Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.
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Ray White
Joined: 02 Dec 2014 Posts: 6286 Location: Derby
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Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 11:46 am Post subject: |
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I once had a chap come up to look at my Austin Swallow and he insisted it had a wooden chassis. I tried to explain about the difference between a body frame and a chassis but he was insistent. He then pointed to the visible wooden flitch plates to which the wings were screwed as evidence to support his opinion - at which point I changed the subject. |
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MikeG
Joined: 16 Sep 2013 Posts: 56 Location: Cheshire/Staffordshire Border
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2018 12:10 am Post subject: |
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Lets not forget that when cars in 1950/60s were put in the Barn for "later", their value was in my case as scrap ,say £10 or less .A weeks wage.
So, you could pick up an OLD car now for a weeks wage , how long will it be before its a Classic? |
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lowdrag
Joined: 10 Apr 2009 Posts: 1585 Location: Le Mans
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2018 6:09 am Post subject: |
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The sad thing is that so many of our cars will end up as scrap. I look at the number of youngsters today who have no interest in the motor car at all, have never taken the driving test, and can't see what the fuss is all about. Our world is rapidly closing in on us and moving on apace, and the motor car has no place in this new order. The taxi driver will be as common as the dodo, Tesla will be world president, and petrol available at one garage per county. That reminds me; I must watch Soylent Green again. And 1984 and Brave New World. |
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Rootes75
Joined: 30 Apr 2013 Posts: 3788 Location: The Somerset Levels
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2018 8:26 am Post subject: |
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When I was I my late teens I bought my first classic, a 1937 Ford 7W.
It had been fitted at an early point in its life with an early Prefect front end, we are not sure why. I recall going to a few shows and being told by various FSOC stand members the it was just a Prefect and a 'youngen' like myself wouldn't have found a rarity like a 7W. If my Dad was with me I the questions would always be aimed at him too. _________________ Various Rootes Vehicles. |
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Richard H
Joined: 03 Apr 2009 Posts: 2148 Location: Lincolnshire, UK
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Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 10:24 am Post subject: |
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I've had a few people come up and try and tell me things about my own car that I know are rubbish. Normally, they're reminiscing about one they owned in the 1950s/60s and often they get aspects of the car confused with another make/model they owned at the time. Usually they stand corrected, sometimes they are insistent that they are right. Some people can be quite hard work!
I've also had the people who don't understand the 'oily rag' look of preservation over restoration, and are still stuck in the 1980s when every old car had to be stripped back to a shell and built up with new paint, interior, chrome etc. A few people come over and tell me I need to paint my Somerset, but they usually get put right. I remember one particular idiot in modern Focus in a petrol station who said it was an "insult" to the car to keep driving it around like that. What?
Then there was the woman at a boot sale who told me I needed to get my grille rechromed. When I told her you can't rechrome Mazak, she said "can't you just buy a new one?". I told her to try finding a new Somerset/Hereford grille and come back to me when she has!
Footnote: At the same boot sale about a month later, I bumped into an old friend of my mothers who claims her late father had a Hereford in the 1950s he had a bump in. He bought a new grille from SMAC's (local Austin/BMC dealer) but never used it as he was able to successfully fix the old one. Apparently it's still in the loft of her mother's bungalow, and it's got my name on it, though she's in no rush to actually go and find it. I think if I did get my hands on it, I'd probably put it on display in my house!
Rich. _________________ Richard Hughes |
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Richard H
Joined: 03 Apr 2009 Posts: 2148 Location: Lincolnshire, UK
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Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 10:34 am Post subject: |
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lowdrag wrote: | The sad thing is that so many of our cars will end up as scrap. I look at the number of youngsters today who have no interest in the motor car at all, have never taken the driving test, and can't see what the fuss is all about. Our world is rapidly closing in on us and moving on apace, and the motor car has no place in this new order. The taxi driver will be as common as the dodo, Tesla will be world president, and petrol available at one garage per county. That reminds me; I must watch Soylent Green again. And 1984 and Brave New World. |
I think you'd be surprised how much interest there is. I've met loads of people around my age and much younger who have a real interest and are quite skillful with a spanner too (or willing to learn). You've got the Bicester Heritage apprenticeship, which looks amazing and I wish it had been around when I was 17/18. The cost of classic cars is a big problem. I worked just above minimum wage until very recently, but was living with my parents so I had the funds to splash out on cars. Now, with rent and bills for my cottage I don't have as much disposable income, even though I earn more money.
Prices have skyrocketed over the last few years for classic cars too which doesn't help. I knew I wouldn't be able to afford anything remotely fashionable or sought after in my recent quest to buy a pre war car, so I went for a Standard. Affordable classic cars are out there, you just need to think outside the box and buy something that isn't really that sought after, and doesn't have any 'scene tax' attached to it. _________________ Richard Hughes |
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alastairq
Joined: 14 Oct 2016 Posts: 1950 Location: East Yorkshire
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Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 11:16 am Post subject: |
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I like your thinking, Richard H....
Today seems to be all about impressions...and street credibility.
There is very little of substance in modern society.
If someone has the gall to tell me to paint my Dellow, I immediately stretch out a greedy hand, demanding they pay for it!
A few years ago, I emerged from my local supermarket, to find someone on their hands & knees looking under the back of my Dellow.
[Nothing surprises me these days]
When he emerged, he wanted to know what I have done with the VW engine?
A little nonplussed at this, turned out he was a 'hot rod' enthusiast, and had identified the VW beetle wheels the Dellow wasn't wearing.
Also turned out that, whilst not even in the third flush of youth, he had absolutely no idea there could be wheels from Ford which...although looking similar in stud pattern, could pre-date a VW beetle's wheels by good margin.
The other most common question is, what kit car is it?
I have also come to the conclusion the most easily-identified car of the '60s is the Mustang......especially amongst small kids.... |
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Ray White
Joined: 02 Dec 2014 Posts: 6286 Location: Derby
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Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 12:08 pm Post subject: |
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I once heard a woman (where I used to work) say I had built my GT6. She had presumably over heard me say I had re built the car and jumped to the wrong conclusion.
From this mis understanding she had assumed it was a kit car and when I put her right explaining that 30,000 of these cars had been produced in a factory, she basically called me a liar! It would seem she had been trying to impress her boss with her knowledge of cars when in fact she had no idea what she was talking about and her boss had listened patiently and said nothing. |
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PAUL BEAUMONT
Joined: 27 Nov 2007 Posts: 1281 Location: Barnsley S. Yorks
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Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 12:56 pm Post subject: |
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It is worth reminding ourselves of the "official" definition of "Expert" : ex = has been and spurt (sic) = drip under pressure! |
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