Cars of old

[Highway Man]

I think the overdrive on the Sprint worked in 3rd and 4th. Also, the standard carbs were SUs, so someone must have added the Webers later.

The car had been tinkered with as the lad I bought it from was a rally enthusiast and had added a few things to it. the overdrive was just a switch but all I found it to do was to lower the revs rather than act as another physical gear. I loved the car though it had a black vynl roof so not sure if that was standard on them.

 

[noseall]

all I found it to do was to lower the revs rather than act as another physical gear

Both.

 

[securespark]

Knew someone with a TR5 that had overdrive and it operated on 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

The manual said there was no need to operate the clutch when using it, but he said when it got a bit "thuddy", he started using the clutch, which made things a bit smoother.

 

[pete01]

Newest car I ever owned 2010 BMW 318d bought it in 2012, lovely car wish I still had it.

 

[fillyboy]

It had a very low centre of gravity, due to the flat four. It was very space efficient. It had disc brakes all round, with the front being in-board. Take it from me, they were a pig to work on!

I did a clutch change on one once, took me a day and a half, had to work through the night as I had the back end sticking out of the workshop. From memory (it were a long time ago it involved jacking the front end to a silly height and dropping the entire front subframe, engine, gearbox and running gear, even then the gearbox wouldn't come off until the inboard discs were moved out of the way. Never worked on one again, in fact if one drove past me I'd looked the other way or break out in a rash.

 

[fillyboy]

Restored loads of cars back in the day, mainly MG's and Triumphs but my personal favourite that I owned for a few years was a series II Sunbeam Alpine, she was a beauty. It was a painful time just before my first marriage ended, she got the house, but I managed to steal the car off the drive.

IMG_20210330_165127_resized_20210330_050141203

• fillyboy
• 30 Mar 2021

 

[ReganAndCarter]

My father loved Triumphs

He had 3 ( not the same time) triumph vitesses

Straight 6

I had a 2000 with the 6 engine for a while. Nice drive.

Glad to see there's a few Vauxhall fans on here.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Is that the one with the horizontal speedo?

Early ones had that, but later facelifted models had dials. Austin/Morris 1100/1300s had a strip speedo too.

 

[MNW67]

Austin/Morris 1100/1300s had a strip speedo too.

1800s as well I think.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

New ford Capri in front of me this afternoon nothing sporty about it sat higher than my suv . You wouldnt even give it a second look amongst other cars

It's a travesty giving that thing the Capri name.

 

[wobs]

View attachment 377851

Where was this taken?

 

[wobs]

Triumph TR6
View attachment 377848

One of my favourite cars. Was it the rust bucket that legend says?

 

[fillyboy]

Alas I don't have any pics (I'm sure I took some back in the day but must have mislaid them ) however my favourite car was my Vauxhall Cavalier 2.0 GSi, 92 reg, metallic blue. Got it in 94 I think. 150bhp which at that time was quite a lot.

I was coming from a 1.3 gutless Ford Fiesta and I'll never forget taking the Cavalier for a test drive and the guy saying 'you can put your foot down a bit.' WOW! Of course you get used to the acceleration etc but in that moment, talk about a BIG difference from the Fiesta

It was completely stock so pretty much looked like this (pic from net.)

View attachment 377913

From memory, in that era or slightly earlier Cavaliers were great to work on. With just a few inexpensive specialist tools you could change the clutch in half an hour without removing the gear box and the camshaft in about 10 minutes. Those days have gone.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

From memory, in that era or slightly earlier Cavaliers were great to work on. With just a few inexpensive specialist tools you could change the clutch in half an hour without removing the gear box and the camshaft in about 10 minutes. Those days have gone.

tbh the only work I did on it from memory was to add a Max Power tax disc holder

 

[martygturner]

the car my wife still drives today that we bought when we got married 33 years ago... 504 coupe soft top.