10 in 48 years plus a few company cars in between. First was a 1936 Austin 10 (Cambridge) and current is a 1999 Peugeot 406.
Worst hose was the short one connecting the head and block on BMC A type engines (A30/35, Morris 1000, Mini etc.). It fitted on tubes projecting from head and block with only a half inch gap between the tube ends. You could get very flexible after market hoses that were supposed to be fittable without removing the head but I could never get the buggers to go on.
I did after 4 hours.
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember snipped-for-privacy@cucumber.demon.co.uk (Andrew Gabriel) saying something like:
A decent motor factor still does, and there's always online if you're really stuck.
I remember those. Absolute sod. I worked in a garage/filling station and I've lost count of the number of those I did after hours. I used the flexible ones though.
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Jules Richardson saying something like:
My last Transit had a swaged-on impeller which would ocasionally spin free on the shaft. Caused a bit of head-scratching at the time.
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Grimly Curmudgeon saying something like:
Forgot a couple:
Ford Anglia (E494A) Interesting rod brakes and vacuum wipers. Hillman Imp Californian Volvo 144 estate
Ha! Mine broke down in the middle of M4 rush hour more than once. I don't think I lasted long with it - it was something of an emergency purchase right before Christmas one year when my usual vehicle was stolen and I needed something to get up north to see family. Not much time to shop around in the circumstances.
Yeah, small rad and small water pump mounted high up in the block, so if the coolant level ever went low for any reason it'd quickly stop pumping and things would go bad fast. The main problem was shitty quality control though - Stag engines left the factory with a ridiculous amount of casting debris left inside the block, which of course would soon jam critical waterways. I'm not sure if other Triumphs were prone to the same problem.
Other engine issues included poor timing chains and tensioners, jackshaft gears that were prone to stripping, inlet manifolds that didn't seal* to the heads very well, head studs that would corrode, numerous oil leaks... a good engine, carefully built, was actually pretty reasonable, and a couple of design iterations might have sorted out the niggles, but it was too late once the first horror stories started pouring in.
The engine bay was reasonably cramped, but no worse than most vehicles of the time with big engines
Indeed. I think those heads were interchangeable with one side of the Stag V8, but of course the other side was unique to the engine, so there aren't many spares around these days. I'm still glad that Triumph at least tried to make their own engine rather than going the "obvious" route of the Rover/Buick V8; it's just a shame they messed it up so badly :-)
cheers
Jules
There was another pair of V-8s in the BL stable - the Daimler ones. They shouldn't have been allowed to die out.
The Triumph engine had some serious design flaws. Given the number of failed waterpumps I've had over the years including seized ones, only an idiot would gear drive it. And include a jack shaft to drive that and the dizzy. Almost like an OHC conversion to a pushrod engine.
Having the waterpump where it is does allow a shorter engine - but then Triumph weren't in to transverse engines.
I have "fond" memories of that little steward!
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Bob Eager saying something like:
It was possible to get the pukka ones to go on in a couple of minutes if you softened it with hot water and fitted it quickly.
No hot water available, just a corner of the forecourt!
My party piece was fast tyre changing on Minis...not rad hoses.
Now, now, it wasn't that bad, when we were young
Agreed, but you needed asbestos fingers. Not allowed now!
It bl**dy well was! :)
I'm not sure I can recall them all. Things are complicated by some of 'my' vehicles being ones used by me but owned by the company that I owned.
Triumph Herald - more accurately the useable bits from one MOT failure and one crash write-off Triumph Herlad plus a few odd bits, like Triumph Vitesse disk brakes. Nominally a 948cc Coupe, although the final engine was a 1300 Spitfire with 30 thou skimmed off the head.
Triumph 2.5PI (2)
Lada 1600 - my first new car and surprisingly nippy once the Russian carb had been replcaed by the Weber it was supposed to be a copy of.
Bedford Midi van - with a bench seat fitted in the back - very useful for beer buying trips to France.
Rover 100 van
Alfa Romeo V6 twin spark
Rover Vitesse
Rover 220 Coupe
Dacia Duster
Renault car derived van
Renault Master van LWB high roof (2)
Land Rover Defender LWB
Land Rover Discovery Mk 1
Land Rover Discovery Mk 2
Mercedes M320
Mercedes ML500
Mercedes E class estate 250 diesel
The last I'll be picking up in Stuttgat in September. As I' now a pensioner on a fixed income, it will probably have to do for a few years before I replace it.
So, that is 18 in 42 years, if I've remembered them all.
That does not include my father's cars, which I had use off before I got my own. Living in London cars were not terribly important in my teenage years.
Colin Bignell
It was worse.
The improvement in materials and design has been extraordinary. I remember cracked flexible brake hoses and corroded rigid brake pipes at
3 years old. Exhausts and batteries that didn't last. Used to spend evenings and weekends working on cars only a few years old. Cars that corroded through in a little over 3 years.After nothing but trouble with a Focus and associated Ford dealer our last 3 cars have been Mazdas. Only thing to keep me entertained has been topping up the washer bottles and replacing the occasional windscreen wiper. Nearly forgot - several punctures and the need to add air to the tyres as the temperature falls each autumn.
I haven't had a puncture in YEARS.
But I agree with you.
Cras post war were things rich middle class blokes had, in their garages, that got properly serviced every 6 montsh/3000 miles, decoked every 15,000 miles, and re bearinged every 30,000 miles, and te drims skimmed at 60m000 miles, if they got that far, because they were only taken out at weekends.
Then us impoverished students came along, and started beating the crap out of them visiting our friends..doing 20,000 miles in a year (thats 6 services!!) leaving em parked in et streets and driving them (gasp!") in e rain and the snow..which was now treated with salt.
The last time I had a BL car, I was commuting 140 miles aday..and I was under it every month. Brakes, suspension bushes, bearings..you name it, it needed servicing.
Then I saved up and got an Opel Manta. what joy! 10,000 mile service intervals, electronic ignition, no points. Fuel injection. No carbs. power steering and brakes. Cat exhaust that didn't go.Engine good for
120,000 miles with maybe just a cam belt change (or did it have a chain?)I had joined the modern age!
Indeed. My 1978 Renault 5 was had visible rust after just three years and various mechanical repairs were needed. The Twingo has done 150,000 miles in 16 years and still no sign of rust on the body (dents and scratches from vandals and a pheasant are another matter.)
Of course in those days the battery was positive earth. Consequently the metal of the body sort of unplated itself and rusted through in no time. And of course the modern anti rust treatments are so much better.
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