allan downes Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 Lots said about good road holding but none about bad so, let me introduce to the king of bad road holding - Sunbeam Talbot Mk111 at anything over 70 on a country road. Wheelbase far too narrow for anything dramatic other than 115 mph in a straight line only. Pretty good at getting away at the lights first too. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 But then, as 60's the speed limit on country roads (and many of them aren't safe at that speed), and 70 on motorways, what the road holding's like at speeds higher than that shouldn't really be an issue.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianthesnail96 Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 Weren't Rivas LHD only? steve Nope Both Niva and Riva were available in RHD for a while. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanuts Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 Nope Both Niva and Riva were available in RHD for a while. did the rhd ones still come with the mounting holes for a recoilless rifle in the rear floor ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 Nope Both Niva and Riva were available in RHD for a while. And the Niva had its own limited edition: the Niva Cossack - all 1.6 litres of it. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr2 Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 Sunbeam Talbot Mk111 at anything over 70 on a country road. 70 on a country road in one of those things? No thanks...!! You can keep115 in a straight line too - though I struggle to believe it could actually get to a ton...(A Mk III tested by The Motor magazine in 1955 had a top speed of 93.6 mph (150.6 km/h) and could accelerate from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 17.4 seconds - Wiki) I had to google what you were actually talking about, I thought you meant a Talbot Sunbeam. Drove a friend's rally prepped Lotus version once, the handling and roadholding was every bit as good as a well sorted Escort, if not better! And that thing was pretty rapid to well over a ton!) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanuts Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 70 on a country road in one of those things? No thanks...!! You can keep115 in a straight line too - though I struggle to believe it could actually get to a ton...(A Mk III tested by The Motor magazine in 1955 had a top speed of 93.6 mph (150.6 km/h) and could accelerate from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 17.4 seconds - Wiki) I had to google what you were actually talking about, I thought you meant a Talbot Sunbeam. Drove a friend's rally prepped Lotus version once, the handling and roadholding was every bit as good as a well sorted Escort, if not better! And that thing was pretty rapid to well over a ton!) can attest to the lotus sunbeams handling especially in full tarmac group b spec found mine very predictable and placeable lots of steering with the throttle wet roundabout late at night could be great fun especially with a capri trying to keep up with you think the youngsters call it Drifting now don't they we just called it fun ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 70 on a country road in one of those things? No thanks...!! You can keep115 in a straight line too - though I struggle to believe it could actually get to a ton...(A Mk III tested by The Motor magazine in 1955 had a top speed of 93.6 mph (150.6 km/h) and could accelerate from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 17.4 seconds - Wiki) I had to google what you were actually talking about, I thought you meant a Talbot Sunbeam. Drove a friend's rally prepped Lotus version once, the handling and roadholding was every bit as good as a well sorted Escort, if not better! And that thing was pretty rapid to well over a ton!) Allan's had such an action-packed life, I'm sure many of the details get conflated!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium MJI Posted December 24, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 24, 2017 Have you watched any of the videos on youtube pitting these new fangled electronic 4 wheel drives against a 'proper' 4x4 - no contest! As to the new Defender, like the new Rangie & Disco - horrible. No character, no presence....and for some reason it reminds me of a Lada Niva.... I think, like you with your Dai, I'll keep my Grand Vitara (son borrowed it in the recent snow to get to work in Sennybridge. 3-4 inches of snow on local lanes, decent tyres but not specific winter or off road. Didn't even need to put it into low range) Keith Better to have both. Got axle articulation, diff lock, traction control, and about 8 ECUs Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium MJI Posted December 24, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 24, 2017 Bet they won't chug anywhere once a minor sensory fault develops? Wonder if there's a warning light on the dash....to warn the driver the car has got dirty? I have managed to drive with 6 warning lights on, can get to 8 if I want.. Hub cleared a few, the rest a reset 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium MJI Posted December 24, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 24, 2017 Lots said about good road holding but none about bad so, let me introduce to the king of bad road holding - Sunbeam Talbot Mk111 at anything over 70 on a country road. Wheelbase far too narrow for anything dramatic other than 115 mph in a straight line only. Pretty good at getting away at the lights first too. Reverse the names and reverse the bad. Mine was the fastest B road machine I have owned 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr2 Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 Mine was the fastest B road machine I have owned My Avenger Tiger wasn't bad either. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted December 24, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 24, 2017 Avenger tiger's were virtually the same machine as a sunbeam Ti I had a lotus with a 220bhp skip brown engine needed wipers on the side windows! I always thought the Ti looked better than the lotus with the fog lights and spoilers 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanuts Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 Avenger tiger's were virtually the same machine as a sunbeam Ti I had a lotus with a 220bhp skip brown engine needed wipers on the side windows! I always thought the Ti looked better than the lotus with the fog lights and spoilers thought the lotus was a lot more subtle very good q car whereas the ti was very boy racer and in your face . was a plain white lotus that the local plod toured around in gave a few surprises to owners of more notable road burners crossing over the pennines.had a very long "chat " comparing respective versions of the beast after pressing on just a little to much one evening over the nont sarahs road 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr2 Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 Avenger tiger's were virtually the same machine as a sunbeam Ti Yep, mine was a road rally car, kept the 1600 motor with a Skip Brown head & one of his fast road cams & a good exhaust. Some suspension tweaks & weight saving by ripping everything out of the inside except for a cage, buckets & harnesses & it was heaps of fun to drive! Like all my Escorts I so wish I still had it (or could buy one for rather less than the £20K + they're going for now!) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted December 24, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 24, 2017 I've heard there were lotus police cars in the North west There were some stunning colour's on the Ti where the lotus was black or moonstone blue, mine was the latter with a black strip I think the Avon's were a darker blue Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianthesnail96 Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 Nope Both Niva and Riva were available in RHD for a while. Proof, well, it would be if you could see the steering wheel... Pablo_Roadtrip by brianthesnail96, on Flickr Pablo_rolling by brianthesnail96, on Flickr From the back of a Marina estate, overtaking a Marina TC (not a common occurrence, Pablo the Lada is a 1300, the TC is now just shy of 2 litres, and has 7" minilites and fettled suspension so it almost handles too). Pablo_Carter_Bar by brianthesnail96, on Flickr 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 Shouldn't the Lada be called Pavel, or whatever the Soviet Russian equivalent of Pablo is? 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianthesnail96 Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 Yeah, but the registration reads "PAB" and it kinda stuck. Lots of them in Cuba of course. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TT3 Posted December 25, 2017 Share Posted December 25, 2017 Have got 2 or the later Niva's {or Rivas) from the 90s in the shed, a 3 door and 5 door version. Surprisingly in good conditions still after a lot of storage. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted December 25, 2017 Share Posted December 25, 2017 The fastest car I ever owned was a lumbering '91 Mercedes 500SEL. So OK. there was plenty of shopping buggies out there that could whup its 0 to 60 in seven seconds time but nothing could live with that mid range punch - totally awesome on the motorway and embarrassed many a Beamer owner but even a breathless Nissan Micra could lose it on any road with a knot in it ! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted December 25, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 25, 2017 The fastest I have ever driven a car on the public highway was 105 mph. This was done legally I might add before the 70 mph limit was introduced. The car was a standard Vauxhall FD Victor with the 1600cc slant four engine. Even more remarkable was that it was well and truly laden with the driver (me) and four passengers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 25, 2017 Share Posted December 25, 2017 Nope Both Niva and Riva were available in RHD for a while. I had a 1500 estate. Before they made them more square and called them Rivas. Although RHD they didn't bother to change the lettering on the gauges from cyrillic. Not that there were many gauges anyway. I especially like the undamped petrol gauge. If you wanted to see what you had in the tank you needed to park and wait for it to stop waving about. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted December 25, 2017 Share Posted December 25, 2017 A couple of very nice old car books arrived via Santa today, a rather hefty volume on the Porsche 912, a stop gap car set between the outgoing 356 and the new-fangled 911 largely overlooked by many but gathering quite a following today, and another welcome volume in the Brooklands Road Test series on the NSU Ro80. With a bit of cash in the odd Christmas card my Amazon shopping basket will get a good old thrashing later on today, more Brooklands RT goodies in the form of the BMW six cylinder cars of 1969 - 1976 and with a bit of luck the rare one on the Citroen SM. ''I may be gone for some considerable time...'' 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted December 25, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 25, 2017 And the Niva had its own limited edition: the Niva Cossack - all 1.6 litres of it. Wasn't she the doctor in heartbeat! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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