For those interested in old cars.

[Nick C]

14 hours ago, spamcan61 said:

My "Japanese" Avensis was designed in Paris and built in Derby. Had to lol some years back when a colleague swapped his Vauxhall Omega (largely designed and built in Germany) for "something German" which turned out to be a 3 series estate (built in South Africa) 

Our current 'fleet' are all Japanese English - my Avensis was, like yours, built in Derby, and my wife's Nissan was built in Sunderland.

 

In fact I've just worked out that most of the cars I've owned have been UK manufactured

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

BMW have always been mean with the 5-series rear seat-room. If they had made it roomier, why would anyone have bought a 7-series?

Errrr....yes exactly......

[boxbrownie]

9 minutes ago, Rugd1022 said:

One of the 1969 Lotus Europa S2 press cars is up for sale, fully restored, it looks rather nice....

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1969-Lotus-Europa-2-0-S-2dr-Coupe-Petrol-Manual/402648734507?hash=item5dbfbc1b2b:g:dJ8AAOSwS0tgA7yB

 

It was featured in the March 1970 issue of 'Cars & Car Conversions' magazine....

 

 

 

Price wise it's sometimes difficult to judge with these Europas as they're often all over the place and a lot of them tend to be modified with modern engines etc. I rather liek this one though!

 

 

 

 

Looks to be in pretty good condition, if it’s as good as it looks I’d have thought that price is quite a bargain.

 

I almost bought the TC version back in the late 70’s but chickened out and bought an Elan Sprint instead, in preparation before buying a Europa I bought the workshop manual which is what put me off and made me buy an Elan.....I still have the Europa workshop manual in the shed.

[RANGERS]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

BMW have always been mean with the 5-series rear seat-room. If they had made it roomier, why would anyone have bought a 7-series?

The 3 series eliminated rear seat legroom altogether, no doubt in an effort to persuade anyone with kids to go upmarket for the 5 series. With the straight six 2 or 2.5 litre, it did make a cracking 2+2 though.

[MJI]

I had 4 Omegas, 2 4 cylinder and 2 V6 before that a Carlton.

 

2.0 Carlton was a surprisingly good drive, mind you it was 1200kg.

The V6s though suited the Omega, pity I got T Boned.

 

Got a 4x4 now

[boxbrownie]

13 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

If it's a Leyland Rover or earlier.

Overdrive / Auto transmission Borg Warner. USA. 

Engine breather, air filter case, mechanical fuel pumps (where fitted) fuel tank sender AC Delco, a subsidiary of General Motors USA.

Propeller shaft joints, made under licence from Spicer, USA.

The P4 owes a lot to the 1946 Studebaker, the P6 to the 1955 Citroen DS and in my experience, the P5 helped to develop the DIY MIG welder...

 

My grandfather had a Rover Ten, that probably wasn't British either!

Of course though most likely the trans was built and supplied by BW Letchworth factory, same with the other stuff made in England under license so not so bad, still GB workers getting their hands dirty.

 

I must admit though I have never heard of the connection between Citroen DS and Rover P6, unless the Rover had rear gas spheres like the RR of the period.

[boxbrownie]

48 minutes ago, RANGERS said:

The 3 series eliminated rear seat legroom altogether, no doubt in an effort to persuade anyone with kids to go upmarket for the 5 series. 

Aha....now your getting it 

 

The 3 series was a nice small 2+2 really, the 5 series was 4/5 seat family car the 7 series was a limo (especially with the LB version), BMW did nothing that other makes didn’t.

 

Not aimed at your self but it always amuses me when people say “oh there’s no room in the back of this car”.....well buy a bigger/different car then.....it’s like complaining that the flat bladed screwdriver you have doesn’t fit the pozidrive screw on your front door.

[johnlambert]

I've driven two Vauxhall Omegas, both 2.5 petrol V6 models, one automatic and one manual.  The two experiences were separated by a few years and the more recent encounter must have been 20 years ago, but I remember the cars with respect.  The first one seemed a little unrefined but at the time I'd not long stepped out of a Lexus GS300, against which most cars would seem unrefined (and which would have been a more expensive car).  The second one I borrowed for a work journey from Evesham in Worcestershire to Paddock Wood in Kent.  That car was the manual and the long throw clutch and gear lever were a bit of a pain when threading through rush-hour Maidstone but overall it was a superb car for the job.  It even proved surprisingly economical, I have a feeling it averaged low-30s mpg, which seems very good for a big car like that with a petrol engine.

[Richard E]

Interestingly a lot of the German stuff isn't, my Audi (bought for the 4wd and towing ability) is actually made in Spain. And to accompany it on the drive there is a French car (Peugeot 306 S16) and a British one in the garage as my toy.

 

And thinking back to the 1970's/80's the Mk2 Escort RS2000 was made in Germany, the Chevette was built on a German developed floorpan albeit with a UK designed front. The Cavalier was another German design, moving on a bit things like the Accord and Rover 200 series were Japanese so you'd need to go back to the early 1970's to find cars that weren't involved with the start of globalisation of car production.

[Rugd1022]

1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

Of course though most likely the trans was built and supplied by BW Letchworth factory, same with the other stuff made in England under license so not so bad, still GB workers getting their hands dirty.

 

I must admit though I have never heard of the connection between Citroen DS and Rover P6, unless the Rover had rear gas spheres like the RR of the period.

 

The P6 / DS thing comes from the way the P6 was designed with a base unit which then has the seventeen separate body panels bolted onto it. Very forward thinking for 1958 which was when the project started on paper (the same year the P5 was launched).

[boxbrownie]

7 minutes ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

The P6 / DS thing comes from the way the P6 was designed with a base unit which then has the seventeen separate body panels bolted onto it. Very forward thinking for 1958 which was when the project started on paper (the same year the P5 was launched).

OK...thought it was implied there was some component uniformity.....so just IP infringement then? 

 

Those were the days....”ohh that’s a good idea, let’s try it”.....

[Rugd1022]

Abbey Street garage in Rugby, taken from the embankment of the GC line, the garage was run by the Stanley family who all had American cars at the time....

 

 

 

[johnlambert]

10 minutes ago, Rugd1022 said:

Abbey Street garage in Rugby, taken from the embankment of the GC line, the garage was run by the Stanley family who all had American cars at the time....

 

 

 

Lovely Ford Galaxie (I think) although looking somewhat down-at-heel, I guess the Galaxie would be about 20 years old when the photo was taken, (I think the Galaxie is a 1964 and I guess the photo is early 1980s).

[Rugd1022]

yes John, some time in the '80s I'd say.

 

Can anyone identify the pre-war car in this pic at Bilton Hall in Rugby....?

 

 

 

[boxbrownie]

Not sure at all but the rad top shape is reminiscent of a Riley.

[johnlambert]

Looks more like a Rover to me.

[boxbrownie]

8 minutes ago, johnlambert said:

Looks more like a Rover to me.

Could be but the roof line looks to shallow over the screen, unless of course that’s a canvas roof.......on a saloon?

[MrWolf]

1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

OK...thought it was implied there was some component uniformity.....so just IP infringement then? 

 

Those were the days....”ohh that’s a good idea, let’s try it”.....

 

Slightly more blatant than that, a lot of car manufacturers would purchase a rival's new model and dismantle it for inspection.

[MrWolf]

11 minutes ago, johnlambert said:

Looks more like a Rover to me.

 

It is, possibly a 14, the canvas in the roof is a Weymann type body panel with timber slats beneath. Very common on prewar cars with wooden frames.

[boxbrownie]

Just now, MrWolf said:

 

Slightly more blatant than that, a lot of car manufacturers would purchase a rival's new model and dismantle it for inspection.

Haha what do you mean “some”......one part of my job was photographing every single nut and bolt, casting, cable, connector etc etc on every single competitor model that was launched, we had 8x4 boards with every component wired to it each part weighed and costed.

[MrWolf]

Which is why M6 bolts on a lot of Japanese cars ended up with rotten 9mm heads, or less.

 

Given the number of small manufacturers extant in the UK pre 1939, I have given a lot of them the benefit of the doubt, purely because they couldn't afford such large scale industrial espionage. 

[boxbrownie]

Industrial espionage is something we never got involved in.......but we did have arrangements with a couple of other European manufacturers to share information and of course we crawled very closely over any motor show sneak previews and made good use of snatched piccies from other testing facilities......all legal of course.

Edited January 21, 2021 by boxbrownie

[Two_sugars]

I could never understand why the Opel Kadett Coupe was never offered as a Vauxhall with the Chevette "droop snoot".

 

John

[BernardTPM]

Less practical and not really that much more sleek than the three-door hatch anyway.

[MrWolf]

43 minutes ago, BernardTPM said:

Less practical and not really that much more sleek than the three-door hatch anyway.

 

But at least it looked different, it was never aimed at the shopping trolley sector of the market. 

It was a compact 'personal' car, a miniature Capri, Chevelle or Apollo

I always fancied grafting an early recessed lamp Chevette front end onto one (or snowcatcher, which is why they went to Cavalier style flush lamps) but the Opel front end worked well too. It just needed a big engine option, like the 2300 Chevette.