She came to stay with us about a year ago. She was 19, stylish, sleek to look at and well proportioned. Alas, she had a few issues. Her appointment at the well woman clinic had revealed that she was unlikely to pass her official “fit for work” medical. I had been appointed as her consultant.
Initial consultation revealed that the ravages of time had progressed further than her outer skirts and had attacked her inner structure to some degree. She was also suffering from a slight, but persistent blood loss and a “waterworks” problem. A good makeover to remove deep-seated grime was planned as well.
Work started in due course, the old clothing being removed to fully reveal the inner grafting required. This proceeded well with just one fit of pique when she overheated and a cold shower was successfully applied to the affected area. Her outer skirting was tackled next, being hand cut and formed to match her original clothing. She was rapidly regaining her old grace and beauty. With the final colour matching applied and the old clothing rejuvenated she looked wonderful.
The blood loss was minor and easily cured but the waterworks required some extensive re-plumbing.
At last she was declared fully fit and passed her official “fit for work” test with no problems.
We went out together a few times. It was an experience. Her voice ranged from a low rumble when idly chatting to an exhilarating howl when she was in full flight. I found that she responded best to gentle caresses on the relevant areas and that she would protest if matters were pressed too hard. If circumstances had been different she would still be here as a kept woman but it was not to be. She left to be with another man on Christmas Eve. I hope he treats here well.
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A sad loss MJM, any pics?
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Are we all meant to guess what sort of scarlet woman she was?
I'd say some kind of Alfa (you wouldn't wax that lyrical about a Vauxhall....unless you were VxFan!).
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And me Avant. One of the few brands that evoke that sort of descriptive...
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...I found that she responded best to gentle caresses on the relevant areas and that she would protest if matters were pressed too hard...
Could be any old rust bucket which the owner likes to describe as a classic.
Morris Minor?
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"She" was 19, to young for a Minor.
Perhaps Alfa or something like a BX or CX ...
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A 500 or 560 SEC W126 Benz would give rise to such emotion too, better still the very rare W124 500E.
Not so much howl as ground shaking rumble though.
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Got to be a Fiesta 1000 Popular Plus...
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>> Could be any old rust bucket which the owner likes to describe as a classic.
>>
>> Morris Minor?
>>
Oi!
Just watch your tongue laddy!
;-)
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>>A sad loss MJM, any pics?<<
I have some before during and after pics but how to upload them I haven't a clue.
"She" was my daughter's Toyota MR2 Mk2. 1991. The door cills had made a bid for freedom a molecule at a time. As usual some of their inner structure had collaborated in the escape bid. (I would never buy a used car with overcills tacked on for this reason)
I could find no replacement panels available so made my own with the aid of a 50 tonne pressbrake and a 4" plastic sewer pipe.
Most of the structure was in very good condition so was just treated with anti-rust fluid and waxoiled. The finished job was quite pleasing to look at.
The last mid-engined car that I drove was a Lotus Europa twin cam. That was fun. It let you know when you were approaching the grip limits and was progressive when it started to "go"
This Lady had more power and more ultimate grip but not the same amount of feel. I didn't want to tell my daughter that Mister Two, as she called "her", was a bit bent.
She has a company Volkswagen Passat "slow motion" or something so the young lady had to go. I would have kept her but I'm used to Citroen suspension and couldn't live with the hard suspension.
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MR2 - just remember how it is known in France!
or for the non understanders - www.megaboost.co.uk/mr2/frames/thehistoryofthemr2.htm
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Nice cars and looked the biz MJM although 'they' say the previous model handled better,
Re: the Lotus twin cam engine, I got to drive many cars with that fine engine, including the rather spiffing Jensen Healey,
Here's one with Stromberg carbs for gawds sake ~
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JensenHealey-Lotus_907_.jpg
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I think I could rehome one of these Jensens ~ www.jensen541.com/index2.htm
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541 looks better to me now than it did then. The one in Dog's first photo looks particularly nice, including the colour although I would be reluctant to court trouble by having a bright red car. The similar looking CV8 may be a nicer car though (unless the engine spoils the balance... but I don't think that Sheerline lump was a lightweight).
The Interceptor that followed it was an inferior motor although much fancied by pop stars and footballers. I think it looks vulgar and flash myself. Cliff Richard had one. It had a swing axle back end and tricky handling. The FF was better, but also flawed and much too expensive.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Fri 30 Dec 11 at 20:57
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>> The Interceptor that followed it was an inferior motor. It
>> had a swing axle back end and tricky handling. The FF was better, but also
>> flawed and much too expensive.
>>
I beg to differ... the Intercepter had a live Salisbury rear axle.
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>> I beg to differ... the Intercepter had a live Salisbury rear axle.
You're right. I had to look up Salisbury to see that it just meant a normal one-piece back axle!
Not necessarily worse than swing axles in extreme conditions, but still given to surprising power oversteer that caught owners out, despite the LSD.
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>> Not necessarily worse than swing axles in extreme conditions, but still given to surprising power
>> oversteer that caught owners out, despite the LSD.
>>
>>
I would say that 'one piece' rear axles handle a LOT better than a basic swing axle.
Being fixed by the axle, the rear wheels will remain 'flat' to the road, where as the swing axles 'lift' so that only the outside of the tyre stays in contact with the road.
This was cured by using more sophisticated independent rear suspension systems.
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>> I would say that 'one piece' rear axles handle a LOT better than a basic swing axle.
Yes, there's a lot to be said for the wheels being parallel to each other and at right angles to the road. But a badly located back axle - on cart springs and no other links, with poor damping for example - can dance about over bumps or under power. That isn't so good.
Similarly, swing axle arrangements vary quite a lot in sophistication and quality. A Herald or fifties Skoda Octavia could misbehave quite easily. But Mercedes used swing axles for years and they were thought pretty good, better than anyone else's.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Fri 30 Dec 11 at 22:57
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...A Herald or fifties Skoda Octavia could misbehave quite easily...
And Heralds were quite safe if you braked early for a corner, which is a good plan for smooth progress in any car.
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>> Heralds were quite safe if you braked early for a corner, which is a good plan for smooth progress in any car.
With all due respect Iffy, what is being discussed here is not 'smooth progress' but how easy it is, or isn't, to get an alarming surprise when pressing on in a gung-ho manner to make rapid progress.
I quite liked the Herald myself. Indeed as with the swing axle Skoda Estelle, you were usually OK in bends if you kept your foot hard down in the right gear, unless road camber or bumps got you crossed up. Lifting off in mid-bend guaranteed that the tail would step out smartly. You had to be ready. Fun if you were that way inclined.
Mercedes 190 SL was in a quite different class, cornered as if on rails more or less. But it was said the 300SL could be dangerous. It did kill quite a few people.
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...when pressing on in a gung-ho manner...
Wouldn't know about that, I'm more Jenson Button than Lewis Hamilton.
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>> I'm more Jenson Button than Lewis Hamilton.
Good heavens. I didn't realise we were mixing it with teenage raving nutters. Those people do something on a different plane altogether in their inverted aircraft.
I thought we were talking about ordinary human beings galumphing around in Euroboxes...
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My Spitfire had more or less the Herald suspension set up. Never gave any bother but I think on reflection it was so down on power as to be reasonably idiot proof. A woman in a Datsun Cherry burned me off in it one day. Not good.
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>>Lifting off in mid-bend guaranteed that the tail would step out smartly. You had to be ready. Fun if you were that way inclined.
I'd hardly call 'trouser browning' fun!
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>> Cop hold of this Jensen 541 R ~ www.flickr.com/photos/d70w7/4631768316/in/photostream/
>>
I was going to say David Jacobs had one of those.... then I remembered he had a CV8.
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...I was going to say David Jacobs had one of those.... then I remembered he had a CV8...
You've done well to remember David Jacobs, let alone the car he had.
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>> ...I was going to say David Jacobs had one of those.... then I remembered he
>> had a CV8...
>>
>> You've done well to remember David Jacobs, let alone the car he had.
>>
LOL.... He was a customer of mine, with that car!
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>> Re: the Lotus twin cam engine, I got to drive many cars with that fine
>> engine, including the rather spiffing Jensen Healey,
>>
Totally different engine to the Lotus Europa TC, Elan, Lotus Cortina etc which were based on the Ford Kent.
The Jensen Healey unit was 100% Lotus.
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>>
>> Totally different engine to the Lotus Europa TC, Elan, Lotus Cortina etc which were based
>> on the Ford Kent.
>>
>> The Jensen Healey unit was 100% Lotus.
>>
Correct. the early twin cams were based on standard, but specially picked Ford blocks, the later ones were specially cast for Lotus.
The engine used in the J-H was a Lotus engine but the prototypes were based on the Vauxhall slant four block.
Last edited by: swiss tony on Fri 30 Dec 11 at 21:58
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Long time ago now, and anyway - I only tuned em :)
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>> Long time ago now, and anyway - I only tuned em :)
>>
No problem Dog, my brain gets muddled at times... normally with the new stuff!
The old stuff mostly sits easy in my bonce, and has a habit of rising to the top when discussions like this one appear.....
BTW I just had to correct the Wikipedia page on the Kent engines.... wonder how long before its incorrect again......
Last edited by: swiss tony on Fri 30 Dec 11 at 22:29
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My brain has been muddled since 1969 tony, in fact I believe I may have even left it there :D
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OLd thread re-visited.
>>A sad loss MJM, any pics?<<
It's been a while Dog, but I've uploaded some before and after photos.
There's a couple of photos of my Willie as well, just to keep Pat interested. :)
tinyurl.com/6nwczcj
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Great condition MJM, especially for its age (21) I'll wager it didn't fit in the garage when the photo was taken!
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The last car to fit in the garage was a 1965 Lotus Elan S2. It was in there for 18 years and finally left on a trailer for Finland. I sometimes wonder what it is doing now. The Xantia won't fit, even if the garage was empty, it's too wide
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No, the garage is too narrow ;}
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I can only find one photo, but it is very early for a Sunday morning;)
Pat
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Amazing what ya find on the internet, I 'Binged' withnailer and found this:
www.withnailandiforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=848
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>> Amazing what ya find on the internet, I 'Binged' withnailer and found this:
>>
>> www.withnailandiforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=848
>>
I wonder how many other semi derelict properties there are festering away on the moors and fells around the UK?
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I used to walk to this place with Mutley when we lived at Warleggan, those little circles are all hut circles from a Bronze/Iron age settlement - a whole housing estate of them!
g.co/maps/cpb6n
I used to walk into the circles through what would have been their doorway and try to imagine how they would have lived back then.
'Mentally', I used to pay my respects to their spirits, I'm funny like that :)
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The Scarlet Woman. - Dog
