Cars and Automotive

[Red Riley 2]

Sounds like you need some of my wonderful digital calipers too. Finest German quality (and we know how accurate the Germans are reputed to be) and only £25 plus postage. Hussulo already has a set (en route).

Thanks Chris, but tell me, can I use them to measure the valve shims of a 1977 Triumph Stag?

[Chris Perkins 228]

Absolutely, assuming they are removed from the car!

Have you got a '77 Stag? Did you know I grew up with Triumphs and had 15 of them over a very short space of time? Never had a Stag though.

[Red Riley 2]

Absolutely, assuming they are removed from the car!

Have you got a '77 Stag? Did you know I grew up with Triumphs and had 15 of them over a very short space of time? Never had a Stag though.

I did have (the reason I acquired the secondhand micrometer) but sold it about 3 years ago. Lovely cars, but a nightmare to keep on the road. The expense of running the thing severely curtailed my coin collecting activities. So it had to go...

[Chris Perkins 228]

I heard they can be a pig, especially with the original alloy/cast engines. That's what it's all about though, you drive around in it because it makes you feel good, and it doesn't matter what it costs to keep it going! I've recently acquired a 45,000 mile 1980 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow II. It's in England at the moment, a nice original car. I'm driving it to Germany in June.

[Red Riley 2]

I heard they can be a pig, especially with the original alloy/cast engines. That's what it's all about though, you drive around in it because it makes you feel good, and it doesn't matter what it costs to keep it going! I've recently acquired a 45,000 mile 1980 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow II. It's in England at the moment, a nice original car. I'm driving it to Germany in June.

Blimey, I guess we'll all have to call you 'sir' from now on! Actually, my main love has always been Riley RMs (I have two at the moment) - beautiful cars and amazingly cheap to keep on the road. But there's something about a Roller and people are always amazed at how little you can pick them up for. Envious? Me?

Actually we seem to have gone a bit off beam with this thread!

[Chris Perkins 228]

You're right, so I've split this off the coin related topic that it ruined!

Have a look at the RMA these people are offering for sale: http://www.richard-shrive-cars.co.uk/

The Silver Shadow II's are the last of the real R-R's in my opinion. In 1980 when the Spirit came along they ended up with massive square headlights and looked like gigantic Ladas (apart from the Corniche which stayed good looking until the mid 90's)! Then after that they went all foreign, so they don't count even though they are also wonderful machines!

SSII's for breaking are around £2k. Tatty but working examples are about £5k. Better low mileage examples with full service histories can go right up to £15k, but those kinds of prices are not often asked. On one hand it's not a lot of money for such massive well specced cars, but it helps if you know where to get cheap parts and specialist labour for them because that can be a killer!

The previous owner spent £1500 on mine just freeing up the brakes after the car had been standing for some years! The heater/air con had also stopped working, so had the cruise control and the motor had seized that drives the headlamp wipers. It's a big problem with old cars in general but especially with complicated ones....They need to have regular use or things stop working.

So when I get it back to Germany, I shall try my very best to use it every day.

[scottishmoney 34]

Oh so very rare here indeed, I must have the one and only one in my whole region:

A '73 Jensen Interceptor.

When I was a wee nipper, my Gram went and purchased a 1974 MGB convertible, it was almost as though she went through her second childhood when she turned 50. She drove the car lightly, and kept it until 1978 only putting 5.000 miles on it. I still lament heartily that she sold that car before my clutches could grasp it. The only weakness with the Morris was the famously lousy electrical cabling, which was thoroughly replaced due to chafing and shorts.

[Chris Perkins 228]

The old Jensen Contraceptor! Someone I know had one of those when they were new and it blew up (well agressively caught fire) on a long stretch of A road. Probably electrical too.

My dad had a Daimler 250 V8 (1969) and sold that way too cheaply before I passed my driving test! Mind you, it was brown.

This is the website of a good friend of mine: http://www.dovercourtrollsroyce.com/

The blue Silver Shadow top left on the cars page was nearly mine but I decided to go for one less lairly with less mileage and a wee bit newer.

[scottishmoney 34]

Actually if I have to have a Rolls Royce, I want the Merlin - in the P-51 Mustang The Rolls Royce of Aviation.

[Chris Perkins 228]

In the 70's someone put a Merlin engline in a Rolls Royce Car! Did you ever read about that?

[Red Riley 2]

In the 70's someone put a Merlin engline in a Rolls Royce Car! Did you ever read about that?

His name was Dodd if I remember (but don't think it was Ken...). This vehicle looked like Cruella de Ville's car in 101 Dalmatians. Apparently it was limited to 2000 r.p.m. but could still reach 300 m.p.h. Like your friend's Interceptor, it too caught fire.

[scottishmoney 34]

Several people tried that with the MGB's here in the USA, they replaced the motor with a V8, and whilst it did not catch fire, it was just too much for the car and it would eventually fall apart from the overload.

[Chris Perkins 228]

I always fancied a go in a TR8 (or TR7 with a V8). You can bore those Rover V8 engines and change the crank and make them over 5 litres!

[scottishmoney 34]

Today I was going through huge box of my Grandparents old 35mm slides, those dumb things you need a projector to see - I found this photograph and imaged it with my scanner:

A 1974 MGB convertible, ah the memories. My mother had bought a 1973 Alfa Romeo Spider, and my grandmother to out do her, purchased this the following year. I liked this MGB a hell of a lot more than the damnable Alfa, which should have been really a Fix It Again Tony. The only problem I remember my Gram having with this car(besides not being able to drive it) was the electrical, which all was replaced. She sold the car ca. 1978, and I remember her getting $4000 in cash for it. Oh how I wisht she had just saved it for me.

[Chris Perkins 228]

Are those dents aroud the door area or is it the light? A nice example.

I'm sure $4000 in 1978 was probably a lot of money, it would have been hard for her to turn it down!

[scottishmoney 34]

It is the lighting on the door, but on the quarter panel it does appear to be a real depression. I remember the young couple that bought it bringing in and counting out the $4000 in hundred dollar bills and marveling over how much money it was, I was just a young lad.

I wisht she had kept the car, she put maybe 5.000 miles on it during the 4 years she owned it, and those last years were all garaged. I can just imagine what fun could be had with a car like that, particularly now when I really really want it.

[Chris Perkins 228]

Cabrio driving in an MG is great for posing, but sometimes I do find myself not wanting to be blown away and instead experiencing a car with less noise, more space for passengers and a few parcels, and air-con!

The wind is fine up to about 50mph, but on quick roads it's pretty noisy, and on the motorways it's not very practical. Even with the roof up it can be very noisy on quick roads as the wind whips past your 3mm plastic roof.

If you want a cabrio, I recommend having a roofed car too, for when you're feeling a little more conservative.