1930’s-1940’s

[Metal Guru]

3 hours ago, HillmanImp said:

I'm sat here watching Bergerac and my daily is 4 years older than Jims Triumph when the show started. 

That car looked archaic when I watched it originally. Does my car look like that to kids now or because cars are built better or styles last longer, does blend in to more modern shite? 

Beewww bew beeeeeeew beew beeeeeww bew bew wowwww. 

Watched it the other day, a story concerning wartime events there. At the end Bergerac says “it was a long time ago” (40 years).

When the credits came up , I realised it was the same time between now and the programme being made,

I felt a bit old.

[eddyramrod]

9 hours ago, HillmanImp said:

styles last longer,

Styles??????????  What bloody styles?

If you'd said "shapes" I would have no issue, but "style" implies some active effort to create a shape that's in some way pleasing to the eye.  That entire concept ceased to exist around the turn of the century.

On the other hand a Riley RM (to take a random example) is a shining star in style terms, and lasted ten years.  The Rover P4, another shining example and contemporary of the Riley, reached 16!

[SiC]

4 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

The Rover P4, another shining example and contemporary of the Riley, reached 16!

The modern Fiat 500 has lasted 17 years!

Nearly as long as the original at 18yrs. 

[anonymous user]

I still have this, built in 1948, but effectively a slight update of the pre-war 12/70. It looks quite small up against the modern stuff here in Lidl's car park.

I really need to use it more this year.

Edited January 11 by anonymous user
Spelling

[barrett]

I certainly wouldn't want to own one, but if this price is correct this seems like a great deal for somebody. Annoyingly I don't think you can get a passenger ship to Brest, otherwise it would be a lovely easy collection trip, too

[jonathan_dyane]

I'd love to see the Jackal system in operation

[Datsuncog]

[artdjones]

13 minutes ago, barrett said:

I certainly wouldn't want to own one, but if this price is correct this seems like a great deal for somebody. Annoyingly I don't think you can get a passenger ship to Brest, otherwise it would be a lovely easy collection trip, too

It's less than 40 miles to Roscoff.

[lesapandre]

47 minutes ago, barrett said:

I certainly wouldn't want to own one, but if this price is correct this seems like a great deal for somebody. Annoyingly I don't think you can get a passenger ship to Brest, otherwise it would be a lovely easy collection trip, too

I can recall seeing that on LeBonCoin. I think it was a lot more than  that - so I'm guessing that is a mis-print.

[PhilA]

With regards to use, very much a case of it'll all go to pot if you do not drive it regularly.

Granted, a lot of machinery had a life expectancy of 50,000 or 5-7 years when driven by Mr Well-To-Do, and in regular use all that happens is everything wears out. 

Don't drive them and they seize up, leak, squeak, generally misbehave and become unreliable. There isn't a particularly fine balance between not adding too many miles and daily driving. 

Despite my car being mostly 30's and 40's tech regurgitated after the war, the boom saw consumerism drive the motor car into the modern age very rapidly at the end of the 40's. 

That means it drives like a British car in the same price bracket of the mid to late sixties. The brakes are good enough for traffic here- I have no qualms about driving it into the city, as well as it having enough punch to keep up with traffic for the most part. The only downside is fuel economy, which isn't particularly good by today's standards.

I guess though, in a way it does get treated differently here to a vehicle of the same age there. So long as you make an effort to not dawdle people generally are fine not accelerating hard off the line, unlike there where everyone must be in pole position come hell or high water. 

I would drive this on British roads though. It's imposing enough that you can assume a more relaxed attitude, especially if you're willing to exercise a bit of road prowess and barge your way through occasionally with a jolly thank-you. 

American cars didn't change much mechanically (from the big players) from the late thirties through to about 1954-55, where the bigger engined cars started to take over, so better brakes, wider wheels, better suspension, driver aids all started to become common. 

If you decide to look across the pond then set eyes on Packard, Hudson, Oldsmobile, Cadillac. Mechanically superb vehicles for the era, well designed to last. Granted, they all rust and suffer from natural material rot but the upper class manufacturers still took a bit of pride in using better quality interior trim, particularly. That tends to last, and they are the type of cars that got pushed into a garage rather than into a field when they were retired.

Parts were shared for years, so availability is generally good, aftermarket support is also good through owners clubs particularly. People are generally friendly and don't have too much snobbery and gatekeeping for a lot of marques. Even my car, beat up and rusty, garners a lot of positive attention here, even when most people have no idea what it is, other than "old".  As with most cars this old I would recommend against buying one if you're tall (6'0"+) before actually test driving because I'm 5'7" and have the seat all the way back to be comfortable. People just weren't particularly tall on average back then.

 

Phil

[lesapandre]

Can I give a +1 for Packard. Virtually unknown by most in the UK as a brand - beautiful engineering if a little frumpy. Most are straight-8. 

[Saabnut]

1 hour ago, lesapandre said:

Can I give a +1 for Packard. Virtually unknown by most in the UK as a brand - beautiful engineering if a little frumpy. Most are straight-8. 

My old business partner is doing a 6 cyl 1939 Packard as his retirement project. Will get some pics next time I see him.

[MarinaJosh]

On 09/01/2025 at 10:54, GlenAnderson said:

Honestly, you need to drive it before you commit to anything. I had a 37 Model Y and it was simply the most frightening thing I’ve ever driven. The suspension layout is fundamentally flawed on them, with transverse springs both ends tied to the centre of the car by the torque tube at the back and the radius arms at the front. Ok if you drive really gently all the time, but carry any kind of speed into a curve and the suspension loads up and increases your steering input; you automatically ease off and the suspension snaps back and takes all the extra input out in a heartbeat. There’s a reason most of them ended up in ditches and 50s motoring magazines carried ads for rear panhard rod kits and independent front suspension conversions. They’re a heartbreakingly pretty little car, but if you’re seriously tempted you need to really make sure you can live with their limitations, or be prepared to make 1950s style revisions to it. 
 

Check all the wood too, and the A pillars either side of the windscreen as they’re a notorious weak point. 
 

I loved mine, but I was hugely relieved to see the back of it. An Austin 7 is a much better car, and a Morris 8 is better again. 

I am the current temporary custodian of this Y, through the Borrow A Classic scheme (formerly the Classic Car Loan Project).

The transverse leaf spring arrangement is, as you say, somewhat unpredictable. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction! Pot holes and odd camber can do interesting things. Comfortable cruising speed is 25 - 35mph. I have hit 40 - 45 on long straight smooth NSL roads. A wonderfully charming thing and great for pootling around little country lanes. I'll be handing it back soon. If I ever have the cash I'd happily buy one, but will undoubtedly spend more time looking at it than driving it! At the end of the day, it was the cheapest of the cheap even by the standards of the time. Great fun.

[Joey spud]

This is one I'll be watching go under the hammer next week.

Powered by a Ford xflow so I'm guessing it was used as a wedding car and needed to be a bit more powerful/useable.

They recently had a similar aged 10/4 in the sale that was Morris Minor 1098cc powered too.

[somewhatfoolish]

On 29/01/2025 at 13:20, barrett said:

I certainly wouldn't want to own one, but if this price is correct this seems like a great deal for somebody. Annoyingly I don't think you can get a passenger ship to Brest, otherwise it would be a lovely easy collection trip, too

Plymouth-Roscoff ferry or Scare France/KLM into Brest airport which although needs a couple of changes isn't extortionate if you're flexible on date.

[artdjones]

On 29/01/2025 at 14:36, lesapandre said:

Can I give a +1 for Packard. Virtually unknown by most in the UK as a brand - beautiful engineering if a little frumpy. Most are straight-8. 

They were a Rolls Royce equivalent, but slowly cheapened the brand, until they petered out.

I've always liked Hudsons.

[Six-cylinder]

I know its is a Counties Austin of England, but which one?

Reg info says 1950, 2199cc

It turned up at Milton Keynes Classic Car Breakfast this morning, but I did not get to speak to the owner.

[MarinaJosh]

It's an A70 Hampshire, saw it at the MK Museum BL Day. One for @Angrydicky!

[Angrydicky]

I’ve seen a few new pictures of this Hampshire popping up since it changed hands. I haven’t seen it in the flesh yet but it used to be owned by someone whose sole journey a year in it seemed to be to the goodwood revival (maybe a slight exaggeration there)

[lesapandre]

10 minutes ago, Angrydicky said:

I’ve seen a few new pictures of this Hampshire popping up since it changed hands. I haven’t seen it in the flesh yet but it used to be owned by someone whose sole journey a year in it seemed to be to the goodwood revival (maybe a slight exaggeration there)

A very handsome car that. I always thought when they went over to the bigger bodied Somerset/Hereford they lost some of that.

One of those cars that 'looks like it's moving even when it's standing still'.

What a beauty.

[Angrydicky]

Here’s my Hampshire. I’d wanted one for years but I couldn’t find one for sensible money so I ended up buying one that was totally rotten but complete and low mileage. I then acquired another body from an engineless Lhd car, off the road 50yrs which had been broken for spares for an Atlantic. I don’t ‘do’ shiny cars and polishing so just carried out some repairs to the body and chassis, painted it all and United them together to make one good one out of two. My priority was to make it safe and reliable and that’s what I’ve done, it’s got fully rebuilt brakes, steering, suspension etc. And a full set of new tyres and wheel bearings. These pictures were taken in October at a rally in Kent after I’d driven down from Lincolnshire to take part. I took the second picture from the drivers seat of my mate Graham’s Hampshire after we swapped keys and had a go in each others cars.