@bullstuff2
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John, That last story reminds me of the first car I had at (almost)17. A Ford V8 Pilot, sourced from a scrapyard “Spares & Repairs” or whatever we called it in ’62. Gull-wing bonnet, driving along with a young lady I wished to impress, when the bonnet that I had failed to repair properly, flew off. I was caught up by a terrified, angry driver at the next cafe, demanding to know why I had almost decapitated his entire family and producing the remains of my bonnet from the boot of his car. Humble apologies, quick exit, end of potential romance. Got a few quid from another scrapyard for it. (the car, not the young lady)???
I had a mate who built a Granada/Cortina ‘hybrid’. Granada 2.3 V6, suspension and steering, Cortina Ghia body. It looked like a high-riding Cortina but drove well, no body roll. Lots of mech’s and small garage owners in my area at that time, building “specials”, we were a ‘Clique’ meeting at weekends in certain pubs and places. we are all oldpharts now, still mostly in touch, although I would need a Séance to speak to some of the old crew! We used to bounce ideas and solutions off each other.
I have mentioned before that I had several Capri’s, but never one with a V4. Several Transits had that lump, it had a lower Compression ratio and the only one I ever drove was a part-ex we took. It pulled up 2 of the local steep hills out of the village, like a train, but refused more than a noisy 60mph on the flat. The 2 Capri’s I owned which impressed me most, were the 3.1 RS LHD in Germany and the Mk.1 1600 GTXLR:
No black bonnet, the previous owner had it repainted all yellow. He also had the engine blue printed ( I received all documentation with the car) and had a Plymouth Cricket 5 speed box fitted, from a Texas supplier. that was also blueprinted. Beefed suspension, twin choke Weber carb, high lift cam’s, etc, etc. Unfortunately he had it Cadulac rust proofed, company later put out of business as it cracked, allowed water in and rotted the chassis. I broke the car behind the garage and made much more than I paid for it.
But that car was very quick and I loved it. A good MK1 GTXLR is a collector’s item today, much sought after, especially in Germany. Ain’t it beautiful? – Oh well, it’s in the eye of the beholder!
When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.I well remember my first encounter with a Civic at the workshop. A 1975 model, although this example is a ’69:
Still looks good today, doesn’t it? A neat little motor.
I looked at the engine bay and thought “What does this remind me of?” – (Example?) –
Then I got it: certain Honda motorbike engines. Had to road test it (foreman’s privilege) and was impressed with the buzzy, revvy engine and the fact that it had a stereo (A STEREO as standard?) Obvious good build quality. Part of the beginning of the end for the British motor industry.
As an aside: in around 1989, I had a customer who ran a Rover 25 and had wrecked his door aperture seals, resulting in excess noise. I sourced some from Honda (same Pressed Steel Fisher body thanks to Honda-Rover shared ownership) for a Honda Ballade. Sent from Japan, fitted well and I think were 25% less expensive than the Rover seal kit. Go figure, as the Yanks say.
Anyone interested in the Rover/Honda/BMW debacle, should take a look at this and see where the BMW 1-series really came from: –
EDIT: want a brand new, delivery mileage only, genuine factory model Rover/MG 75? Could have gone here in 2009:
When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.Do you not have a WC TV?
And:
” Nothing against tv, and the amount of shite programs … ”
Obvious solution for most of today’s TV programming – down the pan with it!
Graham, upscaling SD to 1080P on my Bravia is not detectably different from 1080P programmes on HD channels. When a 720 channel/video/movie is played, up comes “1080i” immediately followed by “1080P” and a much better screen picture. Also works perfectly with Humax Freesat 1080i channels.
When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.JayCee, did your Stag have the original Triumph V8, or a Ford V6 replacement? Those cars were one of the many Classics that I rebuilt, maintained and serviced. A customer asked me to fit a Ford V6, which is a relatively painless exercise, but I refused on the grounds that I could either find him a good Triumph V8, or rebuild his own engine. I saw “bread & butter” everyday cars as open to all kinds of transplants, but our name as a Classic builder & restorer, depended on each model being correct. Eventually he had a back street cowboy fit a Ford lump. Two years later he was back, Stag on a low loader and his original TR V8 with it. I rebuilt the engine, chassis, suspension & steering: bodywork lads rebuilt the rest. It was gorgeous and AFAIK he still has it. Some Classic owners look after their cars, some just learn what happens when you don’t.
Ford Cortinas: I have had several over the years of all models, but always bought one that I could check on a ramp with the owner present. This led to longer and longer faces when I reeled off faults and began downsizing the asking price. Mostly they drove away, but I did pick up some bargains that I rebuilt for myself, drove, enjoyed and sold on for a nice profit. Pound for pound, the best one I think was a 2.0 Ltr. saloon Ghia 4 door in metallic light blue. Looked a real shed when I bought it for £200 in around 1990, I spent weekends and evenings rebuilding that car, as I did with many others over the years. I wanted to bump the motorway travel economy and worked out that a 2.0 ltr. estate had a higher-ratio differential. Lo, there was a Salvage estate in our compound! Transplant followed after replacing all bushes, seals etc. Cruising was magic on the faster roads and economy tested out better. I put in a twin choke Solex like the one below. (Webers at the time were more expensive)
It went like the proverbial effluent from a garden implement, but accelerated steadily to the local limit, returned 32 mpg+. Heavy acceleration was ‘exciting’ but knocked the economy. As usual, after a year or so, someone local offered me good money and I moved on.
First Japanese car I had was a Datsun 120Y 3 door. Bag of nails. First Hyundai I ever saw in the workshop, was a Stellar at its first MOT. It was all Cortina MK4* underneath and it failed on all the same bushes, lol. Engine I believe, was Mitsubishi or Mazda, can’t remember which. Fast forward to 2017 and 2018: I had a Tucson and then an i20X. Swapped the Tucson to the i20X because we each had ops and could no longer get in or out of it, but the Tucson was one of the most comfortable cars I ever drove.
*There never was a “Mk.5” Cortina. The last model was a “Mk.4 Facelift”. differences were slight but the biggest tell is the roof, which has a higher line above the windows in the Facelift.
When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.In late 1981 I was working for a boss I hated, which is something for me as I had endured without actual hate, some real a-holes in the Merchant Navy and 12 years of Army Service. The girl I had grown up with across the road was married to an old mate, who decided to strike out from his dad’s Mansfield garage and buy a bankrupt garage in the village, across the way to the one I was working at. I was wanted as workshop foreman and there followed some of my happiest working years, running the workshop in a family business among his 4 kids also working there.
The place had been really rundown and it took 2 years of hard work to create a profit – making business. Boss/mate and I decided to dig up and level the ground behind the workshop, hired a digger and got on with it. We hit metal. I took a crowbar and tested the ground: lots of metallic sounds! Turned out that the last owner had buried some cars there, lots of 60’s and 70’s heaps which he had reported as stolen. Police were called, they brought in a bigger machine and I believe they are still looking for the guy! I think the only car which might have been worth something once, was a BMW 1602, the round headlamp model:
Something like the above. Unfortunately, all the roofs were crushed and the bodywork of every car was trashed. I considered the motors after we had dragged everything into our recovery compound and asked the police what would happen to the remains. Eventually they decided that all the cars were ours, obviously they wanted no further dealings. We got that in writing and began to strip what we could from the cars, labelling everything properly with make/model/year etc. We sold quite a lot of stuff to a second-hand parts place and made a good few quid. Scrap was then at a relatively higher value than now, so all the remaining metal fetched another few quid.
I received a healthy bonus for my initiative, suggestions and plans from my mate the boss, which was a bonus as the last employer refused to pay holiday money after I left. I would have loved to be able to rebuild the 1602, but it was too far gone. A classic now: really good ones fetch very good money.
When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.