I've been musing

I remember with great affection a Viva HA van I had for ages. Super thing to drive with finger light steering and knife through butter gearchange. For good reason that model of car was popular with driving schools. The

1200cc is pretty lively too at obviously lowish speeds. They're not a popular choice so pretty cheap for a reasonable one, and easy to work on.

IMHO, the Standard is a pretty horrid car to drive. The Gazelle not far behind and a strange choice of name for an overweight car. ;-)

Any of the others would be ok and well enough supported - but like all popular classics more expensive because of this.

How about an old Land Rover? Find one with a decent chassis and bulkhead and there's nothing else to worry about. Parts are ridiculously cheap and mostly interchangeable. They're dead easy to work on, invisible to joyriders and will survive anything the weather can throw at them. And instead of just having one gearlever to practice with, you can have as many as four!

I'd guess you never tried changing a starter motor on one then! I remember having to remove the exhaust manifold for access on ours. My choice of Vivas would be the HB (in SL90 form perhaps). Same excellent steering and gearchange but with proper front suspension. Also nicer looking, roomier inside and less prone to rusting. Not as cheap to buy though, of course.

Not many about. Probably more likely to have bodged bodywork, given poor availability of panels and repair sections. Tugs needed to berth them at the kerb.

Or the Rapier equivalent?

Horrid little things. Might as well have a mini.

An under-rated car - but again, not many about.

Wonderful cars - the estate, especially. And if you could find a 16/60, a 4/72, or a Magnette, even better.

Morris Minor? Plenty to choose from, unbeatable for spares availability, easy to work on. Not much choice of radial tyres, though.

Mk1 or 2 Escort, or Cortina? May even have a working heater.

Is your second passenger mentally and physically pliable? If so - MGBGT Very cheap at the moment, and again, superb spares availability.

Good luck in finding an HA which has not rotted away. This was the era of GM cigarette-paper steel.

I used to have one in the '70s: replaced the van head-gasket with a thin paper one and with just this mod, it went like stink on 4 star, with the lower ratio diff.

Rattled, was noisy, but was a joy to drive with fatter tyres and rims, and was VERY quick between the Midlands and Snowdonia along the A5 in my student days. (It rattled and banged, the rear doors occasionally let go, BUT: You could also cook and sleep in it on wet week-ends when the economy tent couldn't cope...)

Those were the days.....

Ah - one who's obviously driven one. And that comment applies on good crossplies. Goodness knows what they're like on radials.

Didn't they just - top was more like third on most vehicles.

They did have very predictable handling - much better than MM etc vans. Possibly because the torque tube located the rear axle rather better.

Mine was at least as much fun as my earlier Mini vans - and much faster away from the mark too. Probably not as good on corners, though.

And terrible understeer even by FWD standards. Mike.

And if you buy one made before 1972 you can have fun practicing double de-clutching for the crash gears on 1st/2nd

Alex

In news:OeV%h.14719$ snipped-for-privacy@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk, Jim Warren wittered on forthwith;

Eurghh!

Getting hard to get bits now.

Heh. Fun, and not too unreliable once water pump is sorted.

Why not an A35? :-D. I like them.

I thought you said "not rust"?

At least bits are easy to get.

Fun to drive but rust spectacularly. Keep a MIG welder in the boot.

You won't get a decent Mk1 or 2 Escort for sensible money nowadays.

I'd say get a Mk3 Cortina, you might just get a tax exempt one, and they're easy to fix, easy to upgrade, drive well and are reliable enough. Besides, thanks to DCI Gene Hunt, they're cool again.

H&H Classic Auctions quite often have some decent cheap stuff, Scimitars and the like.

In news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Alex wittered on forthwith;

Or for a bit of luxury, an early Range Rover. Bits are supercheap as Alex said, they're easy to work on and unlikely to die provided the chassis is solid. Only places they tend to rot MOT wise are the rear wheelarches (seatbelt mount), inner wings (£40 each) and rear crossmember. Not the most fuel efficient thing on the planet but you'll get a lovely one for under £1500 with no problem and you can tow the world with it.

Why bother with all that crap.

Just buy the latest one you can afford and the log-book for a scrapped, tax-exempt car..... almost every 'tax exempt' LR / RR for sale on eBay appears to be 'questionable' these days.

I suspect you will find spares a bit thin on the ground.

Can't comment on the SuperMinx as such, but I had a Series Minx which was remarkably solid for its age. Not terribly well supplied for spares though.

Don't know.

I've had one of these. I found it a bit slow (admittedly I had the 948cc model). Engine spares no problem, it's all standard A-series, but anything more and you need the Owners Club because it's just not available.

Good spares availability if you can find a car that's not rotten.

Probably the best spares availability on this list. As long as you've got a good chassis to start from it should be OK.

Interesting choice - no too many about as most of them rotted away.

A Mini may be a bit small for you, but the "larger" derivatives like Elf/Hornet and estate models are perfectly manageable. I use an Elf and a Mini as daily drivers and they are perfectly able to keep up with modern traffic - the Elf being much more comfortable due to hydrolastic suspension. The only downside of the Elf is scarcity of trim and body parts, but mechanically it's pure Mini.

Problem is, it's incredibly easy to date a Range Rover to within 12 months at a glance. Really very easy indeed. They changed that often.

Pre-74 = no PAS (optional) and different brake setup for example. Too much hassle for most people to change, weird setup on the early ones. Good, but weird.

Indeed, but it doesn't stop people pulling that trick regularly.

True enough, tbh I'd be half tempted to get one if it wasn't for the number of Rangies that have been nicked and rung in that exact manner. A "legit" rung one (i.e one that had a genuine '72 chassis under a CSK body - with paperwork for everything) would be fun..

In news:f1qaju$uh1$ snipped-for-privacy@registered.motzarella.org, Pete M wittered on forthwith;

Damn you, I'm now thinking of bidding on this

You can get one with a VM Diesel for £1500 if you don't mind something untidy. More for one retro-fitted with a 200Tdi or a 300Tdi.

As for rot, if you're considering a RR or Disco take alone someone who knows wherer they rot. They are notorious for rot in the front valance, front inner wheelarches, sills, rear wheelarches, boot floor and rear body x-member (the last of which is quite difficult to see anyway) And to have all that lot welded will cost an arm and a leg. Believe me I know, someone recently came to me with a rotten Disco for welding, I've advised to scrap it , as it is worth more as parts than it is as a vehicle

Alex

I beg to differ, I have a VGC 1965 SIIa SWB on ebay at the moment, and everything is as it should be. Yes, it's been restored, but the identity of the vehicle is not in doubt.

anyone's interested

Alex