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Most Advanced Gadget You Fitted Way Back When


Hoovie
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Anyone remember the Mangoletsi Manifold Modifer - it sold like hot cakes in the early 70's and was widely advertised in the motoring press and the likes of Exchange and Mart. Great claims were made for this device including MPG improvement and smoother running. I was most disappointed when the wonder device arrived - it was nothing more than a bit of sheet metal with a hole in the centre which was sandwiched between the carburettor and manifold. Still, I did convince myself that my car was more economical, faster etc etc!

Here's the press report from the past:

In the ‘50s the experience gained from working with gas carburation led
to the design and patenting of the GM Manifold Modifier. This simple device,
fitted between the carburettor and the manifold, greatly improved the
distribution by atomising the fuel more efficiently, and keeping the unmixed
petrol from attaching to the walls of the manifold. The modifier gave much
smoother running, more torque and better fuel consumption. According to
magazines, newspapers and research company tests all so-called petrol savers
failed, except one, the GM Manifold Modifier. Just some of the publications
stating that it is the only one that works – AA Drive magazine; What Car;
Sunday Times. Motor, Autocar and Burmah Castrol all held economy competitions
and, in every case, the winner was the GM Manifold Modifier. It was also used
by many major fleets: Scottish Gas, Welsh Gas, and most English Gas Boards,
Schweppes, etc.

Motor magazine April 1975: “ In recent years Motor has tried a variety
of economy devices- Still the only economy device we heartily recommend- Cheap
to fit – Totally safe – It gave a 6% reduction in consumption on an Allegro”

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Anyone remember the Mangoletsi Manifold Modifer - it sold like hot cakes in the early 70's and was widely advertised in the motoring press and the likes of Exchange and Mart. Great claims were made for this device including MPG improvement and smoother running. I was most disappointed when the wonder device arrived - it was nothing more than a bit of sheet metal with a hole in the centre which was sandwiched between the carburettor and manifold. Still, I did convince myself that my car was more economical, faster etc etc!

Here's the press report from the past:

In the ‘50s the experience gained from working with gas carburation led

to the design and patenting of the GM Manifold Modifier. This simple device,

fitted between the carburettor and the manifold, greatly improved the

distribution by atomising the fuel more efficiently, and keeping the unmixed

petrol from attaching to the walls of the manifold. The modifier gave much

smoother running, more torque and better fuel consumption. According to

magazines, newspapers and research company tests all so-called petrol savers

failed, except one, the GM Manifold Modifier. Just some of the publications

stating that it is the only one that works – AA Drive magazine; What Car;

Sunday Times. Motor, Autocar and Burmah Castrol all held economy competitions

and, in every case, the winner was the GM Manifold Modifier. It was also used

by many major fleets: Scottish Gas, Welsh Gas, and most English Gas Boards,

Schweppes, etc.

Motor magazine April 1975: “ In recent years Motor has tried a variety

of economy devices- Still the only economy device we heartily recommend- Cheap

to fit – Totally safe – It gave a 6% reduction in consumption on an Allegro”

Yes, I remember those. And what about the Magnaflow system to enhance fuel economy? A couple of ropey magnets attached to the fuel line. I seem to recall that the science had to do with re-aligning the molecules in the fuel so that they were all running in the same direction to atomise/burn better???

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How things have progressed in such a short space of time, not always for the best we sometimes say but then you're reminded of the Allegro ! A friend of mine left school and started as a sales junior in an Alfa dealership, they had a brand new Alfasud develop a hole in the roof while it was stood in the showroom.

One of my earliest car related memories is 'helping' my Grandad fill the car up and the pump attendant letting me squeeze the trigger on the Redex gun before he put the fuel in.

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The Allegro, eh.

Now this is totally true, but I changed my job to one as a field engineer to get a company car ( choices back then were basically pay for a car or a mortgage, and I wanted my first flat).

The company I went to work for I knew used BL Cars exclusively, and the day I was due to start I actually woke up in a cold sweat as I had a nightmare that I was going to turn up and be given the keys to an Allegro! I did in fact get an Austin Ambassador in fact, which was supremely comfortable, but also supremely unreliable, and hardly the motor a 20-something bloke would want anyway :(

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The Allegro, eh.

Now this is totally true, but I changed my job to one as a field engineer to get a company car ( choices back then were basically pay for a car or a mortgage, and I wanted my first flat).

The company I went to work for I knew used BL Cars exclusively, and the day I was due to start I actually woke up in a cold sweat as I had a nightmare that I was going to turn up and be given the keys to an Allegro! I did in fact get an Austin Ambassador in fact, which was supremely comfortable, but also supremely unreliable, and hardly the motor a 20-something bloke would want anyway :(

I had an Austin Princess once as a company car. Contrary to folklore, it was a great car: comfy, roomy & with an enormous boot that the mafia could have used to transport bodies.

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The Allegro, eh.

Now this is totally true, but I changed my job to one as a field engineer to get a company car ( choices back then were basically pay for a car or a mortgage, and I wanted my first flat).

The company I went to work for I knew used BL Cars exclusively, and the day I was due to start I actually woke up in a cold sweat as I had a nightmare that I was going to turn up and be given the keys to an Allegro! I did in fact get an Austin Ambassador in fact, which was supremely comfortable, but also supremely unreliable, and hardly the motor a 20-something bloke would want anyway :(

I had an Austin Princess once as a company car. Contrary to folklore, it was a great car: comfy, roomy & with an enormous boot that the mafia could have used to transport bodies.

that Hydrolastic suspension or whatever it was called was brilliant :) .The Ambassador introduced me to the Ford Sierra in fact (I had about 10 as Hire Cars, as in the 13 months of Ambassador ownership it was in for repair virtually every other week)

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Austin Allegro ! That was my first taste of car ownership ! Not just any old Allegro but a 1750 SS (sport special) . It went like sh#* ! No , sorry , it was sh#* ! At least I changed the square steering wheel for a mountney ! That was probably worth more than the car itself !

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My first company car was an Allegro, it wasn't even new. This was what the company thought of me, obviously. :wacko:

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My first car was an All Agro as well. . . . First trip up the M6 and it conked out . . . mainly due to a dodgy connect on the coil . . .I had to top up with oil on that trip as well . . . Ran into work in Stockport the next day . . . It broke down on in the middle of the Eccles Interchange . . . AA got me running again . .points gap had closed . . .Topped up with oil on the way home . . . Following day drove to work . . .broke down on the M56, AA got me running again . . Points gap had closed, some muppet had put a non ballast resit coil on when it should have had a ballast resist coil. . . .Issue sorted.

Broke down on way home . . .thrown a gear box boot and dumped all the oil over the carriageway . . . AA Man took me home . . . Car went to scrap heap :( . . . Yeah I had it three days

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British Leylands finest ! If you jacked Allegros with the door open it wouldn't close again the bodies flexed so much, also, if jacked up at one front corner only, the windscreen would 'pop' out. It's no surprise the Japanese took such vast market shares when we were producing such rubbish……….It's sad.

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Austin Allegro - good grief - and such a pretty car . . . I never got to travel or drive in an Ambassador, but they did look good on the road. Wasn't is known as The Flying Cheesewedge?

BL's (Issigonis's) Hydrolastic suspension was brilliant, on everything except the Mini, which it didn't suit at all. Mini purists went for Alex Moulton's rubber, I remember. Although my first Mini was 1959, my second was a Mini 1000 from 1970, suspendered (also immensely popular at the time) hydrolastically. Quite a different car, and well capable of 44mpg - not bad even by today's standards.

What I did fancy, but never got, was an Austin 3-litre (lots used by the Army and RAF as staff cars). An old friend in Cheshire, I remember, had a couple of Austin Champs: 3-litre Rolls Royce engine, and six gears in each direction.

Then there was the 3.3-litre Powerglide Vauxhall Cresta, under whose bonnet several mechanics could stand in comfort.

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We used to call the Ambassador "The Flying Pig". Mine was in Gold, which was great as it never showed any dirt at all.

Real pecking order in the company ... the oiks got the Ambassadors, the Managers got the Rover SD1 and the MD got the Jaguar XJ (and his own personal mechanic to maintain it). Then of course, it became Maestro or Montego for oiks, Rover 400 or 800 for Bosses and whatever Jag was current for the big cheese.

I really like the style of the Montego in fact, but it was such a slow car :( had the 1.6L and I got it to max out at an indicated 80MPH on the long downhill section of the M4 near Stroud. no braking in the rain ... tried to stop one on a wet road and ended up in the middle of a roundabout.

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In 2005, BBC Bristol put out 40min documentary, "Rover - the Long Goodbye", which looked back at the glory-days and otherwise of Rover/Leyland. Included contributions from James Taylor, Zog Ziegler, Tiff Needell, Quentin Willson (waxing lyrical from the rear seat of a P6), and footage of a spotty Jeremy Clarkson (wrestling with an SD1 door, and a waterlogged glove compartment).

Amazing archive footage, and a sad, sad story of appalling British management which ended with Rover being given away (or was it the taxpayer paying someone to take it?) amid the farce of Towers & co, Shanghai Automotive and Tata. (Google Roewe, China to see where it is now.)

Watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV-9dVb7keM

Chris

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In 2005, BBC Bristol put out 40min documentary, "Rover - the Long Goodbye", which looked back at the glory-days and otherwise of Rover/Leyland. Included contributions from James Taylor, Zog Ziegler, Tiff Needell, Quentin Willson (waxing lyrical from the rear seat of a P6), and footage of a spotty Jeremy Clarkson (wrestling with an SD1 door, and a waterlogged glove compartment).

Amazing archive footage, and a sad, sad story of appalling British management which ended with Rover being given away (or was it the taxpayer paying someone to take it?) amid the farce of Towers & co, Shanghai Automotive and Tata. (Google Roewe, China to see where it is now.)

Watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV-9dVb7keM

Chris

Your absolutely right, Chris; a !Removed! debacle from the creation of BL through to the Tower-induced suicide. For me though the most glaring k0ck-up was selling it to BMW rather than to Honda when so much of Austin-Rover's technology & product were tied to Honda's kit. I recall that there was palpable shock in both Honda HQ & UK when the sale was announced. IIRC, Honda's bid was more attractive that BMW's (even ignoring the glaringly obvious synergies) and I've never heard any convincing argument as to why it went to the Germans. The only good thing that came out of it was the Rover 75, which has turned out to be quite a good car and a potentially valuable classic, especially the MG ZT version.

Otherwise a complete & totally unnecessary shambles.

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Chris, that is a serious list of modding!!

My purchase end of last month of an old VW Bus has exposed my VPL (Vehicle Pimping Lust) again.... Today's mod was another blast from the past: fitted a wrap-around Leather steering wheel cover and sewed it all around. Good fun indeed (and right for my mechanical level ;) )

I had one of those on my 2000E. Brilliant they were although sewing it on with the fake leather thread was a minor feat of domestic engineering for someone with chronic FFS (fat finger syndrome) - if you didn't gauge which holes to stitch through accurately, you ran out of thread and had to undo it all and start over.

Funnily enough, I was looking for one of those a while ago and couldn't find one anywhere. Shame really, they were probably the best option after a new Momo - certainly miles better than the usual pull-on wheel covers.

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Chris, that is a serious list of modding!!

My purchase end of last month of an old VW Bus has exposed my VPL (Vehicle Pimping Lust) again.... Today's mod was another blast from the past: fitted a wrap-around Leather steering wheel cover and sewed it all around. Good fun indeed (and right for my mechanical level ;) )

I had one of those on my 2000E.

Now we're talking, I had a 2000E, when I bought it it was blue with a bonnet/roof/boot white stripe (go figure). I had it re-sprayed

Ford apollo green, loved that car. Traded it in for a Mk5.

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How about a Vertical 45’s Singles record player for the car… very advanced for the time and pre-dates the cassette tape player

and the 8 track tape player.

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If you are still thinking about it, checkout "Mr Steering" on eBay - think it was £14.10 and i have to say the cover looks way nicer then I expected, and was easy to do as well (maybe 15 mins?)

Chris, that is a serious list of modding!!

My purchase end of last month of an old VW Bus has exposed my VPL (Vehicle Pimping Lust) again.... Today's mod was another blast from the past: fitted a wrap-around Leather steering wheel cover and sewed it all around. Good fun indeed (and right for my mechanical level ;) )

I had one of those on my 2000E. Brilliant they were although sewing it on with the fake leather thread was a minor feat of domestic engineering for someone with chronic FFS (fat finger syndrome) - if you didn't gauge which holes to stitch through accurately, you ran out of thread and had to undo it all and start over.

Funnily enough, I was looking for one of those a while ago and couldn't find one anywhere. Shame really, they were probably the best option after a new Momo - certainly miles better than the usual pull-on wheel covers.

This is the one I got .... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260860691877?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

$(KGrHqF,!okFD)uLKVH,BR!Ron1Ge!~~60_12.J

(Further mods/pimps yesterday & today were changing the interior light to a Caravelle one (adds Courtesy Light dalay and a Map Light) and replacing all the festoon bulbs with LED ones)

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Chris, that is a serious list of modding!!

My purchase end of last month of an old VW Bus has exposed my VPL (Vehicle Pimping Lust) again.... Today's mod was another blast from the past: fitted a wrap-around Leather steering wheel cover and sewed it all around. Good fun indeed (and right for my mechanical level ;) )

I had one of those on my 2000E.

Now we're talking, I had a 2000E, when I bought it it was blue with a bonnet/roof/boot white stripe (go figure). I had it re-sprayed

Ford apollo green, loved that car. Traded it in for a Mk5.

They were brilliant cars. Mine was Sebring Red (more orange than red) with a black vinyl roof and a dove grey cloth interior. Sold it to my cousin who wrote it off in an altercation with a tractor.

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Chris, that is a serious list of modding!!

My purchase end of last month of an old VW Bus has exposed my VPL (Vehicle Pimping Lust) again.... Today's mod was another blast from the past: fitted a wrap-around Leather steering wheel cover and sewed it all around. Good fun indeed (and right for my mechanical level ;) )

I had one of those on my 2000E. Brilliant they were although sewing it on with the fake leather thread was a minor feat of domestic engineering for someone with chronic FFS (fat finger syndrome) - if you didn't gauge which holes to stitch through accurately, you ran out of thread and had to undo it all and start over.

Funnily enough, I was looking for one of those a while ago and couldn't find one anywhere. Shame really, they were probably the best option after a new Momo - certainly miles better than the usual pull-on wheel covers.

If you are still thinking about it, checkout "Mr Steering" on eBay - think it was £14.10 and i have to say the cover looks way nicer then I expected, and was easy to do as well (maybe 15 mins?)

This is the one I got .... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260860691877?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

$(KGrHqF,!okFD)uLKVH,BR!Ron1Ge!~~60_12.J

That one's really sophistimacated (as BK would say).; looks almost OEM. The one I had had hundreds of perforations and the binder thread, as I said before, was made out of the same fake leather mat'l as the cover. You had to effectively lace it up through the holes nearest to each edge. Same principle as yours but not so refined doncha know, Old Chap.

Wish I could remember the name of the damned thing. they were common as muck back in the 70's & 80's.

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