Indice dei contenuti per May/June 2020 in Classics World

You won’t need me to point out that we are living through some very strange – and very straining – times. Surely there cannot be anyone in Britain whose life has remained untouched by the COVID-19 pandemic and the various government directives designed to slow its spread? Given all of this, I can only wish you all well and hope that this issue provides a little light relief from all the doom and gloom. As such, you will notice that we have tried as much as possible to make it business as usual. Our news pages have been given over to a special feature suggesting classic ways to help you through isolation and social distancing, but otherwise we have not tried to turn it into ‘the corona virus issue,’ but…

SUNBEAM RAPIER The article featuring the Sunbeam Rapier Series 111A Convertible (Deep Rootes, April 2020) brought back many memories of one I owned back in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Looking for something with a bit more space than our hotted up Ford 105E Anglia to accommodate our new baby and all the paraphernalia that entails, I spotted an advert for the Rapier, cheap for a quick sale. A test drive revealed a misfire, and taking a chance I purchased the car for a knock down price and drove it home. The problem was, as I had suspected, a worn exhaust valve. A new valve as well as lapping in all the other valves cured the misfire and the engine itself never gave any more trouble, although some time…

As I explained in my last Diary, I was disconnecting the offside battery in the floor by the brake and clutch pedals when my hand slipped onto the brake pedal, and to my horror the brake pedal went to the floor. I was disappointed about this as the wheel cylinders are all new. There was nothing for it but to open the master cylinder section in the floor. I took the cap off to find no fluid in the header tank, so after topping the fluid up and placing a milk bottle by the master cylinder outlet shaft seal, I left it overnight. In the morning, all the fluid I had put in the night before was in the bottle, proving that the master cylinder seal had gone just like…

Having fixed the window regulators and replaced the A-post door seals on the E Type last month, I continued the theme and proceeded to replace the B-post and hatch seals, plus the light gaskets. All the E Type door seals I have fitted in the past have been too thick and required some major modifications prior to installation. The B-post seals continued this trend and after removing the old rubber and retaining adhesive, the replacement seals were temporarily retained in place with masking tape so the door closure could be checked. As expected the seal was far too thick to allow the door to latch, so rubber had to be removed from the back of the seal. I know some people achieve this by using a sharp craft knife to…

It all started when I tried to push my VW camper a metre or two when it was stored inside my garage. I wanted to push it not only to save on starting the engine and potentially fouling the spark plugs for such a short burst, but also to avoid having my carbon monoxide alarm going off – the only way to stop that once it is blaring is to transfer it outside and annoy my neighbours. Frustratingly, the van was almost impossible to push. After checking the handbrake was definitely off and the soup-stirring gear stick was in neutral (gear selection is vague at the best of times thanks to worn linkage), I realised that something must be binding. I needed to inspect and clean the front brakes anyway,…

An expat motoring author and journo resident in Vancouver, Iain was unable to resist the opportunities that comprise his fleet of projects, but is also unable to muster the focus, energy or organisational skills to complete them. MY FLEET 1947 BENTLEY MKVI OWNED SINCE: 2015 ENGINE: 4.25-litre straight six 1957 BENTLEY S1 OWNED SINCE: 2019 ENGINE: 4.9-litre straight six 1958 CHEVROLET DELRAY OWNED SINCE: 2005 ENGINE: 5.7-litre V8 1974 MINI MARCOS PROJECT OWNED SINCE: 2015 ENGINE: Cooper-spec 1100cc A-series 1984 DODGE CAMPERVAN OWNED SINCE: 2009 ENGINE: 6-litre V8 1990 ROVER MINI COOPER RSP OWNED: since 2016 ENGINE: 1275cc A-series 1992 JEEP CHEROKEE OWNED SINCE: 2006 ENGINE: 4-litre straight six 1992 MAZDA MX5 SUNBURST OWNED SINCE: 2015 ENGINE: 1600cc 199X COBRA REPLICA PROJECT OWNED SINCE: 2007 ENGINE: currently 4.6-litre Ford V8…

Whether your classic car is laid up for winter or occasionally used, there’s often the misleading assumption that if the car was working well when it was put away, there won’t be any problems when it comes to driving it again. This may well be the case, but it pays to at least conduct several checks that will help ensure the car remains safe when it’s back on the road. There are numerous checks that can be conducted, so we’re looking at the safety aspects of inspecting the tyres, windscreen and exterior lighting, as well as making sure the brakes are not seized and the fuel inside the fuel tank isn’t going to cause any issues with starting the engine. TYRES A check of the tyre pressures is the very…

Soon after the end of the war, in July 1947, we decided as a family to go on holiday to Borth in Powys, Wales. With its wonderful sand dunes, this had been a favourite spot for my parents Eric and Connie since the 1930s, mainly for golfing weekends at Borth Golf Club. Just two days earlier, Eric had part exchanged his 1938 SS/Jaguar with Charles Attwood of Wolverhampton for a new black Jaguar 3.5-litre saloon with red leather seats, registration number FDA 223. It was one of the first official Jaguars since the war years. On the journey to Wales, we had to go through the valleys of the Cambrian mountains. My father was running in the new Jaguar, and he drove extremely carefully. We hardly saw any vehicles on…

SAD MEMORIES OF LANCIA’S GRAVEYARD Just the other day I chanced upon an advert for a bit of land in Crewkerne, Somerset. I got there via a fit of nostalgia. The £400,000 bit of land was a former scrapyard complete with weighbridge that had been closed for a year or two, the former emporium of the late John Hallett. Hallett Metals became famous on 9th April 1980 when a story broke in a daily tabloid about Lancias being bought back by the importer and scrapped. The Lancia was of course the Beta, and the whole story was of industrial suicide on a Ratneresque scale. The Beta was the first product of a post-Fiat-takeover Lancia who had finally spent itself into near oblivion in 1968. When the huge Torinese concern bought…

1 WRITE A BOOK They do say that everybody has one story to tell, but don't worry because we are not suggesting you have a go at bashing out the next bestselling novel. Instead, what we have in mind is more of a photo album, but using modern technology to print it as a book. We have seen a number of these over the years, often created by owners who documented the process of restoring their car and wanted to create a permanent record of it. (The images above show one created by Neil Lamond to celebrate nearly 50 years of owning his Sunbeam Rapier Series IIIA convertible – see the April 2020 issue for that story.) There are a number of websites where you can do this, with a…

“The Anglia Touring was developed under the auspices of Friary Motors, and to see 578 BJB today is to marvel at the care and ingenuity of their design and execution” ‘People are often puzzled when they see my Anglia from the rear,’ remarks Bob Kent. It is an understandable reaction, for although 578 BJB seems to be a typical 105E forward of the B-pillars, the side windows and tailgate are totally unexpected. With coachwork by Friary Motors, it is one of just three known Anglia Tourings, and the only example believed to remain on the road. It is a car which, as the advertising copywriters promised, 'blends the many superlative qualities of the saloon with extra load space and general accessibility.’ When the 105E made its debut in late 1959,…

The Avenger was that rarest of things – an all new Rootes design, even if it took Chrysler money to bring it to fruition. Its design was inspired by the need for a rival to the successful Ford Escort and Vauxhall Viva models. The product planners’ requirement – a passenger package of Hunter capacity with less overhang – was given to Roy Axe and his styling studio, who produced the first quarter scale models in autumn 1965. These small models led to full size shells with linked and refined wing lines to lengthen the front-to-rear appearance. Work continued on this theme until June 1966, when a member of the Coventry studio (who had been seconded to Chrysler) introduced ideas of fuller sections, increased depth of roof pressings and changes to…

Rob confesses to a borderline addiction to cars, especially ones he can tinker with, which has inevitably resulted in him owning a variety of classics. He’s not a purist when it comes to originality and is always keen on modern upgrades, admitting he wouldn’t refuse an electric-converted classic. MY FLEET 1977 VOLKSWAGEN TRANSPORTER ENGINE: 1584cc air-cooled flat-four OWNED SINCE: July 2010 1998 MAZDA MX-5 MK2 (NB) ENGINE: 1840cc inline-four OWNED SINCE: May 2012 THOUGHT OF THE MONTH We may be keen to have a go at a job, but it’s wise to find out what problems may arise and when to call on the experts to avoid a disaster. To-do list • Fix/replace engine lid hinges • Eliminate fire risks • Update some ancillaries – dynamo and add a brake…

BMW 2002 NOISY TAPPETS Q I have a 1971 BMW 2002 with the 2-litre M10 B20 engine fitted. I have been given the valve clearance settings to be 0.15-0.20mm for both inlet and exhaust, and told that they should be set cold. I am sure that when this engine was produced, the settings would have been in thou and I am wondering if I have an incorrect conversion of the original setting, because after running through the clearances twice with my metric feeler gauges, the tappets still sound noisy. I use a 10W-40 semi-synthetic oil and wonder if this has a bearing on the problem. John Greensmith A I would not suspect that the oil has a bearing on the tappet noise you hear, and the 10W-40 semi-synthetic Is one…

We will be rebuilding your brake master cylinder today, but perhaps I should start by telling your readers a little about brake calipers so they get a better overall understanding of the work we do – on master cylinders most of the internals are reclaimed because there are so many variants, but we machine our own caliper pistons because every unit that we rebuild gets new ones. We only use British steel for our pistons. These used to be hard chrome plated, but that has been banned under health and safety legislation because of the process involved, so OE went over some years ago to a process called electroless nickel (or EN) plating, and that is what we use too. Why do the pistons need to be so hard? You’d…

In the 1970s, Autocar produced a special booklet about the SS Jaguar 100 model built from 1936-39, called Sir William Lyons high-performance cars. In it they wrote: ‘The 2.5-litre Jaguar 100 competition model was soon notching up successes in rallies and sports car races; it became more exciting when the 3.5-litre engine became available in 1937. In that year Tommy Wisdom won the first Autumn Handicap at Brooklands at 111.8mph in a stripped 100 model. It was a performance nicely timed for the Motor Show.’ They went on to explain: ‘The final Jaguar sports model before the outbreak of hostilities in 1939 was an elegant coupé, reminiscent of the Bugatti Atalante, based on the SS 100 chassis. It was coincidentally the first body change to the 100 chassis since 1935.…

FOUR-HEADLIGHT CLASSIC LED KIT Price: £239.99/£275.99 If your classic has four headlights, this quick and easy upgrade will make them nearly three times as bright, but use less than half as much power. The offer includes not just upgrades for the inner and outer headlights, but also matching ivory white powerful front sidelight bulbs. This will ensure that the driver will not only see better, but will also be more visible to others. The complete kit costs £239.99 for cars with all H1 headlights, and £275.99 for those with H4 in the outer pair and H1 in the inner pair. This is a considerable saving compared to buying the parts separately. They have both a money-back guarantee and a five-year warranty against fault or failure, and are guaranteed not to…

We left the Morris Minor last issue sitting in the workshop with a suspected brake fluid leak. The brakes worked fine, but the level in the master cylinder would slowly drop, so clearly fluid was escaping from somewhere. I had already inspected all the visible pipes and the wheel cylinders, and they were completely dry. That really only left one suspect – the brake master cylinder. On a Minor, this sits in a chassis rail underneath the driver’s feet. There is an access hole through which you can check the level and top it up, plus a larger panel that can be removed for more complete access. It is not much fun working in the confined space of the footwell in this way, sandwiched as you are between the seat…

Last issue I introduced my new Volvo 340. That feature concentrated on the model and the search, plus initial impressions of the car I purchased. I got it from Mathewsons auctions and it came with no history whatsoever, but I have built up a picture in my own mind of its progression through life. With only a shade over 50,000 miles clocked, absolutely no modifications whatsoever and a virtually unmarked interior, I suspect it must have been either a second car or a retirement purchase. It looks immaculate on the outside too, but has clearly had some paint and repairs in places which look to be after superficial scrapes and bumps. These culminated in a Category N insurance loss, which means there was no structural damage and it was repairable,…

I’ve never been one for ‘just’ putting a car back together, and I easily get sucked into doing other things. This month, working on Lily, my 1967 Morris Minor four-door, was no exception. One of the jobs that I started was replacing the carpets. These had been in the car for seven years and had been chopped and cut to fit a variety of different seats. It’s fair to say that regular use wasn’t kind to the light blue fabric, which shows dirt very clearly. A few years ago I bought a replacement set from Newton Commercial, and these had been in my cupboard ever since. Changing the carpets isn’t a five-minute job, particularly with the modifications I’ve made to the seats. With the restoration of two other cars to…

The background to this story is that I bought my Bentley S1 last April, but haven’t driven it yet as the transmission and brakes needed rebuilding, work that is now well underway. Rolls-Royce always had a policy of continuous improvement of their product. This wasn’t always successful, as some problems are best solved by abandoning a bad idea and going back to the beginning, rather than introducing additional and very complex new fiddlings to make said bad idea work not quite so badly. There was a spirit at RR of trying to improve though, unlike at VW where there was a tradition of changes that are utterly and bafflingly pointless until you understand that VW engineers wanted to get their names on a drawing for a manufactured part. The flexible…

Last issue we tackled two essential jobs on our new Figaro that needed doing before we figured it was safe to take on the road – fitting a new exhaust, and replacing the four tyres. The idea was that we wanted it roadworthy to take first to Simon Smith of the Figaro Owners Club for some feedback on the car and how it drove, then to the specialists at The Figaro Shop in Didcot for help with a number of the jobs on our list of improvements to be made. However, with the new tyres and exhaust fitted, our Figaro then decided to throw up another problem when the indicators stopped working. I got it back to base by using hand signals, but then the electric window in the driver’s…

Now entering its sixth uninterrupted decade as one of the country’s most loved cars, interest in the Mini seems as unflagging as ever. Even the newest generation of drivers who weren’t born when the last Mini rolled out of Longbridge (yes, it was very nearly 20 years ago!) aren’t immune to the little car’s cheeky charms. Or perhaps last year’s 60th anniversary celebrations have rekindled an affection for the Mini from your past? In either case, there is no reason not to revisit the buying advice for what has always been one of the linchpins in the classic car world. Even if you’re a Mini aficionado, the market and its offerings are continually changing. Yes, it’s been two decades since Mini production ended, while the first of them are now…

UNIPOWER This wonderful press picture of a Unipower GT came from Gerry Hulford. A grand total of 72 GTs were built from 1966-1970, with sleek fibreglass bodies powered by Mini Cooper or Cooper S engines placed behind the seats. Gerry started the Unipower GT Owners Club & Register back in 1972, but only last December did he feel the need to create a formal website on the marque presenting authenticated information, supported by the original founder of the Unipower GT and the principal designer and engineers at the time. You can find it at www.unipowergt.uk US MAIL OK, technically this should be under W rather than U because it is a Westcoast Mailster, but we are taking a small liberty because we are rather short of U options, and because…