Land Crab!

[Guest Lord Sward]

A bloody good friend of mine is selling this;

 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Austin-1800-Landcrab-1968-/332392444212?hash=item4d64223134:g:X1MAAOSw~HZZyq0k

 

Ideal for maximising the woeful law requiring cars over 40 years old not to need an MOT.

 

Its said to drive very nice.

[vulgalour]

Ooh, it's got the nice rear end too.

[dougiefourspeed]

I can see you in this Sward. It’s the thinking mans P6.

[Guest Lord Sward]

No.  The Thinking Man's P6 IS the P6.

[Uncle Jimmy]

I can see the attraction, looks like a lovely place to sit in; just needs an inline 6 and a slush box.

[Asimo]

Proper honest description too.

One of those cars I wish I had bought before they got rusty. (6 cyl auto of course)

[bigstraight6]

Is that grass growing between the remains of the carpet and floor?

[MarvinsMom]

i do like a crab, even though i struggle to get my head around the fact that they are usually 1800's and can manage 23-25 mpg...

[gordonbennet]

No, trust me, the one you want is the 1800 manual, preferably with power steering and an S model is just perfection.

 

I had a 2200 and it was bloody awful, the engine and box is ridiculously heavy i know cos i had to rebuild my engine and the lifting tackle sunk in the warm tarmac, IIRC an oil change is 22 pints, and it requires re-inforced (van) tyres to cope with the weight up front, not as quick as a decent 1800s either.

 

I used to drive a private hire 1800 on sat and sun nights and they were generally pretty economical, but most of all being so roomy they were good tip earners.

[SiC]

I really need to learn to weld.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Welding that up would be a nice job for me...Oh fuck what am I saying.

the engine and box is ridiculously heavy i know cos i had to rebuild my engine and the lifting tackle sunk in the warm tarmac,

Moar than a Volvo B30? Or a Ford Essex; if so it really is a proper boat anchor.

[vulgalour]

Can confirm, engine molto heavio.

[Eddie Honda]

No, trust me, the one you want is the 1800 manual, preferably with power steering and an S model is just perfection.

I regret selling mine c. 2005 for 220 quid. It was a June '73 car so OMGHOWMUCHTAX?!, but it was solid and although not a 'S', it did have girlie PAS.

[Junkman]

I was thinking long and hard about my Landcrab lust. Honestly, I did.

In the end, the R16's pure, unadulterated bonkersness won over the suspension time bomb.

[Guest Lord Sward]

PAS has to be incredibly rare on a Landcrab?

[Vantman]

PAS has to be incredibly rare on a Landcrab?

 

I have had 3 x 1800 and they all had power steering. Not that it bothered me anyway as I was driving Thames Trader lorries with no power steering at the time.

[mercrocker]

One of the very few cars I have had that really needed PAS (and mine never had it).   Not so much parking etc. but it would have helped deal with the last desperate stages of terminal understeer.    Nice cars though and quite advanced for their time. 

[mk2_craig]

Refreshingly honest auction description and the added bonus of a colour you hardly see these days.

[Yoss]

A nice set of SD1 alloys with 185 70 14s on cures the understeer almost completely, though mine did all have power steering which helped. You could properly chuck them around then.

 

Surprised a lot of people who completely under estimated the speed at which you may be approaching roundabouts.

[Sam Glover]

I’m touching a Landcrab at the moment. The parasitic bell-housing, gearbox and final drive are the opposite of svelte and lightweight. I chose a downward rather than upward route to make a friend of gravity.

 

It’s a MkI, though… with the nice rear end.

 

[gordonbennet]

My 1800 was the first car we could afford for a couple of years after moving into our first house, bought it for £80 with a knackered clutch and i hoiked the engine and box out on the road outside our house to put the new one in.

It was white and showing quite a lot of rust, so painted it red with Re-Paint on me too steep for engine removal driveway on a sunny day, and what a load o' pish that stuff was, but it did the trick for a while.

Can't remember it having power steering, but as Vantman above i drove Foden artics with no power steering in those days so hardly needed it on a car.

 

It popped one of the long hydolastic pipes one day, and Jees wasn't the new one a bloody game to fit.

 

I so fancied this 2200 when it came up, but along with the 2300 SD1 Rover goes down equal place as the most disappointing car i've ever owned, the 2200s only saving grace was due to its immense front end weight when it snowed about 6" deep one night that year the bloody car drove like it was on a damp road.

The thing about all those transverse BL's is that the gearbox had to be lifted out together with the engine and split once out, at a guess the 2200 engine and box weighed at least half as much again as what the 1800 engine and box weighed and i wouldn't be at all surprised once full of oil and water to be over twice the weight.

 

I bought an early wedge Princess 1800 not long after, which unfortunately got totalled when an XJ6 (completely unmarked by the prang) rammed me up the arse, that was a smashing car and a big mistake they didn't make a hatch version from day one, it would have made a grand estate too but typical BL always bollocksing up what should have been classics.

 

Got what must have been an ex funeral Princess 1700 O series for me dad from the auctions, in black obviously and polished to a mirror finish, that too was a good car but proved to be his last cos he got the big C.

Never liked the O series as much as the B engines, didn't have the Diesel like lugging ability and i ever found them to be any more economical either, and you could fully rebuild a B with a 9/16th ring spanner.

[Exiled_Tat_Gatherer]

I really need to learn buy it anyway, even if I haven't YET learned to weld.

 

Easy fix Mr SiC.

 

I'd hate to think of the cost of getting it over here........ but I'm looking!

[xtriple]

I bought a 2200 as a winter beater/tow car for the race bikes back when I was a full time bike rider/part time car driver (winter only) and it cost me £70 and was a riot! The engine was absolutely foooked and used nearly as much oil as petrol but you could get 6-7 people in no sweat and tow a trailer with 3 bikes and all the kit plus spares at silly speeds. It was vast inside and handled like a big Mini/1100 and I loved every minute of owning the dreadful old heap.

 

Can't recall what finally killed it (clutch? Engine oil consumption?) but I was sad to see it go off to Evas yard. Think I got £30 for it scrap so I considered it very cheap motoring. I've always liked them but never had another/decent one.

[forddeliveryboy]

Great cars to live with provided there wasn't too much Mway work, the one in our family lasted well through into the mid-80s and was super-reliable.

 

Massive inside, great cornering and it's what snowplough drivers would have taken to work if we had more snow.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The Wolseley 18/85S with PAS is a wondrous thing. Second is a Mark 1 1800 - I prefer the original rear end.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 

Never liked the O series as much as the B engines, didn't have the Diesel like lugging ability 

 

The 2000 did. A 2000 Princess is still probably the best tow car evah.

[gordonbennet]

The 2000 did. A 2000 Princess is still probably the best tow car evah.

Yes they were much better,

 

as a totally irrelevant aside i used to service a chap's Ambassador many years ago, lovely car that was (though still had to re-shim the bloody ball joints regularly), he did me a massive favour too, got me a job where he worked at the time which was my first big break and within 12 months they expanded the night trunking of newspapers and i ended up right time right place on one of the best paid lorry job of the 1980's, with an artic that had the dubious ability of cruising at 95mph...never looked back after that break, funny old thing fate.

[Cavcraft]

Definitely the best lookers, these early ones. Not that far away either, but skint so just going to ignore it.

[Exiled_Tat_Gatherer]

as a totally irrelevant aside i used to service a chap's Ambassador many years ago,

 

just about says it all really.........

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I can’t agree about the Princess’s towing skills, the Hydragas cannot handle more than about 50 grams of nose weight on the trailer, ask me how I know