Where did the British car industry go wrong?

[noseall]

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

Easy tiger.
Yes, they would start - eventually - reluctantly, especially when cold and damp and then be jerky and lumpy until warmed up. The Japanese cars would start with a flick, purr from the start and drive like a dream - wet, cold, whatever.

Anyhoo, all has been explained. Our cars were primitive lumps of crap compared to the Japanese cars.

We had a Transit petrol years ago that would die in torrential rain. Always kept WD40 handy for that reason.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

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.

It still happens, but done electronically now. My car stores it in the dash + body control + engine ECU. If they don't match, it shuts down. Always best to check the mileage shown on the dash, matches the online MOT record.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

We had a Transit petrol years ago that would die in torrential rain. Always kept WD40 handy for that reason.

The BL FWD's with the distributor ahead of the engine were particularly bad for that.

 

[Bodd]

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

Yes there is one close to me

 

[Burnerman]

Engine access through a scuttle inside the cab.....a little fume did no one any harm 3 speed column change, if I recall.
The V4 pop-a-head-gasket Transit big end journals on one crank pin.....became specialised at doing those!
John

 

[ajohn]

Easy tiger.
Yes, they would start - eventually - reluctantly, especially when cold and damp and then be jerky and lumpy until warmed up. The Japanese cars would start with a flick, purr from the start and drive like a dream - wet, cold, whatever.

Anyhoo, all has been explained. Our cars were primitive lumps of crap compared to the Japanese cars.

We had a Transit petrol years ago that would die in torrential rain. Always kept WD40 handy for that reason.

Yes I know OTT comment but it sounds to me that something needed replacing - very probably ignition leads but could be other related things. Lumpy when cold - fuel something not right. Might just need the jets and a number of other things cleaning. Always been numbers of transits about so why yours.

I managed to get my hand on a 4.2 short wheel based E type roadster for a song. Shortly after a fuel crisis and an out of his house dealer decided to do me a favour. It had done about 92k and I took it to over 100. To keep it at 19mpg driven sensibly hard I had to get the colour tune out and rebalance the carbs once a month. SU's were bad news in this area especially if more than one. Twin choke Webers were a lot better as parts were easily available. Ford carbs should have just needed a clean - unless throttle spindles worn or problems like that. Only thing to do then is replace. Automatic chokes can be a problem as well. Hand more reliable but other problems on some cars. Needed to learn how much to pull out and when to push back in. I had a really beat up old Shogun to tow a caravan once - getting that to run from cold was "interesting". Some one had messed with the carb end of things. Put back as it should have been and one squirt via the accelerator pedal before starting and perfect That is what the manual said. The early Jap car I bought when they were rare was much the same. For runner of the Celica. Bought the rounded version of that later when Japs were selling well. Attention to detail. Change the plugs and it would take the engine management 1/2 hour to fully settle down to them. Ragged running for a few mins. What I didn't know at the time was that the plugs in it where likely to last for 100k. That sort of thing went on in other makes and replacements are usually not the same as OE. Toyota genuine spares - rather different always OE but costing significantly more. Most makers don't do that.

WD40 was used a lot as a service spray. Makes the car run better while hiding minor problems especially on ignition. Diesels don't have that problem - glow plugs wearing instead. Few people change them when starting changes from as it was when new. Like air con what is fitted gets cheaper and cheaper and doesn't last so long.

UK stayed behind for one simple reason - little to no investment. Companies who bought them up did invest to some extent but no where near as much as Japan did. Investment when it came was mostly too little to late. Ford did some strange thing here as well - forgetting they moved a lot of production out of the UK. They were mostly interested in selling to the USA and others had been trying for years. Japan managed it. Over time developing a new car has become so expensive few can do it but it's never been cheap and may take several years with no return at all. Same with engines etc. They don't appear over night.

 

[Notch7]

The BL FWD's with the distributor ahead of the engine were particularly bad for that.

you wouldve thought they mightve learnt from the mini.

 

[Stivino]

you wouldve thought they mightve learnt from the mini.

They were all using the A series engine, so all had the same problem but, the Minis were the worst.
The distributor wasn't on the front of the engine, it was at the side. But, because the engine was turned 90° the distributor was at the front of the car, right behind the grill.

 

[ajohn]

There was loads of mini's about. Why can't I remember any conking out in the wet? Many also found front wheel drive wonderful in snow - that has come back to haunt some makes that have carried on producing rear drive at times. Idiots don't know the best fix is to put a full thickness large paving slab in the boot or a rather large full water container. Most drivers in these conditions are digital as well and expect the car to stop when they stab on the brake. Never heard of engine braking either.

To be honest this sounds like read about rather than actually experienced and most cars stop if driven through a river or anything slightly like it unless done with care.

 

[JohnD]

There was loads of mini's about. Why can't I remember any conking out in the wet?

Maybe you have a bad memory, maybe you drove one of the later minis with a rain screen in front of the dist.

 

[fillyboy]

Idiots don't know the best fix is to put a full thickness large paving slab in the boot or a rather large full water container.

A sack of potatoes in the boot of a spitfire improved the handling dramatically., whenever I had a sack on board I could take roundabouts as if I was on rails.
One evening, returning from Beaconsfield my friend and I offered a couple of young ladies a lift, we put the lighter one on his lap and the 'chubby' one we wedged onto that parcel area behind the two seats. With the additional weight, and reckoning that the 'chubby' girl probably weighed the equivalent of three sacks of spuds, maybe even four, I tried taking a roundabout at a ridiculous speed and experienced the famous rear wheel 'tuckunder' that could occur with that suspension set up. Fortunately, the half shaft didn't snap off and the car recovered, I never tried that again.

 

[ellal]

I had a Marina with a vinyl roof which I used for work, good boot for tools, cable etc, the roof ripped off during high winds and flopped over the windscreen

You mean one like this?

Spot the 'nothing to declare' sticker?
We'll have to get used to that again soon!

And did those wiper accessories ever work?

 

[Stivino]

Those quarterlight windows were perfect for flicking your fag ash out off.

 

[ellal]

Those quarterlight windows were perfect for flicking your fag ash out off.

True...

Morris Marina / Philip Morris

Now we just have to slum it and put up with multiple cup holders!

 

[ajohn]

A sack of potatoes in the boot of a spitfire improved the handling dramatically., whenever I had a sack on board I could take roundabouts as if I was on rails.
One evening, returning from Beaconsfield my friend and I offered a couple of young ladies a lift, we put the lighter one on his lap and the 'chubby' one we wedged onto that parcel area behind the two seats. With the additional weight, and reckoning that the 'chubby' girl probably weighed the equivalent of three sacks of spuds, maybe even four, I tried taking a roundabout at a ridiculous speed and experienced the famous rear wheel 'tuckunder' that could occur with that suspension set up. Fortunately, the half shaft didn't snap off and the car recovered, I never tried that again.

LOL Loads of camber on the rear wheels. The Herald and even the Vitesse was the same. The problem you mentioned ended that style of suspension and much much worse where it was used in the USA. I smell stinking fish again though as my recollection is that it couldn't happen on Triumphs. I never had it happen. I did have the fault that they were truly famous for on the front suspension. It pivoted on a 1/2" bolt through plastic bushes. Eventually the bolt sheared causing the problem side wheel to tilt rather a lot. I limped it back home and fixed it so didn't stop it from being driven - sllowly. It was the coupe version so sprayed roof mat black and body bronze yellow. Sold to a friend. He gave me a lot of stick due to the flies that kept appearing. I fished a lot and had spilt maggots in the boot. Apart from that he was happy for another 3 years. No rot as it had been undersealed. When I mentioned the sheared bolts to people they said what you bought a used Herald and didn't change the suspension pivot bolts immediately. It was an old car when I bought it.

Never ever driven a mini other than when some one at work tried to get me to buy his Cooper S. Can't say I was that impressed. I'm a bit tall and wide for them but did see loads of mini's being driven about even in the rain, puddles etc. Several people at work had them. Maxis Marenas you name it and someone had one. More than one someone as far as Leyland was concerned. Most ran UK cars. Roots group and Triumph as well. Fords not so often. Vauxhalls tended to drop off. Eg went so flimsy that jacking up a corner cracked the windscreen. There mechinics were very good though. I sorted one out for my brother from earlier on. Dead solid reliable car he ran for several years. It had one owner previously. I knew it was ok as decoked the engine for the bloke that owned it - a bloke at work on the same section. He did get it serviced when it should have been.

I do know the press printed loads of junk about all brit cars. They wanted people to buy imports. Some bought Renaults initially. Rave from the grave. Wet liner engines just the thing to have a head gasket leak. Replace it and wonder why the hell it leaks again not long after. Answer dismantle the engine, remove the liners and shim them back up again with paper shims. Some did look "nice" so sold. Peugeot - nasty habit of everything breaking down everywhere all at once. Citrons - didn't appeal to many early on but apart from being a bit flimsy and hydraulic suspension not bad. They stuck too much other stuff on the hydraulic eventually so had to go. The BX was a good car apart from that on some models. Later Xantia a step too far especially the VSX. Probably the best handling saloon I have ever driven apart from a Subaru but that needed more care.