Vintage Shite - Edumacate me?

[Rocket88]

33 minutes ago, captain_70s said:

Compared to a Jowett Javelin, Standard Vanguard, Morris Oxford or Austin A40 of the same period they look 10 years older.

Very odd that a company as big as Ford would launch a car that looked 10 years old when new, especially given the modernity of their US lineup. The only thing I can think of that was equally as outdated was Triumph's Renown.

Errr… no.Pilot was a bloody quick old car, very torquey, and a good one is well capable at cruising at 70. A Renown is not….

Austin 16 is fairly lively, as it’s basically an early Healey engine 

[Mr Pastry]

1 hour ago, captain_70s said:

Very odd that a company as big as Ford would launch a car that looked 10 years old when new, especially given the modernity of their US lineup

As with some other makes immediately post-war, it was a continuation of an old model - what they would have built in 1940 but for the war.

[Dyslexic Viking]

Why not something American? They may not be that common in the UK but spare parts are available to many and they are well made. There is a reason why they dominated Norway for a long time and had such long lifespans here, they were good cars.

I consider something like this to be perfect if one want a usable pre war car.

 

[eddyramrod]

2 hours ago, vulgalour said:

To add to this, check out @Angrydicky's thread on the Austin A70.  That shows what to expect of an all metal car and some of the parts challenges.

 

How on earth could I forget @Angrydicky?  Yes of course he is another Shiter you should be following.

2 hours ago, captain_70s said:

Compared to a Jowett Javelin, Standard Vanguard, Morris Oxford or Austin A40 of the same period they look 10 years older.

You say that like it's a bad thing.  It so isn't!

[DSdriver]

3 hours ago, Missy Charm said:

As one of the most accelerative cars of the period, the V8 Pilot was able to get from 0 to  60 in 21 English seconds (none of this metric nonsense).  I assume that's for the proper 221 cubic inch version.  Pilot pluses include some of the finest styling applied to a British car of that period and a genuinely nice art-deco interior with a Bakelite dashboard.  The Pilot's party piece is the fitment of not terribly well silenced twin exhaust pipes; they are one of the best sounding cars of all time:

Starting to get expensive, however, after being very cheap for a long time.

"going around corners on their door-handles" was a phrase that I recall being used about sportingly driven Pilots. Not that the OP would ever be driving one like that, no siree.

[artdjones]

11 hours ago, DSdriver said:

"going around corners on their door-handles" was a phrase that I recall being used about sportingly driven Pilots. Not that the OP would ever be driving one like that, no siree.

That's probably down  to the terrible brakes.

[Missy Charm]

16 hours ago, captain_70s said:

Compared to a Jowett Javelin, Standard Vanguard, Morris Oxford or Austin A40 of the same period they look 10 years older.

Very odd that a company as big as Ford would launch a car that looked 10 years old when new, especially given the modernity of their US lineup. The only thing I can think of that was equally as outdated was Triumph's Renown.

I make no claims for the Pilot being modern, in styling terms, for its time; my point is merely that the car is handsome and well proportioned.  It is.  

One must remember that tastes didn't change overnight.  Not everybody liked full width radiators and the loss of mudguards, and referred to some of the early pressed steel cars as 'inverted bathtubs'.  It was similar in a way to those who bemoaned the end of the traditional saloon in the eighties.  

Ford did sell Pilots, so there were enough people with conservative tastes knocking about in the fifties to make post war production viable.  

[MiniMinorMk3]

17 hours ago, captain_70s said:

Compared to a Jowett Javelin, Standard Vanguard, Morris Oxford or Austin A40 of the same period they look 10 years older.

Very odd that a company as big as Ford would launch a car that looked 10 years old when new, especially given the modernity of their US lineup. The only thing I can think of that was equally as outdated was Triumph's Renown.

Ford were well ahead of their time by inventing Retro Styling!

[Rocket88]

As mentioned earlier, these drive pretty well….