What's made you smile today?

[chr1s]

I'm glad I don't have to find tyres for the Alfasud I had around 1989-1991 (until it was stolen).
The ti Green Cloverleaf had 190/55VR340 tyres on the metric OE wheels !
As I remember, the only option was Michelin TRX tyres.

 

[varesecrazy]

Metric tyres, luckily I never had those

The Austin/Rover kit did and they do a good trade in Imperial rims nowadays

What made them 'popular' I wonder..?

 

[vexorg]

Rishi running round in circles with tory anger, from 7 years ago with the last attempt to remove the ECHR from the UK

 

[porta]

Rishi running round in circles with tory anger, from 7 years ago with the last attempt to remove the EHCR from the UK

What amazes me is that people think (blindly following g’ment lies) that:
ECHR has something to do with EU
Don’t realise it’s OUR rights their trying to diminish
The court that ruled against g’ment is the ECHR and not ours

 

[The Panda Nut]

Biggest Wheel size they did on the Punto back then.

What's even more annoying is these days its an odd size so there are few options when it comes to buying tires, Either very cheap and dodgy unheard of Chinese brands or very expensive, not a lot in the middle.

Still better than a good friend of mine with an original Mini Cooper who struggles to get tires at all from any brand.

My trailer uses mini tyres, I think next time I shall need new hubs, wheels and mud guards, Annoying As I have Not had the spare wheel long

 

[bugsymike]

My trailer uses mini tyres, I think next time I shall need new hubs, wheels and mud guards, Annoying As I have Not had the spare wheel long

I used to have a trailer with "mini" indespension units on 10inch wheels, but I fitted Hillman Imp 12inch wheels to it, although nowadays they are even harder to get.
Thinking about it Austin A35 13 inch wheels fit I think. Lots of them about.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Something to be JUSTIFYABLY grumpy about then!

 

[bugsymike]

Something to be JUSTIFYABLY grumpy about then!

I did fit Lancia 14 inch wheels with snow tyres on a Lada in the 1980s although Lada and Lancia appear to be thin on the ground.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

I do wonder where these people with rare classic cars from the 1920s 30s 40s and 50s get there tires when they need them.

I know there is still some new old stock kicking about in ancient motor factors on street corners in some town no one has ever heard of, but even then you're still looking at tire rubber that is potentially 70 - 100 years old in some cases.

There is someone selling a Model T roadster locally on facebook market place for £12k, looks mint, god knows what you actually do if you need spare parts or tires.

 

[vexorg]

There are always specialist suppliers for old cars and parts.

 

[bugsymike]

There are always specialist suppliers for old cars and parts.

If you have a deep enough pocket.
It is when you have something obscure that you find problems. I had a 1947 Karrier Bantam Series 2, to this day I have never seen one since.
A guy I knew who went to all the shows etc. said about it, that the fact it wasn't totally original didn't matter as no one would have anything to compare it with unlike if you rolled up with a Model T Ford someone would look at it and say that isn't the way it left the factory!!!

 

[vexorg]

If you have a deep enough pocket.

If your second name was Brewer then you'd find it all just lands at your feet.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

There are always specialist suppliers for old cars and parts.

As I said there are some ancient motor factors around who still have store rooms full of new old stock gaskets, valves, pistons, bearings etc, they could build many cars with the parts they have shoved in every draw, corner and cupboard, yet my experience of these people is they tend to have stuff hoarded like this because they won't part with it. and getting them to sell you anything can prove difficult.

We used to have an old scrap yard just north of Norwich Called Medlers, they had stuff dating back to the early 1900s, there driveway was lined with ancient cars that they had accrued over decades of collecting, They had a section specifically dedicated to pre-war stuff. The guy you would have to talk to, to buy anything, would always "have to ask his aunt" before he would give you a price on anything and that would take a few days and when he did get back to you if you had the patience to wait, he would always come back with "my aunt says we're not selling that at the moment" the place got closed down by environmental protection when the rules tightened up

It's still there but they took many of the complete cars away, anything that was falling to pieces got left to become one with the ground again, there are still some cars there but nothing that's worth taking anything from. It is still there, and there is a right of way through the site so urban explorers still post videos online from time to time

 

[bugsymike]

If your second name was Brewer then you'd find it all just lands at your feet.

Not me then.

 

[bugsymike]

We used to have some good scrap yards like that, as you say environment issues close them down.
It always annoys me when people say they have just discovered something when all the locals have known about it for years.
In the 1970s there was a closed down filling station near here, real 1950s type place and inside were several old vehicles, when it was being pulled down only a few years ago they made a big issue of their discoveries, Duh!

 

[portland_bill]

I do wonder where these people with rare classic cars from the 1920s 30s 40s and 50s get there tires when they need them.

There are two specialist companies dealing with tyres for classics, one based at Beaulieu. They have many tyres remade, from original moulds, as they have good working relationships with the original manufacturers. They have some original Pirelli Citurato, and Dunlop SP, if you remember them. There's a big price attached though. There's also a specialist manufacturer, Blockley, who make tyres for early cars.

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[PuntoHowTo]

Thanks PB.

I have no need for this info but its very interesting to know, I will go check out those links.... maybe I will buy a 1922 Model T roadster after all.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

Just discovered I have a Powder coating specialist literally a few hundred yards up the road from my new house.

With the set of Punto GT wheels to get refurbished, and I plan to get the subframes off and reconditioned, this is very handy to have a company that can do this so close.

They also do car body work including total resprays, which if I am going to strip the car down fully may make it much more cost effective to send the car there, than drag it across Norwich to my brother's body shop, especially as he can be quite busy with other work and the car could stand around for a long time.

 

[StevenRB45]

I think the phrase may be..

"That escalated quickly"

 

[The Panda Nut]

City Brake Assist or CBC. SIts there doing damn all untill I pull over for an approaching lorry. As the car sneaks under some small Hazel Nut branches CBC leaps into action and slams the brakes on. A little bit more and the car would have slid down the bank through the hedge and rolled over. So much for the so called safety systems. In my view they are not worth the space they take up. But hey-ho thats what the Euro standards are for, absolutley nothing!