Half-decent Banger Rally

[whitevanman]

OR we could go to Tyrkey and bring some Autosans and Anadols back... "12 brave brits board their 1979 MGB people carrier and head of to Turkey, They hope to buy a fleet of local motors and drive them home. follow their adventures in........... ISTANBUL EXCESS "Sorry I'm getting carried away with myself

[trigger]

[Lankytim]

 

Got any pics of the Allegro going round the 'Ring???

 

 

Mark.

 

[mnde]

Ace! Unfortunately I have no pics of my GSA going round the track at Le Mans... Mark.

[Minimad5]

If an autoshite road trip goes ahead, can we make it abit smokey and the bandit and have CB radios ?I was thinking it would be a good idea incase anyone breaks down or some how gets lost !

[Lankytim]

If an autoshite road trip goes ahead, can we make it abit smokey and the bandit and have CB radios ?I was thinking it would be a good idea incase anyone breaks down or some how gets lost !

Could do but I think it could be a bit difficult to arrange. Mobile phones instead?

[Richard]

Mobile phones instead?

Wash your mouth out! That's not the Autoshite way- unless there's a "nothing newer than Nokia 3410" rule.

[warren t claim]

I like it. Can we go to Malta though? loads of grade one Mk1 and mk2 transits in Malta!

Only if I can have one with a sliding door and combined sidelights/indicators. And partially missing Custom badges. And pre 1970 with no seatbelts.

[Minimad5]

Wash your mouth out! That's not the Autoshite way- unless there's a "nothing newer than Nokia 3410" rule.

haha , Thats just made my day !

[FredTransit]

I like it. Can we go to Malta though? loads of grade one Mk1 and mk2 transits in Malta!

Only if I can have one with a sliding door and combined sidelights/indicators. And partially missing Custom badges. And pre 1970 with no seatbelts.

Sounds good to me, apart from the sliding doors, never liked em. Phase1 is more valuable anyway.....

[warren t claim]

How much for a tidy 1970 Transit these days?

[FredTransit]

Pre face lift, V4 petrol panel van, about two grand, more for LWB. The grille changed in 1971.

[warren t claim]

Why more for LWB? There seems to be boatloads of ex fire brigade LWB's coming in from Germany for some reason.

[Guest]

On banger rallies: I think people can get a bit overexcited about the idea of going on an long journey in an unreliable car with the possible "excitement" of it breaking down, as if it's all a good chuckle and everything can be fixed with hammers and duct tape. You get the impression that they'd be upset if they didn't come to a grinding halt at some point, like there's some kind of romance to it. In my experience, breaking down isn't much fun. It's hardly the end of the world, but I could do without it.I can fully understand the appeal of going on a European tour, but why you'd do it in a car that you weren't pretty confident with is beyond me. I often drive cars with dubious reliability as a matter of circumstance and I mostly spend the time hoping I can get it to where it needs to be without it boiling up, the brakes seizing on or something. It can be exciting, but it's the kind of thing I'm glad to bring to a conclusion more than anything else. I certainly don't get somewhere and think "if only I had another 20 miles to go". It's not like there's an enormous risk you're up against - what's the worst that could happen? You might be able to fix something, or be stranded for a bit and have to phone for a recovery truck to come, maybe have to pay for some stuff, that's not much fun.At some point when I can be bothered, I'm going to go driving around Europe in an old motor, but it'll be something I'm 99% confident in. Sod all this breaking down lark, I'll just drive around listening to weird foreign radio stations in a mad car that I don't think is going to conk out.Much rather come back home afterwards in my old motor and surprise people with the fact that you can go on your holidays in a nearly 30-year-old car without issue, than have all these stories about having to wait sodding hours for some Italian towtruck to recover my heap.

[mnde]

I totally agree with you Hirst.Mark.

[Lankytim]

Thats the difference with a shiters rally, we'l all be confident our motors will make the journey. Confident as anyone can be with a 20-30 year old motor anyway. The Allegro gave us no problems whatsoever, other than one time it needed a jump start. We just had to make sure if was up to the task beforehand.Dont forget people were driving Maxis and Cortinas and the like round Europe with no problems back in the day so theres no reason why we cant do the same nowadays

[FredTransit]

Why more for LWB? There seems to be boatloads of ex fire brigade LWB's coming in from Germany for some reason.

The fire vans are obviously LHD, and that does detract, though they are stunning. The German fire service gave their vans a 30 year shelf life, throughout this they were kept in heated fire houses for their first 30 years. Every village had one, manned by a volunteer fire service. The idea was they would keep a situation under control until the big pumps came from the nearest city. Fire vans go for as little as £1500, up to £4000, but not so much at top money these days. Because of the 30 year life span, the Mk2 transit was largely passed over.By sheer numbers, more SWB were made than LWB, in the RHD flavour.