HMC- Lada back from exile

[sutty2006]

Absolute hero! 
 

having technically sold my grand marquis I am seriously going to miss it. 
 

they're a 3 speed box with overdrive. Fuel economy from the 5.0v8 isn’t actually that bad considering all the EFI, cats etc etc. Got 30mpg from mine but slightly lighter being a saloon. 
 

and these drive effortless. I’d have this over any European shed any day just because American luxury. 
 

well done with the purchase. I look forward to future shenanigans! 

[HMC]

I bought a 2005 defender 90 new and that had side facing rear seats. Would have thought if fitted new ok now? Anyway these in the crown vic are more of a curio than something I’ll use.

[HMC]

16 minutes ago, sutty2006 said:

Absolute hero! 
 

having technically sold my grand marquis I am seriously going to miss it. 
 

they're a 3 speed box with overdrive. Fuel economy from the 5.0v8 isn’t actually that bad considering all the EFI, cats etc etc. Got 30mpg from mine but slightly lighter being a saloon. 
 

and these drive effortless. I’d have this over any European shed any day just because American luxury. 
 

well done with the purchase. I look forward to future shenanigans! 

I was very tempted by your mercury. I blame being brought up watching  American films, car chases etc. I think that’s why I’ve always liked them.

[danthecapriman]

5 minutes ago, sutty2006 said:

and these drive effortless. I’d have this over any European shed any day just because American luxury. 

This, X a million! 
These old yanks are, in many ways a million times better than the bland miserable crap the rest of the world were churning out. Most of the haters don’t really have a clue or have been listening to the local pub bore who watches too much top gear and other nonsense then regurgitates it all! They’re fantastic, comfy old things to burble around in. Try one before slating them!

Yours looks absolutely gorgeous, great colour too! It’s the little brother of my yank! These on the downsized platform which replaced the earlier full sized monstrosity’s like mine of the late 60’s early 70’s after the gas crisis. These are arguably one of the best platforms Ford did, being so long lived and popular. The sedans made very good cop cars too.

 

[danthecapriman]

22 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Bloody hell, you're on a roll at the moment!

I had a '77 LTD wagon - remarkably similar styling despite being 13 years older.  That had the 400ci big block but was still slow as feck, like most late '70s Yanks.

Was yours really slow?

My sedans actually rather quick, albeit in a straight line! Most people are actually surprised how quick mine is tbh as it’s not what you’d think of as being so. Mind you mines got the bigger 429 ci (7.0 litre) big block without any of the emissions control stuff, maybe that makes a difference?

[cort1977]

Yeah, that makes a massive difference, the v8s were really strangled by the mid seventies. 

Nothing to stop us removing that equipment now though...

[wuvvum]

/\ WHS.

[sutty2006]

1 hour ago, HMC said:

I was very tempted by your mercury. I blame being brought up watching  American films, car chases etc. I think that’s why I’ve always liked them.

Amen to that. The exact same reason I bought the Mercury almost 10 years ago. I won’t dilvulge too much about it’s new owner, but it is staying around here!

 

and these yanks, people that have never owned or driven one wouldn’t know any better. The amount of people that ask me at petrol station “is that enough to get you to the next petrol station?” Comment wore off really quick, because 3/4 of a tank would get me to Dover, from stoke! And they handle perfectly well round corners! It’s the seats that let them down, you just roll across them! 

[Ghosty]

I like that a lot. Seeing the price it was up for on eBay, and stuff like the convertible Fox body as well, is giving me strange ideas.

[Tepper]

That is an exquisite purchase, congratulations.

[Dan_ZTT]

On 11/18/2020 at 1:54 PM, wuvvum said:

They weren't illegal here in the '90s - early Discoverys had them.  It's relatively recently that they've been outlawed.

 

On 11/18/2020 at 2:05 PM, HMC said:

I bought a 2005 defender 90 new and that had side facing rear seats. Would have thought if fitted new ok now? Anyway these in the crown vic are more of a curio than something I’ll use.

Wow yeah I didn't realise it was so late, a quick google suggests the Defender got rid of them in 2007 so that's probably when the law changed, I just wrongly assumed it would have been years earlier.

Anyway like you say it doesn't really matter since they'll rarely if ever get used.

I'll have to own a yank tank someday...

[Asimo]

23 hours ago, Ghosty said:

I like that a lot. Seeing the price it was up for on eBay, and stuff like the convertible Fox body as well, is giving me strange ideas.

...inspiration for a rational step in my motoring career.

[HMC]

The former keeper has come up trumps finding the paperwork, as well as uk stuff there’s the original book pack and service records. Looks like it came from Ambler, western Pennsylvania......

I always did think it could of had a drive on part in Groundhog Day

[Mrs6C]

Somewhere, possibly in the trunk beneath the carpet, will be the build ticket for it. I found the one for my Cadillac under there, which even shows the production shift on which it was made and the name of the person in charge at the time!

[sutty2006]

Yup still got the production ticket for the Mercury. It wasn’t found in the trunk though 

[dollywobbler]

As far as I can see, the use of side facing seats is not illegal, but is advised against. They were banned from being fitted to vehicles, hence later Defenders do not have side facing seats in the back.

[cort1977]

9 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

As far as I can see, the use of side facing seats is not illegal, but is advised against. They were banned from being fitted to vehicles, hence later Defenders do not have side facing seats in the back.

Exactly, such rules are very rarely imposed retrospectively.

[HMC]

On 11/13/2020 at 12:24 PM, colc said:

Any timing chain chatter when starting ?

No. Although it always starts it seem to turn over slowly. The battery earth is a bit tired so I’m assuming it might be that.

[eddyramrod]

Don't worry about that, it's perfectly normal for old American cars.  I positively expect it!  A couple of slow turns, a burst of whizzing over... and VAROOM!  With a side order of chuff from one of the exhaust manifolds, most likely.  That's what Huggy does anyway.  It's all very pleasing on the ear.

[HMC]

2 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

Don't worry about that, it's perfectly normal for old American cars.  I positively expect it!  A couple of slow turns, a burst of whizzing over... and VAROOM!  With a side order of chuff from one of the exhaust manifolds, most likely.  That's what Huggy does anyway.  It's all very pleasing on the ear.

Sorry bit of thread Drift that’s the taxi - the crown vic starts up like a champ.

[Zelandeth]

On 11/21/2020 at 6:52 AM, dollywobbler said:

As far as I can see, the use of side facing seats is not illegal, but is advised against. They were banned from being fitted to vehicles, hence later Defenders do not have side facing seats in the back.

Sounds right.  The University I was at was still dragging us around in severely shonky Sherpa (yes, pre-LDV) minibuses with side facing benches in the back when I was there in 2002.

[HMC]

I didn’t have much time this weekend for playing with big American barges, but I did figure out the tailgate.
 

It’s got a frameless glass window, pulling the handle latches it to the side. Instead of that Putting the key in with it shut  and turning it makes the window Go down electrically; and reaching the inner handle then lets it hinge downwards.

[Mrs6C]

4 hours ago, HMC said:

It’s got a frameless glass window, pulling the handle latches it to the side. Instead of that Putting the key in with it shut  and turning it makes the window Go down electrically; and reaching the inner handle then lets it hinge downwards.

Magic!

[PhilA]

Thing is, they were never... Slow. Not the biggest engined ones, at least. 

Lazy, yes. But that uninspiring push at low speed just continues well up to the legal limit. Most get really wheezy above 3500-4000 rpm and the shift points were a bit optimistic but a hefty multi-element torque converter meant that you would accelerate like in a Jaguar. Suddenly you're going fast after a but of noise and not much feeling of actually doing anything.

Very squidgy cars, given that America had last spent any major money on road infrastructure 30 years prior to this being built, so a lot of very worn concrete and potholed and inexpertly patched asphalt was what you got to drive on. It shook contemporary european cars to pieces if they didn't break down expensively and get sacked off for something Ford or GM.

That's why people bought them. The unchanging bland squareness represented something that lasted, something built to withstand the streets here and be comfortable on the long, straight journeys. Also, doing big family things or stuff with the neighbors kids was and is still quite big here so that's why once these had gone, the minivan and suv reigned supreme.

 

Phil

 

[flat4alfa]

On 11/18/2020 at 1:54 PM, wuvvum said:

They weren't illegal here in the '90s - early Discoverys had them.  It's relatively recently that they've been outlawed.

Change date was 20/10/07 for all new vehicles, so as this predates it is ok.  What you can't do is retro-fit belts if it didn't have them from new.

gov.uk, she says:

Quote

Although side facing seats, with or without seatbelts, are not illegal, we would not advise that they are used.

 

[flat4alfa]

 

On 11/17/2020 at 2:10 PM, HMC said:

Love these!

Smoked about in this last summer

Drives much better than would have believed

[wuvvum]

/\ Heh, I remember perving over that at the FOTU.

[flat4alfa]

5 hours ago, wuvvum said:

/\ Heh, I remember perving over that at the FOTU.

I remember... I should have let you relive the dream and let you waft around the show field while I was off pawing over Trigger's winning Marina!  I left it open all day and came back to find a bunch of fellas inside and trying it out for size....   Also noticed some nobber poked his thumb through the rust on the tailgate. 

It made a box-out in the CCW feature pages on the event

Don't know how he got the idea it didn't have a 400ci.  Never spoke to me.

 

Sorry for the thread hijack.  WLTM the very smart JRG Crown Vic Wagon!

[Mrs6C]

5 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

 

Love these!

Smoked about in this last summer

Drives much better than would have believed

Whoop! Whoop! Burgundy Alert! Burgundy Alert! Whoop! Whoop!

[Zelandeth]

Still remember just standing by the tailpipe of this thing when it was running at the FotU and enjoying the lazy "Blub, blub, blub" idle.  Sounded like it was idling at about 200rpm which seems to be the norm for their stuff.

I really quite enjoy American cars which aren't trying to pretend to be anything else.  I *really* wanted to bring back the Chevy Astro that we had as a runaround back in 2014.  It was the "low end" version over there (rather than the day vans you tend to see), but it was just so, so, so comfy a thing to waft around in and I've never been in something that was just so easy to drive.

It was hilarious though looking under the bonnet.  Over here it would be a 2.0TD if you were lucky...No, V6 petrol here - all 4.6 litres of it. 

It had such a long stroke because of that that the torque was absolutely ridiculous...It pulled like a train from idle, and the gargling exhaust note was just hilarious.  Not quite as hilarious as how the thing would stand on its tail end and take off like it had been fired out of a cannon if you did floor it was though.

Sadly it was going to cost well north of five grand to get it shipped back though (plus the purchase price!), so I just couldn't make it make sense.

Even though this is a very "bread and butter" vehicle, it's just so very American...and that means COMFY and EASY where motoring is concerned.