Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Uncle Joe]

Back in the 60's/70's, it used to be a relatively common sight to see things such as a 105E Anglia with lowered suspension, 5 ½J wheels, etc.

Nowadays, it seems that everyone that owns an Anglia, or any other classic for that matter must keep it standard for it to be of any value.

Therefore, what I am asking is: what are your opinions regarding modified classics? I'm not just asking about Anglias, by the way, but any and every.

[peter scott]

Hi Uncle Joe,

I like old cars because they take you back to earlier eras. It's quite nice to see competition cars sporting all the go faster stuff that was correct for their time but for me the 1970s onwards has little interest (too fresh in the brain).

I guess I always prefered wolves in sheep's clothing rather than the converse so wide rims and big bore exhausts don't really turn me on.

Peter

[Rick]

As a rule I prefer cars to be standard spec - however I do like some of the period mods, such as fitting reverse rim wheels on Minis and Angleboxes, bolting a pair of twin SUs on an A35, that kind of thing (plus they are reversible). Mods that were not done in period however I'm much less keen on.

Where a car is bought as a rolling chassis only (ie it has long since lost original running gear or trim), then a conversion to more recent running gear isn't toooooooooo appalling to contemplate - its better to see an oldie in use, even if modified, than not at all, so long as a nice original car was not butchered in the process. But I still really only like the period mods. Mk1 Minis running VTEC Honda engines for instance do nothing for me. A 1275 Cooper S with period tweaks I'd much prefer.

One car I fancy having, using only period parts note, is a Standard 10 fitted with a Triumph 6 cylinder unit, front disc brakes from a Spitfire etc. It would be keeping it all in the family (the 6 pot Triumph engine being an evolution of the Standard's engine after all). I've read about this being done in the 60s. I wouldn't entertain chopping around with a good complete car, but if I happened across a rolling shell that was already teetering on the edge of a breaker's yard, then I'd not lose much sleep in modifying it with period ideas such as this. It'd have to look original though, no tinted glass or bling wheels thanks!

R
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[Red Riley]

An interesting point. There is a world of difference between tarting up an old car today and preserving one (e.g. a 105E Anglia) which had been modded in the early seventies. The Anglia is an ideal case in point as so many were modified both mechanically and cosmetically that the type almost became a model in its own right. The typical modifications were:

Engine: 1500 or 1600 crossflow, usually with a Weber;
Gearbox: Corsair 2000E;
Suspension lowered by a couple of inches;
Interior: almost always kitted out in black with a purpose built glassfibre dashboard which would take Cortina dials;
Middle section removed from front bumper, original grille removed to give 'bomb crater' grille a la TR2
Diff usually from a larger Ford
Flared wheelarches
etc. etc.

Frankly, if any have survived in this sort of condition from the early seventies without further modification, they deserve to be preserved as is, if nothing else as an example of folk art. I suspect however that very few made it even to the eighties.

[Job-Rated]

I think you all know my view - provided a tateful job is done on the vehicle in question (Like my Dodge, for instance ) then I'm all for it.
I do also have the excuse that its' roof had been already chopped & a V8 inserted before I bought it...
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[Rick]

Just to qualify what I was saying earlier, I'd never dream of altering a properly rare vehicle from original spec, but with something that is more bread n butter, like the Standard or perhaps a Mini, and if it had already lost original components or already been modified, I'd not lose toooo much sleep over period mods.

But where something is really rare, then I think it should stay original for future owners to benefit from or refer to. Re-engining the Dodge would have probably cost me a lot less than persevering with the damaged original motor, but in that case I'd not consider veering from standard spec unless absolutely necessary.

R
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[Job-Rated]

I totally agree.
Your truck is 'something different', for sure.
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[Old-Nail]

In the 70's I bought a 105e Anglia from a Ford mechanic, it had the mods mentioned above by redriley - a 1500 engine from a Cortina GT, a Corsair gearbox, 3.9 diff, and the front struts and disc brakes from a Consul Capri.

I think it was fitted with 165 tyres if I remember rightly, and to own and drive it was perhaps for many the Anglia that ford should have built as a limited special edition.

I recently had a conversation with a guy who owns a good upright Ford Popular who wants to customise it (Yawn...how original) and asked him to sell the good Pop to me to keep it standard and use an empty rolling shell that was on sale on ebay to rod instead.

He refused which did two things. Firstly it condemned a beautifully kept 50 year old vehicle to be cut up and it's mechanicals sold on or scrapped, and secondly it left an incomplete car that was crying out to be restore or rodded - anything but left to rot away untouched.

Actually it did three things, it made me think him a pillock too.

[Giggles]

I sit on both sides of the fence so to speak: I love to see orginal classics but I also love the modified ones as long as they are tastefully done (Haven't we heard that before on this thread )

Our 1960 Super Snipe is a stock orginal and we have not intention of modifing it, when the engine went pop last year several of our hot rodding friends told us to put a V8 in it. You'll be pleased to hear that the orginal engine went back in after it was rebuilt.

A friend of ours found a Humber Pullman in a scrapyard that nobody wanted, so he turned it into a beautiful hot rod that looks like this:



I'm sure we've all seen some poorly modified cars both modern and classics, but at the end of the day surely it's each to their own.
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1953 Humber Hawk
1955 Ford Fairlane
1960 & 1963 Humber Super Snipe's

[Uncle Joe]

If someone offered me say an Anglia, that had been done in the 60's or 70's, then I would possibly accept it as a piece of folk art. I dont think that I would have the heart to cut one and do it today though, unless all the changes were easily reversible.

One thing that I am not to sure about though is paintwork. I wouldnt like to see a classic repainted in metalflake, but what about in a standard colour, eg a similar shade that is easily available today, or even a complete colour change?

[Rick]

[Giggles]

As I don't do oily bits I can't really comment too much on that and let alone which I don't really understand them, but I do know having seen an Austin 7 with it's orginal engine on the A14 near Felixstowe Docks with a huge lorry up it's bottom, that sometimes maybe it would be safer to have some sort of engine mod to a car, especially if the driver hopes to use it on busy roads.

Some of the customised classics can look quite nice painted in modern paints, but as said before you do have to before which ones you go for. I think what is probably more important is the quality of the workmanship rather than what colour or type of paint has been used.

Flicking through some old Custom Car and Street Machine magazines, the paint schemes in days gone by were pretty wild. Even some of the American 1950's Kustoms had some amazing paint jobs, Larry Watson I believe was famous for his wild coloured scallop effects on his cars.

Our 1955 Fairlane is a mild kustom, it's been lowered by around 3 inches all round and doesn't have the orginal FOrd Y block V8, instead for some reason it's got a Rover V8. Hubby plans to do a few things to it like removing the door handles and the bonnet mascott, something which the George Barris inspired cars have. Paint scheme I beleive he plans to add some scallops and maybe have a few pinstripes added, but notthing too wild and in-yer-face.
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1953 Humber Hawk
1955 Ford Fairlane
1960 & 1963 Humber Super Snipe's

[Penman]

Hi

I'm not totally enamoured of Rods though some cut/shuts and body mods are interesting, sometimes they can envisage something the original company didn't get round to.
For instance an 1100/1300 could be turned into a hatch, which the body shape lent itself to but BMC didn't do.
I pondered a while back whether the roof section and rear hatch of an A40 Countryman could be fitted to an MGA to make an MGAE.
Don't shoot me I only pondered, didn't actually go any further.

I know that not all manufacturers support their older models, but have you seen the degree of manufacturers upgrades available, if you can afford them, from Bristol?
A lot of them are for the straight 6s as well as for the V8s.

http://www.bristolcars.co.uk/upgrades.htm

Now would they count for the purists because they are from the manufacturer?

[Job-Rated]

Have a look at this...

http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/hrdp_0803w_1929_model_a_touring_car/index.html
_________________
Don't run your fingers over my truck & I won't run my truck over your fingers!


http://www.loosechange-band.co.uk/

[Uncle Joe]

Colour is a very strange thing. A 1959 Cadillac looks good in pink, but could you imagine an A35 in the same colour? Yuk!

I suppose as others have said, beauty is in the eye of the beholder...