Urban myths about cars
Discussion
Crow555 said:
"The Polo name has been a source of speculation. Some people believed it was a reference to polar winds, in keeping with Volkswagen's penchant for naming its watercooled cars after winds and currents, but many fans insist that it is in fact a pun on the Golf's name, because "golf" and "polo" are both words (in both English and German) for upper-class sports. The fact that the Polo's original saloon derivative was named the Derby gives more credence to the latter theory, since derby, like polo, refers to an equestrian sport."
But we already ascertained that the Golf was named after the gulfstream, yet there werem Golf models called Driver and Caddy.carl_w said:
Crow555 said:
"The Polo name has been a source of speculation. Some people believed it was a reference to polar winds, in keeping with Volkswagen's penchant for naming its watercooled cars after winds and currents, but many fans insist that it is in fact a pun on the Golf's name, because "golf" and "polo" are both words (in both English and German) for upper-class sports. The fact that the Polo's original saloon derivative was named the Derby gives more credence to the latter theory, since derby, like polo, refers to an equestrian sport."
But we already ascertained that the Golf was named after the gulfstream, yet there werem Golf models called Driver and Caddy.carl_w said:
But we already ascertained that the Golf was named after the gulfstream, yet there werem Golf models called Driver and Caddy.
Sorry, I must've missed that in the previous posts. I always imagined it was linked to the Golf in terms of sporting names but it is interesting that there are other naming theories out there.mackie1 said:
cg360 said:
mat205125 said:
m4tthew said:
Mk2 Gti 8v has more torque than the 16v 
Not peak, but I believe the useful torque was spread over a wider usable band, and could be argued to be the better car for normal driving where you don't want to thrash the tits off it and stir the gears constantly
Pic shows what people who've had both know - it feels like it has more torque, but in fact at no time does the 8v have more than the 16v.
I've had both, btw.
Edited by cg360 on Friday 14th March 13:20
cg360 said:
mackie1 said:
cg360 said:
mat205125 said:
m4tthew said:
Mk2 Gti 8v has more torque than the 16v
Not peak, but I believe the useful torque was spread over a wider usable band, and could be argued to be the better car for normal driving where you don't want to thrash the tits off it and stir the gears constantlyPic shows what people who've had both know - it feels like it has more torque, but in fact at no time does the 8v have more than the 16v.
I've had both, btw.
Edited by cg360 on Friday 14th March 13:20
ELAN+2 said:
CraigW said:
ELAN+2 said:
The one that really annoys me(anorak mode) is that the Lotus 900 series engine was based on the Vauxhall slant 4 of the same era, in reality Lotus noticed the bore centres of the Vauxhall lump were the same as thier new engine and used the vauxhall blocks to speed up head development. A variation of this engine was used in the Europa shaped race cars. The engine Lotus supplied to Jensen was a totally Lotus design with an alloy block as also used in the Elite/Eclat/Excell and Esprit. A derivative was also used in the Sunbeam Lotus.
Mark
god yeah, I can see why, I'd be livid Mark
Was told once that if you gave a Mercedes of '90s vintage a decent kick to the centre of either front or rear bumper, the car would think it had been in a collision and would unlock/open all doors....
Come to think of it, the guy who told me always seemed to have a few 'bits for sale'
Never found out if it was true though.
Oh, and can't believe no-one has posted 'hybrids are better for the environment' yet. :snigger:
Come to think of it, the guy who told me always seemed to have a few 'bits for sale'
Never found out if it was true though.Oh, and can't believe no-one has posted 'hybrids are better for the environment' yet. :snigger:
Sway said:
Was told once that if you gave a Mercedes of '90s vintage a decent kick to the centre of either front or rear bumper, the car would think it had been in a collision and would unlock/open all doors....
Come to think of it, the guy who told me always seemed to have a few 'bits for sale' Never found out if it was true though.
Oh, and can't believe no-one has posted 'hybrids are better for the environment' yet. :snigger:
Montegos of a certain age would , we found that out playing football near one Come to think of it, the guy who told me always seemed to have a few 'bits for sale'
Never found out if it was true though.Oh, and can't believe no-one has posted 'hybrids are better for the environment' yet. :snigger:
liner33 said:
Sway said:
Was told once that if you gave a Mercedes of '90s vintage a decent kick to the centre of either front or rear bumper, the car would think it had been in a collision and would unlock/open all doors....
Come to think of it, the guy who told me always seemed to have a few 'bits for sale' Never found out if it was true though.
Oh, and can't believe no-one has posted 'hybrids are better for the environment' yet. :snigger:
Montegos of a certain age would , we found that out playing football near one Come to think of it, the guy who told me always seemed to have a few 'bits for sale'
Never found out if it was true though.Oh, and can't believe no-one has posted 'hybrids are better for the environment' yet. :snigger:
_Batty_ said:
i was told that you could unlock a Sierra with a half a tennis ball over the lock.
something to do with pressuring the locks?
and certain VAGs would drop all their windows if you put a empty biro in door locks?
Aaah the fabled tennis ball trick something to do with pressuring the locks?
and certain VAGs would drop all their windows if you put a empty biro in door locks?
- as I understand it, the tennis ball trick only works for cars with pneumatic locking (Merc / VAG etc) not for Ford's solenoid system 
another, as I understand it -
The tale attributed to Lancia (the moving some cars to get them homolgated) was done once by Lotus to get the Lotus Cortina approved for racing. Thay hadn't made enough, so put the ones they had in one field, showed the inspector, then claimed the rest were in a strorage yard on the other side of Norwich - the chap with the inspector stopped for a long lunch in a pub, and most of the factory employees then moved the cars to the other site. I believe that the requirements for homologation were lower then (200 cars IIRC) so it's more 'plausible'...
Another favourite was Volvo homologating the 240 Turbo for Touring car racing.
None of the road cars turbos were actually plumbed in when they were delivered... The turbos were mounted on the correct exhaust manifold, but the induction side was the standard injection that went nowhere near the turbo - if you plumbed the turbo in you invalidated your warranty
attention to detail in design - the aerial on the original Lexus LS changes it's length when you change from FM to AM as the optimum length for best reception is different for different frequencies I'm sure I'll remember some more but I'm distracted having found an old Fast Lane mag from 1986 that features the Vector
Chris
_Batty_ said:
i was told that you could unlock a Sierra with a half a tennis ball over the lock.
Stick ANYTHING into an old ford door lock and you'll be able to open it.As proved by a mate who proudly showed us his Escort Mexico. Of the group of us, ALL had at least one key on their keyfob that would open the car
Dracoro said:
_Batty_ said:
i was told that you could unlock a Sierra with a half a tennis ball over the lock.
Stick ANYTHING into an old ford door lock and you'll be able to open it.As proved by a mate who proudly showed us his Escort Mexico. Of the group of us, ALL had at least one key on their keyfob that would open the car
chris.mapey said:
The tale attributed to Lancia (the moving some cars to get them homolgated) was done once by Lotus to get the Lotus Cortina approved for racing. Thay hadn't made enough, so put the ones they had in one field, showed the inspector, then claimed the rest were in a strorage yard on the other side of Norwich - the chap with the inspector stopped for a long lunch in a pub, and most of the factory employees then moved the cars to the other site. I believe that the requirements for homologation were lower then (200 cars IIRC) so it's more 'plausible'...
I've heard that tale in regard to the Sierra RS500. I think they made like 1000 cars for the Lotus Cortina homologation.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff