|
Has any one actually proof read the Passat W8 brochure? Amongst the guff at the start on how the engine is made smoother, they apparently use new devices called Lancaster shafts. As i recall, they are called Lanchester shafts and rather than smoothing down any Volkswagen, Lancasters in fact stirred the whole factory up (ahem!)
|
|
30 Grand for a Passat - whatever lurks under the bonnet - is far too much when you can get TWO 2.0 Litre base models for less..... ???
|
|
|
Curiously enough, a completely different kind of Lanchester could also have been used to stir up the VW factories, namely the 9 mm Lanchester carbine. This looked like a rather posh Sten gun, with a wooden stock, and was used primarily by the Royal Navy for boarding and landing parties from 1941 up until about the 1980s. Great fun to fire on the range, in the right hands much more accurate than a Sten gun, and - even more curiously in the context of Philip's interesting post - originally based on a German design!
Ronnie
|
Hey Ronnie,
Where hast thou been?
Do I recall a make of British car called a Lanchester from decades ago? I think I do.
Just looked on Google and found this. No, I am not that *that* old.
lanchester.members.beeb.net/
|
1900 - Interesting early car, centally mounted engine. Advanced technically but unorthodox and a bit gutless, even for the time.
Various weird things up to the war, then more conventional Vintage sixes and eights.
Swallowed by BSA in the 1930s, when they mirrored some of the less affluent Daimlers in a badge engineering exercise - pre-selector boxes.
|
|
|
|
|
lanchester was bought out by Daimler and they produced the Century under both names with a preselect autobox.
|
|
|
|
Yeah - but give it 9 months and you'll get one for 17k same as a 2-litre.
In 2 years it'll be the same cost as the 2-litre. Bargain!
|
|
and its cheaper than an Audi A6 4.2
|
|
|
|
Alwyn - How kind of you to notice my absence - I'm (virtually) touched! I've actually been in the USA for the last few weeks, but am now safely back home, and catching up on essential reading, including some really excellent threads.
Although my last post was of course about the similarly named weapons of war, I too remember quite a few Lanchesters on the streets of Edinburgh in my childhood, and it's fascinating to note that, although the Lanchester brothers' cars are no longer in production, their technology certainly is.
I'm not *that* old either, but it's always a bit scary to be at, say, the Haynes Motor Museum and hear all the *really* young people saying "Gosh! Just look at that old car" whilst you're thinking "Hmmm! I remember when that first came out ...."
Regards
Ronnie
|
|
|
|
And on top of that the new factory for the w8 is in Dresden where I live.
|
|
|
|
I got a load of crap from VW in the post today, probably added a tenner to the cost of a Passat.
|
|
|
