midnightblue
Member
Posts: 52 
Attribute: International Man of Mystery
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Post by midnightblue on Apr 30, 2016 12:48:07 GMT
I was bowling along a Route Nationale but stopped to pick up a hitcher. I'm on the right, I have a twin with half her body out of the left mostly saying 'No no no Papa. Viene un'auto' and occasionally saying 'Si Si Si! Possa passare! The twins are conservative in their judgement, they won't let me overtake unless the road is totally clear for at least a km.
The twins speak Italian to me. They speak Colombian Spanish to each other. Our hitcher was Serb, so the twins spoke French to her, until I realised she was Serb and then I chatted with her in Srps-Hrvacki. She was initially a bit concerned about the lack of seatbelts, and that we were driving by committee, the chairman of which is five, but hey the car is nearly 50 and it hasn't had an accident yet.
A cyclist wobbled into the public right of way and, because I'm on the right, immediately next to him, I let him know what I thought of his road skills. In Irish. He didn't understand a word I was saying, but it was good to get it off my chest. It's 20-odd years since priorité a droit ceased.
At this point my hitcher, having failed to find the button to wind down the electric windows, located the winder, and gave him a blast of the verbals. Serbian is a very expressive language. How could he endanger the lives of these so beautiful twins etc. Then she said it in French. She didn't say everything in French she'd said in Srps-Hrvacki, but I will always treasure 'the rotted entrails of a pig are as roses to me compared with the stench of your breath'. He was a bit whiff, but I might not have expressed it that way.
An 1800 always gets attention in France and even more in Italy. The twins have been photographed a lot in seductive poses in their swimsuits against a backdrop of an Alpine lake and the 18/85.
The twins are 5. They are also comedians. They have the Marilyn Monroe hand-behind-head and smoochy-face (with lipstick) down to a T.
On a five-year-old, with a backdrop of a beige 1969 Wolseley, it's hilarious.
MidnightBlue
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Post by andrewa on May 1, 2016 9:09:02 GMT
Love it - more "on the road" tales when you have a mo please!
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midnightblue
Member
Posts: 52
Attribute: International Man of Mystery
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Post by midnightblue on May 1, 2016 15:18:01 GMT
Love it - more "on the road" tales when you have a mo please! Thanks for the reply. I was a bit hesitant about putting the post up, some might consider it irrelevant and frivolous. If anyone had complained, I'd have taken it down. What's the context of your icon, with the Routemaster in the background? And why does your crab still have French yellow headlights? MidnightBlue |
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midnightblue
Member
Posts: 52
Attribute: International Man of Mystery
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Post by midnightblue on May 1, 2016 16:08:11 GMT
The mini and 1100/1300 were made under licence in Italy, under the name Innocenti. The 1800 never was. The 1800 has an obvious family resemblance to the Innocenti, and therefore gets a lot of attention. The usual comment is 'how spacious it is!'
Innocenti is quite a common surname in Italy (it usually means 'orphan', though the literal meaning is 'those who are innocent'). The importers of BMC cars were the Innocenti family, and later they built them under licence. The build standard of Innocenti compares very favourably with Longbridge and Cowley-built minis and 1100/1300s. They are all left-hand-drive. The i3 and i5 (1100 and 1300) can be bought for pennies, and they are good sturdy little vehicles, especially the automatics.
Italian winters are colder than English winters, especially in the Alps and Apennines. Innocenti have an uprated heating system.
You'd be surprised how many i3s and i5s are still going. The BMC autobox is just about indestructible, and thus ideally suited to twisty mountain roads with ice and snow. It just couldn't handle the power of the B-series 1800, which is why my motor car has a Borg-Warner 35 autobox. The BMC autobox resembles jewellery. Mate it to a 1300 cm^3 engine and it'll give you reliable motoring. Mate it to a B-series and it'll break.
I think the decision not to licence the 1800 in Italy was wrong, it mostly had to do with the horsepower rating, which would have tipped the 1800 series into a higher tax category. Not only for car tax, but also for fees on the autostrada.
MidnightBlue
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Post by andrewa on May 1, 2016 16:26:10 GMT
Can't speak for others but most of my car friends don't use their older cars very much which seems a shame but each to his own - so it's great to hear someone covering some distance in theirs and taking the trouble to write about it. The picture is me on the start line of the Brighton Speed Trials - the Routemaster is for hospitality and the commentator. The yellow is just some tape across the headlights to stop glass falling on the road if I pick up a stone. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_Speed_TrialsIt's a great day out - not as much vintage stuff as you used to get but a very broad church and some seriously quick cars as well. Hoping to get into the 15's this year! They were round about 20 secs when new and I ran in the 16's with fuelling problems last time round. Always tend to go easy on the start as the clutch is such a pain to change. As long as I beat a few MGB's I'm happy! |
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midnightblue
Member
Posts: 52
Attribute: International Man of Mystery
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Post by midnightblue on May 1, 2016 17:49:54 GMT
My father's Austin 1800S Mk II went from Milan to London on a regular basis, I don't see any reason why my Wolesley 18/85 Automatic shouldn't do the same. These are essentially very dependable cars.
My father hadn't a clue about cars. I do. I adjust the carb with every 1000m of altitude. And I rarely go over 100 km/h.
There is one difference. In 1973 it was me hanging out of the window saying ' Si si si possa passare!' and now it's a twin. Vroom. Kickdown the BW35 autobox and overtake on the advice of a five year old who isn't wearing a safety belt? Totally safe!
MidnightBlue
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Post by Penguin45 on May 1, 2016 19:14:34 GMT
Here you go - have an Italian 'Crab.  On sale about a year back. Chris. |
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midnightblue
Member
Posts: 52
Attribute: International Man of Mystery
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Post by midnightblue on May 1, 2016 19:24:47 GMT
Oh my fecking christ. That belonged to my dad's boss. MI means Milan, G means 1968 or 1969, it must have been one of the really early ones.
I think it was about 1970 they moved the prefix to the front, so that would have been a pre-1970 car. An Italian can advise better.
My father's was MI N5 4807, an Austin 1800S MK II. N5 means 1971.
This Morris 1800, it's still going?
MidnightBlue
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Post by Penguin45 on May 1, 2016 20:00:05 GMT
Well, well - still for sale two years later - HERE. Small world sometimes, eh? Chris. |
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midnightblue
Member
Posts: 52
Attribute: International Man of Mystery
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Post by midnightblue on May 1, 2016 20:04:05 GMT
Here you go - have an Italian 'Crab. On sale about a year back. Chris. |
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midnightblue
Member
Posts: 52
Attribute: International Man of Mystery
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Post by midnightblue on May 1, 2016 20:06:48 GMT
Well, well - still for sale two years later - HERE. Small world sometimes, eh? Chris. 3.500 € seems a lot. I quite like the idea of having an LHD crab, but not at that price. Michael Sánchez sold me MDM 146G for £1000, he made it very clear to me that it was a non-runner and pointed out to me all the problems. If he has a LHD car to sell, I would definitely buy from him again. I have spent about £ 400 on MDM 146G, and it's a perfectly serviceable vehicle. I would love a LHD autocrab, but only if the price is right. 3.500 € is not the right price. It doesn't look that good either. I joke about my twins being my co-drivers, but as a parent I am concerned that they have to make driving decisions; they've never passed a test, and they are only 5. They shouldn't have to do this. They err on the side of caution, and we've never even come close to an accident, but still an 18/85 is a tonne of steel and it's a five-year-old in charge. MidnightBlue |
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Post by Penguin45 on May 1, 2016 20:42:29 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.
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midnightblue
Member
Posts: 52
Attribute: International Man of Mystery
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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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midnightblue
Member
Posts: 52
Attribute: International Man of Mystery
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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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Post by Penguin45 on May 2, 2016 16:13:18 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. |
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, surely? 