For those interested in old cars.

[pH]

1 hour ago, PatB said:

Speaking of sleepers and small Fords, I've always thought it should be fairly simple to build an Anglia 1500GT (or even a Lotus-Anglia) using all Ford parts, given that where a 1200 pre-Xflow Kent will go, a 1500 should fit fairly seamlessly. Indeed, did Ford miss a trick by not doing so? Although, I suppose, they didn't get seriously into factory performance models until the Escort.

It was done, though not by Ford themselves. In the 1960s, a couple of my cousins had part shares in an Anglia with a Cortina 1500cc engine in it. Done up as a total ‘sleeper’. I’m sure it wasn’t the only one.

[great central]

12 minutes ago, pH said:

It was done, though not by Ford themselves. In the 1960s, a couple of my cousins had part shares in an Anglia with a Cortina 1500cc engine in it. Done up as a total ‘sleeper’. I’m sure it wasn’t the only one.

 

Fella I knew many many years ago drove around in his garage 'hack'.

Scratty looking Anglia van with a 1500 Cortina GT engine mated with a lower ratio gearbox they used for towing. 

Several of us regularly finished up in a heap by the back doors when he set off a bit sharpish!

[russ p]

11 hours ago, MJI said:

 

Ultimate Rootes group sleeper was the Avenger 2.2 estate.

Is that the one used by Des ODell ?

[MJI]

2 hours ago, russ p said:

Is that the one used by Des ODell ?

Not sure but were the two rally team chase cars, had rear discs as well.

 

When I saw one, was unrestored and looked like an old Avenger on nice alloys, no hint of Lotus at all.

Edited July 3, 2021 by MJI

[alastairq]

Ford 105E Anglias with Cortina-sourced 1500 [pre-crossflow back in the day] was a common performance upgrade.  Along with somebody;s disc brakes, etc.

 

[Of course, nowadays a Zetec is really the cheapest option around...two a penny?]

 

Carlos Fandango, anyone?

[PhilJ W]

Saw a classic yesterday going the other direction to which I was driving. A Morris badged A55 van with a Dormobile caravan conversion.

[MrWolf]

On 03/07/2021 at 12:46, PhilJ W said:

Saw a classic yesterday going the other direction to which I was driving. A Morris badged A55 van with a Dormobile caravan conversion.

 

That will be quite a rare beast. It would be a Sun-Tor camper made by TorCars conversions of Devon. Later they converted the Marina and MkI Escort vans.

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by MrWolf

[PhilJ W]

I once saw a rotted out Sun-Tor A55 and a fairly decent A55 van for sale (different vendors) at the same time. I did have thoughts of buying both and transferring the Sun-Tor bits to the van but the van was sold when I made enquiries.

Edited July 3, 2021 by PhilJ W

[MJI]

https://www.asoc.co.uk/articles/rac-198o

[RJS1977]

21 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

Not much has changed. 25 years ago, as a newlywed 23 year old, I went to look at a corner property on a new development. I had come into some money and was looking to buy outright so obviously, the salesman was keen to close the deal.

The corner plot suited me because it wasn't overlooked and we had two classic cars. At the rear was a big triangular space and the scruffy fence of allotments.

The conversation went rather like this:

"Do you offer a garage and how much?"

"Yes, a garage is £5000 extra."

"Really? How big is it?"

"It's our standard size."

"Which is?"

"16x8' external. It has to sit there, at the front of the house."

(Blocking access to all but foot traffic up the side of the house.)

"I think that I will be wanting a double garage up in the back corner."

"Oh you're not allowed to build anything up by that fence or in the back garden."

"Congratulations, you just lost a cash sale."

 

 

 

That doesn't sound like dishonesty to me - if anything it sounds as if the salesman was being honest to a fault! Better to find out what you can't do with the property before you buy it, rather than after.

 

[boxbrownie]

5 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

That will be quite a rare beast. It would be a Sun-Tor camper made by TorCars conversions of Devon. Later they converted the Marina and MkI Escort vans.

 

That seems a lot of headroom……even for a small van, love the two tone but oddly not carried onto the rear doors?

[MrWolf]

The cars were two tone, vans were single colour and the dividing chrome strip finishes before the curve on the rear wing, but it looks good all the same.

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by MrWolf
Add picture

[Kickstart]

On 02/07/2021 at 14:58, Rugd1022 said:

 

A quaint touch in the engine bay is the safety valve on top of the power steering fluid reservoir, not all of the 430s had these judging from some of the photos I've found online....

 

 

The twin ignition coils look like something you'd find inside a 1950s television set....

 

 

 

 

The valve on the vent of the power steering reservoir is not universal. Some seem to have it but not all. On the 222 the bonnet vents drop rain water on top of the reservoir, and not sure if the valve helps get water into the reservoir!

 

Not sure on the coils, but at one time we had a Fiat UNO floating around, and the coils looked Tegan same as the ones on the 222.

 

All the best

 

Katy

[MrWolf]

On 03/07/2021 at 15:07, RJS1977 said:

 

That doesn't sound like dishonesty to me - if anything it sounds as if the salesman was being honest to a fault! Better to find out what you can't do with the property before you buy it, rather than after.

 

 

Except that we had already told them exactly what we wanted several weeks earlier and couldn't get a concrete answer.

[MrWolf]

On 03/07/2021 at 22:46, Kickstart said:

 

Not sure on the coils, but at one time we had a Fiat UNO floating around, and the coils looked Tegan same as the ones on the 222.

 

All the best

 

Katy

 

That picture of the Maser coil and the 1950s TV set comparison puts me in mind of the first time I opened the bonnet of a MK1 Vauxhall Cavalier. 

There was a strange looking thing down on the inner wing with a long cable to the distributor, obviously the coil, but not like anything I had seen before.

 

 

[boxbrownie]

15 hours ago, MrWolf said:

The cars were two tone, vans were single colour and the dividing chrome strip finishes before the curve on the rear wing, but it looks good all the same.

 

Indeed, the two tone ends properly on the saloon with the light cluster breaking the transition, I just wondered on that conversion how the transition stopped, if it’s just at the door closure it would look a bit sudden, I’d like to see it with the doors closed really.

[boxbrownie]

11 hours ago, Kickstart said:

The valve on the vent of the power steering reservoir is not universal. Some seem to have it but not all. On the 222 the bonnet vents drop rain water on top of the reservoir, and not sure if the valve helps get water into the reservoir!

Proper Italian engineering 

[boxbrownie]

11 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

Except that we had already told them exactly what we wanted several weeks earlier and couldn't get a concrete answer.

Probably waiting for the concrete to set……

[Kickstart]

8 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Proper Italian engineering 

Meh, what Maserati called full production, Ford would call their run if prototypes!

 

All the best

 

Katy

[Rugd1022]

Another quirk on the Maser 430 which I wasn't aware of until now is that Eurospares list a front windscreen spoiler for it, similar to the ones fitted to the Ghibli and Shamal....

 

 

 

(I've ordered part numbers 24 and 50 badges for it).

Edited July 4, 2021 by Rugd1022

[Kickstart]

Suspect that spoiler is mostly on the late cars, so mostly the 4.24v. Late cars had a few revisions such as the headlights, but rare in the uk.

 

A lot of cars were imported and then not sold for a while. Found an article years ago from 1991 reported on the importer going bust reporting that they had sold 4 cars in the first quarter of 1991. Ours was one of those 4, but was built in 1989. Took quite a while to work through the stock of new cars

 

All the best

 

Katy

[boxbrownie]

8 minutes ago, Rugd1022 said:

Another quirk on the Maser 430 which I wasn't aware of until now is that Eurospares list a front windscreen spoiler for it, similar to the ones fitted to the Ghibli and Shamal....

 

 

 

(I've ordered part numbers 24 and 50 badges for it).

Oh dear that’s not a spoiler, it’s a 1960s sun shade…..

 

Edited July 4, 2021 by boxbrownie

[Rugd1022]

1 hour ago, Kickstart said:

Suspect that spoiler is mostly on the late cars, so mostly the 4.24v. Late cars had a few revisions such as the headlights, but rare in the uk.

 

A lot of cars were imported and then not sold for a while. Found an article years ago from 1991 reported on the importer going bust reporting that they had sold 4 cars in the first quarter of 1991. Ours was one of those 4, but was built in 1989. Took quite a while to work through the stock of new cars

 

All the best

 

Katy

 

If I've got this right, the last 250 Ghiblis took a while to shift too. John Price Williams' Biturbo book is pretty good but I'd imagine if Marc Sonnery did a follow up to his book 'Maserati - The Citroen Years' on the De Tomaso era it would be something rather special.

 

Meanwhile, I have purchased a bit of cheap tat from Amazon and mysteriously become an official Alfa Romeo Concessionaire overnight..... 

 

 

 

 

[Oldddudders]

Hmm.

 

[boxbrownie]

48 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Hmm.

 

Time for anti-freeze….