For those interested in old cars.

[MrWolf]

On the Bedford it was also the solenoid, a cable running directly left from it connected to the battery, hung from the chassis under the passenger seat position. It was afforded better protection by being above the gearbox and much higher off the ground thanks to 16", later 15" wheels.

I think that there's several cars that by a microswitch or two engage the handbrake when you turn the key. Which is probably okay until it breaks. 

[Fat Controller]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

I'd forgotten about that from my mate's 95. I think that it also locked the handbrake in the on position.

Didn't you have to engage Reverse gear before you could withdraw the key? I recollect people doing emergency brake applications when following Saabs during loading of Eurotunnel Shuttles. They would see the Saab stop, and then the Reversing lights would illuminate.

[MrWolf]

I think that you did. There were quite a few peculiarities on them. Some old American cars with column change autos you couldn't withdraw the key until you put it into PARK as well as the usual inhibitor switch.

On a 1959 Buick, you turned the key in Park and pressed down on the accelerator to engage both choke and starter. The starter would then not re-engage on pressing the pedal unless the engine was stopped.

Vauxhall Vivas had a button under the steering column that had to be held in whilst removing the ignition key. Only then would the column lock engage. A relic from when people weren't used to steering column locks, it was to stop people when coasting and turning the engine off, from turning the key too far and finding out that they couldn't steer.

 

Useless facts: 8641, 2996 and 4408.

[Fat Controller]

42 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

I think that you did. There were quite a few peculiarities on them. Some old American cars with column change autos you couldn't withdraw the key until you put it into PARK as well as the usual inhibitor switch.

On a 1959 Buick, you turned the key in Park and pressed down on the accelerator to engage both choke and starter. The starter would then not re-engage on pressing the pedal unless the engine was stopped.

Vauxhall Vivas had a button under the steering column that had to be held in whilst removing the ignition key. Only then would the column lock engage. A relic from when people weren't used to steering column locks, it was to stop people when coasting and turning the engine off, from turning the key too far and finding out that they couldn't steer.

 

Useless facts: 8641, 2996 and 4408.

Which Viva was that? We had a '67 HB two-door which didn't have this feature (thankfully).

[Jol Wilkinson]

1 hour ago, Fat Controller said:

Didn't you have to engage Reverse gear before you could withdraw the key? I recollect people doing emergency brake applications when following Saabs during loading of Eurotunnel Shuttles. They would see the Saab stop, and then the Reversing lights would illuminate.

 

Yes you did. A friend was on a business trip to Sweden many years ago and had a rental SAAB. When he reached his first destination he didn't know he had to engage reverse to get the key out ,so had to go onto the hotel to ask for help.

[MrWolf]

35 minutes ago, Fat Controller said:

Which Viva was that? We had a '67 HB two-door which didn't have this feature (thankfully).

 

It was the HC, the FE Victor was similarly afflicted. I think that it was deleted on the Chevette, though I hated mine so much that I have blotted it out. Not a real Vauxhall IMHO anyway... 

My father bought a 1968 HB Viva Deluxe in 1971, it ran, requiring only a recon radiator and a scrapyard gearbox (layshaft seized solid because we didn't realize the oil seal had gone) in 11 years and 186,000 miles. It never required any welding and only got junked after a lorry ran into the back of it hard enough to ram the propshaft forward and shatter the aluminium housing. 

It was the only car that he regretted not being able to put in the garage and forget about for a couple of decades.

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

I think that you did. There were quite a few peculiarities on them. Some old American cars with column change autos you couldn't withdraw the key until you put it into PARK as well as the usual inhibitor switch.

The L322 Range Rover had the same, had to engage park before you could remove the ignition key.

 

I suspect there are a few more like that also.

[Enterprisingwestern]

8 hours ago, doilum said:

as opposed to my usual fare of quick escorts.

 

I used to know girls like that too once upon a time!

 

Mike.

[RJS1977]

I was quite surprised to be passed by a Sinclair C5 whilst I was out earlier this evening.

 

It appeared to have been modified with smaller wheels for some reason, which may have explained its somewhat intermittent progress!

[Sidecar Racer]

[Hobby]

Yes, I saw that on FB yesterdays and laughed, though I doubt Greta will be impressed! 

[PhilJ W]

17 minutes ago, Hobby said:

Yes, I saw that on FB yesterdays and laughed, though I doubt Greta will be impressed! 

There are several different variations of that on Farcebook. Whether you agree with her or not some of the comments have been pretty nasty and unpleasant.

[5 C]

22 hours ago, steve1 said:

What I miss most about each of my Saabs, all 5 of them, is having the ignition key down by the handbrake and not on the steering column. To me, it was more convenient, comfortable and, presumably, ergonomic.

 

steve

The reason given by Saab for the key position was knee injuries caused by drivers coming into contact with a column mounted key in the event of a crash.

[boxbrownie]

14 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

I was quite surprised to be passed by a Sinclair C5 whilst I was out earlier this evening.

 

It appeared to have been modified with smaller wheels for some reason, which may have explained its somewhat intermittent progress!

The original wheels were made of plastic, it’s entirely possible at this age they have just got too material fatigued to be safe.

[APOLLO]

Sinclair C5 !!!!

 

I remember one dark winter evening a long time ago, 5pm rush hour going home just near the M62 roundabout on the A49 north of Warrington, traffic was snarled, the reason one brave / stupid **** in a C5 pedalling like crazy, virtually no lights and artics etc surrounding him !

 

Wonder if he made it home that night ?

 

Brit15

[boxbrownie]

9 minutes ago, APOLLO said:

Sinclair C5 !!!!

 

I remember one dark winter evening a long time ago, 5pm rush hour going home just near the M62 roundabout on the A49 north of Warrington, traffic was snarled, the reason one brave / stupid **** in a C5 pedalling like crazy, virtually no lights and artics etc surrounding him !

 

Wonder if he made it home that night ?

 

Brit15

I remember a lot of them were fitted with long antennas with flags on the top, the C5 was so low as to be almost invisible from inside a car close to the C5

[5 C]

Saabs were full of quirky/thoughtful/useful features including the massively over engineered fold out cup holder and "night mode", where you could darken all the instruments bar the speedo - supposedly less distracting.

 

My one Saab was a 93 Aero. With its 2.0 litre Turbo engine I don't think I ever achieved more than 27 mpg. The fuel gauge needle seemed to move almost as quickly as the speedo and I found myself in petrol stations at least three times a week. It was a little treat to myself but I found it quite a disappointing experience - particularly the sound system. It was trying to compete with premium brands like Audi, Mercedes, Volvo, Jaguar, BMW and Lexus but to me it was only knocking on the door of that club but never let in. 

 

After a poor accident repair experience with a Saab dealer, I weighed up my options and managed to get out of the car early. Although the Vectra diesel didn't carry quite the same cachet, the Saab didn't justify its extra rental and running costs. I preferred having the money in my pocket rather than on my driveway.

[Oldddudders]

21 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

I remember a lot of them were fitted with long antennas with flags on the top, the C5 was so low as to be almost invisible from inside a car close to the C5

Recumbent cyclists wisely deploy similar ideas with good reason. 

[alastairq]

I had the same problems with oncoming Lotus Se7ens, and country lanes?

 

Whereas most 'normal' cars could be seen approaching those blind[and narrow] bends, over the hedge tops....a Se7en not only managed to hide behind the hedge tops, they also hid behind the blades of grass on the verge!!  Worse if the verges hadn't been trimmed for a week or two ? 

 

In the good ol' US of A, those  who went out hooning around the sand dunes would have aerials of considerable height, with flags on top, to hopefully prevent other  hooning duners from dune-leaping right on top of themselves..

[rocor]

15 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Recumbent cyclists wisely deploy similar ideas with good reason. 

 

Becoming far more recumbent than they are wishing to be.

[alastairq]

I've had a couple of SAAB 900s...oddly, both at the same time!

The first 900 was a half decent later version of the 900 [different brakes, etc], fitted with tidy faux miliite wheels, and an auto gearbox.

it was an eBay  [surprise] win, located just shy of 300 miles away [I bid to pacify the then-current missus, whose car it was really intended to be]...oddly, I won it.

Since I'm not too dishonourable a chap, I stumped up the massive [90 ruddy quids roughly...no wonder I don't use trains!!]  train fare from here to there...and even got delayed by that [Buncefield?] refinery fire!!!   Ended up very much as far south as one could reasonably get.....in the dark, and the wet, with but a brief introduction to the vagaries of SAAB 900 controls....and a loooong journey back home to deal with.

Problems included, struggling to find how to turn on the dashboard lights....and how on earth I got into the petrol filler!

It drove back nicely enough [for a car which cost but a couple of hundred quid or so!!]....

Actually quite a bargin as it turned out. Very clean, corrosion-wise, and the headlining wasn't overly droopy either [a fault with the 900's....]

The downside was, the autobox was a 'standard' BW affair, with 3 speeds, consequently SAAB [ or whoever?] dropped the final drive ratio to restore some of the missing 2 litre's performance .    Thus pootling along at the motorway limit, the engine was revving quite a bit higher than it's manual box sibling's....which didn't do much for the fuel consumption.    The windscreen shape was designed to enhance the racket from the in-car sound system to that of concert hall-type acoustics...and it worked!

I'm surprised the headlining didn't fall off earlier, given my Ex's proclivity for playing Metallica full throttle?

The other 900 I obtained [on a whim...had a tiny lottery win of a couple of hundred quids, just as a work colleague was thinking of disposing of his Saab 900 turbo....This was one of the earlier 900's, and was a bit rusty under the front end...very complex repair involving chassis legs...resulted in many many small burns under my armpits...

It did indeed go ''well enough''.....but  was really a bit of a tank, weight-wise.....handling and 'go' were good, but very much like slinging a large bus around the countryside.  [Must have been a similar experience driving one of the 1928 Bentley's with gusto?]. The only thing that went faster than the speedo was the  fuel gauge.  

I prefer my nippier cars to be more of the small & lightweight variety...but then, my idea of 'nippy' is most definitely not anybody else's.  So I've gathered.

 

The turbo's headlining draped around one's ears like a mosquito net.....so I had to fix it.. involving extracting the roof panel out of the rear door, and lots of spray cans of goo...  Those spray cans were left in the delivery box by the delivery driver, inside a rather tidy Skoda Estelle 120 I'd acquired for nowt....

Which proved to be a big disappointment, as they were delivered on what turned out to be, one of the hottest days of the year...and I was at work.

I arrived home to find the rather good condition interior totally covered in dynasoar snot, a windscreen smashed from the inside, and both front doors looking like they'd been hit by RPGs...Luckily the door skins were not perforated, just bulging outwards! The sunroof got blown out as well...

 

Also luckily the car was parked some 100 feet from the house....otherwise the dog might have had something to say about it all?

 

The second spray glue order was timed to arrive when someone was 'in'....

Turbo was sold to someone from Manchester, who went away all starry eyed [and a full MoT]....and is still on the DVLAs books....

 

The other 900 went with the ex-missus when she decide to Ex herself.....She sold it a couple of years later, mainly due to its fuel consumption....

 

She still makes me bread two or three times a week....bless her.

 

 

[boxbrownie]

38 minutes ago, alastairq said:

I had the same problems with oncoming Lotus Se7ens, and country lanes?

 

Whereas most 'normal' cars could be seen approaching those blind[and narrow] bends, over the hedge tops....a Se7en not only managed to hide behind the hedge tops, they also hid behind the blades of grass on the verge!!  Worse if the verges hadn't been trimmed for a week or two ? 

 

In the good ol' US of A, those  who went out hooning around the sand dunes would have aerials of considerable height, with flags on top, to hopefully prevent other  hooning duners from dune-leaping right on top of themselves..

Worse thing I found with our 7 was when left parked alongside a kerb, almost every time who ever parked either end would “nudge” it trying to judge where it was, no serious damage was done as a result (back end at least had the spare wheel there) but even when sitting in it the same would happen, they looked more carefully when a 6’2” 17 stone weakling got out of it and asked them to be more careful 

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, APOLLO said:

Sinclair C5 !!!!

 

I remember one dark winter evening a long time ago, 5pm rush hour going home just near the M62 roundabout on the A49 north of Warrington, traffic was snarled, the reason one brave / stupid **** in a C5 pedalling like crazy, virtually no lights and artics etc surrounding him !

 

Wonder if he made it home that night ?

 

Brit15

 

2 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

I remember a lot of them were fitted with long antennas with flags on the top, the C5 was so low as to be almost invisible from inside a car close to the C5

 

[Rugd1022]

Trafalgar Square in the '70s....

 

[MrWolf]

This early Marina is still a daily driver.