Your First Car?

[DaveHerns]

No doubt "shag pile" carpet in the back of your minivan!
There's loads of early Fords around , just look on Ebay at Classic Fords and marvel at the prices.
What is wrong with Soviet steel ? Isn't iron ore iron oxide which is rust?

 

[Burnerman]

High sulphur content Dave.....just look at it and it would corrode.
John

 

[DaveHerns]

Doesn't that burn off in the furnace when it's all melted down? Is modern steel free from this sulphur?

 

[Burnerman]

I can't pretend to know the chemistry Dave, and much of the steel used in car production is approaching the high tensile end I believe......this gives more strength but less weight.
The steel used by Alfa and Lancia had a high sulphur content, hence they dissolved on sight. The last vehicle to be built with this rubbish was the Citroen C15 van, if I recall - 3 years down the line and they were rusting all over.
John

 

[Avocet]

When Fiat sold the 124 rights to the Russians (which later became the Lada Riva) part of the deal was that the Rissians paid the Italian government (who then owned Fiat) back in steel. The steel was of lamentable quality (a whole range of impurities) and rusted very readily. Unfortunately, the Italian government had no way of getting rid of it - other than by forcing Italian car manufacturers (the state-owned ones at least) to use it in their vehicles. That was when they got the awful reputation for rust in the late '70s / early '80s.

 

[Avocet]

First car I had the use of was a Reliant Rebel. First car I bought with my own money was a Citroen DS (D Super 5, in fact) for which I paid a princely £75...

 

[DaveHerns]

That would be worth serious money these days. I think I had the offer of an ID19 back in 1973ish but turned it down because of the complexity

 

[Avocet]

Aye, it's funny really. This would have been about 1985 and the last of them were still running round as "sheds". Unfortunately, on my way back from a Marillion gig at the hammersmith odeon one night, someone pulled out on me from a side road and although nobody was hurt, it took all the panels off the side of the car (bolt-on, for the DS, of course!) and creased the pillars. Someone then GAVE me a DS21 Pallas! It had been stood for some years, but was commendably rust-free, just needed a bit of TLC. It was the semi-auto too - about as complex as the DS got (apart from the DS 23 with electronic fuel injection)! I didn't really get on with the semi-auto box, so I put the 5 speed from the written-off D Super in it. Phillistine that I was, back then, I completely trashed the car's originality (and had to cut a hole in the dashboard for the 5 speed manual lever to poke through). Sold it for £500 in the end, but as you say, probably worth shed-loads of cash now. My dad hasn't ever stopped whining about his old Vincent 1000 bike that he sold for £30....

 

[Seafarer1966]

Aye, it's funny really. This would have been about 1985 and the last of them were still running round as "sheds". Unfortunately, on my way back from a Marillion gig at the hammersmith odeon one night, someone pulled out on me from a side road and although nobody was hurt, it took all the panels off the side of the car (bolt-on, for the DS, of course!) and creased the pillars. Someone then GAVE me a DS21 Pallas! It had been stood for some years, but was commendably rust-free, just needed a bit of TLC. It was the semi-auto too - about as complex as the DS got (apart from the DS 23 with electronic fuel injection)! I didn't really get on with the semi-auto box, so I put the 5 speed from the written-off D Super in it. Phillistine that I was, back then, I completely trashed the car's originality (and had to cut a hole in the dashboard for the 5 speed manual lever to poke through). Sold it for £500 in the end, but as you say, probably worth shed-loads of cash now. My dad hasn't ever stopped whining about his old Vincent 1000 bike that he sold for £30....

Vincents were hand built and the top end of the British bike market. £30 blimey.

I had an East German made MZ150 in the 80's which wasn't as bad as the reputation. It got me around. Like riding a piece of agricultural machinery and steered like a cow but it worked. I hand painted it with hammerite when the rust got really bad. The MZ tool kit was superb quality though and I still have the pliers. The engine was a bolt for bolt knock off of a BSA Bantam unit. Bet the commies never paid for the patent.

 

[Dave54]

Vincents were hand built and the top end of the British bike market. £30 blimey.

I had an East German made MZ150 in the 80's which wasn't as bad as the reputation. It got me around. Like riding a piece of agricultural machinery and steered like a cow but it worked. I hand painted it with hammerite when the rust got really bad. The MZ tool kit was superb quality though and I still have the pliers. The engine was a bolt for bolt knock off of a BSA Bantam unit. Bet the commies never paid for the patent.

I think it was the the other way around. The Bantam engine is a copy of an earlier DKW unit. DKW became MZ.

There was a nice Vincent twin in a shop just down from my school in the late 60s. It was about £100 then.
I was offered a more or less immaculate Comet (500 Vincent) in the very early 70s for similar money. I think I was making £7 a week as an apprentice. No hope of raising that much!

 

[Seafarer1966]

I think it was the the other way around. The Bantam engine is a copy of an earlier DKW unit. DKW became MZ.

There was a nice Vincent twin in a shop just down from my school in the late 60s. It was about £100 then.
I was offered a more or less immaculate Comet (500 Vincent) in the very early 70s for similar money. I think I was making £7 a week as an apprentice. No hope of raising that much!

Ta Davo for the info about DKW. I'm going to have a good read up on t'internet on that. The squaw has booked us a few days away so I'll do that next weekend.

Just on the subject of British bikes this was another example of rubbish management. No or little investment in new models. Still making outdated stuff like the BSA Bushman when the Japanese were bringing out modern bikes with electronic ignition and were winning races. British nationalised industry......two speeds.....slow and stop.

 

[Seafarer1966]

Actually I've just looked it up:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DKW_RT_125

Wartime reparations.....even the Japs built a reverse engineered version of the RT125.....the first Yammy. Love it.