HMC- incoming BMC Farina

[barefoot]

On 09/01/2025 at 23:54, somewhatfoolish said:

It's not a clutch, the pedal just tells the box to shift. How it works.

Apologies for brief hijack, but if it's in the 'wrong' gear, will the fluid flywheel slip and smooth things out? Also, did Bartons buses use a p/s box?

ta

[danthecapriman]

Ooff, love the Farina! And the 12 too actually but those Farina’s are just lovely cars. A box I’ve fancied ticking for ages.

I definitely wouldn’t describe them as dull though. Look at it! Fins & chrome!😄

[somewhatfoolish]

A bit, but you can still stall if you get it wrong. Preselect boxes were fitted to lots of buses, but you'd need a buslicker for that kind of detail.

  

13 minutes ago, barefoot said:

Apologies for brief hijack, but if it's in the 'wrong' gear, will the fluid flywheel slip and smooth things out? Also, did Bartons buses use a p/s box?

ta

 

[DSdriver]

On 18/01/2025 at 21:44, lesapandre said:

I like to think that they have come through a time portal from the past.

The Autoshite singularity strikes again, although this might be before the previous strike.

[Matty]

I've had a massive semi for one of these for an age. One out one in at our house though and I'm not finished with the miniature Farina yet.

[bigstraight6]

5 hours ago, montytom said:

Lovely looking cambridge little bit younger than my wolseley they really are lovely cars

Thas bleddy ansom with its Devon reg, HMC’s Cambridge is my favourite colour for one of these…

[Matty]

4 minutes ago, bigstraight6 said:

Thas bleddy ansom with its Devon reg, HMC’s Cambridge is my favourite colour for one of these…

Isn't it just. Good looking cars. Has anyone told @morrisoxideyet? 😄

[morrisoxide]

Nice one.

A chap near me has started using this as his daily.

Not my pic but I've seen it driving about.

[wuvvum]

Lovely that.  1489 or 1622?  I forget when they changed over.

[danthecapriman]

I was just looking at the photo of HMC’s car wondering why it looked familiar, then it hit me…

I made a model of one last year!😄    
Some of you old duffers guys might remember having one as a kid? It’s the old Corgi driving school car. I just got rid of all the driving school stuff.

  
Also did an A55 from the James Bond black taxi version.

[N Dentressangle]

16 minutes ago, morrisoxide said:

Nice one.

A chap near me has started using this as his daily.

Not my pic but I've seen it driving about.

I know it's not a Jag, but shabby 60's stuff always makes me think

It's what I'm aiming for with the Rover.

SCRUBBERS!

[Matty]

17 minutes ago, morrisoxide said:

Nice one.

A chap near me has started using this as his daily.

Not my pic but I've seen it driving about.

By God I remember them looking like that as a kid in the 80s

[N Dentressangle]

5 minutes ago, Matty said:

By God I remember them looking like that as a kid in the 80s

I was a teenager in the 80s and most 60's stuff had already dissolved. My school was split site, and I remember a 1974ish green Granada GXL dsisintegrating gradually over the 5 years I was there on the road between the two sites.

I went to uni in 89, and there was a Peugeot 604 doing the same on the road of our rented house. No-one wanted barges back then.

[Matty]

4 minutes ago, N Dentressangle said:

I was a teenager in the 80s and most 60's stuff had already dissolved. My school was split site, and I remember a 1974ish green Granada GXL dsisintegrating gradually over the 5 years I was there on the road between the two sites.

There were a few old odd balls still knocking around here. A late Oxford would've been like a 12 year old car or so. Seems weird now. Both our dailies are 18 year old and like new. There was a big farina that was always on the high street. Old boy at the shops. From memory it hung about till I was well on in primary school. You can imagine the state of it by then 😄

[wuvvum]

I've probably mentioned this before, but...

When I was in middle school in the late '80s - early '90s, there was an old Land Rover parked on the road that led to the school gate.

The latest Google Streetview pictures from 2022 show that it's still there.  And probably hasn't moved in all that time.

[N Dentressangle]

17 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

I've probably mentioned this before, but...

When I was in middle school in the late '80s - early '90s, there was an old Land Rover parked on the road that led to the school gate.

The latest Google Streetview pictures from 2022 show that it's still there.  And probably hasn't moved in all that time.

Looking at the indicator / sidelight positions, probably a Series II rather than a IIA, plus a tropical roof - worth a few £££

[danthecapriman]

15 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

I've probably mentioned this before, but...

When I was in middle school in the late '80s - early '90s, there was an old Land Rover parked on the road that led to the school gate.

The latest Google Streetview pictures from 2022 show that it's still there.  And probably hasn't moved in all that time.

Wow! That’s awesome. How has it never been towed away though!? You’d think after so long (look at the mark on the ground around where it’s been!) the local authorities would get sick of it and drag it away?

I remember a mk4 Cortina estate being like that near my old school. Naturally I had the horn for it massively, but I was devastated one day when I walked past and someone was towing it off for scrap.

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

I was just looking at the photo of HMC’s car wondering why it looked familiar, then it hit me…

I made a model of one last year!😄    
Some of you old duffers guys might remember having one as a kid? It’s the old Corgi driving school car. I just got rid of all the driving school stuff.

  

 

Where's the roof sign?

[jon.k]

10 hours ago, Matty said:

By God I remember them looking like that as a kid in the 80s

A chap on my road had one or two in his garden like that, and, as a nice touch, a picture of one of them stained-glassed in his door too. I used to love looking at them on the way to school. I think last time I went past, a sign of the times was that they were replaced by a rover 75. Are you on here Mr C?

 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Lovely looking purchase, HMC. Isn't it a Dorset/Bournemouth registration? 

2 hours ago, jon.k said:

A chap on my road had one or two in his garden like that, and, as a nice touch, a picture of one of them stained-glassed in his door too. I used to love looking at them on the way to school. I think last time I went past, a sign of the times was that they were replaced by a rover 75. Are you on here Mr C?

 

That reminds me of a place a couple of miles from here. For years it had an ever-changing eclectic mix of motors lined up. He sold the Ant in 2012 (A999 NTA) but nothing appears to have happened with it.  There's always been at least one early 60s finned Brit amongst them though. I'm guessing the owner is now elderly and unable to play any more as the few remaining motors are slowing sinking into the grass. Even the Reliant nose cone which was attached to a garage door for years has gone. Photos are in time order. 

[bigstraight6]

12 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

I was just looking at the photo of HMC’s car wondering why it looked familiar, then it hit me…

I made a model of one last year!😄    
Some of you old duffers guys might remember having one as a kid? It’s the old Corgi driving school car. I just got rid of all the driving school stuff.

  
Also did an A55 from the James Bond black taxi version.

I had the original back in the day, got this repro now.

[purplebargeken]

Bloke who lived in the flats opposite my garage in the shit-pit of Edmonton had one of these, painted taxi black with a red interior, it chuffed along for years with the aid of monumental levels of giffer bodgery. Sadly he died of lung cancer about 17 years ago. End of an era.

[danthecapriman]

10 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Where's the roof sign?

The steering wheel thingy off the roof? I took it off as I always hated it! Filled the hole it left in the roof with chemical metal putty then rubbed it down smooth. The steering gubbins inside I removed part of it and just glued the bits attached to the wheels in the straight position so it’s just like any other Corgi car. 
Hardest bits to remove were the L plates from front & rear bumpers. Lots of careful grinding away with a dremmel then tidying up with little files.

That A60 was always a really good model from Corgi, but it was totally underused by them in my opinion. When it was released the real car was current so it was something kids could see and relate to every day. Even their parents might have had one. Yet Corgi only released it in the driving school style in the one colour. They could have used it so much more over the years as a normal car in different colours.

[lesapandre]

Or modded it with minor work to create the Wolseley or Morris or MG - just like BMC or even a Di Tella - the exotic cousin. No estate or Di Tella pick-up - the latter the Cybertruck of the 60's 😂

Of course their factory may have been at full capacity so there was not the opportunity?

But I think there was not the same collectable market in those days - these were 'just' kids toys?

[lesapandre]

Family had two of these new in the 60's - a maroon and a grey I recall. These were company cars bought new each year - after that it was only Cortinas.

[Yoss]

This belonged to a friend (the Riley I mean, the Triumph was mine) 

This was circa 1990 and neither of us had long passed our tests. Perfect transport for 20 year olds. 

It was the earlier 4/68 not the 4/72 so it was only a 1500. I don't know how much difference the twin carbs made but it didn't go too badly and did a good job of keeping up with the Triumph, which admittedly was an auto. It had what BMC described as bucket seats in place of the front bench because it was a sporty Riley but they were nothing of the sort. They were just individual front seats, there was nothing bucket about them at all.

My friend drove it very enthusiastically indeed, we were only 20 after all, it's what you did. I mean it sort of went round corners quite well in its own sort of way but it certainly wasn't relaxing for the passenger. My mate was OK, he had a steering wheel to hang on to. But there were no armrests or anything to hang on to so I had to put my hands down either side, grab the sides of the seat frame and pull myself down in to it. If you had the bench you wouldn't be able to even do that so I assume you just slid from side to side. 

Also of note in this picture was my neighbours Granny Ghia Coupe. He was about our age too, I didn't realise it then but what a great time to start driving. It was originally that metallic blue they came in but he had it resprayed bright red. You'd never do that now of course but different times. I still see him very occasionally when he's visiting his mum at the same time I'm visiting mine and he always has some sort of E34 or E39 5 series these days (and for about the last 20 years) 

And then there's the Volvo which was just everyday car back then. 

 

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, Yoss said:

This belonged to a friend (the Riley I mean, the Triumph was mine) 

This was circa 1990 and neither of us had long passed our tests. Perfect transport for 20 year olds. 

It was the earlier 4/68 not the 4/72 so it was only a 1500. I don't know how much difference the twin carbs made but it didn't go too badly and did a good job of keeping up with the Triumph, which admittedly was an auto. It had what BMC described as bucket seats in place of the front bench because it was a sporty Riley but they were nothing of the sort. They were just individual front seats, there was nothing bucket about them at all.

My friend drove it very enthusiastically indeed, we were only 20 after all, it's what you did. I mean it sort of went round corners quite well in its own sort of way but it certainly wasn't relaxing for the passenger. My mate was OK, he had a steering wheel to hang on to. But there were no armrests or anything to hang on to so I had to put my hands down either side, grab the sides of the seat frame and pull myself down in to it. If you had the bench you wouldn't be able to even do that so I assume you just slid from side to side. 

Also of note in this picture was my neighbours Granny Ghia Coupe. He was about our age too, I didn't realise it then but what a great time to start driving. It was originally that metallic blue they came in but he had it resprayed bright red. You'd never do that now of course but different times. I still see him very occasionally when he's visiting his mum at the same time I'm visiting mine and he always has some sort of E34 or E39 5 series these days (and for about the last 20 years) 

And then there's the Volvo which was just everyday car back then. 

 

Compare that to the utter shit people usually have now as first cars. 
You’re right though, you guys of that age definitely did have it good in that respect. I think I just about caught the tail end of that sort of thing about a decade later, but it wasn’t much longer after that all the interesting stuff dried up and first cars started to become new crap on leases or new crap on daddy’s credit card!

[danthecapriman]

Also, another model/toy I forgot about until this morning. Another one you old biddy’s guys might remember from your childhood.

Triang Spot-On.

[lesapandre]

1 hour ago, Yoss said:

This belonged to a friend (the Riley I mean, the Triumph was mine) 

This was circa 1990 and neither of us had long passed our tests. Perfect transport for 20 year olds. 

It was the earlier 4/68 not the 4/72- so it was only a 1500. I don't know how much difference the twin carbs made but it didn't go too badly and did a good job of keeping up with the Triumph, which admittedly was an auto. It had what BMC described as bucket seats in place of the front bench because it was a sporty Riley but they were nothing of the sort. They were just individual front seats, there was nothing bucket about them at all.

My friend drove it very enthusiastically indeed, we were only 20 after all, it's what you did. I mean it sort of went round corners quite well in its own sort of way but it certainly wasn't relaxing for the passenger. My mate was OK, he had a steering wheel to hang on to. But there were no armrests or anything to hang on to so I had to put my hands down either side, grab the sides of the seat frame and pull myself down in to it. If you had the bench you wouldn't be able to even do that so I assume you just slid from side to side. 

Also of note in this picture was my neighbours Granny Ghia Coupe. He was about our age too, I didn't realise it then but what a great time to start driving. It was originally that metallic blue they came in but he had it resprayed bright red. You'd never do that now of course but different times. I still see him very occasionally when he's visiting his mum at the same time I'm visiting mine and he always has some sort of E34 or E39 5 series these days (and for about the last 20 years) 

And then there's the Volvo which was just everyday car back then. 

 

The 4/68-72 was in production from 1959 - the 2000 from 1963. Shows the difference between Standard Triumph and BMC design philosophy and products. Interestingly of course both with Italian designed bodies.

Price-wise the Triumph was £1094 in 1963 and the Riley  £1,028 in 1959.

The Farina Rileys sold about 25,000 units - not stellar sales over 10 years - high price may be being one of the inhibitors.  They really were mopping up the ageing 'we always have Riley' clientele perhaps - and satisfying the dealerships. 

Though being dear old BMC Riley were set up in competition with themselves with the slightly smaller Riley One-Point-Five and similar Wolseley 1500 up to 1965.

4/68 was the most expensive Farina on offer.

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

The steering wheel thingy off the roof?

Yep, that's the one. Also had a German police beetle where the blue light was used to steer.