It seems I'm the only one who didn't know.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Today,at the age of 50 and having lived and breathed cars since I was about 3, I was told that Anglia and Escort vans use the same rear doors. WTF? How didn't I know that ? My brain is full of useless trivia accumulated over nearly half a century of constant reading magazines ,books,brochures and now the net. Not to mention a lifetime buying,driving,breaking ,repairing(bodging) selling and crashing hundreds of vehicles.

I'm actually quite excited by this new discovery and am looking forward to new revelations.

So what car based trivia passed you by until late in life?

[overrun]

YOU ARE NOT ALONE I never knew, either.

[320touring]

In that vein,

 

the original e30 touring (as built by a coachbuilder onto 2dr shells) was fitted with a mk1 golf hatchback

[Junkman]

I did not know until very recently (I will turn 50 this year) that there was only one car ever in automotive history, of which over one million units were sold in one year. It is the 1965 Chevrolet Impala.

[Rusty Pelican]

Found out last year that the wheelbase on  Renault 16s is different on each side , no point in sticking the rear wheels on a brake tester for the MOT as all hell will break loose 

turned 50 a week ago

[burraston2006]

Found out last year that the wheelbase on  Renault 16s is different on each side , no point in sticking the rear wheels on a brake tester for the MOT as all hell will break loose 

turned 50 a week ago

Didn't the Renault 5 mk1 have a different wheelbase on either side aswell?

[Asimo]

^^^ I think all of the Renaults with torsion-bar rear suspension did. R4,5,6,14. & 16. Possibly the 9 / 11 as well.

 

Edit: not the 9 / 11!

 

I didn't know there was a Pegaso J4 van until a picture was posted here a few days ago. And I was illegally driving a Austin J4 in 1973 so have always been J4 aware.

[Junkman]

Another car related fact I only learned after I moved to England, is that the traffic light is actually an English invention.

This may not be surprising for Brits in the know, but I always assumed the first traffic light of evah was installed on Alexanderplatz in Berlin in 1930.

However, it was predated by the real first one in Wolverhampton by three years, and it was actually modeled after the English example, thus manifesting the international convention of red-yellow-green, which in turn was originally patterned after nautical signage.

[eddyramrod]

I learn stuff about cars all the time, simply because I'm interested enough to read and remember.  That does mean I carry a terrifying amount of trivia in my head though.  I'll be 55 in a couple of weeks.  I've always been interested in cars.  You can imagine how much there is up there now!

[Junkman]

Found out last year that the wheelbase on  Renault 16s is different on each side , no point in sticking the rear wheels on a brake tester for the MOT as all hell will break loose 

turned 50 a week ago

 

This was pioneered with the Renault 4 and continued on the R16. Then it was applied to the R5, as burraston2006 quite correctly stated, and also to the R6.

The reason is that the transverse torsion bars for left and right are one in front of the other, 5 centimetres apart, but the trailing arms are equal length, in fact, they are identical and interchangeable left and right.

A probably initially unintended advantage is, that all the cars so equipped have a superb ride comfort on rutted roads, because the rear wheels kind of 'step' over the ruts, one after the other.

[Junkman]

Part of the standard equipment of the British Traffic Police is a teddy bear, to console children after a crash.

This fact was revealed to me only last week, when a quite severe crash happened practically in front of my house.

I didn't know that until then.

[dieselnutjob]

604 front doors are the same as 504 saloon (not sure about estate) but rear ones are different

[Junkman]

I always thought the Simca 1300/1500/1301/1501 Breaks are the only cars, where the boot floor doubles as a picnic table. However, this is not the case. The Honda CRV has this gimmick, too.

[sheffcortinacentre]

the rear bumpers on the Anglia van are same as escort aswell, there also same as mk1 escort frt 1/4 bumpers.

 

the mk2 escort van has a square frt bumper & round mk1 rears.

 

mk1 escorts used 4 different style frt wings,

 

std wing across range

wide arch lip  across range

4dr std wing,

4dr wide arch lip (4dr 1300E).

the 2 & 4dr saloon had different roofs & door window frames.

 

mk2 escort est /van only differed in outer wing/bonnet/frt panel & dash to the mk1.

the mk2 saloons had different wings to the est /van,rs2000 was different again.

 

the corsair had a slightly stretched Cortina mk1 bodyshell.the Farnham est conversions used parts from mk1 Cortina est.

 

the mk1 capri used a stretched mk2 Cortina floorpan.

 

the mk3 Cortina shape taunus est shell ( released in 1970) was the same from A post back until the last mk5 est of 1982.(with minor mods).

 

the mk1 &2 Granada est was also the same shell from start to finish (with minor mods).

 

Austin maxi/1800/2200 use the same doors

[Junkman]

The last car available with a cassette player was the Florida retirement home spec Ford Crown Victoria - in 2011.

It is not the equally giffer-targeted Lexus SC 430, which is usually claimed to have this virtue.

[Station]

Really?

 

Didn't it all start with Max Reisbock.

 

 

He may have used a Golf hatch, but he only built one car.

Which had 5 doors.

A chief engineer cut the back off his e30 and grafted another e30 tail onto the back and created what we know as a touring. I still have the official BMW magazine this was in.

[Junkman]

the mk1 &2 Granada est was also the same shell from start to finish (with minor mods).

They share the sheetmetal from the a-pillar back above the beltline.

[Station]

The Mitsubishi 4G63 engine that came in Lancer 2000 turbos and Starions was a carburettor with two injectors plopped on top in a new housing. It was crude and usually ran like crap.

 

The 2.0 litre 4G63 engine was still used in Lancer Evolutions until very recently.

[320touring]

Really?

 

Didn't it all start with Max Reisbock.

 

 

He may have used a Golf hatch, but he only built one car.

Which had 5 doors.

 

He certainly designed and built one, but the ones I'm referring to are like this

 

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?911067-quot-2-Door-Touring-quot-M52-Turbo-e30-Hatch-Project/page3

 

very odd.

[Junkman]

When it comes to long running sheetmetal, compare the door of this:
 

 

With the door of this:

 

[dangerousdave]

the range rover classic was still available as a 2 door in export markets right until the end of production

[carlo]

Lancia Fulvia Zagatos used rear lamps from the Peugeot 204

[UmBongo]

Part of the standard equipment of the British Traffic Police is a teddy bear, to console children after a crash.

This fact was revealed to me only last week, when a quite severe crash happened practically in front of my house.

I didn't know that until then.

 

I heard that they also carry a large bottle of fizzy pop to help wash away blood stains on the road.

Not sure if this is apocryphal or not.

[gtd2000]

 

 

 

 

I see scores of these every day here in Saudi...

[Junkman]

Although only in the sales catalogue from 1958 to 1982, the last batch was actually built in 1995, to fill an order from Saudi.

Which means that essentially the same door stamping was used from 1930 to 1995.

[red5]

The Mitsubishi 4G63 engine that came in Lancer 2000 turbos and Starions was a carburettor with two injectors plopped on top in a new housing. It was crude and usually ran like crap.

 

The 2.0 litre 4G63 engine was still used in Lancer Evolutions until very recently.

 

 

Sort of.  Fairly advanced in it's day and imho more reliable then anything else available at that time.

 

No recollection of them running like crap unless the vac pipe to boost/overfuel controller was perished.

 

Ahhh, the days of Astron engines et al.....

[Junkman]

Astron engines? It seems I'm the only one who doesn't know what those are.

[tooSavvy]

OMG SCENETAX...no?

 

Hillman IMP sidelight/indicators are the same as Mk1 Escorts. Does this mean they are N.O.S. £25 to Impers, but £1600 to Ovalsceners??

 

 

TS

[Junkman]

The classic Range Rover has the same interior courtesy light (later models actually two of them) as the Rover P6.

The clear lens in the P6es often deteriorates over time. A NOS original one is usually 30 quid, a new Ranger Rover one costs only a tenner.

[Junkman]

The front Ball joints of the Lamborghini Espada are the same as the ones used in the Sunbeam Alpine.

Lamborghini charges 400 Euros a piece, Sunbeam ones can be bought for 13 quid.