Weekends.

[Old Peter]

In the fifties, sixties and seventies weekends or part of them had fairly specific things to do with your car or motorcycle.

One a month, the spark plugs had to come out, get cleaned, and the feeler gauge would come out of the toolkit to reset them.  As I was doing about 500 miles a month the Oil would be changed, & the filter either cleaned or changed. A top up of Oil wold go into the SU carburettor, and if your car had a Solex, now and then it would have to come off and the jets be cleaned

tyres checked, and stones picked out, and now and then the drum brakes would need new shoes.

You didn't have to top up the screen wash, because usually there wasn't one, and the carpets never needed cleaning either, because the car had rubber mats.

The clutch cable would have to be greased, and probably the grease gun would have to be filled so you could put a little into each of the grease nipples.

If you had time, you could wash the car!

What do we do now?

[Wat]

I promised my self I would avoid this site Peter but it has an incredible fascination for me.

I well remember the times you are talking about,like lying in the snow trying to put new front brake discs on a Hillman Hunter hoping to finish before it got dark at 3.30 pm so that I could get to Glasgow for the night shift.

I knew a guy who decided to improve the Venturi on a Vauxhall Cresta carburettor with a bit of fuse wire.I tried to tell him that Solex spent millions on development,but he thought, he could do better.

Happy days

[Old Peter]

Hi Walter, 

It is a site that also has a bit of fun, and you can make it so yourself!

I had a neighbour who became addicted to car auctions and had 14 cars in 12 months, including a Ford Anglia 1.2 litre with a 998cc engine. He old me once that he had a funny noise coming from his engine. I could not hear it myself, but I told him it would only cost £5 to fix it.  He gave me the fiver and went to work on the bus.  I bought a car radio and fitted it!  Just told him to keep it turned up.

That is what the club is for  --- sharing experiences, good, bad and neither.

Regards,

Peter.

[Tigger]

This got my reminiscing, Peter.

Back in 1986 C plate, I bought a new MG Maestro 1.6 in black, the one with the talking Computor ! a beauty, had a couple of Cibis fitted to the front. One thing I remember was having it into the garage every couple of months to have the dual Webber's balanced, had some good times in that car and a rally filter fitted to give it more growl.

Happy days

Andrew

[Old Peter]

Hi Andrew,

In 1986 I had a Austin Maestro 1.6 with rust on drivers door when delivered. A very quick little car.  I had been playing Golf at Whitby Golf course and had to drive back with my golfing partner.  Behind us was another  member of our club and in a 2.0 litre  Austin something or other who trie d to overtake me on the twisty roads.  As I often visited my sister who live close to the golf course I knew that road and every bend well, and he couldn't get anywhere near me. Over Malton and Pickering ne tried and couldn't get anywhere near, but on the duel carriageway when I was doing a clever 70 mph he passed me like a rocket right though the Radar trap that was always there.

As you say, Happy days.

Regards,

Peter. 

[Oldjagman]

The one and only new car that I've owned was a Maestro Diesel with the 2 litre Perkins engine . We had it for about 15 years and did 240,000 miles in it. Everyone  in the family borrowed it and It always returned 50mpg. It was completely reliable, never had a new clutch, injectors changed or the head off but sadly the body gave up the ghost to the dreaded tin worm. Such a pity that Rover couldn't have developed it into something that people would buy in sufficient numbers to keep them afloat. I find it sad that just about every car on the road now is foreign or built by a foreign company.

The 60s were a great time for car tinkerers Peter with loads of parts available from scrapyards and the like and no computers to worry about, Just a pity that as teenagers we never had any money to spend on our vehicles but it was a steep learning curve and things were kept going. 

I wonder what the old time mechanics would think of our code readers , multiple sensors and cars going to sleep at nights.

[Old Peter]

Hi Peter, and welcome to the Club.

I worked in the Steel Industry almost all of my working life, and the engineering steels se made were second to none.  The strip and sheet steel was also great stuff, but we were never able to persuade the car manufacturers to use the products to make the steel practically rust free. My 6 year old Triumph Herald had terminal rust and had an undignified end in a scrapyard.  There was galvanised steel which took a long time to get used in the automotive industry.  I had an Austin A40 Farina style just 6 years old too with the sills falling off with rust and the two front footwells completely rotten.  I had some galvanised steel cut to size, cut out the rusty bits, treated the remainder, and pop revered in the new panels. The sill I took off and got new ones made to measure using stelvetite coated steel on the interior and pop riveted them on also.

I had loads of new cars - from a grateful employer- with Maestros, Montegos and Rover 400 series. When I retired I treated myself to a 8 month old Rover Sterling with all the bells and whistles, which I kept for nearly 12 years, but with Rover going out of business I was making too many visits to scrap yards for bits, so I went to Jaguar, first with an X type and then my S type which I have had for nearly 3 years.

My mechanic - a one man mobile business -- Rover trained too - has all the up to date diagnostic tools, but still prefers to work with the old engines.

Being skint in my twenties led me into doing a car maintenance course at night school, but nowadays I just confine myself to just looking after my car, making sure it is in tip top condition, and just enjoying the Jaguar experience.

Regards,

Peter.