For those interested in old cars.

[petethemole]

It's carrying a wooden extending ladder on the roof so probably belonged to the National Fire Service. It was common for large imported ( mainly American) cars to be requisitioned, loaned or donated for the war effort, mainly to the fire service, as they could tow a trailer pump, carry a small crew and still go fast. I can't identify I though.

[PhilJ W]

Funnily enough we actually get on best when I'm 'driving Miss Daisy'

 

Next week I've got to drive MD from Tyneside via Hartside and Trwsffynydd to Portmeirion for a night, then across to Norwich to check out her sister after major surgery before returning back home.(M.D. never ever looks at a road map).

I've been checking out the old railway sites beforehand in Norwich (on the NLS interactive 6") - Norwich Victoria, the old Eastern Union station and Norwich City, the M&GN terminus.

This was by far the most imposing of the M&GN buildings - in red and yellow brick. It survived till the 1960s, though damaged and burnt out in the Norwich blitz.

norwich city.jpg

This picture shows it after incendiaries had burnt it out.

 

My question is what make is that car posing bloodied but very unbowed before the burnt out terminal facade?

The double bumper suggests yank, but the rad, and general low build look European.

Hispano Suiza had a flat Grecian looking rad, Talbot had another similarly proportioned (slightly V rad); but the badge shape looks more Delage. I haven't yet googled an American with that plain badge.

 

dh

It looks like a Crossley of about 1930. If I could read the registration I'd be able to tell you the year of registration.

[PhilJ W]

It's carrying a wooden extending ladder on the roof so probably belonged to the National Fire Service. It was common for large imported ( mainly American) cars to be requisitioned, loaned or donated for the war effort, mainly to the fire service, as they could tow a trailer pump, carry a small crew and still go fast. I can't identify I though.

And the hose reel on the offside front wing.

[Rugd1022]

Sadly no Dinos, 250LMs, 275GTBs or Daytonas present but this old dealership building lingers on as an MOT station in Brandon, between Rugby and Coventry...

 

 

 

 

 

[Horsetan]

Sadly no Dinos, 250LMs, 275GTBs or Daytonas present but this old dealership building lingers on as an MOT station in Brandon, between Rugby and Coventry...

 

Brandon Ferrari.jpg

Meanwhile, Maranello Concessionaires goes from strength to strength in Egham. They've been there for decades.

[Rugd1022]

Meanwhile, Maranello Concessionaires goes from strength to strength in Egham. They've been there for decades.

 

Colonel Ronnie Hoare's emporium of Italianate delights wasn't it...?

 

We used to have a small Ferrari dealer in Rugby some years ago, inevitably the site is now occupied by new build housing.

[Horsetan]

Colonel Ronnie Hoare's emporium of Italianate delights wasn't it...?

 

We used to have a small Ferrari dealer in Rugby some years ago, inevitably the site is now occupied by new build housing.

It was always a bit of a business risk to open up a Ferrari dealership in a region where not many people were loaded.

[DDolfelin]

At Aberaron yesterday.

 

[The Stationmaster]

Colonel Ronnie Hoare's emporium of Italianate delights wasn't it...?

 

We used to have a small Ferrari dealer in Rugby some years ago, inevitably the site is now occupied by new build housing.

 

The site of our former Ferrari/Lambo dealership is now occupied by a concern selling furniture especially for older and less mobile persons.

[Horsetan]

At Aberaron yesterday.

 

Humber757YUKrmw.jpg

 

Reminds me of the Renault Fregate:

 

[PatB]

It was always a bit of a business risk to open up a Ferrari dealership in a region where not many people were loaded.

Thirty years ago I was astonished to stumble upon a Maserati dealership in the back streets of Newcastle, with a brace of Biturbos (coupe and ragtop IIRC) on display. I still wonder if they ever sold anything.

[Rugd1022]

Thirty years ago I was astonished to stumble upon a Maserati dealership in the back streets of Newcastle, with a brace of Biturbos (coupe and ragtop IIRC) on display. I still wonder if they ever sold anything.

 

I've been meaning to mention this for a while but parked up in front of the old BOC building at Wembley, alongside the Up Slow of the WCML, there are a pair of Maseratis waiting to be sold, one is a pale metallic green '90s Ghibli and the other looks like a later 3200GT. A few yards away is a forlorn looking Ferrari F355 with no number plates.

[steve1]

I've been meaning to mention this for a while but parked up in front of the old BOC building at Wembley, alongside the Up Slow of the WCML, there are a pair of Maseratis waiting to be sold, one is a pale metallic green '90s Ghibli and the other looks like a later 3200GT. A few yards away is a forlorn looking Ferrari F355 with no number plates.

Could be repo jobs?

 

steve

[Rugd1022]

Possibly Steve, that particular dealer has a large number of very dusty looking high end vehicles in its compound.

[Kickstart]

Thirty years ago I was astonished to stumble upon a Maserati dealership in the back streets of Newcastle, with a brace of Biturbos (coupe and ragtop IIRC) on display. I still wonder if they ever sold anything.

I have a vague feeling that it might have been the importer who tried bringing in Maseratis at that time. Would need to look it up though.

 

All the best

 

Katy (we have a Maserati 222SE in the garage)

[Horsetan]

Thirty years ago I was astonished to stumble upon a Maserati dealership in the back streets of Newcastle, with a brace of Biturbos (coupe and ragtop IIRC) on display. I still wonder if they ever sold anything.

I seem to recall that these "Italian 3-series" were none too reliable.

[PatB]

I seem to recall that these "Italian 3-series" were none too reliable.

I know that secondhand ones got to be very cheap at one stage (according to Classic and Sportscar in the late '90s at any rate), possibly due to being a bit mediocre in many areas.

 

Still Maseratis though :DD.

[RANGERS]

E

I know that secondhand ones got to be very cheap at one stage (according to Classic and Sportscar in the late '90s at any rate), possibly due to being a bit mediocre in many areas.

 

Still Maseratis though :DD.

Exactly, who ever heard of a reliable Maserati?

[Kickstart]

I seem to recall that these "Italian 3-series" were none too reliable.

Depends on the exact model, as they evolved quite a bit as time went on. Sometimes for the better.

 

The early ones were called Biturbos (or BuyTrouble), and they dropped that name in the late 1980s. Early ones had 4 stud wheels as an easy external check.

 

The original ones used a single carb that lived in a plenum chamber. Could have hot starting problems. Diffs were weak. Engines have the water pump driven by the cam belt, hence a seized water pump snaps the cam belt and bends lots of valves.

 

Electrics are not good, but not that bad. Biggest problems are the fuse box (think it came from the Fiat Strada, and was seriously over stressed on a few circuits on the Maserati - although Maserati carried on using the same fusebox until the mid 1990s), alternator (a 65 amp unit that can pop when you turn all the electrics on - not what you want in the rain; our 222 went through 2 before we switched in the 105amp AC Delco unit from the Ghibli) and the relays (in themselves not a problem, just that the ones used have an unusual pinout hence people forget, stick normal ones in a then cause real problems).

 

Rust again isn't perfect, but not that bad. Realistically better than Fords of the same age.

 

Early lhd cars had manual steering racks that were quite slow. Think all rhd cars had powered racks.

 

Thing I like about them is that they are subtle and few people notice them. But can go fairly quickly.

 

Ours is a 222SE built in 1989. Compared to the earlier cars there are a few cosmetic differences such are plastic bumpers, slightly rounded on the fronts of the wings. They switched to 5 stud wheels, and the steering was quite substantially revised. Engine grew a bit (the Italian market got 2L cars, export cars were 2.5L for the Biturbo, growing to 2.8L for the later ones - all with 18 valve heads). Water cooled turbos. Fuel injection with intercoolers (some earlier special editions for some markets had fuel injection, but a rather different system). The auto got a 4 speed box rather than a 3 speed box (the 4 speed auto works well with the turbos - no need to back off between gears). The 2.8 injected engine was a claimed 250hp in most cars (less in the convertible). Late on there were loads of limited editions with various changes such as differernt headlights, 24 valve heads, cats for some markets, etc.

 

Speedos on all of them are very unreliable. If you are looking at a car then do not be in the slightest bit surprised if it has had a few speedos in its life.

 

All the best

 

Katy

[Horsetan]

Hang on, eighteen valve heads!?

[PhilJ W]

Hang on, eighteen valve heads!?

Three valves per cylinder, usually one inlet and two exhaust.

[Rugd1022]

Three valves per cylinder, usually one inlet and two exhaust.

 

Pretty much cutting edge stuff at the time lest we forget. Mind you so was this wee thing barely two decades earlier - this year being the 50th anniversary of the Miura's Geneva Motor Show debut (the first time the 'clothed' chassis had been seen in public), I still find it shockingly beautiful, somehow it manages to look simultaneously feminine yet brutal. Some would say that underneath the Bertone skin it was a tad agricultural in execution, but the idea of a usable, mid-engined transverse mounted V12 certainly made Ferrari and Maserati buck their ideas up...

 

[Horsetan]

....Some would say that underneath the Bertone skin it was a tad agricultural ....

 

Given Lamborghini's origins, surely this was entirely appropriate?

[edcayton]

I think you will find in general that engines with an odd number of valves per cylinder will have more inlet valves, it being easier to shove exhaust gases out than to "suck" air in. Remember that all engine tuning is about getting more air in, it's easy to squirt a bit more fuel.

 

Ed

[Rugd1022]

 

Given Lamborghini's origins, surely this was entirely appropriate?

 

I guess so, but that wasn't quite what I was agetting at! When you read the contempory reviews the impression is that the Miura was a very sophisticated piece of kit at the time, but having looked at a few close up, the actual build quality is lacking in the earlier cars. The S and SV variants gradually got better though.

Edited August 17, 2016 by Rugd1022