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Her Madge [well nearly....]


Rocket88

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I love these ,but always assumed they were a bit of a slug. until I read some road tests a couple of years ago and saw they were at least 50bhp up on most of the 60's barge competition.

From memory there's an interesting Giant Test from when the Mk4 Executive and PC Viscount were first launched comparing them to the 4-Litre R and Humber Imperial. Some pretty extreme cornering shots . You can find it on Trigger's Retro Roadtests.

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8 hours ago, Nibblet said:

No wing mirror(s)?

Very unusual for a steering box to wear out, they always have a good dose of play in them, can be tightened a little... But only a little. 

Never noticed that...! Ref box.....previous owner re-built it, and reckons that he put one of the seals in the wrong way......they are notorious for leaking, but re-building them is tricky. They usually leak because the main scroll shaft wears out. They are s stupidly complicated [what a surprise!] system

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10 hours ago, tooSavvy said:

Transit mk1 steering box + Corsa leccie/load sensing PAS.

Job Jobbed :)

Keeping the box, but getting rid of all the existing power steering gubbins, then fitting what Mr Savvy suggests is looking increasingly tempting. .Slight complication is that the pump is not driven directly by a belt, [see diagram, Volvo 164 system is the same] So slightly more complicated than just removing the belt [as that drives the dynamo as well] Apparently a Volvo 164 pump can be made to fit with a bit of modification, but they're now extremely hard to find. Photo below shows that the PAS pump is driven off the back of the dynamo!

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various-shutterstock-editorial-3918370a.jpg

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I had one of these years ago. Lovely car - about 170bhp I think so they go well but...

Horrible steering - both the wheel itself with a thin rim and mushy/vague steering response. I think that's what condemned these in period. Sales started off with quite a bang as a mini-rolls - then people drove them and decided on something else instead probably a Jaguar.

I would if you have the skill have a go at getting them to steer right. Then you would have a decent car.

The classic car press featured a guy who did just that on one 20 years ago - was a guy who was a Tatra expert. I don't recall his name. Sleuthing on the web may throw something up.

VDP showroom and offices survive in Kingsbury London.

https://www.aronline.co.uk/cars/vanden-plas/in-production-vanden-plas-kingsbury-works/

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14 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Tatra though rather than Tata.  Dollywobbler is our resident Tata expert.

Thanks. Ah yes - corrected it. Tim Bishop still active I think. I think he runs this engineering outfit in Warwickshire. He definitely had a VDP that he modded. 

Connaught Green Limited

 

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