I know that a few on here like or have the need for an estate.. So how about:
sherwoodrestorations.co.uk/vehicle/1974-ford-escort-1300-l-estate/#
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I see the air filter housing is in the winter position .. many are the times I was called out to a car running ruff on a baking hot summers day, only to find the filter housing was still in the winter position.
That'll be £30 + parts please :)
Having watched this weeks episode of GT, I'm sticking with 21st century schizoid man cars.
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It's only 2-door, which limits its usefulness.
With a long load space you often need access to the front part, for easing big items in and out. But a wide opening front door would be a nuisance if you have the back filled with small stuff that falls out when you only want access to the front seats.
In my opinion all estate cars are ugly add-on variants of their saloon brothers, with the sole exception of the Volvo 240, which is everybody's immediate picture of an older Volvo, and an elegant classic in its own right.
:)
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Whilst I am an ardent fan of Mk1 Escorts, and that is a stunning example of its type, I wouldn't take a second look at it. They were rather too much like a van, both in looks dynamics and comfort. Vans of those days were not nice
As far as estates in general go, I have always found that saloons are flawed in both looks and versatility.
I kind of exuded a smug air of superiority the other day as I rocked up at the council tip in 150mph+ capable, uber comfortable stylish classy german tech, and proceeded to haul a double mattress, bed frame, two old bedside tables, a hifi unit and a load of cardboard packing out of its electrically opening sphincter.
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I’m in agreement with you Z; estates, on the whole, look better than saloons, and despite having no real need for the space I’ve only ever had three saloons. And one of those was when we lived in Japan.
But when did the estate car image shift from a van with windows, like the Escort above, and the Marina etc of its time, to being an ‘acceptable’ choice regardless of the need for practicality? Having three brothers, my father had estate cars for as long as I can remember, until the 90s when we’d all left home, but initially at least they were practical with, as I recall, little ‘image’. Fiat mirafiori estates, cortina, cavaliers, sierra, granada.
Volvo is the obvious starting point, for someone born in the 70s, though we never had a 240. We did have a 740 though. The Merc estate of the era (or was it the eighties...) had an even posher image - far more upmarket (and expensive) than Volvos of the time. The Granada estate in Ghia trim was an occasional sight. It wasn’t until 1985 and the Audi 100 Avant that we had an estate that wasn’t just about practicality, though it did have rear facing seats in the boot :)
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The Escort estate featured is very different from the van variant, the latter being boxy and er van like, whereas the estate is curvy in a mkIII Cortina kind of way.
I agree that estates are often more stylish than saloons though some end up a bit too lardy bottomed, mki, II and III Mondeo estates for example.
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>> The Escort estate featured is very different from the van variant,
I said it was "van like" not "the van variant" . The Escort Mk1 and fords of that era always looked better as saloons, ford never then, and since, have made a stylish looking estate. Everyone else does, Ford cant.
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 28 Jan 18 at 10:12
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>> I said it was "van like" not "the van variant" . The Escort Mk1 and
>> fords of that era always looked better as saloons, ford never then, and since, have
>> made a stylish looking estate. Everyone else does, Ford cant.
>>
I respectfully beg to differ; the Mk2 Granada estate was quite a handsome beast in the classic American "station wadon" tradition; if you like American cars of course, which I do.
That pic of the Escort brings back memories, identical (except in colour) to the car in which I learned to drive and passed my test in the army back in 1979.
Last edited by: Harleyman on Sun 28 Jan 18 at 10:23
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Black ones? At Leconfield by any chance?
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>> Black ones? At Leconfield by any chance?
>>
Arborfield, I was a REME apprentice.
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>> I respectfully beg to differ; the Mk2 Granada estate was quite a handsome beast in
>> the classic American "station wadon" tradition; if you like American cars of course, which I
>> do.
Here you go then
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYoR17XJQas
or of course the infamous Wagon Queen Family Truckster variant
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTaTitRENDM
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I had access to a Ford Escort mk2 van in the ealry 80s. Fine bit of kit for the era.
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>> I respectfully beg to differ; the Mk2 Granada estate was quite a handsome beast in
>> the classic American "station wadon" tradition; if you like American cars of course, which I
>> do.
I was going to suggest a Granada too, but the mk3 (before the hideous bug eye facelift). Even as a 30 year old design, it's still a handsome looking thing, I think.
www.carandclassic.co.uk/uploads/cars/ford/2948743.jpg
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 29 Jan 18 at 12:50
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never then, and since, have
>> made a stylish looking estate. Everyone else does, Ford cant.
>>
Nowt wrong with a Focus estate, and the latest Mondeo estate looks great in the right spec.
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>> Nowt wrong with a Focus estate,
Bland and anonymous
>> and the latest Mondeo estate looks great in the
>> right spec.
So you have to pay to disguise it?
By the way I have a black cat.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 29 Jan 18 at 12:09
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>> By the way I have a black cat.
>>
Eh?
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>> Eh?
I thought your answer would be that my cat was not black, white in fact because only you had a truly black cat
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 30 Jan 18 at 01:45
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We don't have a cat Z, sorry ...
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 30 Jan 18 at 01:45
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>> The Escort estate featured is very different from the van variant, the latter being boxy
>> and er van like, whereas the estate is curvy in a mkIII Cortina kind of
>> way.
IIRC there were both vans as you suggest and windowless estate cars. There was some concession in purchase tax and similar that made them cheaper without windows/rear seats. Seem to remember the DER man who was a regular visitor to fettle our early seventies colour TV driving one.
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>> IIRC there were both vans as you suggest and windowless estate cars. There was some
>> concession in purchase tax and similar that made them cheaper without windows/rear seats. Seem to
>> remember the DER man who was a regular visitor to fettle our early seventies colour
>> TV driving one.
>>
Certainly the case with the Mk1, don't think it carried over to later models as the advent of VAT changed the taxation rules.
I may be wrong but didn't Vauxhall do similar with the Viva?
Last edited by: Harleyman on Sun 28 Jan 18 at 11:18
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The Viva was slightly too early for me to remember, but the Chevette came in a windowless estate form. I think it might also have been available as a Bedford? The only windowless cars I see nowadays are Fiestas. VW/Vauxhall/Fiat/Renault have small vans that look like vans, and Peugeot/Citroen have vans with windows in, like the Berlingo.
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>> The Viva was slightly too early for me to remember, but the Chevette came in
>> a windowless estate form. I think it might also have been available as a Bedford?
Yep. Aptly named the "Chevanne".
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>> Yep. Aptly named the "Chevanne".
The Chevettes wee known as "Shove-its" !
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 29 Jan 18 at 02:03
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>> The Chevettes wee known as "Shove-its" !
>>
They actually weren't a bad little car; still see quite a few about on the classic circuit and they seem to have aged quite well. First proper British built hatchback, Ford didn't get into the act for a good year with the fiesta, which arguably didn't quite compete in the same class, as the Chevette was more Escort-sized.
Pity they didn't have a more advanced engine than the wheezy old Viva lump though.
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Had a Chevette. Never had a car that rotted so quickly. Doors were perforated after five years.
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>> Had a Chevette. Never had a car that rotted so quickly. Doors were perforated after
>> five years.
>>
You evidently never owned a Talbot Horizon then. My late father had one, horrible cars. Rattly gutless engine, gearshift which made an Austin Maxi feel slick, and a martyr to tinworm. Only good points were the hatchback (quite a novelty then) and very comfortable seats.
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>> You evidently never owned a Talbot Horizon then.
Or a Chrysler 180. My Fiat 131 arrived brand new with rust blooming round the seams
Last edited by: VxFan on Sat 3 Feb 18 at 16:27
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>>You evidently never owned a Talbot Horizon then. My late father had one, horrible cars. Rattly gutless engine, gearshift which made an Austin Maxi feel slick, and a martyr to tinworm
You're not wrong there! .. I've met quieter diseasels, even after I'd adjusted the valve clearances on the Chrysler/Talbot/Simca lump (of...)
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>> You're not wrong there! .. I've met quieter diseasels, even after I'd adjusted the valve
>> clearances on the Chrysler/Talbot/Simca lump (of...)
>>
Ha! When he proudly brought it home (it was his first ever mew car) I upset him by asking if it WAS a diesel!
Last edited by: Harleyman on Sat 3 Feb 18 at 12:47
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I'll never forget the Simca 1301 I tuned one Saturday afternoon. Upon removing the rocker cover to adjust the valve clearances, I found the rocker gear completely covered in thick sludge
It had obviously been like that for quite some time because it was solid, nut sludgy. I dug the stuff out so I could get to the tappets and found I could get the whole feeler gauge under most of the rocker arms.
Amazing how the thing ran at all at all really. I've tuned engines (Ford V6 & Vulva 240) on which there wasn't any oil showing on the dipstick. Funny ole life :o)
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>>Pity they didn't have a more advanced engine than the wheezy old Viva lump though.
Howls about: www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C953462
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>> Howls about: www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C953462
>>
Oh yes, they could go a bit.
Have to observe that the styling hasn't dated too badly either.
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I must admit I wasn't over fond of the Chevette, and I certainly tuned and road tested enough of 'em back in the day but, the HS with the 2.3 engine was, well, something else!
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>> I may be wrong but didn't Vauxhall do similar with the Viva?
I think they did - as well as producing a 'true' van variant as a Bedford.
Hillman Avenger probably was as well.
IIRC there was still a tax advantage after VAT came in as windowless cars were exempt form the additional Special Car Tax imposed to make up shortfall when purchase tax went.
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My FIL was a DER repair man. He had a long line of Anglia and Escort estates, always poverty spec. and always red. But the windowless estates referred to actually had windows and back seats, but had clip on plastic panels over the windows. Removed after work as he had free use of the car out of hours.
After the Escorts he had one Mk1 Fiesta. Not only was it impractical size wise as a 26" telly only just fitted along with his tools/spares, but his had an LPG conversion which resulted in the spare wheel being mounted vertically at the side of the boot. After the Fiesta, they moved to Mk1 Astras.
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>> I kind of exuded a smug air of superiority the other day as I rocked
>> up at the council tip in 150mph+ capable, uber comfortable stylish classy german tech, and
>> proceeded to haul a double mattress, bed frame, two old bedside tables, a hifi unit
>> and a load of cardboard packing out of its electrically opening sphincter.
>>
Superiority ovet who? Most people in Surrey have a man to do that for them.
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>> Superiority ovet who? Most people in Surrey have a man to do that for them.
Its recycling, one always recycles oneself, makes one feel worthy.
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>>> a double mattress, bed frame, two old bedside tables, a hifi unit and a load of cardboard packing
Been out totting again eh?
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Re the Escort like Harleyman I had som lessons in an otherwise identical dark met green one. I also failed my test in it and I've always believed the main issue was ours wouldn't pull 30 in top nicely so it was either stay in 3rd and look as if you'd forgotten to change gear or go for top and judder along.
Next test was in a 1.8 Marina estate which would pull 20 in top OK.
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Passed my test in a Red Mk1 1300 xl Escort. A sweet sweet little car, with a delightful gearbox action.
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>> >>> a double mattress, bed frame, two old bedside tables, a hifi unit and a
>> load of cardboard packing
>>
>> Been out totting again eh?
Well I thought If you can get a BMW 5 series and do some totting and divining then I would tread in your worthwhile footsteps
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totter, NOUN, British informal
A person who makes a living by salvaging saleable items from dustbins or rubbish heaps.
Pleased to report that the hatchbag, and the cage combo has kept the cargo area looking resplendent during the worse that 3,500 winter dog miles can throw up.
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I would warrant that the origin of that informal noun is the verb "to tot" as in totting up, total etc
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I would suspect not, "Total" seems to me to be a relatively modern word, and I think "tot" as a word is too old to be a derivative of "Total"
I think tot might be some form of rhyming slang
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Total, I assume, comes from the Latin totus which means whole. But the word ‘tot’ doesn’t mean the same (to me at least) and so I agree there must be some form of rhyming slang link
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>>> If you can get a BMW 5 series and do some totting
Indeed I'm out for a tot most Fridays... commercial environment rather than streets mostly.
It's a word from my earliest childhood when the totter would come round looking for anything scrap or reusable. Horse pulling a flat bed 4-wheel cart... Steptoe indeed as someone has mentioned.
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>>the totter would come round looking for anything scrap or reusable. Horse pulling a flat bed 4-wheel cart... Steptoe indeed as someone has mentioned.
Been there / done that :) .. mates dad had an orsen cart and we'd go out totting around sowf lunden when we should have been at skool. Thems are good memories, knowlmean.
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This was in the very late 50s... in the northern wastelands of the Elstree area... and seemed a lot more "gentlemanly" than the scouting done by Transit tippers these days. Everyone in our flats looked out for the guy if they had this or that to dispose of.
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>> This was in the very late 50s... in the northern wastelands of the Elstree area...
>> and seemed a lot more "gentlemanly" than the scouting done by Transit tippers these days.
>> Everyone in our flats looked out for the guy if they had this or that
>> to dispose of.
>>
There were, at least in central Glasgow, no recycling bins, most people had no transport to take stuff to a tip, rag&bone men (as I remember them as a child) were the only option to dispose of large or bulky objects that would not go in the "midden".
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Yep it was a useful... almost essential... service in town and city areas.
Prior to my folks the family hadn't strayed far from rural Suffolk and Cambridgeshire where the system was somewhat different.
Anything edible boiled up for the pigs/chickens... compostables on the muck pile... dead animals and the like in the cesspit... combustibles on the stove... metal and cans on the garden fire to burn off non-metallic parts then to the (motorised) totter when he called each month. Anything that didn't fit any of these categories we gave a good wang into the farmers field where it would eventually get ploughed in.
All at no cost to the local authority.
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Been out totting again eh?
>>
I thought word meant adding something up. I've never seen it mean looking through rubbish.
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My old 320d swallowed huge amounts before, during and after the house move. The 335 is of course identical and that has taken huge loads to the recycling centre to join other German and Swedish estates on similar journeys. Nothing special or unusual to see newish high end motors there
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Steptoe was a totter. Don’t hear the word much these days.
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Yep, totting means to count or add up so is surely related to total.
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'Proper' Escort.
tinyurl.com/ydb8bc9n
When Mum worked for Godfrey Davis in the '70s she brought home a Mk1 Escort saloon in the snow one day. ISTR the face-level vents on the dash had to be turned round to blow on the windscreen to melt the snow and the other could be turned to blow some mist off the back window. Seemed like a faff to me and disappointing for a new car when my ancient Beetle would clear the windscreen in seconds with a mixture of hot air and engine fumes. Oh ...
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A week ago I collected 16 bales of hay - 8 inside and 8 on the roof rack.
Many years ago I spotted a nice 30s 3-piece suite that someone had recently dumped in a lay-by and picked it up in passing.
Is that totting?
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Totty. I haven’t heard that word used for aeons. In my early 20s four of us drove out to Austria in a friends 1.6 Capri, staying in a nice hotel and mountain walking every day. There was a lovely outdoor swimming pool, around which lounged the fairer sex, so we called it the ‘totty pool’.
I’ve owned my fair share of estates....my first job starting in my teens necessitated delivering within a 15 mile radius, so in no particular order, had a Mini Clubman estate....business boomed so over the years had an Avenger, Marina, Volvo 240DL and Fiat 124/8 estates.
Latterly C180, E200, 2 x Legacy’s. Think that’s it, but there may be more!
My Father ran Hillman Hunter estates and dreamed of owning a Simca 1501 estate, could only afford a Simca 1100, but before he passed away had two Passat estates ( PKY 888M & RWX 567R)
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Daughter and SIL have a 66 plate Hyundai i40 Tourer, which to my mind, at least, is a very swish looking lump.
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>> My Father ran Hillman Hunter estates and dreamed of owning a Simca 1501 estate, could
>> only afford a Simca 1100, but before he passed away had two Passat estates (
>> PKY 888M & RWX 567R)
My Dad had a Simca 1500 GLS estate (GBN 611D) fro 1966 to 1969 succeeded by a Vauxhall Victor FD estate (AUG 504G). The Simca was actually quite a nice car - unlike previous FA/B/C101 Vauxhall Victors I wasn't nauseous within 2 miles of leaving home. The tailgate was in two parts, a window that wound down then a door that opened downwards. The boot floor could be slid out and formed a picnic table.
We've some 8mm cine film somewhere of us using it as such near Burley in the New Forest.
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My father was a petrolhead, and when very young we always went to watch football together on a Saturday afternoon...Bradford Park Avenue or Huddersfield Town. He worked 8-12 Saturday’s, grabbed a quick lunch at home, then we visited a different garage every Saturday pre football to ‘kick tyres’.
I remember sitting on the folded down tailgate of a Simca 1501 swinging my legs as a nipper....the garage being Rostron & Johnson at Eccleshill, Bradford.
Strange but I can barely remember what I did last Monday!
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>> I haven’t heard that word used for aeons.
Here's another I bet you haven't heard or seen for years - shooting brake.
One of my earlist memories is aged 3 going in a family group to my younger bother's christening in a hired shooting brake.
They had a special wooden body on the back-half of a large saloon, and this one, which in 1952 must have been pre-war, had the normal two rows of seats and then some extra benches down the sides in the back, with a pair of rear doors. The Morris Minor Traveller was a poor travesty of the real thing.
I used to notice odd names and car noises when I was young, and remember disliking the noise made by the Ford Popular. Then only a few years ago I spotted an extremely impressive Rolls-Royce shooting brake early one morning in a nearly deserted retail park. Driven by an elderly man with his wife, it swept slowly and silently across the length of the park and stopped outside Lidl's.
It didn't look restored - one could imagine it just being in everyday use since 1930.
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>> And this is not a shooting brake:
>>
>> www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/mercedes-benz/cls-shooting-brake
>>
Indeed it's not, it's an estate,
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>> Here's another I bet you haven't heard or seen for years - shooting brake.
By my childhood in sixties shooting brake was synonymous with estate car. My Uncle certainly used the term and so did some of my Dad's colleagues. Dad had a succession of estate cars as, at least in the early days of his business selling dyes and chemicals to the textile industry, he carried not only samples and colour swatches but was often called on to make deliveries too.
Up until 66 they changed cars annually, always Vauxhalls. He had Victor Estates in FA, FB (both *2) and then FC101. The Managing Director had a Cresta. As a partner/director Dad was entitled to fairly high level trim so al the Victors were two tone or bi-coloured and had radios and seperate front seats (although all had a column gearchange. Last estate was the 1969 FD series mentioned above which gave way to a Hillman Hunter saloon in 1971.
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Re Volvo 240 estate mentioned a couple of times in this thread, here's a bit of motoring trivia. To save costs the rear passenger doors were not altered from the saloon despite the estate having a higher roofline. In consequence there is a sort of fillet between the top of the rear passenger doors and the roof thats quite awkward once you notice it.
Do I get an honorary anorak for that one?
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>> In consequence there is a sort of fillet between the top of the rear passenger doors and the roof thats quite awkward once you notice it.
Just googled an image and see exactly what you mean!
Definitely honorary anorak award from me!
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>> >> In consequence there is a sort of fillet between the top of the rear
>> passenger doors and the roof thats quite awkward once you notice it.
>>
>> Just googled an image and see exactly what you mean!
Ewww yes I just did the same, now you mention it it sticks out like a sore thumb
>> Definitely honorary anorak award from me!
Tick
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 29 Jan 18 at 13:27
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Now that’s one bit of trivia I did know, and I think the Marina was the same. As it happens I saw a nice mid metallic blue/green 240 estate in Bosham this lunchtime - looked to be in pretty good nick!
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>>
>> Do I get an honorary anorak for that one?
>>
>>
No, it's well known. :)
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>> No, it's well known. :)
Well, I think the Honorary Anorak Awards Committee should be asked to consider an ex-gratia award.
I will bring it up at the next meeting.
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 30 Jan 18 at 01:46
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>>>Volvo 240 estate... a sort of fillet between the top of the rear passenger doors and the roof thats quite awkward once you notice it.
Yes I thought that spoiled the lines back at the time. Mind you they didn't really have "lines" anyway. My old chap bought a 145E new to a replace a Triumph 2.5PI estate just before I started driving and I was gutted as I'd so looked forward to driving the Triumph. He was in "the trade" though and carrying capacity was key.... the Triumph estates weren't that roomy for loads.
One thing that struck me I remember was the superb build quality of the Volvo... it was in a lovely mid metallic blue and the paint finish was fantastic.... and it had the first cloth seats we'd experienced.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Tue 30 Jan 18 at 09:57
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My early car days as passenger and driver were in Essex, no shooting brakes there, tho plenty of shootings, and bodies dumped out if the boots of mk10 jags
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The Mk1 Ford Cortina Estate, a mid-sixties legend:
ourclassiccars.co.uk/ford-cortina-mk-woody-estate/
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I think I shall always have an estate car. I know some fail to see the attraction, but it's one of those things, for me anyway, where once you've had one, you don't really want anything else. I've had cheap and cheerful ones, fast ones, slow ones, posh ones and all points in between, but they were all just so "useful".
I've only had a couple of years in last two decades when we didn't have at least one estate on the drive.
I really did feel quite bereft at the time.
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Yes we've managed well with some decent sized hatchbacks over the years but there is nothing quite like a large estate... as I'm sure the Duke of Buccleuch would agree.
Anyway once retirement beckons Runfer keep the company estate car and it will be but a small step from the rag trade to the... err... rag trade.
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In 35 years of driving I've only had 3 saloons, none of which were my choice. Hatchbacks estates or laterly window vans (big estates really) all the time for me. They're just so much more useful!
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When I was growing up, my dad had a succession of Cortina Estates which were ideal for a family of 7 as two always went in the boot.
His last estate car was a Peugeot 504 Family Estate and it was head and shoulders above the Cortinas that he had. Once its time was up, most of the family had moved away and that was the last estate car.
My third car was a Citroen ZX Aura turbodiesel estate car. It was black. The hearse it was known as although it was my first experience of a concertina style parcel shelf which, as a dog owner, I look for now as a big plus in any car purchase.
I still have a hankering for a Merc C Class Estate, you can just put so much stuff in them! And obviously ideal for the dog!
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>> When I was growing up, my dad had a succession of Cortina Estates which were
>> ideal for a family of 7 as two always went in the boot.
>>
Horrific thought nowadays, isn't it? Your two least favourite children in the back, right in the crumple zone.
I also travelled in the sixties in a couple of mini vans with no seat never mind no seat belt.
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Had a Volvo 740 estate with child seats in boot. Kids enjoyed it greatly (I shudder now).
Honda Jazz has nearly 900 liters of space with rear seats down - ideal for carrying wood, washing machines and beehives. Entrance to boot is just 1 meter wide so a limitation...
With hatchbacks like the Jazz an estate is superfluous for normal living for us. And if I was beekeeping on a serious scales (>20 hives) with a series of external apiaries to visit, I would need a twin cab 4x4 pickup which is more practical than an estate when carrying loads of things...
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I've never bought a car that wasn't an estate. (I think the MkII Polo counts? Could certainly get a dishwasher in the back with ease). I did inherit my father's Vectra hatch which I drove for a couple of years.
Why wouldn't you drive an estate car? What's the point in a car without a decent boot? As for a saloon. Why would you? Ugly things, too.
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I suppose you could refer to my RAV4 as an estate. It has a rear door, which I prefer to a tailgate. The bumper is part of the door and opens with it leaving a very low floor. The only snag is that the towing bracket becomes exposed at an ideal shin height. When 'unmodified', the door ony opens about 45 degrees...stupid idea. A ten millie spanner sorted that out by removing the door stop and I now carry a 3X2 wooden block to shove in the hinge side. It's ruddy heavy having the wheel on it !
The back seats come out with the tug of a cord leaving a load space 6 ft long. I 've had 3 waney lap panels in there and shut the door. I reckon it would take a fridge freezer. It's got roof rails and a friend gave me a pair of Toyota cross bars which lock on with a key. If I need to carry timber over 8 ft long ,I just put it on the roof and lash it to the side rails with Gelert 'Arno' straps. Quick, easy and secure. Taking the seats out means I carry the caravan awning and other heavy gear within the wheelbase, keeping the weight off the towball.
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>> Why wouldn't you drive an estate car? What's the point in a car without a
>> decent boot?
Pretty much my view. What will hold a lot will hold a little.
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>> Horrific thought nowadays, isn't it?
>>
Only if you think about it.
People used not to think so much , so they enjoyed themselves more.
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>>Your two least favourite children in the back, right in the crumple zone.
not too sure if the Cortina Estates had crumple zones!
Just checked measurements, the Cortina Estate was about 4 cm longer than my current Civic hatchback and a foot narrower!
I do miss the black vinyl roof though........
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>> not too sure if the Cortina Estates had crumple zones!
>>
>> Just checked measurements, the Cortina Estate was about 4 cm longer than my current Civic
>> hatchback and a foot narrower!
>>
Don't expect Ford had thought of crumple zones in those days. It was just somewhere that small kids sat, I clearly remember at 5 or 6 years of age sharing the space behind the rear seat of a 1950s VW Beetle with my pal on the way back from his birthday party, would have been in about 1961.
We realised the difference in sizes of cars when my oldest bought a new Astra estate a few years ago and I realised that it is bigger in every direction than my Cortina Mk5 Estate that I had when he was born in 1984
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!976 Ford Granada 3.0GL Estate
Length 4.674m. Width 1.791m Weight 1422kg.
2017 BMW G31 540i
Length 4.943m. Width 1,868m Weight 1840kg.
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Yet mostly parking bays and width restrictions haven't grown in line.
I had a "discussion" on a local forum where a person driving a Chelsea tractor was trying to whip up support for the local council to widen a width restriction, as she said it was impossible to get her vehicle through without scuffing tyres at best.
I did point out that the whole point of the restriction was to prevent "larger" vehicles from entering that street. And when I suggested that the take the 0.4 mile long "detour" to save the spend, she didn't agree.
Unfortunately, as the whole area is being redeveloped and relaid anyway, apparently they have agreed to widen the gap.
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>> Yet mostly parking bays and width restrictions haven't grown in line.
>>
Out of interest have fire engines and ambulances got wider over the years too?
I guess they probably have, surely there has to be a way of accessing any residential street in an emergency vehicle
Last edited by: commerdriver on Thu 1 Feb 18 at 10:10
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You sure on that width Zero for the beemer? I'm sure you are!
My Civic is 1770 exc mirrors, thought yours would be much wider?
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That's four inches wider!
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>> You sure on that width Zero for the beemer? I'm sure you are!
>>
>> My Civic is 1770 exc mirrors, thought yours would be much wider?
Yup 1868 exc mirrors, 2126 inc.
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>> not too sure if the Cortina Estates had crumple zones!
>> I do miss the black vinyl roof though........
I still remember our Cortina 2 litre GT in purple velvet, with a black vinyl roof. Bought, new, with my own money when in one of my self-employed phases.
When that phase ended, we PXd it for a new Citroen Dyane: talk about from one extreme to the other!
Last edited by: VxFan on Fri 2 Feb 18 at 12:26
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>> I still remember our Cortina 2 litre GT in purple velvet, with a black vinyl
>> roof. Bought, new, with my own money when in one of my self-employed phases.
>> When that phase ended, we PXd it for a new Citroen Dyane: talk about from
>> one extreme to the other!
>>
I can do better than that. Dad had a metallic purple Ford Fairmont Estate - a big Australian built car with a lazy in-line 6-cylinder engine. So strong that the jacking points were, literally, the front and rear bumpers! A few of these were imported by Godfrey Davis, Ford dealers in north London. Anyway, that was 1973, and then there was the fuel crisis. Not a time to be driving a thirsty 6-cylinder car. He swapped it for a LHD Citroen Dyane 4 (with just 425cc!)
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>> His last estate car was a Peugeot 504 Family Estate and it was head and
>> shoulders above the Cortinas that he had.
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Ahh, now you're talking. We had two 504 Estates when I was a kid - brilliant cars. You still see them in Egypt being used as taxis!
>> I still have a hankering for a Merc C Class Estate, you can just put
>> so much stuff in them! And obviously ideal for the dog!
>>
I hope it's a small dog. The boots on C-Class Estates are not that big.
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>>I hope it's a small dog. The boots on C-Class Estates are not that big.
Its a black lab - surely must be bigger than a Civic Hatch??
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Latest C class estate boot is quoted at 17 litres less than my 2012 Civic hatch.
We occasionally carry a lab ( black too) in the rear passenger space by using the magic seats.
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Of course the other thing about estate cars is that they are effortlessly cool.
I give you as an example Eddie Shoestring (played by Trevor Eve) in the 1970s TV Private Eye series, in which he drove a light blue Cortina Mk3 estate!
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>> >>I hope it's a small dog. The boots on C-Class Estates are not that big.
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>> Its a black lab - surely must be bigger than a Civic Hatch??
>>
Now an E class estate has a huge boot. BIL has three (!) of differing ages. Ginormous capacity..He plays around with old motor bikes so needs a big boot as he hates towing..
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Estate cars - Dog
