Are we going back to the '70's?

Cobra said:
Oi ! I had one of those, my first nearly new car :p
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My mate had the sporty version an Avenger Tiger
Got no end of grief about it, it had very eye catching yellow and black paintwork
 
mex said:
The rail system in the UK is in tatters, my daughter was yesterday trying to get to Cardiff from Hull. Left Hull 10;00ish on a trans-Penine to Manchester Piccadilly, all went fine until she got to Piccadilly.....the Manchester to Cardiff train cancelled, she asked at the desk her options," get to Wilmslow and get to Crewe, change at Crewe to Cardiff" , great she thinks, "what platform to Wilmslow please?".."I'll check....it's cancelled" her next option...get a train to Reading ( who ever the carrier was would honour her ticket ) then Reading to Cardiff....oh and by the way it'll cost you £72 from Reading to Cardiff as it wasn't the same carrier!!!. Yet they pay a dividend to their share holders. WTAF?
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That's the problem, a national service broken up into little pieces all run by their own little fiefdoms for profit and it's not just railways but the NHS, water, energy etc.
 
tijuana taxi said:
My mate had the sporty version an Avenger Tiger
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I quite fancied one of those, but I eventually got a Hillman Hunter GLS.
A real wolf in sheep's clothing.
 
Cobra said:
I quite fancied one of those, but I eventually got a Hillman Hunter GLS.
A real wolf in sheep's clothing.
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They did a GT version of the Hunter, another mate had an Orange with Black vinyl roof one.
What was it about those bright colours?
 
Orange and chocolate brown were signature colours of the early/mid seventies, before punk tartan came in
 
Cobra said:
I quite fancied one of those, but I eventually got a Hillman Hunter GLS.
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I never had much luck with Hillman's products.

I bought a red Super Minx from a local garage for £100. A week or so later, I was trundling up Haldon Hill when the offside front link broke and the front tyre trundled a few feet up the hill as the car pushed its nose into the tarmac. Amazingly, the garage came out and recovered the car, then fixed it free of charge!
Don't get me started on the Imp that blew its head gaskets for a passtime... :tumbleweed:
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
I never had much luck with Hillman's products.

I bought a red Super Minx from a local garage for £100. A week or so later, I was trundling up Haldon Hill when the offside front link broke and the front tyre trundled a few feet up the hill as the car pushed its nose into the tarmac. Amazingly, the garage came out and recovered the car, then fixed it free of charge!
Don't get me started on the Imp that blew its head gaskets for a passtime... :tumbleweed:
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I would like an Imp or one of the similar derivatives from Rootes.
Cool looking cars even now, the ones they used for rallies must have been ok.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
I was trundling up Haldon Hill when the offside front link broke and the front tyre trundled a few feet up the hill as the car pushed its nose into the tarmac.
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OUCH!
But wasn't that also a pass-time of the Austin Allagro some years later?
(they don't make'em like they used to :D )

tijuana taxi said:
I would like an Imp or one of the similar derivatives from Rootes.
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I was never a fan of those or the Mini's TBH
 
I had a Sunbeam Stiletto for a while - it got through several reconditioned engines somehow - which was great in many ways and wish I still had it as a classic. Bronze metallic.
 
I quite fancied a Talbot - simca Rancho.
Ahead of its time in the late '70's

​

 
My old man bought me a Hillman Imp, non runner for my 13th birthday, and your good old Haynes manual! We stripped the car down virtually every part and fitted a Stage Three Head. By the time I was 17 it was running sweet as a nut and I passed my test in it. He never forgave me for buying a vinyl roof kit for it, they were all the rage then. I only sold it because I got a company car a Morris Ital which was basically a Morris Marina and a complete load of crap. Never owned another car for about 30 years as I always had a company car.
 
My first car was a Mk5 Cortina, W Reg, 1980, midnight blue, 6 years old when I got it and like Swiss cheese. It was almost like it was there one day, gone the next with rust.

My dad never had a car, he had scooters though and the one I remember was a 225CC (I think) Lambretta, in bright orange, with a fibre glass sidecar. I loved being in the sidecar, from about age 6 (1973), the world was my oyster, it was an F1 car, a boat, a fighter jet, a bobsleigh, and when Star Wars released (was that really 77?), a Millenium Falcon, X Wing fighter, or if I was in bad mood I was on the Darkside. :LOL: The sidecar was rarely, in my mind, a sidecar.

I was riding the scooter by the time I was 10.

That sidecar/scooter met a sad end when somebody flicked a cigarette into it, it smouldered then erupted into flames a while later, being fibre glass.

I remember 70's cars though, my dad's friend had a black Capri, 1.6 GL. It was beauty back in the day. He also had a Vauxhall Viva after the Capri. This was back when cars were easier to work on, I remember assisting with a gearbox removal from the Viva, I'd have been about 12 or so. I vaguely remember him having an Austin Morris, pre Capri.
 
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Our family car was a NSU RO80 anyone remember them?

en.wikipedia.org

NSU Ro 80 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Then dad had a succession of Lancia starting with a Beta 1600 and ending with an Intergrale proper left hand drive one.
 
Cobra said:
Someone I knew had a wartburg they were similar IIRC


I had the HPE that rusted faster than a rusty thing.
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Dad had an HPE the Volumex, taught me how to weld on that car! Got pretty good at paintwork too, went like s*** off a shovel though.

Wartburg was something totally different to an R080 which had a wankle motor, Mazda bought the patents and fitted the engine in the Rx7 IIRC. Norton fitted a wankle engine in a motorbike and won the TT first year I went over there.
 
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I loved my Capri Mk1 facelift 2.0GT, white with black vinyl roof. I blew up the engine in the Lake District, can't think how...
 
lindsay said:
I loved my Capri Mk1 facelift 2.0GT,
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I had a few Capri's
MKII 3l Auto great fun in the wet with all the roundabouts here.
MKIII 1 Auto 1 manual as above in the wet,
1 2.8i a bit more stable but still great fun.
1 2.8 i special. a lot more stable with the wider wheels, up rated suspension and LSD.
The claimed top speed was indeed true as I discovered one evening on the A34 oxford by-pass :D
 
We bought my wife an Imp just after she passed her test. it was sold to us (for £300) as a non/difficult starter, turned out to be a broken spring on the choke butterfly flap so was an easy fix. It was pea green and was a great little car apart from having an appetite for clutch release bearings. I made a trolley out of 2x2 timber with castors on it to quickly take the engine/transaxle out.

Years later we gave it to her brother when we were insulted by the PEX offer from a dealer (£50), he ran it for another 3 years then sold it for £180 privately & gave us £90.
 
Cobra said:
Someone I knew had a wartburg they were similar IIRC


I had the HPE that rusted faster than a rusty thing.
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I thought the wartburg Knight was a 2 stroke thing?
 
lindsay said:
I loved my Capri Mk1 facelift 2.0GT, white with black vinyl roof. I blew up the engine in the Lake District, can't think how...
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I never liked driving a Capri, the back always wanted to be in front.
 
I had a Corsair 2000E. Loved it. They had the 2 litre V4 that was used in the Transit as well.
Then I had quite a rare bird.
It was the Cortina GT 1500.
It was the pre crossflow version of what bacame the 1600E. The engine could pull a house down but rot got it.
 
Cobra said:
I quite fancied a Talbot - simca Rancho.
Ahead of its time in the late '70's

​

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I always wanted a Lotus Sunbeam.
 
tijuana taxi said:
I would like an Imp or one of the similar derivatives from Rootes.
Cool looking cars even now, the ones they used for rallies must have been ok.
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Wasn't there a Singer version, the Chamois?
 
Cockney said:
I thought the wartburg Knight was a 2 stroke thing?
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TBH I can't remember, but you could be right, it was years ago now.

Cockney said:
I never liked driving a Capri, the back always wanted to be in front.
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All part of the fun / charm.
It certainly taught me a lot about driving in the snow / ice.

Cockney said:
I had a Corsair 2000E. Loved it.
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I had an auto version, it kept destroying one of the plugs for some unknown reason.
I just kept a few in the boot along with the spanner.
The things we did back then, and never gave it a second thought.

Cockney said:
I always wanted a Lotus Sunbeam.
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I drove one a few years ago, on a rally experience day, hours of fun :)

Cockney said:
Wasn't there a Singer version, the Chamois?
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Indeed there was.
 
My first car was a British racing green Mk2 Cortina 1300, a rust bucket on wheels. I remember it breaking down (dirty petrol) while on honeymoon in Scotland near Gairloch. I called the AA, they said they couldn't say when they would reach me so I ended up stripping down the carburettor at the roadside & cleaning the jets...... I always used to travel with a full toolkit & spares in those days. Nowadays I travel light, often with nothing more than a credit card.
 
broc said:
I always used to travel with a full toolkit & spares in those days
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I suspect we maybe of a similar age :D

broc said:
Nowadays I travel light, often with nothing more than a credit card.
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Same here now, and of course a breakdown / recovery membership card.
 
My cousin had a Chamois, he had loads of problems with overheating. On the Imp & its variants the radiator was at the front with cooling hoses which ran through the cills to the engine at the rear. It turned out that one of his cars hoses had collapsed & was restricting the flow of coolant.
 
Cobra said:
I suspect we maybe of a similar age :D


Same here now, and of course a breakdown / recovery membership card.
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I have reached 3 score plus 10....... apart from the credit card & breakdown cover I forgot to mention I also carry the almost mandatory smartphone with it's Apps. Our motorhome has an immobiliser & tracker that is controlled by an app, without it the vehicle cannot be started even if someone has stolen the keys from us.

Shortly after passing my driving test at 18 I helped my dad overhaul the engine in his Super Minx, new pistons & rings, bearings, timing chain, rebuilt cylinder head. In those days I was absolutely fearless with car maintenance. All I do now is check the fluids, tyre pressure etc regularly. Our motorhome doesn't even have a dipstick, you have to turn the 'ignition' on to check the oil level.

Cars today are far too complex & almost impossible to diagnose without at the very least an ODB2 reader, & emissions controls are so complex with so many sensors, filters etc they are near impossible to DIY maintain.
 
broc said:
My cousin had a Chamois, he had loads of problems with overheating. On the Imp & its variants the radiator was at the front with cooling hoses which ran through the cills to the engine at the rear. It turned out that one of his cars hoses had collapsed & was restricting the flow of coolant.
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Not helped by the alli head which would warp on a hot summers day!
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
One reason not to go back to the '70s: the Hillman Avenger! :headbang:
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When I left school in 1978 my first job was as an apprentice mechanic in a "Rootes" dealership, and the Avenger was one of the better cars of that time. We also had to deal with the Simca models which were bloody appalling in both design and technology.

I had two Avengers in my time, the better one being a 1500GT. A chap in our camera club has 3 of them, including an Avenger Tiger.
 
Baloo said:
Not helped by the alli head which would warp on a hot summers day!
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A warning fose with an Imp and a sun roof... Don't go fishing on a hot day and leave the sun roof open, your body sticks to the extremely hot black vinyl seats!!! :facepalm:
 
broc said:
My first car was a British racing green Mk2 Cortina 1300, a rust bucket on wheels. I remember it breaking down (dirty petrol) while on honeymoon in Scotland near Gairloch. I called the AA, they said they couldn't say when they would reach me so I ended up stripping down the carburettor at the roadside & cleaning the jets...... I always used to travel with a full toolkit & spares in those days. Nowadays I travel light, often with nothing more than a credit card.
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Cobra said:
I suspect we maybe of a similar age :D


Same here now, and of course a breakdown / recovery membership card.
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I don't carry a toolkit now. Not much point on a modern car. It's not like you can change the water pump or clean the points.
 
Jelster said:
A warning fose with an Imp and a sun roof... Don't go fishing on a hot day and leave the sun roof open, your body sticks to the extremely hot black vinyl seats!!! :facepalm:
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I'd forgotten the joys of vinyl. :ROFLMAO:
 
I'm assuming most of the above had the compulsory cassette/radio and seperate graphic equaliser/amp?
 
Dare I mention CB radio, good buddy? :D
 
  • Haha
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Cockney said:
Dare I mention CB radio, good buddy? :D
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10-4......

Anyway, one of my first cars was a 1979 Lada Riva, calling it s*** would be an insult to steaming turd. The Midland CB radio was probably worth more.
 
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