HMC WBOD news

[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.

[wuvvum]

Chevy Astro - the Van that Can.

[eddyramrod]

The Astro seats look like a lovely place to sleep!

[HMC]

Works car park. Odd one out 

[Cookiesouwest]

3 minutes ago, HMC said:

Works car park. Odd one out 

Always be last in. The keeners who get in early ain't going anywhere, if they want to leave

[Rocket88]

On 11/24/2020 at 12:40 AM, Zelandeth said:

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.

V6 Vortec is a brilliant engine.............as with most Amerikun engines, vast amount of capacity for silly 'orsepower.........

[ETCHY]

Old yank barges are lovely things. 

I once knew a bloke who had a Chevy Caprice having previously owned a rather nice  Rolls Royce  Silver  Shadow. He always maintained the Chevy was smoother and more comfortable.

[sutty2006]

5 hours ago, HMC said:

Works car park. Odd one out 

Best colour too! 

[Mrs6C]

7 hours ago, HMC said:

Works car park. Odd one out 

Older American cars always used to be so big in comparison to their British and European cousins. Now it seems that modern British and European cars are just as big...

[Rod/b]

17 hours ago, HMC said:

Works car park. Odd one out 

Oh I dunno, early Rav 4 and is that a convertible PT Cruiser too? (Bottom left)

[HMC]

4 hours ago, Rod/b said:

Oh I dunno, early Rav 4 and is that a convertible PT Cruiser too? (Bottom left)

Yes on the rav4, but that other one is a mini convertible, alas.

[HMC]

I’ve got hold of a used LTI400 taxi meter so I can now drive about and pretend to charge myself for exciting trips to the supermarket.

Im going to blame lockdown for my behaviour.

[hairnet]

brown and beige advertising down the side obvs

autoflight

 

[High Jetter]

Make sure you get a receipt. Ker-ching, every trip!

[PhilA]

Re: Exhaust notes- A lot of people have it in their head that a large engine is naturally unstable and that all big American cars with big engines in (>4.0) lope amd pop and bang and sit at the traffic lights PRAC-PACKA-TACKAPAP-BRUB-PACKA-BRUBBA-POP

Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, you can make a big eight lope and fart and idle lumpy but most American engines idle smoothly with only the occasional pop of a misfire.

Reason being is the market wanted something smooth, easy to drive but with enough grunt to get out of the way of it's own shadow when needed. So, big and lazy with a big hump of torque south of 2500rpm is where they're tuned. 

The pops and bangs and high stall torque converters are aftermarket only in most cases.

Even the 6.4 in my Challenger idles without missing a beat at 650rpm.

 

Phil

 

[danthecapriman]

8 hours ago, PhilA said:

Re: Exhaust notes- A lot of people have it in their head that a large engine is naturally unstable and that all big American cars with big engines in (>4.0) lope amd pop and bang and sit at the traffic lights PRAC-PACKA-TACKAPAP-BRUB-PACKA-BRUBBA-POP

Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, you can make a big eight lope and fart and idle lumpy but most American engines idle smoothly with only the occasional pop of a misfire.

Reason being is the market wanted something smooth, easy to drive but with enough grunt to get out of the way of it's own shadow when needed. So, big and lazy with a big hump of torque south of 2500rpm is where they're tuned. 

The pops and bangs and high stall torque converters are aftermarket only in most cases.

Even the 6.4 in my Challenger idles without missing a beat at 650rpm.

 

Phil

 

This!

Mine doesn’t fart and burp constantly. You can clearly tell it’s a big V8 from the exhaust note, but it’s pretty smooth and refined really for such an old car. You can drive around in it and it’s pretty quiet most of the time (other than the usual old car rattling and road noises). If you watch the original tv commercials for mine they tried to emulate European luxury standards of comfort, quiet and refinement, something they did pretty well imho.

Saying that, if you start giving it some stick it soon wakes up and you do get that big block V8 noise easy enough! Doing it in tunnels or between walls etc is particularly sweet! It’s far from excessive or annoying though.

[wuvvum]

I've had a few American V8s over the years and I was always disappointed with how refined they sounded.  I was hoping they'd sound like the muscle car soundtrack you get in films, which they seem to play for every car from a Plymouth Roadrunner to a Geo Metro.

Probably the best-sounding American engine I ever had was the 3.8 V6 in the Mustang.