Good cars you don't see any more?

[scumdog]

Best to remember them through the Rose tinted glasses of time - it's shocking how agricultural and slow they feel now to drive. I love old cars but let's not kid ourselves into thinking they were "good". Some were just slightly less shit than others.

My Marina ute runabout is so simple, nothing flash, complex or technological about it.
And I put $50 of petrol into it once a month. (It's a 1300)

And so far it hasn't shit itself but it's plenty quirky - although to it's credit it's an 'instant-starter', one compression and it bursts into life.

[James Deuce]

So was that a Sunbeam Talbot from the '50's, with a big vertical radiator and Humber Hawk engine and running gear (unlikely for a work car) , or a Chrysler Talbot from the '70's, a front wheel drive Simca which would be more easily compared to a British Leyland Austin Princess and something that could be a work car in the '80's ?

First time I drove a Talbot I thought what a great car, love it. Five years later they were utter pieces of crap, one of the worst cars on the road. The gear linkage was a bit nasty, but the gearbox was the easiest to remove of any car - ever. About 5 bolts and the linkage and that was it - the bellhousing, finaldrive, input shaft and axles all stayed in the car, only the gearbox came out. Odd bits of outstanding design crop up in the strangest places, pity no one else decided to copy it.

Chrysler Talbot based on the Avenger! Thank Mr CS363. That's right. Specially Badged as a Sunbeam by BMC. But an '80s version made from bits left over in boxes. A less wedgy Princess competitor. Made less wedgy with vinyl and trim. There was only about 4 of them in NZ ever. William Collins Publishers owned all of them. Cheap deal. They lasted about a year. Had nothing to do with the Frenchies.

[jonbuoy]

My Marina ute runabout is so simple, nothing flash, complex or technological about it.
And I put $50 of petrol into it once a month. (It's a 1300)

And so far it hasn't shit itself but it's plenty quirky - although to it's credit it's an 'instant-starter', one compression and it bursts into life.

I know what you mean - up until last year my daily driver was a 69 MGB GT - never let me down and a pleasure to spanner on but its a toaster in the summer and I felt like I was thrashing it just to keep up with modern traffic. I've only taken it off the road to do a V8 swap and fit Aircon/insulation.

Took me a day to do what I thought would be an easy water pump replacement on my girlfriends Fiesta. Would have been a couple of hours on the MG. I won't work on anything modern now - those mechanics earn their money and I don't begrudge paying them. Modern cars are hateful things to work on.

[nzspokes]

Vauxhall Viva 4 door. Cool wee car which was our first one after we got married. Elder daughter was made in the back seat one Xmas Eve.

No. No there wernt. They were rubbish on wheels. I had 3 of them. One was an 1800 which was okish. Victors were better still, had 3 of them also.

[cs363]

Victors were better still, had 3 of them also.

I used to like watching this Victor (Jack Nazer) do battle with the PDL Mustang et al back in the day:

[sidecar bob]

the gearbox was the easiest to remove of any car - ever. About 5 bolts and the linkage and that was it - the bellhousing, finaldrive, input shaft and axles all stayed in the car, only the gearbox came out. Odd bits of outstanding design crop up in the strangest places, pity no one else decided to copy it.

Sounds exactly like an Audi 80, but they only have four 13mm nuts holding them in.

[ducatilover]

I had a borgward isabella........

You are my new hero, they are dead sexy

There's a real tidy Rover P6 parked out the back today. 3.5l one with leather interior and all the wood. Straight and tidy too.

I really miss my P6, lovely cars. Very interesting design all over them

[rustyrobot]

I gotta soft spot for things that are German and go fast. Wouldn't mind a McLaren P1 at all...but that's as British as I would go. But I would really go there. Like really really. P1 = yummy. Like really yummy. Like 20 year old single malt sipped out of Taylor Swifts belly button yummy. Only more yummy. Yes, I like the P1. Lots. Big Lots.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news...5m-for-mclaren

Hmmmmm.... could 'Southeast of Nowhere' actually be Hawkes Bay?

"Hey honey, you'll never guess what I bought on TradeMe last night..."

[5150]

I used to like watching this Victor (Jack Nazer) do battle with the PDL Mustang et al back in the day

Is that a Charger I see in the background of the second shot?


The old E49 Big Tank Charger is still the only car in Bathurst history to do the whole race on one fuel stop. That is how well they had the thing tuned. Because of it they were like a lap or two ahead of the whole field, and the only reason they lost the race was when the team decided to bring the car in to do the wheel change, and some monkey decided it would be a good idea to fit cold nuts onto hot studs and they seized while he was tightening them back up. Yet in NZ they were cleaning everything up and beating V8 Falcons that Ausies brought from across the ditch.

I still have a soft spot for the old E49s and E38 Chargers. Beautiful cars.

[Paul in NZ]

Imagine a Holden Camira dressed up in the same colours, back in the day it would've matched the drivers walk-shorts and socks.

My old man had a Camira company car, broke down the week he first had it, not sure why but I do remember the vinyl seats burning my legs on a hot day in the back seat. He much preferred his old Hillman Hunter as it 'had more guts' as I remember him saying. Still working on that one .....

Those Camiras really were dreadful piles of poo.... shudder... As for those Opel engines Toranas... gack...

[nerrrd]

Another vote for the Miniiii! I had an ex AEPB one (they painted the logos out with a brush). Loved that car, I'd own an old one now if I wasn't so mechanically inept.

Plus it had a starring role in Goodbye Pork Pie.

[Paul in NZ]

The 875cc Coventry climax based engine that powered the Hillman Imp grew to a 930cc jobbie that was used in the Last of the Sunbeam Talbots built in Scotland. At one stage brand new crate motor could still be purchased for repowering Imps (with a few mods)

The Sunbeam Imps were usually Sunbeam Imps, Stilettos, Chamois or Californians... They were much sportier and better finished than the ordinary Imp... Vicki and I had a 1955 Sunbeam Mk3 as our daily driver for a while. They dropped the Sunbeam-Talbot name after the 2a and ran a Series 5 Sunbeam Rapier which was a fantastic car but full of rust.... We also had a very special pre Hunter Singer Vogue Estate. It was built to special order by the 'Special Vehicles' division (it still had all the original paperwork) with rally suspension, O/D gearbox, driving lights, badge bar and for some reason it flew... Rather than using the lower ration diff from the automatic version that most O/D cars used it ran a std diff so O/D top was really high but it also had the grunt to take it.. I really should have kept that car..

We were involved with the Sunbeam Owners club and had a jolly old time with these worthies...

I remember going to the launch of the last Talbots.... The local dealer wanted our Mk3 on display at the launch as it was very flash looking and was gutted to find it was not badged as a Talbot... LOL.. The car Jim is referring to was badged as a Chrysler Sunbeam originally and then renamed as a Talbot Sunbeam. The one to get was the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus which actually won a world rally championship but it was not the same car as the masses got.

Like the mighty Marina it was going to be the new car to take on the Japanese and save the british car industry... It was awful of course and another nail in the coffin.

[SVboy]

Somebody mentioned them before- mk 1 Cortinas. Great cars GTs, lotuses.. I had one. I was the 27th owner! We restored it, it was a real honey. How about Escort GTs? Never could afford one back then.

[pete376403]

There were some odd combinations made from the various mergers, eg Chrysler (nee Rootes) had Valiants, Simca, Hillman/Humber/Singer/Sunbeam/etc in the portfolio.
When the XU1 Holden Torana (really a stretched Vauxhall Viva) was cleaning up in Aussie, Chrysler Aust was serioulsy looking at developing an E49 powered Chrysler 180, aka Chrysler Centura , which was a Simca with 215 (IIRC) Hemi 6) - same car also sold in UK as a Talbot but with a 2 litre 4.

[Grubber]

Somebody mentioned them before- mk 1 Cortinas. Great cars GTs, lotuses.. I had one. I was the 27th owner! We restored it, it was a real honey. How about Escort GTs? Never could afford one back then.

Had an RS 2000 Mk 2 Escort.
Fanastic car and went like the proverbial clappers.
Wish i had never sold it, would be worth a mint now.