You know you are getting old when......

I run and maintain a 1964 Singer Gazelle and this has a disc/drum setup. The rear drums do have a hole in them for a flat-bladed screwdriver to go through and make adjustments, but unfortunately they don't quite line up with where the adjuster sits on the end of the caliper. I just take the drum off and click it either way I need to.

The later Singers (and Rootes Group cars in general) moved to self-adjusters, but as others have pointed out they still need manually adjusting. NOS Lockheed slave cylinders are in abundance and I have a bit of a collection of them, all still wrapped in their original waxed paper.

I love working on the Singer as the mechanics are generally a joy to work with. The original workshop manuals are excellently written and composed, too.

cwhaley said:

I run and maintain a 1964 Singer Gazelle and this has a disc/drum setup. The rear drums do have a hole in them for a flat-bladed screwdriver to go through and make adjustments, but unfortunately they don't quite line up with where the adjuster sits on the end of the caliper. I just take the drum off and click it either way I need to.

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I was offered one back when - it was a director's chauffeur driven car, down in Chesterfield where I was working at the time. I had two Ford Cortina's in a row, but settled on a third Cortina.

Harry Bloomfield said:

I was offered one back when - it was a director's chauffeur driven car, down in Chesterfield where I was working at the time. I had two Ford Cortina's in a row, but settled on a third Cortina.

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They are lovely little 'mid-sized' cars with (in my opinion) one of the best designs in car styling from the era (Audax), but I can see the appeal of the Cortina -- which year was it? Would have thought the director would have gone for a Humber instead, though!

cwhaley said:

They are lovely little 'mid-sized' cars with (in my opinion) one of the best designs in car styling from the era (Audax), but I can see the appeal of the Cortina -- which year was it? Would have thought the director would have gone for a Humber instead, though!

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Mk1 all three, the first was a '63, the last a Lotus Cortina I bought from my dad. All three died of the inner wings parting from the outer. I think he had been 'promoted' to a Humber, there was a new Sceptre parked in the company's garage.

Harry Bloomfield said:

Mk1 all three, the first was a '63, the last a Lotus Cortina I bought from my dad. All three died of the inner wings parting from the outer. I think he had been 'promoted' to a Humber, there was a new Sceptre parked in the company's garage.

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The best-looking Cortina in my opinion! There's a regular meetup of cars near me at a pub in South Derbyshire and there's often a few MK1s there. I think even with meticulous cleaning of the arches, some just seemed destined to the rot. My old Super Minx had an inner and outer sill with a chassis rail encased inside, and this is what killed a lot of them off. Now there's only 286 left (of all years and body types!)

My present car is a top of the range Rover 75, in gorgeous condition - I'm expecting it to see me out.

Harry Bloomfield said:

My present car is a top of the range Rover 75, in gorgeous condition - I'm expecting it to see me out.

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75 in the title being the manuf. year ?
RR classic owner myself ('87 Vogue)

As it happens I've had to rely on the Singer getting me to work today (one junction up the M1) -- apart from the condensation at the start, no issues. My daily (Peugeot 406 estate) is usually very dependable, but there is an issue with the brake light switch causing the brake lights to perform a mini disco.

I know I'm getting older because...

I just changed a track rod end for a friend on a Scenic and I'm so hungry I could eat 2 roast dinners!
God forbid I had to do a full day work!

I remember the Massey Ferguson 2135 tractor, the 135 for agricultural had one set of brake shoes and an adjuster but the industrial version had independent shoes for hand brake and foot brake, and adjustment was critical as there was no compensator side to side, as you could unlatch the foot brake and brake one wheel to turn faster, but never seen that type of adjuster on a car.

ericmark said:

I remember the Massey Ferguson 2135 tractor, the 135 for agricultural had one set of brake shoes and an adjuster View attachment 250790 but the industrial version had independent shoes for hand brake and foot brake, and adjustment was critical as there was no compensator side to side, as you could unlatch the foot brake and brake one wheel to turn faster, but never seen that type of adjuster on a car.

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Quite similar to the handbrake shoe adjustment on mine - combined drum handbrake/disk footbrake. It pushes the top end of the two shoes apart, at the top end - left hand thread at one end/ right hand at the other end. The side of one of the shoe return springs rests on the side of the star, to prevent it moving in service. A hole in the drum lets you turn with a flat screwdriver, the 'star' fingers to make the adjustment. A flat cam with an arm pushes the shoes apart, when the handbrake is applied via Bowden cable. Separate Bowden cables for each side, from drum, to under the handbrake lever, ending in a compensator and a third adjustment there [2].

Trick is to slack off completely at the front, tweak the star adjusters at the rear so that they just rub, then back to the front to make it off - no effect, 1 click holding it, 2 clicks on solid. Thing is though, the handbrake needs to be used frequently, to prevent rust forming in the drum, just apply it when stationary will not do [1]. I give it a tweak up every two or three years. Best handbrake I have ever had on any car I have owned and it always catches the MOT inspector out - it jumps of the brake tester when applied how he normally applies handbrakes when testing vehicles.

[1] The official workshop manual includes an undated paragraph about the handbrake, suggesting when owners complain about a poor handbrake, that the car be driven round the car park with the handbrake partially applied, to clear out the rust from the braking surface of the drum.

[2] The handbrake can be so very poor due to the above rust, that owners and MOT inspector heave so hard on the handbrake lever, that the compensator can be deformed and stretched out of shape. For years I offered the owner's club a reshaping, reforming and reinforcing service for the deformed compensators - I did hundreds of them.

My car also has brake shoes for hand brake and discs for foot brake, now getting too old to play with cars, got the local garage to do it, and it seems it was a pig of a job. It to start with would not hold the car on a hill of 1 in 4, which since a 4 x 4 it should do, it seems some botch had been done which had bent the shoes, when first done it was still not very good, but clearly wearing in, second time hand brake was A1, but still don't trust it, always leave it in gear.

Yes I have seen the result of doing that with a Landrover in a ditch where the harness was damaged and the starter engaged all by it's self in middle of the night and wound the engine over until battery went flat. Ditch caused one wheel in air, so since diff lock not engaged it stopped moving.

You know when your getting old when the barmaid in Wetherspoons offers to carry your round of 3 drinks to your table

You know you are getting old when you choose a useful / practical car instead of a bird puller car that is attractive to the girls

Harry Bloomfield said:

My present car is a top of the range Rover 75, in gorgeous condition - I'm expecting it to see me out.

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What, a P4?



I had an uncle who drove one, although his was dull, boring grey. Always smelled of leather and tobacco, I recall