Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rick]

What cars or related components had stand-out design faults that plagued them throughout production, the type of thing that you'd never hear of with today's cars?

I'm thinking along the lines of F-Type Victors, with their ability to pop out a window when jacking them up in the "wrong" place causing the shell to twist (didn't Allegros do the same?).

What other (in)famous design flaws spring to mind?

RJ
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Rick - Admin
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[Ashley]

Hillman Minx big ends and the M1 when it opened.
MKVI Bentleys with by-pass filters and main bearing failures.
MK 1 1200cc Cortina piston failures.
Land Rover gear boxes
OHC Ford camshafts

[baconsdozen]

The Austin/Morris 1100 and 1300 etc with a subframe that fell to bits through built in mud and rust traps.
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Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[D4B]

Perhaps not old enough, but when I was starting work in the trade it was

Ford Escort MK3's 1300CVH carb diaphragms,

and Ford Sierra track control arm bushes

[goneps]

Morris Eight:
Original alloy diff housing grossly under-engineered and weak
Rear hubs that came loose on the half shafts
Rear brakes saturated in diff oil, usually on nearside
Tappet bore wear because tappet diameter too small

Triumph Herald/Vitesse/Spitfire, etc.:
Nylon front suspension trunnion bushes that wore out every five minutes.

Ford Fairlane ZD - ZF 1969-76 (Australian-built):
Lower front suspension arm eccentric adjusters that moved every time the car was used on unsealed roads—unless tack-welded.

[Peter_L]

A Series Transverse (Mini / 1100 / 1300). Switching the engine through 180 deg to put the plugs and distributor at the front meant that an idler gear had to be added between crank and gearbox. The needle bearings failed and the gear spigot wore away the alloy casting. Perhaps if they had put the inter gear on the opposite side the force would have been against the gears instead of trying to push it away.

[ukdave2002]

Morris Minor (post war) convertible; jacking point in the centre of the car, causing the car to twist every time it was jacked up.

Also this applied to just about every manufacture when they went from OHV to OHC in the 70/80's....... top end oil starvation

Dave

[baconsdozen]

Morris 1000 front trunnions. Quite a few used to wear out causing the collapse of a front wheel. Usually at slow speed thank God,I remember sseing more than one stuck in the middle of a roundabout.
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Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[emmerson]

Range Rover built -in water traps, which they never corrected in 25 years!

[mikeC]

[V8 Nutter]

Oil burning B.M.C./British Leyland engines, a problem caused by bad foundry techniques, that started with Austin in the 1930's. When I worked at the engine reconditioners, we sold Gold Seal engines B.L. sent us a circular saying 250 miles to a pint was acceptable. They also said about windscreens popping out on Allegros.

The head bolts and studs on Triumph 1850 Dolomites and Stags.

The undersized thrust washers on Triumphs that used to fall out when the clutch got a bit heavy.

The Liners on Leyland Jaguar blocks that protruded above the block face and cut through the head gaskets.

The leaky cam covers on Jenson Healeys and to a lesser extent Vauxhalls.

60's and 70's Ford camshafts.

Valves and guides on early O.H.C Volkswagens.

[Riley Blue]

Perhaps a bit too modern for some but in the 1990s Mercedes 'went green' and put biodegradable wiring looms in their cars. The looms were intended to last the lifetime of the car and then the insulation would degrade.
Unfortunately they didn't factor in the heat in the engine bay that caused the wiring to disintegrate long before the rest of the car reached its end of its working life...

Writes the man who has just bought one of those cars
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David

1963 Riley 1.5
1965 Riley 1.5

[baconsdozen]

[JohnDale]

Triumph 2000 - water from the roof gutters sent into the front wings(which are a box unit with only access through the head light apertures & so would have been completely dry) & from there into the sills which would also have been dry.
Ford's Pinto(OHC) camshafts were not the problem but the spray bar & lack of proper oil/filter maintenance was. If the holes in the spray bar were drilled out to the next size they were good for 150,000 miles. I had four of these from new all of which covered around that sort of mileage before being sold.
Cheers,JD.
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1958 Ford Zephyr Mk2 Convertible
1976 Ford Granada Ghia.

[peter scott]

I loved my glassfibre Ginetta G15 so when family demanded something more capacious but economical and not prone to rust I opted for a four wheeled Reliant. No, not a Scimitar but a 700cc Rebel!

It rev'ed well and you could overtake other cars if you built up the speed differential well in advance of your opportunity. Unfortunately the gearbox on mine couldn't stand the pace and I exchanged two layshafts before giving up on the Rebel. I then made the mistake of trying the Kitten. Its gearbox was OK but the pistons and liners were not and on two vehicles I had failures in the identical liner before abandoning Reliant.



The good point was we had a matching pair of candlestick holders for many years!

Sucker for punishment I then bought the only new car I ever bought with my own money, a MkIII Ford Escort which was mechanically fine but the paint just loved to fall off in response to any odd tiny stone.

I exchanged that for a lovely Alfasud that handled 100% better before getting a company Cavalier 2 litre SRis that I can't complain about. 60mph in 8.7 and 42 mpg on long runs.



Peter
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1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon