Automotive bull5hit facts thread

[rml2345]

They also see use on access flaps for Rick Astley.

[JeeExEll]

British Leyland Sandglow paint contains real sand which has been dug up from Birmingham beach and washed clean.

[purplebargeken]

The Mini Moke was named by its original designer, a UK born 'Ten Pound Pom' named Mr. Alan Kelly, who accidentally heard the aboriginal word for 'short, ugly and pointless' - which translated as 'moake'. The name stuck but the spelling was subtly altered to make it easier to pronounce.

[burraston2006]

The vinyl that adorns roof of the RR Silver Spur is really leather. A RR customer survey discovered that 14 animals dying for the interior wasn't felt to be enough. As they had already covered the interior in wood and leather the outside was the only place left for it to go.

[Guest Burger1]

Some really good bullshit here..

[purplebargeken]

^^ What do you mean? It's all absolutely* true.

[Tamworthbay]

Some really good bullshit here..

You are mistaking us for the Bentley factory where bullshit is used to get the smooth finish on the steering wheel. They used to use any old cow shit until they found the high levels of oestrogen was causing unwanted side effects in some customers.

[burraston2006]

British Leyland Sandglow paint contains real sand which has been dug up from Birmingham beach and washed clean.

Also British Leyland Russet Brown is made from the mud of the river Severn harvested at low tide every 3rd Wednesday of the month. Due to constant industrial action they did not have time to process the salt content out- hence the corrosion issues.

[fred]

If a manufacturer called a red shade EG- Glowing ember . it would not suffer Pogweasling 

[Sloth in a bowl]

He-Man was the first hybrid electric cartoon character, normally he was powered by a couple of 30kw motors but via voice activation 'By the power of Greyskull' then a big block chevy kicked in and it all went a bit nuts.

 

Skeletor was powered by a 4.2 litre Rover V8, he sounded good and had a lump of talk but always failed before the journey's end.

 

 

The series was cancelled when Ram Man's air bag warning light came on and Battle Cat chased the flashing reflection into a vat of battery acid.

[Sloth in a bowl]

Shakin Stevens started his automotive career as the Pave section tester at MIRA

[Parky]

Volvo found themselves struggling in 1978 and made a loss that year. Faced with ongoing difficulties, the Swedish Government brokered a deal with Abba whereby taxes on Abba records were funnelled into the Volvo Cars division in order to keep them going.

 

The 700 series cars were basically financed entirely off the back of revenue from "Voulez Vous" and the 480 Coupe from the sales of "Thank you for the Music".

 

The tradition continues today with the S80 being paid for by The Cardigans and the Polestar model costs covered by the Swedish House Mafia.

[Pillock]

The Rover SD1 can be converted from right to left hand drive by swapping the instrument binnacle to the left side, and moving the steering column to the gap filled by the passenger air vent. This can be done at up to 35mph, although due to cost cutting at British Leyland the pedal box can't be moved so the driver must remain on friendly terms with the passenger who will be operating the throttle and brake.

[Felly Magic]

Spen King's 'hair' was actually made from fibreglass, and was designed by Harris Mann, and made by Derek Robinson when he wasn't on strike

[Parky]

David Bache's house had a scollop line around the middle of it. He also incorporated one in his bath to indicate the optimum water level

[Pillock]

Chris Bangle was registered blind after a pipe cleaner accident when he was six.

 

His car designs were penned with the aid of a guide dog, trained to bark if he'd drawn something awful.

[Pillock]

Chris Bangle's guide dog died in 1997. Tragically nobody noticed for 12 years.

[quicksilver]

All Austin Maxis were fitted with towbars as standard by the factory. The few examples in existence not so equipped had them removed by the dealer as an extra-cost delete option.

[LC Torana]

^ Every day's a school day.  I though the quad-headlight model was the E6-powered version.

 

But weren't the suicide rear doors only on the estate version?

 

(actually, that mockup you've done looks seriously lush.  I have strong wantage for a car that doesn't exist)

[Tamworthbay]

Hamilton is good at getting off the line.

[Parky]

Some estate models didn't have any side doors at all for safety. Fortunately they were fitted with a generously sized rear hatch.

A Maxi Estate Safety-First 1750 HLS pictured tomorrow morning alongside it's flat-four engined brother. Many of the earlier Safety-Firsts were recalled due to the then-new-fangled electric window motors burning out. BL had to deal with thousands of irate customers whose children played with the buttons on the school-run. The windows would then stick in the down position, often in the pissing rain.

And the black versions, favoured by discount funeral directors, were renowned for the poor quality of the gearchange

[Pillock]

The highway code recommends that if you have a headlight out, to put your fog lamps on and attempt to repair it once you fail your next MOT.

[Justin Case]

It is pleasing to see that the picture of the estate is genuine and not a Photoshop job. The fact that clinches it is the LHD headlight set-up on an RHD model, which occured on an early batch and meant that they had to be returned to the factory to be converted to LHD before they could be sold.

[vulgalour]

Ah, well, you see, that particular model was renowned for having only two headlights (far left and second from the left) while the others were actually Tupperware soup bowls with special Chromex tint for keeping soup warm and clear lids to see what soup it was.  An innovation that was superceded by the more practical picnic tables and folding Krystall champagne flutes that stowed in the glove compartment.

[Parky]

Didn't the estate model borrow rear lights from BMW which BL fitted with the use of 4" cake tins bought en masse from the Crofton Hackett Woolworths?

[Noel Tidybeard]

the Rover p6 now belongatrigger is actually an advanced prototype used by BMW to check the viability of badging a car differently from its actual engine size- it took a very long time to become acceptable to the public

[Justin Case]

the Rover p6 now belongatrigger is actually an advanced prototype used by BMW to check the viability of badging a car differently from its actual engine size- it took a very long time to become acceptable to the public

This badging has been carried to its logical end by Mercedes. Now all Mercedes have exactly the same engine, the badging merely reflecting the state of tune.

[Felly Magic]

If you went to buy an Austin Maxi diesel, and didn't own a 1960's caravan, you were taken round the back of the dealer, and shot

[LC Torana]

Geez I love that quad-headlight Maxi

[DodgeRover]

The original prototype diesel maxi featured all aluminium twin rotary two stroke diesel, it was BLs first compound charged Diesel engine, universally admired as being seemlessly smooth and incredibly efficient on diesel it produced over 200ftlbs torque from as little as 1500 rpm.

Photos exist of the prototype out road testing pulling a twin axle fully loaded Vickers caravan over Shap Fell. The prototype featured and additional tow bar on the front bumper for when traction problems arose.

Sadly the incredible power and efficiency were the downfall of the project after it left several directors red faced (and slightly sooty) when leaving their preferred V8 luxury prototype - the MaxiCosy several hundred yards behind in the traffic light Grand Prix.

Upon there return to headquarters they decreeded all future diesels must be based on conventional technology, should be made by Perkins and must have an idle diesel clatter of no less than 95db for them to be considered suitable.

 

The three prototypes were all scrapped, indeed these were the words of the last man to drive one "they simply wanted them gone, destroyed forever, I drive each one into the crusher then had to wait until they were spat out as so many star washers, it was heartbreaking for all those involved in the project, I tried and tried to buy at least one to tow my caravan with but there was no reasoning with them."