My "uncool" car was extremely practical - a Morris Minor 1000 estate (with the 1100cc engine). When I left home after graduating from univerity my parents offered me a choice - I could buy (for a token price) the Escort estate my father was driving, or take my mother's car for free. After discussion with my brother I opted for the moggie, and my brother took the Escort.
That car was extremely practical, and almost indestructable - when the engine seized up after a garage neglected to adequately tighten the lower radiator hose (so all the coolant leaked) all I had to do was replace the hose, fill up with water, and wait until the block cooled. Its only weakness was that it was pathologically afraid of water - if there was rain within two counties it was prone to the dread "water on the points" (because, of course, it had a distributor cap manufactured by Lucas Electrical). I eventually had to get rid of that car when the main box girders of the chassis rusted out and became more like U-girders. But by then my brother was about to leave the country, and sold me his Triumph Vitesse convertible: ~1800lbs dry weight - less than a modern F1 car - and a straight six two-litre engine putting.out almost 100HP (also less than an F1 car :-) Then I left the country, too, and ended up in the US some 40 years ago. In the intervening years since then I've owned a Fiat 132, a Mustang GT convertible, and a BMW Z4. On Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 10:24:50AM +1000, [email protected] wrote: > Hi Alan - an A35? That was possibly the most uncool car of the era - but with > that motor it would have shocked many a boy racer! Mind you, that comes from > one who had a bog standard 850 Mini. At one time the speedo jammed at 80 > mph(!) and I got stopped by the police for driving too slowly (guessing I was > doing roughly the 30mph speed limit): I was silently praying he wouldn't > notice the speedo reading. > > John in Brisbane > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Alan C <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, 18 April 2022 5:35 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: New Toys > > Long ago, in Rhodesia, I had an A35 van (1000cc BMC engine, hot cam, twin > SU's) in BRG with a light grey roof. Then came the Mini's. > > Alan C > > On 18-Apr-22 09:07 AM, [email protected] wrote: > > Maybe - but British Racing Green is pretty cool! > > > > > > John in Brisbane > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Alan C <[email protected]> > > Sent: Monday, 18 April 2022 2:32 PM > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: Re: New Toys > > > > Aren't sports cars supposed to be red? > > > > Alan C > > > > On 18-Apr-22 02:42 AM, [email protected] wrote: > >> The latest version is getting great reviews in the motoring press in > >> Australia. Friend of mine has an older model (2005) and loves it. > >> Like the colour - I had my 1973 Escort resprayed in a very similar colour. > >> > >> > >> John in Brisbane > >> > >> > >> > >> -----Original Message----- > >> From: Larry Colen <[email protected]> > >> Sent: Monday, 18 April 2022 2:53 AM > >> To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <[email protected]> > >> Subject: Re: New Toys > >> > >> > >> > >>> On Apr 17, 2022, at 5:25 AM, Alan C <[email protected]> wrote: > >>> > >>> Looks good, Larry. Known at the MX-5 over here - a very popular ladies > >>> sports car, still in high demand. > >> This is actually my fourth Miata/Eunos/Mx-5, but my first NB, the others > >> were all NAs. They have a reputation here of being a ???woman???s car???. > >> I???m fine with them being popular with women, particularly attractive > >> women that I might want an opportunity to chat with. > >> > >> In the motorsports community there is a saying ???the answer is always > >> miata???. They are fun to drive, get decent gas mileage and are just a > >> little bit more reliable than an anvil. The best racing I have ever seen > >> is in a class called Spec Miata. In the last race I did with the SCCA, I > >> qualified mid grid, a friend was gridded directly in front of me with a > >> qualifying time .030 seconds faster than mine, the guy next to me was .030 > >> slower. So, on a 3 mile (5km) track, about .060 seconds which works out > >> to about 10ft (3m) separated the qualifying times of four cars, or two > >> rows of the grid. > >> > >> > >> -- > >> Larry Colen > >> [email protected] > >> > >> > >> -- > >> %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List To unsubscribe send an email > >> to [email protected] to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link > >> directly above and follow the directions. > >> -- > >> %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List To unsubscribe send an email > >> to [email protected] to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the > >> link directly above and follow the directions. > > -- > > %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List To unsubscribe send an email to > > [email protected] to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link > > directly above and follow the directions. > > -- > > %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List To unsubscribe send an email to > > [email protected] to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the > > link directly above and follow the directions. > -- > %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] to UNSUBSCRIBE from the > PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. > -- > %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
