boat fire

[WotEver]

16 minutes ago, Athy said:

Sales of heating paraffin must have been, at best, patchy over in Jamaica.

As I said, I used to ask. There was no compulsion. 

 

Too subtle?

Edited September 29, 2018 by WotEver

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, WotEver said:

As I said, I used to ask. There was no compulsion. 

 

Too subtle?

 

There was a Led zeppelin track called that...

[Athy]

22 minutes ago, bizzard said:

Some folk probably ran their Montego cars on it.

(Bays with laughter).

[bizzard]

52 minutes ago, bizzard said:

 

This one must have been an export and might have had the 2 litre Vanguard engine in it.   Generally they used the small 948cc Standard Pennant engine, in a 15cwt van !!! why they were incredibly slow.

[Athy]

A bloke on the Standard enthusiasts' web site notes that "the survival rate for Atlas vans is disappointingly low". I interpret this as "they weren't much good and tended to fall to pieces after a while". But thanks for the information: I remember seeing these vans but never knew what they were called.

Apparently when U.K. production ended, a factory in India kept knocking them out - and, who knows, may still be doing so!

[MtB]

As a kid I used to think drivers of vans like that with sliding doors looked incredibly cool driving with the doors open and I wanted to do it when I grew up. 

 

Sadly there didn't seem to be any around by the time I was big enough to drive....

 

 

[Athy]

3 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

As a kid I used to think drivers of vans like that with sliding doors looked incredibly cool driving with the doors open and I wanted to do it when I grew up. 

 

Sadly there didn't seem to be any around by the time I was big enough to drive....

 

 

I remember thinking similarly - a thought brought on, I think, by seeing Dormobiles, or Caravettes, or whatever, which had those sliding doors. It never, of course, entered my head that with no seat belt and an open door their fate might not be a happy one if they were involved in a crash.

[bizzard]

4 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

As a kid I used to think drivers of vans like that with sliding doors looked incredibly cool driving with the doors open and I wanted to do it when I grew up. 

 

Sadly there didn't seem to be any around by the time I was big enough to drive....

 

 

There was a rumour going around the motor trade that a lady spare parts delivery driver was driving along on a hot summer day in a Bedford CA van with both sliding doors open. The van was struck in the side by a big lorry and squashed, the driver was knocked clean out of the N/S door which saved her life.

[cereal tiller]

2 hours ago, bizzard said:

The 400E van was the best van of its type on the road at the time, easy to to maintain and fast. Much better than its competiters, like BMC, Commer, Standard Atlas, which were all pretty sluggish and awkward to maintain. The 400E used the Ford Consul 1703cc engine which was very strong and reliable.

The CA Bedford was the best Van until the Ford Transit appeared,Lovely suspension and nice to look at.

44 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

As a kid I used to think drivers of vans like that with sliding doors looked incredibly cool driving with the doors open and I wanted to do it when I grew up. 

 

Sadly there didn't seem to be any around by the time I was big enough to drive....

 

 

You forgot that I owned a Martin Walter Bedford CA Dormobile ,we all went to the Pub in it a Few times.

 

[mark99]

Talking about delivery vehicles - our first family transport was an ex Mothers Pride van........ so badly painted you could see the logo through it. An old sofa was chucked in the back for us 2 kids.

1 hour ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

As a kid I used to think drivers of vans like that with sliding doors looked incredibly cool driving with the doors open and I wanted to do it when I grew up. 

 

Sadly there didn't seem to be any around by the time I was big enough to drive....

 

 

 

Same ' ere. Our neighbour was a Launderette delivey driver and he always had the door slid open.

Edited September 29, 2018 by mark99

[MtB]

19 minutes ago, mark99 said:

Talking about delivery vehicles - our first family transport was an ex Mothers Pride van........ so badly painted you could see the logo through it. An old sofa was chucked in the back for us 2 kids.

 

Same ' ere. Our neighbour was a Launderette delivey driver and he always had the door slid open.

 

Presumably the doors would automatically close prior to an accident, as the driver applied the brakes with enthusiasm....

 

[bizzard]

3 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Presumably the doors would automatically close prior to an accident, as the driver applied the brakes with enthusiasm....

 

Many had a loop strap that could be slipped over the internal door handle to keep it open.

[bizzard]

43 minutes ago, cereal tiller said:

The CA Bedford was the best Van until the Ford Transit appeared,Lovely suspension and nice to look at.

You forgot that I owned a Martin Walter Bedford CA Dormobile ,we all went to the Pub in it a Few times.

 

The Bedford CA was a good smooth running van, they had a bit of a habit of breaking half shafts, and not as powerful and as fast or as easy to repair as the 400E Thames van.

[MtB]

1 minute ago, bizzard said:

The Bedford CA was a good smooth running van, they had a bit of a habit of breaking half shafts, and not as powerful and as fast or as easy to repair as the 400E Thames van.

 

ISTR CT's being desperately slow. 30mph being possible on the motorway eventually, after about half an hour gathering speed....

 

[bizzard]

1 minute ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

ISTR CT's being desperately slow. 30mph being possible on the motorway eventually, after about half an hour gathering speed....

 

Shouldn't have been as slow as that though. They could cruise at 40-50mph easily.  They used the old Vauxhall 12 OHV engine, later the Victor FW engine which were quite powerful.

[mark99]

4 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

ISTR CT's being desperately slow. 30mph being possible on the motorway eventually, after about half an hour gathering speed....

 

All our cars did that.

[bizzard]

The more powerful engined vans like the 400E and Bedford CA as with some cars too used a 3 speed gearbox, and slower sluggish vans like BMC J2, Commer, Atlas needed a 4 speed box to get em up to speed.

[cuthound]

22 minutes ago, bizzard said:

The more powerful engined vans like the 400E and Bedford CA as with some cars too used a 3 speed gearbox, and slower sluggish vans like BMC J2, Commer, Atlas needed a 4 speed box to get em up to speed.

 

Doesn't say much for modern cars does it?

 

They need 6 speeds (or eight in the case of automatics)  to get them up to speed ?

[bizzard]

4 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

Doesn't say much for modern cars does it?

 

They need 6 speeds (or eight in the case of automatics)  to get them up to speed ?

Nor my old Land Rovers which had 8 forward speeds and 2 reverses, via a transfer box though.

[cuthound]

1 minute ago, bizzard said:

Nor my old Land Rovers which had 8 forward speeds and 2 reverses, via a transfer box though.

 

Reminds me of the time I borrowed my Uncle's Vauxhall Victor FB. 

 

My first experience of a 3 speed column change.

 

I had several false starts, including one in reverse, trying to suss out which gear was which. 

 

Thank goodness he wasn't there to see me drive off in it! ?

[bizzard]

6 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

Reminds me of the time I borrowed my Uncle's Vauxhall Victor FB. 

 

My first experience of a 3 speed column change.

 

I had several false starts, including one in reverse, trying to suss out which gear was which. 

 

Thank goodness he wasn't there to see me drive off in it! ?

Some were 4 speed on the floor, but most were 3 speed on the column.  The FB and FC were pretty powerful and could really nip along.

[Sea Dog]

4 hours ago, bizzard said:

Some folk probably ran their Montego cars on it.

Not for very long they didn't, although the van was quite good in its day I believe.

 

Are there any left, or did they all go the way of the porous Vauxhall Viva?  I was scared to park my scooter (yeah, I know) next to one of those in case the rampant rust was contagious!

[Alan de Enfield]

5 hours ago, bizzard said:

Some folk probably ran their Montego cars on it.

Did they have cars in Montenegro ?

 

Anyway : Montenegro is in the Balkans, not the West Indies

 

EEEEEeeeeeeeeejut.

Edited September 29, 2018 by Alan de Enfield

[roland elsdon]

2 hours ago, bizzard said:

Nor my old Land Rovers which had 8 forward speeds and 2 reverses, via a transfer box though.

Indeed evolution in progress because my later landrover had 10 forward and two reverse. It was also possible to engage reverse from forward because the high quality bit of tin lr used to stop that broke.

it jammed the car in  third. The local dealer saw$$$$$$ and quoted $5000 for an exchange gearbox.

Took the top off removed the broken bit popped cover back on and off we went for 4 years.

[BruceinSanity]

4 hours ago, cuthound said:

 

Reminds me of the time I borrowed my Uncle's Vauxhall Victor FB. 

 

My first experience of a 3 speed column change.

 

I had several false starts, including one in reverse, trying to suss out which gear was which. 

 

Thank goodness he wasn't there to see me drive off in it! ?

I learnt to drive on the Victor 101 with the three on the tree. It was ok, but SWMBO once worked at a kids adventure camp (better not say which one, but it was on a lake near Brecon and was known by three initials) which used old Bedford minibuses for transport. The gear linkages were well worn, so you had to stir the lever round and round and up and down a bit, let the clutch up and try and guess which gear you were in. The kids soon learnt the meaning of the term kangaroo start...