Automotive bull5hit facts thread

[DavidB]

Some eerie celebrity facts.

1. Freddy Mercury died while being driven by his parents to a Queen gig in a Mercury Cougar. Cause of death? Mercury poisoning from his well documented love of tuna.
2. Tupac Shakur died from cyanide poisoning, due to his love of repairing the bullet holes in his automobile with Two Pack paint, which contained poisonous isocyanites. Tupac was too gangster to wear a mask.

[Parky]

Citroen, UAZ, Nissan, and Toyota cancelled their collaborative small saloon programme because they couldn’t decide on whether to call it CNTU or CTNU.  They ended up selling the plans to VAG

[JeeExEll]

In 1978, 29 Rover SD1s were inadvertently built with both right-hand-drive and left-hand-drive.  These cars somehow found their way out to the UK Rover dealers and were sold off before salesmen realised there had been errors at Solihull.

Rover tried to recall the cars for modification (customers were given the option of retaining either rhd or lhd) but most customers declined as the cars were ideal for trips abroad. 

[DavidB]

Designers of the SD1's steering wheel were inspired by a Spam sandwich

 

K-Series in Latin, (Keseres) translates as 'one who is fond of water, and readily partakes in the consumption of'

[anonymous user]

The Alvis Stalwart was originally intended to be called the Alvis Stardust, unfortunately it was felt to be too similar to the new stage name of a pop singer so it was renamed.

Strangely one was supplied to a music artist in Nashville who had it sent to be trimmed by Cadillac, intending to use it at promotional events. Unfortunately it proved to be not suitable for extended road use and the eventual fate of the Elvis Stalwart is still unknown 

[ProgRocker]

I have a feeling that this has already been done but I'll roll with it...

The US band Smashing Pumpkins' epic track "Mayonaise" from their 1993 album Siamese Dream was actually Billy Corgan's tribute to the Rover R8 fitted with K series engines.

[DavidB]

On 16/02/2021 at 14:21, vulgalour said:

This does a lot to debunk the other reason given that Ital is two letters shorter than Marina so BL could save on the cost of letters, especially when you consider that about the same time they bumped Princess up by two letters to Ambassador.  Nice to get some real facts on these things.

Ital in Latin translates as ‘I give up’

[cobblers]

hanging england flags out of the back of your car is an "inside signal" of solidarity between people who are fraudulently claiming a motability vehicle, a bit like tampas grass for swingers etc

[FakeConcern]

On 6/11/2021 at 4:48 PM, anonymous user said:

The Alvis Stalwart was originally intended to be called the Alvis Stardust, unfortunately it was felt to be too similar to the new stage name of a pop singer so it was renamed.

Strangely one was supplied to a music artist in Nashville who had it sent to be trimmed by Cadillac, intending to use it at promotional events. Unfortunately it proved to be not suitable for extended road use and the eventual fate of the Elvis Stalwart is still unknown 

Morrisey bought it in an Elvis memorabilia sale and even gave it a name check in one of the Smiths songs...

"a stalwart lover for sure
These are the riches of the poor "

 

[Noel Tidybeard]

after a christmas party at the rover social club plans were drawn up for a sd1 based road sweeper but the v8 was too thirsty & the vm diesel was considered too slow and noisy when compared to the johnston ford d series avaiable at the time when offered to solihull borough council

[Parky]

On 6/11/2021 at 6:38 PM, JeeExEll said:

In 1978, 29 Rover SD1s were inadvertently built with both right-hand-drive and left-hand-drive.  These cars somehow found their way out to the UK Rover dealers and were sold off before salesmen realised there had been errors at Solihull.

Rover tried to recall the cars for modification (customers were given the option of retaining either rhd or lhd) but most customers declined as the cars were ideal for trips abroad. 

The BSM picked a load of these up as it saved the cost of converting to dual control.  It was unsuccessful though as whilst it had two wheels they were independently connected to each front wheel so instructors and students needed to be pinpoint accurate.  Front tyre wear was a tremendous problem and led to the death of the Dunlop Denovo after BSM bought all of them

[Parky]

Prince Philip was one of the in house design team at Land Rover.  As well as his hearse he almost had three other designs put into production.  All were originally rejected but he overcame objections by the use of his famous witticism “Dont you know who I am?  I could have you killed!”

Luckily some discreet calls to his wife managed to sort it out.  Otherwise we would have had these, the Land Rover Tally-Ho, the Typhoon, and the EmpireBus which actually would have made a damn good vehicle for Jurassic Park if it was based in  1950’s Sussex.  It still would have had Richard Attenborough in it except this time he would have been Jeff Goldblum.

 

[Parky]

Morris had one of the least successful ad campaigns when the Minor was launched.  The original slogan “You just get More” was misinterpreted on several occasions when buyers, expecting a new Traveller, instead had the actor Kenneth More dropped off at their house.

Whilst pleasant enough he didn’t have wood trim or make a farty sound changing into second.

Kenneth More.  Single handedly sank the Bismarck and ended up wandering around suburban gardens while men called Gerald made angry telephone calls to their BMC dealer.

[Parky]

Tiny Football Car is actually a 1:24 scale model of an actual VW commissioned by Frank Beckenbauer who likes to carry a massive football around with him.  Der Kaiser Mobile is a popular sight around Cologne where he doesn’t live but just enjoys driving around.  He learnt how to keep the ball coming off following many training sessions with Jackie Stewart.

This wasn’t the first time a small car was used at a match.  The 1974 finals saw the teams half time cigarettes delivered by remote control Tiny NSU RO80’s but the idea failed when their tiny Wankel engines all suffered rotor tip problems at the group stages.

[Mally]

7 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

after a christmas party at the rover social club plans were drawn up for a sd1 based road sweeper but the v8 was too thirsty & the vm diesel was considered too slow and noisy when compared to the johnston ford d series avaiable at the time when offered to solihull borough council

When I worked at Seddon Diesel, they did in fact build an experimental road sweeper like this.

Idea was LHD all day at work. RHD when knocking of and going back to the depot.

 

I shit you not, had pedals both sides and everything.

[Parky]

The MacRae Tartan is unusual in that it’s a plain blue colour with 555 written in yellow through the middle.  First seen at Bannockburn, it now adorns the MacRae family of Shortbread biscuits which are designed to be eaten at 5.30am in the middle of a Welsh forest.  They are renowned for being (A) delicious and (B) usually In a tin that’s bashed to fuck

 

[Dan the van]

27 minutes ago, Mally said:

When I worked at Seddon Diesel, they did in fact build an experimental road sweeper like this.

Idea was LHD all day at work. RHD when knocking of and going back to the depot.

 

I shit you not, had pedals both sides and everything.

As youngster in the seventies I remember  Elmbridge Borough Council used to have a Ford D series with just that setup.It used to do our housing estate.

[Mally]

21 minutes ago, Dan the van said:

As youngster in the seventies I remember  Elmbridge Borough Council used to have a Ford D series with just that setup.It used to do our housing estate.

I was 25 ish at the time so yes 1970 ish.

[Parky]

The QAnon conspiracy theory originally started life as an Internet forum for lovers of Duckhams oil who wished to keep their love of green multigrade secret

[Dobloseven]

1 hour ago, Mally said:

When I worked at Seddon Diesel, they did in fact build an experimental road sweeper like this.

Idea was LHD all day at work. RHD when knocking of and going back to the depot.

 

I shit you not, had pedals both sides and everything.

Often see modern versions in use. Think construction companies use them to keep roads clean around building sites. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

3 hours ago, Parky said:

The MacRae Tartan is unusual in that it’s a plain blue colour with 555 written in yellow through the middle.  First seen at Bannockburn, it now adorns the MacRae family of Shortbread biscuits which are designed to be eaten at 5.30am in the middle of a Welsh forest.  They are renowned for being (A) delicious and (B) usually In a tin that’s bashed to fuck

 

that sounds suspiciously true! 😁

[Parky]

Kimi Raikkonen is suspiciously monosyllabic in interviews to cover his real identity.  His real name is Jerry Robertson and he hails from Huddersfield.  He adopted the Finnish persona in order to attract more interest from rally and race teams.

The ice cream thing came from Jerry’s dad never letting him have ice cream as a kid.  As a result Jerry, along with childhood friend Ben Henderson (better known as Heikki Kovalainen) started their own ice cream business, Haagen Daz.

The name was chosen to piss off Dutch Racing driver Haagen Daz, who then had to change his name to Jos Verstappen

Jerry Robertson yesterday, enjoying an ice cream having stolen Jos Verstappens hat

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 15/07/2021 at 07:20, Dan the van said:

As youngster in the seventies I remember  Elmbridge Borough Council used to have a Ford D series with just that setup.It used to do our housing estate.

chain linked steering wheels!

[Leyland Worldmaster]

On 7/15/2021 at 6:50 AM, Mally said:

When I worked at Seddon Diesel, they did in fact build an experimental road sweeper like this.

Idea was LHD all day at work. RHD when knocking of and going back to the depot.

 

I shit you not, had pedals both sides and everything.

There was also a Leyland National built like this... 

Edited September 2, 2021 by Leyland Worldmaster
Unicorn added.

[Matty]

8 minutes ago, Leyland Worldmaster said:

There was also a Leyland National built like this... 

By mistake?

[Mally]

1 hour ago, Matty said:

By mistake?

We often fitted a RH box, which by mistake had a LH worm and wheel inside.

The guy on the line knew it was wrong when he fitted the drag link, but not his problem, and the line was moving, so on to the next.

When they towed it off the end of the line it crashed!

[tul66]

I'll just leave this one here..............................

The introduction of E10 petrol at UK forecourts could cut transport CO₂ emissions by 750,000 tonnes a year – the equivalent of taking 350,000 cars off the road, or all the cars in North Yorkshire.

[DavidB]

Temperature Gauge Road, Industrial Action Avenue, More Aerodynamic in Reverse Street, Phoenix Four C@nts Drive, Lord Sterling’s 150 Rover 800s Boulevard, K-seal terrace.

Some of the street names of the cheap, ramshackle,awful, shit, orange brick housing estate built on the old long bridge site are named in tribute to the car maker.

[Parky]

Derek Robinson was Smokey Robinson’s half brother.  Derek actually has a writing credit for “Being with you” which he originally wrote as a protest song in support of his fellow workers on the picket line.  Smokey wasn’t so keen on the original lyrics:

I dont care what they think about me and I don’t care what they say

I don’t care if they moan about walk outs as they’ll just beg us to stay

I don’t care if they start to vilify us, I don’t care what they do

i don’t care for bloody Mike Edwards or the Allegro 2, Allegro 2

 

 

[JimH]

Very few know that the Robinson brothers were related through their mother who was heir to the Robinson's Barley Water fortune. Historians of British Leyland in particular and the British trade union movement in general suggest that Derek's animosity towards managers stemmed from his failure to make the grade in the stressful world of weak fruit drinks. Those who have studied the Robinson archive discovered that Derek was responsible, against all advice from other family and board members, for bringing "Red Robbo Fruit Drink" to market. While Red Robbo was indeed deep red in colour it rather misguidedly tasted stongly of bananas and peaches which the UK market was clearly not ready for and it was an expensive failure. Derek was voted off the board and was forced to seek employment elsewhere.

He adopted the name as his own in order to taunt his more successful family members.