Running Bear's May 2023 Coffee Shop.

[Smudge617]

Actually, that's not a bad lookin' little car. What was the motor?

First made in 1965 it had a straight overhead 4, with either 875cc or 998 engine made by Roots in Refewshire UK, which was a subsidiary of Chrysler.
It ultimately failed simply because it was rear engined, and the cooling system on it was rubbish. In 1975 it had a new lease of life with the Coventry climax engine which would go to 7000rpm.

How do I know, my mum had one.

 

[Snowman]

Take off those narrow tread whitewall tires (?), throw on four fender flares and wider slicks and you've got yourself something more like a fast Alfa than a typical commuter car.

Those Holdens weren't. Those were some beasts!

I'm (still) a sim-racer, and we race all kinds of stuff. Among them Holdens, and, as is and was so often the case, around tracks like Bathurst (500). Not just door to door but literally door handle to door handle, in double lines, at least during the first few hours.

Sorta like a typical daily commute, I suppose. Except a lot faster.

 

[bnsf971]

Actually, that's not a bad lookin' little car. What was the motor?

6 gerbils.

 

[Snowman]

First made in 1965 it had a straight overhead 4, with either 875cc or 998 engine made by Roots in Refewshire UK, which was a subsidiary of Chrysler.
It ultimately failed simply because it was rear engined, and the cooling system on it was rubbish. In 1975 it had a new lease of life with the Coventry climax engine which would go to 7000rpm.

How do I know, my mum had one.

6 gerbils.

But surely Turbo-Gerbils? A six-speed, of course?

 

[Smudge617]

But surely Turbo-Gerbils? A six-speed, of course?

Model	Hillman Imp Sport
Top speed	90mph
0-60mph	16.3sec
Consumption	34mpg
Gearbox	Four-speed manual

 

[troyphoto]

My first car:

Not that particular one, but that model and color.

Hidden gem: 1973 Fiat 124 Sport Coupé 1.8

Do you really need to spend a lot of money to drive a classic car with nice lines, snappy and in good condition? The answer is no, at least in our opinion. In fact, if you go deep into the classic …

classicvirus.com

Purchased in 1987 when dad took "the teenager car" of his old Buick Skylark away from me, so my 4 years younger sister could drive to beauty school ... she was learning a trade. I was on campus at college and could take the college bus wherever.

Of course, I didn't have a cool bus driver like SMUDGE

And, we were told one year when the temps and windchill were in the double-digit negatives (f-degrees) to just "wear an extra muffler" (the scarf kind, not the car kind)...

So, I scraped up $300 and purchased the Fiat in a very, very faded green. The car came with an exhaust leak that we tracked back to the manifold. the key slot on the steering collum had an issue, and the previous owner had bypassed it. The key only unlocked the steering column... there was a toggle and a push button to start it.

And, I got a FREE broomstick to hold the hood open to replace the points every 500 miles... That car had more gremlins...

Oh, and the broomstick came in handy at stoplights. I used it to press the accelerator enough to keep the car from stalling while my feet were on the clutch and the brake.

I keep calling the current little Fiat coupes "Zippy little Fiats" ... and my wife reminds me there was nothing "zippy" about my old Fiat

 

[bnsf971]

My first car:

Not that particular one, but that model and color.

Hidden gem: 1973 Fiat 124 Sport Coupé 1.8

Do you really need to spend a lot of money to drive a classic car with nice lines, snappy and in good condition? The answer is no, at least in our opinion. In fact, if you go deep into the classic …

classicvirus.com

Purchased in 1987 when dad took "the teenager car" of his old Buick Skylark away from me, so my 4 years younger sister could drive to beauty school ... she was learning a trade. I was on campus at college and could take the college bus wherever.

Of course, I didn't have a cool bus driver like SMUDGE

And, we were told one year when the temps and windchill were in the double-digit negatives (f-degrees) to just "wear an extra muffler" (the scarf kind, not the car kind)...

So, I scraped up $300 and purchased the Fiat in a very, very faded green. The car came with an exhaust leak that we tracked back to the manifold. the key slot on the steering collum had an issue, and the previous owner had bypassed it. The key only unlocked the steering column... there was a toggle and a push button to start it.

And, I got a FREE broomstick to hold the hood open to replace the points every 500 miles... That car had more gremlins...

Oh, and the broomstick came in handy at stoplights. I used it to press the accelerator enough to keep the car from stalling while my feet were on the clutch and the brake.

I keep calling the current little Fiat coupes "Zippy little Fiats" ... and my wife reminds me there was nothing "zippy" about my old Fiat

FIAT= Fix It Again Tomorrow.

 

[Smudge617]

FIAT= Fix It Again Tomorrow.

FORD = Fix Or Repair Daily

 

[santafewillie]

His corvair sported a set of...get this...vertically mounted PUSH-buttons on the dash, left of the steering wheel.

My Mom had a '62 Plymouth Valiant with those push-buttons, but on the right side.

The car that I learned to drive in was a '59 Chevy Biscayne. 3 speed manual on the column.

First car that I actually bought was an 11 year old '61 VW Beetle with a 36 hp engine.

Heater worked from hot air piped directly off the air-cooled engine. Wipers were vacuum operated from the engine, if you needed them to wipe faster, you downshifted. 1st gear was for starting, 2nd gear was for RH turns, 3rd gear was for LH turns and 4th gear was for everything else.
I once got stopped for speeding but the cop let me go because he didn't think that it could go that fast, 71 mph.

 

[ctclibby]

FORD = Fix Or Repair Daily

FORD: Found On Road Dead
There are probably many more....

 

[TLOC]

Good morning to all who are reliving our 1st cars. Great memories.

It’s day 1 of a golfing adventure. I am playing in a charity event a mile or so to the front gate of the golf course from the house. Looking forward to a nice day after the miserable damp, often raining Sunday. 120 total golfers of which my brother is sponsoring 20 of us. He has gobbled together some games for the 20 of us and I actually have no clue what we are getting into today. We tee off between 10 and 11 with dinner starting at 6.

Yesterday the weather was lousy, I thought the Oiler/Golden Knights NHL game left something to be desired. My prediction of a Toronto/Edmonton Stanley Cup final along with a $10 bet in Vegas is out the window. Breakfast at the daughter’s was fun, prepared by the SIL and 4 friends, there were a total of 12 couples and no children. A sit down breakfast served up by the 5 Guys. Dinner last night was the usual Sunday meal, figure it out on your own.

Finished re-organizing the work space in the train room. Did some decal work.

I will continue weathering them in a few minutes for a couple hours, then get ready to leave.

Met with the contractor at the daughter’s neighbor’s wood shop. I don’t know much about woodworking but I have been in a few cabinet shops, but I was really impressed with how neat he has everything. The contractor along with the house designer ( didn’t know, he’s a nephew of the contractor) were there and approve of the trim change that WE already ok’d. Window trim is/was a concern as the designer wanted to make sure it was thin enough and not clunky looking. Not an issue per the wood worker and the contractor. The daughter’s neighbor I think has made a new friend with the soon to be retired contractor. So our trim concerns are relieved. We were extremely lucky.

There is no 2-3 mile walk outside this morning. I might get a mile or 2 in at the golf course. At an event like this, you have to take a cart, but I can let my partner drive. Enjoy the day

next

 

[Patrick]

Morning all,

Got a bunch of rain yesterday afternoon and overnight. It was still raining as I was coming to work. Got the work at the boys done before it rained. I did turn off the sprinklers for the late yesterday session. Looks like we got about 1.25 inches at the house. Wife asked if the lawn was going to turn green after getting the sprinklers fixed. I will say that in the past week, between the sprinklers and the rain we did get, it's green. The winterizing fertilizer I put down last fall is finally getting in. Turns out it was mostly sitting on the surface all winter as we hadn't had enough moisture for it.

Back at the office this am waiting for a vendor to call.

BBL

 

[shortwrench]

The famous Power Glide transmission.

Also known as the Power Slide.

 

[kbkchooch]

Good morning gang and those wishin they had their old cars back!

Willie, Gotta love the 59 and 60 Chevy fins!

FORD: Found On Road Dead
There are probably many more....

Friggin Old Remanufactured Dodge
Flippin Over Rated Disaster
but hey, let us not just pick on Ford,
Fix It Again Tony
Feeble Attempted Italian Transportation
Drips Oil Drips Grease Everywhere
Just Empty Every Pocket
Bust My Wallet
Gay Man's Chevy
Constantly Having Every Vehicle Recalled Over Lousy Engineering Techniques


Yesterday was spent putting up motion activated flood lights in the back yard with LED lighting. I actually had to grind the existing lamp screws to get the boxes open. Thank goodness for a cordless Dremel! Also it was time to clean the rain spouts, 1 downspout was clogged so badly that I had to use a drain snake to get the water to flow again! By the time it was all done, I was done! After dinner I just sat and propped my sore feet up. Standing on ladders is tough on my ankles!

Monday night is always trash night and banking/bill pay night for the coming week. Today is also Ryan's last day of final exams, tomorrow he moves back home. His 1st year of college went by like a blur, it seems like we were just at orientation!

BBL

 

[shortwrench]

Those were the days when you could tell the make, model, and year of a car from 50 ft away.
Now you have to stand 3 feet behind the car so you can recognize the manufacturer's logo
and read the model emblem---and you still don't know what model year the car is.

 

[CGW121]

post deleted

 

[Smudge617]

Nothing to do with Railways or Cars, but just to make you smile
.

Facebook

www.facebook.com

 

[chadbag]

I know, you had the best concerts (when the members were in their prime) And the best cars,

I'm almost too embarrassed to tell you my first car. A Mazda GLC,

I bought a used Mazda GLC when I lived in Germany. It was like an 84 or 83 or something. I bought it in 92 after having been in a 64 car pileup on the autobahn in the fog. No fatalities but lots of wrecked cars. Idiot rammed into a truck in the fog and then more idiots ran into the people stopped behind them. This happened in a few waves. I was stopped and got rammed into. I had just gotten on the autobahn the exit/on-ramp before too.


The Mazda was cheap (1500 DM, about $750), which is what I needed as it took a long while to figure out the accident and get money from the other guys’ insurances (I didn’t have my own collision/comp, just liability). After a few months it started running rough. I had a 50 mile mostly autobahn commute every day and my gas mileage went way down and the way it ran got bad. I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t have money to take it in to the dealer. I cleaned the carb a million times. And tried to figure it out. Finally, after a few months of this and mounting gasoline bills, I took it to the Mazda dealer. They quickly diagnosed it as a faulty distributor cable and about $100 later (part and labor) it was running great.

I did end up later doing some sort of exhaust manifold job in it. I don’t remember the details but was proud of my ability to do it all myself. I think it was leaking exhaust into the car or something but this was over 30 years ago.

when I left Germany in the spring of 93 I left it with a friend who sold it for me. I got around half my money back. It had developed an oil leak.

that is my Mazda experience. Except for that Mazda and my two RAM/Cummins trucks, I’ve only bought VW or an Audi (expensive VW) except for our one Volvo in 2016/2017. I’ve had good luck with my VW.

 

[chadbag]

FIAT= Fix It Again Tomorrow.

Fix it again, Tony

is what we always called them

 

[ctclibby]

Good Morning All!

51F @ 71%

Made some time for the track plan. Don't laugh too much!
Upper Level:

Lower Level:

As you can see, am having trouble with the prints. Will post to groups.io ( xtrackcad ) and see if it is either me not doing something correct, or ? Setup to print ARCH D with the resulting print *maybe* ARCH C, and it does not matter if I print Portrait or Landscape. Anyway you can get some idea of what I am attempting to get done.

Edit - you can make them bigger somewhat.

Later