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Have You Seen Any Interesting Cars On The Road Lately?

ChrisHGTV said:
I saw this one last weekend. It was immaculate - i wonder if it might have even had a heritage shell, it almost looked too pristine. My Dad's friend is just finishing his rebuild of a works Cooper - im not sure which one it is. He did have the ex Paddy Hopkirk Tulip Rally winner in his collection but sold it a while back. He also had a couple of works blocks still in their wax paper. I had a ride in the Tulip car, still with all the Halda etc - not massively quick by todays standards but the noise of the straight cut box was sublime.View attachment 147843

View attachment 147844

This one even had Yoko A008 tyres which i remember were always the tyre of choice. Im amazed they still make them.
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Yokohama Advan HF Type-D A008 Tyre
 
The problem with the Mini was that the rear bumper was so low any normal car nudging it from behind hit the bootlid instead. Even at low speed this could do enough damage to write an older one off - this happened to ours twice! Fun car to drive, although I wouldn't want to be in a serious accident in one.
 
SpikyMikey said:
I always liked these (back in the day pretty much anything with twin headlights got my vote), but I'm not sure how well they were screwed together. The MOT history for this particularly lovely looking example is a bit depressing.
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I always fancied one too!

IIRC they had a lot of electrical issues though ... with any fibreglass body you need two wires (positive & ground) running to everything. I almost got hit by the front wheel of one coming in the opposite direction - it came off and bounced over the roof of my car :eek:
 
ChrisHGTV said:
I saw this one last weekend. It was immaculate - i wonder if it might have even had a heritage shell, it almost looked too pristine. My Dad's friend is just finishing his rebuild of a works Cooper - im not sure which one it is. He did have the ex Paddy Hopkirk Tulip Rally winner in his collection but sold it a while back. He also had a couple of works blocks still in their wax paper. I had a ride in the Tulip car, still with all the Halda etc - not massively quick by todays standards but the noise of the straight cut box was sublime.View attachment 147843

View attachment 147844

This one even had Yoko A008 tyres which i remember were always the tyre of choice. Im amazed they still make them.
Click to expand...

This 10” (?) wheels always made me laugh! I had 12s on mine as you needed the extra flared arches to accommodate the 13s on the orange car.

I’ve seen new body shells in MOSS when I’ve been with my brother to get new parts for his MG.

And yes, we’ve had a rear shunt in the mini which almost wrote it off. The boot crumped like an accordion. The insurer got the work done with a local bodyshop but the rear paint was never the same, had odd marks on the paint.
 
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TeddyRuxpin said:
And yes, we’ve had a rear shunt in the mini which almost wrote it off. The boot crumped like an accordion. The insurer got the work done with a local bodyshop but the rear paint was never the same, had odd marks on the paint.
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We bought ours back each time and I put a bootlid from a scrapyard on ... IIRC it also needed a rear light cluster with one of them.
 
BTB 500 said:
The problem with the Mini was that the rear bumper was so low any normal car nudging it from behind hit the bootlid instead. Even at low speed this could do enough damage to write an older one off - this happened to ours twice! Fun car to drive, although I wouldn't want to be in a serious accident in one.
Click to expand...
Ain't that the truth...

Back in the early 80s, some clown comprehensively boxed me and my SAAB 99 Turbo. Thoughtless or deliberate, it was impossible to extricate myself. No option, therefore but to gently run up to his rear and slowly push it forward. (You will be acquainted with SAAB bumpers)

Don't know about being written off, but otherwise as described above. :oops:
 
BTB 500 said:
The problem with the Mini was that the rear bumper was so low any normal car nudging it from behind hit the bootlid instead. Even at low speed this could do enough damage to write an older one off - this happened to ours twice! Fun car to drive, although I wouldn't want to be in a serious accident in one.
Click to expand...
I have to admit i did this to one. It was my girlfriend at the time's immaculate bright yellow (resprayed) 1000 auto. I was following very slowly coming to a junction - barely walking pace and my foot slipped off the clutch. I was amazed how much damage it caused. Luckily her dad owned a bodyshop so it was saved. My main issue was that i managed to smash three of the four headlights on my Alfa Sprint. No other damage thankfully but the cost was eye watering i remember.
 
BTB 500 said:
I always fancied one too!

IIRC they had a lot of electrical issues though ... with any fibreglass body you need two wires (positive & ground) running to everything. I almost got hit by the front wheel of one coming in the opposite direction - it came off and bounced over the roof of my car :eek:
Click to expand...
That's not correct - they all had a steel chassis and they were negative earth, so you got the negative feed from the chassis and the positive from a wire as normal. Connections to the chassis did need to be kept 'clean' though, otherwise they could cause all sorts of weird and wonderful issues!
My 1974 GTE (SE5a model for those in the know) took us on a European jaunt (4900 miles) many years ago and it never missed a beat (unlike my friend's nearly-new Audi 80, with whom we went in convoy for much of the trip!).
 
Williamwoo said:
That's not correct - they all had a steel chassis and they were negative earth, so you got the negative feed from the chassis and the positive from a wire as normal.
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But on a steel-bodied car you don't need to run a negative/earth cable to every single electrical device - if it's screwed to the body it only needs a positive supply.

Electrical faults are common due to the extra earthing wires required with a glassfibre body
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Reliant Scimitar GTE buyer’s guide: what to pay and what to look for | Classic & Sports Car

The original sporting estate car makes a great classic. Find out how to buy a good one with the Classic & Sports Car buying guide
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Seen this earlier 1st 1 ive ever seen and it looked quite nice lexus IC500
 

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Had to Google the reg number to find, to my surprise, it's a Volvo P1800 SB!!
 
Spotted a heavily modified Porsche 914/6, with wide arches and Nardo style flat grey paint. It looked immaculate. It was leading a group of tidy Mk1 Golfs. Very nice.
 
BTB 500 said:
The tailgate is obviously a giveaway but the front end in particular does look pretty different (in a good way, IMHO :D):

View attachment 147910View attachment 147911
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The restomod has the front bumper and grill surround removed. The headlamps and indicators have been frenched in but it has a Volvo badge on the grill whereas the original hasn’t.

Is it sitting on Halibrand wheels?
 
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