Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Ray White]

What people were prepared to accept in the 1950s (compared with today) was a much lower level of driver assisted aids. Some popular cars had little more than a speedometer...

I was a bit surprised that the MG TC had no gauges for water temperature or petrol; although it did have a low fuel warning light and I suspect they thought the sophisticated "bellows" type thermostat would remove driver anxiety about overheating.!

Although trafficators had been fitted to MG midgets pre-War, they were absent from Home market cars until the introduction of the much more modern TD.

[bjacko]

Most if not all Morris, Hillmans, Standards, Austins etc had a fuel gauge but no water temperature gauge.
Just something else to worry about that can be done without. Engines were not as prone to damage in those days due to overheating.
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1938 Morris 8 Ser II Coupe Utility (Pickup)
1985 Rover SD1 VDP

[lowdrag]

One of my cars had a broken fuel gauge. I just set the trip meter to tell me when to fill up again. I didn't repair it for years.

[Ray White]

My Austin Seven Swallow has a dip stick for checking the petrol. The oil pressure gauge reads in single figures ...if it goes high then it could mean there is a blocked oil jet!

There is no water pump or thermostat; thermo syphon suffices. There is no oil filter; just a gauze strainer. Steep hills are a nightmare...

Having said all that, the Austin Seven was a very popular little car.

[Rootes75]

Our military Commer has no fuel gauge...just a marked stick to dip the tank. It was a drivers duty to keep their vehicle sufficiently fuelled and failure to do so could lead to quite severe punishments.
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Various Rootes Vehicles.

[Ray White]

When it came to fitting a petrol gauge to the MG I came across one reason why they only have a low level warning light. A popular design for sports cars was (and in some quarters still is) an exterior petrol tank mounted vertically to the back of the car; hence the term "slab tank".

These tanks have a series of baffles which preclude the use of a float on a long arm so only a low level sender unit is used.

At first I thought about fitting a "column" type sender unit but it would have meant making another opening in the top of the tank. A matching dummy filler cap might have looked sporty enough but the amount of work involved would have been substantial.

In the event, at about this time, a clever fettler in Germany called Declan Burns invented an electronic "hydroscopic" sender system that relies on measuring the amount of petrol by weight. This can simply be inserted into the drain hole and wired up.

I have yet to establish the effectiveness of the system but other T series owners have reported good results.

At the other end, I have been fortunate in getting a "British Jaeger" petrol gauge made and calibrated for this system by John Marks (Vintage Restorations). This matches all my other instruments that John has restored... right down to having the pale green metallic finish as on the original dials.

[Ray White]

The Bristol failed to sell. I was quite surprised when overall it looked like a good buy, even if there might be an issue with the driver's' door. The back seat has also been messed with but
if I had been there I think I might have bid.

( The only thing that would irritate me slightly are the sliding windows, which seem at odds with a generally high quality motor car. Apart from the one and only drop head coupe that was built with them, there is only one Bristol 400 that has been converted to wind up windows ...and that would be well over 100K. )

The Lamborghini, on the other hand found a new home at nearly 41K. Someone could presumably see a potential mark up.