From another thread..
>>BBD
>> Whenever I hear that labouring, pinking sound (rare these days), it reminds me
What other sights and sounds of cars are now rare and getting rarer?
Screaming fan belts
Engine back firing
The squeal of tyres under heavy braking
Big end Knock.
Even clouds of diesel black smoke ?
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The sound of someone trying to start a car on a cold damp morning.
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>> The sound of someone trying to start a car on a cold damp morning.
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Followed by lots of panting and footsteps when trying to jump start it.
A credit card scraping a pillar box sized slot in the frosty windscreen
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>> A credit card scraping a pillar box sized slot in the frosty windscreen
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Still see that quite a bit. Next door is always doing it on their 18 plate golf.
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>> A credit card scraping a pillar box sized slot in the frosty windscreen
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Someone's got to look this up. The first credit card in the UK was the Barclaycard in 1966.
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>>A credit card scraping a pillar box sized slot in the frosty windscreen
When in Norway I noticed that cars were well cleared of ice and snow before use. I also saw two beat police women step into the road and pull over an iced up car with a letterbox sized view of the road. I got the impression they were not best pleased and were doing paperwork, not to be argued with as they had guns. I would put money on that not happening in the UK.
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>> The sound of someone trying to start a car on a cold damp morning.
These days cars either start or they are silent. Not even the "click" The dash light xmas tree is blinding tho
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>>The sound of someone trying to start a car on a cold damp morning.
There was girl who used to go into our village pub a few years ago.
She had a laugh that sounded like a MkI Cortina starter motor on a cold damp morning.
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>> Nice headlights?
bum cheeks like ban the bomb logos.
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Moggie Minor exhaust resonating on acceleration and overrun. So much more subtle than the loud, aftermarket exhausts some fit.
I understand backfires can still be 'engineered' by ECU mods that feed fuel on the overrun. Used to keep turbos spinning and some 'sport' modes.
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Does anyone remember the sound of the starting handle being turned endlessly?
Or am I just getting very old?
Did anyone have a car with a starting handle.....I'm sure my Moris Minor had one or am I dreaming?
Pat
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You're not dreaming Pat. My moggie had one (caught me out once, but used it a few times and was grateful). Mine was a 1969 model too, so late.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Fri 9 Nov 18 at 15:51
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I never did get around to a Morris Minor. I feel a bit deprived in truth.
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>> I never did get around to a Morris Minor. I feel a bit deprived in
>> truth.
You were not. Horrid things
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>> >> I never did get around to a Morris Minor. I feel a bit deprived
>> in
>> >> truth.
>>
>> You were not. Horrid things
Axle tramp with 40bhp. The driving instructor wasn't impressed. I still liked them. And those BMC engines were good starters, for me anyway.
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Taught me a lot about RWD- although Mrs RP may have something to say after a little power slide in the MX5 the other night. Swiftly corrected I may add.
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>>
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>> You were not. Horrid things
>>
Crude horrid noise, and mostly ugly. The traveller was slightly nicer looking.
It's the bonnet I think - ugly great dome, with a yawning space under it.
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>> Did anyone have a car with a starting handle.....I'm sure my Moris Minor had one
>> or am I dreaming?
It did have one. Easiest way to tell was the small cut out in the bumper to allow the handle to pass through onto the crank.
But when engines became Transverse mounted, the starting handle option became obsolete.
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>> Did anyone have a car with a starting handle.....
A sit-up-and-beg Ford Prefect I had in the late 60s had a starting handle which I never needed to use.
I remember selling that car to a friend for £35.
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My 1963 Standard Ensign had one.
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>>Did anyone have a car with a starting handle.....I'm sure my Moris Minor had one or am I dreaming?
>>
The sound of dreams ?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjLiGqC_YsI
1956, 803 c.c. OHV. 30 b.h.p. engine
Or cranking a late model 2CV ( no starter hole so lift the bonnet and use a different starter handle )
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjFuvlwGvq0
How much to drive this in London?? :-(
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eq1O1KBJfI
A quick search re last cars having a starter handle
1993 L reg Suzuki SJ413 .
1996 Niva
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgegJo9vZGw
Suggested that at least until 2004 the Lada Niva had a starter handle
Furthermore, the 1.3 estate Riva was built in Eygpt till 2012, but I am unable to work out weather it was was starting-handle-compatible. I am inclined to believe it probably was if it used original bodywork pressings
Re transverse engine and a starter handle. The Mini
For about a fiver, (in the mid-1960s) they offered a complete kit of handle, crankshaft dog, guide plates, and a support arm. You had to cut a hole in the wing valance, fit the crankshaft dog in place of the standard crank bolt, and bolt into place the support arm inside the wheel arch. To use the starting handle, you put the wheels on full left lock, and poked the handle through the support arm hole and the hole in the valance, engaged the dog and wound your engine into life.
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Loved the YouTube video of vehicles starting after many years.
Pat
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I had an early mini that had a starting handle that fitted through the nearside front wheelarch, also a Renault 4 with a starting handle. Looking at those cars now it is scary how I drove them, their bodyshells had the structural integrity of an empty beer can!
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 9 Nov 18 at 18:06
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>> Loved the YouTube video of vehicles starting after many years.
>>
>> Pat
Just two frosty nights will do it
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3R0BzhtH9g
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Two for the price of one.
youtu.be/BHedjnXdZXM
Small petrol engine to start the big diesel
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>> Two for the price of one.
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>> youtu.be/BHedjnXdZXM
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>> Small petrol engine to start the big diesel
Kempton Triple cylinder steam engine.
Small steam engine to start the big steam engine.
tinyurl.com/y8ppfcu8
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>> Does anyone remember the sound of the starting handle being turned endlessly?
The place I'm currently in has loads of cars with starting handles. Someone recently commented on the 1913 Bull-Nosed Morris as not having a place for the dynamo.
It didn't have one! The lights were carbide and it was started by winding it!
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>> Does anyone remember the sound of the starting handle being turned endlessly?
>>
>> Or am I just getting very old?
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>> Did anyone have a car with a starting handle.....I'm sure my Moris Minor had one
>> or am I dreaming?
>>
>> Pat
>>
Starting handle? I’ve never even owned a car with a manual choke! I’ve only owned one car wthout fuel injection i think...
My Grandads Maxi (one of the last, 1982 in Risset Brown) had a manual choke, as did the driving instructors Austin Metro I learned to drive in. But my A reg Fiat Uno had a carburettor and automatic choke, and after that they were fuel injected...
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Does anyone remember the sound of the starting handle being turned endlessly?
[IMG]i65.tinypic.com/vhar9k.jpg[/IMG]
Me back in the day. 1955 Citroen Light 15 (Slough Built)
Jacket by Belstaff. Jackie Stewart Special Edition.
Last edited by: R.P. on Fri 9 Nov 18 at 20:37
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>> Me back in the day. 1955 Citroen Light 15 (Slough Built)
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>> Jacket by Belstaff. Jackie Stewart Special Edition.
Where?
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Me, the car or the jacket ?
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You never see people look up at traffic lights these days. Also I remember cars chugging when the choke was out too long. I remember lying in bed as a child, curtains still closed, window ajar, and hearing neighbours start their car and drive up the hill and then a minute of silence later you could smell the fumes drifting in. I remember Fords being hard to start in bad weather and would sound like a hyena they would 'catch' and then stop, crank catch and stop repeated a few time by loads of revs to keep the going.
Last edited by: Shiny on Fri 9 Nov 18 at 21:46
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>> I remember Fords being hard to start in bad weather and would sound like
>> a hyena they would 'catch' and then stop, crank catch and stop repeated a few
>> time by loads of revs to keep the going.
>>
It's interesting that nearly everyone remembers cars being hard to start when cold.
I remember that too, mostly, but it is not my own personal experience.
The answer must be that people never looked after their cars or got them adjusted properly.
A properly adjusted car will fire first time however cold. Mine always have:
1954 Triumph Mayflower
1947 Triumph Roadster
1961 Land-Rover Series II
1974 Renault 4
1972 Land-Rover V8
1974 Triumph Stag
1968 Saab 96
1964 Triumph 2000
1980 Volvo 240
1992 Volvo 240
1991 Volvo 240 - present
1967 Land-Rover Series IIA - present
1966 Triumph 2000 - present
1949 Ferguson TE20 - present
Only the two later Volvos were (are) fuel injection.
The others all had (have) carburetors and chokes. They have all started when cold by the same technique - choke full out, no accelerator, turn key or push button, when it fires, choke half in, blip the throttle to clear any surplus petrol, and drive away.
I think many cars started badly in the past because people tried to get by with old batteries. Modern cars have to have a good battery because they need to spin much faster to fire (compression ratios and valve overlap, I think), and have much faster idling speeds.
I've been using the Land-Rover quite a lot here in the wet. Most of the routes from our house have floods of varying depths and unpredicatability. I had to turn out a few nights ago to rescue my wife who had gone through a deep puddle too fast and got water in the fuse box.
It's great fun splashing about in the Land-Rover- our lane at present is like a mountain stream strewn with boulders. I'm not using the Triumph - too low-slung and precious.
:)
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>> Me, the car or the jacket ?
Where was picture taken?
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It was on a farm outside Denbigh, I must have been around 16 or 17 even. I did actually drive that car once, don't think it was on a road. Three speed dashboard mounted gear change. My father gave me this photo the other day along with a load of others from my past.
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>> Does anyone remember the sound of the starting handle being turned endlessly?
>>
>> [IMG]i65.tinypic.com/vhar9k.jpg[/IMG]
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>> Me back in the day. 1955 Citroen Light 15 (Slough Built)
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>> Jacket by Belstaff. Jackie Stewart Special Edition.
>>
Friend by Fred Dineage
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3NgegX7gwQ
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Hair by Bowl. The guy in the photo was the owner. He died young sadly
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>> Friend by Fred Dineage
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>> www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3NgegX7gwQ
And there was me looking for Fred Dibnah!!
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>> Me back in the day. 1955 Citroen Light 15 (Slough Built)
>>
Either you are trying to turn the handle in the wrong direction, or the engine interestingly turns in the opposite direction to normal.
I've just remembered that my Saab 96 did turn "backwards" - the V4 engine had a countershaft for balance.
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I don't remember...! What I do remember is that there was an odd arrangement for the starting handle. The gearbox on these was mounted ahead of the engine and IIRC the handle had to go through the the gearbox to engage. Detail has become a bit vague. I'm left handed.
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Of course - I'd forgotten the engine faced backwards with the gearbox in front. Presumably the starting handle engaged with the gearbox input shaft, somehow, rather than the conventional starter dog at the front (now back) of the engine? Fascinating.
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It was front wheel drive wasn't it (hence the Traction Avant moniker) ? It was certainly different. Seems this car doesn't exist any more, reg number is on a recent Golf.
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More I think about it now, I do seem to remember that the engine turned counter to conventional engines. When I owned my own car a short while later - I had to occasionally crank that on cold mornings. Reassuringly easy on a Moggie 1000 it was an easy task. Great sense of satisfaction in that.
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>>Me back in the day...
Those are epic flares !
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Shoes aren't clear in the photo, they were dark green/brown tie ups with a discreet platform from Freeman Hardy and Willis. How I wanted them when I first saw them in shop window....loved them
Last edited by: R.P. on Sat 10 Nov 18 at 10:03
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But you're better now I trust? ;-)
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Not a sound, but a peculiarity of the time, was my father having an account at the local petrol station which he settled monthly.
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My father had one of those too. Happy days!
I'm glad I'm old enoiugh to have had a car with a starting handle - my first car, a much-loved 1955 Austin A50 Cambridge, bought for £65 in Cambridge (suitably) when I was leaving university. OCE 340 - even Cambridge-registered.
It would always start first time, but sometimes I used the handle on a cold morning to save the battery. The compression rato on cars of that age was so low that half a turn with very little effort was enough to start it. And it had a sort of 'barber's pole' indentation so that when the engine started the handle was pushed out rather than breaking your arm.
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I suppose there were a few reasons why he set up an account. He always had 3 litre or even larger engined cars which were probably quite thirsty, he did a fair amount of mileage too, by the standards of the day anyway, and of course there wasn't ( or wasn't much of ) a credit card culture, so it was cash or cheque.
I remember being in the car when he'd go to fill up, an attendant would fill the car, check the oil etc and top it up if required. He'd then tell my father that the bill was, whatever it was, and assure him that he'd put it on his account.
On the last Friday of each month my dad would visit the bank, withdraw some cash, pay his mortgage ( in cash ) and then visit the garage to pay his bill. Quite often he'd stop at the bank a little longer for a chat with the bank manager about how things were in his business etc and I imagine things were agreed and adjusted as required.
Must have worked I guess.
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>> Must have worked I guess.
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Everything worked like that in the old days. I don't remember my parents ever paying for anything at the time, it all went on account. My mother phoned the grocer's with her order, or dropped off a list, and he called round and delivered it.
Once a month my mother did a round of local suppliers settling up the bills - garage, grocer, newsagent.
It still works like that here to some extent - fuel suppliers, building materials, bulk food orders, etc. Anything bulky is delivered with an invoice or delivery note, and a statement follows later. It's quite difficult paying for somethings at the time, it confuses the system.
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>> Everything worked like that in the old days.
My Dad had a GPO credit card supplied by the business in which he was a partner. It allowed him to use call boxes when out and about as a 'rep' and report in orders etc. He'd ring 100 for the operator and ask to make a credit card call, they'd take the card number then ask for number to be called and connect him. Charge appeared on next quarterly bill.
I think the arrangement lasted into the BT era and was only seen off by magnetic strip technology in eighties.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sat 10 Nov 18 at 12:12
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When you mention the newsagent Cliff, it reminded me that like many, I had a paper round from about 13 years old. Don't see kids doing that now, or not where I live anyway.
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Only about 10 households down my road get newspapers delivered. Three have milk. Its a dying service
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>> Only about 10 households down my road get newspapers delivered. Three have milk. Its a
>> dying service
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It is but of course many people will now have their milk delivered in their supermarket delivery. When I was 16 I used to make up the delivery orders for Tesco in Ilford. The delivery vehicle was a bike with a basket on the front. In a way we have gone full circle.
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I am 63 years old, been driving for 45 years, I am delighted to say I have never been glad I had a car with starting handle.
I cant see the hankering for archaic stone-age technology, technology that is only there to make up for built in underlying unreliability,
And no it doesn't make you a better or more complete motorist
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Much less general tinkering with cars now too of course. Most Sundays would see a few bonnets up and things being fettled by owners where I grew up. I suppose fettling was more possible then, and indeed more necessary.
I can't remember the last time I had to put oil in a car between services.
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>> I am 63 years old, been driving for 45 years, I am delighted to say
>> I have never been glad I had a car with starting handle.
I'm currently tinkering with a pre-WW1 Bull-nosed Morris. Someone asked how the dynamo was driven. It didn't have one, carbide lamps, no electrics and the only way to start it was to wind it.
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>> I cant see the hankering for archaic stone-age technology, technology that is only there to
>> make up for built in underlying unreliability,
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I thought you were an old railway engine buff? Aren't they old technology too?
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>> Not a sound, but a peculiarity of the time, was my father having an account
>> at the local petrol station which he settled monthly.
I think monthly credit accounts were quite common in era before credit cards. Like you my father had at least one for petrol. My mother used one too at Featherbank Garage in Horsforth.
Mum also had an account both Schofields' and Mathias Robinson department stores in Leeds. In Schofields' she'd take her purchases to the counter and tell them she had an account. Till receipt and other paperwork would be placed in a cylindrical container which would travel to the cash office via some sort of pneumatic pipework. A few minutes later it would be returned validated and purchases were bagged and taken away.
There was a bill at end of month which she settled by cheque.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sat 10 Nov 18 at 11:46
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I don't remember much being on tick, apart from delivered newspapers. I remember people having to go settle up each week.
Except a bar i went to about 5 years ago, you were given a little bit of paper to put down what you'd had for the night and settled up at kicking out time. I think regulars had a book and settled up each month.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Sat 10 Nov 18 at 12:25
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I've been reminded we had a fuel account (mostly petrol) in the late 90s early 2000s. Great local garage - I'm now friends with the then owner, became a millionaire overnight when he sold it. The garage was a mecca for miles around - very much a local garage for local people (!). It was great - call there, fill up either car or bike, sign for it and settle up on payday. He was a wise enough man to know that customers would always buy extra stuff each time they called.
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Can you remember the 1980s car alarms, they used to chirp when you locked and chirp twice when you unlocked - I think that became illegal in EU law, but they still do this in the USA
Most were botch-fitted by dealers and went off every time it was windy or a lorry went past.
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Does anyone recall those chains people hung from the rear bumper, allegedly to prevent car sickness?
I used to get sick in the back of cars, still do, and it was claimed that the chain earthed any static that had built up. I'm sure if it worked at all it was entirely pschological. Is it possible to detect if one is inside a statically-charged container?
Even if the earthing theory did work, they would have quickly become useless because the lowest chain link quickly wore away on the road.
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I tried them back in the '80s because I regularly used to get static shocks on leaving the car, when I shut the door.
Like you said, it wears away and becomes useless.
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>> I regularly used to get static shocks
>> on leaving the car, when I shut the door.
Reminds me of the task of making up my metal framed bed with only one hand, while the other would be tightly gripping the frame on avoid a nasty belt.
Many moons ago, across the pond.
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Some car sounds of the past - Runfer D'Hills
