And which BRers have ever started a car using a handle?
1964 Renault 8 1100cc, which had quite a kick, and 1964 Tatra 2500cc V8 which was a doddle
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i had a 1988 lada 1300 and that had a starting handle, i even used the handle once on a bad winters day.
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I imagine most Backroomers are too young to have even heard of starting handles.
--
L\'escargot.
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i'm 29 and have attempted to start a mates old landie with a starting handle.
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Many times had to use the starting handle in the 60's winters on my old mans Ford Thames and A35 vans and the tractors on the farm , it was an art , like kick starting a motorbike .
You learned quickly as you acquired bruised fingers and smacked wrists if the handle was not removed promptly when the engine fired....
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Used to use the handle frequently on my 1963 Wolseley 16/60, up to about ten years ago. It was easy (just ease it over compression and a quick pull upwards with the thumb on the same side of the handle as the fingers and it was away) and saved the battery a bit in winter. Also nice to prove one could still do it!
I seem to remember a pal of mine with an Austin Cambridge A55 went for months without any starter motor fitted and the handle never let him down.
PS: if anyone wants the Wolseley (derelict but sound and low mileage) I still own it...
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"PS: if anyone wants the Wolseley (derelict but sound and low mileage) I still own it..."
But does it start?
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As far as I know - but only with the handle...
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we had a succession of caravanettes when I was a lad - Commer (J4?) sliding front doors and a starting handle - I seem to recall my brother and I used it for fun sometimes - simple pleasures in those days...
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Me. And tractors, too.
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Never tried a car but had to start a dumper truck with a handle about 15 years ago. It was a very old dumper, even those things have had an electric starter motor for years...
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"Never tried a car"
Me neither, despite being relatively ancient. I've started diesels on boats, though - the old three-cylinder Listers were quite painless, as you released the compression, wound up the flywheel with the handle and then flipped the compression lever, when they invariably juddered into life. A great working example of the conservation of momentum...
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2CV and I did start mine with the handle tho' it was flimsy.Ford Anglia vans were supplied with a handle but the rad was different to the car having a hole in it for the handle to go thro'.An aftermarket kit was available to fit a s/handle to the Mini but the wheels had to be on full lock.Used to start big diesel trucks on the handle but they were fitted with decompressors.
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Ancient air compressor, in about 1964. It had a large spring which had to be wound up with a handle, a bit like winding Big Ben. Then when fully wound, one set the single piston at BDC, turned the fuel on and pulled a lever. The piston was fired with great force against the compression, and with luck, would fire. If it didn't, it had to be wound up again.
The engine didn't have a crankshaft. It had a single double ended cylinder, with the firing piston on one end of a connecting rod and the air compression piston on the other, and simply wanged backwards and forwards. Presumably it was 2-stroke, so had no valve gear either.
Boat engines of course still have starting handles, and usually decompression levers for all or individual cylinders.
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"Presumably it was 2-stroke"
Wouldn't that require a crankcase?
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Not if it was a UNIFLOW two stroke.
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And which BRers have ever started a car using a handle?
1974 DS21 (take off the numberplate first) 2 hands and a really arkward low position with the suspension down. Swine.
1984 2CV. Doddle.
Diesel roller for the school cricket pitch about 1967. Doddle.
Mum's 1969 Morris Minor. I'd removed the fried starter motor and had taken it for a rebuild.
Doddle.
Hawkeye
-----------------------------
Stranger in a strange land
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"And which BRers have ever started a car using a handle?"
I purchased my first car for £30 in 1967. It was a 1929 Riley 9 Monaco with fabric roof, front opening doors, opening front windscreen, magneto ignition and a starting handle.
The prior owner had died and I bought it from his estate. It had not been run for 2 years and the battery was clapped so I HAD to use the starting handle. (I never bought a new battery!).
It usually started first go, provided one retarded the ignition and primed the carburettor (it was gravity feed so a push button), and set the hand throttle to fast. Carefully engage the handle, carefully push until compression came up and turn vigorously. *Thumb carefully tucked to one side in case of misfires as I was taught by an uncle who drove a 4.5litre Meadows engined sportscar - I forget the model).
I sold it for £80 after 6 months and bought an Austin A30. It had a starting handle but the battery was OK so I only used it for setting the tappets.
I sold that and bought a 1946 Rover 16. It too had a starting handle and a 6 cyclinder 2.2 litre (iirc) engine. Occasionally the battery would go flat .Then the starting handle would be used after pushing back the chrome cover on the front bumper (which weighed I would say 30 kg and had 2 balance weights -one at either end.. "harmonic balancing").
It was easy to start on the handle but not as easy as the Riley as there was no hand throttle.
I had a Rover 75 with a starting handle..never used it..
With today's sedentary society and obesity , many people would seriously damage themselves today if they had to use one... but it was a great learning experience.. if you wante dto learn about cars. None of this modern fuel injection or hydraulic brakes... or power steerring.. or comfort or 50mpg...
madf
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My dad was Captain of the previous HMS Endurance. Big bi-directional two stroke diesel engine that was started using compressed air. Manoevering was fun - the air tanks only had reserves for about four re-starts, so the skipper had to come alongside without too many three-point turns.
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I've started a boat engine that requires the flywheel to be kicked. That's a challenge. A c1930 single cylinder Bolinder. Being similarly bi-directional it had a 50:50 chance of whether it started going forwards or backwards.
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"And which BRers have ever started a car using a handle?"
Numerous 2CV4s and 6s, Dyanes
1966 Morris Minor
1954 Austin Somerset with missing teeth on the ring gear so I only ever started it on the handle for a year or more, including MOT
1950 Daimler DB18 which left me with a scar but fortunately no broken wrist. It also tried to run me over one day when I made the mistake of leaving the pre-selector lever engaged while using the handle. If anyone has ever held back a 30 cwt car while shouting for their wife to come and knock the lever back into neutral, they know you don't ever do it again. At least the hand throttle was in and the advance-retard wasn't adjusted properly.
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What about those old single-cylinder tractors that in winter you had to start by hitting a shotgun cartridge (blank) with a big hammer! That must have been a bit daunting, but at least you could do it at arms length?
snipurl.com/1s9zy
Edited by Rich 9-3 on 17/10/2007 at 14:54
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> What about those old single-cylinder tractors that in winter you had to start by hitting a shotgun cartridge (blank)
And what about the Gypsy Major in the Chipmunk. I remember starting one of those with a blank cartridge in 1978. It was one of about five operated by the RN at Roborough (Plymouth) for the BRNC Dartmouth flight.
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1963 Rover 110 - six cylinder 2.6? Definitely a knack to it but damn satisfying when it fired!
I've also hand started an Auster Autocrat by swinging the prop (there was no electric start), chocks, contact, etc. Probably not as dangerous as the 30cwt Daimler but having a 5ft diameter prop kick back can take more the skin of your knuckles.
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Citroens, Light 15, Bijou and Dyane; R Type Bentley which had an over-engineered two or three piece starting handle with splined parts that fitted together clipped inside the engine bay; Rover 10, 20/25 Rolls-Royce (also with elaborate splined three piece crank) and no doubt various other old jalopies over the years. The Bentley despite its low compression ratio was a bit big, and I found it easier to set the handle so that I could pull it, rather than pushing and pulling to make a whole turn. Fortunately it started easily.
I don't remember an engine ever backfiring seriously on me and bruising my wrist, but starting handles would horrify many motorists now.
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Rich
A Field Marshall with cartridge start; now that takes me back...
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snipquote
and even a field marshal starting with the smouldering paper on a cold mornig with your digits frozen stiff
--
rustbucket (the original)
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 17/10/2007 at 19:49
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Last one on which I used the handle was a Morris Traveller. Generally used the handle in the winter once the '60s battery had refused to function due to the cold!
I would guess that anything using the A series engine and its derivatives would have had potential to use the handle even if the bodywork didnt allow for it.
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snipquote once again! Please try reading the message that appears on your screen when you press the "quote original message" button
i started a diesel cement mixer with a starting handle many a time, does that count?
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 17/10/2007 at 19:52
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Never had a car with a starting handle, although there were times when one may have been useful.
Still remember my dad starting the Wolseley 4/44 with one some mornings. Many interesting new words were learnt at these moments so I guess the recoil (?) was on the vicious side.
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Used to do the odd wedding car service as a present for friends in my Minor Tourer (never a convertible...).
Always used to get the happy couple into the car, then go to the boot, collect starting handle, turn on ignition, and start using the handle, then return to boot with handle. The starter motor was fine, but it looked good and always raised a laugh as they left the church.
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Had a pre-war Hudson that I had to start on the handle-dead cell in battery-only problem was fitting the handle thro' to the crank-handle was about 4ft. long.
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Old "funny" story.
A man parks his car in the pub car park, but doesn't realise he has reversed into a pile of sand. When he staggers out at closing time the car won't start, because the exhaust is blocked. After a lot of fruitless attempts he gets out and then realises why. He needs something to clear out the exhaust pipe, and then remembers the starting handle. So he sticks the starting handle up the tailpipe. At that moment a policeman appears and asks him if he is all right, and what he is doing.
He replies, irritably, "I'm trying to start my car".
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LOL! Pre-breathalyser, I imagine...
Drivers a couple of generations ago could be terribly irresponsible - a rather autocratic friend of my grandfather's was driving at night and happened on what he took to be two motorcycles, approaching side by side. His instant reaction was to drive between them, realising far too late that it was another car! Amazingly, no-one died, but the excuse can't have gone down too well.
Edited by J Bonington Jagworth on 17/10/2007 at 17:55
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Did some big old cars have a facility such that you set the engine to a certain position, and presumably fired a plug to get it going.
Any more info?
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SQ
I think prewar Rolls Royces (possibly other makes too) which had an ignition advance/retard lever on the steering column could be started by setting the lever to full retard, switching on ignition and smartly advancing the lever; provided there was still a combustible mixture and orientation was OK one cylinder would fire and start the engine. (Had to be coil ignition, not magneto of course).
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 17/10/2007 at 22:48
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