What Shocked You Today

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What Shocked You Today

Another quirk with the hotter Clio was that it would lift the inside back wheel when pushed a bit. In my younger days I gave a Clio cup an extensive test around a quiet roundabout. It went quite well on three legs.
This is fairly common with a lot of small cheap cars that use a torsion beam rear suspension set up with the higher centre of gravity of something like a small hatchback, you could do it with the slower versions as well it’s just they didn’t have the power to get themselves in that position as quickly
 
This is fairly common with a lot of small cheap cars that use a torsion beam rear suspension set up with the higher centre of gravity of something like a small hatchback, you could do it with the slower versions as well it’s just they didn’t have the power to get themselves in that position as quickly
In the 1970s on a Lada course (Fiat 124) the tutor took us down an airfield runway at 80mph after we had complained about their road holding and then smacked it on full lock to reverse direction, saying as he did this that we were on three wheels, to which we replied F*** Off, he then straightened the wheel and we all felt it drop down on to the road, it turned out he used to rally them , needless to say not on Russian tyres ;)
 
In late 2009 a relative asked me to look out for / organise a cheap runabout

I bid on 2 local Clio's

1st to finish was a 1.4 auto ..with mention of 'might was the waterpump looking at'... the river running down the street and the Seller ssying 'I've just topped it up for you' got me a 20% discount and I drove back at legal limit while the fluid lasted

Ran ok.. Alternator failed the following week ( big job.. but the internet found some cheat method)


My local car breaker ( muddy field) was well stocked with mk1 clio and mk2 puntos... all at the MOT writeoff age
 
I never liked the mondeo, it seemed like a weak follow on from the sierra. The cosworth and xr4x4 cars really stood out for an every day car, the mondeo was just too bland.
 
I hope you picked it up and took it home for tea then!
despite the speed I didn’t kill it, so a guy came with a big gun and dealt with that, I believe he took it away also.

I never liked the mondeo, it seemed like a weak follow on from the sierra. The cosworth and xr4x4 cars really stood out for an every day car, the mondeo was just too bland.
You say that but what made the sierra so famous was the fact, if you owned one you wouldn’t own it for long, it was the most stolen car of the 80s. The excitement of those cars came from the teenagers hooning around and joyriding.

The Mondeo was a bit more sensible. But also came in options with more power.

The XR4x4 only had 150bhp, which is pretty average these days
The Cosworth was 200bhp, which would see it lack behind most hot hatches now.

They did the Mondeo ST200 and the ST220 which had 200 and 220hp respectively, so its not like there wasn’t a hot option.

Ford shifted its focus to smaller powerful cars by the 90s and early 2000’s so you had the

Ford Racing Puma with 150hp
Ford Focus ST170 with 170hp
Ford Focus RS with 200hp.

Ford did not like the reputation they gained from the cosworth cars which is why they calmed down about, bit really the power stayed the same and the cars got a bit heavier.

The newer cars were less likely to kill you though.


Earlier on I found myself looking at the back of an old Clio2 an early 2000s car but of the 2001+ facelift. It had a big “BecauseClio” sticker across the back window and bumper sticker saying something like “punch it” I very much doubt it has the power to punch anything, tinted back lights some alloys sticking out to far and it got me wondering why this car has survived, then as it turned a corner I clocked it was a 5 door. Now if I remember correctly the “nice” models like the sport were all 3 door, only the shopping carts and mum-mobiles came in a 5 door, so the likely story for this car was it had been owned for a long time my a mum or older person, probably well looked after and cared for, but now nearly 20 years on, has fallen out of grace and some boy racer had bought it, wrecked it with glue on parts and probably drives everywhere in 2nd gear because it’s well fast.

Will probably be scrapped or crashed in the next year or two

Edit: I should add the driver of the Clio was wearing a high vis coat just to add to the picture
 
despite the speed I didn’t kill it, so a guy came with a big gun and dealt with that, I believe he took it away also.


You say that but what made the sierra so famous was the fact, if you owned one you wouldn’t own it for long, it was the most stolen car of the 80s. The excitement of those cars came from the teenagers hooning around and joyriding.

The Mondeo was a bit more sensible. But also came in options with more power.

The XR4x4 only had 150bhp, which is pretty average these days
The Cosworth was 200bhp, which would see it lack behind most hot hatches now.

They did the Mondeo ST200 and the ST220 which had 200 and 220hp respectively, so its not like there wasn’t a hot option.

Ford shifted its focus to smaller powerful cars by the 90s and early 2000’s so you had the

Ford Racing Puma with 150hp
Ford Focus ST170 with 170hp
Ford Focus RS with 200hp.

Ford did not like the reputation they gained from the cosworth cars which is why they calmed down about, bit really the power stayed the same and the cars got a bit heavier.

The newer cars were less likely to kill you though.


Earlier on I found myself looking at the back of an old Clio2 an early 2000s car but of the 2001+ facelift. It had a big “BecauseClio” sticker across the back window and bumper sticker saying something like “punch it” I very much doubt it has the power to punch anything, tinted back lights some alloys sticking out to far and it got me wondering why this car has survived, then as it turned a corner I clocked it was a 5 door. Now if I remember correctly the “nice” models like the sport were all 3 door, only the shopping carts and mum-mobiles came in a 5 door, so the likely story for this car was it had been owned for a long time my a mum or older person, probably well looked after and cared for, but now nearly 20 years on, has fallen out of grace and some boy racer had bought it, wrecked it with glue on parts and probably drives everywhere in 2nd gear because it’s well fast.

Will probably be scrapped or crashed in the next year or two

Edit: I should add the driver of the Clio was wearing a high vis coat just to add to the picture
Life was so much simpler in the late 1960s, no power steering, cross ply tyres, an old six cylinder Ford Zephyr or Vauxhall Cresta all rear wheel drive with no grip, it was easy to hang the back end out squealing the tyres and think you were doing the sort of speeds modern cars do in boring safety. Plus all for the equivalent of 22.5 pence for 4.5 litres of 5 star petrol by today's measurements (4/6d per gallon?);)
 
On an entirely unrelated note...

Today my 71 year old dad phoned me in a flap because his computer was broken and he won't be able to Xmas shop or get on anything bill related.

He's broken the screen but the rest worked so after trying to explain the concept of hooking it to the TV by HDMI. I got bored/frustrated of rephrasing "get an HDMI cable and plug it in at both ends" over the phone so off I went in the car as he's a proper flapper in general.

Any turn up, spare HDMI in hand, plug it in fire everything up and sure enough it works.

What shocked me today was a desktop background that elicited the response "gaawd must be cold where she is, they'll be able to see those from the road on that screen..I guess I better change that for ya."
 
On an entirely unrelated note...

Today my 71 year old dad phoned me in a flap because his computer was broken and he won't be able to Xmas shop or get on anything bill related.

He's broken the screen but the rest worked so after trying to explain the concept of hooking it to the TV by HDMI. I got bored/frustrated of rephrasing "get an HDMI cable and plug it in at both ends" over the phone so off I went in the car as he's a proper flapper in general.

Any turn up, spare HDMI in hand, plug it in fire everything up and sure enough it works.

What shocked me today was a desktop background that elicited the response "gaawd must be cold where she is, they'll be able to see those from the road on that screen..I guess I better change that for ya."
Hat's off to your old man, I am only a year behind him and my screen background is an old boat I had being buffeted in the stormy harbour.;)
Mind you my youngest daughter thought I had lost it today when pouring the coffee and it was going all over the side, turned out the mug she had recently dropped had split all around the base. She thought I couldn't see to fill the mug properly.
By the way I usually fix my kids computers:)
 
The XR4x4 only had 150bhp, which is pretty average these days
The Cosworth was 200bhp, which would see it lack behind most hot hatches now.
...
...
Ford Racing Puma with 150hp
Ford Focus ST170 with 170hp
Ford Focus RS with 200hp.
Out of those, which would you have on the drive? (bearing in mind the current mental values)

Ford did not like the reputation they gained from the cosworth cars which is why they calmed down about, bit really the power stayed the same and the cars got a bit heavier.
The vauxhall 2.0 litre engines of the 90's had cosworth designed 16v heads, that never got the same press coverage as ford.
 
Out of those, which would you have on the drive? (bearing in mind the current mental values)
Probably the Focus RS, not one I got to drive, but was a very clever and interesting car, low on power by todays standards but an every day driver and likely to stay in your drive way and not disappear in the night like anything with a cosworth badge.
The vauxhall 2.0 litre engines of the 90's had cosworth designed 16v heads, that never got the same press coverage as ford.
Vauxhall made some brilliant engines in the 80s and early 90s

I also had an old boss in 99 who had a 190 Cosworth Mercedes
 
Probably the Focus RS, not one I got to drive, but was a very clever and interesting car, low on power by todays standards but an every day driver and likely to stay in your drive way and not disappear in the night like anything with a cosworth badge.

Vauxhall made some brilliant engines in the 80s and early 90s

I also had an old boss in 99 who had a 190 Cosworth Mercedes
I wonder given the weight of current vehicles how the power to weight compares with todays crop.
As an apprentice I was happy with a 997cc Ford Anglia fitted with a 1500 Cortina engine, I managed to break the rear spring leaves with axle tramp, but with the diff ratio only allowed around 90Mph when most modern cars are capable of much more?
 
Probably the Focus RS, not one I got to drive, but was a very clever and interesting car, low on power by todays standards but an every day driver and likely to stay in your drive way and not disappear in the night like anything with a cosworth badge.
Most coswarths are £50k+ now, there are so many othe nicers cars you could get for under that.
 
Most coswarths are £50k+ now, there are so many othe nicers cars you could get for under that.
Back in the late 70s I had a RS3100 capri. Ford only made a few hundred and they are very rare now. I saw one sold for £50 k or so a few years ago but I expect you would need to pay more than that now if one ever came on the market.
Its party trick was to pull smoothly at full throttle from 1000 rpm but handling and grip were also vastly improved over a standard car. I confirmed that when I swopped my RS for my mates 3000GXL for a day and forgot I was in his when I entered a fast corner.
Perhaps a touch of rose tints but I wish I had it now,
 
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Back in the late 70s I had a RS3100 capri. Ford only made a few hundred and they are very rare now. I saw one sold for £50 k or so a few years ago but I expect you would need to pay more than that now if one ever came on the market.
Its party trick was to pull smoothly at full throttle from 1000 rpm but handling and grip were also vastly improved over a standard car. I confirmed that when I swopped my RS for my mates 3000GXL for a day and forgot I was in his when I entered a fast corner.
Perhaps a touch of rose tints but I wish I had it now,
I had a customer with a 2.8 Tickford Capri, I may be wrong, but he said 100 were made and his was one of the last 50 still going and that was around the late 80s early 90s. It had been owned by a garage proprietor and had the engine rebuilt many times badly due to holing pistons as it was designed to run on 5 star fuel so it pinked like hell when boost cut in. I got the engine bored and fitted German Mahle pistons that brought the compression down to 150psi instead of 180psi. It cured the problem and the customer said before he was using octane booster and with the pinking he couldn't get the performance from it that he got after my rebuild was run in.
200 odd Hp in a vehicle of approx 1200kg , roughly the weight of a modern mini!
 
I had a customer with a 2.8 Tickford Capri, I may be wrong, but he said 100 were made and his was one of the last 50 still going and that was around the late 80s early 90s. It had been owned by a garage proprietor and had the engine rebuilt many times badly due to holing pistons as it was designed to run on 5 star fuel so it pinked like hell when boost cut in. I got the engine bored and fitted German Mahle pistons that brought the compression down to 150psi instead of 180psi. It cured the problem and the customer said before he was using octane booster and with the pinking he couldn't get the performance from it that he got after my rebuild was run in.
200 odd Hp in a vehicle of approx 1200kg , roughly the weight of a modern mini!
I imagine he was over the moon with what you did. Nothing worse than knowing you have to nurse a car rather than use it’s full performance especially with something like that.
Its certainly surprising when you compare weights then and now. My RS3100 only had 150 bhp but weighed about 1050 kg (mk1 body) which is only just a whisker more than my wife’s 500 TA. It did seem fairly quick back in the day but the Tickford obviously would have been quicker. Best thing about them both would have been the handling which had been greatly improved over the base models.
I’ve just had a search and apparently Aston Martins Tickford division made only 85 so he was even underselling it a bit.
When you consider the turbo will boost that 180 psi when it’s running then we can understand why he was getting problems.

My 1965 1330 cc Cooper S read 210 psi non turbo of course, which must have been on the limit of what’s safe. (another one that would have been good to keep). With the valves, cam, twin 11/2 SUs etc, 100bhp or a little more on a good day in a car weighing less than 700 kg, it had similar performance to the 3100 up to 90 ish traction permitting. Torque steer like you wouldn’t believe but incredible fun, even my girlfriend, now wife, came back grinning after comprehensively winning a traffic light grand prix.
 
I imagine he was over the moon with what you did. Nothing worse than knowing you have to nurse a car rather than use it’s full performance especially with something like that.
Its certainly surprising when you compare weights then and now. My RS3100 only had 150 bhp but weighed about 1050 kg (mk1 body) which is only just a whisker more than my wife’s 500 TA. It did seem fairly quick back in the day but the Tickford obviously would have been quicker. Best thing about them both would have been the handling which had been greatly improved over the base models.
I’ve just had a search and apparently Aston Martins Tickford division made only 85 so he was even underselling it a bit.
When you consider the turbo will boost that 180 psi when it’s running then we can understand why he was getting problems.

My 1965 1330 cc Cooper S read 210 psi non turbo of course, which must have been on the limit of what’s safe. (another one that would have been good to keep). With the valves, cam, twin 11/2 SUs etc, 100bhp or a little more on a good day in a car weighing less than 700 kg, it had similar performance to the 3100 up to 90 ish traction permitting. Torque steer like you wouldn’t believe but incredible fun, even my girlfriend, now wife, came back grinning after comprehensively winning a traffic light grand prix.
That mini must have been a flyer :). The garage where I did my apprenticeship wasn't a dealership so we did anything that came in, which gave me a good grounding, but the bosses did have family connections with the local Ford Dealership so we saw quite a few. We had a petrol customer with a tuned Lotus Twin cam engine in his Ford Anglia, he did Hotrod racing etc. Now that flew and sounded great.
 
That mini must have been a flyer :). The garage where I did my apprenticeship wasn't a dealership so we did anything that came in, which gave me a good grounding, but the bosses did have family connections with the local Ford Dealership so we saw quite a few. We had a petrol customer with a tuned Lotus Twin cam engine in his Ford Anglia, he did Hotrod racing etc. Now that flew and sounded great.
Yes the mini did go well but it was the noisiest car I have ever driven.

Always liked the look and sound of those twin cams but never owned one unfortunately.
Closest I got to one was when a customer asked me to free up a clutch on his lotus elite. He had lost his licence and the car was sitting in a damp unheated garage. After the second clutch seize he asked me to exercise the car every few weeks, did that several times so he must have been a naughty boy. He did tell me but it was a long time ago now, I suspect it was something to do with speed.
 
I wonder given the weight of current vehicles how the power to weight compares with todays crop.
As an apprentice I was happy with a 997cc Ford Anglia fitted with a 1500 Cortina engine, I managed to break the rear spring leaves with axle tramp, but with the diff ratio only allowed around 90Mph when most modern cars are capable of much more?
The old Focus RS from 2000 was 200bhp, the current Focus RS is 345bhp, so I don’t suspect any weight difference between the older and newer cars would help the old car much. Not unless the newer car weighs two and a half tons
Most coswarths are £50k+ now, there are so many othe nicers cars you could get for under that.
Some of the RS500 sierra Cosworths are over 100k these are the rarer 3 door models. Other sierra cosworths can be anything from a few grand to 70-80k it’s all dependant on condition and history, people want the best examples.

I totally agree with you though many more nicer cars could be had for the money, these old cars are not very fast my current standards and not very safe.
 
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