Hairy Bikers and Other Petrol Heads

[Eastsidepilot]

[QUOTE="eastsidepilot, post: 227561, member: 107"Daimler 240 V8.

sounds nice Col. Always fancied one of those but never driven one.

Mike[/QUOTE]

It was a lovely car to drive once I'd rebuilt the brakes, 2.5 litre V8 with big old SU carbs, drank a lot of fuel. My mates and I used to roll around town 5 up in it wearing our best whistles, when we got out at the boozer I think they all thought we were East End gangsters, but we were far from it, just bikers on a night off .
It was good on the open motorways etc but if you started throwing it around on the twisty stuff it could get a bit hairy. It was silver grey body work with blue leather interior, smelt gorgeous, an aroma I hadn't smelt since until I bought the Jeep which is very evocative of the old days.

Col.

 

[oldravendale]

I got my new GS1250 last September. I get the feeling that BMW actually don't give a monkey's. Apart from one email following the first service, I haven't heard anything from them at all. They did respond to a query, but not hyper helpfully.

I thought my experience with BMW was unique which is why I've kept it to myself. I was up for a new car in around 2005-ish. I'd had a couple of Jag S types which never missed a beat over 120 K miles but fancied a change. I went to BMW and asked to test drive a specific model - can't remember now what it was precisely but they advised with no enthusiasm whatsoever that I could try the nearest available alternative which they had at the time. Apparently they could sell every car they could get their hands on, so why worry about a customer? I then talked to Mercedes and they asked me to give them a couple of weeks so they could source the model I wanted to try (a specific CLS) and they gave it to me for a week.

Guess who got the order.....

I enjoyed the Merc, it was very competent, but it lacked the character of the Jag. Hence, thereafter, yet another S type and then an XK which was my retirement present to myself.

Brian

 

[Focalplane]

Oh dear, a list!

Triumph Herald Coupe ****
Mini 850 ***
Sprite MK 2 ****
MG 1300 *
Renault 8 ***
Peugeot 504 TI. ***** Best so far had to sell when went to Singapore (1974)

Ford Escort ***
MG TD ***** Completely restored chassis up, shipped to and sold in Texas
Lotus Super 7 1600cc *** cracked exhaust manifold
Ford Cortina Ghia 2 litre *** Rust bucket family far
Jaguar XK140 fhc ***** should never have sold!
1932 Riley Monaco **** Lost in Malaysia?

off to Texas (1980)
Oldsmobile Cutlass ** Company car, AM radio!
Buick Riviera **** V8 fwd!
Buick Century * Lemon
Acura Legend *** poor resale
Range Rover Classic 3.5 V8 ***** My “Lode Lane Legend”
BMW X5 *****
BMW 330 convertible ******

back to the U.K. 2003

VW Golf * Crap dealer support
BMW X5 (from Texas) ****
Peugeot 2008 **** surprisingly good
Audi A3 convertible ****

Working in France (2007)

Peugeot 207sw **** Workhorse between countries
Peugeot 308cc **** Metal roof convertible
Peugeot 3008 ***** Will buy again

Retirement Toys

1953 Riley RMA/E ***** A body, E mechanicals
1935 Riley 9 Kestrel ****

Currently looking for a 1933 Riley Lynx tourer.

The star ratings do not reflect the brand, but a combination of the actual car, it’s reliability, usefulness and customer service.

 

[Deano747]

Oh dear, a list!

Triumph Herald Coupe ****
Mini 850 ***
Sprite MK 2 ****
MG 1300 *
Renault 8 ***
Peugeot 504 TI. ***** Best so far had to sell when went to Singapore (1974)

Ford Escort ***
MG TD ***** Completely restored chassis up, shipped to and sold in Texas
Lotus Super 7 1600cc *** cracked exhaust manifold
Ford Cortina Ghia 2 litre *** Rust bucket family far
Jaguar XK140 fhc ***** should never have sold!
1932 Riley Monaco **** Lost in Malaysia?

off to Texas (1980)
Oldsmobile Cutlass ** Company car, AM radio!
Buick Riviera **** V8 fwd!
Buick Century * Lemon
Acura Legend *** poor resale
Range Rover Classic 3.5 V8 ***** My “Lode Lane Legend”
BMW X5 *****
BMW 330 convertible ******

back to the U.K. 2003

VW Golf * Crap dealer support
BMW X5 (from Texas) ****
Peugeot 2008 **** surprisingly good
Audi A3 convertible ****

Working in France (2007)

Peugeot 207sw **** Workhorse between countries
Peugeot 308cc **** Metal roof convertible
Peugeot 3008 ***** Will buy again

Retirement Toys

1953 Riley RMA/E ***** A body, E mechanicals
1935 Riley 9 Kestrel ****

Currently looking for a 1933 Riley Lynx tourer.

The star ratings do not reflect the brand, but a combination of the actual car, it’s reliability, usefulness and customer service.

Paul, I think you get the trophy for the longest car list!!
Mine is tiny in relation, so I'm not even going there, suffice to say I currently have a Focus ST estate, re-mapped and a good fun mid-life crisis car but practical for all my boat gear. Amongst my other favourites an Escort RS Turbo. Great fun but sadly removed from a car park one evening, never to be seen again. Longest runner a VW Sharan 1.9TDI (3 Kids necessitated) 198K miles till gearbox failed; damn good workhorse for towing earlier boats from Oxford to Portland! (Probably why gearbox went AWOL?)
Currently looking at the new Cupra Leon estate; a bit of a dark horse with lots of horses and re-map available!! HeeHee!! (I did consider Audi S3 or S4 but their chocolate gearbox history has put me right off!)

Regards, Rob.

 

[Overseer]

A query for all the petrol heads here. Can anyone tell me more about the car in the following photos? It is described as a Benz, but without any model details, date etc. It was owned by Algernon Darge (1881 - 1941), a professional photographer in Melbourne. His byline was the Moto-Photo-Man and he was obviously a serious petrol head. As well as a single acetylene (?) headlight the car sported a skull radiator cap decoration. The mudguards look home made. The photographs were taken in 1915 at the Broadmeadows Army Training camp (Darge had the photographic concession) and are all from the Australian War Memorial collection.

The inscription from one of Darge's photo mounts -

Who else was taking motographs?

Darge is the bearded driver in this shot

 

[Focalplane]

Many cars exported to Australia went as a bare chassis on which a locally built body was mounted, this was true well into the 1930s. The radiator cowling has a ? circular badge but it is partly hidden by the acetylene headlamp. Benz cars of the day did have a circular badge. The skull on top of the radiator was surely added by the owner. The basic design of the car certainly fits 1915, notably the crude suspension and the tyres. It looks as though only the rear wheels had brakes, normal for the time.

Most cars built before World War One would have been given a model name based on the engine, usually measured in horse power. To this would be added the style of the bodywork, such names following earlier coach built terminology. In this case, Benz “x” hp open tourer, perhaps.

A great set of photographs!

 

[simond]

Interesting approach, slicks on one side...

 

[Focalplane]

Re the Benz, I should add that I am not an expert in pre 1919 models (veteran car in the broad sense, another definition wold be pre 1905) but the motor car was still novel in 1915 and the nomenclature we use today had yet to evolve.

Interesting also to see the young lady sitting on the tool box!

 

[Eastsidepilot]

Definitely a Benz you can see the comparisons here..
mercedes-benz-publicarchive.com
...look up 1915 model.

 

[Overseer]

Thanks Col, I think it is a 1910 -12 8/18hp. Looks like it has had a hard life if it is only four or five years old at the time of the photos.

I think the car photos were just a bit of light relief from taking thousands of studio portraits of soldiers about to embark for the Middle East and Europe.

The motorised acrobatic troop -


Complete with Lt George.

 

[daifly]

The radiator is like the earlier Benz 8/18 hp | marsClassic
The wire wheel fixings are different from the Benz ones.
A useful source reference Col!
Dave
I think I crossed with Fraser!

 

[Max M]

I get the feeling that BMW actually don't give a monkey's. Apart from one email following the first service, I haven't heard anything from them at all. They did respond to a query, but not hyper helpfully.

That's interesting to note Simon. My experience has been the opposite with Mercedes.
My dealer (Sytner) has kept in contact with me on a regular (but not too intrusive) basis and will call me to remind when a service is due. Whilst I would hope this is because the love me the reality is that it is just good business sense.
Perhaps the BMW dealership has so much work they don't need to prospect for business? More likely a a poorly run service department?
Mercedes themselves also contact me periodically to advise of relevant changes but (quite rightly IMO) leave most contact to the dealer as I am their customer. Unsurprisingly my next vehicle is likely to be another Merc.

My working life was spent in service and parts working for manufacturers (clue: can you guess who they were from my post #198?) and we did what we could to encourage dealers to maintain contact with their customers. There were some who were very good at this which was generally down to good management.
There were also some who were awful.
These tended to be where the Dealer Principle was focused on vehicle sales and considered the service and parts departments an inconvenience.

 

[Eastsidepilot]

What's the chances of this whilst looking on YouTube!.....one of my old Tritons in fact the last one I built in'86 looking a lot different, the clip was taken 8 years ago.

Col.

 

[King Crab]

OMG! A Triton....
I wanted one so much, ever since I saw our neighbours' son riding about on one as a kid.
His version was definitely nowhere near as well sorted as the one in the picture.
But the stance, with the clip-ons halfway down the forks, and the chin on the tacho....

Peter

 

[Eastsidepilot]

OMG! A Triton....
I wanted one so much, ever since I saw our neighbours' son riding about on one as a kid.
His version was definitely nowhere near as well sorted as the one in the picture.
But the stance, with the clip-ons halfway down the forks, and the chin on the tacho....

Peter

Peter,
Check out earlier posts #20, 38 & 71

Col.

 

[Tim Humphreys ex Mudhen]

Well the list of cars set me thinking and since 1968 I 've had the following. Some great cars and some real horrors. The present garage is Range Rover Sport, Seat Arona, Alpine A110 and Triumph TR3a.

Morris Minor x 3
Vauxhall Viva, HA and HB
Rover P4 110
Escort Mexico
Lotus Elan Sprint
Ginetta G15 x 2
Citroen Dyane
Renault 4
Alfa Sud1.5i
Alfa Guilietta
Saab 900 x 2
Saab 9000
Jaguar XJ 6
LR Discovery x 5, 3 diesel, 2 petrol
VW Golf GTD
VW Golf Gti
Porsche 911 993
Porsche 911 996
Porsche 911 997
Porsche Boxster S
AM Vantage v8 4.3
AM Vantage V8 4.7
Jaguar XJ R
Jaguar E type 1965
Triumph TR3A 1960
Alpine A110
Range Rover Sport x 2
LR Freelander 1
LR Freelander 2
LR Discovery Sport
Range Rover Evoque
Seat Arona
VW Polo
BMW 325 Coupe
Lotus Excel
Fiat Panda 4x4
Daihatsu Four Trak
FordFocus 2.0
Ford Focus ST 170
Jaguar XF
Ford Fiesta

Now I know where all my money has gone !

Tim

 

[farnetti]

Here we go.

Austin A30
Austin A35
Another A35 at the same time (for spares, cost £1)
Wolseley 4/44
Wolseley 18/85
Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV
Ford Escort MK1 RS2000
Vauxhall Astra MK1 GTE
Opel Monza GTE
TVR 350i
Jaguar XJS 3.6
Vauxhall Carlton estate
BMW 2 litre 3 series touring E30
Classic Range Rover 3.5
Discovery Diesel
Defender SWB 4.0 heavily modified
BMW 7 series
Subaru Impreza turbo

Then came a series of boring company cars.

Six years ago I bought a 2003 Mondeo estate as a builders car for a house restoration. I dislike it intensely but, the trouble is, it always passes MOT and never breaks down despite the huge mileage I have put on it. Internally it is covered in sand, cement, spilt paint, and I have never cleaned it. Other advantages, apart from reliability, are I don't care if gardening rubbish messes up the rear on the way to the recycling, I'm not precious about kerbing the wheels or getting scratches in carparks, and I am never ever asked to the be designated driver.

Ken

 

[Focalplane]

The Peugeot dealer in Narbonne sent me an email to say that the company has a new name but not to worry, all the staff are the same. The sales manager seems to know everyone by name as well and on one occasion another customer turned to me and said “he’s a good man is Olivier”. My next car will be my fifth Peugeot!

 

[Eastsidepilot]

A couple of shots of past rides ....yeah I know the old jokes

BSA A10 obtained as a basket case but complete, just had to bolt it together, wasn't a resto job as I had no wheels at the time and needed to get it together on the quick ...taken outside my late Father's works, the joiner's shop to be precise with the timber rack in the background c '77.


Below one of the T120's I had which sort of went down the flat tracker route, this shot was taken by my mates bird, Alison, who was in their BSA Goldflash & sidecar , she was keen on taking photo's although this turned out slightly out of focus. If I remember correctly, late '70's, we are on what we now call the new A13 where it passes over the M25 but at that time it was still being built so hadn't reached Rainham and we had just come up from the Dartford Tunnel.
The TT pipes had perforated tubes stuffed up the ends for baffles, not that it quietened it much but stopped the Old Bill poking a rod up it to see if it was an open pipe .....My passenger ? well I'll be blowed if I can remember her name but she was good fun .





Col.

 

[Purple-haze]

Col, is that a standard rear tyre,coz it looks mighty fat in that photo!

regards Rog