>>I saw a car with a chrome "scottie dog" mascot on the bonnet recently, would do a pedestrian serious damage.
Not as much as the headlamp eyebrows, although IIRC they were quite effective in reducing reflected glare in fog.
Whitewall tyres. I've still got a couple on the Kia!
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Why put a screwdriver through the silencer when you could buy a Peco "exhaust booster"?
My brother had one on his Austin Healey Sprite.
And I liked the adhesive number plates that went on the bonnet and would defy any ANPR camera.
The naffest now must be the blue flourescent lights somehow suspended under the car.
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Black rear window louvres fitted to many a MK2 Escort, MK3 Cortina and Morris Marina !
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Blue fluorescent underbody lights-what's that all about then? I've got a sunbed under my car?
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My 1st Morris Minor had frenched in rear lights - I used plastic plant pots and filler to get a pretty good effect :)
MVP
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NO-ONES mentioned spot lights yet...
had a pair of lucus chrome spot lights on my mk2 escort...and halfords seat covers over the original brown plastic seats.....oh the colour of car was err light brown...(lets not mention the true 70s shade of brown hahah)
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friends also had things like rear mounted spot lights to copy the mk2 rally escort and minis at the time.
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i later fitted a high power sharp radio tape player with grahic equalizer, to replace the 7w ford push button radio set....
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hmm 70s where a time of good taste...hahaha.
oh almost forgot chrome wheel trims the outter edge of the steel wheel had a chrome look plastic ring that clipped on.....hahahaah.....
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also at the time spoilers where common, no fibre glass stuff like you get now, but solid rubber jobbies.... hmm seem to remember the Asian car spares places selling optional rear indicators that you stuck to the inside of the back window of your mk4 cortina 1.6L..
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hmm it was my first car and I was 17 at the time...
escort 1.1 popular....with a 1.3 dropped in...wow the power of the engine swap...still had DRUM brakes all round....no brake servo, no reversing lights etc etc...all standard!
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Why put a screwdriver through the silencer when you could buy a Peco "exhaust booster"?
Only the "rich kids" could afford fancy exhausts.
Edited by Old Navy on 16/04/2009 at 18:00
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Dimma fuel caps.
My first boyfriend had a 106 Quiksilver (it never saw a beach...) and he put a pair of tights over the headlights. Oh dear.
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>>Only the "rich kids" could afford fancy exhausts.
Not true. I fitted a 'straight through' back box to my old A35. It was a straight fit and looked identical to any other, only it cost a little less - the reason for buying it.
I don't know if it improved performance, but it had a lovely sound. GF reckoned she could hear me for half-a-mile if I left in a bad mood. ;>)
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red bulb to light up the back axle on a jacked up car
rear window stickers with "the escort touch " on em
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I've still got a couple of those new fangled halogen spotlights in the shed off a MK3 Cortina. They're rectangular, stainless steel bodies, on a shelf next to the fogs off a 127, with the air horns (not colonel bogies).
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Ah, the 70's....Furry dice, Fur dashboard top, vinyl seats, vinyl seat paint in various colours, wide steel wheels, pancake air filter, cherry bomb exhaust, twin webber carbs, bonnet bulges, bonnet straps/pins, roystyle wheels, vinyl roofs, fibreglass wings, the new radial tyre, ...etc.
Edited by kith on 16/04/2009 at 22:54
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i used to collect cibies but some scrote nicked them all when i had them in storage,they cost a fortune these days
my mate had a lambretta in the 60"s with 25 spot lights on his front crash bars,unfortunately the coppers nicked him for no rear light
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I fitted H130s to a 4 headlamp MK3 Cortina (I couldn't afford the Z130s, or the Ford originals). I sold them and reckon I saw them subsequently at Classics-on-the-common - at least I'd swear the bloke flogging them was the one I'd sold them to.
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I have to admit to having chrome eyebrows on the Jowett. I also have chrome mesh glass protestors but I havn't fitted them yet. Now get this, She's a 1952 model and I've got a copy of a 1952 Daily Express on the rear parcels shelf !
I win, I think !
Ted
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Is the newspaper next to a box of tissues in a furry box holder?
edit: two fs in furry.
Edited by bathtub tom on 16/04/2009 at 23:45
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No , only fit period stuff...think the furry box came later......ooops.
But you can be assured it it had been around then I would have been at the cutting edge of fashion !
Ted
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hope there is pipe ash down the offside panels for authentification
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I win, I think !
... only if the eyebrows are 1952 as well ted. Even then ... oh well, one would have to see it I suppose. The Javelin has nice clean lines. I didn't like it at the time but I was only a nipper then and my taste has changed. I like the long tail now.
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Windows tinted with Sperex spray on window tint. Had to be California blue
List of parts manufacturers down the front wings of the 2Fast2Furious chavmobiles. None of which actually feature on the car
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In 1991 my Y reg Cavalier had an integrated spotlight grille, a Goodmans stereo (tape of course) and "Turbo Lites" black rear light tinting spray... and mirror tint film on the back window! I've got some footage of the car on VHS video, I just need to work out the easiest way to transfer it to MPEG format.
Dave TD.
I also had a C reg Fiat Panda, totally standard externally apart from spotlights (well the standard headlights were rubbish on main beam), but internally equipped with most of the stereo kit from my mate's written-off ex-car-audio-shop demonstrator XR3i... It made the headlights go dim on the drumbeats at 70mph! But it was raaaather loud. :-)
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I suspect that, in the future, so called 'privacy glass' will be regarded as naff. As I tend to keep my cars for a long time, I wouldn't dream of having it.
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I suspect that in the future so called 'privacy glass' will be regarded as naff.
I regard it as 'naff' now!
It looks like the jobs been 1/2 done, I do know that the front glass has to (and should be - common sense) a light tint but it just looks stupid!
except on a black MPV..... they look like hearses!
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1400ted
Where did you get the "glass protestors"
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I bought an aftermarket radiator grille for my MG Metro which included two spotlamps.
The kit even came with relays, and thinking about it, it wasn't naff, it was rather smart.
Now if you want naff, how about those contraceptive-style wiper arm boots?
And clip-on sails for the wipers themselves?
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I posted a link to a picture (2 or 3 weeks ago) of a Ford/Coleman Milne stretch limo, repainted pink and with a rear spoiler! Yuck! I have just seen in my hospital car park a Fiat Punto which has been done up in the theme of some Japanese girly thing called "Where's Kitty". It has illegal typeface numberplates with a Kitty sticker where it should say GB, Kitty pink fluffy dice, a pink and white drivers seat cover Kitty style; a pink kitten on the gear lever, a white frame round the rear view mirror, with a kitty on it, a white steering wheel cover with silver lurex thread embroidery saying Where's Kitty. The whole ensemble is topped off with a large rear window notice saying "Pampered Princess on Board" Waste of money and lack of taste doesn't come close. Owner said she had been pulled by the police for the number plates but she must have got away with it by being a Princess!
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Nothing wrong with that pink AS.
What are you denying?
:o}
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I like pink, in its place! Lingerie, silk sheets, Campari, rose wine etc! It just doesn't do anything for me on cars.
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pink ... just doesn't do anything for me on cars.
Have to admit I wouldn't seek it out especially myself AS. But I like other people having it. Cheers me up.
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Ostentatiously large aftermarket mudflaps on all four wheels, attached with pop rivets and self-tapping screws, then left with wodges of damp mud behind them to maintain the car's metalwork in tip-top condition.
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>Now if you want naff, how about those contraceptive-style wiper arm boots?
Ahh, I had red ones of those on my FIAT Uno! They did look rubbish, and they went pink!
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I think most modifications nowadays are naff. Why the obsession with making crap cars look fast? In my day the goal was to make a crap car go fast, or to own a fast car that looked crap.
A guy in our street had a hearing aid beige Escort mk2 1100L. Completely standard looking apart from a slightly low stance and some fat four spoke alloys.
Providing momentum was the entire (cut down) drivetrain from a Sapphire Cosworth 4x4, chipped to around 300 bhp. He'd spent many years on it, fabricating driveshafts, mounts, modifying suspension arms etc etc. Now *that* is a modded car! :-) Looks like something your grandad would drive, yet would run a 12.something second quarter mile. :-) He used to go out specifically to bait supercars in it.
If you're gonna throw £10k at a car (which is peanuts in modern modding terms), wouldn't you rather do this than put a bodykit and 19" alloys on a Saxo?
Edited by DP on 18/04/2009 at 15:48
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DP, you are a rational man. Spot on.
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real mods -- I remember a Vauxhall VX490 ? on bypass going past our work place -- nice open pipes from a V8
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I recall a scruffy black Escort Mk 1 van in south London once, Brixton Hill or somewhere, heavy traffic both ways. Pootling along in the outer lane two or three cars ahead of me, it suddenly did a handbrake turn and took off in the opposite direction between the two streams of traffic with heavy wheelspin in first and second gears, but dead straight and under full control, lsd probably. Apart from slightly wide steel wheels you wouldn't have given it a second glance, but it was a very quick motor.
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Sounds like an excellent Q-car, they run by stealth!
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Am I the only one who thinks that the ?Lexus style? replacement rear light sets are naff?
Of all the qualities of a Lexus you might want to copy, surely styling is not one of them? Come to think of it, in recent years car manufacturers seem have engaged in an unofficial ?who can design the ugliest rear lights and still have customers? competition, so maybe I?m in a minority?
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Q cars.
I had a '67 2 litre Vitesse. Mates would encourage me at traffic lights by saying "go on, give some welly, they think it's a Herald".
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I was tempted to put 2.8 badges on a 5.3 litre XJ12 I once owned...
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Personalised number plates - then and now.
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A big wing that creates more drag than the rest of the body shell, knocks 10s of mph off the top speed, and increases the fuel consumption of a shopping car.
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Well first car was a Talbot Samba either 850 or 950 cc!
Trend at that time was the thin white tape on the lights so off to B&Q (or Dodge City as it was in those days) and got tape amd spent all day cutting it into thin strips to put over front and back lights.
The wheels also got the treatment - tyres painted black and the wheels themselves painted shiny shiny chromy silver which lasted a good couple of weeks before it started peeling!
Then next car was a Mark 2 Escort, just started my first job so it got a new Goodmans radio/cassette from Argos, it got two rectangular spot lights above the bumper which, when illuminated and attached to a vibrating bumper gave a very strange beam of light! Rear suspension was pumped up someway or another with those chrome bits hanging down. All round mudflaps, each with a huge red reflector, pull up sun blinds in back window, goodmans parcel shelf surface mounted speakers which, due to the shape of the shelf, pointed straight down into the back seat!
It was then that I realised that for back seat adjustment, its so much better to have a lever rather than a knob that you need to turn for ages to get the slightest reclining......
Oh and not forgetting....... the Moss alarm!!
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when i got my 1st car i always wanted one of them twin exhaust things, that you could simply place on the back of your standard exhaust (IIRC) to turn it into a "Twin" exhaust. didnt look naff when i was 17, but i think it would now lol
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Any aftermarket chrome exhaust trim.
Edited by Old Navy on 20/04/2009 at 13:50
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Those that directed the exhaust down served a useful purpose for caravanners.
Most modern cars seem to have the exhaust pointing down nowadays anyway.
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1988, first car gold Vauxhall Viva HC GLS (1977). At 17 years of age, let the modding begin!
1) limited edition stinker on the bootlid
2) special edition stickers on the front wings
3) goodmans stereo with additional graphic equaliser & amplifier, driving big shelf-mounted goodmans speakers (Aerosmith & AC/DC were the order of the day)
4) Foam rubber boot spoiler from a mk2 escort
5) confederate & chequered flag stickers on the dash
6) pair of rally giant stickers on the front bumper
7) Move the front number plate to the side (a la Alfa 156)
8) chromed exhaust trim, pointing down.
SO sad looking back. Shameful!
I do look back a bit wistfully, mind. It's the naivety & innocence of thinking it's cool. Miss that now I'm old(er) and cynical.
Heigh ho.
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goodmans parcel shelf surface mounted speakers which due to the shape of theshelf pointed straight down into the back seat!
Oh and not forgetting....... the Moss alarm!!
I had both of them on my MK1 astra, the moss alarm came already fitted, was supposed to operate all indicators when activated. for some reason only operated the passenger side ones, and the very odd occasion would operate all 4 (no side indicators on that car)
I bought the goodmans speakers from Argos and the car although came with 4 factory fit speakers, they where wired to replace the back two, and they where actually not a bad improvement - but i could not get a decent stereo to fit in the section, as it was non standard size, and the bulkhead was in the way lol
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would operate all 4 (no side indicators on that car)
It didn't need side repeaters as the front indicators on the mk1 Astra were designed to that they could be seen side on as well as from the front.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 20/04/2009 at 14:51
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Yes but the side indicaters were fantastic on the mk2 astra because you would go back to your car and find some kid had nicked them because they looked like spangles.
Anybody who bought new replacements superglued them and will know that they were on back order from the factory so many used to disappear.
iI my batteries in my camera werent flat ive still got some on a shelf next door and could photograph them (yes i know that sad)
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Well bellboy you shouldn't have been nicking them all!!!! :)
Re Moss alarms, not sure if it was an urban myth, but remember hearing at the time that to disable them all you needed to do was break an indicator bulb and it would blow the circuit??
I remember I had one of the lower spec versions - the one with the wee stand of leds that sat on top of the dash flashing away like the front of KITT? It worked by detecting the voltage change so when you switched ignition on within the 5 secs it would disable it. Except for some reason it didn't work on the Polo I had.
So, thankfully the Polo came with lots of blank switches, got a spare fog light switch from scrappy and wired that up to alarm so as soon as I got in the car, I just flicked the switch and it disabled the alarm.
That was the same Polo that some one smashed the rear side window and stole the Garfield that was stuck to it (not mine I hasten to add!)
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Reminds me of the simplest mod that we did which was to wire a hidden switch into the supply to the starter relay from the ignition switch.
You could hide your switch anywhere under the dash and if it was not switched on the car would not start.
Cheaper and more effective than the weedy alarms available in the 70s.
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I had a 'Y' reg Austin Ambasador. The electric petrol pump was disabled if the oil pressure light was on - overidden by operating the starter motor. Presumably some early sort of fire protection in a crash.
I wired a hidden switch. I lost count of the number of times I forgot it. It would go quite a way on what was in the float chamber.
I ended up with a car park barrier knocking dents in the roof once.
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>You could hide your switch anywhere under the dash and if it was not switched on the car would not start.
>Cheaper and more effective than the weedy alarms available in the 70s.
I have a simple circuit on one of my cars which stops the car being started even if you have the remote to disable the alarm and the correct (coded) ignition key. There's nothing hidden - an existing switch has to be held in a certain position before the starter circuit is active.
Kevin...
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Yes but the side indicaters were fantastic on the mk2 astra because you would go back to your car and find some kid had nicked them because they looked like spangles.
Where I lived, if you had a mk2 Astra, you had far bigger problems than indicators going AWOL. It would usually be the entire car.
These were the most stolen cars I've ever known. They were nigh on impossible to keep hold of. Once the local scum fraternity had TWOC'd and burnt all the fast ones in the area, the GTEs and SRIs, they started on the Ls and GLs. Our nondescript navy blue 1.6L went walkies after we'd owned it for just six weeks! A screwdriver and a short length of scaffold pole was all you needed.
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On the subject of primitive car security measures. Back in the dark ages two door cars such as Minis had very simple tip forward seats to allow passengers in and out of the back seat. The seats pivoted on the front bottom edge and in normal use the back of the seat squab sat on two legs.
Guy I knew used to carefully place "stinkbombs" which were in a little glass vial under the back leg of the driver's seat whenever he left the car parked up. His theory being that if someone broke into his car and sat on the seat it would crush the stinkbomb and make the experiece fairly unpleasant at least. Of course it was quite important to him to remember to remove it when he got in.
Almost inevitably, his Dad needed to move the car early one Saturday morning.....
;-)
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I found the cheapest security measure on my nice brand new Cavalier Commander was to remove the rotor arm, from memory my best time was 11 seconds from taking the keys out of the ignition to putting the bonnet back down. I did manage to get out of sync. once and had the ignition switched on before replacing the rotor arm,which produced a fair old tingle. It did have one of those earth straps trailing from the rear valance, another 'mod' of its time I suppose.!
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It didn't need side repeaters as the front indicators on the mk1 Astra were designed to that they could be seen side on as well as from the front.
I didnt know that DD, but now you mention it they did kind of wrap around the front, (ill have to dig out the photographs (yes im sad and admitt it lol)
I also fitted front spot lights to supplement the rather rubbish full beam complete with a switch to disable them and just have standard full beam on its own, and front fogs also removing the dash blanking panel to fit the newly bought switch for the fog lights from the dealer, i think it looked really good, but I was only 18 at the time lol!
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My mk1 had front fogs as standard. I fitted the spots though, along with 100watt bulbs in each one. As you will know, under the plastic front bumper was a metal beam with the spot light holes already drilled. It was just a case of driling through the plastic, putting a relay in the fuse box and finding the relevant wires under the bonnet that were taped up along the headlight wiring looms.
img511.imageshack.us/my.php?image=astran.jpg
And for the benefit of "Old Navy", it had an aftermarket chrome tailpipe ;o)
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 20/04/2009 at 22:17
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My mk1 had front fogs as standard. I fitted the spots though along with 100watt bulbs in each one. As you will know under the plastic front bumper was a metal beam with the spot light holes already drilled. It was just a case of driling through the plastic putting a relay in the fuse box and finding the relevant wires under the bonnet that were taped up along the headlight wiring looms. img511.imageshack.us/my.php?image=astran.jpg
Yes i remeber thats what I did, although because I had some help, - I dont remeber the pre driled holes in the metal bar under the bumper - and im very sure we didnt use a relay either we just IIRC linked it straight into the wiring loom - not done properly like yours though (which is the way it should have been done) but it seemed to work fine, ill so have to dig out the pictures now lol :-).
as my fogs were not factory standard sometimes (and it was always just the one) used to sag down a little and I had to keep tighting it up, still i at 18/19yrs old it didnt bother me in the slightest .....going to dig out the pictures now :-)
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And for the benefit of "Old Navy" it had an aftermarket chrome tailpipe ;o)
Almost as sad as the 6' fiberglass whip I had on a rusty HA Viva.
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>>Only the "rich kids" could afford fancy exhausts.
My A30 had a Peco big bore exhaust.. cost 50p from another A30 in a scrap yard.
Increased top speed to 59mph...
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I saw a car with a chrome "scottie dog" mascot on the bonnet recently would do a pedestrian serious damage.
That'll teach 'em!!!!!!!!
TIC....MD
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As promised, For DD, and anyone
(i did warn everyone i would dig out the pics ;-) )
img222.imageshack.us/img222/5813/astra8lc.jpg
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that was T'Pau"s car redviper
why do i remember? because that one is in china blue
i couldnt see DD"S car as it was in silhouete
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that was T'Pau"s car redviper why do i remember? because that one is in china blue
LOL!!!
Yes China Blue was the colour for the exterior, and the interior as well - Lovely :-)
Actually wasnt to bad - there is a bright Yellow one still in use in the Village next to my parents - didnt like that at all
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>> I saw a car with a chrome "scottie dog" mascot on the bonnet recently would >> do a pedestrian serious damage. >> That'll teach 'em!!!!!!!!
The Queen also has her own mascot for use on official cars.
Designed by the artist Edward Seago in the form of St George on a horse poised over a slain dragon, it is made of silver and can be transferred from car to car.
The Duke of Edinburgh's mascot, a heraldic lion wearing a crown, is adapted from his arms.
One could not call it narf !
But thats alright cos no pedestrians are allowed to get in the way :-)
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