For those interested in old cars.

[PhilJ W]

3 minutes ago, doilum said:

As a student, one my friends had a Victor estate ( his dad had a garage and he always had something to run around in). On Wednesday afternoon we would go down into central Birmingham ( visit the library / go guitar window shopping / check out the bargain bin at the newly opened Virgin Records) and as we progressed down New Street fellow students would flag us down for a lift. By the time we turned into Corporation Street and made the final pick up outside Rackham's the back seat was full and tail gate Charlies brought the total to eight or nine. Happy Days!!

They were big cars, a lot bigger than the Cortina that they were pitched against.

[BernardTPM]

Against the Mk.2 Cortina certainly (with the exception of height) but the Mk.3 'tina was surprisingly close except for length. More or less the same width, height and wheelbase (just 1/2" shorter on the last). The FD Victor was 9" longer, but that was nearly all in the boot and rear overhang.

I prefer to look of the FD though, especially the VX4/90 version.

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, doilum said:

Like my Lambretta that showed a good 80 two up????

 

Feet per second off a cliff?

 

Mike.

[doilum]

10 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Feet per second off a cliff?

 

Mike.

Maybe the Italian mille had only 1000 yards! To be fair 10% error was expected on analogue speedometers and 15% at the top end quite probable. This needs to be kept  in mind especially when listening to tall tales in old Fords.

Edited December 22, 2020 by doilum
Predictive text error

[boxbrownie]

3 hours ago, russ p said:

 

That sounds interesting,  what engine was that and was it a contender for production? 

It was originally with the 1800 BDE.......and no never a production vehicle, was under the auspice of Boreham with SVE using it as a development tool for the Sierra Cosworth.

 

We also had a Quattro and an Intergrale after that..........purely for competitive development of course 

[russ p]

9 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

It was originally with the 1800 BDE.......and no never a production vehicle, was under the auspice of Boreham with SVE using it as a development tool for the Sierra Cosworth.

 

We also had a Quattro and an Intergrale after that..........purely for competitive development of course 

 

Was that anything to do with the RS1700T?

[boxbrownie]

3 hours ago, Kickstart said:

Wasn’t there strong rumours that the MG Montego turbos for the road tests had been somewhat tweaked?

 

 

An awful lot of the "press fleet" vehicles (not BL by the way......but a small manufacturer in Essex ) were gone over with a fine tooth comb, no squeaks or rattles, there might have even been rumours of some going through the paint shop on the line two or three times (my mate Geoff who was the Karmann coordinator had his Cab Escort put through four time, if you get that one secondhand your onto a winner!) but mechanically they were in tip top condition, but NEVER tuned just for the press, just not worth the hassle if it ever got out.

 

* this was back in the Escort/Cortina era.....AFAIK Sierra onwards were bog standard prod machines on the press fleet.

Edited December 22, 2020 by boxbrownie
*for clarification

[russ p]

3 hours ago, doilum said:

Back in late 80s when Ford had failed to deliver a new Clubman's rally car there were several BTRDA competitors who had reshelled their venerable MK2 into a MK3 shell. Getrag did an expensive one and their were a couple of other firms who could supply a kit of bits for those with the necessary welding skills.

GM built prototype 4WD Astra's using the engine from the Manta 400 but the project was canned when group B was outlawed and group A was the way to go.

 

The Astra 4S was actually for the stillborn gpS it was actually a joint venture with Austin rover they were going to use a similar floor pan and the same transmission but with a front mounted V64v engine from the metro  6R4 to make a maestro 6R4. I've heard there were a couple of prototypes but never seen any photographic evidence but the astra did see the light of day and was very successful in rallycross with John Welsh in the late 80s . The manta engine was also turbocharged 

[boxbrownie]

3 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I had a FD (coke bottle) Victor which despite only having the basic 1600cc engine gave an indicated 100mph with six of us not so small lads inside (bench front seat).

Don't you mean an indicated 85 to 110 mph depending upon when you glanced at the swaying needle? 

 

The FC wagon was the first car I ever "worked" on, it was my Uncles pride and joy but he wanted a windscreen washer installed (the pumping foot type) I was in my element at about 14 years old with all his rusty old basic tools in the footwell of the poor FD....after that day I was hooked.....

Edited December 22, 2020 by boxbrownie

[boxbrownie]

18 minutes ago, russ p said:

 

Was that anything to do with the RS1700T?

Quite a lot to do with it..........

[RJS1977]

4 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

The Morris J van was highly regarded in its day, second only to the Bedford CA. 

 

And poised to make a come back in electric form.

[doilum]

48 minutes ago, russ p said:

 

The Astra 4S was actually for the stillborn gpS it was actually a joint venture with Austin rover they were going to use a similar floor pan and the same transmission but with a front mounted V64v engine from the metro  6R4 to make a maestro 6R4. I've heard there were a couple of prototypes but never seen any photographic evidence but the astra did see the light of day and was very successful in rallycross with John Welsh in the late 80s . The manta engine was also turbocharged 

I had forgotten about group S. The Astra / Kadett was a Russelheim project that had a competitive run on the Paris Dakar.  The prototype group S rolling shell ended up back in the UK but I can't rember the name of the guy who bought it and completed the project.

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

Don't you mean an indicated 85 to 110 mph depending upon when you glanced at the swaying needle? 

 

The FC wagon was the first car I ever "worked" on, it was my Uncles pride and joy but he wanted a windscreen washer installed (the pumping foot type) I was in my element at about 14 years old with all his rusty old basic tools in the footwell of the poor FD....after that day I was hooked.....

Legally a speedo must not under read at all and only over read by no more than 5%.

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, RJS1977 said:

 

And poised to make a come back in electric form.

https://www.morris-commercial.com/new-je-van/

 

[peanuts]

1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

Quite a lot to do with it..........

did you have anything to do with  the rwd focus rs that appeared in CCC as a prototype or was this one and the same thing ?

 

remember there being alot of froth about it at the time especialy when pics appeared in the mototring press 

[russ p]

23 minutes ago, doilum said:

I had forgotten about group S. The Astra / Kadett was a Russelheim project that had a competitive run on the Paris Dakar.  The prototype group S rolling shell ended up back in the UK but I can't rember the name of the guy who bought it and completed the project.

 

Wasn't it a company that completed it. John Welsh drove it.

Saw it have some fantastic battles with Will Gollops turbo 6R4 at croft 

[peanuts]

11 minutes ago, russ p said:

 

Wasn't it a company that completed it. John Welsh drove it.

Saw it have some fantastic battles with Will Gollops turbo 6R4 at croft 

didnt George Hill run a 2.6 rwd Astra on national rallys before George Donaldson took over the development driving of what became the group S astra ? 

[Kickstart]

1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

An awful lot of the "press fleet" vehicles (not BL by the way......but a small manufacturer in Essex ) were gone over with a fine tooth comb, no squeaks or rattles, there might have even been rumours of some going through the paint shop on the line two or three times (my mate Geoff who was the Karmann coordinator had his Cab Escort put through four time, if you get that one secondhand your onto a winner!) but mechanically they were in tip top condition, but NEVER tuned just for the press, just not worth the hassle if it ever got out.

 

* this was back in the Escort/Cortina era.....AFAIK Sierra onwards were bog standard prod machines on the press fleet.

A relative had an Alfa 75 that was an ex press fleet car, which apparently had been pretty been much stripped and rebuilt before being sent out.

 

With turbo cars, quite easy for the turbo to be tweaked.

 

In the late 1980s Suzuki were caught out with an RG250 bike being sent out for road tests which had been played with. 

 

26 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Legally a speedo must not under read at all and only over read by no more than 5%.

Under eu rules the amount it can read high varies depending on the type of vehicle, but but can be up to 10% +8kmh high.

 

All the best

 

Katy

[russ p]

32 minutes ago, peanuts said:

didnt George Hill run a 2.6 rwd Astra on national rallys before George Donaldson took over the development driving of what became the group S astra ? 

 

Wasn't that a mk1 astra with box arches?

[peanuts]

1 minute ago, russ p said:

 

Wasn't that a mk1 astra with box arches?

yes thats it 

 

[doilum]

32 minutes ago, peanuts said:

didnt George Hill run a 2.6 rwd Astra on national rallys before George Donaldson took over the development driving of what became the group S astra ? 

That might have been the guy. For reasons safely lost in the mists of time this shell spent several weeks in my garage. I remember the owner turning up one night with the guy he had sold it to and we pulled the rolling shell up the drive with my Dutton as it was too narrow for his truck.

[russ p]

1 hour ago, doilum said:

I had forgotten about group S. The Astra / Kadett was a Russelheim project that had a competitive run on the Paris Dakar.  The prototype group S rolling shell ended up back in the UK but I can't rember the name of the guy who bought it and completed the project.

 

My mate tells me it was xtrac that completed it

[doilum]

1 minute ago, russ p said:

 

My mate tells me it was xtrac that completed it

They were certainly involved in the rallycross cars.

[russ p]

6 minutes ago, doilum said:

They were certainly involved in the rallycross cars.

 

John Welsh had a RWD mk3 escort before astra that was built by Xtrac 

 

 

[peanuts]

2 minutes ago, russ p said:

 

John Welsh had a RWD mk3 escort before astra that was built by Xtrac 

 

 

read an article in car magazine about this beast following article was about the road going 205t16 didnt Ayrton senna do a test of the xtrack escort for ccc ?