Why would anyone want a Classic car?

I actually find the Vitesse more comfortable than the family Passat which has very unforgiving German seats. Mind you, I have to confess that the XJS seats I've fitted in the Vitesse are slightly less comfy than the original tatty Triumph ones, even if they do look and smell much nicer.

I once snapped the throttle cable on my VW Type II at roadworks on the M1 near Leicester. I got it from there to York (where no one had the right cable), on to Edinburgh (still no one had the right cable, and the wrong one wouldn't fit because the steel tube in the chassis through which it runs was badly rusted), into Edinburgh at rush our, out of Edinburgh at rush hour and through to my favourite welder in Glasgow ... all without any throttle control whatsoever. Much fun.

Ian

Really ? I found we "sat right through" the original Triumph squabs, Ours are now XJ6 so they don't have the tip-forward of an XJS.

Willy Eckerslyke realised it was Mon, 06 Jun 2005 14:11:13 +0100 and decided it was time to write:

Oh yes, couldn't agree more.

I had my 1957 TR3A MOT'd last week at a Renault dealership. There were three mechanics working next to it on a Megane CC - the new one with the fold-up hardtop. Nice car, but of mind-boggling complexity compared to the TR. Apparently, there was something seriously wrong with it, as they were going through manuals as thick as a phone book and had the car hooked up to all manner of electronic equipment. Serious, sweaty faces and much sucking of air through teeth all round.

One of the mechanics, looking at the TR which had just passed its MOT, had the audacity to come up with the old Lucas electrics blah blah. I told him that the electrical system in the TR had just two fuses and virtually nothing to go wrong that couldn't be fixed by the roadside, as compared to about thirty fuses and God knows how many computers in the Megane, which wasn't going anywhere soon.

"Given that it's a lovely, warm, sunny day, and you had to choose between that modern but broken down Renault and this stylish, half a century old classic that turns heads wherever it goes... and it goes! ... what would you do?".

I didn't wait for his answer, but waved and smiled as I started my car and roared out of the garage. ;-)

I'll challenge that claim with a Toyota Previa...

Heh. Bit of a cheat, that, as a Previa is a van in all but name....

You're only saying that because it was a TR3 and didn't have Lucas mechanical PI !

All Herald/Vitesse Convertibles have the same B-post, no difference betwwen the 1200 and 13/60 in this area, Cheers, Bill.

Technically it's an MPV. It shares its engine with a van, but not the layout - it's not van-derived. It's pretty quick for a big bus, but apparently not quick enough for the Merkins, who added a supercharger to the 136BHP it has already...

But I admit I do refer to ours as the wife's van, cos she treats it like one. White as well...

A holiday with the family instead of a holiday from the family...Ouch! Hope it's somewhere nice. Festival date got moved this year didn't it, so I guess there is some excuse. Obviously you won't be making the Gartshore's joint 100th birthday party either.

That's encouraging. See you in September (isn't that a song title).

David Betts ( snipped-for-privacy@motorsport.org.uk) The Classic Car Gallery:

To be honest, I still need to adjust the XJS seats a bit more. I've fitted them with the squabs a little too flat. Spacers at the front to tilt them back a little will give more thigh support. They're not as padded as the old Triumph seats so it's more important to get their positions spot on.

That's why I held out for XJS ones, XJ Coupes now getting rather thin on the ground.

: > In a saloon, yes, or in a 1200 convertible. The thicker B-post and : > wider seats in a 13/60 convertible mean that there isn't much scope : > for doing this - or if you do, you wear holes in the seat and the : > paintwork. Been there, done that ... : : All Herald/Vitesse Convertibles have the same B-post, no difference betwwen : the 1200 and 13/60 in this area,

Let me reparse.

"The thicker B-post, and wider seats in a 13/60 convertible" ...

In other words, a 13/60 saloon is no problem because the B post is thin. A 1200 convertible is no problem because the seat is narrow. But in a 13/60 convertible you have a thick B post and wider seats.

Ian

Andy Dingley realised it was Mon, 06 Jun 2005

I would never offer garage space to a car with new-fangled ma-manical PI. I'd rather go the other way and have a Stanley Steamer. :-)

Fair enough, Cheers, Bill.

Are you aware that Stanleys also had an "automatic" all-mechanical fuel injection system ? It's reputedly so unreliable that many of them have had it removed and just have a couple of manual valves on the dashboard

BTW - the plumbing chart for a Stanley is on the web.

As it happens, I was at the Seal Cove Auto Museum in Maine a couple of days ago. Their collection includes 2 or 3 very nice Stanley Steamers. For anyone considering a trip to Maine, this museum is well worthwhile. It's a (very) private collector's life work, mostly 1920s or so cars, many of them literally unique. It's tucked away miles from anywhere, and they only just recently acknowledged their existence with a web site.

This visit, I noticed that their 1913 Peugot was absent and when I asked, I was told that it's been shipped off to the 2005 Pebble Beach thing. Damn, they're in a different league.

Andy Dingley realised it was Wed, 08 Jun 2005

Of course I am. I'm the bloke who used to drive (and routinely parallel park) a Wallis & Stevens steam roller when I was about 16.

It was used on Stanleys from 18-something up to the last one in the

I know that chart. It's not half as complicated as that for a Doble. It just makes me want a Stanley even more.

Did you ever try to steer a Sentinel? Let alone parallel park it? ;-)

Steam pressure assisted power steering would have been useful and not too difficult to arrange, I would have thought. Still, they were real men in those days and it was probably as good a way of working up a thirst as any ;-)

BTW if you want steering effort, try a 6X4 Scammell with the weights on the front....

Ron Robinson

My nephew steered my brother's sentinel for many miles on a draw bar, a good few years ago, it was one of the blow up tyred models (SE6 ?) He had bigger front sprockets cut for it so it would cruise at a higher speed (unladen anyway as he used to go to rallies in it)

It was great fun to sneak up behind people in it, since with the tyres and steam it was virtually silent.

mrcheerful