Cars You Have Driven

[GHD]

I learned how to set tappets using a bit of cardboard from a fag packet as the measure!

Yep and we used fag paper for the points and a thumbnail thickness set the plug gap nicely

Oh....and yes you youngun's....it did work...very well

And a piece of copper pipe to balance twin carbs by listening at the inlet

George

[WhisperJet]

Ah, Nick - I don't think it would be worth paying the price of having a Father like me! ( although your adoptive Mum would be very nice)

Cheers,

Nick

[speedbird591]

Having held a licence for 46 years I've naturally driven my share of classic British and European cars and motorcycles. Some of these lists have brought back the misery of ownership of them The hitchhiking in the rain at night to try and find a telephone box, wiring up exhaust pipes, snapped clutch cables, failed electrics and ruined driveways. You'd have to spend most weekends fiddling about just to keep them going! And the toolkits we used to carry about with us - I've still got a full set of whitworth spanners - hammers, pliers, shims, wire, insulation tape, towrope, feeler gauges (I obviously had more money than Garry) etc.

I am so thankful to the Japanese for introducing precision engineering! Fascinating lists, though. I'm just grateful I don't have to drive them again!

Ian

[tonymadge]

I bet the youngsters have never heard the term "pinking"

[DaveB]

No.. and if they want to have a stress free motoring experience, avoid anything with points How many of us would gladly give up our electronic ignitions now!

ATB

DaveB

[speedbird591]

I bet the youngsters have never heard the term "pinking"

A couple of shots of Redex should cure that, Tony! And what was the name of that gasket goo that you needed liberal applications of to keep some of the oil in the sump? Another important spare was an old pair of tights to replace the fanbelt. There should always be a pair under the back seat

These may ring a bell ...





Did you hear the one about the guy that peeked into a Land Rover and asked the owner "How can you tell one switch from another at night? They all look the same. " - "He replied, "It does not matter which one you use, nothing happens !"
The Lucas motto: "Get home before dark."
Lucas is the patent holder for the short circuit.
Lucas - Inventor of the first intermittent wiper.
Lucas - Inventor of the self-dimming headlamp.
The three position Lucas switch - Dim, Flicker and Off.
The Original Anti-Theft Device - Lucas Electrics.


Ian

[Buggyman]

The one 'joy' of running a car on a shoestring was the Sunday morning trip to the scrapyard to get parts. What fun crawling over oil and grease coated lumps of metal in rain, snow, frost and hail (and that was just in August!) to find the right piece. Then came the sport of haggling with the yard proprietor. We - four of us like-minded home mechanics - went through this every weekend since one of us was always trying to replace a part or upgrade something or other.

This weekly adventure was always followed (in my case anyway) by having to explain how I had torn/stained/generally buggered up another shirt/pullover etc to SWMBO. The resulting stoney silence did at least give me chance to have a kip in the armchair though!

It was fun - more so looking back at the scrapes we got into - but I'm so glad that I now have a car that normally looks after itself and can tell the garage through a download what I've broken.

Allan

[Scorpius]

Instant gasket?

[speedbird591]

Red Hermetite!

[AndyG]

I am so thankful to the Japanese for introducing precision engineering!

Ahh, but "precision engineering" has it's drawbacks as well whereas, as has been pointed out by others, the old crates could be kept working with sticky back plastic and a pair of tights! About 10 years back I ran a Mini (that's a proper Mini, not a small BMW); ok, it was a pig in the wet, the penalty of putting the engine in sideways with the distributor right in the wet - but no issues with clutch cables (just keep the reservoir topped up until you can get it to the garage), and if your rear subframe goes (I said that hole in the car park was too deep) then your friendly local enthusiast can just take one off the junkers he had in his yard.

I've driven any number of these modern precision engineered marvels from Ford, VW, Vauxhall et al; nothing gave me so much pleasure as my little Mini, and I'd have one again at the drop of a hat!