Guilty on the sports car, not on the bike. The Lucas components were no more primitive than the rest of the car :) I do miss spending Saturday mornings with my head under the bonnet listening to the SU's whistling there little tunes.
The Brits talk funny. It wasn't much of a car but I did like the Triumph Spitfire. The whole bonnet/wings assembly swung up so you could sit on a front tire and drink a beer while contemplating the hamster wheel that powered it. Much nicer than the old Jags.
By 1974 they had solved some of the big problems. In 1976 they had pretty well sorted out the cooling and lubrication. The 1971-73 range were pretty terrible cars, all around. Some of the early cars stood up,, but more burned oil, smoked, rattled, rusted,, and generally just self destructed.
GM's biggest mistake on the "shove-it" was not installing dual exhausts. It's pretty hard to push a wheelbarrow with only one handle
- - - All kidding aside - for a CHEAP car they were not bad. Emphasis on CHEAP, not car.
Depends on the use. They were OK for occasional short trips around town. When my brother moved cross country I drove the Vega out there for him. Long days at 75 mph. It was never the same after that.
Each car is its own, jes like ppl.
I hadda Vega wagon as a service vehicle and it was awesome. Never had any probs and beat a Porsche 912 coming back (80) from Reno. The Porsche would smoke me in the straightaways, but I always caught him in the corners. He finally threw his hands up in submission. I will admit to being young, stupid, and having indulged in a wee bit o' the barely. ;)
nb
Years ago, the Uni of Colorado did a study of front wheel vs 4 wheel drive in snowy conditions. They concluded any front wheel drive is the equal of any 4WD. Both were far superior to rear wheel drive.
nb
Ummm..... In my youth, I was a professional motorcycle mechanic. I owned and worked on Triumphs, BSA, Matchless, Nortons, etc. Cars included Spitfires, Austin Healys, MGs, etc. I even worked on Japanese copies of British bikes (Kawi W series). I repaired far more electrical failures on Japanese motorcycles.
Most ppl know spit about British beer.
nb
The Brits used a zener diode, on their m/c's, to drain off any excess charge from the generator to the battery, but sometimes over-reving would blow the Lucas light bulbs. I had this occur jes once. Replaced the bulbs and was good to go.
The Japanese, OTOH, went with a real alternator charging setup. It worked great, but they never allowed enough charge to reach the battery. Electrical failures on early Japanese m/c's common and extensive. The Kawi 2-stroke twins and triples hadda really weird electronic capacitive discharge system. A real "black box", it was awesone while it worked. When it failed, it failed completely and was mega expensive to repair.
nb
I loved my old used Spitfire. That is, until I saw it up on a service bay hoist (muffler). The main frame was like two Y's connected together at the bottom leg. The two compartments --the passenger compartments-- hung on both sides of that long middle leg. looked exactly like two coffins. I soon sold my Spitfire for something safer ....a 500cc Matchless single m/c. ;)
nb
I've been buying Toyotas exclusively since 1990 and never had any break. I just laugh at the sales folks when they try to sell me an extended warranty with each new vehicle.
wow Montana? What's the weather like there where you're at? Do you get drastic temperature differences between summer and winter?
What do they add to the drinking water in Tulsa? Just wondering.
I've been thinking about getting a Beetle, but haven't seen anyone mention any VW cars at all. I wonder if they just aren't popular as other cars seem to be.
I can't say about new models, but I usta own a '62 VW bug. I learned to drive on ice/snow in that car. I'd go into icy vacant parking lots and purposely try and throw the car into a 360° spin. Those ol' rear engine bugs were pretty good in the snow.
Unfortunately, having lived in CA most of my life didn't help when I hit a patch of ice in my full-sized Ford van and totalled it on a tree, 40 yrs later. ;)
nb
When I was learning to drive I went under an overpass and there was water on the road that had frozen into a huge sheet of black ice. I saw it an panicked and did a perfect 360° spin and came to a stop facing the direction I was going to begin with. Scared the crap out of me! I think I hit the gas pedal when I meant to tap the breaks, or something like that - not sure because it was all a blur after the fact.
Fast forward to about 25 yrs later, I was driving down a flat road and there was snow that had been melting on the sides of the road. By then there wasn't any snow on the roads - just water. The temps had fluctuated and you couldn't tell if there was water or black ice on the roads so I was going fairly slow. When I came up to a red light I had slowed to nearly a stop when I tapped the breaks to stop completely. My car began to slide so I let off the break and went tap-tap-tap just barely touching the break and I swear there had to be an angel there who stuck his little finger between me and the car in front of me because that's where I finally stopped short of bumping the car in front of me. Right about that time my cell phone rings when my heart is beating at high speed from the adrenaline rush. Since I was stopped at a red light I picked up the phone and shouted "WHAT!!!! I'll have to call you back!!" After the fact it was kind of funny when I told everyone what happened.
Maybe in snowy conditions, but not in icy conditions. I know for a fact they aren't equal in icy conditions. At least when it comes to a FWD Chevy Equinox with "traction control" and a Saturn Vue with AWD.
I was a teenager when I owned it and lets just say I didn't baby it! lol
The CDI module on my Suzuki DR650 died a few weeks ago. $140 on eBay and about 3 times that from Suzuki. Same deal, I went out one morning and it wouldn't start. Of course when I ran down the troubleshooting tree in the service manual all the cheap stuff passed inspection until I got to the most expensive piece.
The module on my Harley failed a few years ago but it was a gradual failure and it would start after it cooled down. That was a strange one. The Screaming Eagle performance module was $100 cheaper than the OEM replacement, about $180 iirc. It bumped the red line up a few hundred RPM too.
I've got a Suzuki DL-650 too. Love the bike but it scares me, FI and so forth. I'm thinking that would be a real expensive one to work on.
Good move. After dipping into various sports cars I too regained my sanity and went back to bikes. A car is something you drive in the winter or when you have to haul more crap than you can bungee on the bike.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.