How about a 'period' classics pictures thread
Discussion
Some interesting comments about the relative ages of cars.
AIRC when I started driving in 1969 my 10 year old Anglia 105e was pretty much 'end of life' in most respects and only my efforts with filler and thick oil in the engine coaxed another year out of it.
Today I regard a 10 year old car at 100K as barely run in and all cars in our houshold join us at about that age. I quite happily use a 17 year old one as a daily driver. Hardly any rust on any of them. These days it seems to be the electronics, or more importantly the cost of repairing same, which is the biggest threat.
AIRC when I started driving in 1969 my 10 year old Anglia 105e was pretty much 'end of life' in most respects and only my efforts with filler and thick oil in the engine coaxed another year out of it.
Today I regard a 10 year old car at 100K as barely run in and all cars in our houshold join us at about that age. I quite happily use a 17 year old one as a daily driver. Hardly any rust on any of them. These days it seems to be the electronics, or more importantly the cost of repairing same, which is the biggest threat.
Here, here Sir, Goosed ECU on a modern car sends the poor thing off to the scrappers, older cars with points, condensor and a distributor start giving jip it'd be off to the scrapper to get replacements! I served my time as a motor mechanic on '70's Fords and know how to diagnose a problem, my lad is a 'Technician' at a Multi-franchise dealer, needs a laptop to sort them!
52classic said:
Some interesting comments about the relative ages of cars.
AIRC when I started driving in 1969 my 10 year old Anglia 105e was pretty much 'end of life' in most respects and only my efforts with filler and thick oil in the engine coaxed another year out of it.
Today I regard a 10 year old car at 100K as barely run in and all cars in our houshold join us at about that age. I quite happily use a 17 year old one as a daily driver. Hardly any rust on any of them. These days it seems to be the electronics, or more importantly the cost of repairing same, which is the biggest threat.
AIRC when I started driving in 1969 my 10 year old Anglia 105e was pretty much 'end of life' in most respects and only my efforts with filler and thick oil in the engine coaxed another year out of it.
Today I regard a 10 year old car at 100K as barely run in and all cars in our houshold join us at about that age. I quite happily use a 17 year old one as a daily driver. Hardly any rust on any of them. These days it seems to be the electronics, or more importantly the cost of repairing same, which is the biggest threat.
bob1179 said:
dartissimus said:
Here's my Grandfather's Rover outside t'mill.
Early 1950's Dewsbury.
It might look gloomy, but it was probably a sunny day
Do you have anymore pictures of the area at time? I would love to have seen Dewsbury, Bradford, Huddersfield etc at the time. I believe they were massively wealthy parts of the country at the time. Things have changed somewhat now...Early 1950's Dewsbury.
It might look gloomy, but it was probably a sunny day
cjb1 said:
Here, here Sir, Goosed ECU on a modern car sends the poor thing off to the scrappers, older cars with points, condensor and a distributor start giving jip it'd be off to the scrapper to get replacements! I served my time as a motor mechanic on '70's Fords and know how to diagnose a problem, my lad is a 'Technician' at a Multi-franchise dealer, needs a laptop to sort them!
And this is part of the problem today. Technicians are not trained to diagnose problems as you were in t'good ol' days. If the computer can't tell them what the problem is they are stuffed.Back to the thread though. How would you put a distributor and points on a modern engine? there's no hole in the engine casing for one.
piper said:
Brands Hatch circa 1961, a Lotus 17 with its body work removed, does anybody know what the car is behind it?
By piperp2 at 2012-05-09
Could it be a Riley of some description? The swage line by the door, and the upright radiator makes me think of a 30's Riley for some reason. Plus the shape of the top of the radiator would lend itself to a Riley shield nicely. By piperp2 at 2012-05-09
Probably talking utter rubbish though.
W124Bob said:
anyone ID the micro car behind the AEC tipper
Curiously, it's a relation of the Cobra.AC was among a handful of manufacturers who built Invalid Carriages for the Health Service. They were tiny, narrow, slow and a familiar sight for many years. Their role has been taken over by the Mobility scheme which uses normal cars with modifications. They weren't permitted on the motorway. As a new driver I nearly took one out on an unlit section of the M4. It was dark and raining, I saw tail lights in the distance, looked in the mirror, glanced over my shoulder, looked back and found it wasn't tail lights in the distance, I was right on top of an invalid carriage doing about 20mph. Blimey it was close.
They carried the famous AC badge.
There were several versions. I think this was the most common.
During the 1950's, a neighbour had a new one of these "vehicles" every 2/3 years, the early ones I'm sure were badged "Invacar" and powered(ish) by a 197cc Villiers engine and all in metallic blue paintwork which quickly peeled off. The driver was a young girl who very bravely battled with the tiller steering and recalcitrant engine to get her to work and back. We lived on a hill which was cul de sac meaning that when coming home each night, she "powered" her way uphill and then had to turn around which meant a hard swerve right. Then came the misery of reversing it and this always caused a lot of manic revving, clouds of blue smoke and plenty of impressive back fires. After a struggle she eventually got the thing to go backwards and then rolled down to park outside her home in a blue haze of relief.
I suppose it got her to places but they were dreadful things and it is many years since I saw one so suspect they were all gratefully scrapped by their unfortunate recipients.
I suppose it got her to places but they were dreadful things and it is many years since I saw one so suspect they were all gratefully scrapped by their unfortunate recipients.
Yikes! There's a whole world out there we knew nothing about. There are websites, clubs and societies.
I thought they were built by several companies including AC but it turns out there were two; AC and Invacar.
The relevant bit: "Although produced jointly by both AC Cars Ltd & Invacar Ltd, the Model 70 was entirely an AC design from the ground up."
They seem now to be dreadfully undignified but you have to remember that at the time they made a vast improvement to the lives of those who used them. One of my great uncles became very disabled with old age and preferred to have his Austin 1100 converted to hand controls. It was such a ramshackle, Heath Robinson solution! Each conversion being a one-off for the firm who did them. It worked though, complete with holes in the floor for levers to pass through. For the majority, an invalid carriage was presumably considered a better option.
O/T When my uncle gave up driving I was asked by my mother to go and see him, say nice things about the car, give him what he wanted for it and drive it to the breakers. When he opened the garage there was a one owner Austin 1100, 4826 PE. "That's very nice, Jack. You haven't, er, got the history have you? All the bills and receipts and things?" "Oh, no. When I knew you were coming I had a clear out."
It had no MoT and he wanted £50 for it. It took 84p for a bulb to get it through the MoT and I used it for three years as my commuting car in the late 80s. It had front wheel drive, disc brakes and a heater. It was fine. The only real problem I had with it was the interior light wouldn't work. I would fix it and it worked once or twice and gave up again. When I took it for its fourth MoT, the garage quoted £400 for welding and told me to give up. I transferred the registration and drove the car to the breakers. They gave me £10 and directed me to a clear area by the grab. When I got out for the last time the interior light came on. I could have wept.
I thought they were built by several companies including AC but it turns out there were two; AC and Invacar.
The relevant bit: "Although produced jointly by both AC Cars Ltd & Invacar Ltd, the Model 70 was entirely an AC design from the ground up."
They seem now to be dreadfully undignified but you have to remember that at the time they made a vast improvement to the lives of those who used them. One of my great uncles became very disabled with old age and preferred to have his Austin 1100 converted to hand controls. It was such a ramshackle, Heath Robinson solution! Each conversion being a one-off for the firm who did them. It worked though, complete with holes in the floor for levers to pass through. For the majority, an invalid carriage was presumably considered a better option.
O/T When my uncle gave up driving I was asked by my mother to go and see him, say nice things about the car, give him what he wanted for it and drive it to the breakers. When he opened the garage there was a one owner Austin 1100, 4826 PE. "That's very nice, Jack. You haven't, er, got the history have you? All the bills and receipts and things?" "Oh, no. When I knew you were coming I had a clear out."
It had no MoT and he wanted £50 for it. It took 84p for a bulb to get it through the MoT and I used it for three years as my commuting car in the late 80s. It had front wheel drive, disc brakes and a heater. It was fine. The only real problem I had with it was the interior light wouldn't work. I would fix it and it worked once or twice and gave up again. When I took it for its fourth MoT, the garage quoted £400 for welding and told me to give up. I transferred the registration and drove the car to the breakers. They gave me £10 and directed me to a clear area by the grab. When I got out for the last time the interior light came on. I could have wept.
Any of you actually driven one? Because I have and it was a frightening experience! My aunt is disabled and had one of these back in the 70s. She lived in Barnes and we were in Hanwell and, yes, she used to drive to see us over Hammersmith Bridge, around the Broadway and along the A4 to Brentford and then up to Hanwell. One day I asked if I could have a go and she gave me the keys. I came back knowing the bloody thing was lethal and I don't know if my respect for my aunt went up dramatically or I thought she must be stupid!
When I did my apprenticeship back in the late '60s the company I worked for employed a number of disabled people and there were a few of these mostly driven by older people - except one, Gerry - he was in his mid twenties and drove the thing like a total lunatic when the factory 'whistle' went at 5:30pm - no-one got on Gerry's way, he went at speeds you'd never have thought possible! - he may have turned it over a few times!
roscobbc said:
When I did my apprenticeship back in the late '60s the company I worked for employed a number of disabled people and there were a few of these mostly driven by older people - except one, Gerry - he was in his mid twenties and drove the thing like a total lunatic when the factory 'whistle' went at 5:30pm - no-one got on Gerry's way, he went at speeds you'd never have thought possible! - he may have turned it over a few times!
There was one like that on my commute in the early seventies, every evening flat out down the middle of the A5 bouncing over the cats-eyes. We used to call him 'The Flying Cripple'.
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