Dj_efk

You had a lucky escape.

Oh here’s one - Citroen 2CVs are as good as the sum of their parts - a weedy lawnmower engine bolted to a number of pieces of corrugated iron with a few deckchairs sprinkled inside. Having bought a nice example I couldn’t wait to offload it asap the first time I took it out of a 30mph zone - where it went from being a hilarious clown car on the corners and roundabouts to a terrifying instrument of torture. I managed to double my money by selling it to some nutter in Malaysia in the end!

Saw this today outside the Axminster Co-Op and thought I’d revive this thread - Zoom in. It was a proper old biddy that got in this and drove off too!

I last read this thread years ago when you were considering putting electronic ignition on your Cortina and have settled down for an evening’s read to catch up. So sorry for the shitty luck, I shall be thinking of you next time I go by Basingstoke on my regular Devon / Maidenhead trips. I hope 2024 is the year that things turn brighter for you.

I think we need more info on the OP’s use cases for the car - however I would suggest an Audi A2 TDi 75 - Pros: Ticks the premium box as high spec ones are nice inside Immensely practical for its size - has the passenger space of an equivalent Golf whilst taking up a tiny footprint (great for urban non ULEZ environments and also if you live somewhere with narrow lanes like me). Also the rear seats unlatch right out and it then turns into a small van. Most bits are from the VAG parts bin so very cheap to run and reliable - the current record mileage is over 450k on the same engine! £35 tax, qualifies for classic insurance if needed, 70mpg is possible as…. …Made from aluminium so only corrosion of the suspension components to check for - ideal therefore as winter beaters There’s a thriving owners club with a wealth of DIY maintenance and repair info You can upgrade them easily with a remap, six speed box from a later VAG diesel and add all sorts of retrofits to basically spec the car how you want it via the club relatively cheaply. It’s a statement that goes against everything that Audi stands for now! Cons: Styling is an acquired taste Getting harder to find a decent one for under £1500 - but still easy-ish to find if you’re patient

Nope a damask / similar red 2 door. I saw it quite by chance several years later parked in a car park in Worthing - it was a fantastic coincidence as that was the o U.K. day I have ever been to Worthing, I sold the car while still living in London. It then popped up on eBay a few years ago looking a bit worse for wear - clearly hadn’t been garaged etc. and had deteriorated plus had some one or two interior trim bits fitted - I was a little saddened by this as I know it would still look as good as it did then now if I had kept it.

I once bought a series one 1300SDL Allegro complete with quartic steering wheel back in 2008ish for a laugh, believing the Clarkson drivel about BL. It cost me a grand on eBay, it had 45k miles from new and was immaculate. Well the joke was on me: After giving the thing a birthday service and upgrading the ignition to electronic using a kit of parts from a Mini specialist, it was 100% reliable, drove really well and would cruise easily at 65-70mph no bother. It also turned heads everywhere it went and I couldn’t get it to do less than 40mpg no matter how I drove it. At the time I lived in west London and it would make even more sense in London now, being tax and Khan exempt. I turned from a BL basher into a believer- so when a low mileage series 1 1800HL Princess came up on eBay a year later down in south Devon I bought that too - and once again was astounded at how good a car that actually was compared with the rep, once I’d given it the same birthday + electronic ignition upgrade treatment. Bear in mind I was in my twenties and my expectations of a car were somewhat lower back then, but nonetheless I still correct obviously biased bollox about BL if I ever hear it now using my actual experience of their products.

That’s the exact pose I seem to adopt when my back gives me shit after an hour or more bending under a bonnet. I could post a similar picture upon request.

“You can’t park there mate”

Nice one for picking yerself up and getting your life back on track. It’s a big step mentally. Hope your back has been self-patted for that.

I remember trying to change the points on the one I had - By the time I got it all apart the overwhelming consensus of “fuck that for a game of soldiers” drove me into the arms of one of the electronic ignition kit sellers - Other than that it was a fun car to work on, no way would I daily one for anything beyond short urban trips mind - it felt like a death trap at anything over 35mph!

Main lesson of this thread appears to be don’t even consider dailying anything French of any age 🤯

Impressive levels of retro car geekery right there!

And to add to that last comment - if you (OP) have the luxury of a garage then that would swing things firmly in favour of “do it” for me. If not then see my comment about going as modern as possible above.

Agree with this post ^, if you need to do proper miles then I can recommend erring on the side of more modern whilst still feeling you’re in something interesting. Comfort, economy, parts availability and reliability are all of key importance as has been noted. It would be different if you’re only doing mostly shorter journeys daily, I would then say get a backup car on the go and go madly classic as you like, swapping between them as needed when one breaks / needs work.

It’s probably pushed the fuel sender to now-uncharted territory on its resistor scale or sommat. Dare say normal service will resume around the halfway mark? amazing to think that’s a 50 year old car!

I’ve never bought anything other than NGK for plugs and I’ve not had one instance in messing about with engines of all descriptions in the last 30 odd years that has made me regret it - so no idea what other brands are like. Like you, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Bosch brand has been whored out to the point where it’s now meaningless in terms of appliances and tools. I will still only buy Bosch (or genuine) engine sensors for my VAG vehicles however.

Only the very early 3 main crank version of the B’s engine will be a direct swap as things stand. That’s why I mentioned the the Riley 1.5 lump - it pumps out decent output (about +30% over standard), is a direct swap and if installed along with a matching diff / axle; this has the tallest available ratio as well (3.7:1) which would drop the revs down on longer journeys, as 65mph would equate to 3500rpm.

Yeah it’s part of the appeal actually - all the advantages the marque comes with such as good build quality and an upmarket, plush interior (on examples with decent spec anyway), but coupled with a pure focus on efficiency of space and fuel above all else, rather than on aesthetics and “look at me” image. I love mine for just how out of step with the modern Audi image it is.

Yes Howard! Lovely bloke. When I was in my teens a best friend of mine worked there for a time on Saturday mornings. There was a drunk, semi-homeless codger with questionable personal hygiene (mostly thankfully masked by his chain-smoking) called Merv - last time I went in there just before he moved Howard mentioned he’d passed on not that long after my mate left, unsurprisingly. Such a fascinating shop - it was basically a bonkers hoarders paradise for classic car parts where everything was for sale. My mate’s recollections of swimming in “the hose room” - an upstairs bedroom literally waist-deep in radiator hoses - was one of my favourite stories. There must be some pictures of the place on here somewhere. Anyway, back to the Austin - in terms of electronic ignition, back in the day my standard A or B series upgrade was one of those Accu-Spark magnetic / Hall effect jobbies in the distributor, a Lucas gold (high output) coil, NGK spark plus with 0.8mm gaps and 8mm silicone HT leads. Fairly cheap, always reliable in my personal experience and usually bumped the car’s fuel efficiency up by a measurable amount - but for me removing the need to faff around with points and the timing gun every few thousand miles was the biggest draw on a daily. With good quality engine oils and if doing mostly longer journeys you can then do up to say 5000 miles without having to lift the bonnet apart from fluid level checks (hopefully). In terms of exhaust, realistically getting a stainless one made up is probably the best long-term option - Again I’d be tempted to get a slightly fruitier manifold if you can find / afford one - then get whoever was making the exhaust to make it freer-flowing without being appreciably noisier - the original design would have been pretty awful from a flow point of view so some decent efficiency gains should be possible.

Don’t know if he’s still going but Collectors car parts who used to be in Sipson next to heathrow airport was my go-to for exhausts for 50s and 60s stuff. Might be worth a google.

Nice steed. Any plans beyond rust proofing it to the nines? If it was to be my daily driver I’d be thinking birthday-service and upgraded ignition. If a Riley 1.5 Engine and back axle came up I’d be tempted to lob them in too.

It’s coming together nicely!

Sack off all the projects and focus on just one or perhaps two that you can drive and enjoy doing so.

Would translate into “pronouns = he/his” these days I’d say.