Hobo Jungle

[Rufus T. Firefly]

....the social environment is a helluva lot better where we are now......

No argument. I'm surrounded by insanity here and the only redeeming aspect of that is that I at least am aware of the condition....

You'll have to come up and over to my place in PA for a visit....

[sarge]

Healey:

We speak the same language, much to the bemusement of most, and we are a dying breed to be buried under a pile of effing hybrids and "safe" soulless colourless Pacific Rim shitboxes.

The only time the CD is on is when I'm running a motorway for a long distance, for this is also an amazingly enjoyable cruiser especially for its size. However, one does actually seek routes on the B-roads and the music of chirping tyres and exhaust is all the music needed.

I did the roadster thing with a Spit and raced a Midget, and that dog still hunts; I have a goal of another of that ilk finding its way into my garage one day. The very last of the Midgets was actually a very good racer (in spite of the buggy bumpers), with a 1.5 litre Spit engine and a single big-throated Stromberg, BTW. The purists shudder, but that engine had a lot to offer. When I do it again it probably won't be the Mazda or the Zed, rather a old Brit, another Spit or a Spridget with a tool apron in the boot.

BTW, I do agree about a straight six though. Inherently balanced and a lovely note...

[sarge]

Honestly it was, for the size was very spacious inside.
except the stronberg carburetor that was leaking the oil to somewhere and making the carburation really bad not mayor issues.
My Dad owned a Hillman husky he was dealing with regulator boxes all the time, but his Vauxhall ( british GM) was pretty good too.
So regarding lucas could be just bad luck.
In 1996 I bought an 1979 Ford Cortina (british Ford than move to Germany in the 80's I guess), excellent car as well.
AG.
AG.

I remember all those cars; my dad had a Minor Traveller. It was also dead reliable but we weren't talking ergonomics back then. I still remember the seats, but not fondly!

The Cortina and the Capri changed the face of cars in Britain. Suddenly the Midlands communists looked up from their fires in the oil drums and picket signs and heard the distinct sound of the doors locking at BL and that was that. While they were calling each other comrade and occasionally going inside to quick knock up a Marina or two, Ford was quietly making attractive cars and Datsuns were starting to come in. Now, BMW owns the Oxford Plant where my dad's Minor was made (and probably your dad's Hillman) and that's where they make the new Minis today including the one I drive now.

[sarge]

....the social environment is a helluva lot better where we are now......

No argument. I'm surrounded by insanity here and the only redeeming aspect of that is that I at least am aware of the condition....

You'll have to come up and over to my place in PA for a visit....

This we must do! I wonder how much stove-wood I can get in a Mini?

[healey36]

"The Cortina and the Capri changed the face of cars in Britain. Suddenly the Midlands communists looked up from their fires in the oil drums and picket signs and heard the distinct sound of the doors locking at BL and that was that." Sarge, that's a great, albeit tragic, image of the implosion of the British automobile industry.

That European Capri was a great car. One of my college roommates flogged a 2.0 litre version for our last two years at school. I was driving a 1970 Opel GT at the time, which was a pretty even match. When they upped the Capri to a 2.6 litre V6 it became lethal. One of the early pocket-rockets:



A good friend of my wife's aunt was the original owner of a early-sixties Rover P4. When he hit his late eighties he got to a point where he couldn't drive anymore and he nearly begged me to take it. At the time I had no garage space left and had to turn it down, but I regret not finding someplace for it. The P4 had all of those stately features from big Brit sedans of the 1950's...trafficators, fold-down tables on the seat-backs, must have been ten hides worth of leather in those seats. From a time when motoring was an experience, not just a trip down to the Stop 'N Shop.

Healey

[sarge]

A P4, the "PM's Motor". I could do that; the lap of luxury without the ostentatiousness of a Bentley or a Roller. They were not delicate ( ), but straight-laced proper gent's clubs with wheels. I'd clean out the garage for sure.

I would be behind the learning curve, though. I have no experience with Rovers...

[webenda]

A P4... I'd clean out the garage for sure.

Next time you are over there, bag one and put it on a freighter.
Reference: http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/list/40/p4/

[rogruth]

That must be quite a 50+ year old car to be selling for those prices listed.

[webenda]

I thought they were rather cheap for a straight-laced proper gent's clubs with wheels.
Maybe these more adventurist gent's sports cars would be more to your liking?
http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/car ... uar/xk_120

[John Webster]

My first new car was a 72 Capri V6 just like the one pictured. I rallied and autocrossed it and eventually beat it to death. At one point I took out the right front seat and used it to drive to Southern Ohio and pick up a new engine for my Formula V race car. The handling was decent for its day (understeer with power induced oversteer and lots of body roll) and it would do an honest 120 mph. The Pirelli Cinturato tires it came with were bald at 18,000 miles.

Some of my HO operating group used to go to Cass, West Virginia every spring for the Railfan Weekend and I enjoyed driving down there in my 92 Mitsubishi Eclipse. One year floods closed the road we usually used and we had to go in the back way, driving to Snowshoe and then over the mountain to Cass. The road was two lane asphalt in very good condition winding up one side of the mountain and down the other. I made that road my normal route. A couple of years later the Eclipse (a very good car) was terminally shortened by a lady on a cell phone.

I replaced it with a just introduced Chrysler Crossfire and really enjoyed that trip over the mountain, double clutching, heel and toeing and catching the occasional oversteer with opposite wheel input. It also made our trips to the East Broad Top in Orbisonia, Pennsylvania more enjoyable.

The joy of taking a decent handling car over a stretch of winding road is little understood and vastly underrated.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

One wonders how many (and in what condition) vintage ('50's ?) cars will be available from Cuba in the sort-of near future.
Murph

[Rufus T. Firefly]

One wonders how many (and in what condition) vintage ('50's ?) cars will be available from Cuba in the sort-of near future.
Murph

No real idea....but I did get passed by a Delorean yesterday 1/2-way to Fredericksburg. Did not get to ask if the flux capacitor was charged up or not.....

[rogruth]

Wayne,

My thoughts concerning hot or exotic cars ended many years ago by marriage and kids and today by lack of physical abilities and MONEY.

[rogruth]

Watching a Top Gear TV show.Racing from London to someplace in Scotland. Edinborough.
One guy is firing a 1948 steam loco.
One is driving a Jaguar XK120 from1949.
The third is on a vintage motorcycle.A Black Shadow.
Waiting to see who wins.
The Jag won.
Train a close second.
Motorcycle guy had leg cramps and wasn't even in the race.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Watching a Top Gear TV show.Racing from London to someplace in Scotland. Edinborough.
One guy is firing a 1948 steam loco.
One is driving a Jaguar XK120 from1949.
The third is on a vintage motorcycle.A Black Shadow.
Waiting to see who wins.
The Jag won.
Train a close second.
Motorcycle guy had leg cramps and wasn't even in the race.

That was a good show!