Where did the British car industry go wrong?

[Harry Bloomfield]

Lol...I do not miss at all Taking out Cortina Mk 4 spark plugs most mornings and warming them with a hairdryer..Then polishing the points...Bloody thing....

I bought an electronic ignition unit (Pirana??) - Best thing I ever bought, starting always instant, timing always spot on. I swapped that unit through several cars over the years, making my own distributor disks and it is probably still in my garage somewhere.

 

[durhamplumber]

I bought an electronic ignition unit (Pirana??) - Best thing I ever bought, starting always instant, timing always spot on. I swapped that unit through several cars over the years, making my own distributor disks and it is probably still in my garage somewhere.

Lol.Polishing spark plugs was the limit of my wallet in 1983!

 

[noseall]

I could never understand (at the time) why all of the Brit cars were really reluctant to start and once they did, were as lumpy as camel until they warmed up - the Japanese cars by comparison flicked instantly into life and purred smoothly from the get-go.

 

[Brigadier]

I could never understand (at the time) why all of the Brit cars were really reluctant to start and once they did, were as lumpy as camel until they warmed up - the Japanese cars by comparison flicked instantly into life and purred smoothly from the get-go.

Because even the "new" brit cars were, in reality, decades old technology and bits , which were thrown together.

 

[Stivino]

When I were a lad, the man next door had a CA van. Numerous times we all gathered to push this thing. Luckily we lived on a hill so it was downhill and a cheer used to go up if it started. If it didn't go, we had to push it back up and start again. Happy days, it was great fun.
Imagine asking today's kids to push your van back up the hill in the snow. I'm quite sure they'd all disappear round the corner and leg it.

 

[Notch7]

Because even the "new" brit cars were, in reality, decades old technology and bits , which were thrown together.

its true sadly, remember the Metro -it had out of date Mini engine and auxlliaries

 

[JohnD]

When I were a lad, the man next door had a CA van.

never knew they were called that. I've seen a motor caravan version.

 

[Stivino]

never knew they were called that. I've seen a motor caravan version.

Dormobile used to convert them.

 

[Burnerman]

The Japs had electronic ignition - even in the form of simple amplifiers - long before us. Even the original Micra had it.
With our old dogs, there was so much juice sucked away by the starter there was nowt left for the coil
John

 

[noseall]

The Japs had electronic ignition - even in the form of simple amplifiers - long before us. Even the original Micra had it.
With our old dogs, there was so much juice sucked away by the starter there was nowt left for the coil
John

Does that mean our motors were quite primitive by comparison? And why did it take so long for us to catch up?

 

[Stivino]

The Japs had electronic ignition - even in the form of simple amplifiers - long before us. Even the original Micra had it.
With our old dogs, there was so much juice sucked away by the starter there was nowt left for the coil
John

Hence the reason that coils were normally 9V.

 

[fillyboy]

I drove one of them CA vans, probably only on about half a dozen occasions, in the summer, door open, no seat belt on as they weren't compulsory then.
I think if tried it now I'd sh1t myself on a roundabout.

 

[ajohn]

LOL I've never read so much crap on any subject before, Leaves me wondering how I got into several in the morning, started it without any problem, went to work and same going back home also seeing hundreds do it going back home. This even before MOT's. Wanted to go some where say London from B'ham well go and then come back. Spend a couple of weeks holiday driving all over the place in Europe - no problem but spare fan belt, plugs and points and capacitor just in case. Never used them but did have a radiator leak coming back from London. Fixed with an egg. Friends had all sorts and no problems either. Maybe one difference to some people - able to service and replace parts that need it. I'm not a mechanic but it isn't exactly rocket science. In fact it was way way easier than it is these days. I know lots of people who have had sensor failures etc on "modern" cars. All makes.

Leyland did do something stupid as electronics went in even when there was very very little of it. They didn't use fibreglass circuit boards so soldered joints were iffy. Easily fixed in most cases by running a soldering iron over the joints but a totally stupid penny pinching thing to do.

When the MOT's arrived I found that I might buy a car with a valid one but it would fail on the next, usually rot. It was easy for some one to get an MOT to sell a car. Probably still is. No problem, get the stick welder out and fix it. Later as earning a bit more I mostly bought 3 year old cars. Exhaust would usually go during the first winter. Didn't take long to find what was need to find a replacement that wouldn't just get through 1 winter. The OE ones would usually last 3 years. A lot of the replacement junk that was around would only go through 1 winter. Usually fitted new plugs and leads and serviced it myself. Looked at brake pads etc and changed if needed.

One trick all along was to learn to be able to get an idea of what the real mileage of the car was and if it had been reasonably looked after. This still goes on. Take a Citreon Xantia. The makers put a tell tail in the ECU and found mileage readings on that were well over what was seen on the dash. Later gear was available to set mileage on all cars to what ever was required. I'd be amazed if it still isn't around. Service history really matters. I sold a Passat once with 98k on it. The dealer rolled back a bit and put a warrantee on it. The engine blew up on that not long after a timing belt change. I wont buy a Volkswagon again - substandard replacement parts. They were sold as genuine Volkswagon. They changed to a chain not long after the model I had so knew there was a problem.This one had a Audi engine in it as well. The mileage was higher than my usual as I used to go to a caravan in Pembrokeshire every weekend. I had shifted to buying pre registered cars then. Ok but to keep costs down to similar to running say 3 year olds they need to be kept longer and the money needed to buy them needs to be available. Some 3 year olds these days may be rather worn too. It varies depends on the mileage they have done.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Hence the reason that coils were normally 9V.

With either a resistance wire in the loom, or a separate resistor mounted on the coil, which fed the coil when not cranking.

 

[Stivino]

With either a resistance wire in the loom, or a separate resistor mounted on the coil, which fed the coil when not cranking.