Car Thread

[John Webster]

Somebody put a lot of time into that white coupe and got a great result.

The purple one is an eyecatcher too. Nicely done paint accents on the rear quarters. Has he got the wheels mounted on the wrong sides?

The summer of 67 I worked as an apprentice mechanic in a foreign car shop. A lot of my time was spent setting valves and replacing points and plugs on MG TDs, As and Bs and TR 3s and 4s. I always enjoy seeing furrin cars from that era.

[healey36]

Similar experience...when I was a teenager I worked in a local garage that catered primarily to German makes, mostly Mercedes and VW. The guy who ran the shop was ex-Luftwaffe ground unit, drafted in 1945 at seventeen. After the war he kicked around for a couple of years then was lucky to get picked up by Daimler where he got some training, then they shipped him to the US to work in service at a big dealership in NYC. He'd grown up in Leipzig, lost his parents and siblings in the war, had no reason to stay in Germany. He married an American and ended up moving to the Balto-Wash area where she had some family. He opened a small garage locally in the late 1950's and stuck around until the early 1990's. When the wall came down he and his wife moved back to Germany. I started off just sweeping up, cleaning tools, pumping gas, etc., then "graduated" to oil changes, greasing chassis, maintenance-type stuff. Sometimes, if there was heavy-lifting involved, lol, I'd help out with bigger jobs. Between him and one of his mechanics I learned a lot. Every time I walk into my garage I think of those guys...

Healey

[sarge]

Yesterday saw a lovely evening, low humidity, and a truly pleasant drive with the Young Squire as the requesting passenger. We ran the ridge route again, and all was fine until we caught up with a Miata driven by a bearded silver-haired gent. Off he went with something to prove once he saw the B, and wonder of wonders the old crock kept up with his best efforts.

He almost lost it in the gravel missing an apex; no fair I used to drive in Europe and did rallyes so a flick in the gravel comes naturally. I think he thought the old would lose out to the new (badly) and it probably really should have what with the suspensions and gearboxes compared. Didn't happen and he seemed very unamused, darting off in the opposite direction at a "T" intersection without so much as a glance in the mirror let alone a wave.

I really really should know better, especially with an old MGB, but something just said, "Play? Play? Plaaaaaaaaay!" I now know we can still do it, so I won't be doing that again, and told Tad (who thoroughly enjoyed the challenge- he'd make a good rallye co one day) not to tell his mother- Grin! (I told her myself and got the appropriate, "Really dear? At your age?" bit.)

However, I might rethink how that Midget gets set up when we survey the running gear this week, though...



Today we went down to see the folks (still hanging in at 87 years young) and spied this little jewel at the restaurant. Tad had his iPad and took the photo:

[rogruth]

I really appreciate all of the beauty pictured above but I have a problem. I recognized a Mustang and a couple of Chevrolets.
Everything else is foreign to me. Could/would you please identify what you are posting in this thread?
Back near the start, for instance, what is that red one with the port holes?

[healey36]

Wow...Allard J2...one of only 90 built. A Cadillac-powered J2 finished 3rd at Le Mans in 1950.

Butt-ugly, ain't it?



I recall reading somewhere that Carroll Shelby's experience with the J2 and J2X led to his development of the AC Cobra, i.e take a light chassis and shoe-horn the biggest V8 possible into it.


Healey

[sarge]

Roger:

The red car with the portholes is the Allard, the second is an E-type Jaguar, just before the Mustang is an Alpha Romeo (a Guilietta, I believe?).

Does that catch you up?

[rex desilets]

Wow...Allard J2...one of only 90 built. A Cadillac-powered J2 finished 3rd at Le Mans in 1950.

Butt-ugly, ain't it?



I recall reading somewhere that Carroll Shelby's experience with the J2 and J2X led to his development of the AC Cobra, i.e take a light chassis and shoe-horn the biggest V8 possible into it.


Healey

I'd say purposeful. You probably think the Lotus 7 is ugly, too.

[rex desilets]

just before the Mustang is an Alpha Romeo (a Guilietta, I believe?)

Too be precise, a Guiletta Sprint, with a vestigial back seat. When I was much, much younger with two small children and no child seat laws, this was the heart's desire of my wife and me. Even today I troll eBay motors every so often....
Fortunately the current debacle of the stock market has made any such lunacy moot.

[rogruth]

Roger:

The red car with the portholes is the Allard, the second is an E-type Jaguar, just before the Mustang is an Alpha Romeo (a Guilietta, I believe?).

Does that catch you up?

On those but there is a lot more here.

[healey36]

Wow...Allard J2...one of only 90 built. A Cadillac-powered J2 finished 3rd at Le Mans in 1950.

Butt-ugly, ain't it?



I recall reading somewhere that Carroll Shelby's experience with the J2 and J2X led to his development of the AC Cobra, i.e take a light chassis and shoe-horn the biggest V8 possible into it.


Healey

I'd say purposeful. You probably think the Lotus 7 is ugly, too.

I would agree that "purposeful" is a brilliant description. The sheet-metal was a secondary consideration as compared to the power-plant and the underpinnings. The same can be said for Chapman's Lotus 7:


1968 Lotus 7 Mk III

Styling was of no consequence, presuming it didn't hinder/alter the result.

Healey

[Rufus T. Firefly]

1968 Lotus 7 Mk III

Styling was of no consequence, presuming it didn't hinder/alter the result.

Number 6 liked them - drove a Lotus Super 7 series II

[rogruth]

yes, he did.

[sarge]

Ah, "The Prisoner".

Family connection here; the guy that played the Psychiatrist/Director in an episode or two was my great uncle (or maybe a great great uncle's son; I forget) Norman. He did a lot of character acting; clerics and doctors and such.

I also want a Lotus Seven, for the helluvit.

[Tony-h]

Just for the hellofit I have started to lust for my old 60 Bugeye to find its way back to my drive! The only way I could stay in front of Jimmy and his TR-3 was on a curvy downhill. That Sprite could really handle! Drifted like crazy. The only problem, besides the muffler falling off, was that blasted stranded accelerator cable always breaking at the twin SUs connecting bar. Finally got so short I had to disconnect the choke cable and come home on the knob. Oh yea, the tach drive reversing gearbox on the back of the generator kept locking up. Lost count of the times I had to uncrimp the housing and remesh the gears.

The gas mileage on trips was measured at 47.85 mpg and only 31 to 36 around town, depending on how hard I ran it.

Someday ask me what happened when I put larger diameter tires on the rear!

Tony

[rogruth]

Tony,

When you changed the rear tires you got even better mpg because you were always going downhill.