Crap Cars of the 70's


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Chap went into Halfords and asked "have you got a pair of windscreen wipers for a Lada?". The sales assistant thought about it and then replied "we normally ask for cash, but that would be s fair swap

Just looked back at this post of yours Mick...can you imagine today? "I shall have to warn you sir that those three kids not safely restrained in safety belts are gonna cost you,as is the missing num

My Dad had a vauxhall victor,he had it for donkeys years ,he loved that car,A strange thing is after he died,my daughter came downstairs (she had just looked through her bedroom window)she said 'grand

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Believe it or not, I passed a Bond Bug coming the other way in Newport, Saffron Walden last saturday, I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was immaculate as well, doubt whether I've seen one for 30 odd years.

Worst car for me, 1300 Marina, it was dreadful. My missus had the misfortune to be given one as her company car in 1975, it was brand new, but dodgy.

If you tried to drive it in more than a force 1 wind it was all over the road. We would drive back to Essex from Nottingham and be forced to pull off the A1 because it was dangerous.

She graduated to an 1800 Marina and it was completely different, quiet, smooth, powerful, no problem, how could the same model, but with a bigger engine, be so different in handling and performance, did anyone else suffer the same fate.

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Only ever had the one Marina , 1800 supra , estate . Fantastic motor ,it earned me a lot of money back then . Totaly reliable and boy did it go , (Especially in reverce!!!)

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Hubby's first company car was a Marina. He was asked to pick out a car and had seen that the Marina was about to come out, so ordered one. A few days after he got it, he was rear ended at a zebra crossing. The person who ran into him apologised and said he was so busy looking at this new car, he'd never seen one before, that he forgot to stop!

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I remember when the accecerator cable snapped on my Fiat 126....i had a piece of string coming out of one of the air vent slots in the boot, round and in thru the drivers window with a loop around my finger.

It got me home tho.

i cut it up and built a 'trike' out of it in the end.

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The Bond Equipe was based on a Triumph Herald/Vitesse chassis - it actually uses the Triumph doors!

A chap down the road from us had one of the old Bond 3-wheelers with the Villiers engine - I often saw him kick starting it on cold mornings. I wish I had a picture of somebody doing that - Americans won't believe such a car existed.

I believe some of them could be started with the engine running backwards (a 2-stroke can do that), instead of a reverse gear. In theory, that meant you could go as fast backwards as you could forwards - not that it was very fast either way!

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I remember when the accecerator cable snapped on my Fiat 126....i had a piece of string coming out of one of the air vent slots in the boot, round and in thru the drivers window with a loop around my finger.

wow,,, more memories,,,

I used to drive a BMC 'pop' lorry for Nottingham Direct Family Supply (catchy title eh ?) from Bulwell (I felt a tiny bit guilty, as I thought Corona was the dogs dangly bitz).

The gas cable snapped on that also - I did the whole 'round' (including William Roach) by tying a string from the carb through to my foot ! It took a bit of getting used to when trying to brake etc.

Pop = 11p per bottle,,,,,,,, then Crest came out with their giant bottles of whatever it was at 9p & the kids just went for that,,, cos size matters.

Incy dentally, when a government body did a test on the amount of actual fruit in pops,,,,, they found out that 7-Up had no fruit at all !

Baz

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Sorry no action pics of me kicking it up! bond.jpg Note the official size number plate! theres a story behind that, when I bought the car (from a dealer, no names but used to be on Raliegh Street) he gave me two log books and a fixed by pop rivits chassis plate! yes it was a ringer, seems he had 2, one (mine) ran had good engine etc but no MOT, the other was scrap but still had 6 months MOT and it had that car's plates on it!

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yeah,,, that's the model I remember,,,,,,

,,,the blue Consul up the road made me jump as well - I had a similar powder blue one with an MG engine in it (can't recall whether it was MG3 or Tourer),,, went well enough tho',,,, far better than the MkI I had previously !

It cost me £20,,,, & I wanted some decent spot-lamps. Quartz Iodine had just come out, but as I could only afford 1 (£38 ea) I put it on the roof ! Looked smart enough,,,, but when used at night you couldn't see through the beam !

Strangely enough, it went missing in the police stations 'pound',,,,, but they just laughed when I went to report it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now I see that piccy,,,, I'm seem to recall your face,,,,, mmmmm, thinking cap on !

B

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pic at Leslie Road Forest Fields, I also had a consul thus, bench seat column change? am sure bodywork was 1/4" plate! had moved on from old bond, couple of reliants and a berkley to 105e Anglia but then back to motorbikes till 1974 when I got modern with Escort, Capri, Contina GT and MG1300, when I sold that I took old cambridge in px, loved it, even though no boot floor it was great "no worry" fun so when mot went on that got the consul, £40 no less! only got rid when I got firms van 25 years till I bought another . re knowing me? White Hart Lenton?

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Off subject slightly,,,, but,,,,

My very first car was a Riley Pathfinder,,,,, a bit much for a 17 year old - which was proven when I almost cut it in half one Xmas Eve - when car met lamp-post on Westdale Lane !

In fact, the car hit a wall first,,,, then bounced into the lamp-post,,,, still almost cut it in half (If I had been wearing a belt - I wouldn't be here to tell the story). Luckily, the place where I spun was well known, as double decker buses had also suffered a similar fate – where the road has a slight rise in it just before a bend (still there I guess). This gives the back wheels a bit of a lift, thereby loosing grip,,,, especially on black ice on Xmas eve.

Two cops came out - a sergeant and a school boy. The sergeant was well on his way to being pi$$ed and spent most of his time trying to ‘bed’ the lady who had taken me in after the accident.

I eventually got to the hospital, where the operating surgeon was showing patients how he could cartwheel – whilst not spilling his champagne - then went on to stitch my face up !

Lenton White Hart. Probably not,,,, I would have visited the place a few times,,,, never mind, it’ll come to me,,,, maybe,,,,,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Forest Fields What area does Forest Fields cover exactly ? I'm sure my grommar came from there,,,,,,,,,

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Did EVERYBODY have a pale blue Ford Consul - well, no, I didn't - but my dad did! Yep - column shift and built like a tank! I think it still had the crummy Ford vacuum wipers though! He bought an Austin Cambridge after that - we must have been moving up!

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I had a Mk I Consul first (as did my dad. My dads was Bristol Fawn (I thought it was grey !) & he sprayed it with a vacuum cleaner,,,, out on the drive. It was the first (& last) that he did,,,, & he made a hell of a good job of it,,,,,,)

Mine was Blue & White (I have a piccy somewhere) with holes across the bottom of the door ! My mate John had a Mk I in Grey (or could it have been Bristol Fawn ?!) Those long, long bench seats were a real boon in the liberated 60's (or so i've heard !)

Dad went on to a black Westminster (A90 I think) and it was one of the best cars that he had owned,,,, so much so, that he went 'up-market' & got a nearly new A99 (farina),,,, a great looker (which I ended up with) but not a patch on that old A90 -- all column change,,,, as were my first couple of Thames pick-up trucks (Vaux 1703cc motor) -- worth their weight in gold pick-up trucks in general,,, not just the thames.

great days,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

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Reckon if a modern day popular car were available in a bench seat/column [or stub] change version it would have it's devotees! 1950's American type white steering wheel too...

Cheers

Robt P.

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I had a Vauxhall Victor possibly an fb, built in 1964. It had a 3 speed column change and a bench seat. Scrapped it, it was rotten it wasn't even 10 years old. It cost me £20 from a dealer in Daybrook where Frank Key is now.

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all this talk re bench seats reminds of fuss made when Lord and Lady Beckham named son after place he was concieved. my mate did that years before daughter is Ann Cortina Backseat Smith

ssstrange,,,, my mates daughter is called Up The Alley Behind The Pub !

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On the subject of kids names, 3 men were waiting outside a school for their kids. The first one said here comes my son George, we called him that because he was born on St Georges day. The second one said here comes Andrew he was born on St Andrews day. The third one said here comes my son Pancake. !laughing!

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Messerschmitt...had 2 of these..2 stroke sach engine, with 2 sets of points , 1 fired before top dead, and the other after, you just switched between the two, restarted the car with the engine running backwards...gave you 4 reverse gears,,scarey...also had a bond bug..bought it as a write off..it had rolled over on the a46..glued it back together in my kichen..sprayed it john player special colours..black n gold..got lots of transfers from players ..then sold it on...bond did make another 3 wheeler..it was fitted with a hillman imp engine..it could beat a triumph spitfire..whoooo

cars owned...hundreds...favorite..was a Anglia van fitted with a lotus twin cam engine..painted porta flek purple with lime green roof, complete with orange flashing light...hasp and staples on all the doors with ginormous padlocks to stop people knicking my disco gear Coloured Sound was the name 1972 ish good days...Pip the Lip from down the boat..Big Steve from the bowling Alley..if anyone knows of me please feel free to contact..

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The Bond with the Imp engine was the "Bond 875"

The Imp engine was pretty remarkable; it was designed by Coventry Climax as a fire brigade water pump engine. It was very light but very fragile. When it worked it was very good but was very delicate. I recall visiting the Rootes Group Stoke Engine Plant in Coventry in 1970 (though the Imp was built in Scotland); a warehouse was full of porous Imp engine blocks ready for destruction.

You have to hand it to the manufacturers in the 1950's and 1960's, at least there were some freedoms to produce some different & innotive models.

I recall the early Imps had a vacuum accelerator rather than a cable. They were more stable with a bag of cement or a paving slab in the front boot.

All in all though, the Imp was fun,fun,fun!

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