For those interested in old cars.

[alastairq]

9 hours ago, MrWolf said:

The body tub of this model morphed into the 1948-51 4 cyl Wyvern and 6 cyl Velox. 

 

 

  

 

The above type [Wyvern] was the very first car I ever drove.

Probably at knee-high-to-a-grasshopper age [short dungarees, etc]...sat on my Grandad's lap, steering, whilst he worked the go/stop pedals...the tenfoot down to his garage at the bottom of his garden was quite long, [cinder surface],  in Leamington Spa.  It was a company car [he worked for Esso at the time]

Garage made of wood with asbestos roof....

Odd, how as a small child I recall such details at my current tender age?

 

[MrWolf]

It's funny how you do remember with great clarity odd little things from childhood. Such as four of us piling into the back of my great uncle's Sunbeam Talbot 90 for a lift to junior school. It would have been a good twenty years old even then. We felt like Al Capone riding around in that!

I also recall being sat in grandpa's lap "steering" the old Commer lorry he had. I must have been about three years old.

I remember going to motorcycle trials in my uncle's CA van, him and my dad up front, me, my two cousins, two old James trials bikes and a pile of tools and spares in the back.

[Rugd1022]

Some childhood car memories - 

 

The sagging black cloth seat material in my Grandad's brand new Mk1 Granada estate in 1973, it was comfy enough but looked bloody awful! Great car though, it took us everywhere with quite some gusto, with up to ten of us occupying every available bit of space. Happy days.

 

My uncle Tony's shiny new Mk1 Capri in full Broadspeed trim, belting up the M6 with me and my two cousins bouncing about in the back, it looked very much like this one....

 

 

Being captivated by these two beauties on the TV in '71....

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by Rugd1022

[RANGERS]

On 07/03/2021 at 19:59, w124bob said:

Citroen 2CV and Dyane humour and comedy handling! Note the racing mustache.

I've just spent five mins staring at the pic looking for the racing moustache......on the donkey.

[PhilJ W]

5 minutes ago, RANGERS said:

I've just spent five mins staring at the pic looking for the racing moustache......on the donkey.

I was looking for it on the woman passenger.

[boxbrownie]

2 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I was looking for it on the woman passenger.

Aww Phil....you’re better than that 

[pH]

There was a get-together of T-Bird owners at a nearby park this afternoon:

 

 

There was filming going on nearby. I wonder if these were appearing. 

 

One was on the end of a parking line, and easy to photograph separately:

 

The others were more difficult to shoot:

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

You don't fool me, the white one is a Corsair on steroids!

 

Mike.

[steve1]

To my mind the original First Generation T Bird was a good looking car but it all too soon became bloated and over blinged. By the time of these Third and Fourth Gen models they had totally lost the plot.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Thunderbird_(first_generation)

 

steve

 

 

[BernardTPM]

2 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

You don't fool me, the white one is a Corsair on steroids!

Mike.

When I was a child I used to wonder why some Corsairs had four headlights.

[MrWolf]

The early ones were very European in styling, alongside the Lincoln Continental MKII and the ordinary Fairlane saloon that inspired Ford UK's revamp of the Consul/Zephyr/Zodiac in 1956. By 1958 we get OTT with four headlights, tailfins and lots of bling. (I actually like them, probably because others don't) The styling had  calmed down a bit right across America's more upmarket cars by 1960, which is when the cigar shape body came in with very little decoration (which is the wannabe Corsair) the 1964 model (the other two) is often referred to as the "Squarebird" designed to have a family look with the Mustang. They were almost worthless until one got chucked off the Grand canyon for a movie. Until then, the collectors ignored anything that wasn't a '56 or '57. 

If you want a truly ugly Thunderbird that has none of the originals style, look to the mid 1980s.

[Rugd1022]

I like all of the '50s and '60s T-Birds but my favourites are the '64 and '67 model year incarnations, I'm probably ion a minority when comes to the latter but there's something about it which hits a certain spot in the old grey cells for me. If I had a garage big enough though, I'd more than likely go for a '64....

 

 

This morning on the way to Kettering along the A14 I spotted a very early white two door Range Rover on a low loader, which rather took me by surprise.

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Road test 1956.

 

[MrWolf]

I do like a Flying Teapot.

 

An Austin A35 off the production line every two minutes.

 

That's pretty impressive.

[Erichill16]

Been out on the road a bit today and seen a Citroen Diane, not seen one of those in a long time. Also saw  a Mk 2 Golf and an A plate Fiesta. Funny how some days you see a few interesting cars and the next day nothing. Couldn’t get any pictures as weather’s been atrocious.

Robert

[PhilJ W]

2 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

I do like a Flying Teapot.

 

An Austin A35 off the production line every two minutes.

 

That's pretty impressive.

Impressive fuel consumption for the time, most of the Austins competitors could do little better than the mid 40's.

[jcredfer]

Mid 1990s, I was driving down the M4, just past the Reading turn-off and noticed an A35 up ahead.  It must have been flat out, as it took a few moments to catch up.  As it went under the bridge, there was a huge bang and a couple of con-rods, pistons and several less identifiable chunks of metal, together with the contents of the sump bounced along the tarmac from under the rear end.  What a mess.....   

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by jcredfer
Correction

[gr.king]

5 minutes ago, jcredfer said:

Mid 1910s, I was driving down the M4, just past the Reading turn-off and noticed an A35 up ahead.  It must have been flat out, as it took a few moments to catch up.  As it went under the bridge, there was a huge bang and a couple of con-rods, pistons and several less identifiable chunks of metal, together with the contents of the sump bounced along the tarmac from under the rear end.  What a mess.....   

 

A35s in the immediate post-Edwardian era?

Edited March 12, 2021 by gr.king

[jcredfer]

8 minutes ago, gr.king said:

A35s in the immediate post-Edwardian era?

 

Oops!  Thank you.  Edited for the reign of a later Monarch.

[MrWolf]

I remember a 948 from an A35, it holed a piston and bent an exhaust valve, but it limped home. Another engine was found in an A35 that had laid on its side in a bramble bush since about 1970. Unfortunately, number two piston was full of rusty water.

Valves, no3 piston, connecting rod, little end and various other bits were transferred to the original engine.

 

It ran without a problem as a daily driver for three years before it was stripped down for a proper restoration.

 

Which in my opinion makes it a far better car than any over hyped exotica.

[PhilJ W]

I've rebuilt a couple of engines, in the garden shed. First was a B series (Austin A50) second was a 100E. Both had holed a piston.

[Fat Controller]

2 hours ago, gr.king said:

A35s in the immediate post-Edwardian era?

Hit a pot-hole in the Space-Time Continuum? 

[jcredfer]

47 minutes ago, Fat Controller said:

Hit a pot-hole in the Space-Time Continuum? 

 

Quite a few of them around Wilts, I must keep a wary eye open for ancient travellers of Space Time - could be interesting.....   could explain the speed and age of some of the drivers, too!!

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by jcredfer

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

I've rebuilt a couple of engines, in the garden shed. First was a B series (Austin A50) second was a 100E. Both had holed a piston.

First engine I rebuilt was out of my first Mini.......I got some odd looks in the car park of our flats taking the engine and gearbox out and then dragging it on a bit of carpet into the flats and into the lift to our eighth floor flat......I rebuilt the entire thing and gas flowed the head (thank you Clive Trickey’s books on Mini tuning ) there was grinding dust all over the place.....it was not a good place to grind a head 

Edited March 12, 2021 by boxbrownie

[alastairq]

A35 Van? Was that not the late great James Hunt's favourite [family] drive?