Sommaire pour February 2017 de Classics World

Regular readers will remember our own Morris Traveller restoration which began as a DIY project and then ended up being finished off by the seasoned professionals at Charles Ware’s Morris Minor Centre when the enormity of the project became all too evident. Our own experience rather sums up the difficulty of restoring the Traveller which is in effect a parthandbuilt car thanks to that timbered rear. Unlike the regular Minor saloon, the Traveller is a surprisingly difficult candidate for a DIY restoration and having observed first-hand the expertise required to do the job properly, I take my hat off to Derek Hatton for the superb job he’s made of the car we feature in this issue – and all working by himself at home. Another car which you’d assume to…

Despite no longer assembling cars on the site, engineering apprentices are needed at Longbridge – the historic home of Austin and MG Motor UK. With the latter’s Chinese owner, SAIC, steadily transforming the Birmingham site from an assembly plant into an engineering hub, seven more interns are needed to continue the programme. Aspiring graduate apprentices are sought by SAIC Motor UK Technical Centre, (SMTC UK), MG Motor UK’s sister firm. Successful applicants will start their training in September 2017. SMTC UK describes its course as ‘diverse’; modules include electronic engineering, powertrain, advanced engineering, body structures, vehicle performance, chassis engineering and vehicle styling. A spokesperson added: ‘Team working is a key part of the programme, which kicked off in 2016 with an outward bound event in the first week to help…

I was going to start this by saying “one thing that lets the Rover Coupe down is...” until I realised that’s how I started the last item I wrote about it, which would be unfairly negative. Rover gave the Tomcat smart body-hugging half leather sports seats but 24 years of bums and trousers had taken their toll and the leather’s colour was wearing thin on the bolsters and cracks were starting to appear on the squab sides. I wanted to catch this before it got too bad so called up Furniture Clinic and ordered their Leather Colourant kit. First I had to snip off a corner of leather from under a chair to send to them to colour match, so when the kit arrived it had a bottle of black…

The MkI Golf GTI was one of the first of the ’80s cars to become accepted as a modern classic and more recently even the cooking MkI models have started to become desirable. Launched in September 1983, the MkII was essentially a major facelift of the original car which had saved VW’s bacon back in 1974 and for years was simply overlooked as just another old car. You can blame the less distinctive styling – an in-house VW design rather than the MkI’s Giugiaro shape – together with the simple fact that the MkII addressed the MkI’s few shortcomings to create a massively robust car. To put it simply, until even very recently there were plenty of 20-year old MkII Golfs in daily use whose owners simply regarded them as…

Arguably the most iconic product of Daimler Benz AG, the W123 range of saloons and its coupe and estate car relatives were built for nine years with a total production figure of a whopping 2.7 million of which nearly 2.4 million were the four door saloons alone - just 99,000 coupes were built and 200,000 estates. The W123 used various engine ranges, some inherited from the previous ‘New Generation’ W114/115 cars and later ones that found homes in the replacement W124 and the 190E ranges. Here’s the lowdown on what units were fitted to which cars. THE SILVER TOP M115 So called because the cam cover was plain aluminium, the M115 was an iron block alloy headed single overhead camshaft four cylinder unit. Available as a carburettor 95 bhp motor,…

The formation of the US-based Chrysler Corporation dates back to 1925 when Walter P. Chrysler re-organised the remnants of the 1904-established Maxwell Motor Company into a new organisation bearing his now universally known surname. Although Chrysler went on to produce a string of affordable, well-engineered cars in the US, a declining market share in the years immediately after the Second World War seriously dented the company’s output and profitability. By the mid-1950s, Chrysler was forced to borrow $250 million to expand and update its manufacturing faculties to enable it to produce a new range of revitalised Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth and DeSoto badged vehicles. However, unlike arch-rivals Ford and General Motors, Chrysler’s range lacked world-wide appeal, a problem compounded by the US-based Corporation’s lack of European design, engineering and manufacturing facilities.…

Everybody, whether you’re driving a classic car or not, is welcome to join like-minded enthusiasts at Brooklands Museum in Surrey for what is the largest New Year’s Day classic gathering in the UK. With over 1000 vehicles expected, live music and a winter barbeque there will certainly be something for everybody amongst the vast and diverse displays of classics that all descend upon Brooklands, which should all ensure you can kick start the new year in style. For 2017, as a result of ongoing building work, the Museum has confirmed changes to the event to streamline entry and ensure the maximum amount of accommodation for all guests and vehicles. Entry for pre-1987 vintage or classic cars, motorcycles, commercial vehicles, plus pre-booked (and pre-paid) club displays, has been reserved exclusively through…

Anyone who has experienced first-hand the planning of a wedding – whether their own or someone else’s big day – will know the drama which can so often be attached to the smallest of details. For the most part we chaps are happy to let the ladies take the lead when it comes to table decorations and bridesmaids’ dresses but when it comes to the wedding car we do tend to muster up some enthusiasm. The default of course is the white Silver Shadow, but for anyone with an interest in old cars there’s a whole world of possibilities out there and indeed I used my Alfa Romeo Spider for my own wedding... to the consternation of Mrs W who was never entirely convinced it would start first time when…

“I’ve lost count of the times I’ve stood at a counter while the partsman gives me pitying looks” When I first got into older cars, they were more likely to be classed as old bangers rather than classics, which shows how times change. During those days I quickly discovered that a vital part of enjoying the experience was finding a local motor factor that had staff that knew your car and could help tracking down the right bits when things inevitably went wrong. Most motor factors now belong to big chains, and more than ever their focus is squarely on the motor trade and the new car market. The smaller independents seem to have all but disappeared. So, like many enthusiasts I now turn to the internet as my first…

“This restoration confirms previous comments that any major rebuild will cost more than budgeted” Graeme Oxley, the past President from the Triumph Car Club in Victoria, visited Brisbane where I live and as he wanted to see Triumph collector Greg Tunstall, I collected him in the Stag and we drove over to Greg’s premises. Graeme had visited me during the Stag’s restoration but this was the first time he had seen the completed car and he was especially impressed with the ZF gearbox conversion. Graeme has a Stag amongst his collection of Triumphs which he converted from automatic to manual overdrive and confirmed that with the ZF, engine revs at 100 km/h were similar to those in his car in OD top. Whilst we were at Greg’s, I collected a…

Mentioning how well our cheap as chips X-Type was running in last month’s episode proved the kiss of death, as not long after committing that to print the Jaguar’s twin electric cooling fans started working overtime when I got home after a long run. Although the temperature gauge showed normal and didn’t indicate the engine was overheating, there was something obviously amiss with the car’s cooling system. A prompt check under the bonnet showed the plastic header tank for the coolant was almost empty. There was obviously a leak somewhere in the cooling system and this was eventually traced to a leaking water pump gland. Fortunately, the pump on our X-Type’s 2.5-litre V6 is mounted on the opposite end of the engine to the serpentine belt driving the alternator and…

For many classic cars, disc brakes and servo assistance are the limit of modern technology, but if you own a more modern classic, including Mazda MX-5, MGF/TF or a Jaguar XK8, then there will usually be an anti-lock braking system (ABS), which aims to reduce the risk of a vehicle skidding, and also enables a vehicle to brake and steer around obstacles. It’s a very old concept that was developed almost 100 years ago, but wasn’t introduced to mass manufactured cars until the 1980s. It became more popular in the ’90s, although emerging classics such as the MGF weren’t equipped with it at first. An anti-lock braking system aims to reduce the braking effort of a particular brake when its respective road wheel locks up, or its speed of rotation…

If there’s one aspect of a classic car’s driving experience that newcomers regularly find unnerving it’s the brakes. With the exception of pre-war curiosities the actual controls are familiar. The lack of power steering on the majority of classics may be a surprise but makes little difference once under way. Even the gearbox isn’t too much of an obstacle – most post-war cars have synchromesh on at least three gears and by the Seventies full synchro was widespread. But the brakes are a different matter. A driver used to the instant stopping power available from 15-inch disc brakes with quadruple-piston callipers, a huge servo and ABS will press the middle pedal of many classics and conclude that there’s been a total brake failure. Given the huge advances in braking technology…

I’ve just been reading an old magazine feature in which the boss of Pininfarina was seen to wince when the Peugeot 406 coupe’s similarity to the Pininfarina-penned Ferrari 550 Maranello was mentioned. The two did indeed have a passing resemblance in their general shape and proportions, which for Peugeot buyers was a very good thing indeed. And there was more: in practice the coupe interpretation of Peugeot’s well-regarded mid-range saloon was in fact more Italian than French, being not only shaped by the Italian design house but manufactured by them too, alongside the 306 convertible. It wasn’t the first collaboration between the two firms, with Pininfarina having first supplied complete bodyshells for Peugeot as early as the 1960s. The manufacturing process which created the exotic-looking coupe out of a mass-produced…

As the classic car MoT testing debate rumbles on, historic vehicle lobbyists worry about the three letters that could be the undoing of our hobby as we know it – VHI. For the first time in British motoring history, the Department for Transport (DfT) wants to define which old cars become MoT exempt in 2018; other testing options are available, but they all trace their qualification back to the DfT’s new Vehicles of Historic Interest status – and determining that is causing headaches for the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC). As previously reported, new MoT regulations for old and new vehicles will be determined by compliance with the European Union’s Roadworthiness Testing Directive – and in the worst case scenario, modified classics (regardless of which cut-off date is…

A Vauxhall dealer has ruffled the feathers of classic car fans worried by the firm’s latest incentivised trade in – by planting a 1988 Austin Maestro in a skip in a bid to entice punters on to its forecourt. Vauxhall’s communications director Denis Chick was at pains to point out that any pre-1991 car brought in under the scheme would be sold for parts to relevant owners’ clubs via its recycler, Autogreen; dealers could also offer to buy any classic too good to break outright and sell it on to an enthusiast as a used car. Enthusiasts on social media, including the Pride of Longbridge Facebook page, reacted negatively to the sight of the Maestro – a car which hasn’t seen the road since 2008 – used to advertise classics…

Ford’s final take on the Cortina, officially dubbed the Cortina 80, but better-known as the MkV, arrived in September 1979 and hung on until it was ousted by the Sierra in July 1982. A subtle yet successful makeover of the MkIV, this final fling boasted a number of mechanical, aesthetic, and practical improvements. Which meant that even though it was facing stiff competition from more modern cars such as the Cavalier, the Cortina’s blend of practicality, good looks, durability, and cost-effectiveness, made it a force to be reckoned with. It may have been on its way out, but it most certainly wasn’t on its way down, as it topped the best-seller list in 1979, 1980 and 1981. It sold well because buyers could pick and mix from a wide variety…

“Another battle I didn’t pick with the big Healey was getting the seized pistons out” Last month I left off having pulled the Healey 3000 engine apart and the engine block has just arrived back from the machine shop. However, before getting stuck into the rebuild, I’m going to have a poke around the supercharger on my Dad’s Frogeye. Before even touching the supercharger I did my research, looking into typical failures, rebuild manuals and restoration specialists. The latter want quite a lot of money to rebuild one of these units and the overhaul manuals I found online showed why, as these units are an intricate little set up. The Shorrock charger works on the principle of a set of four precision fit vanes revolving on an arbour in a…

“I always carry plenty of spare parts and tools, but not another battery!” It was somewhat predictable having waxed lyrically about Lily having passed its MoT last month, that I’d soon end up stuck at the side of the road. This was the first time ever that I’ve ended up broken down and unable to fix a problem and so it was only natural that it should happen at the side of a fast A road on a cold winter’s night. The engine had cut out whilst cruising along, with neither the wipers nor indicators working and the starter would not turn. At first I suspected a catastrophic wiring failure, but mercifully this proved not to be the case. The fuses were all OK, so the only logical conclusion was…

“As I touched the underbonnet bulb it illuminated then went out, as did the nearside sidelight” Last month, I mentioned that the Porsche’s rear wiper, door mirrors and reversing lights ceased working... and that they are all wired through fuse number 9. I’d previously checked the fuse and cleaned the contact but nothing happened so I checked for continuity and voltage. Well, there was continuity. But, when I switched to volts, my test meter read 0.7 volts. Not good! Somewhat stumped, I went through the system, checking connections, fuses, making sure that everything was in good order. In the process, I did notice that the fusebox wasn’t securely attached to its mounting as it was missing a screw. This was an easy fix. And, to my surprise, having done this,…

Messing about with old cars is of course one of the major attractions of working on a magazine like CM but every so often we do have to force ourselves to go out into the car park and take stock of what we’ve acquired. Our most recent stock-take revealed a varied selection of vehicles in our company fleet including the former CM XJS, the Toledo, a classic Mini and an MGB... plus of course the Jaguar X-Type and the Caravelle. To cut a long story short, we decided that we needed to replace the departing XJS with something practical enough to carry people and clobber to car shows and also rather older – preferably a ’60s or ’70s car. Given that we’ve already got one VW bus on the fleet,…

It’s undeniable that the British motor industry is going through what could be called its ‘Silver Age’ at the moment. Total car production is roughly on a par with the numbers achieved at the peak of the classic era in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s – around two million vehicles per year. One factory makes more cars per year than the whole of Italy. Unlike 40 years ago, British-built cars are now amongst some of the most reliable on the market, achieving high finishes in the rankings for both quality and customer satisfaction. But of course these cars don’t have Austin or Hillman badges on them. The fastest-selling British-built car ever is the Nissan Qashqai and the factory that built it is the one that out-produces Italy. The cars…