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Quirky Cars.


Wagger

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We were 'Given' my F-I-L's Volvo 340 CVT in 1995. Really, it was a DAF with a 1400cc Renault engine. Strange combination of Inertia clutch, vacuum and centrifugal control of the belt pulleys. It felt like it was driven by elastic bands. It was not particulary economical and towing anything with it was not advised.

It had a Low ratio switch, and a kickdown switch in the outer throttle cable. One day whilst approaching a right turn, the engine suddenly revved to mid scale and I had to hold it on the footbrake in a dedicated right turn box until a gap in the traffic allowed me to move. I switched it off at the kerb asap. Being a 'Sort of' automatic, it would not start in 'Drive' and when started the revs were too high to allow the gears to mesh as the clutch had engaged. Investigation revealed that the outer of the throttle cable 'Kickdown' switch had split and the spring had elongated over an inch setting the throttle about half open. With wire and tie-wraps I managed to bodge it (under a street lamp) enough to get home.

Some of these cars had been involved in accidents caused by sudden unwanted acceleration. When I went to purchase a new cable I stated that this was a very dubious design complaining bitterly about some of these events. Of course, Volvo always denied any problems with it.

When these cars are stationary in neutral, they are impossible to push out of the way. Also, if you switched to low ratio whilst approaching traffic lights, they would decellerate violently without any brake lights showing. I only did it once and the poor bloke behind me had to take evasive action. Needless to say, I sold it asap to a DAF fan who loved them.

 

 

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One of my first "cars" was an Isetta bubble car, like this:

The history of the ISO/BMW Isetta, the world's first microcar | Inexhibit

No, suprize, suprize, that's not me.

Mine had a faulty shock absorber, that would stick when in droop.     One day I went around a corner compressing that one, it suddenly gave and I rolled it.      It had a BMW bike engine, 300cc, and had four wheels, unlike the earlier three-wheeler, and mine had a reverse gear!       That people would buy an earlier version without, drive home and into the garage, and then die of starvation as they couldn't open that front opening door are apocryphal!

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My Sister-In-Law had one of these, a 120L (obviously UK=spec, in brown):                   I had one of these:                                                                            

50690262_c6578aa29e_b.jpg.3257e83c2e177872340d03262a6da261.jpg         231188313_296_-_1983-1985_red_MG_Metro_Turbo_front.jpg.f573f7e2c752d70eaa419525e89ea277.jpg

The MG was a real death-trap, a turbo-charged go-kart that suffered from serious turbo lag, and the turbo would kick in suddenly while you flew out of the rear window. It had a lovely little green-amber-red led display on the dash to tell you when the turbo was coming in. It also threw fuel out of the side-mounted cap on tight bends. One night it didn't make said bend and I wrote it off. Oops.

So: I borrowed the Skoda. I drove 40 miles from Belfast along the M1 motorway at night, the red dash light came on and the lights started to dim, wipers stopped, heater stopped... the battery ran flat and I abandoned it 200 yards from home. Next morning it started when rolled on a downhll stretch, so I drove home with a red ignition light showing. Check the battery. Where is it? No idea. Managed to open the bonnet, no battery. No engine, in fact. How to open the rear compartment? Nobody told me that the catch was in the c-post so you opened the rear door. Eventually I forced it open. No battery. After hours of searching I got fed up and whacked the alternator with a hammer whereupon the red light went out and all worked normally. It was a hideous car, built like a tank, huge dashboard knobs and very ropey handling at higher speeds. The choke was a lever on the floor and the battery... that was under the rear seat. Nobody told me that, either. 

 

 

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33 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

My Sister-In-Law had one of these, a 120L (obviously UK=spec, in brown):                   I had one of these:                                                                            

50690262_c6578aa29e_b.jpg.3257e83c2e177872340d03262a6da261.jpg         231188313_296_-_1983-1985_red_MG_Metro_Turbo_front.jpg.f573f7e2c752d70eaa419525e89ea277.jpg

The MG was a real death-trap, a turbo-charged go-kart that suffered from serious turbo lag, and the turbo would kick in suddenly while you flew out of the rear window. It had a lovely little green-amber-red led display on the dash to tell you when the turbo was coming in. It also threw fuel out of the side-mounted cap on tight bends. One night it didn't make said bend and I wrote it off. Oops.

So: I borrowed the Skoda. I drove 40 miles from Belfast along the M1 motorway at night, the red dash light came on and the lights started to dim, wipers stopped, heater stopped... the battery ran flat and I abandoned it 200 yards from home. Next morning it started when rolled on a downhll stretch, so I drove home with a red ignition light showing. Check the battery. Where is it? No idea. Managed to open the bonnet, no battery. No engine, in fact. How to open the rear compartment? Nobody told me that the catch was in the c-post so you opened the rear door. Eventually I forced it open. No battery. After hours of searching I got fed up and whacked the alternator with a hammer whereupon the red light went out and all worked normally. It was a hideous car, built like a tank, huge dashboard knobs and very ropey handling at higher speeds. The choke was a lever on the floor and the battery... that was under the rear seat. Nobody told me that, either. 

 

 

Skodas are now light years ahead of that era eh Colin?

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1 hour ago, JohnD said:

One of my first "cars" was an Isetta bubble car, like this:

The history of the ISO/BMW Isetta, the world's first microcar | Inexhibit

No, suprize, suprize, that's not me.

Mine had a faulty shock absorber, that would stick when in droop.     One day I went around a corner compressing that one, it suddenly gave and I rolled it.      It had a BMW bike engine, 300cc, and had four wheels, unlike the earlier three-wheeler, and mine had a reverse gear!       That people would buy an earlier version without, drive home and into the garage, and then die of starvation as they couldn't open that front opening door are apocryphal!

Two fellow apprentices had the three wheeled versions. One LHD, the other RHD. The LHD accelerated better as it lacked the concrete balance weight necessary on the RHD version.

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1 minute ago, Colin Lindsay said:

Last one I had was a six speed Estate and definitely way in advance of that tank... I could find the battery, for one thing.

E61 BMW Estate (Present main car) has battery under RH side of boot. However, it has a compartment above it for tools and a trap door. Not obvious at all. Good job that the jump terminals are unde the bonnet. Guess what, Battery is in a box that fills with water drowning a sensor on the terminals and causing ABS lamp to come on. I pushed the bungs out of th bottom of it. Main dealer put them back. (Special MOT deal, should not have bothered, never again). I sent it back and made them remove them. They serve no useful purpose. In fact, I have now removed all floor bungs to let leaks out. Previous one had a full pan roof. Again, never buy one with that unless you want a posh mobile skip.

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13 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said:                                                                                  231188313_296_-_1983-1985_red_MG_Metro_Turbo_front.jpg.f573f7e2c752d70eaa419525e89ea277.jpg

The MG was a real death-trap, a turbo-charged go-kart that suffered from serious turbo lag, and the turbo would kick in suddenly while you flew out of the rear window.

I remember well both the Metro and Maestro turbos. I worked for Garrett for many years. In fairness, BL were early adopters of turbo technology but in those days it was not well evolved. Compressor and turbine wheels were huge and had high rotating inertia. Turbine speed control was very crude. Materials and design had yet to be developed to cope with the higher temperatures associated with high speed gasoline engines. 
 

Front wheel drive, torque-steer and turbo lag was a bit of a handful in those halcyon days.

 

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3 hours ago, 1969Mk3Spitfire said:

I remember well both the Metro and Maestro turbos. I worked for Garrett for many years. In fairness, BL were early adopters of turbo technology but in those days it was not well evolved. Compressor and turbine wheels were huge and had high rotating inertia. Turbine speed control was very crude. Materials and design had yet to be developed to cope with the higher temperatures associated with high speed gasoline engines. 
 

Front wheel drive, torque-steer and turbo lag was a bit of a handful in those halcyon days.

 

The BMW 2002 Turbo had a device used on a truck. About three seconds of turbo lag! However, that block in 1500cc form was boosted to over 1500 bhp (in practice sessions) for Nelson Piquet in the Brabham BMW. It is still the most powerful F1 engine ever used. For the races, it ran at a modest 1000 bhp.

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53 minutes ago, Wagger said:

The BMW 2002 Turbo had a device used on a truck. 

What was it, do you recall? 

32 minutes ago, Firefly said:

For the races, it ran at a modest 1000 bhp.......very unreliably!!

There was little to no F1 activity from any of the European factories as it was done by HQ factory in Los Angeles.  We generally considered the early days of F1 Turbo era as a PITA as the "I want it now" mentality took precious Dev Shop resource away from "real" customer programs. 

The technology was nothing special other than it requiring a fairly small turbine stage to generate power to drive a very large compressor, hence thrust loads very high.  The era did gives rise to the introduction of cast iron alloys capable of being used at >1000 deg C.

In many ways, it was a "no-win" endeavour because many, just like Firefly, were left with the impression that the product was unreliable.  A bit like Pirelli tyres (I did 13 years for these guys, too).  No one seems to have a good word for what really is an excellent product.

 

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here i go harping on about the Commer TS3 but in 1965 we turbo charged some engines which the driver drove to destruction always trying to catch and pass the midland red buses on the M1  but the fire rings gave out and 24 tons at 75 mph back then was going some  for 3.25 litres ...but it never went into production

made a nice  noise 

Pete

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1 hour ago, mark powell said:

Quirky?  my first car was one of these.  Reliant Regent 10cwt 'gown' body van.  Fun while it lasted, not long....

Regent.jpg

Just up the road from me is Hailsham.  Good shows at Hellingly, Laughton and Hadlow Down, Fingers crossed for this year.

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