CLASSIC CAR SPARES : So far I have considered Rover P4-5, or Morris Oxford. Without mehaving to testdrive a few dozen different cars, can anyone make anysuggestions as to which 20+yr old cars would fit these requirements.Are Rovers quiet? Do Oxfords make a racket? How thirsty is a 3 litreengine likely to be?Any suggestions and or comments gratefully received, even if tis to telme that I have unreasonable aims!-- Damian Parker aka LAMAI would recommend a Scimitar - much more fun! Robust, happily seats fouradults. I've just driven to the French Alps and back in mine, about 800miles each way, and I use it every day for work. I managed a steady95-100 mph on the French autoroutes, for up to 2 hrs at a time and stillgot 25 mpg! The GTC, which I have, suffers a bit from wind noise but theSE6 is fine (until you go much above 70-80 mph). Even with 3 feet ofsnow on the bonnet, it started first time - the SE6b, I beleive, and GTCboth have electronic ignition. Luggage space is poor in the GTC butpretty good in the SE6. The 3lt engine does tend to let people know youare around though. I think it handles well - better than most euroboxesalthough the rear wheel drive does tend to lead to the back-enddissapearing if you are too enthusiastic on corners.
CLASSIC CAR SPARES : Also an excellent owners club and wide availability of parts, etc. Viathe club, you get reduced rates for RAC and 'classic' insurance.You can get a top condition model, SE6b, for £6-7,000 and a GTC for£9-10,000. If your prepared to do some work, you can get sound modelsfor much less. A couple of well-known problems but with the fibre glassbody there is little worry of rust and it always looks pretty good. What about a Ford Anglia 105E ? Mine's off the road now - needs a lot ofwelding - but it was a reliable car for everyday use.Mechanical parts are generally easy to come by - the club has a large sparesdepartment - and it's easy enough to fit different Ford engines if you don'twant to stick to the basic 997cc. The heater on mine is great - warms upreally quickly - and I've never found the car to be particularly noisy. Fuelconsumption was around the 30 mpg mark - probably could've been improvedwith a better carb. and more careful driving!
CLASSIC CAR SPARES : Even with the standard engine in mine would quite happily keep up withmodern traffic. There's probably not a lot of leg room in the back, but Ishould think there's easily enough room for a couple of small(ish) children.There's a fair bit of luggage space in the boot too.The car's not difficult to work on. I guess the brakes could be better -mine's supposed to get an upgrade to Ford Classic struts and disc brakes -and I had a problem with mine failling MOT's for play in the steering idler.You should be able to get a very good example for less than £1500.And I haven't even mentioned all the admiring (?) looks you get when drivingsuch a stylish car ;-)What about an early Rover P6? - roomy enough for a family, plenty about,good performance (very good from the V8 if you are happy with poorerfuelconsumption) - they all cruise happily at 70-80 on the motorway - sparesare readily available and they're not expensive to buy (say about3000-4000for a very good example, as opposed to around 8,000+ for a P5). P4'sare lovely (especially inside) but slower, heavier and less practical.
CLASSIC CAR SPARES : From: ()Subject: Re: General Advice on Classic Car for Family Newsgroups: Date: 1998/03/02 Damian Parker wrote:P5's are OK, the V8 ones will lollop along motorways quite happily,they're roomy, comfortable...Oxfords: well, must admit from my experience of them, i'd questiontheir long-term survival if used as a daily driver. They're toolow-geared to be able to cruise at modern-traffic speeds. Iwonder if it would be easy to transplant in a MGB/Marina 1.8TC engine and an overdrive gearbox...?How about a Mk.2 Cortina? You should be able to get a 1600Ein reasonable condition for a few thousand pounds...Other possibilities: Austin Westminster or Wolseley 6/110,Mk.2 Zephyr, PC-series Vauxhall Cresta (though avoid the two-speed Powerglide auto model!), Renault 16, Peugeot 404...one) even by sixties standards the Rover is better bet and nice to drive,nobody can say the same about the Oxford they were badly underdamped evenwhen new and the gearbox was bit vague to match the steering. The earlierMG ZB is a much better car with very sharp steering responses.
CLASSIC CAR SPARES : With Crestas I would go for a late PA or a PB rather as later models gotprogressively worse in the handling department, the Viscount was prettydreadful and handled really badly I found the powerglide OK in the 3.3litre model it was very strong and good for a high mileage as it wasdesigned for the small block Chevy. The six cylinder engine is a classicwith near relatives in the Chevy "Stove bolt six" and the old army classicBedford truck.What about a Humber ? a Hawk is a better bet than a Snipe. The last squareroofed Hawks handled better than the earlier cars and the Hawk engine hasan unbeleviable ammount of low down torque and lasts forever, look out forgearbox problems although the Minx gearbox is (almost) the same. Austin Land-Crab 1800 4 cylinder models only go for an 18/85 but lookout for power steering leaks, lots of understeer but fun to drive. The closely related rwd Austin 3 litres aren't bad, quiet and fast butspares were a problem even in the early seventies and the Armstrongself-leveling suspension is not exactly reliable, and avoid automatics asthey used the BW35 box which was ill matched to the engine.
|
|
after market parts for cars, aftermarket parts for cars, antique cars parts, bmw car part, car and truck parts, car part accessories, car part auction, car part auctions, car part catalog, car part catalogs, car part definitions, car part diagram, car part diagrams, car part dictionary, car part finder uk, car part information, car part locator, car part magazines, car part manufacturers, car part names, car part numbers, car part online, car part pictures, car part price, car part prices, car part pricing, car part recalls, car part reviews, car part sales, car part search, car part shops, car part sites, car part store, car part stuff, car part suppliers, car part trader, car part websites, car parts and accesories, car parts auction, car parts direct, car parts finder, car parts ireland, car performance part, car quest auto parts, cars & parts corvette, cars & parts magazine, cars and car parts, cars and parts corvette, cars and parts magazine, cars body parts, cars parts com, cars performance parts, cars used parts, civic car parts, classic car part, classic cars and parts, custom car part, custom parts for cars, euro car part, euro car parts uk, find a car part, free car part catalogs, french car parts, german and sweedish car parts, german swedish and french car parts, german swedish french car parts, gsf car parts, high performance parts for cars, honda cars parts, hyundai car part, import car part, import cars parts, jap car parts, japanese car part, junk parts cars, mercedes car spares, moss car parts, napa car part, nissan car part, old cars and parts, old cars parts, paddock car parts, part built kit cars, part exchange car prices, parts for antique cars, parts for classic cars, parts for ford cars, parts for gm cars, parts for honda cars, parts for import cars, parts for old cars, parts for older cars, parts for rc cars, parts for remote control cars, performance parts cars, performance parts for import cars, pictures of car parts, preformance parts for cars, pro car part, proformance car parts, proformance parts for cars, rc cars and parts, replacement parts for cars, salvage car parts, selling cars for parts, spare part car, sport cars parts, sports cars parts, street racing cars and parts, swedish car parts, tornado car part, used car part finder, used car part search, used cars and parts, used parts cars, used race car parts, volkswagen car spares