For those interested in old cars.

[allan downes]

 

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.

[RJS1977]

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....

[brianthesnail96]

Weren't Rivas LHD only?

 

steve

Nope

 

Both Niva and Riva were available in RHD for a while.

[peanuts]

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 ?

[Horsetan]

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.

[keefr2]

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!)

[peanuts]

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 !

[Horsetan]

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!!

[MJI]

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

[MJI]

  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

[MJI]

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

[keefr2]

Mine was the fastest B road machine I have owned

 

My Avenger Tiger wasn't bad either.

[russ p]

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

[peanuts]

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 

[keefr2]

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!)

[russ p]

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

[brianthesnail96]

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

[Horsetan]

Shouldn't the Lada be called Pavel, or whatever the Soviet Russian equivalent of Pablo is?

[brianthesnail96]

Yeah, but the registration reads "PAB" and it kinda stuck.

 

Lots of them in Cuba of course.

[TT3]

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.

[allan downes]

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 !

[PhilJ W]

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.

[Guest]

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.

[Rugd1022]

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...''

 

 

[russ p]

And the Niva had its own limited edition: the Niva Cossack - all 1.6 litres of it.

Wasn't she the doctor in heartbeat!