Stupid yoke

[FROSTYBALLS]

4 minutes ago, DerekHa said:

.... one of the shop keepers around the corner had what I think was called the Ford Capri a really sleek coupe I admired back then.

The Ford Consul Classic spawned a coupe version - Ford Consul Capri.

[DerekHa]

8 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

The steering yoke isn't a new idea -

 

Is that a Hienkle? I remember them well and the Goggomobil both German bubble cars as well as the Isetta.

[FROSTYBALLS]

1 minute ago, DerekHa said:

Is that a Hienkle? I remember them well and the Gogamobile both German bubble cars as well as the Isetta.

It's a Messerschmitt - GR200 I think. After the war they started making micro cars based loosely on a fighter aircraft's cockpit.

The Heinkel microcar -

and the BMW Isetta (originally designed by ISO in Italy)

 

[DerekHa]

Yes the German aircraft makers had to find a way of making money or go out of business as they weren't originally allowed to manufacture aircraft after WWII ended and Germany was carved up by the Allies.

[Jimota]

The Morris Marina/Ital 1.8TC was a fantastically powerful car with great acceleration - as long as you kept it on a straight line, avoided bends and uneven road surfaces.  The tail end of the car skipped and hopped like skippy the bush Kangaroo on steroids.  My car was an unusual brown metallic colour with a tan vinyl roof.  The beauty of my car was further enhanced by the double gold coach-lines painted on by my dad.  The only time that the car let me down was when the front near side ball joint collapsed whilst I was negotiating a roundabout during peak hour traffic.  Due to the on board accident avoidance system I managed to mount a pavement, slid past a lamppost and avoided contact with other cars and pedestrians.  This incident taught me a valuable lesson - make sure that all grease points are fully inspected and lubricated on a regular basis.  Shortly after, I sold the car to a friend who wrote it off within 7 days.  He forgot about the fragility of the rear end on bendy roads.  Think I might still have a picture of the car somewhere in my possessions.

[Jimota]

Forgot to say that the on board accident avoidance system consisted of closing your eyes, letting go of the steering wheel and covering your head with your arms and hands.  A pretty basic system which worked remarkably well.

[Jimota]

13 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Remember the advertising slogan for the Marina 1.8TC - 'Fast, Faster, and Good Morning Officer'.

One of the best advertising slogans around the late 70s was for the BMWs.  It showed a BMW driver having been caught speeding by the police traffic department who were also driving a beemer.  The caption underneath the photo read “It takes one to catch one”.  Bear in mind that hardly any police forces in the UK had BMWs in their fleet at that time, which gave the impression that speeders had a a good chance of evading a speeding ticket.

[Yugguy1970]

The irony now is the police are still in BMWs but the crims are in A45s with twice the power

[FROSTYBALLS]

29 minutes ago, Yugguy1970 said:

The irony now is the police are still in BMWs but the crims are in A45s with twice the power

[DerekHa]

Sadly I'm old enough to remember when Birmingham City Police ran the pilot scheme for them things that got dubbed Panda cars, proper Austin A45's running around Balsall Heath in blue and white livery, not new fangled Merc's!

Back then proper crim's were all into Jag's and just like today the Police were always playing catch up.

[Jimota]

If the energy crisis gets any worse we might all be driving Messerschmitt and BMW bubble cars in the near future. 

[Jimota]

As I said before - It takes one to catch one.

[Cyker]

9 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

It's a Messerschmitt - GR200 I think. After the war they started making micro cars based loosely on a fighter aircraft's cockpit.

The Heinkel microcar -

and the BMW Isetta (originally designed by ISO in Italy)

 

I love these things, they're so cute!  

I wouldn't actually want to drive one on a public road tho'!  

 

9 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

The Ford Consul Classic spawned a coupe version - Ford Consul Capri.

Woooo now that is a good looking car!  

[Rhymes with Paris]

22 hours ago, Cyker said:

Good grief how old are you people?!  

It's a shame you're all so far apart as I'd love to listen to a group of you ramble on about this stuff wandering through the cars at something like the Enfield Car Pagent!  

I find I can't get the full effect from a lot of these older cars, having never actually driven most of them   It's always fun talking to some of the owners, esp. the ones who love them but know they're hair-raising death traps with the stories to prove it  

 

Sorry, was trying to upload a pic of the Messerschmitt tiger and completely lashed it up.

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

8 minutes ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

was trying to upload a pic of the Messerschmitt tiger

Here it is:

[Big_D]

That's a car with character

[Rhymes with Paris]

4 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Here it is:

Ah , thank you, that's the one.

A bit rare now I think, and valuable.

I never got to drive one unfortunately, the closest I got to owning a micro car was a non runner Bond round the corner.

The owner demonstrated how to open the bonnet and insert your leg to operate the kick start.

I don't think any amount of kick starting would have have got that old bike engine going however, so had to leave it where it was.

 

[Jimota]

I never got to drive one either but my workmate had one.  It was a challenge to get spare parts but my mate was quite a resourceful chap.  For years he had a long piece of string attached to the window wiper and just pulled on it as if it had an intermittent wipe programme.

[Puglet]

Thinking about it, the Mk1 Aygo/C1/107 is bit of spiritual successor to the bubble cars, was a cheap, simple car and cheap to run etc., I'll discount the Mk2 as they went a bit mad building a better more luxurious car and it cost more, so not in the same spirit. The Mk1 also had a few cost cutting quirks (e.g. single leccy window switches, 1 courtesy light door switch etc.) which all very cheap cars have but add to the character, functional but flawed.

Wouldn't fancy a long journey in a bubble car, where as our bugs are perfectly ok and you can get more people in, one reasons I discounted a smart car all those years ago and the price and the gearbox.

[Yugguy1970]

The mk2 is still an easy car to work on from what I can see, nothing too technical. 

 

[Puglet]

On 11/18/2022 at 10:17 AM, FROSTYBALLS said:

Remember my one brother-in-law had the Ford Escort version of the 100E - day after he sold it the rear axle came off. People who think the Escort of 1968 was the Mk1 are wrong -

I believe you now,just seen one on Bangers and Cash on Yesterday.

[FROSTYBALLS]

My brother-in-law's was a somewhat faded Dorchester Grey: