Most undeserving / overrated classic?

The problem, again, is lack of somewhere to do the work - house is right by the road & so's the parking space. and I doubt if the department would like me doing the job in their car park (tempting, though..)

All painting is. I found that when painting the boat (just single-pack pain, fortunately) - every midge for miles homed in on it.

Yes Dauphines certainly could be tricky to drive --- the brakes totally lacked feel it was to easy to lock them up not a good idea on a rear engined car with a rear swing axle designed by old man Porsche.

Humber Pullman Armstrong Siddeley Saphire Land Rover Series 1 to III Ford Mustang, GT40, GT Jag XJ6 SIII, XJ40, X300, XJS, SS100, S-type (the real one not the Lincoln), XK120, XK150, XJ13, Mk10, MkV Daimler V8 250 Mercedes 500SL Aston Martin V8 Vantage Alfa Giulietta (1980s) Lancia Stratos, Beta Monte Carlo

The steering on E type feels pretty awful compared to other british sportscars of the 60s true it was fairly taught but at slow speeds the driver felt very conscious of the shear mass of the XK engine giving the car it reluctance to start to turn in -- obviously not helped by the LSD which came from the factory pretty tight set. I remember there was feel through the steering but it was road surface vibration and mild kick-back rather than informative, fine for the 1930s car but this was a 1960s sports car.

The series 3 felt better not just because of the quicker power rack and small steering wheel but because the wider 70 section tyres considerably improve the initial turn in. Until 1968 when the XJ re-wrote the rules my favourite Jag of the period was the 420 (not 420G), true the end tail could step out of line but it was pretty quick off its mark.

OK, I'll grant you that one. Not exactly yer mainstream product, mind. I'll also grant you - if pressed hard - some of the special vehicles products and suchlike (Lotus Cortina, Escort Mk.1 1800, probably the Sierra Sapphire Cosworth). Mainstream products, however..

Don't get me wrong. I've owned and enjoyed owning old a few F*rds[1] and driving others. Honest old barges in many ways, but all long consigned to their spiritual home of "cheap, disposable set of wheels". The kind of car that it doesn't matter if you thump a wall parking, because after all it's only a Ford.

[1] Mk2 Granada 2.8 Ghia, Sierra 2.0 Ghia - both honest old things, and in some ways their wayward handling made them almost amusing (though never especially interesting)

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/Minors/

That sounds more like a Land-Rover. It's not a proper series Landy if it doesn't have a moss garden around the windows.

Is that the weight of driver which will cause components of the car to break?

Richard

Don't know about the Bristol, but a trusted source told me the Le Mans Replica Frazer Nash was good, but in a different way. If you realised you were going the wrong way you would do a three point turn in the Ace, but you would spin the 'Nash.

Ron Robinson

The 3.5 litre XK engines had a reputation in the late '50's and early '60's for being able to go through a club racing season without needing a spanner laid on them, though I am led to believe that some people changed the sparking plugs half way through. Probably a waste of £1.50 though.

Ron Robinson

The Sud was a very special car - so much so that even 20 years on, in the form of the Alfa 33 it was still a good choice of hot-hatch.

Just a minor point, though.... it's technically not a transverse engine. Think about the orientation of the crank ;-)

No, real cars are RWD and have turbos.

I do like my mate's Elan 2+2, since it got a fiesta divi it's almost useable. If someone can improve a Cortina with a CA18DET I can't see why an Elan can't be improved the same way. Needs something doing to the sills. MOT station hasn't sussed out that there is more to the chassis than the center box.

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Bloody nerds. It's the sort of people who might have weird old Acorns lurking around, or hang around in #ukrm, that come up with this sort of technicality...

Richard (I still think that the Allegro isn't as bad as people make out. I want one with an MGF VVC engine in it. In lime green. With Quartic wheel. And then I want a Princess 2200 (ideally, the Wolesley grille/bonnet) with a KV6).

No, I'm inclined to agree with you. It occurs to me to wonder what actually constitutes a BL badge, since I formed a picture of particular cars in my mind without really thinking about it. The literal BL badge is, to me, the rectangular one with the black and blue stripes. That was the Austin badge. We're talking about such beauties as the Ambassador, Maxi, Allegro, Maestro. Rovers were still Rovers when those came out, unlike the Austins where it was clearly a case of just picking a famous name the company happened to own.

Doesn't the glass fall out if you remove the moss ?

Agreed, the 'sud was a fantastic car. The Alfa 33 was very nearly the worst car the Italians have ever produced, if it wasn't for the Arna, then I'd say it was definately the worst Alfa ever built. I'd rather have an Alfa 90 than a 33.

Have you driven a 33 1.7 16v? - stupidly quick, great handling.

No matter what you did to the Magnette it would suffer from excess weight compared to the Cortina. And although it handled well, the ultimate grip wasn't as high as the Cortina either - probably due to a higher C of G, and a poorer weight distribution.

Perhaps you forget just how successful the Cortina was in competition?

Never dared try on mine :)