Just spent a very convivial weekend in the Welsh sunshine at my mother's farm, and enjoyed a few short drives in my stepfather's collection of ropey old motors.
The "collection" consists of a 1963 Wolseley 1500, a 1979 MGB and a G-reg Morris Minor. And an L-reg FIAT Panda, which is rotting in to the ground and doesn't move. The Minor is currently SORN sadly also, awaiting some work on its carb apparently, so I didn’t get to drive that one, although I have done so before.
Here’s a link to some photos of the beasties in question:
s1192.photobucket.com/user/alanovich/library/old%20cars
The Citroens in that album are not, sadly, part of the family collection.
There are also some old relics of earth lifting/farm machinery in there too, some in use and some (obviously) not. The place is quite a playground!
Driving the old Wolseley is the hairiest experience with its all round drum brakes and tendency to wander a bit when you lift off the, er, what do you call it, oh yeah, “power”. 40mph is the fastest I dare go in that one. The illluminated grille badge still works! Also has a green illumination on the end of the indicator stalk when it's in operation. A popular mod, apparently, is to install Morris Marina disc brakes. I'd probably sacrifice originality and go for that if it were my motor. The MGB is still a lively and raucous performer, it has a stage 2 head on it. Overdrive on 3rd an 4th, never quite understood the point of that over a 5-speed box.
The Panda? I'd quite like to trailer it up to my place and get it back on the road before it's too far gone. But I don't really have the time and I expect it'll go for scrap soon, which is a shame.
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>>Overdrive on 3rd an 4th, never quite understood the point of that over
>> a 5-speed box.
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It gives you a potential 6 gears.
Engagement by flicking a switch. No gearlever movement, no declutching.
Almost instant gear change.
Nice exhaust note as it engages.
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>> It gives you a potential 6 gears.
That isn't really the point. It was cheaper to use the Laycock de Normanville overdrive as an add-on than to design and make a five-speed gearbox.
Overdrive third and normal top ratios were often so close that 'six speeds' would be putting it rather flatteringly.
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It struck me as odd that a 1979 MG was fitted with this weird arrangement when Austin Maxis had 5 speed boxes years earlier.
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>> Overdrive third and normal top ratios were often so close that 'six speeds' would be
>> putting it rather flatteringly.
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Not on my Triumph 2000. Overdrive 3rd is neatly half way between normal 3rd and normal top.
As it will easily pull away from near-rest in 3rd, there is a lazy option in slow-moving traffic of just flicking between 3/3OD without changing gear at all.
Or at the other end of the range, 3 to 3OD gives fantastic pulling power up a somewhat steep hill that's too much for 4th.
There are lots of possibilities. Another is that having the OD switch on the gearlever, the two can be coordinated, giving 3,3OD, 4, 4OD for even brisker acceleration.
The TR series allowed OD on 2nd as well. I think even the wonderful sturdy Laycock de Normanville overdrive felt the strain using that option energetically.
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I'm surprised to hear that the Moggie is awaiting work on the carb as any work on an SU wouldn't take more than 20 minutes at the most :)
I had an MGB Roadster in the same colour and of similar year, we quite enjoyed driving it around London at the time, even at night or in light rain (as long as you keep moving!)
The old Wolseley looks nice of course, I wouldn't mind a drive of it actually, but going by your own experience of driving it, I don't think I'd want to go too far or too fast in it!
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The Moggie's on the back burner at the moment, and is going to get a full respray (original colour, natch). Stepfather has much on his plate at the moment with ongoing building and land works around and about - and it's not an urgent problem. He said the carb problem was something about dropping things or breathers or something - went in one ear and out the other as I don't understand carbs at all. Although a plate of Dog-recipe oven chips would go down a treat. ;-)
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>>a plate of Dog-recipe oven chips would go down a treat
tehe! - I'd get rid of that Intemotor ignition coil if I were thee, they brought me in a lot of work ;)
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>> The old Wolseley looks nice of course, I wouldn't mind a drive of it actually, but going by your own experience of driving it, I don't think I'd want to go too far or too fast in it!
It was quite a brisk little thing in its day although it had slightly silly looks being basically a Morris Minor. With front discs and proper dampers (those Armstrong lever dampers are total crap) it could still surprise some modern stuff. The Riley variant was the sporting one though, with two carbs and a bit of other tweaking. It wouldn't be hard to upgrade the engine.
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Think I'll stick with the Subaru, Sire.
:o}
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Course, I've worked on and driven a lot of cars in my time, including many Wolseley 1500's.
I have fond memories of the 18/85 S from this era and would gladly give e'e a home:
www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C398176
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>> I have fond memories of the 18/85 S
What did 18/85 denote? I'm guessing the 85 is horsepower?
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"What did 18/85 denote? I'm guessing the 85 is horsepower?"
I think this was Wolseley keeping up a pre-war tradition, with the first figure being the old RAC-rating horsepower (as in the Austin 7, Morris 8 etc) and the second the brake horsepower. The late 30s / 40s Wolseleys (the ones that the police used) were 12/48 and 14/56 if I remember right.
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Pre-Farina 15/50 was the good-looking one Perro. There was a Riley version of that too, and Old Bill used the 6/90 which was contemporary with the 15/50.
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>> Pre-Farina 15/50 was the good-looking one Perro. There was a Riley version of that too,
>> and Old Bill used the 6/90 which was contemporary with the 15/50.
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Designed by the late Gerald Palmer, Lud. He had previously designed the .............well, I expect you've guessed what already.
Ted
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>> I expect you've guessed what already.
>> Ted
No, I haven't (apart from the 6/90 which has a sort of family resemblance). Do tell! But that 4/44-15/50 was a nice looking car (as was its MG Magnette clone). Can't remember for sure if there was a Riley on second thoughts.
I haven't seen one of those, either MG or Wolseley, for donkey's years. Perhaps they weren't all that durable.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Mon 30 Sep 13 at 23:45
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>> >> I expect you've guessed what already.
>>
>> >> Ted
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>> No, I haven't (apart from the 6/90 which has a sort of family resemblance). Do
>> tell!
The Javelin...dear boy, the Javelin !
Ted
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>> The Javelin...dear boy, the Javelin !
Ooh, ah, yes, should have guessed but didn't. Javelin was definitely his masterpiece. Trust yours is in good fettle.
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>> Can't remember for sure if there was a Riley on second thoughts.
>>
The Riley equivalent was the Pathfinder, had a corgi model of one at the time, my dad had a ZA Magnette as his first car, still see them occasionally at shows
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>> The Riley equivalent was the Pathfinder
Equivalent of the 6/90 though, not the smaller one...
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Always fun to drive old cars I find.
Nothing wrong with drum brakes per se, though they fade much more easily than discs. The main problem is maintenance, discs are more idiot proof.
I don't think there is much point to an overdrive over a 5 speed, but there weren't 5 speed boxes generally, and o/d was an extra. Ratios were usually designed to achieve maximum speed in top, but overdrive as its name suggests is over and above that.
Most 5 speeds I've had reached maximum speed in 4th, and the Outlander's 6 speed reaches it in 5th. So the top gears are overdrives.
The first CRV I had in 2002 had a four speed auto. In D it only used 3 gears, there was a button on the end on the column lever marked O/D that enabled 4th, which was in fact an overdrive too. Running as a 3 speed, was the equivalent of "D3" on a four speed.
Last edited by: Manatee on Mon 30 Sep 13 at 13:53
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Why does a 'normal' gear change require a clutch, but (dis-)engaging OD is just a flick of a switch?
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>> Why does a 'normal' gear change require a clutch, but (dis-)engaging OD is just a
>> flick of a switch?
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Because it achieves the different ratios by means of epicyclic gears and two internal metal/metal clutches operated hydraulically. All the electrc switch does is divert oil under high pressure from one port to another.
There are no sliding gears etc to crash, so no need to disengage the power.
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Thanks Cliff - I'll see if I can find one of those nice animated diagrams so I can get my head around that :)
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Another thing I've just remembered about these old heaps - the Wolseley doesn't have syncro on 1st. Forgot almost every time and crunched it a bit. Damn. All the cars I've owned since passing my test in 1987 have been full synchromesh.
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>> All the cars I've owned since passing my test in 1987 have been full synchromesh.
That's why none of you whippersnnappers know how to double-declutch. Don't know you're born (do they Ted, and other adult drivers?). I seem to remember that my Bentley didn't have synchro on second either. In its owner's manual, the word synchromesh never appeared. It was called 'a device'. But perhaps the synchro was a bit knackered... can't really remember, duh...
:o}
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Weekend in the country, some old classics driven - Cliff Pope
