RHD American cars from the 60's in the UK
Discussion
300bhp/ton said:
Bozwell said:
the last recent LHD car I drove was '67 GT500 Shelby Mustang 4 speed. yes you can get a round in a LHD car but it is a bit of a hindrance around town.
Sorry but that's utter rubbish. If driving LHD is a hindrance then you shouldn't be behind the wheel of any car, no matter what side you sit on.I'm not saying you can't have preference, but apart from ticket booths and McDonalds drive-tru's LHD is no 'physical' hindrance at all.
It's not as if you see people converting McLaren F1's to RHD is it.
300bhp/ton said:
Sorry but that's utter rubbish. If driving LHD is a hindrance then you shouldn't be behind the wheel of any car, no matter what side you sit on.
I'm not saying you can't have preference, but apart from ticket booths and McDonalds drive-tru's LHD is no 'physical' hindrance at all.
.
i'm not 'physically' able to see through parked cars/vans so edging out to see past does mean the car has to be on the wrong side of the road. yes LHD is fine on the open road but i'd rather make town driving a little easier. we can't all be road warriors.I'm not saying you can't have preference, but apart from ticket booths and McDonalds drive-tru's LHD is no 'physical' hindrance at all.
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I once had a left hand drive Mustang, years ago with tasteful side pipes and chrome wheels, and every time I went for fuel it had an audience, and I kept getting in the wrong side ! It was also really difficult in the lanes of rural Gloucestershire, as I had to take every corner blind, and that makes a very fast car very slow! Would not have another!
Bozwell said:
i'm not 'physically' able to see through parked cars/vans so edging out to see past does mean the car has to be on the wrong side of the road. yes LHD is fine on the open road but i'd rather make town driving a little easier. we can't all be road warriors.
The reality is that driven correctly a powerful LHD car can allow better visibility and safe overtaking in urban traffic than a RHD vehicle if positioned correctly. Given that most UK RHD drivers will position their vehicles in the centre of the carriageway or closer to the centreline than to the kerb it is a simple matter with a LHD car to drive close to the kerb and get a far better sight line up the inside of a row of traffic than if following other vehicles bumper to bumper. The exception to that will be pulling out of 'T' junctions in wet weather - view to the right can be an issue without electric windows (but not a lot worse than RHD car's view to the left) Bozwell said:
300bhp/ton said:
Sorry but that's utter rubbish. If driving LHD is a hindrance then you shouldn't be behind the wheel of any car, no matter what side you sit on.
I'm not saying you can't have preference, but apart from ticket booths and McDonalds drive-tru's LHD is no 'physical' hindrance at all.
.
i'm not 'physically' able to see through parked cars/vans so edging out to see past does mean the car has to be on the wrong side of the road. yes LHD is fine on the open road but i'd rather make town driving a little easier. we can't all be road warriors.I'm not saying you can't have preference, but apart from ticket booths and McDonalds drive-tru's LHD is no 'physical' hindrance at all.
.
That was back when incorrect parking was far more likely to get you in trouble but I never had any tickets for parking facing the wrong way at any time.
These days nobody seems to care which way round you park any more so it's even less of a problem.
TBH, you seem to be making driving a LHD American car in this Country out to be far harder than it really is!
There are thousands of American LHD's in this Country and their owners don't seem to have a problem with parking and such like! (I guess they must all be "road warriors" by your reckoning!
)Bozwell said:
now i'm confused.
whats the power to visibility ratio? do I need more than 500bhp to see around corners?
your post makes no scense
In terms of 'safe' overtaking with a LHD vehicle you will have significant forward and rearwards 'blind spots' due to sitting on left hand side of your vehicle (when following directly in line with other vehicles) - hence the need to position yourself to extreme left of carriageway for best forward/rearwards vision up the inside of the line of traffic. When conducting overtaking manoeuvre and swinging right through 'blind spot' (of vehicles to the front/rear) to outer right hand side of carriageway (obviously checking front/rear visibility one more time) for final overtaking - a more powerful vehicle will allow you to pass other traffic quicker and therefore safer than a lower powered vehicle. Its no different to an HGV driver 'reading' the road (due to his elevated driving position) far ahead and planning the manoeuvre of a very large truck well in advance except he doesn't have the advantage of quick acceleration.whats the power to visibility ratio? do I need more than 500bhp to see around corners?
your post makes no scense
obviously we are at crossed purposes. i'm not talking about parking or overtaking slow moving cars. busy narrow roads with parked cars can be fun to negotiate with a LHD car, no matter what power you have.
but apparently I shouldn't be behind the wheel of any car. hence the road warrior comment.
but apparently I shouldn't be behind the wheel of any car. hence the road warrior comment.
I honestly don't see why anyone would bother - I'm British, but living in Europe. We drive home quite frequently, and occasionally borrow UK cars for one reason or another.
So in a given year, I'm likely to have driven both RHD and LHD in the UK and in Europe.
Apart from toll machines and car parks (and I suppose the McDonalds drive through, if you like that kind of thing) I cannot see that there's a particular advantage to being on one side or the other. For every corner that your view is restricted, there's another where it's enhanced.
For car parks, after years of trying to lean over, etc I now just put the handbrake on, get out and walk around the car.
I assume much of the drive for conversions comes from countries (Australia springs to mind) were LHD cars can't be registered unless they're pretty old.
So in a given year, I'm likely to have driven both RHD and LHD in the UK and in Europe.
Apart from toll machines and car parks (and I suppose the McDonalds drive through, if you like that kind of thing) I cannot see that there's a particular advantage to being on one side or the other. For every corner that your view is restricted, there's another where it's enhanced.
For car parks, after years of trying to lean over, etc I now just put the handbrake on, get out and walk around the car.
I assume much of the drive for conversions comes from countries (Australia springs to mind) were LHD cars can't be registered unless they're pretty old.
Bozwell said:
knocked up a bump steer gauge. standard it is terrible. a rack of different dimensions to the drag link improves matters.
simple to move the bracket and pedal box
simple!
a8hex said:
Bozwell said:
simple!
How's the Honda project going? Looks like you've got the engine to squeeze in. I'd love more picture of how it's going.Only jokin' but the 800 engine was a little engineering jem I recall
Your conversion looks well put together
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