Sold 1985 Ford Granada mk2 estate. Sold and collected.

[JeeExEll]

MK1 Turnier:

 

 

MK2 Turnier:

 

 

 

 

 

Using roof offcuts from Granada hearse conversions maybe. Don't know.

[Guest Breadvan72]

I have paid the inevitable price for daring to touch the sunroof handle : it has fallen off.  I will deploy my powers of swearing and try to put it back on later.

[Skizzer]

I have paid the inevitable price for daring to touch the sunroof handle : it has fallen off.  I will deploy my powers of swearing and weld up the stupid rust-promoting hole in the roof and fit a nice smooth headlining later.

FTFY. Don't get me started on sunroofs.

[chaseracer]

Using roof offcuts from Granada hearse conversions maybe. Don't know.

 

And V8 badges from a Rover Three-Five...

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

I detest my sunroof (or 'Sunshine roof' as it is called in my Jag's handbook) - there isn't enough headroom for it. Long ago when I was reckless and foolish, I considered having the roof removed and a non-sunroof roof welded on in its place!

[Guest Breadvan72]

[Guest Breadvan72]

[danthecapriman]

I absolutely hate sunroofs! They are an utter nuisance and cause far more trouble than they're worth, whoever thought cutting a hole in the roof of a hardtop car should have been shot at birth imho!

This is especially true in this country. We live in a cold miserable wet shithole of a country so why would anyone want or need a dirty great hole in the roof!?

 

My Volvo sunroof is a pain in the arse, it's leaked and started to ruin the headlining. Luckily I've fixed it so it's ok at the moment but it's a certain as night follows day that it won't be the last time it causes trouble. Sodding things.

[BorniteIdentity]

I, on the other hand, am a huge fan of sunroofs - especially on cars without A/C (ie - all of mine).  Heat rises, so it makes perfect sense for it to disembark via the highest point of the vehicle.  They are, in my experience, surprisingly effective - more so than having a window open to the point you cant even have a conversation with your own inner monologue. On a nice summers day, there is nothing lovelier than a nice big sunroof open to the max.  

 

If you have a sunroof on your car, ffs keep using it.  Like so many things chod related, a lack of use and enjoyment can be terminal.  Keep things lubricated, keep the drains clear and you've got a friend for life.

 

Go on, be brave.  Get that handle back on and crack her open.  But only when we have 5 days of consecutive sunshine forecast.*

 

 

 

 

 

 

*2037.

[Guest Breadvan72]

Sozzer, Dan, I agree with Bourniteldentity re sunroofs, but I am outvoted by the other two.

[Guest Breadvan72]

PS:  I have been trying to get an inner monologue going for years.  My failure to do so explains why I'm here and own lots of crap cars (plus one third of a non crap one).

[AMC Rebel]

FTFY. Don't get me started on sunroofs.

Sunroofs are bastards - headroom-robbing pieces of crap that are worse than useless.

[danthecapriman]

I don't honestly think I've ever been so hot I've felt the need to use a sunroof. I open the windows but never the sunroof of any car I've had. Maybe now the Volvo one is behaving itself I might use it?

Besides I'd rather sweat my balls off than put up with wet carpets and a rotten roof!

 

Vinyl roofs are a similar irritant. Though on certain cars they do look brilliant but they trap moisture and cause lots of damage to the roof metalwork. I'm not sure the Mercury would look any good without one though.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

You sunroof haterz will love this.

BruthaN bought an L reg 24v Senator in currently on-trend white. Complete with Manuel box, cloth and steels with plastic trims. Now this was in 1995 and there was money to be made un-Policing it.

 

He found an F reg 2.5 breaking in South London, borrowed my Astravan and took a cordless drill and many drillbits. He then spent 2 hours drilling out the spot welds in the roof skin of the scrapper to remove the panel complete with (manual winding) sunroof.

This was spot welded to the 24 v, some grey leather was found , some 17" ( massive then) Azev A's bought , then about 2 months obsessively preparing then painting it in Imperial Green ( Lotus Carlton colour) . It was kept for about a year ownership changed to me( to lose TVP previous keeper) then sold for about £7k. The new owner never noticed ,or didn't care about the lack of aircon or electric roof, I think the de-catted big tailpipe exhaust might have swayed him- it would easily show 150 on the ( calibrated!) speedo.

[beko1987]

I used my sunroof today, it was nice.

 

Until I got above 37mph then it got too noisy so I closed it.

 

And that's why I'm not that sold on sunroofs!

[Bren]

In Australia they are called brain boilers.

[Junkman]

^^

That.

 

If there is one thing I hate more than everything post 1986 it's the fucking sun shining on my head.

Oh, and draught from moving air instead of beer.

[Angrydicky]

I do like the factory sunroof in my Austin Cambridge, shame that it encouraged the floorpans to rust out because previous owners didn't bother keeping the drains clear.

[RayMK]

Usually I'm in complete agreement with the sunroof haters.  Having water poured down your neck when cornering at more than 20mph is one of the most annoying and unpleasant experiences known to man - well, this one anyway.

 

My Pug 205 auto, being a French invention, has a heavy slide-back glass sunroof which requires two hands to pull it back, making it as convenient as a manual soft top to operate i.e. one has to stop to work it.  Also, to make it as French as possible without installing tanks of LHM everywhere, the seal is connected to the engine.  The sunroof handle is therefore not just a catch but a valve which enables engine vacuum to collapse the seal so that the bloody great slab of glass can be moved.  Presumably, the seal is foam filled as I have not found any connections to the exhaust to re-inflate it.  The greatest surprise to me is that this contraption actually works and my neck has not yet been assaulted by cold wetness, hence the opening word 'Usually.' 

[Guest Breadvan72]

I like the full length Webasto in my Dolly, and the large slidey sunroof in my SD1.  Aftermarket tilty sunroofs are toss.

[dollywobbler]

They are exactly the same cars, save for the reskin from the windows down.

This was done, because Uwe Bahnsen decided that there is nothing that could be improved above the beltline, not because of cost cutting.

It's this that prompted my comment above.

 

.

I'd be willing to believe that if Ford had not pulled the same half-arsed trick with the Escort Mk2 van and estate, and the Cortina Mk4.

[danthecapriman]

I'd be willing to believe that if Ford had not pulled the same half-arsed trick with the Escort Mk2 van and estate, and the Cortina Mk4.

If it ain't broke...

I'm glad Ford did that tbh, the old Ford estates of the era looked brilliant. They kept selling despite this too.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I'd be willing to believe that if Ford had not pulled the same half-arsed trick with the Escort Mk2 van and estate, and the Cortina Mk4.

I bet Uwe was pissed off he couldn't make the Thames 307E back doors fit the Mk3 Escort too, that design classic had served Ford well for 20 years

[Guest Breadvan72]

Yesterday I took the cover off the old thing and started it up for the first time in over a week. It was a bit hesitant to start at first, but soon got going.

 

Granny then flew to Cambridge and back for some daughter collectionage. Daughter BV says that the car's interior reminds her of a shonky Beagle Pup 150 that I used to have a share in.  

 

This car really is quite fast, and managed to surprise a couple of white Audis.   For some reason, I found myself subject to unusually aggressive high speed tailgating by assorted cars and vans at various times during the journey (I wasn't MLMing at 60, I hasten to add - this car keeps up with the traffic).  I don't know if they were just trying to read all the badges on the back, or what.

 

The trip computer mostly doesn't work, but it does show the fuel range remaining. At one point it sounded an annoying audible alarm for no apparent reason, which continued until I had randomly stabbed at all of its buttons a few times.  I had a flip through the car's handbook later on, but the trip computer would have had a separate instruction book, and I can't find one of those on eBay.

 

The radio is a bit meh - low volume, and can't hold a signal, but who cares?

[Guest Breadvan72]

Thanks to a dude on PH for this:-

 

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/granada_turnier/sets/72157625182442399/

[Bobthebeard]

When I first got the MG ZT the sunroof switch was disconnected due to a comedy random self opening episode in a thunderstorm before my tenure.

In a moment of optimism one sunny day last August I reconnected the switch and pressed it.

The sunroof half opened, closed again, tilted, closed again, shot back to half opened and nommed the sliding blind thing. The nommed blind jammed the mechanism resulting in smoke from the sunroof motor as it kept on running despite switching off the ignition and panicking. When I finally managed to rip out the jammed blind the sunroof slowly and gracefully slid to fully open, wisping out smoke from the motor and sulked. Nothing. Just stuck open.

I manually wound it shut using the hex key on the motor and it has been shut and disconnected ever since! It doesn't leak thankfully.

Both of my other cars purchased since then have no sunroof.... Says it all really.

[Junkman]

It was a bit hesitant to start at first, but soon got going.

Don't forget that when starting from cold, you need to activate the auto choke by flooring the accelerator pedal once

before you actually turn the key.

 

The trip computer mostly doesn't work, but it does show the fuel range remaining.

I'll check whether I have a manual left. If not, all the info should be on the Weird World Web.

I think the first thing is to set the date with a year which is the same as this year because

OMGWEWILLALLDIEMILLENIUMBUG.

[Guest Breadvan72]

I can haz the book via the electronical interwebz already.  

 

Loving the sci-fi font used for the RTFM!  I reckon that the alarm I set off was the OMG U R SPEEDIN U R GO 2 JAYEL alarm.  I must have accidentally set it at some point, and then hooned, or maybe it still had some 80s settings in it (eg 100 MPH for urban roads), and I, er, accidentally tripped it. 

[danthecapriman]

It's always a bit hesitant when it's been sitting around, the fuel drains back down into the tank and it's got to pump it back up again. Also, what JM said.

 

The computer, press button 3 when it beeps at you for low fuel. Top row of buttons, button closest the steering wheel! Sometimes you've got to press it quite hard.

If you look in the folder of receipts etc I gave you with the car there's a printout wedge of paper in the back of the folder with operating instructions for it.

 

It is a surprisingly fast car isn't it. I tended to stick to 65/70ish but it will easily go a lot higher than that! I used to fuck off tailgaters with it by nailing it!

I'm glad it's serving you well, you certainly seem to be enjoying having it anyway.

[Junkman]

They do 120 OMGMPH.