A recent thread mentioned Mintex disc pads and as I’ve been in the greenhouse all week making hanging baskets I’ve had a lot of time to think of another life before I was a lorry driver!
Names that have sprung to mind and had me wondering where they are now are:
Mintex
Don Brake pads
Unipart
Clayton Dewandre
Hepolite pistons and o/s ring sets
Glacier crankshaft bearings
Vandervell bearings
Renold chains from Lincoln I believe, is it still there?
Hardy spicer clutches and propshaft joints
Dana Spicer clutches
Bendix brake systems
Girling and Lockheed
Fram and Crossland filters
Borg Warner
Unipart
Chloride batteries
Can anyone tell me, or even jog my memory, of more names from that era?
Pat
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Don are still around, the brand I think came out of BBA with Mintex and is now TMC Friction along with Textar and Pagid. Brake bits are still sold under the Bendix brand, whether it's the same company I don't know.
Renold still exist.
Crosland filters is now a name owned by Euro Car Parts.
Clayton Dewandre Holdings is still extant, but listed as non-trading.
Unipart does all sorts including what it calls "e-fulfilment" - my son had a SIM card sent to him the other day, mailed out by Unipart.
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Lucas?
Last edited by: Robin O'Reliant on Wed 22 Apr 15 at 16:30
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Chloride batteries = Exide.
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Thanks Manatee, I'd forgotten Lucas too and whatever happened to the Gardner 180 engine that had to be re-bored regularly?
Pat
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Borg Warner has a factory somewhere in SW France, I came across it the other day. Don't know about Borg & Beck, the clutch people, though.
I think Glacier Metals, which employed a lot of friends of mine at Ilminster, Somerset, years ago, was swallowed up by Newall, once Turner & Newall, the asbestos 'experts'.
Hepolite pistons were made originally by Hepworth & Grandage Ltd - there's a name to conjure with. Last I knew they were produced by Wellworthy Engineering, that had factories in Bridgwater and at Ferrybridge, Weymouth.
I think the Gardner 180 was a classic case of over-development of a basically sound design. The old 3, 4, 5 and 6LW Gardners just went on forever.
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Just popped in for lunch and back to the hanging baskets now but you've certainly raised some memories there Mike.
I shall muse upon the Gardners and Hepworth and Grandage this afternoon!
Thanks
Pat
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Whatever happened to Wayne Kerr, the petrol pump people who used to be in Chiswick?
Surely they didn't change their name?
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>> Whatever happened to Wayne Kerr, the petrol pump people who used to be in Chiswick?
>>
>> Surely they didn't change their name?
>>
But some are still in use.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1224941/Pictured-The-vintage-petrol-pumps-dispensing-fuel-50-years.html
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Perhaps, article was written in 2009.
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Anything to do with these guys...
www.waynekerrtest.com
:)
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>> Flexy car wash brushes
Yeah, mine I inherited from my Dad who was given it by my grandfather in the 70s I think. The rubber seems OK but some of the bristles have come out.
I just use it in the bucket, to clean the grille and get the flies of the number plate/bumper. Much more effective than the sponge.
I can only presume they didn't sell enough, because they last 40 years. Too well made.
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>> Flexy car wash brushes
Bought mine in the mid-80s. Still in very regular use.
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Good grief! Every day is memory lane day at the Home for Superannuated Spannermonkeys.
}B---0
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Feu Orange, on a little chain so you could hang it on the handle of a not often used switch. Had a pin with it so you could regulate the flow of the smelly stuff.
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>> Feu Orange, on a little chain
I bought one from Wilkinson's about six months ago.
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Really? That has cheered me up for some reason. Where do you hang it? Switches are so flat these days.
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There are coat hooks just inside the rear doors of my humble limousine.
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Al very well I suppose. But a Feu Orange should swing jauntily on the dash somewhere I feel. It was a sort of primitive lateral G monitor on my Spitfire.
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>> Al very well I suppose. But a Feu Orange should swing jauntily on the dash
>> somewhere I feel.
Needs to be hanging from the mirror.
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>> Needs to be hanging from the mirror.
Now, y'see that's just wrong. Unless you're a Capri driver I suppose. Allowances could be made.
It really should be hung on a toggle switch.
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Fri 24 Apr 15 at 11:36
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>>50 quid is very little money??!!
I forgot to add a smiley :)
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Did anyone have a Peko exhaust system?
Pat
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Cibie (? spelling) headlights. I replaced the sealed beam units on my Triumph Herald with Cibie halogen units. What a difference that made!
Edit: Still available www.larkspeed.com/category/view/CIBILMPSEVEN
Last edited by: T junction on Sat 25 Apr 15 at 09:30
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>> I replaced the sealed beam units on my Triumph Herald with Cibie halogen units. What a difference that made!
>>
I too fitted Cibies on my 1600E back in those days but it also came with a pair of Wipac "spot" lights
Are "spot lights / driving lights" still produced ?
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>> Are "spot lights / driving lights" still produced ?
I bought a spotlight wiring kit with relay last week, to convert the Morgan's circular front foglights to operate with the main beams. I'm never going to drive it in fog, but I am going to drive it on unlit lanes at night.
I had to get the wiring kit from a local motor factor; Halfords doesn't stock auxiliary lighting here. However, last year in their Carlisle branch there was a selection of spot, fog and LED DR lights. Popular with the locals in the Lake District, I believe.
Last edited by: Dave_C220CDI on Sat 25 Apr 15 at 21:19
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I think Pat means Peco? Expensive, big bore silencers seen on many Minis at the time. Were they a green hammerite type finish? I found a stright-through replacement silencer was cheaper than a standard replacement for my A35. Probably the rortiest in Luton.
Replaced the four, 5.75 inch, sealed beam headlamps on my Vitesse with Cibies (H130s as theZ130s were much more expensive IIRC). Massive improvement. ISTR Wipac did similar kits.
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Derringtons - Kingston upon Thames
A long while back I attended a lecture on the construction of the (original 1969 ) replica of the Vimy bomber. (now in Hendon)
The team discovered that the original aero screens were still in production.
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Interesting to see these people are still about www.servais.co.uk/ I fitted one of their systems to my MK3 Zephyr back in the '70's .. A job I would never contemplate doing again!
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>>Cibie (? spelling) headlights. I replaced the sealed beam units on my Triumph Herald with Cibie halogen units. What a difference that made!<<
The outside (dip) sealed units on the 4-headlamp conversion of my XJS are stamped Cibie but the small print says they were made by Valeo in Belgium. Cibie 'Oscars' were the rally spotlamps of choice in my day. I wonder who was Oscar?
Does anyone remember the 'Norton' ignition booster?
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I had 10" Cibies with chicken mesh grilles on the bullbar of my ( hand painted orange body with a white roof ) Land Rover 3.5 V8 90. Big fat General Grabber tyres too on white wheels. Ski and bike racks on the roof. Straight through Cherry Bomb exhaust ( very very loud )
Loads of ski and MTB related stickers.
Cool? Not even slightly I'm afraid. - Fun? You bet!
15 mpg on a good day before you ask...
;-)
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Um, anyone remember Jeff Howe exhausts at the rear of Hollyville Café on the old A20 at West Kingsdown in Kent. All Car Equipe was just down the road from them - Happy Days!
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No one has mentioned Sebring Auspuff.
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Or Zeibart rust proofing? It didn't stop a Morris 1100 rotting in ten years.
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>> Or shot-blasting.
Many engineering firms have their own shot blasting facilities; while others use specialist shot blasters on a sub-contract basis.
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>> Or Zeibart rust proofing? It didn't stop a Morris 1100 rotting in ten years.
Nothing could stop an 1100 rotting, you were lucky it lasted 10 years.
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Didn't Zeibart give a ten year warranty?
Probably why they went bust, all those claims..............................
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Lokari
I had them. I think they were very rare in the UK. Any guesses without Google?
(I am surprised they are still going? )
Last edited by: henry k on Sat 25 Apr 15 at 17:38
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Desmo boomerangs
Compact II Emergency windscreen
Last edited by: henry k on Sat 25 Apr 15 at 17:47
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Very much alive in their home country, United States. Withdrw form the UK market about ten years back I think.
www.ziebart.com/auto-care-services/vehicle-protection/rust-protection
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One I wish had disappeared, Gunsons eezi - bleed. Useless POS.
Remember the days of Pirhana ignition, take off the cb plate, dump the coil & replace with an electronic trigger and box of super powerful sparks,
Which then eroded the plugs.........
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>>Remember the days of Pirhana ignition
Lumenition was far better. I used to fit them to Stags & P6's etc. etc. etc.
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>> >>Remember the days of Pirhana ignition
>> Lumenition was far better.
My Skoda Estelle 136 came with Lumenition already fitted. No problems but nothing special either. Despite its fuel injection it wasn't the best of the Estelles I had. It was blue not green and the most rust-free Estelle I had, but unlucky somehow. Some prat in Paris even took the trouble to put a note under the wiper saying (in more or less competent English) what a crap car the prat thought it was. An ignoramus, but even one of those can upset you a bit, however rational you think you are.
What an extraordinary, spiteful thing to do though. I'm still astonished by it years later.
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>>My Skoda Estelle 136 came with Lumenition already fitted. No problems but nothing special either
No problems - that was special ... every single Skoda I came to had a badly worn distributor bearing.
You could actually rock the distributor shaft from side to side - waste of time trying to set the contact breaker gap with a feeler gauge - y'all would need a dwell meter.
I could actually see the shaft doing the Tango in-real-time on my oscilloscope.
The AC Delco distributors fitted to the CF vans and Vauxhall Victors etc. weren't much better.
Bosch = top notch.
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>> Whatever happened to Wayne Kerr, the petrol pump people who used to be in Chiswick?
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I had never heard of them - but yesterday I went to ASDA and all the pumps had been replaced with super-modern ones which were branded WAYNE and had built-in telebobs. They didn't drip from the nozzle at all when they shut off as there was a plastic ball-valve in the end.
Maybe they dropped the -Kerr because together it sounded a bit rude?
I can only recall seeing Gilbarco and Veeder-Root.
www.wayne.com
Last edited by: Shiny Tailpipes on Sun 26 Apr 15 at 08:26
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the pumps at my local shell now have a big VDU on a pole that scroll adverts at you as well as the amount of fuel pumping into the wagon.
Not a bright idea to put adverts on a screen at the same time as the amount owed and immediately coming out of your wallet is galloping up in big pound note signs.....
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Memory Jogger: Where are they now? - Manatee
