There is a small collection of words and phrases that drivers of my father's generation still use, and, curiously, they're all words I've consciously never used. (It's a generational thing... :-)
throttle (rather than accelerator)
trafficators
motor car
shooting brake
to "motor" (rather than "drive", e.g. we motored to the Lake District...)
wireless
drophead (rather than cabriolet)
Any more to add to the list?
Edited by Honestjohn on 14/04/2009 at 22:26
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Often:-
throttle (rather than accelerator) - I always use this term as it is easier to spell and more correct!
trafficators - Yep I like old cars like the early MK2 Morris Minors so I mention them every so often.
motor car - Not often
shooting brake - Never heared this before
to "motor" (rather than "drive", e.g. we motored to the Lake District...) - Again new to me
wireless - Daily but not in the analogue radio sense.
drophead (rather than cabriolet) - Often
Edited by Honestjohn on 14/04/2009 at 22:27
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cellulose
Edited by Honestjohn on 14/04/2009 at 22:28
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Railway station. So often replaced by the nasty expression, train station.
Edited by Honestjohn on 14/04/2009 at 22:28
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'All it needs is a set of brushes, sir.'
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The chassis will be greased by means of a grease gun, according to this big chart on our wall, here.
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"Put a Tiger in your tank!"
"The Esso sign means happy motoring."
"Go well, go Shell."
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A brilliant bloke came to look our 10 year old washing machine which was refusing to spin the other day. After 5 mins he diagnosed that the motor needed new brushes - that's a new motor then I thought - might as well get a new machine. But no - he produced an new pair of brushes, fitted them in 5 minutes and was on his way, leaving behind a very reasonable bill.
So it can be done.
MPZ
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Railway station. So often replaced by the nasty expression train station.
LOL, my teeth grind at that one too, but the BBC and everyone else use 'train' so I've given up moaning now.
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So why don't we call bus stations, road stations? ;>)
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>> Railway station. So often replaced by the nasty expression train station. >> LOL my teeth grind at that one too but the BBC and everyone else use 'train' so I've given up moaning now.
Train Station is my pet hate too!! I also blame the TV "talking heads" who read the news and think they are so important.
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What on earth is a train station?
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What on earth is a train station?
It's what is sometimes called a railway station. I'm finally beginning to accept that the English language is constantly changing.
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....I'm finally beginning to accept that the English language is constantly changing...
hamburger, flyover, email, computer (probably) are just four of countless words an Englishman living 50/60 years ago would not recognise.
It's a living language.
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constantly changing...living language...
... but must we slavishly adopt every new slovenly Americanism? I leave that to whippersnappers.
Hamburger, flyover and computer would certainly have been recognised by an Englishman 50 years ago. Email would have been a bit puzzling though.
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>>flyover .... would certainly have been recognised by an Englishman 50 years ago.
Chiswick Flyover " opened to traffic on September 30th 1959. "
It was on my route to work . An overnight job was to move all the trolleybus poles etc.
An interesting read & pics
The Motorway Archive. The online encyclopedia of motorway heritage
www.iht.org/motorway/m4chisslou.htm
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A Hamburger would be someone living in er....Hamburg and "Artillery Computers" are mentioned in the British Army Field Service Regulations 1914 edition.
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throttle (rather than accelerator) - I always use this term as it is easier to spell and more correct!
Me too, unless talking about a diesel engine when I try to use 'accelerator' as 'throttle' is completely wrong.
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DP you beat me to it!
Edited by Honestjohn on 14/04/2009 at 22:27
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Fluid Flywheel.
Clk Sec
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Yes Clk Sec, and the accompanying preselector gearbox... very nice they were too.
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throttle (rather than accelerator) - I always use this term as it is easier to spell and more correct!
The purpose of a throttle is to limit the amount of air/fuel mixture allowed into the engine by blocking its intake - i.e. to 'throttle' it. Diesels don't have a throttle.
Similar to 'choke' - which is also turning into an old generation term!
Edited by mfarrow on 14/04/2009 at 19:28
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The strangler instead of the choke
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"The customer always comes first, sir!"
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Four shots and four please, there's a pound, oh, and keep the change.....
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I may be of yr father's generation Bilboman, but I only use two of those expressions: throttle interchangeably for accelerator, and wireless in preference to radio. Of course I have used all those expressions in my time, but not often apart from 'drophead'.
Edited by Honestjohn on 14/04/2009 at 22:27
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..oh, and keep the change.....
Humph,
You may have heard that said, but I just can't quite believe you would say it. :)
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Well, even I am not old enough to have bought four gallons of petrol and four shots of lubricant for less than a pound. I did, however, often witness my father doing so. An unusually generous man for a Scot he would often leave a tip at petrol stations particularly when in Aberdeen, mainly to see the looks of astonishment when he did......He claimed one granite city forecourt attendant actually smiled at him a little in thanks but that it could equally easily have been trapped wind......
;-)
Edited by Humph Backbridge on 14/04/2009 at 20:05
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Had a Lanchester, pre-selector gearbox and lovely balancer shafts on the engine.
Actually, hear this from my 81 year old dad whenever I visit him!
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Wireless is regularly used here - this includes everything from my little Sony ICFSW100 to the wireless in the car and the new fangled wireless stuff. Another one is motorcycling as opposed to biking - two entirely different things.
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Cranking handle?
I often started my Minor Tourer on the handle, just to amuse the bystanders, especially when doing weddings in it!
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will it get me to blackpool bank holiday monday
she will do a ton you know
ive got the official 100,000 mile ford sticker
dont come a banging on my van your daughter may be inside
if this vans a rockin dont come a knocking
best car ive ever had (after the A35)
it had new points last year and now it wont start
i prefer 5 star
will glassfibre and some 3x2 be sufficient strength in the sills of my anglia to get one of these new fangled ministry of transport test things
Edited by Honestjohn on 14/04/2009 at 22:29
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SWMBO always says 'you've still got your indicator out'...
Baked bean tins flattened out were always good enough to repair the strut towers of a 105E. Why improve on what was there in the first place? ;-)
Edited by Honestjohn on 14/04/2009 at 22:27
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castrol gtx...you cant go wrong
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Clunk, Click, Every Trip.
Now then.. Now then....Ows about that then.
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Clunk, Click, Every Trip.
Now then.. Now then....Ows about that then.
Honestly spood... must you quote that disgusting old woman in a blond wig? That's one cascade of rubbish we are all better off without.
Edited by Lud on 15/04/2009 at 05:29
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"Yes it was me driving when the speeding offence took place"
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Quarterlight
Wing mirror
Bench seat
Double declutch
3-speed gearbox
Crossply tyres
Grease gun
Grease nipple
Advance and retard lever
Magneto
Wire wheels
Toughened windscreen
Nave plate ~ mostly now (wrongly) called hubcap
Laycock de Normanville overdrive
Points
Edited by L'escargot on 15/04/2009 at 07:35
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Heater switch ( now superceeded by "Air-con")
And when did you last hear the words "BMW driver uses indicators"????
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Quadruple Green Shield stamps
Who do we think we are then, Sir - Stirling Moss?
"Petrol" glasses
"Cooking" petrol
Step on the gas
Jam the anchors on
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I was travelling with my father in law just before Easter, and he was telling me a convolute story about a "motor coach" during which he did indeed double declutch his 1998 Mondeo. He said it was just a habit he couldn't get out of.
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"motor coach" >>
That would be a kind of charabanc, yes? (pronounced "sharabang")
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Alas, I don't know if was a charabanc, because as ever, my mother in law is highly tuned to him beginning a verbal ramble, poor man, and distracted him easily with a question about when he last changed his jumper.
The miles simply flew by.
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throttle wireless
all to often, when the wireless network goes down at work, or cheapskate customers come up against 'performance throttling' in MSDE :-)
but in context....
'check the points'
'top up the battery'
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Radiator blind
Policeman on point duty
Belisha beacon
Easystart
Kigass
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Trafficators sounds like people who hate traffic and drophead sounds like a term for a jazz impro. Motor car is a very interesting word, what was a ''car''? A tune from around 1600 is entitled ''the carman's whistle''. What was a carman? I guess short for carriage but hope someone really knows.
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Taxi (horse-type) driver I think.
I still double-declutch when I drive my friend's LWB Defender station wagon. I just started doing it again automatically after years when I first drove it.
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Nearside & Offside.
When I use these expressions my well educated, well travelled motoring offspring ( aged 30ish ) mumble and ask what I mean.
Cold start coil
Spark plug gap tool
Fag paper gap
Points file
Valve grinding paste.
Badge bar
Sealed beam unit
Everflex roof
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I've a book on advanced driving techniques written in the 50s and the author consistently uses the word "on" a gear rather than "in".
I have never actually heard anyone say this - perhaps it derived from way back when gears were changed by lifting chain drives off one sprocket and onto another.
(Apart of course from Jeremy Clarkson, who is "on" Top Gear)
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Hand throttle
Magneto
Car will not start.
Only 40 mpg or less. (only petrol car owners)
Unreliable (except Renault owners).
tax and insurance (chav estates only).
30mph limit (only speeding idiots).
Heavy steering.
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Your car's ready, sir. There was just a fault code needing a re-set. No, no charge sir, it only took the lad two minutes, but you could give him a couple of quid for a drink, if you like.
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More like "you could give the ostler a groat".
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"That's all serviced, Sir. Nothing to be done for the next 6000 miles"
It failed to start the next day.....
screwtape
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''Might have to give the car up, petrols going up to 50p a gallon after midnight.....................'' Army mate of mine, Blandford, Dorset circa 1970.
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"The day of the big car is over"
Newspaper headlines during the Suez crisis, 1956
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1/3d a gallon with tokens for your whisky tumbler ( one and threepence)
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Trust you to say that at 22.44 when we are at opposite ends of the country bb.
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the drinks are on me
cheers BB, il have a haig, or maybe a VAT69, or possibly a double dimple, thems is the days hey bb
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Please, nobody ask for a pint of Watney's red barrel.
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Or the pint that thinks it's a quart...
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Please nobody ask for a pint of Watney's red barrel.
can i have half a flagon of carlsberg instead
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It has sort of gradually come to me tonight that if technology keeps advancing at the current rate, it won't be long before it will be OK to drink drive.
I mean, if your car had ABS to stop you skidding, ESP to stop you being, er, unstable, parking sensors or that self park function thingy, that clever radar wotsit which stops you getting too close to the car in front, night vision screens, a lane departure vibrator thing etc etc etc.. What's more, it would have airbags, seatbelts and crumple zones if any of it went too wrong, oh and a sat nav if you couldn't find your way home.........
Cheersh !
;-)
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Wouldn't need any of that malarky with a horse, HB. The biggest problem after a few sherberts would be staying on the thing. They would always find the way home. Or so my dear old Grandpa used to say ;-)
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But in the car of the future if the ECU senses achohol on your breath it will cut of the fuel pump :) it will then auto dial the local police station giving an exact location of your car, two mins later you're arrested for being drunk in charge of a WongSangWui (the future car leader).
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the present government are already in the process of monitoring our alcohol consumption, starting with the weakest members of society, the un washed dole members and the folk on incapacity benefits, drivers be warned your next
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Yeah all these meddeling policies are driving is all to drink in the first place!! I just wish this government could just leave us all alone.
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it will then auto dial the local police station giving an exact location of your car
They're going to re-open them then?
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Please.
Thank you.
Regards..............MD
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MD - that reminds me of a bridge over the M11 where someone has painted "GIVE PEAS A CHANCE". I only eat beans now.
BIG
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You have good eyesight to see that from the M11
Its actually painted on a railway bridge over the M25 northbound just after j16
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Its actually painted on a railway bridge over the M25 northbound just after j16
Indeed, that's the one. The brain is not what it was.
BIG
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Motor car is a very interesting word, what was a ''car''?
The Irish used to take the air in something called a jaunting car (supply your own accent). Also I think the basket or gondola under a balloon could be a car, so it's an old word, possibly of Latin origin?
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Carrus - Latin "wheeled cart"
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Remote gear change (instead of earlier direct gear change).
Column change.
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Dipswitch (floor mounted)
Sundym glass
Wing mirrors
Overriders
Cubby hole
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"I'll have one for the road - make it a double"
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" shall i do you now sir" ....ah when wireless entertainment meant something
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A word from the tech section
Backfire !
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Those points need changing
Give it some choke
Overdrive
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Your carb needs a new float
Needle valves ;-)
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Atmospheric inlet valve.
Ask grandad!
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'left hand down a bit'
Decoke
Axle tramp
Badge bar
CWW (chrome wire wheels) in car classified ads
Travel rug
Dormobile
3-star
Edited by Sofa Spud on 27/04/2009 at 18:03
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'It must be my round.... ' (pat, pat, rummage) '... oh dear, how embarrassing... got any bread darling?'
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isnt she a beauty
im going to oil her and wax her at the weekend
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isnt she a beauty im going to oil her and wax her at the weekend
AND the car??
MD
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Trunnion.
For some reason I always find that word slightly comical as well.
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Pi as in Triumph 2500pi
Whippy aerial
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its got twin pot calipers
drums all round
lsd
airflow ventilation
rear seat belts
overiders
fog lights
extra rear braking lights
savage 500 wheel trims
a harry moss radio cassette
gutter mounted aerial
a gutter
glassfibre wings
new crossplies fitted
radiomobile radio fitted
nodding dog
wilton carpet
twincam bda
mcpherson struts as standard
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What a lovely thread! Brings bacl good memories!
"Who do we think we are then, Sir - Stirling Moss?"
Stirling was on the radio the other day and swore that he was stopped by a "bobby" (there's another!) in his Panda car (another!) and asked that very question.
And as a schoolboy I worked in a petrol station and served people who wanted 4 gallons, handed over a quid and said "keep the change", especially after I had asked if they wanted an oil check, topped up with Castrolite (what was the other "thicker" Castrol oil?)
from a huge oil container in one of those "jug things" filled with a "beer pump" lever. I even used to open the car door for a certain young lady who always wore short skirts in a car with "suicide doors" - can't think why!
But now, being a well qualified grumpy old man, a couple of phrases that drive me mad - Sally Traffic always says "there is a problem to the North of Scotland near Aberdeen" - now to the north of Scotland are the Orkneys and Shetlands - not Aberdeen. Alternatively she says "a problem on the M23 below Redhill" or "a problem on the M1 above Milton Keynes". Below Redhill is soil and rock, above Milton Keynes are dark rain ridden clouds.
Grumpy old man? Moi?
Wing mirrors?? Fly deflectors?? Double de-clutch?? Crash gearbox?? Semaphore indicators?? Hand signals? Cross-ply tyres? Leaf springs?? chassis?
Sorry if these have already been mentioned
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"Put a Chrysler Sunbeam in your life".
For the younger people in the forum, that was sung by someone called Petula Clark who was inexplicably famous in the mid 70s. Be very grateful that punk music was just around the corner.
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i dont remember petula clark through the 70"s
i remember slade mott the hoople and sparks
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@Bell Boy: Maybe this will awaken some murky memories from the past:
www.petulaclark.net/home.php
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i dont remember petula clark through the 70"s i remember slade mott the hoople and sparks
True, much more of a sixties act surely; 'Downtown' is the first song I ever remember hearing, way back then.
To keep vaguely on topic how about " it's got 12 inch wiper blades, didn't know you could get them that big"
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Bagpuss.
You could be trampling over some (very old) toes. :>)
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Including hers I would imagine - she never wore shoes IIRC. I liked her anyway. Sunbeam Lotus was quite a machine - got stopped by an unmarked Police one in Manchester once !
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That was Sandie Shaw ( the shoeless one I mean ) Dunno what she drove but it should have been a Sunbeam Tiger in my opinion.......
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Kenlowe fan to improve mpg - not a litre in sight, TG
Duckhams 20/50- what a wonderful aroma it had
vacuum driven wipers- on Fords ( could not see going up hill at all)
That inner tube need a patch sir, no problem
Recut tyres
Buying linings to rivet to the shoes - (yes I did, Austin Somerset )
Oil bath aircleaner- nice and cheap to maintain
Rod brakes all round - (not just on two wheels now) - my 1934 Riley Falcon
Built in jacks - Riley Falcon 1934
Life was simple- but dangerous, I am lucky to be alive driving the carp that I did.
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I once tried to "keep up" with a Sunbeam Lotus in my Mk2 Cavalier SRi. It was dark, late and on very twisty rural Scottish roads and for a while I thought it was a normal Sunbeam. I came second.......
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@Bathtub tom.
Childhood fantasies? Nothing to be ashamed of. Check this out and feel young again!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vLlUpVMoOo
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oh
never seen that advert before
i always remember the interior seats in dogtooth used to turn to sand though
i liked those cars apart from the 1.0 litre model as they were troublesome
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i liked those cars apart from the 1.0 litre model as they were troublesome
Actually they weren't any worse to drive than the contemporary Vivas or Escorts. Just that the Golf appeared and made them all look 19th Century.
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The Lotus version had 150 bhp as standard and a 0-60 time of around 7 seconds. RWD so if you were brought up on FWD porridge forget it --- oh and no PAS. The WRC versions had around 220 bhp on tap. As mentioned above they were the original hot hatches - VW just did a more civilised, reliable version !
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I always thought it funny that that Lotus engine had originaly been based on a Vauxhaul block and ending up in the Sunbeam. I would assume thought that by that stage Lotus were casting their own alloy block for it, at least that was the intention.
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Wing mirrors !
Regularly throughout all the forums I look at.
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Sorry Dave I though this might be a wish list !
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Green shield stamps sir?
In America they didn't ask, just operated the lever and gave you a yard or so of the things with every fill-up, six abreast .... I stuck some on the offside rear quarter of my white car as a sort of retail go-faster stripe. The locals didn't think it at all funny. A bit like defiling the flag.
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Gearshifts, " Three on the tree" vs "Four on the floor"
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