For those interested in old cars.

[BernardTPM]

2 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

I thought that must be way off, The bonnet of the Mk4 always looked the size of a tennis court to me back in the day. However, after looking up the dimensions on Wikipedia, it's scarily close....

It probably would look wider parked nose to nose as there was very little taper at either end of those Mk.4 'Z' cars.

[Rugd1022]

I meant to post about this the other day but got side tracked (as usual!) - Johnny Smith's 'Late Brake Show' uncovering a SIII Lamborghini Espada that has been holed up in a Cumbrian barn for decades, and it's rare RHD manual car to boot, it's already on its way to auction so let's hope the new owner gets ace Lambo man Iain Tyrrell to give it the love it deserves....

 

 

 

I know the Espada is very much a 'Marmite' car, but even so what a fantastic find.

[Northmoor]

I'm sure it's lovely but the Lamborghini I'd want would be a tractor.  Firstly because, well who doesn't secretly want to drive a tractor and secondly, the fun of telling people you owned a Lamborghini and them asking to come and see it.....

[alastairq]

I think one of the reasons why the cars of our era looked bigger, wider, etc, might have been because, on the whole, cars were quite  a bit lower than those of today?

A bit of an optical illusion going on?

 

A bit like today's cars 'looking ''safer'' to ride in to the average modern motist/car buyer...simply because they have large areas of solid paneling, with smaller window areas [in terms of depth], perhaps?

They have an appearance of bulk.

This gives a psychological idea of quality & safety. {Ignore the safety technologies for the moment..many of which have been around for many years]

Much the same as gluing a coin to the bottom of a plastic cup?

{ I recall the TV prog that demonstrated this in an experiment....using cups of tea [bags]?  A test group of people were given plastic cups of tea to taste. They had to vote on which a they thought tasted the best? Almost without exception they voted for one particular {plastic} cup of tea.  With the opinion that the tea was of better quality.

What they didn't know at the time was, all the tea was made from the same brand of tea bag......exactly the same. All of it. From the same pot!!

The only difference being, one of the plastic cups each was given, had a  coin glued to the base of it. It was the glued-coin cup of tea that everyone voted for [almost]...  The experiment had nowt to do with tea tasting, and everything to do with psychology.

Apparently in our modern society we are all conditioned, subconsciously, to think that  'weight' equals 'quality!'

Therefore, the slightly heavier plastic cups of tea must equate to better quality tea. Which is therefore preferable...or so we think?

I see the same concept being applied to our cars? The heavier a car looks, the better quality it must be?  [Look at Land Rovers, for example??]

[Oldddudders]

2 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

I'm sure it's lovely but the Lamborghini I'd want would be a tractor.  Firstly because, well who doesn't secretly want to drive a tractor and secondly, the fun of telling people you owned a Lamborghini and them asking to come and see it.....

Rather like my chateau-owning farmer friend Richard, who said he had a Volkswagen in the garage. Well, sort of, in fact it was a Porsche 997 cabrio.....

[Fat Controller]

5 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

I'm sure it's lovely but the Lamborghini I'd want would be a tractor.  Firstly because, well who doesn't secretly want to drive a tractor and secondly, the fun of telling people you owned a Lamborghini and them asking to come and see it.....

It's funny how high-end car manufacturers have or had,  tractor-building divisions. Ferrari and Lamborghini still make tractors, whilst David Brown decided to concentrate on the cars. A neighbouring farm to our friends in the Beaujolais used to use an odd-looking Lamborghini, resembling a 4-wheel drive milk-float.

[KeithMacdonald]

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

I'm sure it's lovely but the Lamborghini I'd want would be a tractor.  Firstly because, well who doesn't secretly want to drive a tractor and secondly, the fun of telling people you owned a Lamborghini and them asking to come and see it.....

 

Here's one Gezza played with earlier...

 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

As a very special treat for you all, here's what a visitor parked on our front drive / building site a few days ago.

 

Absolutely drop-dead gorgeous!

 

 

The story from the owner was that he'd just been up to Hereford, to show it in the filming for Richard Hammond's new TV show, "Richard Hammond’s Workshop", a new show for Discovery+ UK.

 

Quote

Chimp Productions said: "The business will focus on rare and collectible bikes and cars, from vintage classics to modern hyper-cars. Across the series Richard will be front and centre. He’ll be drumming up trade from his extensive motoring connections, showcasing his team’s work at car shows and rolling up his sleeves to lend a hand at the sharp end."

 

https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/regional-news/richard-hammond-opens-car-restoration-5934480

 

[Rugd1022]

2 hours ago, Fat Controller said:

It's funny how high-end car manufacturers have or had,  tractor-building divisions. Ferrari and Lamborghini still make tractors, whilst David Brown decided to concentrate on the cars. A neighbouring farm to our friends in the Beaujolais used to use an odd-looking Lamborghini, resembling a 4-wheel drive milk-float.

 

And as an aside, David Brown's gear manufacturing company made the gear set for the GPO Tower's revolving restaurant in 1965.

 

Ferruccio Lamborghini sold a a large stake in his tractor concern in the early '70s when a massive deal with Argentina fell through, around the same time he started going to the factory a lot less, preferring to spend time in his vineyards, which to this day still produce some excellent posh grape juice.

 

 

[boxbrownie]

3 hours ago, Fat Controller said:

It's funny how high-end car manufacturers have or had,  tractor-building divisions. Ferrari and Lamborghini still make tractors, whilst David Brown decided to concentrate on the cars. A neighbouring farm to our friends in the Beaujolais used to use an odd-looking Lamborghini, resembling a 4-wheel drive milk-float.

Not just high end manufacturers, well it was a Ford 

my daughters favourite is on the left……

 

edit….it’s hard to believe that was once a full size tractor!

Edited September 20, 2021 by boxbrownie

[PhilJ W]

4 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Rather like my chateau-owning farmer friend Richard, who said he had a Volkswagen in the garage. Well, sort of, in fact it was a Porsche 997 cabrio.....

 

4 hours ago, Fat Controller said:

It's funny how high-end car manufacturers have or had,  tractor-building divisions. Ferrari and Lamborghini still make tractors, whilst David Brown decided to concentrate on the cars. A neighbouring farm to our friends in the Beaujolais used to use an odd-looking Lamborghini, resembling a 4-wheel drive milk-float.

Porsche also made tractors.

[PhilJ W]

54 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Not just high end manufacturers, well it was a Ford 

my daughters favourite is on the left……

 

edit….it’s hard to believe that was once a full size tractor!

I like less than two miles from the factory where they are made. It was once labelled as Ford, then FIAT and now New Holland. 

[Nick C]

12 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

Not just high end manufacturers, well it was a Ford 

my daughters favourite is on the left……

 

edit….it’s hard to believe that was once a full size tractor!

I'd much prefer the one on the left too - if nothing else, when it breaks, you can whack it with a hammer, wheras the other one will need a laptop with some very expensive proprietary software...

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, Nick C said:

I'd much prefer the one on the left too - if nothing else, when it breaks, you can whack it with a hammer, wheras the other one will need a laptop with some very expensive proprietary software...

If you whacked that one with a hammer I am afraid you may have to deal with my Daughter’s IPO dogs 

[Kickstart]

24 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

If you whacked that one with a hammer I am afraid you may have to deal with my Daughter’s IPO dogs 

 

I take it they are unionised, and only they are allowed to use a hammer on it?

 

All the best

 

Katy

[boxbrownie]

2 hours ago, Kickstart said:

 

I take it they are unionised, and only they are allowed to use a hammer on it?

 

All the best

 

Katy

Left handed hammers only……

[Northmoor]

I may have said on here before that the classic vehicle I most regret not buying was a Ferguson TE20.  Growing up in rural Wales, almost every farm had one lying around somewhere and when I was 17 a local farm auction disposed of a working example, but not road-legal, for £180 (plus a complete non-runner for £120).  Three decades later and it would be ten times that, an amount I couldn't justify now.  Some years ago my parents had one stored in their barn; it was the village committee's vehicle for mowing the common amongst other jobs and complete with front loader.  I went to visit one time to find the village had sold it......

[rocor]

On 20/09/2021 at 20:28, boxbrownie said:

Not just high end manufacturers, well it was a Ford 

my daughters favourite is on the left……

 

edit….it’s hard to believe that was once a full size tractor!

 

The Little Blue Tractor That Could.

[rocor]

On 20/09/2021 at 16:38, Fat Controller said:

It's funny how high-end car manufacturers have or had,  tractor-building divisions. Ferrari and Lamborghini still make tractors, whilst David Brown decided to concentrate on the cars. A neighbouring farm to our friends in the Beaujolais used to use an odd-looking Lamborghini, resembling a 4-wheel drive milk-float.

 

I believe it to be is a different Ferrari that makes the tractors.

[Hobby]

It is...

 

https://www.ferraritractor.com/

 

Nice green colour as well, should be a bit darker, though!

[RJS1977]

On 21/09/2021 at 13:12, Northmoor said:

I may have said on here before that the classic vehicle I most regret not buying was a Ferguson TE20.  Growing up in rural Wales, almost every farm had one lying around somewhere and when I was 17 a local farm auction disposed of a working example, but not road-legal, for £180 (plus a complete non-runner for £120).  Three decades later and it would be ten times that, an amount I couldn't justify now.  Some years ago my parents had one stored in their barn; it was the village committee's vehicle for mowing the common amongst other jobs and complete with front loader.  I went to visit one time to find the village had sold it......

 

I read a couple of years ago that there is a thriving export market in 1970s tractors being sold to Africa.

 

African students have been coming to the UK to study agriculture, and many of the colleges are still using them. When the students go back to Africa, they buy one and take it with them as they're so much easier to drive and maintain than current tractors!

[Northmoor]

1 hour ago, RJS1977 said:

 

I read a couple of years ago that there is a thriving export market in 1970s tractors being sold to Africa.

 

African students have been coming to the UK to study agriculture, and many of the colleges are still using them. When the students go back to Africa, they buy one and take it with them as they're so much easier to drive and maintain than current tractors!

Very true; some years ago I worked with a Kenyan aerospace engineer who was setting up a sideline business to do precisely that.

[PhilJ W]

Lamborghini was at one time solely a manufacturer of tractors and the owner wanted a luxury sports car. He went to Ferrari but didn't like what he saw so he decided to build his own cars and the rest as they say is history.

[Northmoor]

Changing the subject: on holidays overseas I almost always get a photo of a classic vehicle somewhere (I can always track down trains as well, no matter how unlikely the location).  I'll see what else I can find over the coming weeks but looking for something else, I found this one taken in Rome 20 years ago:

Edited August 6, 2022 by Northmoor

[boxbrownie]

16 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

 

I read a couple of years ago that there is a thriving export market in 1970s tractors being sold to Africa.

 

as they're so much easier to drive and maintain than current tractors!

On the second point it is very much debatable they may be simpler in construction but to actually drive and use on a productive field……not so much.

 

On the first point we wish it was the old tractors, we lost three GPS units from our tractors a few weeks ago and a  GPS spray mapping unit from the sprayer…….a very bad night that was!