I was pleased to read Garry's mail on other English cars (I'm afraid
that Spitfires and MG's don't really appeal that much to me) so to continue
the discussion I though I'd put down a few notes on the cars I've owned.
Ford Cortina 1600 Super Automatic fitted with 1600E engine and GT dash
My first car (I had to buy it due to a serious motorcycle accident),
it was hand painted BRG and someone had started to convert it to
1600E/GT specs. It had the GT dash (4 clocks on top of the dash instead
of the 4 spread around the dash as on the E), the E carb. (I know this
was twin choke but the spec. fails my memory), and the shocks.
I passed my test in this car and drove it for quite a while until I
blew the engine up. Even though I rebuilt it, it still didn't seem
quite right so I scrapped it. Cost was 400$.
Ford Capri 3000E Automatic MK 1
After getting rid of the Cortina I needed another car and this was up
for sale at 150$. The lady who was selling it (very nice, croupier in
a casino in London, plus her boyfriend had a few bikes and a Mini
fitted with the Maxi 1850 engine.) didn't realise what she was selling.
All she knew was that it was a bit special and tuned up. After doing
some checking up I discovered that it was in fact a Capri Commanche
(otherwise known as the 190). This was a special (only 12 made, but
many more were made of the 170 model) conversion by Jeff Uren (he of
Savage Cortina fame) in that it was bored out to 3200cc (possible by
boring out to the maximum of.90 making it 3100cc and machining a new
crank to give it a longer stroke), Weslake alloy heads, 38 DGAS Weber
twin choke carb and a 300rpm slip shift gearbox. The car itself was
tatty as hell but went like a rocket for it's age. This eventually
just fell apart and I put it in my garage (I can't remember why) and
slowly had bits stolen off it so this was also scrapped.
Ford Capri 3.0GXL MK1
Having enjoyed the Capri I wanted another one, so when I saw this I
bought it on the spot (750$). Immaculate condition and totally original.
That had to change. On went Compomotive 7x13 rims and 205x60 tyres,
engine out and blue printed (plus some little add-ons), roll cage,
Spax adjustables at the rear and Leda on the front,snd away I went.
(Oh, and various off the shelf and home built exhaust systems.)
Whilst owning this car I became a founder member of the Essex branch
of the Capri Owners club and spent many a day racing it at Brands
Hatch (but being automatic never actually won anything). Eventually
it started to cost (have you seen the price of RS parts? Especially
when I decided to put carbon fibre single leaf springs on it) so it
had to go.
Wolsley 3 litre
The Capri got swapped for this. Beautiful, leather and walnut interior.
Kept it for one night.
Vauxhall Magnum 1800
Someone offered this to me cheap (150$) and because they're not a bad
car I bought it. Eventually got bored with it and decided to carry on
with bikes until something came up.
In the meantime I had 3 cars which hardly ever ran but when they did
were mainly used for pub runs. When they wore out we scrapped them. They
were:-
Daimler 4.2 (50$)
Triumph Dolomite Sprint (free)
Singer Gazelle (3$)
Ford Maverick with 289ci (free) }
Oldsmobile Cutlass (60$) } my American phase :-)
Lincoln Continental MK IV (300$) }
Ford Escort 1300XL MK 1
I desperately needed a car, any car, so I bought this. At the time I
was doing a spot of drag racing on my bike and was well into power.
This car does not have any power so it was decided to fit an Essex
V6 lump into it. Unless you're a good mechanic, do NOT do this. Trials
and tribulations followed. It went in after some cutting and shutting,
plus changing all related matters (suspension, brakes, exhaust, gear-
box, etc). The worse part was changing the starter motor (I tend to
have lots of problems with these for some reason), it took one whole
day wriggling the old one out and putting a new one in. Drove it
around for a while until I eventually got banned. So I swapped it
for a bike and a lot of parts (and some money naturally). I beleive
that to this day it's still going.
Ford Cortina 2.0 GL MK 5
Mediocre time here, mainly for commuting as I was working aways from
home. (750$)
I now drive German (although I do hanker after certain Brit cars) as they're
cheap here (after all it is Germany!).
Seb
~ Sebastian J. Welton, Serco Space | SWELTON@ESOC.BITNET ~
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