anyone interested in old cars as well as bikes ?

[Rex]

Bet you wish you still had them....better than a pension now..

[gossie]

Bet you wish you still had them....better than a pension now..

I had them over a number of years.............Bought some in reasonable nick to use and others as basket cases and then restoring them.
They were all good value and I never lost money on them as such.   The last sports car I had up to a couple of years ago was a MX5 NA......It was probably the best of the lot as being easy to look after and nice to drive.
I should add I have ridden bikes on and off for many years, and the last and best one I had was a Bultaco Metralla........I really kick myself for selling that now as they have gone up in value massively over the past couple of years.

[wink]

Try these, Note the reg nos. More later when I find them.

[rogerwilko]

Memories of Perth '71! 

[Rex]

Nice old girl. I wonder if it's still about?
That car in the background...we had them as a Vauxhall Victor FD, IIRC, 1800 or 2000cc OHC with the lump mounted on the slant. Is it badged as a Holden?

[murdo]

Vauxhall was always badged as Vauxhalls in Australia, and although not that popular there was quite a few about. Holden was a different locally made car.

[rogerwilko]

Sadly i had to abandon the Mk7 on the way back to Melbourne at Balladonia in the middle of the Nullabor plains. It blew a head gasket and would had to wait 2 weeks for a new one. Sold it to a garage for 50 bucks which is what the tools in the boot was worth.

[john.k]

The big Jags couldn't hack it in Australian conditions,insufficient cooling.I like your bald tyres,in those days they were nt worn out until the canvas plies showed thru,bike tyres were the same.I had lots of small pommy sports cars,the best was a Singer nine ohc,the worst was a Triumph Spitfire Mk III.What a pos,if you dropped back to third gear and floored it,the layshaft would break teeth,fix that and the diff gears would break teeth.The twin SU carbs would often fall off the motor.My brother had around a dozen Berkleys in various states of disrepair,they had a two stroke motor with no cooling fan,seizure was an everyday occurrence.And people wonder why the British car industry died. Regards John.

[statik]

I had a Bond Minicar for a couple of years and and had a ball with it.  No reverse but later twins had a reversible engine, stop pull a lever and restart backwards.  It had a 250 Villiers single but later had the twin.  The whole motor and drive turned 90 degrees each way.  I used to turn full lock on tickover and get out while it putted round in a circle. 

I have some photos, not my car but very similar. 


Under the bonnet.


I saw one on Ebay for £5000, mine was £20 and I sold it for £10 and I still feel I ripped the guy off.  The fuel tank was behind the dashboard and as you see from the photo the exhaust came out in just the right place to fill the cab with fumes. 

My currant piece of junk, had it a few weeks and it still looks the same.

[Rex]

.My brother had around a dozen Berkleys in various states of disrepair,they had a two stroke motor with no cooling fan,seizure was an everyday occurrence.And people wonder why the British car industry died. Regards John.

I expect the firms kept on going for much longer than they otherwise would have as all those mugs in Oz kept on buying the silly little two-stroke things designed as cheap around-town cars in impoverished post-war GB, and using them in the over-heated long distance conditions for which they were never intended.

[gossie]

Here's the Bug eye.   Had a good hood and screens, but often used to put aero screens on it for rushing around town.  Great fun.

[murdo]

True Rex, but we had to give them a try otherwise there would be no Pommy cars here for the Irish to come over and buy to send back to replace their rusted ones. 

[gossie]

Me in the Healey coming out of Lukey Heights into MG corner at Phillip Island.   
You'll understand exactly where this part of the best race track in Australia is if you watch Moto GP starting soon here today on your TV.

[rogerwilko]

Believe it or not the old jag didn't overheat until i hitched up to an old blown up rambler and towed it to norsdan about 400 km. An English family were stranded in the middle of nowhere. They paid for the petrol of course. Then i ran out of money at Coolgardie!