artdjones

The rather chintzy styling of the A30 belies the fact that it was an advanced design structurally, being a very early stressed monocoque. Even Austin lasted until 1990, whereas Goliath were gone by 1961, fuel injection or not.

A Fuji is a good option, they were mediocre in film camera days, but got in early when digital cameras became possible, and became very good at them. I had a Fuji which got pinched in a burglary, which was replaced by the more expensive Lumix I still have. In my opinion the Fuji was better.

I hope for your sake you are just exercising your imagination in these flights of fancy, and not recounting personal experiences.

Rootes group cars were durable.

Apparently rust prone and pretty awful to drive.

The extra stodgy version of the Audax Minx, the Singer Gazelle.

The Renault Rambler, introduced when Renault didn't want to build a replacement for the Frégate, so started importing CKD AMC Ramblers as a replacement.

They were made in Brighton Railway Works to an Italian design. But driving around in a 200cc bubble car is not very lower middle class style respectable. The Popular was so awful it doesn't even rise to the level of Stodge. The car for the man who keeps his change in a small purse.

No, not respectable enough.

If a car has any genuine sporty pretensions it's not stodge. Sapphire 236 Stodge Sapphire 234 Not Stodge

Different generations of the same model can show different levels of stodginess. This generation of Minx, definitely stodgy. The Audax generation, much less stodgy,with actual (Loewy influenced) styling.

It probably looked so strange because it was basically a 1940 model with a new nose and tail. Not Vauxhall styling's finest hour. The E Series replacement was a big leap forward. Vauxhall offered a three speed up to the time of the FD Victor, 20 years later.

Strangely, it isn't that boring technically, with an overhead camshaft when that was very rare, and plastic bonnet and boot on the later versions. Apparently heavy and awkward to drive. But the non styling is wonderfully stodgy. Even more awkward styling was exhibited by another stodge landmark, the Vauxhall Wyvern.

The 1.8 version from the Sherpa would be nice. Would a Perkins 4.108 fit?

This is my idea of stodge

And how about the Herald vs. all its other competitors? Austin A40, HA Viva, Dauphine, Fiat 1100, Opel Kadett, Beetle,Anglia, etc. I love Citroens, but there were a lot of other cars around as well as the Ami. The Herald wouldn't be the worst among that list. The fact that the Ami was better than its British competitors would not be a source of shame. That's the point. The Ami might be the best in its class, but that doesn't make any other small to medium car around in 1961 bad. Also the top speed of the original version of the Ami was 65mph. They gained an extra 10hp by 1969 which brought it up to 76mph. So for most versions an 80 mph cruise would be impossible. Jingoism is ridiculous, but your caricature of how foreign cars were thought of 50 years ago is ridiculous. Were you alive at the time? If you've ever read Motor or Autocar from the 60s and 70s you would see that foreign cars weren't condemned for being foreign, but were tested and written about very seriously. And foreign cars sold in fairly large numbers, even though duty made them more expensive.

It looks like a Humber Hawk estate.

I'd believe you more if several of your examples of European wonder marques hadn't had to be rescued themselves. Alfa and Lancia are just badge engineered Fiat's now.Lancia because they were never profitable. Panhard had to be taken over by Citroen in the mid 60s. And DKW disappeared at the same time. The Allegro was a perfectly acceptable car when put up against a Mk1 Escort or an Opel Kadett. The Standard Vanguard was never a Mercedes competitor. The foreign equivalent would be a Renault Fregate or a Rekord. A Westminster wasn't an Aurelia competitor or a Minx a Dyna competitor. The Aurelia was always very expensive. The equivalent of a Westminster would be a Fiat 2300 and the Minx a Fiat 1400, another car with rather boring styling. I've never liked the A30 much, but there was a lot of innovative engineering in the way the body structure was engineered. I'd prefer a DKW, but a two stroke was a rather dead end design, and would do a lot less mpg than a four stroke You seem to be saying that all British cars were rubbish compared with the European ones that were the best in their class, or even the best in a class above them. The were good British cars, acceptable ones, and poor ones. The same for European cars. There was plenty of European grey porridge in the 50s and 60s.

I would file the fitting just file the protruding bit until it's level with the sealing surface. It should be possible to do that without impinging on where the sealing washer sits. Don't use a grinder, the smallest slip could ruin it all.

Yeah, Spanish coffee was good when 90% of UK cafés only offered instant.

Using airport facilities is usually so awful that having a cup of coffee by the toilet entrance makes it very little worse on a percentage basis.

As it was modified over 40 years ago, thus completely in period, why would the modifications upset anyone? OMES*, I suppose. *One make enthusiast syndrome.

They used to add a lot of equipment there, such as pop-up sunroofs, vinyl roofs and coachlines.

I used to see grain ships returning from the pier at Kinsale with a load of them strapped down on deck. That would be 1992 and 93.

How could you tell the difference?🤔