" tall, but the funny thing is after the Dolomite I bought a Mini Clubman). Got some extra practice in my Dad's Volvo 145 (and I still aspire to a large Volvo Estate but can't really justify the extra ££££).

 

Three generations of car owners (photo from early 1976).  Reg number of my Grandfathers Morris Minor always seemed quite appropriate - Poor Old Joe 😂

 

20 minutes ago, roottoot said:

I am guessing this is about 30 + years ago on my much loved Fiat Strada.

In the second photo is that you giving a sultry look to the camera or you trying to work out where you are and why you are standing on the bonnet of your car.

 

@nta16I would think i am thinking 'if i hop off of here i will be going to A&E so best sit down and slide off!'

23 minutes ago, sneal said:

Three generations of car owners (photo from early 1976).

Fabulous period photo.

 

I bought my father-in-law's Triumph Toledo 1300 (RWD) when I got a job that needed a car and I'd not had a car for 6 years, I only kept it a few weeks as the seat gave me backache, and I was young and fit then, IIRC the seat rake was non-adjustable.  I particularly didn't like the gear shift offset shift, wished I'd remembered this before I got my GT6.  The Toledo was what lead me on to my first Skoda Estelle 2.

 

1 hour ago, roottoot said:

I am guessing this is about 30 + years ago on my much loved Fiat Strada.

Alcohol might have been taken at the Aberfeldy Raft race to have me practicing my surfing on the bonnet with my C&A specials shirt & shorts.

 

Blimey - a Fiat Strada - I'd completely forgotten about those!!

 

I always thought they were really distinctive at the time!

@skomaz

 I remember dropping it off and getting £700 cash and going and buying a Fiat 132 Auto Twin Cam that i ran for quite a while then getting a Fiat Punto Speedgear. 

 

If someone has one in a barn best look after it.  

Edited 11 February, 20224 yr by roottoot

3 hours ago, nta16 said:

Lucas Prince of Darkness

That was as much about the number of lumens you didn't get from a Lucas unit as (un)reliability.