Classics ?

joxby said:
I love the idea of re-owning the cars of my youth, but there's always the thought that they wouldn't be terribly reliable and require some kind of attention.....daily.
Saying that though, what could go wrong with a MK5 cortina that you couldn't fix with garden hose or a pair of tights..lol
Anyway, I had a MK3 first, then a MK5 and my comparable Cavalier SRi was an Opel Manta GTE.
Had a Lotus Sunbeam in and amongst but I hellas would not like to be maintaining that in 2023.
My Chopper was red, with yellow decals, I remember the black ones but the decals weren't just silver, they were chrome.
The thing with Choppers is, we just don't fit them anymore, just like I didn't fit my sisters Chipper back in the day...:)
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I fixed a loose venturi inside one of the Weber 48's on the Escort yesterday with a cut in half fuse, some insulation tape & a couple of cable ties :)
 
At least you could repair an old car, not all electronics where you are at the mercy of dealers. Friend of mine has spent over £3k on a fault on his Fiat based motorhome. Basically, they keep installing new parts in the hope but it still isn't right. Dash lights and fault codes eh, no such problems on my mk2 Cortina.
 
Garry Edwards said:
I used to drive either an A30 or A35 van, company car. It was horrible. In fact. I pretty much learned to drive in it, very unofficially. I was the "boy" and assistant at weddings, my boss was a good photographer but could never refuse a drink, and sometimes couldn't even walk back to the van, let alone drive it. I was stopped by police once, I explained that I had to drive it because he was drunk and the officer told me to finish my journey but not to drive again until I had a licence. How times have changed!

Maybe a different model, I can't see how the driver could reach into the glove box anyway. My one had the wiper lever directly behind the wiper, above the steering wheel. This is the model https://www.classicandsportscar.ltd.uk/Ford-Popular-103E/classic-cars-sold/9311#:~:text=Around 155,000 103E's were manufactured,and 30bhp at 3000 rpm.
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my dad was driving :D:D:D
 
Garry Edwards said:
I used to drive either an A30 or A35 van, company car. It was horrible. In fact. I pretty much learned to drive in it, very unofficially. I was the "boy" and assistant at weddings, my boss was a good photographer but could never refuse a drink, and sometimes couldn't even walk back to the van, let alone drive it. I was stopped by police once, I explained that I had to drive it because he was drunk and the officer told me to finish my journey but not to drive again until I had a licence. How times have changed!

Maybe a different model, I can't see how the driver could reach into the glove box anyway. My one had the wiper lever directly behind the wiper, above the steering wheel. This is the model https://www.classicandsportscar.ltd.uk/Ford-Popular-103E/classic-cars-sold/9311#:~:text=Around 155,000 103E's were manufactured,and 30bhp at 3000 rpm.
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totally different model, it looked like this, in a lovely plum/grey 2 tone, my mum sold it and the buyer just wanted the registration plate...

classicsworld.co.uk

FORD 100E & 107E BUYER'S GUIDE - Classics World

The Ford 100E and 107E saloons saw the brand's small car offering enter the modern age. Here's how to buy a great example.
classicsworld.co.uk classicsworld.co.uk
 
joxby said:
I love the idea of re-owning the cars of my youth, but there's always the thought that they wouldn't be terribly reliable and require some kind of attention.....daily.
Saying that though, what could go wrong with a MK5 cortina that you couldn't fix with garden hose or a pair of tights..lol
Anyway, I had a MK3 first, then a MK5 and my comparable Cavalier SRi was an Opel Manta GTE.
Had a Lotus Sunbeam in and amongst but I hellas would not like to be maintaining that in 2023.
My Chopper was red, with yellow decals, I remember the black ones but the decals weren't just silver, they were chrome.
The thing with Choppers is, we just don't fit them anymore, just like I didn't fit my sisters Chipper back in the day...:)
Click to expand...


I'd have 2 of my old cars back in an instant - although the Firenza would need a new engine (al least!). The Frogeye apparently still exists but I can't remember the Fitenza's reg. no. so can't see. Besides, it was hoisted onto the scrappy's truck with a chain through the windows...
 
plenty of bikes i would have back but the only car i would have back (as a dry sunday driver) would be my mk1 Fiesta XR2 I had in sunburst red. i liked that
unfortunatly i dont have any pictures of it

ford-fiesta-mk-1-xr2.jpg
 
We had a rather fine Mk2 Cavalier 2.0 CDi, automatic.
Bit heavy on juice for todays prices, could do London to Plymouth on a full tank.
Needed to fill up again at the Sainbury's just as you enter the city on the A38
 
tijuana taxi said:
We had a rather fine Mk2 Cavalier 2.0 CDi, automatic.
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At the time, I had a fairly new MK1 Cavalier possibly the worse car I ever owned, if t wasn't one thing it was another :(
 
Cobra said:
At the time, I had a fairly new MK1 Cavalier possibly the worse car I ever owned, if t wasn't one thing it was another :(
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Mk2 was a massive improvement, entirely new design and really helped Vauxhall compete with the Ford Sierra
 
tijuana taxi said:
Mk2 was a massive improvement, entirely new design and really helped Vauxhall compete with the Ford Sierra
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TBH that put me right off Vauxhalls for years, until recently. ( I've currently got a "Mapped" Astra VXR thats a bit of an animal :D )
I had a Sierra estate after the Cavalier much better.
 
Its more about rarity , it doesnt matter if its crap , or was crap in its day, if ten people want something and there is only one of them they will pay for it.
Escorts for example, MK2 2 door Escorts, they werent that great unless you did a ton of work to them, nowadays though it isnt about how great they were, its about rarity and more often than not nostalgia. There are still affordable classics out there though, as everyday cars? not a lot. You can still pick up beatles for little money needing minimal work because there are literally thousands of them out there.
 
Usernameuser said:
Its more about rarity , it doesnt matter if its crap , or was crap in its day, if ten people want something and there is only one of them they will pay for it.
Escorts for example, MK2 2 door Escorts, they werent that great unless you did a ton of work to them, nowadays though it isnt about how great they were, its about rarity and more often than not nostalgia. There are still affordable classics out there though, as everyday cars? not a lot. You can still pick up beatles for little money needing minimal work because there are literally thousands of them out there.
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I agree. In theory, the only collectible items should be the ones that were outstandingly good, but it doesn't work that way.
Let's take cameras as an example. I remember a copy of an old Leica camera made by British firm Reid. Basically they were given the Leitz drawings at the end of the war as part of the German reparations, and should have been on to a winner - but they didn't go in for all that foreign metric nonsense so engineered them with imperial measurements and the cameras were total junk even when new. Very few were made and most were scrapped, but the few that still survive fetch ridiculous prices, there's on on eBay right now https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/28501790...du4z-Q-8AI3MSYQbzBEWnc-ZamwwIRpsaAqAoEALw_wcB. And then there was the Corfield 66, in about 1960 I think - a Hassleblad copy that should never have been offered for sale, the public bought less than 300 but again now worth money.
 
Yonks back I had a company car that was barely suitable for the intended usage.

A 3 door Vauxhall Chevette Estate (they were at that time called Shovettes :lol: ) the MD did not keep it long once he realised what a dog it was.....

It kept going out of tune and the dealership struggled to work out what was wrong. I took it to a different dealer and one fitter worked out that the distributor cams were not equal, one pair (lets call those North & South) was smaller than the other (call these East & West) his idea was to set the points mid-way (by guess work) between the two pairs!

Too long ago to recall exactly the outcome but Vauxhall refused to change the distributor.......I think the MD sold the car about 6 months later...... a Ford Sierra Estate. :thinking: Which turned out to have its own design oddities......I had a prang (OSF quarter) and it was in the shop for 8 weeks while the tried to get the body squared up. Is issue IIRC was that Ford (to save costs) did not fit sufficiently long and/or strong 'longerons' (query spelling?) in the front frame.

Heh ho, the joys of older vehicles :)
 
Box Brownie said:
Heh ho, the joys of older vehicles :)
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Was it the all agro ( Allegro) that or or other front wheels would fall off with the Discs / hubs attached?
 
Cobra said:
Was it the all agro ( Allegro) that or or other front wheels would fall off with the Discs / hubs attached?
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When I worked for a GEC company (Oertling) I was given an Allegro , only just enough space to put all the demo gear I had to carry, in the boot & on the back seat! The line managers got the Montego.
 
I remember the Austin Maxi and its advert that the back seat folded down and could be used as a double bed.
Why was that important I wonder?
Also recall you could get a basic Mk3 1.3 Cortina for 700 green shield stamp books.
We saved enough for an Intrepid fishing reel and a chip pan
 
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