Six Cylinders Motoring Notes

[wuvvum]

Also, being pedantic, a Mk2 Fiesta couldn't have 180K on the clock as they only have 5-digit odometers.

[beko1987]

Uno? 

[SiC]

29 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Also, being pedantic, a Mk2 Fiesta couldn't have 180K on the clock as they only have 5-digit odometers.

This actually rules out most British vehicles of that age surely too?

Iirc Volvo made it a bit thing about having an extra digit around that sort of time-ish. So I'm saying big Volvo estate (740?). Also because the previous owner sounds like they liked the estates with the Traveller. 

[Six-cylinder]

3 hours ago, TheDoctor said:

I'm going to guess Austin Maestro with a 1275 A series and a previous masochistic owner! 

As far as I can see this is the only way you knew.

Your crystal ball is working great so what is my next car going to be!

[Mrs6C]

3 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

As far as I can see this is the only way you knew.

Your crystal ball is working great so what is my next car going to be!

You don't need a crystal ball if you have access to a TARDIS!

[LightBulbFun]

35 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

You don't need a crystal ball if you have access to a TARDIS!

ahhh that would explain where this lot of 200 8ft 125W Bayonet capped fluorescent tubes that im currently having a crisis over came from then?

 

could of dropped em off closer to London mind! but I know how temperamental the TARDIS can be! ah well I foresee a hired van and a trip down to Cornwall in about 6 months time to grab some for myself  

 

 

 

for those unaware the 8ft bayonet capped fluorescent tube was/is literally the stuff of legends among British lighting enthusiasts , apart from 1, no one had every actually seen one or even seen picture of one, we only knew of their existence via old catalogs and literature 

and then suddenly somewhere between 200 and 870 of the things show up! they have happily been saved by a couple collectors and will hopefully be distributed among the lighting community in time  

 

the very first fluorescent tube put to the commercial market in the UK was a 5ft 80W bayonet capped tube, made so as WW2 had just broken out and they needed to minimise the amount of new components they had to make for the new fluorescent tube, so designed the tube to run off an existing 80W Mercury vapour lamp ballast, and used regular bayonet end caps from the incandescent lamp production line, so the 5ft 80W bayonet capped tube was born, 5ft 80W Bayonet capped tubes are  quite rare on their own, (I have only just recently only managed to get my name reserved on a GLS end capped example with another collector ) but as they where used MASSIVELY during the war, so much so that the last 5ft BC tube was produced in 1992! the odd one does crop up here and there, shown pictured is a 1956 example with GLS end caps 

later Bayonet capped tubes, used regular fluorescent tubing, with a flanged end cap to meet the diameter of the glass rather then have the glass neck down to meet the GLS end cap, the older GLS end capped tubes are the most sought after type

a little bit later in the 1940's a 125W 8ft version complete with Bayonet end caps still was introduced to run off the next size up of already available lamp ballast, the 125W mercury vapour ballast

but the 8ft tube was not nearly as popular, and the 8ft tube size only got popular after the war when they where finally able to switch to the original  Bi Pin end caps the fluorescent tube was invented with in the US, with the last 8ft BC tubes rolling off the production line in the late 1960s, and like I said was so rare that until now only 1 has ever been found and photographed!

[Six-cylinder]

Thanks to Slowsilver for turning out on a very wet miserable day. The wet weather prevented lots of pictures and standing about admiring it.

The car started with a jump and we added some petrol, while I did the paperwork Slowsilver gave it a good look over and declared while it had been stood for 10 months everything worked except one fog light so I drove it home.

 

[DoctorRetro]

34 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

As far as I can see this is the only way you knew.

Your crystal ball is working great so what is my next car going to be!

I just looked back through my own car history and I only had two red 'F' reg cars, a Metro and. Maestro. I figured nobody would do 180k in a Metro. That is precisely the sum total of thought that went into it!

 

I wish I had a real TARDIS!

...

Or do I, and the chameleon circuit is now working? It might explain the constant car changing.... 

[LightBulbFun]

7 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

Thanks to Slowsilver for turning out on a very wet miserable day. The wet weather prevented lots of pictures and standing about admiring it.

The car started with a jump and we added some petrol, while I did the paperwork Slowsilver gave it a good look over and declares while it had been stood for 10 months everything worked except on fog light so I drove it home.

 

ohh yeah more 1980's and A series powered British Leyland chod 

I approve  (and hope to get a chance to drive it some day! really quite curious to experience the mighty A series )

[Six-cylinder]

What’s Broken

• The rain makes the paint look shiny when it is a bit flat.
• The rear wheel arches have been home repaired with filler and an aerosol paint.
• The dash is badly cracked.
• I have not been brave enough to look under the seat covers.
• One of the rear fog lights is not working
• The fuel gauge and temp gauge are not working
• The choke is set wrong and over revs on full choke then does not adjust nicely as you push it in.
• I guess the worst bit is a vagueness to the steering and a different feel cornering left to right. Also the steering wheel is lop sided.

 

Thing is Slowsilver had to have a look at the non-working fog light in case it only had one anyway. Turns out to be a poor connection in the bulb holder. Flushed with success he decided to tackle the fuel/temp gauges not working and because it is both is thinking voltage stabiliser so is taking the dash apart sat in the car in the rain!

[Eyersey1234]

30 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

Thanks to Slowsilver for turning out on a very wet miserable day. The wet weather prevented lots of pictures and standing about admiring it.

The car started with a jump and we added some petrol, while I did the paperwork Slowsilver gave it a good look over and declared while it had been stood for 10 months everything worked except one fog light so I drove it home.

 

Chodtastic Maestro you have @Six-cylinder

[brownnova]

Winnar!!!!!

I’d love a Maestro!!!

[dollywobbler]

Excellent. City X is fairly miserable spec, but at least gets you a rear wiper denied to the City.

[HMC]

City X- excuse me whilst I have a crisis.

[HMC]

@Six-cylinder any names planned? I remember you called the white 220sli captain mainwaring- or was that @Mrs6C ‘s doing?

[hairnet]

All the insania has gone for a holiday to buckinghamshire

[Andyrew]

That is indeed Gert lush

[Mr Pastry]

1 hour ago, LightBulbFun said:

the very first fluorescent tube put to the commercial market in the UK was a 5ft 80W bayonet capped tube, made so as WW2 had just broken out and they needed to minimise the amount of new components they had to make for the new fluorescent tube, so designed the tube to run off an existing 80W Mercury vapour lamp ballast, and used regular bayonet end caps from the incandescent lamp production line, so the 5ft 80W bayonet capped tube was born, 5ft 80W Bayonet capped tubes are  quite rare on their own, (I have only just recently only managed to get my name reserved on a GLS

We actually had one of these things in the living room in my childhood home, just hanging on two bayonet sockets.  It looked a bit naff, really, even for the 1950s when nobody had any money.  The PO was (supposedly) an electrical engineer and got all sorts of odd things like that from work.  IIRC the ballast/starter was a hefty tin box about 6 x 6 x 6 inches, which was under the floorboards of the room above.      

 

 

[Fumbler]

1 hour ago, brownnova said:

Winnar!!!!!

I’d love a Maestro!!!

As would I. Suspiciously cheap insurance too...

 

Seriously, well bought @Six-cylinder. Looks well lush.

[LightBulbFun]

17 minutes ago, Mr Pastry said:

We actually had one of these things in the living room in my childhood home, just hanging on two bayonet sockets.  It looked a bit naff, really, even for the 1950s when nobody had any money.  The PO was (supposedly) an electrical engineer and got all sorts of odd things like that from work.  IIRC the ballast/starter was a hefty tin box about 6 x 6 x 6 inches, which was under the floorboards of the room above.      

in the living room? now thats ahead of its time a little  if he used a warm white or deluxe warm white tube it probably would have worked quite well tho, sounds like the sort of thing id do myself today if I had my own house LOL

 

but indeed a lot early installations where quite simple like that, or a simple trough reflector with the control gear bolted to the top

I actually have such a ballast box with @Zelandeth that @bobdisk very kindly gave to me during one of the FoD gatherings a few months ago

(although @bobdisk's "installation" had been converted to use a bipin tube at some point in the 1970's or 1980's going by the lamp holders he gave me with the ballast box, although you could buy/get Bayonet cap to bi-pin adapters to use a Bipin tube in a Bayonet capped fixture )

[Mr Pastry]

2 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

in the living room? now thats ahead of its time a little  if he used a warm white or deluxe warm white tube it probably would have worked quite well tho

It worked OK, but even as a small child I wasn't convinced that this was the domestic lighting of the future!

[Slowsilver]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

What’s Broken

• The rain makes the paint look shiny when it is a bit flat.
• The rear wheel arches have been home repaired with filler and an aerosol paint.
• The dash is badly cracked.
• I have not been brave enough to look under the seat covers.
• One of the rear fog lights is not working
• The fuel gauge and temp gauge are not working
• The choke is set wrong and over revs on full choke then does not adjust nicely as you push it in.
• I guess the worst bit is a vagueness to the steering and a different feel cornering left to right. Also the steering wheel is lop sided.

 

Thing is Slowsilver had to have a look at the non-working fog light in case it only had one anyway. Turns out to be a poor connection in the bulb holder. Flushed with success he decided to tackle the fuel/temp gauges not working and because it is both is thinking voltage stabiliser so is taking the dash apart sat in the car in the rain!

I did take a quick peek under the driver's seat cover at a couple of areas of the seat, including the right-hand side squab bolster which is usually the area that wears through first, and they didn't look too bad. Will be interesting to take them off if it ever stops raining. I think this is very much not only a one owner but also a one occupier car. The top hinge on the driver's door is quite badly worn, causing the door to drop and it needs a good slam to shut it. But the other three doors are still tight and I suspect the back seats have hardly, if ever, been sat on. It came with a HBOL which unfortunately only covered models up to 1987. This contained three different dashboard variants, none of which bore any resemblance to the one in this car. After much effing and blinding I worked out how to actually get it out and looked for the instrument voltage regulator but it doesn't appear to have one. Did find a 63 ohm resistor, which measured just that, and three diodes, one of which read about 0.8v in one direction and open-circuit in the other. which seems about right, and two which read about 30mV in either direction, which doesn't. At this point I lost interest and nailed it all back together again. More research required I think, but like the prat that I am, I completely forgot to take any photos of the back of the instrument panel while it was out, so I will have to rely on my memory, which is shaky at the best of times. Still at least it now has all its lights working and a (hopefully) charged battery. Small victories Godber.
P.S. What kind of person voluntarily spends 2 hours in the cold and the pouring rain sitting in an old Maestro swearing at the dashboard? Answers on a postcard please.
 

[beko1987]

I'd love a maestro... Car from my childhood and the seem to survive OK... 

Would love to have a go one day! A classic that I can drive and afford to fix if it broke under my steer! (that puts me off trying alot of chod at our various forum meet ups...)

[hairnet]

my old one

no idea where this pic was likely prev owner

mg.webp

[Six-cylinder]

14 minutes ago, hairnet said:

my old one

no idea where this pic was likely prev owner

mg.webp 124.54 kB · 6 downloads

I can't open it?

[bobdisk]

1 minute ago, Six-cylinder said:

I can't open it?

Neither can I.  Computer says "No Application Found"

[LightBulbFun]

21 minutes ago, hairnet said:

my old one

no idea where this pic was likely prev owner

FTFY  

[Mrs6C]

It is an HTML document. Click on the link once and select your preferred web browser from the list of applications to open it. It's a nice shiny black MG Maestro!

[Mrs6C]

24 minutes ago, hairnet said:

my old one

Nice!!!

[LightBulbFun]

3 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

It is an HTML document. Click on the link once and select your preferred web browser from the list of applications to open it. It's a nice shiny black MG Maestro!

sort of  its actually google specific image format made for the internet

so I knew it would open in google chrome (my primary web browser of choice) then copy and pasted it back into the forum as a .jpg which is much more universally compatible  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebP