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Worst car of the 1960's

Brummie a long time ago said:
I had a colleague way back when who had a standard pale blue one of these provided to him. He was less than impressed and called it the plastic pig. I agreed, horrible thing. It did give him independent mobility though.

Andrew.
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true there was a firm in garrets green that the workers used them, at 5 pm it was like the start of a hednesford race when they left for home driving off.as you say it gave people independent mobility.after driving one i can see why they were banned.

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Sorry if I offend some of you guy's but I think the Triumph TR6 belongs here. Lovely sports car to look at...super looking dash...However; sagging rear springs, exhaust muffler hangers that broke regularly (had to make my own leather ones...temporary electric wire worked better...lump of a push-rod engine that only made 90HP with twin Stromberg carburetors...handling always a bit iffy in my opinion...a little Datsun 510 could singe you. When I picked it up from the dealer, I found a handfull of loose screws in the trunk...hmmm.
It could be made into a nice sports car if you made some changes and ditched the engine and cured the rear spring fatigue.
We always drive automatic cars here in North America now. Standard shift cars are too much of a nuisance...on the highway here...makes your leg ache pushing the clutch. You know; stop/go highways. Do you have them. Trading a standard shift is also a looser.
 
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Rupertstill said:
Sorry if I offend some of you guy's but I think the Triumph TR6 belongs here. Lovely sports car to look at...super looking dash...However; sagging rear springs, exhaust muffler hangers that broke regularly (had to make my own leather ones...temporary electric wire worked better...lump of a push-rod engine that only made 90HP with twin Stromberg carburetors...handling always a bit iffy in my opinion...a little Datsun 510 could singe you. When I picked it up from the dealer, I found a handfull of loose screws in the trunk...hmmm.
It could be made into a nice sports car if you made some changes and ditched the engine and cured the rear spring fatigue.
We always drive automatic cars here in North America now. Standard shift cars are too much of a nuisance...on the highway here...makes your leg ache pushing the clutch. You know; stop/go highways. Do you have them. Trading a standard shift is also a looser.
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Had a TR4 in the US, hand brake came in my hand the day I took it home, down hill from there!
 
Scraping the memory here, but a fellow student bought a rough old TR4, but could have been a 5, and also an old Triumph Mayflower. This would have been around 1969/71. Apparently there were so many common parts he made one good one from the two. (No, not a good Mayflower). Seemed OK, but we were easily pleased in those days.

Andrew.
 
Morturn said:
I recall the problem automatics was you did not want to take a test in one, otherwise you needed to take a manual gear box test if you changed.

They also needed a bigger engine, the smaller one’s felts quite underpowered. Of course the later technology has made smaller car nice to drive and quite efficient.
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I pushed Julie to take a manual test for that very reason. Does it still apply ? I wonder how taking a test in an electric car will be handled in the future. My impression is that they are very close to automatics in driving style.
Original autos lost power through the torque converter. Converter lock up is now quite common, my Landcruiser has it. When it locks, the transmission loss is equivalent, or perhaps a bit better than a manual with clutch.

Andrew.
 
Driving the electric car is just the same as an ordinary automatic but it's all torque. ;)
What it doesn't have is the engine braking you get with an ICE just a slight drag from the regenerator.
Caught me out with my first ever speeding ticket, where just 'lifting off' slows the car normally doesn't work so going from a forty limit to a thirty I was still at thirty six when the crafty cop's camera had me.
 
My worst company car was a Lancia Gamma, 1980ish. Seats started fraying within days of delivery, starter ring came off flywheel.
I could go on fortunately I left the company for a different job.
My three best cars, for comfort, Citroën BX, Freelander commercial AUTOMATIC. and the current car Kia Niro, automatic.
 
The Triumph Stag was a lovely looking car, but soon acquired a reputation for mechanical failures. I do recall overheating was quite common in Stag’s. Because the block was made from iron and the heads from aluminium, and you forgot the corrosion inhibitor in the coolant you were in deep trouble with and expensive repair.

Was it the Stag’s or the Jags that had problems with the roller link chains on the timing? I recall the chain would stretch?

I recall there were some quality issues with the engine parts too so people would swap engines for a Rover engine.
 
The Stag engine was full of cooling problems but they were down to a failure to sort the set-up before marketing the car, too much of a hurry to get it on the market.
Enthusiast mechanics sorted the cooling and it became a fine engine but by then the reputation had gone down the toilet.
 
Eric Gibson said:
Driving the electric car is just the same as an ordinary automatic but it's all torque. ;)
What it doesn't have is the engine braking you get with an ICE just a slight drag from the regenerator.
Caught me out with my first ever speeding ticket, where just 'lifting off' slows the car normally doesn't work so going from a forty limit to a thirty I was still at thirty six when the crafty cop's camera had me.
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My Prius hybrid has engine braking as an option on the selector, it simply closes the valves which normally would be open with the engine off. I rarely use it except on really steep hills
 
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