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Plugged in electric boating


David Mack

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1 hour ago, bizzard said:

Made by Smiths, should have had a fan and a variable speed control knob. Fitted as extra on many old vehicles, Land Rovers for example.

Maybe.  It's been a while.  But it wasn't the regular cylindrical style.  The doors were rectangular, opened with a little white bakelite knob and the whole thing sat over the transmission tunnel.  It definitely wasn't variable speed either.  A quick Google doesn't show it.

 

It was a good, reliable car but the brakes failed once on the way to Cornwall.  Mother was driving with aunty in the passenger seat and my brother and I in the back.  Dad, uncle and cousins were somewhere ahead with the next pre arranged stop a couple of hours on.

Mum decided best thing to do was to catch up dad.  And she did too. 

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3 minutes ago, Tacet said:

Maybe.  It's been a while.  But it wasn't the regular cylindrical style.  The doors were rectangular, opened with a little white bakelite knob and the whole thing sat over the transmission tunnel.  It definitely wasn't variable speed either.  A quick Google doesn't show it.

 

It was a good, reliable car but the brakes failed once on the way to Cornwall.  Mother was driving with aunty in the passenger seat and my brother and I in the back.  Dad, uncle and cousins were somewhere ahead with the next pre arranged stop a couple of hours on.

Mum decided best thing to do was to catch up dad.  And she did too. 

The variable speed controller would have been an extra option. A rotating knobbed rheostat switch fitted on the dashboard. Some had one fitted directly on the heater body.

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1 hour ago, LadyG said:

Yes, my Morris Minor (split screen) had a Smiths heater installed, but no instructions, I used to wear wellies lined with straw and fill a hot water bottle on a long journey I seem to think I had to open the driver's windows as the screen soon misted up and then froze.

When the windsreen froze over you kept placng the palm of your hand on the screen to thaw it and make a port hole to peer through. Worked faster than an electric element type.

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29 minutes ago, bizzard said:

The variable speed controller would have been an extra option. A rotating knobbed rheostat switch fitted on the dashboard. Some had one fitted directly on the heater body.

Could have been a KL or Tudor heater, similar to the Smiths.

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It's very interesting reminiscing about past motoring issues.....no heaters, bad wipers, no MOT so major failures a possibility (my dad tells a good brake failure story where he ended up going straight over a crossroads).

 

It makes me wonder what people will reminisce about in 60 years time.......Remember when you had to put a key in the car to start it......Remember when you had to manually steer the car.......Remember when cars had a tank that you had to fill with fuel! 

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The 1966 Hillman Imp I bought s/h in 1970 had a heater, but no blower. There was only an air intake at the front of the car that pushed air through the heater matrix via a length of ducting  when the car was moving.  I paid the local main dealer to have a blower fitted. 

Edited by Ronaldo47
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3 minutes ago, LadyG said:

None of those illustrated, it was gold approx eight inches diameter, and had a knurled knob,

What year was the Morris Minor ?.  Heaters were not fitted by most of the car manufacturers but by the main dealers who on instruction from a prospective customer would fit the heater at the cars pre delivery check over.  I used to fit all the heaters gubbins to Vauxhall FB and FC Victors and Triumph Heralds, Spitfires.

Edited by bizzard
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8 minutes ago, bizzard said:

What year was the Morris Minor ?

1949 I think, it had a distinctive radiator with lots of horizontal bars and about four vertical. Not chromed.

I saved ten weeks wages, £40, and it sold for scrap for £19. 1962/3

Edited by LadyG
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38 minutes ago, LadyG said:

1949 I think, it had a distinctive radiator with lots of horizontal bars and about four vertical. Not chromed

Ah an old MM series. Interesting. They used the pre war Morris 8 S/V engine of 918cc.  Those engin had thermo syphon cooling system, so no water pump.  The heater needed a water pump to circulate hot water around the it and so a stand alone pump had to be fitted. This pump was on a spring loaded pivot and had a large alloy wheel which was driven by running on the outside surface of the cars nomal fan belt, being spring loaded it kept in contact.  This conversion could be fitted to other thermo syphon cooled engined cars.  The Morris Minor usually had a KL I think but there were several other makes similar in those days. Depicted are the MM Morris Minor and the pre-war Morris 8 with the same engine.

Morris_Minor_MM_(low-lights)_1950_moving.JPG

OIP.qf5PinC9Gj0ATES5DI5hmAHaEI.jpg

Edited by bizzard
  • Greenie 1
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1 hour ago, booke23 said:

It's very interesting reminiscing about past motoring issues.....no heaters, bad wipers, no MOT so major failures a possibility (my dad tells a good brake failure story where he ended up going straight over a crossroads).

 

It makes me wonder what people will reminisce about in 60 years time.......Remember when you had to put a key in the car to start it......Remember when you had to manually steer the car.......Remember when cars had a tank that you had to fill with fuel! 

And, remember when we had a canal system with water in it and people owned their own boats.

  • Haha 2
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