Varifocal lenses

[The Natural Philosopher]

Vox Haul?

[Jeff Layman]

I didn't even think of that! Is "VH" a common abbreviation for Vauxhall for restoration enthusiasts?

[The Natural Philosopher]

No idea. But I have fond memories of a Vauxhall FB Viva. 1256 cc or some such,. Nice clean decent little car that morphed into the Opel kadett before being replaced with an FWD monstrosity - the Astra.

[The Other John]

I had a Vauxhall Viva SL90, the so-called sporty version because it had a Solex (I think) carburettor with a rubber diaphragm, which was fine till the rubber perforated! DAMHIK!

[The Natural Philosopher]

Yep. Solex. I had a mate who fixed cars and he got one which was unreliable. turned out the fuel pump had siezed and worn the camshaft that drove it flat. So added weld and ground it down to a decent profile.

I drive it for a few weeks - could fling it round corners pretty well.

[charles]

I had a work coleague who bought a Viva SL. Very worried about how much the insurance would be , he asked his broker if he knew what SL stood for. "Yes, pSeudo Luxurious" waa the reply.

[ARW]

FWD my arse.

Cars have never been the same since FWD became the norm.

[Tim Streater]

Indeed. It became possible to do nice handbrake skids, such as in a carpark covered with say 3 inches of snow. Get some speed up, spin the steering wheel to a full extent and yank the handbrake. Great fun.

[Tim+]

That?s a lot more to do with having a rear wheel handbrake than FWD or RWD. I?ve done plenty of handbrake turns in FWD cars.

Electric handbrakes have spoiled that fun now though? :-(

Tim

[John Rumm]

I had a car with a front wheel handbrake. That always used to confuse them at MoT time on the rolling road doing the front brake test. "Leave the engine running, and put the handbrake on" - car promptly leaps out of the rollers!

[Dave Plowman (News]

The funniest one was Rolls Royce made up until the Shadow, when they changed to disc brakes.

The drum brakes on those before didn't have a direct connection between pedal and master cylinders. The master cylinders were operated by a mechanical servo driven by the prop shaft. So unless the rear wheels were turning, no front brakes at all. The rear drums had a mechanical connection to the pedal, though - shared with the handbrake.

So at MOT time, they had to do a road test with a Tapley meter to check the brakes.

Even more fun seeing a novice mechanic trying to bleed the brakes.

[newshound]

Hmmm. Recall changing gear for my MIL after a clutch cable failure, driving from the centre of Bradford up to the edge of town. She wasn't sufficiently attuned to doing that herself (and I only had a motorbike license at the time).

[newshound]

Yeah, I recall a lad at my school doing a complete back axle change on an Austin 7 in the 90 minute lunch break, after getting a couple of people to help him roll it onto its side. (State grammar school, but smart enough area in the 60's for them to have a student vehicle car park at the back of the sports fields. Mostly motorbikes, but half a dozen or so cars too).

[Tim+]

Vague recollection that my wife?s Citroen ZX had a front wheel handbrake. I seem to recall issues with it losing grip after application if applied when brakes hot.

Tim

[NY]

There is a lot to be said for a car that has the handbrake on the wheels which aren't driven. That way if you need to jack the car up to change a wheel, you can brake the wheels which are at the opposite end of the car, either with the handbrake or by putting the car in gear or in park. On a RWD car with rear handbrake, you've no way of stopping the front wheels from moving; conversely for FWD car with front handbrake (as for Citroen).

Being able to brake the wheel that has the puncture is useful for those people who raise the wheel and *then* try to loosen the wheel-nuts which tends to rotate the wheel. I always loosen the nuts/bolts 1/2 turn while the wheel is on the ground, then raise it and loosen the nuts fully once the initial full-strength torque has been overcome - but lots of people don't know that trick.

[Tim+]

I?ll wager that everyone *our age* knows that trick. Most younger folk wouldn?t even attempt to change a wheel.

Tim

[newshound]

Same with the CX (and, I think, ID and DS)

[Dave Plowman (News]

My car hasn't got a jack or wheel brace. Or spare wheel. Bottle of gunge and a compressor. Which would be no use with a wrecked tyre.