Mundane Classics that impressed
Discussion
Which run of the mill cars have impressed you ?
It can either be a car you have driven when it was already a classic or for our older readers a car they owned years ago that is a classic now.
I remember (sometime in the 1980's) trading my Capri 2.0l for a Honda Accord. Both were used cars of a similar age. The Honda felt like it was from the future after the Capri.
It can either be a car you have driven when it was already a classic or for our older readers a car they owned years ago that is a classic now.
I remember (sometime in the 1980's) trading my Capri 2.0l for a Honda Accord. Both were used cars of a similar age. The Honda felt like it was from the future after the Capri.
Back in the mid 80's owned a Datsun 120Y 2dr saloon..
Rear wheel drive..Reliable and a hoot to drive in the wet...
Only thing that killed it...Rust..!!
Rear wheel drive..Reliable and a hoot to drive in the wet...
Only thing that killed it...Rust..!!
mph said:
Which run of the mill cars have impressed you ?
It can either be a car you have driven when it was already a classic or for our older readers a car they owned years ago that is a classic now.
I remember (sometime in the 1980's) trading my Capri 2.0l for a Honda Accord. Both were used cars of a similar age. The Honda felt like it was from the future after the Capri.
It can either be a car you have driven when it was already a classic or for our older readers a car they owned years ago that is a classic now.
I remember (sometime in the 1980's) trading my Capri 2.0l for a Honda Accord. Both were used cars of a similar age. The Honda felt like it was from the future after the Capri.
Guess for me it was my first car a 1973 Renault 4 in white.Served me through college and even on a grand tour of Europe acting as a campervan when I could not find a campsite in France once. Also my dad's Renault 16TX drove that for miles as well he loved that 16 and so did I I still have yet to drive a car as comfortable as that old R16
x2 for the Imp. When I was looking for a first car in 1987 I just didn't fancy yet another Mini, Fiesta, Metro etc. like everyone else so put my effort into finding a good Imp. My parents had had them when we were kids so we knew how to look after them.
Anyway I found a December 1975 Caledonian (cherry red run-out model with all the extras and, er, "stylish" upholstery). It had covered only 21,000 miles from new. I fitted twin Strombergs and a Peco big bore exhaust, which gave it an almighty roar. In fact I got collared by the groundsman for speeding on school property and reported to the Headmaster. I just told him that the exhaust made the car "sound" fast when in fact it was merely pootling along. He fell for it and let me off.
Those Strombergs probably saved my life: I foolishly committed to an overtaking manoeuvre when I shouldn't have and just got past the slower car and squeezed back on to my side of the road before a car appeared from the other direction. The original single Solex carb would have done for me I reckon.
With its <50bhp 875cc engine and awful drum brakes it taught me plenty about how to drive without being at all fast (top speed about 80mph). It was great fun on the country roads around where we lived, but I don't think I ever took it onto a Motorway. I can't imagine that nowadays. I used to spend all my spare time pampering it: you could eat your dinner off the engine. Of course all the usual ancilliary things went wrong over the years (water pump, radiator, alternator, clutch etc.), but that jewel of an engine never missed a beat.
I think I made the right choice. My brother had a 1275GT Mini, but every time I drove that, I used to break something. I think it resented me for choosing the arch rival from Rootes!
I'm glad to see that the DVLA still has it on their books after all these years, but I've no idea where it is. Anyone seen it about? The Mini on the other hand had an ignominous fate after being chopped into a T-bar convertible by the subsequent owner and soon written off.
Anyway I found a December 1975 Caledonian (cherry red run-out model with all the extras and, er, "stylish" upholstery). It had covered only 21,000 miles from new. I fitted twin Strombergs and a Peco big bore exhaust, which gave it an almighty roar. In fact I got collared by the groundsman for speeding on school property and reported to the Headmaster. I just told him that the exhaust made the car "sound" fast when in fact it was merely pootling along. He fell for it and let me off.
Those Strombergs probably saved my life: I foolishly committed to an overtaking manoeuvre when I shouldn't have and just got past the slower car and squeezed back on to my side of the road before a car appeared from the other direction. The original single Solex carb would have done for me I reckon.
With its <50bhp 875cc engine and awful drum brakes it taught me plenty about how to drive without being at all fast (top speed about 80mph). It was great fun on the country roads around where we lived, but I don't think I ever took it onto a Motorway. I can't imagine that nowadays. I used to spend all my spare time pampering it: you could eat your dinner off the engine. Of course all the usual ancilliary things went wrong over the years (water pump, radiator, alternator, clutch etc.), but that jewel of an engine never missed a beat.
I think I made the right choice. My brother had a 1275GT Mini, but every time I drove that, I used to break something. I think it resented me for choosing the arch rival from Rootes!
I'm glad to see that the DVLA still has it on their books after all these years, but I've no idea where it is. Anyone seen it about? The Mini on the other hand had an ignominous fate after being chopped into a T-bar convertible by the subsequent owner and soon written off.
Malam said:
Wow that's amazing. Thanks for the link. It's been 20-odd years since I last saw that car. It looks very purposeful now: I wonder if it has the performance to back up the looks? I've still got my first-issue copy of the Henshaw brothers' book "Apex the Inside Story of the Hillman Imp" which they signed for me at the Imp Club National Day at Ryton in 1988. It was one of the best cars there that day.LotusOmega375D said:
Malam said:
Wow that's amazing. Thanks for the link. It's been 20-odd years since I last saw that car. It looks very purposeful now: I wonder if it has the performance to back up the looks? .http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimdrumvanman/3181421...
LotusOmega375D said:
Type the reg into google, there are more links to your car 
In answer to the OP, the car that really took me by surprise was a Fiat 124.
Back in the late '70s I was working at a Citroen garage when not at Uni and they specialised in taking cars to bits and then realising they didn't have the right parts in stock to fix them! This didn't bother me at all, as I was then sent off all over the country to pick up parts from other Citroen dealers or from the Citroen parts department near Windsor. I would either take the van (Citroen Ami with a zillion miles on the clock and about 50% of its 32bhp missing in action) or one of the used car stock.
The company had just taken a 124 in in part exchange for a GS...one owner, 30k miles and hearing aid beige...how dull can you get?
So I was sent off to deepest Worcestershire in it....and how wrong can you be? The gearlever, which was about a yard long (metre for some readers!) was the slickest thing you could imagine, the gearing was really low which made the car far more nimble than it had any right to be and being used to the family Morris Marina the handling was a revelation. So long as you didn't go anywhere near a motorway it was great! In the summer you stuck to the plastic seats which meant that whatever entry speed you chose for a corner there was no danger of sliding around inside the car!
I was so impressed I tried to buy it, but on £40 a week it was never going to happen. Since then I've always wondered what a Special T would be like, but sadly suspect I would now be underwhelmed.
Another Latin temptress that lurked in our used stock was a Lancia Beta 1800ES (special edition with electric windows that eventually set fire to the car as the switches stuck on and cooked the motors!) That was a great car to drive until its untimely demise...at least it never had a chance to rust away!
The worst car was a Wartburg Knight, but that would be whole new thread!!
By the time I was 21 I'd driven thousands of miles in lots of different cars ranging from 2CVs to SMs and been paid for it...talk about the right job for a young petrolhead!
Back in the late '70s I was working at a Citroen garage when not at Uni and they specialised in taking cars to bits and then realising they didn't have the right parts in stock to fix them! This didn't bother me at all, as I was then sent off all over the country to pick up parts from other Citroen dealers or from the Citroen parts department near Windsor. I would either take the van (Citroen Ami with a zillion miles on the clock and about 50% of its 32bhp missing in action) or one of the used car stock.
The company had just taken a 124 in in part exchange for a GS...one owner, 30k miles and hearing aid beige...how dull can you get?
So I was sent off to deepest Worcestershire in it....and how wrong can you be? The gearlever, which was about a yard long (metre for some readers!) was the slickest thing you could imagine, the gearing was really low which made the car far more nimble than it had any right to be and being used to the family Morris Marina the handling was a revelation. So long as you didn't go anywhere near a motorway it was great! In the summer you stuck to the plastic seats which meant that whatever entry speed you chose for a corner there was no danger of sliding around inside the car!
I was so impressed I tried to buy it, but on £40 a week it was never going to happen. Since then I've always wondered what a Special T would be like, but sadly suspect I would now be underwhelmed.
Another Latin temptress that lurked in our used stock was a Lancia Beta 1800ES (special edition with electric windows that eventually set fire to the car as the switches stuck on and cooked the motors!) That was a great car to drive until its untimely demise...at least it never had a chance to rust away!
The worst car was a Wartburg Knight, but that would be whole new thread!!
By the time I was 21 I'd driven thousands of miles in lots of different cars ranging from 2CVs to SMs and been paid for it...talk about the right job for a young petrolhead!
lowdrag said:
I thought fo a minute I had a photo of that Imp at Castle Coombe, but it isn't the same. Still worth posting though, even off topic..
Nah, posting good pictures of Imps is never off topic.My first car was a Husky, the estate version of the Imp, so there was enough room for the tool box in the boot.
Great fun to drive, easy to work on.
OK you had to take the engine out to do most things, but that was easy enough. Somehow I don't think I could just lift the whole engine, gearbox, transaxle assembly out of the Jag. On the Imp it was usually easier to just lift the assembly up by hand and put it down where you wanted to work on it.
LotusOmega375D said:
LotusOmega375D said:
Malam said:
Wow that's amazing. Thanks for the link. It's been 20-odd years since I last saw that car. It looks very purposeful now: I wonder if it has the performance to back up the looks? .http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimdrumvanman/3181421...
Bought my first Imp MYB641P in 1991 for £295. In the first few months I owned it everything seemed to break, but once I'd fixed all the problems that previous owners had ignored and lowered the suspension it was great fun. The standard single carb engine in mine was good for an indicated 89mph flat out and like all Imp engines safe to 8000rpm without modification. Spent two years using it as my every day car and doing navigational rallies, autotests, trials, sprints and hillclimbs in it - obviously it didn't do terribly well at the speed based events with its 39bhp
but the bright orange Imp that turned up to do just about everything got quite well known locally. That started a life long fondness for the cars and I've had at least one ever since.theadman said:
... the car that really took me by surprise was a Fiat 124.
...Since then I've always wondered what a Special T would be like, but sadly suspect I would now be underwhelmed.
Another Latin temptress that lurked in our used stock was a Lancia Beta 1800ES (special edition with electric windows that eventually set fire to the car as the switches stuck on and cooked the motors!) That was a great car to drive until its untimely demise...at least it never had a chance to rust away!
I had a 124 Special T back in the early 80s...it was rusty as a leaky colander, but the engine, gearbox and suspension were gems...I've only just passed on the Haynes manual I had for these, too......Since then I've always wondered what a Special T would be like, but sadly suspect I would now be underwhelmed.
Another Latin temptress that lurked in our used stock was a Lancia Beta 1800ES (special edition with electric windows that eventually set fire to the car as the switches stuck on and cooked the motors!) That was a great car to drive until its untimely demise...at least it never had a chance to rust away!
and funnily enough the car I was going to enter on this thread was a Lancia Trevi...Mine was a 2litre manual in rust edged powder blue metallic with brown velour upholstery!!
I paid £100 for it to use as a tow car as it was fitted with a working towbar and electrics...Unfortunately not much else electrical worked...all the electric windows (and IIRC the sunroof motor) had packed up, but they were replaced with scrapyard Lancia Beta motors...I also had to re-time the camshafts as someone had replaced the cambelt and failed to time it up properly...not surprising as it was a masterfully designed to give almost zero clearance between the cambelt pulleys and the offside inner wing...
Once fixed, though, it was a pretty good steer...handled towing a 4-wheel trailer with my 2002 racecar and was pretty luxurious inside...so long as you could ignore the brown-ness!
It died due to terminal tin worm in the end...shame, seeing how much they are worth now!
Edited by fushion julz on Tuesday 10th January 12:15
Edited by fushion julz on Tuesday 10th January 12:16
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