Judge Dread Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Up to 1955, Vincent motor cycles of Stevenage used the old A1 for test purposes for all of their products except for the racers, the Lightnings and the Grey Flashes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) "The Protectors" had one of the characters regularly driving a NSU Ro80 (reg. YMJ 621L), whilst "The Persuaders" I think regularly featured a Jensen Interceptor. You're spot on about Nyree Dawn Porter's Ro80 Horsetan, but the Interceptor was also in 'The Protectors', driven by Robert Vaughan (apparently it's still around and belongs to a JOC member who's busy restoring it) none of the regular characters in 'The Persuaders' used an Interceptor although a dark blue one appeared in the background (very briefly) in the episode called 'Greensleeves'. The Bahama Yellow Aston DBS driven by Roger Moore sold a while back for just over £500k..! Edited September 22, 2015 by Rugd1022 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Cars had dynamos back then, so you really did need to conserve the battery, hence the sidelights. Ed (edit-reply to Nidge's post #2094) My '68 Cooper S still has it's original dynamo Ed! Thinking of doing an alternator conversion on it soon though. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
runs as required Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 There is a surprising number of Japanese cars in Malta that have been imported second hand from Japan. Agreed - particularly light commercial vehicles. I bought a very suave VW Type 4 Caravelle from a delightful octogenarian 'Jimmy Shand and his band' style band leader in the Edinburgh New Town that had been imported from Japan to convey US tourists around West Aberdeenshire distilleries before 'my' bandleader bought it for his band's use. [and it wasn't till I came to fill it up a week later down on Tyneside I found it not to be a 2.4 turbo diesel but 2.5litre petrol!] Maltese car dealer friends tell me the Japanese two year limit on vehicles is Japanese Gov. legislation intended originally to stimulate the regeneration of the Japanese car industry after their big economic recession 20 years before our 208/9 one. dhig Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 ......Maltese car dealer friends tell me the Japanese two year limit on vehicles is Japanese Gov. legislation intended originally to stimulate the regeneration of the Japanese car industry after their big economic recession 20 years before our 208/9 one. In the 1990s there was a fashion for personal imports from Japan - mostly things like Nissan Skylines, Toyota Soarers (coupe version of Lexus saloon) and RX7s with auto transmission, and loads and loads of MX5 / Eunos Roadsters. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pugsley Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 My '68 Cooper S still has it's original dynamo Ed! Thinking of doing an alternator conversion on it soon though. Have you seen these? http://www.accuspark.co.uk/dynamator.htm They're a great idea. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southerner Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Picture of my Dyane in restoration, hope to pick it up this Friday. Some of the horrors revealed when the restoration started. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 That's actually quite mild. My old BMW had a bodyshell assembled by Karmann - rust designed in as standard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) That's one of the reasons I love another of your favourite series Nidge - The Sweeney! It's my era of cars, Regan driving a Modena green Mk1 Escort & in a later episode a same colour Mk1 Capri as his own cars - his Escort wasn't as good as my Modena Green RS2000 though! I really enjoy seeing all the mundane stuff on the road like Austin 1100's & Maxi's, Hunters, Avengers, Cortina's, even Marina's! And then there's the Minis...!! On the other hand, I watched an episode of Morse last night that I hadn't seen before - & the cars from that era were sooo boring - Mk 3 escorts, Cavaliers & Sierra's - even a Nissan Stanza. Yuck!....Not worth spotting those! Keith I guess that's a generational thing. Whilst I enjoy spotting the 50s/60s stuff in films & TV, it's the late 70s/80s stuff that was around when I was growing up - my father had three consecutive Sierra estates - so they're the ones that really bring back the memories for me! Of course the downside to classic car spotting in vintage TV is seeing what would now be valuable cars coming to an untimely (and often firey demise at the ends of chase sequences etc). I read somewhere that an American classic car enthusiast watched the Laurel & Hardy film "Two Tars" and was in tears when he realised how many millions of dollars worth of car got damaged/destroyed! Still, even that's preferable to watching something like "The Royal" where classic cars which had clearly been well-looked after for many years were also known to come to a dramatic end :-( Incidentally - watching the second episode of the current series of "New Tricks" a while back had me puzzled - on the offchance is there anyone "in the know" on here who knows whether Gerry's Stag really was destroyed in filming or if clever camerawork/ a scrapper was used? The fact the actual explosion wasn't shown made me think at first that it had been spared a violent end, but the next scene featured a distorted Stag apparently on fire. I even went as far as going on the DVLA website to try to find out - the car is listed as having passed its MOT in April but currently SORN, which doesn't really answer the question! Edited September 22, 2015 by RJS1977 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
runs as required Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 I guess ... it's the late 70s/80s stuff that was around when I was growing up... they're the ones that really bring back the memories for me! But don't you get a weird buzz when you see misguided souls expending huge amounts of sweat as well as equity preserving what you regarded as cheap trash when they slipped thru your hands en route to the scrapyard gate ? That for me includes Land Crabs and other near death British Leyland heaps and OTT yank style Vauxhalls (as well as that Dyane above - and similar paper thin Renault 4s). dhig 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr2 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 - my father had three consecutive Sierra estates - so they're the ones that really bring back the memories for me! We had a 1600 Sierra bought off her father, less than 10000 miles on it, three years old - & it was absolutely terrible! Couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding, awful ride & the NVH engineers must have been on holiday when the thing was designed. I'm still unsure whether it or the hideous 1300 Viva HC she'd had when we were first married 20 years before was the worse car - it's still a close run thing...!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG John Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 The garage down the road from me seems to do work on rally cars, and I sometimes see Mk II Escorts going past my house, with the driver itching to put his foot down when he gets round the blind bend onto the straight that runs past my wood. It makes me think it would be rather nice to still have my 1600 Sport, although it probably rusted away many years ago. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 We had a 1600 Sierra bought off her father, less than 10000 miles on it, three years old - & it was absolutely terrible! Couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding, awful ride & the NVH engineers must have been on holiday when the thing was designed. I'm still unsure whether it or the hideous 1300 Viva HC she'd had when we were first married 20 years before was the worse car - it's still a close run thing...!! I'm sure if there had been anything like that wrong with my father's first Sierra, he wouldn't have had another two (though I think only the first one was a 1.6, the others were 1.8s). Crossing the Welsh mountains and the Preselis with three passengers, a dog and a boot full of luggage didn't seem to cause them any difficulties. OK, so we didn't set any land speed records but there was enough to get to the speed limit with some to spare - what more do you need? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG John Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 We had a 1600 Sierra bought off her father, less than 10000 miles on it, three years old - & it was absolutely terrible! Couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding, awful ride & the NVH engineers must have been on holiday when the thing was designed. I'm still unsure whether it or the hideous 1300 Viva HC she'd had when we were first married 20 years before was the worse car - it's still a close run thing...!! I learned to drive in a 1256 HC Viva! My Dad bought it new a few months before my 17th birthday, as he didn't think his 20 year old Austin A40 Somerset was suitable for me to learn in. I later had an early 2 litre Sierra, which had a rather unaffectionate nickname, due to its brown colour and shape! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) ....that Dyane above - and similar paper thin Renault 4s).... There is nothing quite as paper thin as a Daewoo Matiz, which would come off badly in a collision with a Renault 4. Edited September 22, 2015 by Horsetan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr2 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) I'm sure if there had been anything like that wrong with my father's first Sierra, he wouldn't have had another two (though I think only the first one was a 1.6, the others were 1.8s). Crossing the Welsh mountains and the Preselis with three passengers, a dog and a boot full of luggage didn't seem to cause them any difficulties. OK, so we didn't set any land speed records but there was enough to get to the speed limit with some to spare - what more do you need? Hmm, lets see. 100 or so more bhp, some actual refinement from the engine & transmission, seats with some comfort & support, and an interior that didn't look like you were sitting in a plastic egg box would have been a start! The 2 litre Mondeo Zetec that we replaced it with was like chalk & cheese - it was a superb car, quite quick with a much more refined motor than the appaling asthmatic lump in the Sierra, it handled superbly,had a much nicer, far more comfortable interior, & (I know its subjective) it was a good looking car whereas the Sierra looked like a blue blancmange, & drove like one too. I'd be happy to still own the Mondeo, whereas I really couldn't wait to see the back of the Sierra! But, it's all personal preferance in these things, isn't it? Edited September 22, 2015 by keefr2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 I'm sure if there had been anything like that wrong with my father's first Sierra, he wouldn't have had another two (though I think only the first one was a 1.6, the others were 1.8s). I had an early 'Y' plate 1.6L. It was the worst built car I have ever had. I've had three Ladas, two Allegros and a Marina so I know what I'm talking about here. There was an apocryphal story about some joyriders who stole a 1.6 Sierra and then brought it back in disgust. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 IMG_4642rmw.jpg I want that one... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two_sugars Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 IMG_4642rmw.jpg I want that one... Me Too!!!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDolfelin Posted September 23, 2015 Author Share Posted September 23, 2015 ... and there's more! 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr2 Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Saw a lovely Daytona yellow Mk1 Capri driving around locally last week, was in absolutely stunning condition. Always thought they were a 'big' car when I was runnng around in Mk1 Escorts. Stopped at the traffic lights next to a new Fiesta, you realise just how 'dainty' they were!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Saw a lovely Daytona yellow Mk1 Capri driving around locally last week, was in absolutely stunning condition. Always thought they were a 'big' car when I was runnng around in Mk1 Escorts. Stopped at the traffic lights next to a new Fiesta, you realise just how 'dainty' they were!! Don't forget though that successive generations of cars are often bigger than the previous model - the current Fiesta is considerably larger than the Mk1 Fiesta! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted September 23, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 23, 2015 Talking of classic cars in films. In the film 'Chinatown' an extremely rare 1934 Ford phaeton was deliberately crashed into a tree. Needless to say the owner was livid although the film company rebuilt the car at considerable expense. They tried to get out of by claiming that the owner was aware of what was going to happen to his car but fortunately for him this didn't wash with the court. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr2 Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Don't forget though that successive generations of cars are often bigger than the previous model - the current Fiesta is considerably larger than the Mk1 Fiesta! And there's me thinking car park spaces were getting smaller! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Don't forget though that successive generations of cars are often bigger than the previous model - the current Fiesta is considerably larger than the Mk1 Fiesta! They are also probably lighter and safer (in the event of accidents. I must say, however that every time I come over from the USA I wonder how I would fit into some of them (yes, even now, when the average US auto has got smaller too). Then I look at just how crowded the UK’s roads and parking lots really are. Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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