Automotive bull5hit facts thread

[Taff]

Inspired by an idea in IainL’s car show thread, I’ve got a few starters for ten.

 

Les Dennis the comedian’s grandfather set up and ran a firm that manufactured the first specific-to-role fire engines.

 

Mk1 Ford Escort was originally due to be called the Mk2 Anglia but this was changed as the Cologne region of Germany where all Mk1 Escorts were built was extensively bombed by Allied planes taking off from airfields in the East Anglia region.

 

Alec Issigonis, the designer of the Mini, the Minor & inventor of the Flymo, was also a professional Rugby League player until breaking his collarbone playing for Hull Kingston Rovers against Widnes in the 1931 Challenge Cup Final.

 

In your own time, carry on...

[John F]

The wooden chassis of the Morgan 4/4 was steeped in rum as a preservative.

 

Pre-production models of the Messerschmitt KR200 had a retractable undercarriage.

[bub2006]

This is what was said to me at a petrol station about my reliant robin.

No,it's definitely a Robin reliant, my grandfather had a Robin reliant Rialto too.

My dad for some reason says rover sdi instead of sd1. Also amazing to hear chavs saying shit like their 1.4 saxo,corsa,fiesta etc has raced a mitsubishi 3000,lancer,subaru etc and wine due to the k an n filter and decat pipe.

[purplebargeken]

Each UK Rover dealer would provide the new 75 owner with a personalised bag of Werthers Originals in a case made to match the leather interior.

[Louise2cv]

Eccentric Richard is set to be the new Stig on the new Top Gear, but due to his extensive experience and knowledge of automobiles he will also double as Chris Evan's female co-presenter.

[Bucketeer]

Princess Anne's doorhandles were a gift from a female tennis icon's race-liveried BL collection, or Martina's Martini Marina, and are more aerodynamic going backwards.

[DaveDorson]

my mate had one of them in the 1980's with a Porsche engine.  Just 4 bolts and they slip right in.  (VW beetle)

[320touring]

The Rover K series was specifically designed to boil its coolant so you could have a nice cuppa whilst waiting for that lovely AA man to come and sort out the latest non engine related breakdown.

 

All e30 318iS 2drs were galvanised* using the same technique as 1970s italian steel

[Taff]

“Citroën†translates into English as “insanityâ€Â

[I_am_Diesel]

All Vauxhalls are shit

[Skizzer]

The 1.8 litre engine in an MGB has so much torque that it's faster from 40-60 than a Porsche 911.

 

In the 1990s, all Albanian market E- and S-class Mercedes were fitted with a gunlocker in the boot as standard.

 

3-door Ford Sierras had a separate chassis, to make life easier for kit car makers and Cosworth.  You can remove the body after undoing four bolts and two spring clips.

 

The first Fast and Furious film was a documentary.  Vin Diesel was an underground drift champion in Kobe who, together with his V8-engined Hyundai Stellar with a welded diff, was discovered by Martin Scorsese in 1994.  His real name is Vinto Ushigama.

[Taff]

only two spanners are needed to dismantle a 1600cc Pinto engine, 13mm & 17mm.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Some Jaguar S-Types use the Transit platform and you can tell Southapton built ones because they're better built and hold their value.

 

The Rover 75 the e39 BMW and the first Binis have completely interchangeable suspension.

 

When the first Honda Legend was assembled at Cowley the quality was so much better than the Japanese could manage and the Japanese workers so horrified that 12 of them committed ritual suicide. In memory of this the term 'V-tec ' was coined ,as that is the type of sword traditionally used.

 

The Chrysler 300 was designed by David Bache as a replacement for the P5b, the drawings were discovered by John Towers after Baches death in 1994. He then sold the design to Chrysler before BMW could gain access to the design table drawer and pocketed some $1.3million. It is suspected he also received £37.25 from Jaguar for the Allegro VdP proposals which later became the X-Type.

[Felly Magic]

Cavcraft only sells cars that are vastly superior to anything from KGF, and all are guaranteed to win concours d'obergine at Beulieuueueueueueu

[lincolndanny]

All vauxhalls are great

[oldcars]

As you will know   Reliant is famous for its three wheelers. They started with the four wheeled Kitten and when there was a shortage of 10 inch steel rims they decided on making a three wheeler, called the Robin Reliant.

[Skizzer]

Prince Charles came third in the 1975 East Anglian autograss championship, driving a glass-less but otherwise standard Rover P6.

 

The Nissan Leaf is powered by four Panasonic washing machine motors, one in each hub.  (Actually this could be true for all I know.)

 

The plastic front outer wings of a Citroen AX are interchangeable left to right - you just press hard and they pop out the other way.

 

Lotus really built a working amphibious version of the Esprit, as seen in The Spy Who Loved Me.  They trialled it successfully on Hickling Broad in Norfolk in March 1978, but were forbidden from releasing it by the Army and MI6.

[inconsistant]

Alec Issigonis' German son designed the BMW Mini.

[Felly Magic]

Volkswagens are the most reliable cars in the world EVAH, and NEVAH break down. There is a diesel Golf out there that as done eleven billion miles on it's original engine don't ya know!

[NorfolkNWeigh]

All Rovers since 1967 have been designed around a V8 engine. The BMW M5 V8 was fitted to a small number of Rover 400's used by West Mercia Police as Q- cars on the A45 In 1997one of them showed up on Birmingham airports radar doing 192mph when it went airborne on a crest near Ryton whilst chasing an experimental Peugeot 106 M16 that was to have been the new Singer Chamois as part of the planned resurgence in traditional Rootes marques. Allegedly.

[dollywobbler]

The Citroen XM was the eventual replacement for the SM. It was originally conceived to accept the Maserati Biturbo engine and you can easily fit one of these engines to an XM in just half a day.

 

The fearsome performance of the Escort Mk5 was so dangerous that Ford was forced to fit rear spoilers to the entire range. 

 

The Hyundai Sonata uses the underpinnings of the Ford Granada, but using Kent engines cunningly disguised.

[Felly Magic]

Trigger's great-grandad invented the Horsey Horseless, which was capable in it's day of getting from Colchester to Chelmsford in under 2 days, a new world record at the time

[mercrocker]

Jensen Interceptors used left over rear screens from the original Barracuda. It was part of a deal with the V8 engines.

[fordperv]

The ford capri boot floor was designed keeping the thought in mind that you would need to put council slabs in the boot to get traction in rain and snow.

 

The ford sierra was designed as a tool to get people to buy more jelly, jelly sales dropped towards the late 1970s so rowntrees put their heads together with ford bosses to create a car shaped to encourage people to buy jelly with subliminal messages. With every car bought you would receive a jelly mould which was shaped like a ford sierra, hence it's nickname

[Taff]

James Hunt was the lead tech advisor on the Allegro. The quadrant wheel was his idea.

[alf892]

On most pre 1980 4 cylinder cars if you swap the plug leads from 1,3,4,2 to 1,2,4,3 it increases the power output by about 30% as well as increasing fuel consumption.

[lincolndanny]

Princess Anne has never owned a Scimitar, she's actually obsessed with Dutton Sierras.

[alf892]

Most cars that look green in the UK are actually blue or yellow when viewed in other countries. This is due to a continuing haze in the upper atmosphere caused by Russian weapons tests conducted in the 1950s above Cleethorpes

[alf892]

The rear screen from a 50s Vauxhall Cresta will fit the front of a 57 Chevy

[Taff]

The Volvo B21 "redblock" engine was designed with funding from the Swedish military and will run backwards if timed correctly