Thr Classic car show.

[Mottie]

Thanks, that explains it. Totally forgettable with all the appeal of a twin tub washing machine.

Yeah, years ago you could stand by the side of the road and name the model of practically every car that came down the road well before they got to you. Nowdays, you have to see the badge just to have an idea what the make is!

 

[noseall]

Yeah, years ago you could stand by the side of the road and name the model of practically every car that came down the road well before they got to you.

And the very distinctive noise of a Ford or a Vauxhall.

The one distinctive thing I remember was the popularity of (rust bucket) Japanese cars and the fact that they started so easily compared to a UK motor.

 

[Mottie]

I remember the Dawn chorus of the inertia starter motors.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Some cars had distinctive exhaust or transmission sounds. I could still identify that farty sounding exhaust of a Morris Minor a mile off and the noises an accelerating Triumph Herald would make. Or the noisy valve gear of a Talbot 'tapper' Alpine. Also the distinctive metallic tapping of a Cortina or Tranny engine with worn cams (caused by a blocked oil spray bar I believe). MGBs/GTs had very distinctive exhaust notes too.

 

[securespark]

We got a runaround car for number one son that a neighbour of my Mum's was literally giving away (Mitsu Space Star).

I have talked about it in the Cars forum here.

When we got it I took it for a service and said to the guy, "The tappets sound really noisy, does the top end have oil starvation?"

He just laughed and said they sounded like that when they left the showroom!

 

[securespark]

I do agree that some cars were very distinctive sounding.

The VW air-cooled engines reminded me of a Singer sewing machine!

I owned a lot of Metros in my time and the 80-89 gen ('box in sump) had such a distinctive noise, especially moving off in first.

In the 70s a friend's Dad had a V4-engined Ford (can't remember what it was) that sounded like nothing I had ever heard of!

 

[Stivino]

V4-engined Ford

Corsair, Zephyr?

 

[Ihavenojob]

I had a Triumph 2000 MkII , straight six lump with overdrive, sounded gorgeous. Went like stink, got it up to 120mph on the clock.

 

[troutybrown]

Also the distinctive metallic tapping of a Cortina or Tranny engine with worn cams (caused by a blocked oil spray bar I believe).

When i had my Capri as part of the yearly service i used to take that bar off and make sure it was clean.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

When i had my Capri as part of the yearly service i used to take that bar off and make sure it was clean.

Great idea. I think a lot of people who ran these Fords when they were getting older thought oil and filter changes were an optional extra. Hence they were killing their engines for the price of a can of GTX. As the saying goes - oil is cheap, engines are expensive.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

I had a Triumph 2000 MkII , straight six lump with overdrive, sounded gorgeous. Went like stink, got it up to 120mph on the clock.

One of my favourite cars. That's a great engine that was originally designed by Standard I believe. There were higher spec'd ones like the 2500TC. Best performer was the 2500PI, which was the first car to be fitted with the Lucas mechanical fuel injection. Great when it was working and set up, but could be problematic.

Unfortunately many perfectly good 2000/2500s ended their days on the banger racing circuit. They were the favourite because they were robust and had a bit of performance.

 

[teaboyjim]

Yeah, years ago you could stand by the side of the road and name the model of practically every car that came down the road well before they got to you. Nowdays, you have to see the badge just to have an idea what the make is!

Are you saying you could recognize cars by the engine sound alone?

 

[teaboyjim]

I do agree that some cars were very distinctive sounding. The VW air-cooled engines reminded me of a Singer sewing machine! I owned a lot of Metros in my time and the 80-89 gen ('box in sump) had such a distinctive noise, especially moving off in first. In the 70s a friend's Dad had a V4-engined Ford (can't remember what it was) that sounded like nothing I had ever heard of!

Overall would it be fair to say the Metros were not a bad little car being quite reliable engines?

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Overall would it be fair to say the Metros were not a bad little car being quite reliable engines?

Metros were creditited with saving BL. Again. Very popular, but the quality and build wasn't great. Fiestas and Novas were streets ahead.

 

[teaboyjim]

Metros were creditited with saving BL. Again. Very popular, but the quality and build wasn't great. Fiestas and Novas were streets ahead.

The metro was marketed as having very good fuel efficiency.