brianthesnail96 Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 I did try and have a natter with you at Chippenham, I was on a short term lorry driving contract for Tim on TEOTL- did have a good look at Peafore but you were having an in depth conversation about blue diesel detailing and still managing to run trains so I thought I wouldn't barge in and add to your problems! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Sadly the price of series parts is also on the up which is putting pressure on the budget but I am in no rush, I have loosely set an October 2017 deadline so it is back on the road for it's 40th Birthday They seem to get nicked for parts as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 I always liked the two and a quarter in my old IIa Forward Control. Although undergutted for the vehicle and not particularly economical it had a certain air of unstoppability. Some impressive engineering design features too, of the sort which I associate with quality 1930s sports saloons, like roller cam followers, a massive duplex timing chain and a high set camshaft driving very short, stiff pushrods. Given Rover's heritage I suppose that's not too surprising. The bottom end was immensely tough too. Because checking or filling with oil was something of a pain on the FC I habitually ran the level down until I couldn't ignore the oil pressure light coming on under braking any more. When I finally opened up the engine the big ends, although worn, showed no tell-tale signs of such abuse. I always thought it was an engine which would respond well to supercharging. A nice little Shorrocks (or a Sprintex if you wanted to go all modern I suppose) up the side running at a fairly modest pressure might be very interesting. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
37114 Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 They seem to get nicked for parts as well. With standard security only it is not the most difficult thing to nick sadly. There will be some improved anti theft measures going on mine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
w124bob Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 Anyone admit to owning a Wartburg! A mid '70's estate lived at the bottom of our road when I was a teenager. You could hear it before you saw it, well just a blue cloud of 2 stroke smoke really! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 (edited) Anyone admit to owning a Wartburg! A mid '70's estate lived at the bottom of our road when I was a teenager. You could hear it before you saw it, well just a blue cloud of 2 stroke smoke really! 5071419288_1610b4111d.jpg Popular with Stasi officers in the bad old days, too.... They were relatively popular as budget cars in the early-to-mid 1970s here, marketed as Wartburg Knights, with a host of equipment as standard, at a time when reversing lights were not yet common! Edited November 28, 2015 by Horsetan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERS Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 Once worked with a guy who swore by them, not because they were well engineered, exceptionally reliable or a joy to drive, quite the opposite in fact. His love for them was born out of the fact he preached a political view which was only slightly left of Lenin and the Wartburg was the embodiment of all things good about Russian culture. It only came to light after he'd retired that despite telling us endlessly how wonderful they were, he'd never actually owned one, Even more sinister was the fact he drove around in a Mercedes, an old one granted, but a Merc nonetheless. He came to work on his bike so until he turned up to his retirement in the three pointed star, none of us had ever seen his car or questioned what he actually drove. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 Anyone admit to owning a Wartburg! A mid '70's estate lived at the bottom of our road when I was a teenager. You could hear it before you saw it, well just a blue cloud of 2 stroke smoke really! 5071419288_1610b4111d.jpg Can you drive that on a bike license? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 Can you drive that on a bike license? Not sure you can. It's not classed as a quadricycle, unlike the electric deathtrap known as the G-Swiz... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 Anyone admit to owning a Wartburg! A mid '70's estate lived at the bottom of our road when I was a teenager. You could hear it before you saw it, well just a blue cloud of 2 stroke smoke really! 5071419288_1610b4111d.jpg Can you drive that on a bike license? Not sure you can. It's not classed as a quadricycle, unlike the electric deathtrap known as the G-Swiz... Shame. I just thought that judging by the picture, if it spends most of its time on 3 wheels... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catweasel Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 Shame. I just thought that judging by the picture, if it spends most of its time on 3 wheels... Most fwd cars will pick up the inside rear wheel if you corner hard enough. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium MJI Posted November 30, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 30, 2015 Most fwd cars will pick up the inside rear wheel if you corner hard enough. I once was following a hard driven Mondeo doing this, on some bends it was on 3 wheels. I wonder if he noticed the old live axled car follwing him with all 4 on the road. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 I'd have a Wartburg. They're the four wheeled equivalent of the Eastern Bloc motorcycles I had something of a dalliance with. Unsophisticated but dirt cheap, well engineered in a basic sense, and capable of being rebuilt at the side of the road using only the manufacturer's standard toolkit. Pity they all disappeared before I got my licence. Anyhow, they're not Russian but East German and a somewhat withered branch of the tree which produced the rather good DKW. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 Apparently Wartburg got as far as producing prototype 3-door hatchbacks, called the 355. Not a bad styling effort, based on the photos shown on Google, but the mechanicals might well have been the same as the 353/Knight saloon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted November 30, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 30, 2015 Some interesting ones here >> http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartburg_(marque) My favourites got to be the 313 coupe and the 353 pick up looks interesting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 Actually, looking at the photo of the 353/Knight on three wheels, it sort of reminds me of some of the Simca cars of the 1970s.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve1 Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 That red sports coupe looked like a Merc 190 (if you squinted at it...sideways). Nice looking car though. The 'square' ones have an odd sort of appeal somehow... steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted December 1, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 1, 2015 That red sports coupe looked like a Merc 190 (if you squinted at it...sideways). Nice looking car though. The 'square' ones have an odd sort of appeal somehow... steve Actually it put me in mind of a Borgward Isabella coupe. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianthesnail96 Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 (edited) Perhaps slightly out of the remit of this thread, but of interest I'm sure. I'm lucky enough to crew on Fowler 15813, we had her out for a run on Saturday for the "turning on the lights" festival in Stonehouse. Was more than a little damp and we mostly hid in the living van, where the stove was lit and there was tea on tap! Had a brilliant run back to base in the dark, headlights on and my driver keeping an eye on proceedings by torchlight- my first time on the road at night, lovely experience (especially as the rain had eased off a bit by then). Lighting up... Heading back home: Back in the yard: Only phone pics so not the best, but it gives a flavour of what we get up to. Those one Facebook can follow the adventures of 15813 via "The View From the Living Van" page, which is a sort of blog of life with a couple of steam engines, kept by the family that own and run her (and the occasional visiting engine). Edited December 1, 2015 by brianthesnail96 17 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Londontram Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Quite a nice dry day today in Great Yarmouth so as I had to go to the hospital for a check up and dressings change I thought I would give the Rover a run to warm her up and charge the battery a bit. Here she is after the hospital visit just as the light is beginning to go. I like to give her a run at least once a week this time of year but only if its dry with no salt on the roads, bless her. Steve 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Sidecar Racer Posted December 3, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 3, 2015 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Nice. Mind you, I'm not so sure about 50s and 60s. There's at least one shot there from the 70s . Im reminded of the relative longevities of various models. When I was firt getting seriously interested in cars c1980 or so, there were still an awful lot of those older Rootes Group models around as everyday vehicles, at least in Somerset. Quite a few BMC Farinas too, though not so many of the big ones. But, OTOH, a sighting of a PA Cresta was something of an event. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 I did at one point think that a number of those shots were of restored cars, re-registered with 'S' plates as period numbers, but on reflection I now believe they were all genuine period shots of Scottish registered cars. Time was when cars were cars. Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 No they all look like genuine shots of (mainly) locally-registered cars, maybe taken for sales? Some cracking period backgrounds and streetscenes too - only the most obvious of which I could place. Think the final car (Aston) is inside Waverley with the station pilot in the background. Nice wee slideshow 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianusa Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Those 'big' cars were really not that big. Sure, you could cram six in some of them but the engines even at a couple of litres or so were rather puny compared with their modern equivalents, even the six cyl models.. My big cars were a Vanguard, a Velox and a Zodiac al of which can be outperformed by my two year old Acura TL. Brian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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