Caravan Crash....

[Khriss]

@Billhook that car must have been a beast 😮 3 litre werent lacking k

[Peasgood]

15 hours ago, Billhook said:

The bump made me read the rest of this thread and I was reminded of the time when I was building my house back in 1983 and in youthful ignorance had loaded a flatbed trailer with too many bricks.  I knew it was miles over weight so was going very slowly on the four mile trip home.

Everything was fine until there was a slight downhill section which had a sharp left hand bend at the bottom.  The tow car was my old Ford Escort that I built.  The car was originally built from one of the last Mk1 RS bodyshells they were selling off in grey primer for £260 in 1973.  I put a 3 litre V6 engine and gearbox from a Gilbern Invader, and a Cortina Estate rear axle.

It started to snake at about 30 mph when I applied a bit of brake on the hill.  This quickly turned into a sideways movement violent enough to make the rear tyres screech every time it swung.  And they were quite big tyres.

I decided on the Kriss option and a quick bit of power to pull it into line followed by very gentle slowing so just made it round the bend, but all this was happening at a relatively low speed and would have been difficult at 40 mph and impossible at 60 mph.

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You want thrashing with a big stick just for putting a towbar on it never mind anything else!

For now I will just say that shell would be £50k or more today.

[Billhook]

I have two major car selling “out of indifference” regrets 

First was when we had a farm sale and the old mini pickup was sold for £30 in 1996.  It was quite MOT passable with little rust and sound mechanics

The Escort shell sat on a trailer for years after I took out the engine and gearbox and put them in a Dutton Phaeton which I still have.  Some local stock car racers took it and the trailer for £100

Please do not keep reminding me that £130 then is  £70,000 now!

All the firewood I have cut since 1996 would not come to half that!

Edited June 10, 2021 by Billhook

[Khriss]

@Billhook basically  cos people thought they were shit they got scrapped / too expensive to do / kids arrive. Even Austin Allegro is cool now cos that  😳 K  ( bloke in Hackney wanting 2 grand fr one last year !) 

[Billhook]

BTW the Escort 3 litre  had Piper cams  and DFI5 Weber, ported heads and free flow exhausts and from 1975 to 1985 when it was retired, it was never overtaken by anything!

[Moose McAlpine]

59 minutes ago, Khriss said:

Even Austin Allegro is cool now 

 

No it isn't.

[Peasgood]

6 hours ago, Billhook said:

Please do not keep reminding me that £130 then is now £70,000 now!

I wrote 5 Mk1's off in my younger days (one at a time)

Sold my last one about 10 years ago for £6k and I expect 2 years later it would have been worth double. That one had a very nice 2.1 litre pinto and twin 40's on a type 9, lovely car to drive and pulled like a train up to 120mph. Went all over Europe in it.

A good mate of mine puts Cosworth engines in them and tells me that at 150 mph the front end starts to get a bit light. I admire what he does but 600 bhp in a Mk1 would terrify me.

Edited June 10, 2021 by Peasgood

[Billhook]

 

Found an old photo after it had just been built in 1974

Bought the £260 RS body shell straight from Dagenham and there was a burnt out Gilbert Invader at our local scrapyard with Ford 3 litre V6 and Capri 3 litre gearbox with overdrive ( in every gear as I never fitted the inhibitor!  £25 the lot!  Ford Cortina Estate rear axle with 3.09 diff

The engine was caked with burnt fibreglass and all the seals in the engine, gearbox and overdrive were cooked but the castings were ok

With RS brakes and rear flares to accommodate the axle without wheel spacers 

Went like a bat out of hell but the Dutton it morphed into is at another level

Edited June 10, 2021 by Billhook

[Justme]

On 09/06/2021 at 07:49, PeteB said:

Am I correct in that some modern trucks/cars, they use electronics to assist a driver in a snake? Nipping odd wheel brakes if this odd motion is suspected? I've only experienced sway a couple of times since I started driving 40 years ago and on each occasion it was down to poorly loaded trailers!

My car has dedicated towing electrics. This activates the towing pack that has anti sway, altered ABS & traction control settings ect.

I have not had a chance to play with this car but on my last car from the same maker I did.

In deep snow going round a car park I bottled it before I could make the car or trailer slide out or jack knife. I use lots of power & heavy brakes / turning sharp, each time the cars electrics kept the car & trailer on track. 

 

I also parked it on an icy slope. With TC off you could not pull away no matter what trick you tried. With TC on it pulled away with minimal spin / slippage. 

[Khriss]

8 hours ago, Moose McAlpine said:

 

No it isn't.

Yoof 🙄 K