Crap Cars of the 70's


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Re Imp engines, once saw and nearly bought a Norton motorbike fitted with an imp engine! It sat transverse in the frame with chain drive to original motorbike gearbox took off from some "invention" in place of the imp starter, you kicked the thing up!

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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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It was a fairly popular engine in racing sidecar outfits. Very easily tunable and would rev very freely. It was a remarkable engine for its time - the biggest problems were caused because coolant chemistry was not in-step with the engine metallurgy and many issues arose from corrosion inside the engine due to the coolant. I think this contributed to the overheating and warped head issues that plagued the early versions!

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Messerschmitt-sc.jpg

<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>1958 Messerschmitt </span>

Of course, My art teacher at Trent Bridge School J.B.Simons, had one.

Never a Crap car of any decade, Very collectable now, try Ebay?

At hucknall last year.

DSC_0712.jpg

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Remember The Daf with it's variomatic gearbox (think such copied off an early belt drive Raliegh moped) they used to advertise it on tv with Johnny Briggs (Coronation Street,s Mike Baldwin) sounding like a parrot "forward for forward, back for back" as a doorman looking about ready to orgasm because he got chance to park one!

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Remember The Daf with it's variomatic gearbox (think such copied off an early belt drive Raliegh moped)...

Actually it was very advanced - it used two belt drives - one for each rear wheel, which also meant that it had the same effect as a limited-slip differential. It was used with great success in some rallycross cars! (Powered by Lotus Twincam engines!)

It is correctly called a "Continuously Variable Transmission" or CVT, and is now making a big comeback in place of a conventional automatic transmission. It now uses steel belts to handle the higher power of modern engines, and is only a single belt, so no limited-slip, but they are very effective. The most common application is the Toyota Prius (and other hybrids), but it is available over here on a number of vehicles!

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I seem to recall Volvo trucks having a heavy duty form of that transmission at one time with great success.

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I believe they did! It was probably a direct development as Volvo bought DAF cars! Although DAF trucks were kept separate (they are now owned by PACCAR, the same group that own Kenworth and Peterbilt).

My guess is that a version of the truck transmission is still used in Volvo buses!

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It must be one of these:

ZweiRadMuseumNSU_Quickly.JPG

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No, the old NSU and the current model has 4 wheels

Then it must be the "TT"?

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Quakers tells me he had one of those NSU thingies in 1972/73 bought it new like all the motors he buys, from a showroom in Bulwell, the name of the showroom escapes him at the moment.

He says he will sort a picture of it out when he’s got time, busy at the present polishing his new silver Porsche 911 his Picasso has gone.

ttfn x

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I started my working life as an apprentice motor mechanic at Automart (Later to become Ledleys) on Mansfield road, and one of the first main tasks you were given (Apart from sweeping and making tea!!) was changing drive belts on Dafs.

We used to have races to see who could do them quickest, me and Mo Chowdry the other apprentice, on one occasion up went the ramps in unison off came the cover plates and then a scream came from the other side of the room , Mo appeared from under the ramp covered in maggots !!! It turned out that the female owner of the car had lost her cat a few weeks previous , it had crawled in there to get warm and she must have driven off without noticing!!!

There were several models of Dafs (33, 32, 44, and the DAFfodil spring to mind) and of these only the 44 survived the Volvo buy out for a while. The 32 only had one drive belt, and there was one model that actually had a prop shaft, the usual 'gag' on the poor newbie, was to be sent to change the drive belts on one of these, to then be greated with the call off (Where do they keep them on these ?? one lad (Danny) was actually caught looking under the bonnet for a clue as to there location!!

The Mess of scmidts 'bubble cars' used the old cockpit of the famous fighters and they built a car round it!! so I was lead to believe.

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Quackers had a look and found this little jem below, he tells me the boxer dog in picture was his first ever boxer.

The dog would be quite young in the picture and so was Quackers.

The picture was taken at a bungalow at Mablethorpe which they hired for the week, the weather was beautiful for all the time they were there, needless to say the nearest pub was only five minutes walk away...nothing changes there then.

You can just make out the front of the Red NSU 1000c, air cooled engine made by VW.

Brette1973NSU.jpg

He loved that little motor

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Beefsteak,

Here's an image from foyer of DAF factory I took in 1972. In the centre is a chromed transmission unit.

I recall the DAF factory in Eindhoven was more impressive than the then Mercedes factory in Stuttgart.

Sorry for poor quality, it is rescued from a faded slide.

I remember Automart, bought many parts from them. Was the storeman a very small guy?

1972070714vandoornesautomobilefabri.jpg

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!englandflag! How about the Moskvich, a fine example of Russian engineering, Tractor engine and an 'umbrella handle' handbrake that came out just below the steering column!! In a smash it would be certain to castrate the driver............another cunning plan from behind the Iron Curtain?? !bravo!

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