cros

Certainly not heard of that one before. Not to be confused with Evanta, Ant Antstead's sports car company!

And I've never heard of the Evanta or Ant Antson until now.

I did know these existed as they were built in Spalding just down the road from me. What I didn't know was that they never built them as kit cars which I think justifies their inclusion here. Obviously an updated Elan, but apparently OK. They knocked out one a week, much like my good self.

Evante roadster.

Went bust in early 91 then 9 more more were built by Fleur De lys the van people.

*Content warning*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You've spelt 'shit' wrong M8

 

'amazing character vintage caravan, "Gertrude".'[/size]

 

 

Not Mildred?

"'Mildred'. She is full of character and has a wonderful vintage feel. She is from the early 70's and yet is wonderfully dry"

I imagine a night in either could chafe a bit.

The roof is finally done. It doesn't look great because I'm a messy bugger and have managed to get black gloop everywhere- face looks like a Dalmation. Problem (excuse) was that the main part had to be screwed down in one go having been previously drilled and tapped. In the frenzy of putting in a billion screws before it set some sealant must of oozed out...

I collected a drop-glass and inner windscreen surround on Saturday from the Vauxhall spares man. They added a couple of inches width to the bodies of their post war cars, so like the early Morris Minors I'll have to have a plate over the gap. No matter, I'm glad to find the part as its an awkward shape to replicate.

may

I started using this lorry when It was eight months old, the previous driver moved roles, because he hated driving it.

It took me months of complaining before it went back for repair under warranty, when it was back it was exactly the same.

We have a new workshop manager now, I will be asking him to chase it up

This is a bit of a gem if like me you're a little shy and don't want to attract attention. Especially subtle is the rifle butt gearstick and 15mm gate valve that seems to be attached to the roof. Turn it and you get showered with diahorrea.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1997-Peugeot-306-1-9-DT-Camo-Army-Rat-Look-Zombie-Madmax-Wide-arch-Modified-PX/392145579149?hash=item5b4db2ac8d:g:UGgAAOSwtqRbdX4p

My heater on my truck at work, a proper pile of shite.

The heater works ok, but the fan doesn't.

I can't get any air to the windscreen on my side, if I put a piece of paper on the vent it won't even move.

In damp weather the windscreen and the drivers door are permanently steamed up, I have to have a bit of blue roll on hand to wipe it clear and wind the window down at every junction.

The fan has two positions, off and full blast, both wholly ineffective.

In sunny weather the whole cab is like a greenhouse, it has massive windows which aren't even tinted.

Even if it is snow outside i am being roasted every time the sun shines, usually i am down to just a t shirt in the winter, with the heater turned off.

No aircon either, so horrible.

The vehicle is a three year old Mercedes and has been like that since new.

A horrible place to spend your working week in.

That heater sounds bolloxed.

In my youth me and another yokel conducted a proper scientific test on the efficacy of the Reliant Supervan's heater. A fresh pig's testicle was secretly placed in each demister pipe of a work colleague's vehicle and we eagerly awaited his reaction. The entire winter passed without comment suggesting that the 3 wheeler's heater isn't up to much.

Don't see many Vitara vans, but I'm not so taken with them that I'd swim across the Medway in November to get a better picture.

That would involve having to enter it, no?

So no.

Flagrant Shirism. Requires a good stiff point.

The heaters in all my cars except the 205 are terrible, but I'm not much bothered. My landrover has a Dutch made 'Heat On' device which I put in because the original Smiths one leaked. It is about twice as powerful at 4kw, but because of its location on the left of the transmission tunnel, struggles to deliver much air to the drivers side. It does demist the screen reasonably well which is progress. Going to Switzerland last year it didn't cope well at -10, not least because of all the draughts, but it was tolerable because we wore warm clothes.

My Morris Commercial was made before anything had heaters in 1933. (Maybe not strictly true, the Stanley and a few others had a real fire). The windscreen is openable and I fitted a kit car heater which is small and uses a computer fan. You wouldn't call it cosy but its better than nothing.

MGB heaters are notoriously terrible. They are quite a bit less powerful than those fitted to Midgets, the sort of perversity BMC excelled at.

I dismantled mine in an attempt to improve matters, and discovered that from new the gasket that prevents air bypassing the matrix had been omitted, so for 40 years it had been extra disappointing. I once read of Triumph TR's heaters being likened to an "elderly Maiden Aunt breathing gently on your legs" and the MG isn't much better.

The P4 has quite a complicated device with 3 control quadrants that have separate 'de-mist' and 'de-frost' positions, but for all this the water has to squeeze through a tiny control valve so it doesn't approach modern standards.

I must end with the bonus you get with many old cars- smaller windows and built in draughts mean that in warm weather they are more pleasant to be in if you dislike air-con and blowers roaring away.

^i think its the time of year, all the way down to Exeter from Teesside the only acething we saw on the road was a minity fresh looking Datsun 260Z....

 

then around the back roads we did see a few series Landrovers still in agrcultutal service, before again seening nothing of note at all on the way back.

 

yesterday we saw a Ford model Y hotrodded with a beetle engine in the back, and another old couple driving a Rover 3 litre.

 

those i think were people taking advantage of the nice weather for going for one last run out before the weather turns. 

 

and North Yorks council have already started spreading salt around on the Castleton road and along the A64..... 

I can't imagine why you'd put a beetly engine in a Y, but each to their own.  Salt is a bastard for the older patients, will have to think about a hose down. Probably thinkings as far as I'll get though...

The P4 is home after its voyage North and South which took us to Blackpool, Stoke, Surrey, Kent and back to lovely Linc's. 498 miles and dipstick still says full. I mentioned earlier that I previously used the car with no oil in the diff, and throughout the journey it chastised me with a gentle whine, but maybe a bit of soundproofing under the rear seat is the answer.

Best bit was taking the A25 instead of the M25 through Surrey and on to Maidstone. The satnav said it was slightly quicker and I say the views were much better, though this certainly wouldn't be the case very often. I was much taken by the Oxted viaduct, would have liked to have stopped to get a look without the supermarket sign spoiling it.

Where permitted the car can still manage this

but there's a worrying lack of old stuff on the road. Last night at a filling station on the A1 a Minor van pulled in- it looked to be between paint jobs with some grey undercoat showing, so all is not lost. Tomorrow the Rover has to head to London again, this time for work. I didn't know about the job until this morning or I wouldn't have come home, but at least I might get a bit done with my Bedford bits.

That big white not-a-Morgan looks like it has an MX-5 stuck in the middle of it, which is what I assume it's based on.  It's not the worst thing of its type to look at, though that is perhaps a bit like saying it's not the smelliest turd you could have stepped in.

I think its trying to be an XK 120 - and failing.

Thankfully not all the motoring encounters on my journey have been horrible. Here's the good one. This Hispano rumbled past me in a small Surrey village this afternoon and parked outside the church to pick someone up

I hope she was appreciative. The owner told me it took him 30 years to restore this fine automobile; note cork on mascot so as not to spear the odd bridesmade.

Jesus

Mary

and Joseph

"This gets heads turning everywhere it goes as you could probably guess from the colour."

That Green Transit owner has confused "head" with "stomach".

I got the sidecar chassis out of my car at Lymme Services where I met the new owner. He is a Soviet bike enthusiast and told me he has a Diahatsu engine in one of his bikes. Maybe its this little beauty-

I really like stuff like this, the worlds poorer now that its much more awkward to create such things.

Later this morning we set sail for Surrey where I hope to unearth a window and differential for my PC van. Unfortunately I'm told there are 3 possible types it could be, though Vauxhall did an adapter plate so two of them were interchangeable. This is odd considering that, like VW, they had a single model line for the first half of the '50's. By contrast over at BMC the same diff was used for Minor, A3O, A35, Riley & Wolseley 1500s, Sprites and Midgets and more. Similarly The 'Rover' diff continued in use for probably more than half a century.

Depends how much you like driving early 00's Corsa's, the interiors are woeful, and they really only should be driven by women of a certain age.

Thats a bit of surgery too far for me then. I fell over the car as its parked half on the pavement and naively thought it looked cheap. Ive been back and looked inside, and by fuck it does look cheap.

Lurker

Scene today.

Theres a Tigra (later type) sitting in the road with £800 price sticker in the screen. Wonderful or woeful?

Saw this in a garden centre this morning, there must be some fat bastards round here.

I am lumbering along on Goldway van tyres. I can't tell any difference between them and the set of £120 each Rover Owners Guild approved tyres the car came with, except that they are less than £40. Clubs would be better to advise axle stands to support their members cars these days given the amount of miles most of them do.

My combined deliver and collection venture started this morning. I wedged a sidecar chassis into the back of the P4, mudguard and spare wheel in the boot and set off to Clitoro.

Am staying at a Pub next to the Ribble and had a bloody good walk. The only Rover in the village.