£9,500 for a 1970 Hillman Imp Super? | Photo by Riley from Christchurch, New Zealand
Say hello to the new ideal car for your ultra low emission city, not an EV but a fifty year old Hillman
Many Londoners are suddenly discovering how much they love old vintage cars, especially ones from the pre 1983 era, which just happen to be exempt from the £12.50 a day new carbon tax. The old cars are selling at a premium, and London may soon become the Old-Car-Mecca of the world. Who knows? This may not have been what Sadiq Khan was aiming for when he tried to force everyone to buy an EV or catch a bus. But it’s what happens when you bully people.
The much hated Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) starts on August 29th and people driving petrol cars older than 2006 or diesel cars from before 2015 are likely to end up paying £12.50 every day just to drive in London. Vintage cars older than 40 years are exempt.
h/t MrGrimNasty
Londoners snap up classic cars to dodge ULEZ
Eirian Jane Prosser, The Daily Mail
Londoners are snapping up classic cars in a bid to dodge Sadiq Khan‘s ULEZ charge that will be expanded to cover all of the capital’s boroughs next week. Dealers across the capital have noted a surge in sales of cars manufactured before 1983, which are exempt from the £12.50 charge as they are classed as ‘historic vehicles’.
Merlin McCormack, owner of Duke of London, a vintage car dealership in Brentford, said he had seen customers opting for more affordable classic cars to avoid the clean air levy. He branded the surge in sales ‘ironic’ as although the cars are exempt from the charge, the older cars are more polluting than its modern equivalent.
An Austin Mini for £20,000? | Photo of a Mini by Martin Pettitt from Bury St Edmunds, UK
This includes a 1970 Hillman Imp Super for £9,500, a 1973 Alfa Romeo 2000 for £12,000, and a 1972 Austin Mini for £20,000.
These older vehicles are also exempt from road tax, which Garry Short managing director of Classic Chrome in Mortlake, said most people are unaware of.
Current Ads in London: Fifty three year old Morris Minor for £18,750
In other news this week, a member of Sadiq Khan’s staff has been accused of trying to pressure scientists to change their wording when their research showed his ULEZ policy in central London had cut nitrogen emissions by a mere 3% and achieved almost nothing on ozone and particulate matter too.
In the emails, seen by The Telegraph, Ms Rodrigues said she was disappointed that Imperial College had published a study by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering that showed Ulez cut nitrogen dioxide by less than three per cent and had achieved an insignificant impact on ozone and particulate matter.
Such research undermined the London Mayor’s policy, argued Ms Rodrigues.
Such research undermines the Mayor’s policy, she said, as if science only existed to endorse the crazy totalitarian schemes politicians dream up.
Her response also shows it’s not about pollution.
This is an excellent way to preserve old motoring heritage. I imagine this will lead to the expansion of services restoring old cars to new condition.
Plus, older cars can be more easily maintained and repaired by DIY people.
And old cars without electronic engine and vehicle management are not susceptible to being spied on, hacked or controlled by Big Brother.
601
Just like ‘Mad Max’.
260
Or Cuba !
201
My first two thoughts were Cuba and Mad Max. Well done you two.
170
So maybe Cuban mechanics are the immigrants who should be prioritized for entry?
20
And so long as you aren’t a ‘purist’, those old and unreliable British cars can be made acceptably dependable. On top of that, Brit cars that spent their whole life in clement climes, with winter roads unsalted, can even be mercifully free of metal worm. I draw the line at swapping whole engines and transmissions though.
Gapping points and valve clearances can be very therapeutic. Just don’t ask me to replace the bypass hose on an A-series Mini. That’s how I learned to swear.
I’ll have a E-Type please. Or maybe a MK1 Lotus Cortina, ideally one that has been raced by that Jimmy Clark chap.
180
Ooh, yes please.
An L34 Torana would do in a pinch, or perhaps a Merc 450 SLC. Or possibly John Milner’s deuce coupe.
Oh, I know – The Interceptor.
130
The Imp. Three cylinders in the back. But fell to bits on Aussie roads.
I and my sister did a 1300 km round trip with five in the hottest mini Cooper in the north west. Some of it at over 100 mph. Somehow we survived.
71
By “the north west” you mean of Australia – the Kimberleys etc? Wow!
50
No, NSW. I don’t think they had any roads in the Kimberleys in those days. Although the Redex trials used to get out into the rough country. If I remember right Maitland chemist Ken Tubman twice won in a Peugeot.
61
Ahem!
Kimberley.
60
Well they left the factory with four cylinders 😉
Mine still had four when I bought it, and it wouldn’t go near 100mph. Were you in freefall? The best I ever saw was around 75mph or so.
70
That sounds like the 850. It was the Hillman Imp that I remembered with three cylinders. But I was never in one. The Mini Cooper had four and was “hotted” to the limit including methanol where you could get it. I never know if the methanol really ahd more energy density or if it was for show.
50
Methanol has about 5/8 the energy density of petrol, but you use twice as much and can run a lot higher compression ratio.
The end result is about 20 to 25% more power output, but something set up to run on methanol won’t run on petrol.
Modern petrol engines run almost as high a compression ratio as old methanol race engines because of fuel injection, computerised anti-knock, better combustion chamber shape and so on.
60
As Paul Simon almost said, You’re messing with my head, Ted. All Imps and variations were 875cc, four cylinder. The engine was, IIRC, based on a Coventry Climax design.
30
And very popular with sidecar racers being an all aluminium engine.
20
Thanks for that. I wonder where I got the idea of the three cylinders in the Imp
I was surprised just a few days ago to discover that one of the engine options in a new Hyundai i30 I think it was used a compression ratio of 13 to 1. I was guessing that it also used direct injection.
Which brongs me to Ralph SArich. Many years ago he won an inventing competition with an orbital engine. Our biggest company BHP was sufficiently impressed to set up real money to develop it. It never got off the ground, I suspect because it had too many wearing parts making it not durable enough. But along the way Sarich invented a new system of fuel injection. This did get off the ground, licenced to Outboard Marine Corporation, and no doubt to others since.
I have wondered if it was Sarich who invented the common rail injection system in modern diesel motors and / or the direct injection system some manufacturers are putting into petrol motors. I note that Sarich is listed as one of Australia’s very wealthy people.
50
Assuming you can actually find and afford vintage parts.
A lot of modern mechanics have no idea of carby era cars.
Pommy cars from old days when workers spent more time on strike than working are just liabilities.
Yes, you can take parts off the Victa mower to fix you car.😁
Modern cars are horrendously complex even for people with electronics and networking knowledge.
Brands like Mercedes and BMW are absolutely notorious for sky high repair costs and complexity, hence the recommendation to sell them before the warranty expires.
Cylinder deactivation is a ticking expensive time bomb.
Somewhat ironically, electric is way simpler.
30
Sadiq Khan will not be happy that people are sidestepping his carbon tax by purchasing older cars. So I imagine that this will result in a re-write of the ULEZ regulations so that these older vehicles are no longer exempt from at least the £12.50 carbon tax.
30
£12.50 a day is nothing to those who implement stupid policies.
For the rest of us though, it seems like the very definition of highway robbery…
Much like the prices that may be charged by the presumably small pool of mechanics able to fix cars without a computer to explain what’s wrong.
300
LOL at those who implement the policies paying the fine.
They make sure to exempt themselves first.
200
The minions will have to pay, because the exemptions will only go a little way down the hierarchy. Can’t have those junior civil servants getting above their station…
180
Not that there will be many ULEZ cameras left at the rate they are being destroyed
https://dailysceptic.org/2023/08/24/nearly-nine-out-of-10-ulez-cameras-vandalised-in-southeast-london/
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“as if science only existed to endorse the crazy totalitarian schemes politicians dream up”
Well, duh.
What other purpose could it serve in the eyes of a bureaucrat?
280
I keep wondering if such schemes are meant to help make up the revenue shortfalls from losing so many of the population to clot shots and such.
10
I just love that 1970 Morris Minor. Top Car. Brmmmm, brmmmm…………lol
100
I had one once. The fuel vaporised in the line on hot days as it was so close to the road. Other problems were the distributor points getting wet on rainy days. A British car stopping to wet surfaces! Roomy for a small car and quicker acceleration than my Holden FC ute.
60
Fuel vaporising, just another example of poor BMC engineering, the pump should be located down beside the fuel tank, not up on the firewall under a hot bonnet.
Ane example of how far we have come, a 1956 Morrie Minor handbook describes how to adjust the valve clearances, a 2023 car handbook tells you to not drink the battery acid.
140
Like most British motor industry vehicles the British Motor Corporation brands including Morris and MG had Lucas electrics installed.
Sometimes called Lucas the Prince of Darkness.
40
Glenn, so that’s why my Morrie 1000 kept stopping all the time…
Am surprised no one’s quoted The Stranglers yet: But the money’s no good, just get a grip on yourself –
Never had the money to buy a Morris Minor Traveller, or a ‘Woody’ as we called them, yet $300 earned after school and on weekends bought me a 4-door Morrie Thou’ which, along with the smell of an oily rag, got a bunch of us young blokes up, down, and all around, every nook ‘n’ cranny of this land… when $20 petrol got you there and back.
Four-to-five decades later, what’s slavishly called ‘the climate’ is, remarkably, so similar I’d go so far as to say it’s exactly the same – except the waves were bigger back then. Crisis? What crisis!
120
So grab a Morris Minor and a later year model Datsun and put the Japanese engine into the Morris, same A-model engine design purchased by the Japanese and modernised.
50
We had a Morris 1000 Traveller when we were first married. It did have a fuel pump problem at a time I was driving on my own to visit my hospitalised husband. I had to get out and bash the darned pump to get it going! I was glad when that was repaired. After bringing Hubby home he removed the front passenger seat so that he could sit in the rear with his fully-plastered leg on a camel saddle stool.
My very first car was a 1953 British Empire Green 2-door Morris Minor, bought from friends who were emigrating to the USA.
60
My first drive on a public road in a very small country town was a Morris Minor 1955, last of the split windscreen models before Morris Minor 1,000. It was green and my Grandfather kept it immaculate, stored in a garage under the house and always covered, washed and dried with a chamois at the local creek, his pride and joy. So imagine his shock when the car passed his retirement part time work place with me driving and Grandma in the passenger seat.
As an adult I now realise she arranged the drive to be a pest, not for my benefit.
30
This is why stupid laws do not last for very long. People always find ways around them. Top Stuff.
And this is also why the so called ‘Energy Transition’ will not work. People will not buy into it.
260
I’m a bit confused, have the ULEZ rules ben changed recently or have folk just twigged to the fact that the rulez don’t apply to cars that CAN’T meet the emission standards, a bit like how you can drive around in a pre 1971 car in OZ without seatbelts if they weren’t fitted as standard, not that you’d want to.
60
People have noticed the advantage of buying a classic car that is cheaper, much better looking and far more useful than a battery car. Keep it in good nick and depreciation is not something you will suffer. There has always been an exemption for historic vehicles in the ULEV rules and that includes trucks. In the UK there is a booming classic car spares industry and with decades of experience, many of the flaws in the cars can now be fixed. Electronic ignitions are a popular upgrade too.
10
I remember having a Ford Capri in 1975 in England before migrating to Australia in 1976. A Top Car. Had to sell it though as I needed money for the air fare. Couldn’t take it with me either. If that car is vintage then maybe so am I at at age 70 years…………….lol.
160
I an all ready for them here, if they start this stupidity. I’ve been driving my 1980 Triumph TR7 for 21 years now, & the 1979 TR8 needs just a few finishing touches to be registered again.
Driving something a bit special makes even the chore going to the super market almost a pleasure, everyone should try it.
120
Leftists never have a concept of the plight of the ordinary working person as regularly demonstrated by examples such as their lack of concern for high energy or other prices caused by “green” policies; their expectation that everyone can afford to install domestic solar and battery systems so they can go “off grid” in a city; or their expectation to “just go out and buy an electric car” when a lot of families are struggling to afford and maintain a 10 year+ old ICE vehicle.
Almost all those advocating “green” are wealthy billionaire Elites, politicians or public serpents with overpaid secure jobs (none of whom suffered or lost pay due to their covid policies either) or “useful idiots” who are young, naive and poorly educated or uneducated, unemployable and live at home with their parents at parental expense until they are 30+ years old.
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It’s only a matter of time before governments rescind their totalitarian EV mandates, and automakers will be left with $ billions in losses.
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“He branded the surge in sales ‘ironic’ as although the cars are exempt from the charge, the older cars are more polluting than its modern equivalent.”
LOL. ‘Pollies’. You can’t take them anywhere. ‘I have a cunning plan’ – Baldrick. lol.
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Remember that old saying about a “ cunning stunt” . It applies
admirably to Khadiq Shan. 😂😂
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Only partially – nothing stunning about him
70
What constitutes a pre-1983 car? If a mechanic buys an old, rusted Triumph TR3 and mods it out with a Ford 302, modern suspension and AC, which has been done successfully by several enthusiasts, is it still regarded as a pre-1983 car? The interest in the older sections of junkyards will be growing too.
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The old Ship of Theseus conundrum
I believe it is whatever you can get the DMV to register it as. Probably based on whatever VIN you show them. If it’s got a new engine, make sure you show them the VIN from the dashboard rather than the one stamped on the engine block.
180
It could just be the year the vehicle was first registered. If carrying out mods doesn’t change that date then you are good to go. I saw an article on an original Ford Escort van that now had a Focus ST engine in it.
10
And what about old motor bikes? And what about Del Boy’s Robin Reliant? That has to be vintage……………….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W7Mrt7Xl54&pp=ygUWZGVsYm95J3Mgcm9iaW4gcmVsaWFudA%3D%3D
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Aaaagh! He said “Robin Reliant”!
Dreadful bloody things they were. Mind you, as a first-year apprentice motor mechanic, I loved the stubby little gear lever, which back then was something only found on sports cars.
As an apprentice, overtime was served by working on the late night petrol service – no self service back then and it was even commonplace to leave a tip, which made 15yo me very happy. Anyway, last job when closing was to put all the cars that were on sale, back in the workshops. One night, it included a Robin. That’s when I discovered how easy it was to roll a Reliant onto its side. I was a little git though.
60
Not a very good reverse gear either – LOL.
30
They’re actually a Reliant Robin.
40
You can get anold motor bike an exemption certificate by getting the emissions tested and get the certificate regisrèď with Transport for London. Other cities seeing up ULEZs all seem to be working to a different et of rules for motor bikes.
http://Www.bikesure.co.uk/bikesureblog/2022/12/ulez-motorcycle-guide/#:~:text=Almost all motorcycles that have,Euro 4 regulations or newer.
30
You can get an old motor bike an exemption certificate by getting the emissions tested and get the certificate regisrèď with Transport for London. Other cities setting up ULEZs all seem to be working to a different set of rules for motor bikes.
http://Www.bikesure.co.uk/bikesureblog/2022/12/ulez-motorcycle-guide/#:~:text=Almost all motorcycles that have,Euro 4 regulations or newer.
10
Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ clean air levy,
At £12.50 a day is too heavy,
While a vintage Imp Super,
Or an old Mini Cooper,
Go free, as would an old Chevy.
380
Brilliant, as ever!
140
The ayatollah of Londonistan, shows that his rules don’t apply to him.
“Sadiq Khan is spotted using cavalcade of cars to drive 4.5 miles to walk his dog… even though there’s a park close to his street – hours after unveiling pollution report”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9915019/Sadiq-Khan-spotted-using-cavalcade-cars-drive-4-5-miles-walk-dog.html
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But I’m the Lord Mayor of London. Or the Khanate of London.
70
Khan is the Caliph of Londonistan.
120
It is so Ironic, or even better, “Hoisted by their own petard” comes to mind.
Regards
Climate Heretic
50
The greatest anti the poor rules in history. Brought to you by the left. Fancy that!
60
Sadiq Khan better be careful “all that is old is new again” sounds Biblical!
40
Here’s some ideas.
I believe you can make a Model T from reproduction parts. It will be a poor performer; HC, NOx and CO polluter; and unsafe by modern standards but it will be permissible “in the zone”.
Or you can do what these crazy Ruusians did at “Garage 54” and build a car out of logs from the forest, an old ICE engine and some drivetrain items. https://youtu.be/ZuQZbclLTWU
And even the now-woke journal Nature admits there is little point further lowering ICE vehicle emissions standards.
(ZEV = zero emissions vehicle)
120
Why not battle the Greens 12th century technology (windmills) with a little bit of 18th century technology?
IIRC, there were more than a few Brits that put steam engines in their cars during WWII to get around gas rations. They just fed the boiler wood, coal, or whatever else was available to burn. Wood is technically considered ‘renewable’, so voila! Renewable powered car.
80
In WW2 a lot of people also powered ICE cars with wood gas from a gasifier attached to the rear of vehicle or in a huge balloon bag attached to the roof.
60
Kurt Johannsen acquired his first driving license at 11 when living at Deep Well[2] and, after finishing his schooling at 15 in Alice Springs, he was driving his own truck and held the government contract for sanitary and garbage services in the town; as he was underage this contract was cosigned by his father and brother-in-law Bill Petrick.[3]
In 1932 he took on an additional contract as a mail contractor for the region east of Alice Springs and the mail run extended to: Alcoota, Ambalindum, Arltunga, Claraville, Delny, MacDonald Downs, Mount Riddock, Mount Swan, Waite River and Winnecke.[3] One story told about Johannsen around this period is that he once broke an axle when far from assistance and managed to fix it well enough to get back to town using a mulga tree and a knife.[4]
Over the following years Johannsen had many roles and was involved in many exploits before, in 1936, starting on his most remembered innovation, the ‘Bitzer’ Mulga Express which was designed to be able to haul more as well as handle the bad roads around Central Australia; and, in the early years, was quite an unexpected sight.[5] Over the following years the ‘Bitzer’ Mulga Express was followed by the ‘Bitzer’ Mulga Express II and III, the ‘Bitzer’ Mulga Express III was able to haul an unheard of 22 tonnes.[3]
Between mail runs and driving his truck Johannsen prospected extensively[5] and was also involved in various tourism ventures with Australian Expeditions (with Monty Embury) and Bond’s Tours. During World War II Johannsen moved to Tennant Creek and opened a garage where he created a wood-gas producer that converted wood into gas to run the motor; it consumed about 1 kg of wood for every km.
The post-war period was one of boom for Johannsen who was able to purchase many trucks and other mechanical items from army disposal sales and with these vehicles was able to construct the world’s first road train, with three self tracking trailers, using a Diamond T980 truck.[2] These trucks were then used for all kinds of freight but were especially useful for cattle transport which changed the way farming was done as truck transport was better for stock then droving and the cattle arrived in the yards in better condition and therefore fetched higher prices; this also meant that younger cattle could be sold.[3]
50
The frontal approach –
“Just Days Before Khan’s Car Crackdown Goes Live, One London Area Sees 90 Per Cent of Cameras Destroyed”
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/08/24/just-days-before-khans-car-crackdown-goes-live-one-london-area-sees-90-per-cent-of-cameras-destroyed/
150
Katie Hopkins explains how not to vandalise the cameras with filling foam, “£6.69 from ToolStation”, LoL.
https://youtu.be/H_0e82gEd5o
150
Ian,
I think we will see drones being used – their flavor of the month at the moment and relatively anonymous. Fight technology with technology….
30
G’day a i,
Last Wednesday you posted the link below and I’ve only finished watching it not many minutes ago. Many thanks. It’s a great interview, clear questions, well answered by Koonin, and the interviewer managed to avoid interrupting.
At 55 minutes, my initial reaction was to have quick look and pass on, but I found it riveting.
Well worth a watch.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/08/22/hot-or-not-steven-koonin-questions-conventional-climate-science-and-methodology-uncommon-knowledge/
Thanks again.
Dave B
20
Modern ICE vehicles emit very minimal, almost no pollutants, only non-pollutants like CO2 and H20.
This is a direct assault on the private motor vehicle.
It is in accord with WEF policy to ban private motor vehicle ownership for non-Elites.
90
For an organisation that could create and impliment the ULEZ scheme, …….this “pre 83” vehicle exemption could be changed instantly by the stroke of a pen !.
Maybe they would claim a typo , and that it should have been “pre 1903” ..?
I would not put anything beyond their abilities.
50
Indeed. The rule is that cars that are 40+ are “historic”. So the year migrates forward. Next year 1984 Porches…
They could surely revoke that loophole — and perhaps they will, but there would be another kind of protest, and another set of protestors at the thought that historic cars couldn’t be driven in London (except by the rich). Presumably Khan would do that if he was losing too much money from unpaid fines. But if he tried to make “historic” say 50 years or 60 years it would conflict with the rest of the UK.
At this point, perhaps the UK PM could revoke a rule-inconsistency that applies in London but not elsewhere? There was a move by the Tories this month to veto the ULEZ expansion, but it was knocked back by lawyers arguing that the whole of the UK had “a low emissions” policy (of a sort) and it was therefore nationally consistent.
70
Windmills on wheels- is the go.
Lloyd-Hartnett revenge maybe.
20
“… but it was knocked back by lawyers arguing that …”
You mean it was defeated by ACTIVISTS qualified in law, and that first decision accepted meekly. The fact is that such an issue would, if the legal beagles involved were truly apolitical, take years to resolve, such is its complexity. The very fact that it was adjudged so quickly – and ‘grudgingly’ accepted by the Government – stinks to high heaven.
Theatre, nothing more.
10
My Hillman Imp (actually a Singer Chamois which is the same thing with a sloping rear window and woodgrain dash) was incontinent. My movements could easily be traced …
It was my first car so of course I loved it to bits and would like to have another one if only garage space permitted.
I rolled my ‘Chammy’ into a ball late one night, hurtling down a dark country road. A typical young fellow, what I lacked in skill I made up for with confidence. Sort of.
50
Ahh !, the Imp… i to learned to drive ( and repair !) in an Imp…..and also totalled it against a power pole !
Mechanically they were unique in many ways….rear engined, all alloy engine and transaxle. 850cc slant 4 , overhead cam , with a pneumatic throttle actuation…… but also a predecessor to the first small “hatchbacks” ( the rear window hinged up for access. !)
PS… the one we owned was an Ex Police patrol car !
40
” … with a pneumatic throttle actuation.”
For a short time, mine had a cable-actuated throttle. Well I say cable, it was actually string. That’s when the opening rear window suddenly made sense. My string system was genius but the execution was flawed due to a shortage of string, which meant I didn’t have enough to reach all the way to the driver’s seat and so my mate Alf had to operate the throttle for me, from the back seat.
Looking back, I believe it’s not only cats that have nine lives.
30
This is the irony of Ironies. The Greenies take aim and carefully shoot themselves in the foot. London will soon be a landscape of Cuba meets Max Max. They will deserve all the pollution that they will have created for themselves. Greenism results in the same insane World that Communism creates.
130
This just goes to prove that most things designed by govt just don’t work, massive boost to all old Minis, Cortinas etc.
100
LOL. The ABC presenter on the ABC News was going on about the prune season being impacted by the bees having a mite disease. Doesn’t the ABC know that a prune is a dried plum. Just like anyone that works at the ABC. LOL.
130
Lol… I bet they know how to post in unthreaded. Lol
313
It’s OK this far down.
JR, don’t you need plums to dry first?
You may want to reverse your LOL.
20
Perhaps the UK should import more Flatulence Backfire vehicles. Pre-load yourself with baked beans for brekkie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ0RT350bBM
10
Don’t give the crazies any ideas.
Oh wait, they’ve already tried that.
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/fart-powered-vw-beetle-tested-in-uk/
40
I think they call them Horse and Carts.
History never repeats, I tell myself before I go to sleep. Shame we need to wake up!
20
Hillman Imps were a fun vehicle. I drove one in the Bathurst Armstrong 500 mile production car race in 1964. I was heard to complain that they were slower than expected down Conrod straight. I couldn’t catch a tow from faster cars.
A mate driving a Triumph 2000 must have heard me, as during the race he passed me coming out of Forest Elbow. He slowed down so I could close up behind him them accelerated slowly enough for me to stay in his slipstream all the way down Conrod Straight.
Front page of the Sydney Morning Herald Monday morning, “Hillman Imp clocks 107 MPH at Bathurst”. I often wondered how many young blokes raced off to get a hundred MPH imp.
110
Nice to hear that history, Hasbeen. I hope these pics bring back some memories.
Hillman Imp, 1964, Bathurst.
https://autopics.com.au/64706-the-start-bathurst-1964-hillman-imp-morris-850-vauxhall-viva/
https://autopics.com.au/64707-ayres-geary-hillman-imp-bathurst-1964/
https://autopics.com.au/64708-lorraine-hill-brian-reed-hillman-imp-bathurst-1964/
Triumph 2000, Bathurst, 1964.
https://autopics.com.au/64721-reynolds-allen-triumph-2000-cook-rose-valiant-davis-mander-triumph-2000-bathurst-1964-photographer-richard-austin/
50
A car I liked a lot when it was mine for about 6 years
Opel GT
With headlights closed
20
One of the best old cars we had was a 1934 Buick Straight 8 of about 7 litres that my brother bought to go wallaby shooting in 1957.
There was no aspect of this car that was vastly different in engineering from modern cars. Sure, power steering and hydraulic brakes are in, coil springs replaced leaf springs and progress was made that way.
But, the car was well built. You needed a heavy hammer to dent a body panel. We used to select top gear from the 3speed manual gearbox, feet off all pedals, press the starter button and without a hiccup the car would glide away from 0 to 20 mph or so. I later life I used this test on other cars for adequate power and torque, then automatics took over. You could sometimes fix a manual gearbox in the bush, but not an automatic.
That was the first car that easily took us above 100 mph, or 160 kph, quietly.
My next car, a 1949 MG TC, was a disappointing “girly” car, cosmetically good looking on the outside, but so disappointing under the skirt. The spark would fail for no apparent reason.
Next there was an FJ Holden that lost a piston, then a 1964 EH Holden. Any one of these would be acceptable to dodge stupid taxes. Modern cars are sold on optimistic advertising, not engineering excellence. Geoff S
120
The 1948 Buick straight 8 had a spring loaded foot operated starter button. No Solenoid.
Start it with no hands….
Up Greenmount in top gear..
30
The 1934 Buick did not have a solenoid/ spiral thread starter gear either. A can aotomatic clutch of some kind. Geoff S
00
About the Cuban car concept, soon coming to Khan’s Londonistan.
60
There is an upside to people driving fossil, fossil fuel vehicles, you know.
People will invest in those more polluting, less-safe older cars instead of modern ICE cars and also avoid wasting money on EVs.
Back in the day, this sort of thing was called “The Law of Unintended Consequences”, probably first noted by John Locke in 1692.
Yet another “own goal” for the Left. Their only way around that is to introduce even more draconian legislation and that will make people VERY angry.
Khan is permanently entrenched due to the voting demographic which support him who are in a majority in Londonistan but effectively banning car ownership will hopefully have electoral consequences at the national level.
80
Build a V8 Hillman Imp.
https://youtu.be/8aDlkU1BO5Y
40
Better at tail wagging than a Volkswagen.
50
I see agricultural vehicles are excluded, would that include Land Rovers, they are fairly agricultural.
70
I think a 1946-1956 Ferguson grey tractor would go nicely on the streets of Londonistan, in fact, a whole fleet of them.
110
What a horrible thought – retro, featureless, badly made, rusted, leaded petrol era, underperforming crap!
I’d have to choose a Testarossa from that era to be happy.
First released in 1984, so 40 years from next year, 12 cyl engine but still slower and hopelessly inferior to my daily driver today.
Oh well…gotta save the planet! 😎
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I agree John.
The “old cars were better” belief is a myth. Modern cars are way better. In terms of performance, reliability, efficiency and longevity. Style however, not so much. They all look the same to me and very beige. My perfect car style wise would be a 1970 Jag xj6 series one, but Id rather modern technology in it.
Old holdens were absolute garbage cars. They’d rust (as did most cars back then) and did they suck the juice. Yes you could fix them more easily, but I’d rather a car you didn’t have to fix. BUt some people prefer just fixing. People who own old Ducati motorbikes are like that, they obsess over models and parts, and if the thing ever goes they ride to a cafe and talk about how they fixed it.
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XJ in preference to a EType ???
For me, it would ideally be a Cobra,..but all these are now collectors “investments”, ..hence too expensive and too valuable to play dodgems in city traffic with.
So being practical i would settle for a pre 70’s VW beetle !
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I saw this clip yesterday on the new Rimac hypercar.
0-100 in 1.74 sec, 1900bhp.
Fastest road car ever made.
A mind blowing EV.
This might change your mind.
https://youtu.be/sF9xYtouZjY?si=0hIjV8NAs84UQil2
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No, I’m not into the sports car style. My second favourite style of car would be a land Rover Defender 90.
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“People who own old Ducati motorbikes are like that, they obsess over models and parts, and if the thing ever goes they ride to a cafe and talk about how they fixed it.”
Have you read any EV blog, I noticed they all blather on about chargers and range anxiety and how they were lucky to get to a certain charger before they ran out.
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I rallied a heavily-modified Ford Anglia, built by the Ford team originally. It had all the de rigueur mods of the day, including dual twinchoke Webers, hot cam, Lotus rods, fancy crankshaft, modified big-valve head, freeflow exhaust, uprated suspension, strengthened shell with welded-in rollcage, YUGE Cibie spotlights x4 …
It went BuggaBuggaBugga when idling. That’s so long as I didn’t have all the lights on, in which case it wouldn’t idle at all below 2000rpm or so.
But. Even with all those mods, it wasn’t much faster than my road car of the day, a slightly-modified Vauxhall Chevette, and the ‘Shove-It’ was in fact quicker point-to-point due to having better handling. My Ford Angela probably made 120hp or so – pathetic by today’s standards.
I must of course relate the passing of my Angela. It was my co-driver’s fault. He called “Flat over brow.” But while the road beyond the crest was indeed straight, he failed to let me know that there was a huge drop behind the brow. We were cleared for takeoff however, and even my mighty Angela’s brakes were ineffective when airborne. Thankfully, we landed more or less flat, but rear wheels first. The impact relocated the rear suspension into the boot, along with most of the rear chassis members. This left insufficient room for the petrol tank, which tried (unsuccessfully) to abandon ship, only making it halfway, still attached to the fuel pipe. Being of desperately limited budget, I was unable to fix any of that and so Angela was broken up. Sob.
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The old Land Rover was often fitted with a Holden 6 cylinder petrol engine, the original grey model engine, a US Chevrolet.
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Most of the conversions I’ve seen used a red motor.
I thought the grey motor was Chev as well, but apparently it was Buick.
Speaking of Buick, have you seen the clips of starting an SR-71 Blackbird?
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SR-71
https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Engines/starting-the-sr-71-blackbirds-j58-engines-ag330-start-cart
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Dear God. We’re starting to sound like we’re wearing tweed jackets and smoking a pipe.
Should we now discuss the relative merits of UNC vs UNF threads, as they apply to the repair of post-war, friction type shock absorbers?
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For the relative merits of UNC and Whitworth 12 is the magic number –
UNC 1/2″ 13 threads per inch
Whitworth 1/2″ 12 TPI
One into t’other don’t go
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You heathen!
We’re discussing proper motor cars here, old chap. None of these jolly American threads, sirrah.
Harrumph. Now you’ll put me off my single malt until I’ve smoked another pipeful of shag
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My Series 2A with Holden 186 was awesome.
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Many years ago I drove a SWB Land Rover from a property to the nearest town to collect some tractor spares during a serious bush-grass fire event in the district and as I drove along a secondary road through smoke and wary of emergency vehicles along the way I felt like I had been shot, the open air vents had collected a Bee and it stung me on the chest because my shirt was open.
Not far away I was flagged down by a women alongside a Holden ute and she without questioning me asked me to drive into a paddock and move a mob of sheep to the road and across into another paddock, she told two dogs to jump into the back of the Land Rover. So I did what I had to do, more correctly the dogs did most of the work, and waited near the gate until she returned. And then I headed into town.
A few days later I was introduced to that farmer’s wife and her husband at a social function of neighbours and my friends explained that I was from the city. The look on the faces of the couple was briefly surprise but they soon relaxed and thanked me for my help.
I have also experienced in that same vehicle a long sideways slide downhill in wet conditions managing to avoid a creek.
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They would probably produce more CO2 emissions than a modern car due to no EFI etc 🙂
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Yes probably true, however compared to a new car, particularly a battery electric, you can drive your old thing about 75,000 MILES before you have produced anything near the CO2 that is emitted during the mining & manufacturing processes producing the thing.
Of course that is about the time you have to fit a new battery, or throw the whole thing away. It will be a long time before battery cars become more efficient in lifetime emissions than the old 70s banger.
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I had a 1938 Morris convertible something like a short MG and replaced the side valve 4-cylinder engine with a 1950s Austin A-40 engine and gearbox with first gear blocked so that it was a three gear system.
The original wheels were spoked but had a 4 bolt hub so to use the A-40 differential and rear end we cut spacers for the wheel hubs which worked well until I forgot to check the nuts and both wheels came off to my surprise. But no serious damage incurred.
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“ULEZ” – a sign post on the way to “U – LEGS”?
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The people fight back:
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/08/24/just-days-before-khans-car-crackdown-goes-live-one-london-area-sees-90-per-cent-of-cameras-destroyed/
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A NSW Holden Commodore registration number plate I occasionally sighted was 6ULDV8
10
SADIQ, SADIQ
Quo vadis, Sadik ??
10
To which his response might be:
10
Wonder what would have happened if Boudicca’s rebel army had contained a bunch of retired Roman campaign veterans?
Note: I’ve not met a single US military veteran of multiple tours in Afghanistan that is any way upset with Joe Biden, and that would not fully support lockdowns again if necessary.
00
At least no one is being ‘forced’ to do anything.
No one is restricting anyone to a ghet … I mean, ULEZ, we are just suggesting certain areas for certain people for the good of the Gaialand.
We are simply asking for compliance.
We have prepared special cam … er, locations (where you will have access to everything you need according to us) for your own safety, and to which we will provide free transportation.
Compliance sets you free.
30
Hey Hasbeen – O/T and not low emissions but
A few years on a US old machinery blog there appeared a photo of a vehicle on test.
Headers and turbo glowing orange and 1130 hp.
Question was “What was it?” First guess was something European, quickly corrected to a Falcon Barra.
Seems they are in demand for export. Where to and what for I haven’t fathomed.
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Ian the smart boys have found that the bottom end of the standard old Barra is so strong it can support more power than many of the exotic things costing squillions.
The yanks are finding them able to produce more power reliably than most larger V8s. So many have gone to the states it is getting hard to find any in Oz now.
[Hasbeen you’ve made a spelling typo on your email address which will automatically throw you into moderation.]AD
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“In the emails, seen by The Telegraph, Ms Rodrigues said she was disappointed that Imperial College had published a study by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering that showed Ulez cut nitrogen dioxide by less than three per cent and had achieved an insignificant impact on ozone and particulate matter.”
So what, the tax was never about clean air, it’s a handy earner for the council, that’s all.
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Seems “classic” engineering trumps social engineering
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