Automotive bull5hit facts thread

[martc]

20 hours ago, Motown said:

Crab sticks dont actually contain any crab and from 1993 manufacturers have been legally obliged to label them 'Crab Flavoured Sticks'

Crab sticks are a lucky spin-out from the research carried out by BMC, in the '60's, on bio-degradable underseal for their new range of 1800 saloons. BMC used fish parts from the Longbridge canteen swill bins.

Jaguar and Panther were partners in the research but found their cars turning themselves inside out looking for where the smell of fishy goodness was coming from.

[Blunderguts]

[MiniMinorMk3]

Scratchwood services name was changed to London Gateway by Dictator Khan. He intends to put a toll gate on the motorway and charge £20 to get into London. Luckily it will be free to leave.

[Blunderguts]

British Leyland cars were equipped with a sound system that constantly played the Rice Krispies noise. This, now rare, fitment was used to hide the noise of the car going rusty.

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 09/12/2022 at 15:02, Blunderguts said:

British Leyland cars were equipped with a sound system that constantly played the Rice Krispies noise. This, now rare, fitment was used to hide the noise of the car going rusty.

this was actually a Lucas Audio unit and was available for all 70's cars but Frod were on strike so often not many Tinacorners got fitted with one 😁

[Dobloseven]

80sTV comedy"The Gaffer", was originally going to be a factual programme, called"The Giffer". Each week Bill Maynard would aquire an old car and improve it bodily and mechanically, hoping to increase its value. At a late stage TV executives decided no one would actually ever watch such a show and hastily rewrote it into a sitcom where Bill definitely didn't look after his car. 40 years later modern TV execs decided it wasn't such a daft idea after all....... 

[Dobloseven]

On April 1st 2023 filming will start on a new TV period police drama set in the early seventies . Invacop. In it Harry Styles plays a policeman left for dead by some bad guys when a stake out goes badly wrong. Miraculously he survives, but is left severely disabled. Determined to carry on crimefighting, he is given an AC Invacar(sic) modified by the police workshops with a Shorrocks supercharger and SU HS 4 carburettor. Props buyers will start searching for suitable cars in the new year. Which will be difficult as racing driver Graham Hill crushed them all after he tipped one over whilst competing in the British Grand Prix. However there's an elusive fellow on the internet who apparently  knows where there are some. They're hoping to buy about twenty as some will be destroyed in car chases, being blown up, jumping over humpback bridges and crashing into market stalls. 

[High Jetter]

Re-imagining of Ironside?

[Dobloseven]

13 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Re-imagining of Ironside?

Was thinking more of Ashes to Ashes. "Fire up the Model 70!"

[MiniMinorMk3]

That's only going in one direction, straight to DVD.

[warren t claim]

On 12/6/2022 at 12:44 PM, martc said:

Crab sticks are a lucky spin-out from the research carried out by BMC, in the '60's, on bio-degradable underseal for their new range of 1800 saloons. BMC used fish parts from the Longbridge canteen swill bins.

Jaguar and Panther were partners in the research but found their cars turning themselves inside out looking for where the smell of fishy goodness was coming from.

Scotch eggs contain very little scotch.

[Matty]

Just now, warren t claim said:

Scotch eggs contain very little scotch.

I've found that with scotch tape as well. Proper disappointing

[High Jetter]

Just now, Matty said:

I've found that with scotch tape as well. Proper disappointing

Yer not supposed to lick it!

[ProgRocker]

Strike the pose!

Contrary to popular opinion, Madonna's 1990 hit single Vogue wasn't about the magazine but in fact a tribute to the Rootes Group Singer Vogue.

A ropey example of a Singer Vogue was owned by an office assistant at a London based music studio, who was told to go and pick Madonna up from Heathrow Airport in 1989. She was so smitten with the car that wrote a song about it and the rest is history. 

[motorpunk]

On 05/12/2022 at 15:35, Motown said:

Crab sticks dont actually contain any crab and from 1993 manufacturers have been legally obliged to label them 'Crab Flavoured Sticks'

This didn't get the recognition it deserves. 😁

Terry's Chocolate Oranges are available at Rawlinsons.

[motorpunk]

The Bond flick, Goldeneye, was famous for being infested with product-placement BMWs. Studio managers wanted to delay the launch of the film so that they may include a love scene featuring Pierce Brosnan's Bond pleasuring himself over the saddle of BMW C1 moped that Xenia Onatopp had ridden.

[62 Austin]

The worst atttempt to put out a frying pan fire occurred in England when the cook threw it in haste out the kitchen window. As luck would have it, the flaming skillet landed in the XKE parked just outside, top down, of course. When the fire brigade arrived, the Jaguar, its petrol tank, and the house were all "completely involved" as the fire chief said.

The Incomplete Book of Failures, or some such name, about 1979

[sierraman]

The 1988 hit ‘Keeping the Dream Alive’ by Freiheit was actually sung by Paul McCartney. Unable to appear on the TOTP due to his Allegro rear window popping out in a sleeping policeman he collared some unlikely looking German lads to go on and synch for him. 

[DavidB]

Released in 1985 during the original run of the Transformers 'generation 1', 'Steamer' was based on an MGF car which transformed into a kettle.

Armed with a gun that fired high temperature OAT (green or pink) against rival Decepticons, and a steamcloud that provided cover for his fellow Autobots in battle, his position as stated on his 'tech specs' was 'Hard Shoulder Surveillance.'

[Parky]

Mitsubishi became best known for their Zero fighter aircraft from such events as Midway and Pearl Harbour.  Many lessons were taken from it when vehicle production commenced after WW2 which is why the initial Galant model was equipped with folding wings and a radial engine.

Autocar and Motor tested one against a Beetle where the two were evenly matched in tests with the Galant just shading it on account of its superior deck launching capabilities

[Parky]

Gran Turismo began life as a board game manufactured by Waddingtons in the 1950's.  

During the game you started with an Austin 7 and gradually made money to upgrade to an Austin A30 on your way to a Daimler Dart.  

Circuits included Wolverhampton By-Pass, the A12 between Wickford and Gallows Corner and Sutton High Street.  In the spirit of the original game, GT1 has a cheat mode where you can take a Mitsubishi GTO through Sutton in 1955 

[motorpunk]

The Austin Landcrab was to be the first in a series of BL Road/Crustacean themed cars which would have seen the Wolseley CulDeSacPrawn put into production, but plans were thwarted by an unusually high tide at Longbridge. 

[MiniMinorMk3]

In a continuation of their porn mag themed cars, the Sierra was to be called the Ford Mayfair, but BL sneaked the name onto posh versions of their cars, thus stopping the Ford Porn Series dead in its tracks.

[martc]

57 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

In a continuation of their porn mag themed cars, the Sierra was to be called the Ford Mayfair, but BL sneaked the name onto posh versions of their cars, thus stopping the Ford Porn Series dead in its tracks.

Shirley the Ford Kuga continues the series?

Sportier Fords use the 'Mustang Induction Limiting Flap' to try and reduce involuntary emissions.

VW's similar 'Golf Induktion Limitzung Flappe' system fell foul of the copyright lawyers and was to be renamed 'Passat Induktion Syztem Flappe' until someone at the factory told the naming department to get a grip.

Meanwhile, in China, Great Walls' 'Golden Shower' range of SUV's were quickly renamed after a very brief internet search....

 

[alcyonecorporation]

The Renault Espace invented Harold Shipman.

[DavidB]

If you search 'spares or repairs' in ebay, it locks down the category to Cars > Renault and won't let you change it to any other make. Not even entering 'spears reapers' or 'Mini 2008 onwards' will change it!

[Metal Guru]

On 06/01/2023 at 11:10, MiniMinorMk3 said:

In a continuation of their porn mag themed cars, the Sierra was to be called the Ford Mayfair, but BL sneaked the name onto posh versions of their cars, thus stopping the Ford Porn Series dead in its tracks.

I did one a while ago about Ford’s wank mag naming. I said the Sierra was to be the  Ford Razzle, but when they saw the Dutton Sierra, they concluded you couldn’t get more wank that that !

[barefoot]

If you wake up in the morning to find your car covered in frost,

Simply place a hot water bottle on top of the dashboard and enjoy a leisurely breakfast,

By the time you've finished your tea & toast, your windscreen will be...

 

 

[barefoot]

Much the same as it was before you started pissing about!

[martc]

Product placement in films.

Volkswagen considered sponsoring the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, VW's being far more efficient at shovelling up children than some creepy old man with a lollipop . Their Dutch importers were asked to make a prop for the film, see below, before common sense finally prevailed.

It was decided that what with their dubious origins and an emission scandal due to be pencilled in sometime in the future, being associated with child abduction could be the final straw.