with all the modern aids that cars have these days, its a wonder there are any left
can you imagine, goin thru james herriot country in the middle of the night in a ford pop or an austin vanguard, or something like that, cross plies, bad lights 3 gears, 8 ft of snow drifts,
no heater to speak of.
with all the modern aides that even superminis have and we still get a bit scared on the woodhead or snake pass, can you imagine what it must have been like all those years ago?????
frightening isnt it
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>frightening isnt it
No, actually. Whatever gadgets and features a car has, the fundamentals remain - take it slowly, don't brake or accelerate or swerve, drive within the distance you can see to be clear and you can stop within. Underpowered cars are actually rather good in snow - it's much harder to apply too much torque and spin the wheels.
Watch old series 1 LandRovers competing in off-road events.
And 50 years ago people carried shovels and a bit of old carpet, they didn't sit pathetically waiting for the "emergency services" to come and dig them out.
BTW, it was a Standard Vanguard. My uncle had one in the bad winter of 1956 and it was excellent on untreated snow - no salt/grit then.
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If you look at the LR weather forecast, I think this year we'll have the opportunity to find out.
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I used to have a Nova 1.5 TD. The car had skinny 155 tyres, which were hopelessly overloaded by the heavy engine - so its handling was awful - until there was snow on the ground. Then the combination of heavy front wheel drive diesel engine and tiny tyres allowed it to get through where other cars floundered hopelessly.
number_cruncher
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As number cruncher says, the skinny tyres on older cars were probably more of a help than a hindrance in cutting through snow. Cars then had a lot more ground clearance, which reduced the chances of getting bogged down.
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Remember my Dad heating up the spark plugs in the oven before swinging the starting handle on our 1947 Austin 8 and driving away (well sometimes) on snow covered roads - seemed to be a lot more of the white stuff then...:-)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What's for you won't pass you by
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I have a photo of my parents just before I arrived....winter of 1963 I think. Their Ford Pop is pictured in a cutting through a snow drift with the top of the snow on either side, above the roof level of the car.
StarGazer
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The fogs were rather 'interesting' in the 60's too. First, find your driveway!
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When I was a student at Aberdeen in the mid late 1960s I had an Austin A30. I was once the last driver through one A road: the drfts of snow were 2 feet and rising: the Rover 2000 after me stuck. I got home 2 hours and 45 miles later to hear the raod had closed: presumably because the Rover could not move. 8 foot drifts outside our house next day . They lasted in the lane outside our house for 2 -3 weeks iirc.
A30s were grossly underpowered with v narrow tyres : 350 x 14 or summat. Wheelspin in the dry or wet was impossible. Great cars in snow tho.
(I could not afford an A35.. the cheapest ones were £50 upwards. My A30 cost £30:-)
madf
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Learned all I know about car handling and control with a mini and one of my capris on disused airfields and large car parks in fresh soft snow, hard packed snow, and ice. 79 was a good year I think, and one in the early 80's
Yorkshire moors? Snake pass? PAH
It was 79 i think when i watched an articulated lorry slide backwards and sideways down a slight hill on snow and ice in Esher Surrey. They tried roping it up to a fairly hefty tree, but it pulled it out. It only stopped when it had built up a crush of about 20 cars in the queue behind nearly pushing some of them into the river Mole below.
Mark is right. Weathermen are predicting a Nasty one this year,
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>>Mark is right. Weathermen are predicting a Nasty one this year,
Then we'll see whether or not my Landcruiser is an anti-social menace as I spend half the time pulling everybody else out of snow drifts.
And if it happens, I shall not only gloat, I shall probably also do the "I told you so" dance.
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PU's philosophy: Park the Beemer in the garage, keep the landie on standby, stoke up the heating and stay at home.
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You know, giving up smoking has put an "Edge" to your character, Mark.
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we'll see whether or not my Landcruiser....
Thought you let the missus have that, and you've got a Ford chocolate bar now?
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Ask Alan. He was sitting in it last night.
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Then we'll see whether or not my Landcruiser is an anti-social menace as I spend half the time pulling everybody else out of snow drifts.
Aw c'mon Mark, you shouldn't go wasting a Landcruiser on jobs like that. It's supposed to kept for the tasks where it's really needed, like taking children 1/2 a mile to school or shopping in Knightsbridge.
;-)
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"as I spend half the time pulling everybody else out of snow drifts"
And your mobile number is?
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"as I spend half the time pulling everybody else out of snow drifts"
The problem is not so much the snow but all the people who have never before driven in it who get stuck - they block the roads, not the snow - you will never reach the person you are trying to rescue
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>>I used to have a Nova 1.5 TD. The car had skinny 155 tyres, which were hopelessly overloaded by the heavy engine - so its handling was awful - until there was snow on the ground. Then the combination of heavy front wheel drive diesel engine and tiny tyres allowed it to get through where other cars floundered hopelessly.
This is one of the few reasons I will miss my Seat Marbella when the local scrappie picks it up this evening. Awful, awful car, but brilliant in the snow!
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If the weather is going to be bad this winter, then my weekly crossing of the Lincolnshire Wolds may well be curtailed. My car has both ABS and traction control but, even so, snow on top of ice (during a sudden freak snowstorm) led to a kerbed (and distorted) front alloy last year ~ and that was on level ground! I have to confess that enthusiasm overcame my better judgement on that occasion. From now on my motto will be ~ when there's snow, go slow!
--
L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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ABS is no advantage on snow - much better without.
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Right about A30/A35's. Winters in them days seemed harder than now (oh ar when I were a lad etc). didn't even bother with heaters or cissy things like that.
I never cared a fig for the weather in that A35 (YKL 87). It would go through anything, perhaps with a push from the pax as required. Ditchling Beacon with a foot of snow on it was negotiated with contempt more than once.
I had a lovely '51 LHD Chevrolet Fleetline 6 cyl 216 cu in. with 6 volt electrics. Left it in the snow for 3 weeks in that winter of '63 outside the house. Finally went to start it with only small hopes of success - it fired on the 2nd or 3rd shove of the button.
A 1959 Mini 850 pickup with of course FWD made mincemeat of those winter '63 blizzards. We never thought twice about it as carefree college students. I used to ride 20 miles a day to college on the ice on a Triumph Tiger Cub. Kept falling off but how else could I get there? The train fare was 4/4d return, that was almost 4 pints of beer, begad.
Now I suppose some EU directive means you mustn't venture from your house if snow falls beyond the statutory 0.3 cm without 4WD, food for at least 3 days, space blankets (EU certified only) for all occupants, telling your local police where you are going, no snow chains please they may damage the road surface and no shovels either unless you are certified medically fit to handle one by a registered EU doctor.
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