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Six Cylinders Motoring Notes


Six-cylinder

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^ Folk will.

 

S'funny. I still have a load of AA 'Drive' mags from the seventies that my folks had sent and there's a 1974 or 1975 article about dumped cars; one is a 1965 C plate manual S Type Jaguar. I can remember the row of scrap Jags that used to line the drive going into Cross keys scrapyard in Lydford, Zummerzet in the mid seventies. The fuel crisis made them virtually worthless. More than any other Jag apart from the hateful X Tripe that isn't a Jag at all, the original S Type seemed to fall from grace very quickly.

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Not of driving age I loved the S Type in white with Dunlop Alloys and a whip aerial!

 

I passed my test in March 1976 and went to college, if my car was broken, dad needed his I got to take the S-Type to college. You just can't imagine how that felt!

 

The car stuck around for many years into the early 80s getting quite rusty in the end. Why oh why did I not take it on and save it! 

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In 1974 my father had an insurance policy mature and decided to buy a 1300 cc, newish car for his daily use to replace the beetle. By then I was 15 and pouring over the car books looking for candidates, I remember us going to see an Alfa Gulia and being disappointed that he was not comfortable in it. We looked at quite a lot of cars but not BL, Vauxhall or Ford. I remember wanting him to have something interesting when compiling my list to help him! Fiat 124 and 128 were looked at, he preferred the 124. Peugeot 304, Audi 80, Renault 12 and others were considered but a 1973 Citroen GS 1220 Club, in green metallic with brown vinyl seats was chosen and started the whole Citroen thing that lasted the rest of his life.

 

I did my driving practice on the green GS and when I passed my test was allowed to borrow it. My father had six GS/GSA and after the Jaguar came out of everyday use my parents had two GSs at a time. Next was a white N reg GS 1220 Club that he bought half price from a garage because the suspension was stuck in high (I can't find a picture but I remember taking him to get it), by then my father has learnt his way around GSs and soon replaced the £11 height adjuster that had seized. My favourite was a 1978 GS X2 in metallic brown it was a year old and under 10k miles when he got it, he had it until 1985. Another L reg white1220 Club and a silver R reg 1220 Pallas were bought as older cars and the Pallas was sold in 1984. His final of the model was a X reg white GSA special. He also had a red pig nose Visa Twin he ran at the same time as the GSA but I can’t find a picture of it.

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Great pics- how old was yasser (my just invented nickname for PLO the GS) when the pic was taken? It already looks abut crusty round the edges even then!

 

Ok you have me banged to rights I cheated, I could not find a picture of it in my dad's photos of it so I put up my own. Yes I bought the car from him in April 1984 as a stop gap while I was looking for a Reliant Scimitar. It was end of life by then and I only had it a few months, it looks like it lasted another year after me but still was only 9 years old when it died.

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In 1978 my father bought a spare car for the family, initially for my brother to get to college because his Ford Anglia 1200 Super needed a fair bit of welding. A local farm mech where he worked part time said he would do it, but not until after the harvest. The car was a 1965 Cortina Super fitted with a 1340cc Classic engine, hand painted in blue it looked tidy. I borrowed it now and then and liked it, specially the airflow vents. Unfortunately a few months later my brother was driving it and a car turned across him from the other direction and that was that!

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Enter my father’s BXs, First was a graphite A reg 16RS with alloy wheels followed by a white C reg GT, E reg red GTi and a red K reg GTi. Again these were run two at a time, GSA-BX16RS, BX16RS-BX19GT, BX19GT-BXGTi and 2 times BXGTi. Unfortunately my father passed away only 66 years old in 1995, my mother sold the E reg GTi and kept the K reg GTi. Yes the K reg GTi is the one I now have as my mother has given up driving.

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Cars Cars Cars, what a great week so far!

 

The Daimler Sovereign S1 got its new headlight wiring loom fitted by the auto electrician after a pause because it needed outer headlight rubber gaskets and adjusters. It is now back together in good working order, but has been returned to storage for the winter. I can just drive it in May or MOT it in spring if I want it earlier.

 

Last week I took the front carb of the E Type and put in a new jet and diaphragm to stop the massive fuel leak, yesterday I refitted the carb and the car now runs again.  Next job is to replace the leaking core plug, which is inlet manifold off. Not finished but still progress.

 

A call from my very very favorite garage yesterday to say the Gamma has passed its MOT is wow news! They have asked me to tax it which I will do from the 1st Dec so they can drive it around a bit and see if there are any other issues to deal with before they hand it back to me.

 

Today I collected our Grey Volvo 740 GLE Auto from RichardK who has used it over the summer. I don’t know exactly what he has done to it but it drives so much better than it used to. Super smooth on the motorway and all the idle vibration is gone, even the speedo worked all the way back. I have just dropped it off for MOT, but I am optimistic that it will be an easy one.

 

The final leg for today was to collect my E30 BMW with a fresh MOT.

The jobs done were fit a fuel filler pipe because the old one rubbed through when the car was on lowered springs.

Fit a new throttle cable because the old one had a rust bulge and was sticky to use.

Fit a new secondhand speedo because the old speedo only worked when the brakes were on.

Supply and fit a new clutch master cylinder as the old one was leaking and if used slowly didn’t work.

There is something magic about squirting a powerful rear wheel drive car that is running well!

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Excellent news on the Gamma! Where's the S2, is it resting for the winter?

 

S2 is fully running, MOTed, taxed and insured, but in a barn for the winter. It is a bit embarrassed to be seen in public because of the missing paint from the roof. but might come out for one of the New Year car events I am planning to do.

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