March of the Widebeams

[WotEver]

Just now, TheBiscuits said:

I thought that was the Mini Metro, not the Mini Metric ...

Actually... wouldn’t that be a great name for a new Range Rover... the Rover Imperial

[Naughty Cal]

38 minutes ago, WotEver said:

At our last house we had an XJS for a while. The width was tight but do-able but the length was very tight. I put some carpet on the far wall for the car to run up to and then the garage door just touched the rear bumper. For storage I built a 4ft deep (strong) shelf about 4ft off the ground on the far wall, and the bonnet used to sit underneath it. 

We have a work bench across the back wall of the garage and the spare fridge next too it. The spoiler on the Sierra over hangs the bench and the front bumper just clears the garage door.

 

It's a two person job getting it in and out.

1 hour ago, Mike Todd said:

I thought you sounded on your blog that you are pleased you made the move.

Gateford is worlds apart from Foxhill. 

 

The quiet is taking some getting used too!

[cuthound]

1 hour ago, WotEver said:

Actually... wouldn’t that be a great name for a new Range Rover... the Rover Imperial

 

One in mint condition would be great ?

[cuthound]

1 hour ago, WotEver said:

Actually... wouldn’t that be a great name for a new Range Rover... the Rover Imperial

 

I always thought Strange Rover was a great name.

 

Pity someone got there first.

 

 

[RLWP]

Now, that isn't the Strange Rover I remember

 

[roland elsdon]

We had a humber imperial..it was not however impervious to rust. Great student car.

[cuthound]

14 minutes ago, RLWP said:

Now, that isn't the Strange Rover I remember

 

 

There were several, including a Range Rover with the raised roof of a Discovery, and a Rover P5 on a Land Rover chassis.

 

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20933/lot/412/?category=list

Edited June 25, 2019 by cuthound

[Graham Davis]

54 minutes ago, RLWP said:

Now, that isn't the Strange Rover I remember

 

That was the original Strange Rover.

[RLWP]

Just now, Graham Davis said:

That was the original Strange Rover.

As featured in 'Cars and Car Conversions'. I remember it being orange

 

Richard

[Graham Davis]

Just now, RLWP said:

As featured in 'Cars and Car Conversions'. I remember it being orange

 

Richard

I thought is was red.
Saw it on a few events and it was crazy.

[RLWP]

Just now, Graham Davis said:

I thought is was red.

Could be, it was quite a while ago...

[zenataomm]

The Old Mini versus the impudent BMW imposter led me to do some comparisononnining

 

Current Mini Countryman           - Length = 4299mm, Width = 1822mm.

The Austin Maxi (remember it?) - Length = 4049mm, Width = 1626mm.

[WotEver]

1 hour ago, zenataomm said:

The Old Mini versus the impudent BMW imposter led me to do some comparisononnining

 

Current Mini Countryman           - Length = 4299mm, Width = 1822mm.

The Austin Maxi (remember it?) - Length = 4049mm, Width = 1626mm.

I liked the Maxi. It was the first modern car where the doors went thunk instead of clang. 

[alan_fincher]

9 hours ago, WotEver said:

I liked the Maxi. It was the first modern car where the doors went thunk instead of clang. 

........ as they fell off and hit  te ground?

 

My first new ar was a rubber bumpered MG Midget, that proved to be the ultimate BL "Friday car", and which spent nearly as much time back with the dealership and even back at Abingdon for failed attempots to rectify it's numerous faults.

 

As a result I at some stage had just about every model from the appalling BL range as  a loan car, including Allegro, Maxi etc.  At the time I thought the Maxi was the worst car you cold manufacture.  The name too was bizarre, because it was more cramped in the drivers seat than a standard Mini.

 

I continued to believe it was the worst of the BL range until some years later I had to drive an Ambassador for a long day on a very long work trip, then I firmly changed my mind.

 

BL, (or  whatever else they got renamed as over the years) really were so bad you couldn't make it up.  The Midget never got fixed, and I eventually concluded was rusting from the inside outwards even before the final layer of paint must have gone on it.

[Pluto]

11 hours ago, WotEver said:

I liked the Maxi. It was the first modern car where the doors went thunk instead of clang. 

IIRC, the gear change was described as stirring thick treacle with a thin stick.

[WotEver]

Just now, Pluto said:

IIRC, the gear change was described as stirring thick treacle with a thin stick.

I never drove one... simply admired the thunk...

[TheBiscuits]

Just now, WotEver said:

I never drove one... simply admired the thunk...

That would explain your fondness for them.

 

I assume you listened to the pleasing thunk with your eyes closed so you didn't need to look at the graceful lines of one either ...

[RLWP]

17 minutes ago, Pluto said:

IIRC, the gear change was described as stirring thick treacle with a thin stick.

That would be the early cable change. The later one was fine

 

It's one of those cars people love to ridicule, yet it was an excellent workhorse for my father in law.

 

Richard

[Lysander]

21 minutes ago, Pluto said:

IIRC, the gear change was described as stirring thick treacle with a thin stick.

I remember one of my brothers test-driving a Maxi once. He drove it up the hill from the garage and then couldn't engage any gear but reverse. So he reversed it all the way back to the garage and said "No thanks"...

[Graham Davis]

1 hour ago, Pluto said:

IIRC, the gear change was described as stirring thick treacle with a thin stick.

The early ones with the cable change were terrible, but they did improve it when they fitted the rod operated change.

[TheBiscuits]

2 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

As a result I at some stage had just about every model from the appalling BL range as  a loan car, including Allegro, Maxi etc.  At the time I thought the Maxi was the worst car you cold manufacture.  The name too was bizarre, because it was more cramped in the drivers seat than a standard Mini.

 

I continued to believe it was the worst of the BL range until some years later I had to drive an Ambassador for a long day on a very long work trip, then I firmly changed my mind.

And yet people still mourn the loss of the British car industry.

 

I always thought that "Above all it's a Rover" was a government health warning, not an advertising slogan!

[Naughty Cal]

4 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

........ as they fell off and hit  te ground?

 

My first new ar was a rubber bumpered MG Midget, that proved to be the ultimate BL "Friday car", and which spent nearly as much time back with the dealership and even back at Abingdon for failed attempots to rectify it's numerous faults.

 

As a result I at some stage had just about every model from the appalling BL range as  a loan car, including Allegro, Maxi etc.  At the time I thought the Maxi was the worst car you cold manufacture.  The name too was bizarre, because it was more cramped in the drivers seat than a standard Mini.

 

I continued to believe it was the worst of the BL range until some years later I had to drive an Ambassador for a long day on a very long work trip, then I firmly changed my mind.

 

BL, (or  whatever else they got renamed as over the years) really were so bad you couldn't make it up.  The Midget never got fixed, and I eventually concluded was rusting from the inside outwards even before the final layer of paint must have gone on it.

And yet despite all of this, the car buying public of the UK still ridiculed foreign cars and bought this crap.

[Athy]

10 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

And yet despite all of this, the car buying public of the UK still ridiculed foreign cars and bought this crap.

Well, five years before that they had been ridiculing Jap motor bikes, and look what happened there.

[Chris Williams]

24 minutes ago, Athy said:

Well, five years before that they had been ridiculing Jap motor bikes, and look what happened there.

And no-one learned the lesson.

[haggis]

While this all very interesting ? what has happened to the stuck widebeam? 

 

Haggis