midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on Jul 7, 2016 8:32:00 GMT
It's gone to a good home. Chater-Lea is a surname which probably means something to some of you. He's already been in contact with the Spares Secretary. He's planning a total restoration.
You should see his MG. This will give you some idea what he is going to do the 18/85.
I hate to see it go, but the steering wheel is on the wrong side for Italy. I have twins hanging out of the windows telling me when I can overtake. If they did this any longer, one of them is going to get brained.
Given the way Italians drive, I'm not (as I previously suggested) going to go for a LHD 1800. I'm going to go for a modern car, at least until I am used to Italian driving.
Look on the bright side. This crab is going to get totally restored.
I really want to see a Crab in Italy.
---
Oh, the restoration includes the BW35. He has the manual. It's a pretty unique implementation of the BW35.
Happy motoring! I'm going really to miss the Crab!
MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on May 23, 2016 18:50:34 GMT
I'm moving to Verona. Italy drives on the right.
I have a Wolseley 18/85 automatic, power steering. Mechanically it is pretty good. There is still some work to be done on the body and the fascia.
If you have a LHD 1800/2200 automatic, I'd like to talk to you. We could do a swap, with cash either way.
Edit: 5 minutes later: I've sold the 18/85. If the name Chater-Lea means anything to you, you'll know it is going to a good home. I am now in the market for a good 1800 LHD auto.
MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on May 23, 2016 18:22:21 GMT
Lincolnshire has pretty crappy road statistics because we don't have a motorway. Motorways are the safest roads. We've got mostly Roman roads with hidden dips designed for marching legionaries, not 21st century traffic. These pull down the statistics.
Most accidents are on the A1, the A15, and the A46. And the High Dyke. I don't use any of them. I use C roads.
Would my kids be safer if they were belted up? Undoubtedly. But...
They grew up belted up in kiddie seats in the RR. They couldn't see out. They couldn't move. They hated wasted time in the car.
They love the Wolseley. Papa! vogliamo vedere! means we stop and they look at a mansion or a church or cathedral. Or even a vineyard. They are interacting with the environment, and the people. This is enriching their young lives.
My kids speak three languages, and they don't emerge from a vineyard without a bunch of grapes apiece. If there were degrees in cuteness, they'd have doctorates.
In the RR, they'll watch Frozen. Again. Because they are strapped down and can't see out.
Increased risk? Minimal. Enhanced lives? Definite.
MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on May 17, 2016 23:50:56 GMT
There is no such thing as perfect safety. There is damage limitation.
Firstly, I don't use main roads, I use minor roads, outside rush-hour. I rarely even see another vehicle. In France it's not the Autoroutes, it's rarely Routes Nationales, it's usually minor roads. This is what GPS is for, you can just delete all major roads and it will plot your route using minor roads. If you are in a rush to get from A to B, take a plane and hire a car. With seatbelts. I'd rather take the Wolseley.
Secondly, the average speed I achieve is around 15 - 20 km/h. My kids are Canadians, have grown up on Vancouver Island, and most Lincolnshire villages have five times as much European-era history as anywhere in Canada. They want to stop and see. In the RR they are strapped down and they can't see out of the windows. They get fractious.
If Lincs County Cllrs, who have their own cars, choose to travel in mine, well they are responsible adults and it's their choice.
If I fitted rear seat belts then they become mandatory. If you feel safer in a safety belt, you can ride in the front, that does have a seat belt.
Lincolnshire doesn't have a motorway, it has a couple of dual carriageways (which I avoid), a few notorious blackspots like the High Dyke, and a lot of rural lanes which are well suited to an 1800 single-carb automatic.
MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on May 17, 2016 23:25:55 GMT
Hi Midnight Blue Are you suggesting that the car battery can be used to run a 1.5kW inverter? Even to run a 800W induction cooker you are looking at a current drain of around 75 Amps (allowing for some inverter inefficiency) for however long you take to heat the food. Maybe OK just to reheat for a minute or so but anything longer could damage the battery plates permanently through overheating. You would also need some pretty stout cables with good connectors to handle the current such as jump leads. Once a lead acid battery has been drained in this way so it needs assistance to start the car its life will be severely shortened. That makes for expensive meals! I inherited a battery powered lawn mower many years ago and used a standard car battery with a guarantee instead of a deep cycle one as it was much cheaper and the company that shall not be named (ask Chris which is his least favourite) didn't catch on until the 4th replacement in three years! Thanks for your fascinating posts. Regards David About a minute is right, the cables get quite hot, the croc clips seem to be an adequate connection though. This is long enough to do salmon steaks with butter and dill, some mashed spud and asparagus. You are using the microwave oven to re-heat a microwave-ready meal, not to cook something from fresh. If you want to cook something like rice, which takes about 10 minutes, the battery, inverter and microwave just aren't man enough. I'd estimate the efficiency of inverter and microwave at a little over 50%. I had a 12V microwave in the RR, it was useless, it took forever to warm anything up. A problem with both the RR and the Wolseley is that they don't have catalytic convertors, so you can't run the engine while the microwave is running unless you want your food flavoured with partially-burned hydrocarbon combustion products. I am probably shortening the battery's life, however these are not expensive on the internet. What I think shortens the life a lot more is standing unused over the long Lincolnshire winters. MidnightBlue Two additions to your 1800 you might like to consider are an inverter with at least 1.5 kW capacity and a small microwave oven, rated at no more than 800W. MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on May 16, 2016 6:00:35 GMT
Two additions to your 1800 you might like to consider are an inverter with at least 1.5 kW capacity and a small microwave oven, rated at no more than 800W.
You've just got yourself a mobile restaurant. It's spring! Let's get these cars on the road!
The 1800 doesn't seem to have much of a boot, it barely projects beyond the back window, but is surprisingly spacious. What you can get in there is above-mentioned microwave oven, a fold-up table, several fold-up chairs, two hampers and a coolbox. Also three rugs.
A few hints:
Car fridges are a waste of breath, they just don't do the job. Just about any village will have a shop that sells you ice, just get a coolbox and put ice into it. My twins are British Columbians, so they eat fish. Fish in warm weather = a coolbox is mandatory.
The car probably won't start after you've been using the microwave. Use one of those car-starter thingies to start the car again.
Sleeping in the car on-street is frowned upon, but if you pay typically 5€ and take up a patch in a caravan park, that's ok, and you get to use their showers. My twins are a bit OCD about cleanliness, they can probably write a Michelin guide to shower-blocks of Europe.
I am not keen on open flames near petrol tanks, but if you must, use a lumogaz at least two metres away from the car. The twins like to start their day with a Full Irish Breakfast, you can't do this in a microwave. It can get breezy quite quickly, and the flames go quite a long way if it blows over. Your motor car should always have a fire extinguisher.
The same comment applies to barbecues - at least two metres, and carry a fire extinguisher.
At least three rugs. The twins top and tail on the back seat. It can get cold quite quickly in the Alps, you can wrap them up with an extra rug, run the engine to create some warmth, or go downhill. Extra rugs is voted on as the preferred choice of 2 out of 2 twins.
MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on May 15, 2016 14:13:20 GMT
The local school is not that great in Sooke, they only teach English French and Sooke, the twins picked up Kwakiutl in the playground. It's because I think the school is limiting their intellectual horizons that we're going to be leaving Canada, the land of their birth. There was one teacher who really only taught them an adversion against English, which they have to this day. They can speak it. But they won't.
I had a brainfart about the RR. I am so used to thinking that everything is different over here that I forgot they drive on the right in Italy. All I need to do is have the RR shipped through the canal in half of a 40-foot container!
I've found that it's not that expensive to have a Mini/1100 series/1800 converted to LHD. I think I'm going to have this done, especially as I haven't restored the woodwork on the dashboard yet. (it's a Wolseley)
I was pretty amazed to find that on this specialist forum that there is someone who knows Sooke!
Sooke is pretty unique in that we are carbon positive, and our energy is First Nations sourced. There are only some 250 pure-bred Sooke but they got a pretty good treaty when they joined Canada, and they spent the money well. Sooke is a net energy-exporter!
My kids are Victorians, there is no maternity unit in Sooke, but the town they called home is Sooke.
MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on May 15, 2016 7:11:00 GMT
Postscript!
An 1800 turns wasted time into Conference time. In a modern car you are strapped down and you can talk, and that's all. In an 1800 you've got three Cllrs with five mandates and three computers. They are going to talk policy.
These cars are seriously fun, we all know that. But they are seriously useful too.
After Conference, a Cllr stopped the car (it was just about snowing) to get on the phone to point out necessary road improvements. She took pix. She's on Lincs Roads.
1800s are interesting cars that carry interesting passengers.
I took three Cllrs to East Midlands Party Conference. Glorious day, beautiful countryside, and quite a pretty car. Did they notice? Did they fook.
What they did notice is just how spacious the back of the 1800 series is. The lack of seatbelts means they can use their computers (the car has WiFi access using 3G), the parcel shelf becomes document storage, and a City of Lincoln Cllr slipped her safety belt, relinquished the front seat, and squirmed between the seats (I was negotiating a roundabout at the time) to kneel in the rear footwell to look at a computer - just as my kids do. I tell them not to, it's not safe.
What the girls are doing is not actually illegal, you can party in the back if it's a pre-1969 car.
As I drive it slow, their risk is low.
MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on May 7, 2016 19:03:54 GMT
I was taking a couple of Cllrs to Beaumont Fee in Lincoln and they asked 'where are the seatbelts?' 'This is a 1969 car. There aren't any. But there is internet access!'
The space behind the front seats in an 1800 isn't just two chairs to sit in and be bored. For such a short car, there is a lot of room in the back.
The twins make it playspace.
Adults make it a conference room. One Cllr was kneeling in the footwell, at one point, and using the back seat as a desk. If you flip up the armrest, that's enough space for where the computer goes.
You can't do that in a modern car.
---
I am very aware of the safety advantages of seat-belts both front and back, when speeds exceed 50 km/h. But between Grantham and Lincoln? 50 km/h? Don't make me laugh!
I don't drive that fast. If the engine starts pinking on unleaded, I back off. The last vehicle I overtook was a tractor. In about 2013.
if someone had slammed into my car, maybe by a misguided overtaking attempt, well that would have been four bye-elections. My passengers were City and District, as well as County Cllrs (both), they have dual mandate.
CM was (illegally) in the front seat (she's not old enough) and Tz was curled up in the front footwell (omg unrestrained twin). CM and Tz are my twins.
In the back the Cllrs were discussing Road Safety.
MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on May 6, 2016 21:12:57 GMT
Well, the Sister-Beast is Head of Languages at a Middle School down in Dorset, where they have enough trouble with good old plain English. French principally, but Spanish, Italian, German as well. A working understanding of Russian, HochDeutsch (?), Portugese and smatterings of the Scandinavian stuff. She's a clever lass. However, knows nothing about cars and is a truly terrible driver. We can't all be perfect, I suppose. Chris. I went to school for several years in Dorset. Iwerne Minster. HochDeutsch is High German, the generally accepted way you spell it and write it, perhaps you were thinking of Plattdeutsch or Allemanisch? Plattdeutsch is what they speak near Aachen and Allemanisch is what they speak in Austria and Switzerland. Germans can understand them, but foreigners who have only learned Standard Hochdeutsch haven't a clue. Your sis sounds very gifted, however I think too much time can be devoted to learning languages. If you start off with two or three, I think that's enough. By then you aren't learning language, you are learning the whole *concept* of language. And you need to do this as a child. After that it's easy to learn a lot more. A useful knowledge of how the internal combustion engine works, and how an electric motor works, are to my mind not really taught that well to kids these days. The curriculum is so crammed with Politically-Correct stuff that there is no time for Ohm's law or even F=ma. --- I don't know if this might be useful but: if you sit in an upright position, with the backrest almost vertical, this is naturally the way a woman sits. It also means that the seat-belt is constantly uncomfortable against her breasts, especially if she is lactating, or has any tenderness of breast. You can get a little plastic gadget which deals with this, it costs about £ 2 I think. In the event of an accident it is designed to break, and the seatbelt will hurt but will still protect her. It is legal. It sounds to me like your sis wants one. I'll go outside when it it light and warm and read off the manufacturer's details. My female relatives are generous of breast, and they find it best to adjust the clip before a long journey. It's not a waste of time to do this. Girls don't like it if they are unduly restrained, nor that their going to bash their heads on the dashboard. By 'girls' I mean adult girls. Which I have an awful feeling my twins are going to be. MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on May 3, 2016 17:49:59 GMT
Umm, PEI is on the Atlantic side of Canada, Vancouver Island is on the Pacific side. PEI is closer to England than to Vancouver Island.... The Atlantic isn't that big. Canada is.
The other 'crab on the Island is in Nanaimo. I just searched 'Austin 1800', 'Morris 1800' and 'Vancouver' (without the 'Island') and that was the only result. Information about the owner is sparse.
I'd never heard of Quadra Island. You may have heard of Sooke BC, it's the southernmost point of BC (definitely blue-permed retirement country), and it's where palm trees grow in Canada. The educational opportunities are a bit limited though, and my kids don't really speak English, so we're going to leave Canada with many regrets.
I looked up Quadra Island on Google and I see that people speak Kwakiutl there. My kids speak Kwakiutl! (-:
You wouldn't like a Rolls Royce Silver Spirit Mk II would you?
MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on May 2, 2016 18:23:45 GMT
Man in the white suit - Alec , surely? All the regulars finish up with an attribute - you can change it in Profile -> Personal if you've got a better one. Some people have a gift with languages - my sister speaks four or five fluently and a working knowledge of lots more. I don't have it, although I do have some rustic French left. Chris. No, I'll leave it. It made me laugh! (-: It's not so much a 'gift' as having grown up in lots of different countries. What languages does your sister speak? Does she drive a crab? I speak English French Italian Irish and Cherokee. I'm OK with Russian and Serbo-Croat but I'm not fluent. The twins speak Sooke, Colombian Spanish, Wayuu, (which you probably know better as Guajira) Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, English, Kwakiutl and Haida. In about that order. They are 5. Sooke is a bit special. Only 275 people speak it. It's a language isolate. Almost every language is either accusative (like English) ergative (like Basque) or split-ergative (like Georgian). Only Sooke and Piraha aren't, you can't create a relative clause, they are the only two non-relational languages. Sooke is one of the 192 languages of Vancouver Island. Piraha is spoken in the middle of Brazil, thousands of km away. And no-one knows why. MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on May 2, 2016 14:58:54 GMT
Fettling.
I know what you mean. You know what I mean.
There are some jobs I can't do on the motor car because it needs to go up on the hoist, which I don't have. Also I don't have CV joint breakers. I'll do the jobs I can, but I'll leave the jobs I can't to people who have the proper equipment.
When the bill comes in, there it is, 15 minutes. General fettling. The girl on the desk says I can't charge you for this, what is 'fettling'?
How do you define 'fettling'? A squirt here and there with the grease gun? Tightening things up a bit? A drop of oil in the carb damper?
It's something a motor mechanic who takes pride in his work does and oops, there went 15 minutes. He has to book his time to something.
Fettling!
MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on May 2, 2016 14:15:00 GMT
I'm quite amused to see 'Attribute: International Man of Mystery'.
You're a generation out. It was my father who worked for the SIS, better known as MI6 (a designation which hasn't been used in the service for 40 years).
When the James Bond film Dr. No came out, my father started to affect a white tuxedo and a bow tie, which us kids thought was a total hoot; you couldn't imagine a less heroic person. Very much devoted to the wife and kiddies, and about the size and shape of the late Robert Morley. James Bond drove a DB5; my father drove an Austin 1800S Mk II. James Bond had a vodka Martini, shaken not stirred: my father enjoyed a pint of real ale. The 1800S was the only car he ever bought first-hand. It's not as glamorous a profession as the films would make you believe. And definitely not that well paid.
The white tux was of course totally tongue-in-cheek. How can you take a man's James Bond affectations seriously when even his kids laugh at him? He spoke eleven languages.
MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on May 1, 2016 21:05:14 GMT
Agree, expensive for a project by UK standards. That said, I know nothing of the relative values in Europe - Irish cars always seem to carry a premium. Mind you, after two years, they might be ready for a decent haggle.... Chris. You should expect to pay less for a second hand car in France or Italy, a bit more in Ireland, Norway or Iceland. If you want cheap wheels, buy in Japan. Japan drives on the left. MidnightBlue
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