Seth's Sheds

[seth]

It is rather some time since I wrote about any of my cars on here so while I haven't bought anything new for ages there are possibly newish folk out there that might be interested to see the fleet.  Basically I've almost never owned a modern car (the one I did own would now be considered shite anyway being a 90s French diesel and I only had it a year so it doesn't normally get mentioned)  So, nearly all the miles I've driven since I bought my first aged 18 in '93 have been in old cars.  I no longer commute to work but always relied on 40 odd year old tin when I did and these days any trip anywhere is done in one of the two currently on the road.

 

WARNING: LOOK AWAY NOW IF YOU ARE AN ORIGINALITY FREAK.

 

The Jan '68 registered Hillman is perhaps the better known car as at one stage it seemed to appear in a retro car magazine almost monthly.  Bought off its first owner in '08...

 

 

who died a month later.  The car looked like this with dubious repairs to the front wings/a posts and collapsing brake hoses.  Had an MOT mind...

 

 

 

Over the years the suspension has been re-engineered a couple of times, various sets of wheels fitted, a tow bar added and the engine rebuilt to a pseudo Holbay-ish spec but retaining the original povo 1500 bottom end because its a daft thing to do.  This resulted in a decent increase in power and much the same MPG.  Bodywork has generally been maintained to be not significantly worse than it was when I got it just rusty in different places.  Done one sill, other will be done this winter and hopefully fit the new drivers side front wing I have too.  About 45,000 miles covered since purchase, several thousand in Europe towing our trailer tent.  Basically, its the family car, but its also been used for such exciting things as touring round London with an Iranian or three.

 

Now it looks like this.

 

 

 

The other roadworthy car is a Herald, a joint purchase with my girlfriend in '97. (She became my wife in '99).  Here's a photo taken in 2004 when it was still basically standard.

 

 

Its from the last couple of weeks production of 1200 saloons in June '70 and not registered until Jan '71.  It too has gone through various upgrades/modifications to brakes, suspension and engine. When the original 1200 lump became too knackered (was doing 500 mile/week commute for quite some time) I fitted a 1500.  Then got through that engine and two more 1500s in 4 years.  It became boring fitting Triumph engines so in winter '09/10 I went about doing a 'proper' engine swap for the first time and fitted 1.6 MX5 running gear. I was doing this outside the front of the house and it was a cold winter...

 

 

I don't like electronics and wanted the 'new' lump to look and sound old so did the minimum necessary to make sparks and made an inlet manifold for a pair of HS6 SU carbs.  Later dyno'd this combination at just under 100bhp at the wheels, so much the same as with the standard injection.  Similar power to a 2 litre Vitesse but much less weight.

 

 

This car has also had various wheel combinations (including Cosmics) but for some time has been on these Firestone BRM alloys which date form around 1970.

 

 

I've kept on top of the chassis rot over the years so it is pretty sound underneath but the top is getting worse and at the moment I'm basically hoping it will scrape through until my Oxford is back on the road and this can spend some time undercover getting refreshed.

 

Talking of the Oxford I'll do another post in a while about 'projects'.

[Minimad5]

Welcome back, not seen any posts from yourself for quite some time.

[mercrocker]

Cracking pair there Seth....Liking both the condition and useage.    Are you the same Seth as was on Farina Forum?

[HMC]

Love the wheels on the herald and the outward sleeper look. Also looking forward to reading about the Oxford!

[barrett]

Hi!

I don't think I've ever seen the Herald 'as bought' before. Looks a million times better now. Not having looked at the blue channel for ages I'm keen to see how the projects are coming along

[scaryoldcortina]

That cortina looks nice!

[nigel bickle]

Nice informative write up Seth. Good to see you back here.

 

Looking forward to the projects...

[garethj]

Welcome, newbie

[Spottedlaurel]

I don't think I've ever seen the Herald 'as bought' before. Looks a million times better now.

Ditto. Glad it's not on whitewalls any more! (Presumably they were just those flap things?)

 

Have many other people used the MX5 engine as a transplant? Not that I want to change it (nor do I have the skills), but I imagine it would make my little Datsun quite a zippy little thing.

[Cavcraft]

Those Firestone BRMs suit the car incredibly well.

[seth]

Thank you everyone. 

 

Minimad, I'm a consistent lurker and have posted occasionally but probably not started a thread for quite a while.

Mercrocker, yes that's me on the Farina Forum now and again.

 

So, the Oxford. I've owned it since I was 19, so now more than half my life and getting on for half of its life.  This is what it looked like back then.

 

 

There is simply too much history to go through it all so I shall be breif and use some photos.

 

1997ish. 

 

I basically did about 70,000 miles in it in this guise all the way through University years and beyond.  One year was 18k between MOTs.

 

This is 1998ish, around the time Girlfriend_Seth said 'yes' to my proposal while we were sat in it.

 

 

Used it to drive away from our wedding in 1999.

 

2001ish, getting the 1622 replaced with the 1798 engine out of a Marina TC coupe I'd bought for £50. (That was for the whole car not just the engine).  It was also quite rusty by then and got new sills, floor bits etc.  In fact it was off the road for about 3 1/2 years though I calculated that I only worked on in for about 18 months in that time due to weather etc.

 

 

Back on the road in 2003/4.

 

 

2005, bringing 2 1/2 week old Ickle Seth home from GOSH.

 

 

By 2006/7 it was starting to deteriorate again as the work I'd done earlier wasn't to the best standard. So it ended up on the drive looking sorry for itself for a couple of years before 'the dungeon' became available and it was A framed down there by Pog (RIP!).

 

 

And that is where it has been since.  The first couple of years I didn't really get down there often and it felt like it would be a never ending and rather disheartening weld fest.  It certainly made no sense to restore this car but the sentimental value is too much.  Eventually I turned a corner and it started coming together.  The whole lot is covered on the blue forum if you're really bored and want to look though it.

 

http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/36042/1970-morris-oxford-starting-back

 

I've made a complete wiring loom for the whole front end and earlier this year I was finally able to fit the new engine which is a 'hot' 1860 B series with twin 2" SUs on a 1950s racing car (probably) inlet manifold.

 

 

With the brakes all bled (MGB discs on the front now, suspension all fully rebuilt) I've even been able to drive it around the dungeon a bit.  Sounds ace with only about 2 foot of pipe after the manifold.

 

After years of being nose out in its space while I worked on the front end/middle it is now nose in and I'm tackling the remaining welding, rear wings/arches, back panel, boot floor etc.

 

 

I'm hoping to have this all done by Spring as there's not so much to do really and then it'll be ready for paint prep and some new colour but I may actually farm that out which would be the first thing not done by me but will speed up its return to the road significantly and save me probably months of filling/sanding etc . Oh, and I won't kill myself with paint fumes either.

 

The other project car is really one in waiting as knowing I would never be able to progress properly on more than one at a time I have made sure to make it impossible to work on the other by locating parts in three different places, the rolling bare shell being in North Wales and other parts in London.

 

Collection pic.

 

 

Loosely assembled with some panels.

 

 

Its a 59/62 Borgward Isabella Combi.  First used abroad and then imported and registered here when a couple of years old - maybe a member of the armed forces?  It is RHD and I have bits of history back to the '70s.  There's perhaps five or six estates remaining in the UK.

 

I thought the Oxford was only a couple of years from completion when I bought it but that has dragged on and this has just sat in storage.  I never want to have a project car off the road for as long as the Oxford ever again so the plan for this will be to get it solid and up and running (I have a hopefully good complete engine/box), airbag the suspension, fit some spangly wheels and drive around with it in its patinated state while I decide what to do next.

[hairnet]

scene bummer

 

hurry up with isabella (fnarr) fix brakes weld so bits dont fall out/off roll right ??

 

nice one seff

[mercrocker]

Glad to see that Oxford lives on.  

[dollywobbler]

Um amazed to discover that the Herald ticks many, many boxes for me. Can't believe it's so long since you got the Borgward already! Great to see a brief Farina history too.

[seth]

Ditto. Glad it's not on whitewalls any more! (Presumably they were just those flap things?)

 

Have many other people used the MX5 engine as a transplant? Not that I want to change it (nor do I have the skills), but I imagine it would make my little Datsun quite a zippy little thing.

 

Yes, the whitewalls were flaps - tend to last a few thousand miles until they start flying off.

 

I think there are various cars fitted with MX5 lumps as it makes so much sense and is pretty low tech.  But then it is a1980s Mazda 323 engine basically.  There's a guy on RR who put one in his Hunter.  Certainly MGBS have had them.  The good thing with the Herald is that it is lighter than even an early MX5 and it is great fun surprising people off the lights.  The power/torque is just about right without making the car difficult to handle or break all the time too.  It'd be interesting to add a turbo but then I think would probably ruin the driveability.

[seth]

One more newbie style post then I'll leave you in peace again.  Those that know me will no doubt recognise these but here's some of the past sheds in roughly chronological order.

 

A35, first car. (SD1 Vitesse was my dad's vehicle of choice)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think that's everything. Not much over 20+ years but what with wanting reliable vehicles I've never seen the point of chopping and changing to unknown stuff all the time.

[Jim Bell]

Nice to see everything all in one place.

 

Top thread.  Would deffo read again and recommend to friends.

[alf892]

wow!

 

That A60 camper looks especially nice. Any more pics?

[Uncle Jimmy]

Hillman Hunter, like a Volvo 144 but even blander. I like.

[seth]

Ta chaps.

 

That A60 camper looks especially nice. Any more pics?

 

I was told about the Sun-Tor by a friend in Herefordshire and a few weeks later it was pulled out of the garage it had been in for a decade or more and dragged to his barn.

 

 

Recommisioning involved freeing the clutch, a carb clean up, some brake work and one small bit of welding to one chassis member but it was incredibly rot free.  In fact it was ready for an MOT after I'd made only a couple of round trips to Leominster to sort it out.

 

At some point I had some new front springs made to lower it a little and it was in general 'daily' use. 

 

 

 

 

I made the towbar, fitted some hidden mains hook up too it, fresh gas and plumbed the water in using a container in the wardrobe as the original water tank had probably had petrol put in it. (Torcars used the original fuel cap location for the water tank and put the fuel filler further back. GR8!)

 

 

It was used for camping several times and served as the kitchen - there wasn't enough space for all our stuff anyway so it towed our first trailer tent, eg here to Cornwall

 

 

Eventually sold it to a chap in Surrey when Ickle_Seth could no longer fit in a car seat that could use only a lap belt to hold it in and there was no way of sensibly fitting a three point in the back.  Then I saw it again a couple of years ago at a show at Brooklands with another owner as I think my buyer had become ill and couldn't use it as intended.  It was a fab machine and great with a small child as it made sorting food out etc at shows a doddle!  I remember us all just sitting in it making a nice hot dinner once at Classics on the Common while it was raining.

[alf892]

Quite unusual that........To my eyes it is one of the very few vehicles where the lines are not spoiled by the camper conversion.

 

 

 

They are a great looking thing as a van or pick up........definitely on my list to own again one day

[Paul Dupart]

SAAB 96 estate just looks so 'right' with those big wheels

[AnthonyG]

Hello Seth, good to see you back posting. I remember that Saab - what happened to it?

 

Looking forward to seeing the Oxford back on the road.

[daverapid]

  Lovely cars.

[andrew e]

Seth, what was the deal with the T bucket?