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Nuffles
I drive a 20 year old Land Rover with no ABS. The rear wheels lock up way before the front, which gives me a nice indicator for how hard to brake, as I still get steering (albeit with a bit of slide in there too). The brakes are surprisingly good for such an old and primitive car, much more modulation and feel than those in my parent's 2 year old Astra.



a 20 year old landrover is not Primitive ... the coil sprung landies are far from primitive , just because the coil sprung vehicles have a similar body to the SII doesn't mean the rest of the vehicle is primitive
Reply 21
zippyRN
a 20 year old landrover is not Primitive ... the coil sprung landies are far from primitive , just because the coil sprung vehicles have a similar body to the SII doesn't mean the rest of the vehicle is primitive


It depends what you classifiy as primitive. It is one of the most advanced off road vehicles in the world, but it is far from plush by today's standards. The interior lights have to be turned on manually, the sound system had 2 speakers (until I ripped it out and built my own from scratch), the roof leaks by design so there are holes in the floor to let the water out. That IS primitive, however, in mechanical terms it is a feat of engineering. It's such a good feat of engineering that they've barely changed the design in 30 or 40 years. It just doesn't suit a lot of people who like to get places fast or quietly.
Nuffles
It depends what you classifiy as primitive. It is one of the most advanced off road vehicles in the world, but it is far from plush by today's standards. The interior lights have to be turned on manually, the sound system had 2 speakers (until I ripped it out and built my own from scratch), the roof leaks by design so there are holes in the floor to let the water out. That IS primitive, however, in mechanical terms it is a feat of engineering. It's such a good feat of engineering that they've barely changed the design in 30 or 40 years. It just doesn't suit a lot of people who like to get places fast or quietly.


Interior lights! Luxury.

Sound system?

Roof leaks by design I can relate to.

I am rather fond of landies, but I reckon the tin snail is that little bit higher in the primitive league.
Reply 23
terpineol
Interior lights! Luxury.

Sound system?

Roof leaks by design I can relate to.

I am rather fond of landies, but I reckon the tin snail is that little bit higher in the primitive league.


Pah, well, I couldn't live without my music when I'm driving. I agree, it's not as primitive as even older cars, but most of my friends are shocked when I tell them you have to manually turn the dash lights on at night and they don't come on with the sidelights. Terpineol, I assume you are familiar with vents under the windscreen to open up for that cool summer breeze? Who needs air con when you have windscreen flaps!!
Nuffles
Pah, well, I couldn't live without my music when I'm driving. I agree, it's not as primitive as even older cars, but most of my friends are shocked when I tell them you have to manually turn the dash lights on at night and they don't come on with the sidelights. Terpineol, I assume you are familiar with vents under the windscreen to open up for that cool summer breeze? Who needs air con when you have windscreen flaps!!


I have them too!



I spend a large part of my childhood driving landies around airfields, so I have rather a soft spot for them.

Do the indicators self cancel on the landies (I never had to use them in my time with landies)? That along with a warning light to say they are on is something I do miss at times.
Reply 25
terpineol
I have them too!



I spend a large part of my childhood driving landies around airfields, so I have rather a soft spot for them.

Do the indicators self cancel on the landies (I never had to use them in my time with landies)? That along with a warning light to say they are on is something I do miss at times.


I thought you might have the flaps, I was sure 2CVs had them too :yep: The indicators do self cancel, but there isn't an intermediate wiper speed. The wiper arm has sprung down (which you can ping down every now and again for a poor mans intermediate), one click up which is slow, and 2 clicks up which is fast, which is broken. So the only proper speed I have is slow :woo:

Mine's a county spec which means there isn't a rear bulkead and I can fit my 6ft3in frame in quite comfortably. The sunroof comes up at the back like you'd expect, but if you want you can just pop the whole glass out and have a whole in your roof :woo:

Rear washer is an obscure button in the middle of the dashboard that no one can ever find. You push for washer (the plastic bit of which is broken so the washer fluid just shoots straight out the back of the car and nowhere near the rear windscreen) and twist for rear windscreen wiper.

The speedo also has an alarming habit of bouncing around at any speed below 30mph so you really have no idea how fast you're going, and the 10k drum on the odometer is stuck between 4 and 5 so it's done at least 150k, but most likely a lot more because we've had it a year and it was like that when we got it.
Nuffles
I thought you might have the flaps, I was sure 2CVs had them too :yep: The indicators do self cancel, but there isn't an intermediate wiper speed. The wiper arm has sprung down (which you can ping down every now and again for a poor mans intermediate), one click up which is slow, and 2 clicks up which is fast, which is broken. So the only proper speed I have is slow :woo:

Mine's a county spec which means there isn't a rear bulkead and I can fit my 6ft3in frame in quite comfortably. The sunroof comes up at the back like you'd expect, but if you want you can just pop the whole glass out and have a whole in your roof :woo:

Rear washer is an obscure button in the middle of the dashboard that no one can ever find. You push for washer (the plastic bit of which is broken so the washer fluid just shoots straight out the back of the car and nowhere near the rear windscreen) and twist for rear windscreen wiper.

The speedo also has an alarming habit of bouncing around at any speed below 30mph so you really have no idea how fast you're going, and the 10k drum on the odometer is stuck between 4 and 5 so it's done at least 150k, but most likely a lot more because we've had it a year and it was like that when we got it.



Nice, I just have one wiper speed, its an on/off push button job.

I am a big fan of fabric roofs, its nice to be able to roll the whole thing back, and if you remove the boot lid (two bits of coathanger) you have an impromptu pickup.

My windscreen washer is a water pistol style affair you manually pump, great fun. No rear wipers or washers to worry about fixing either.

The speedo issue I can relate to, I get it at about 45ish, and again around 60ish. But this varies according to how the thing is feeling.

I havn't a clue how many miles mine has done, the odo claims 70k, though the car is an amalgamation of lots of tin snails, so who knows if thats true. (its said if looked after the engines will to 350k plus, so I'm not too worried).
Reply 27
terpineol
Nice, I just have one wiper speed, its an on/off push button job.

I am a big fan of fabric roofs, its nice to be able to roll the whole thing back, and if you remove the boot lid (two bits of coathanger) you have an impromptu pickup.

My windscreen washer is a water pistol style affair you manually pump, great fun. No rear wipers or washers to worry about fixing either.

The speedo issue I can relate to, I get it at about 45ish, and again around 60ish. But this varies according to how the thing is feeling.

I havn't a clue how many miles mine has done, the odo claims 70k, though the car is an amalgamation of lots of tin snails, so who knows if thats true. (its said if looked after the engines will to 350k plus, so I'm not too worried).


Yeah I was really looking for one of these:

So I could pull off the top in the summer, take off the door tops (sports car half doors yano) and fold the windscreen down for some real summer fun. When it came down to it though, a Defender 110 was a lot more practical for not a lot more money than a good nick Series 2 with a new chassis and engine conversion anyway.

I love quirky old cars, I'd have loved to have driven an old Citroen BX with non correcting indicator buttons :yep: Or a DS *cums a little in his boxers*. Old Citroens are the kings of quirkyness, strange french lot :yep:
Nuffles
Yeah I was really looking for one of these:

So I could pull off the top in the summer, take off the door tops (sports car half doors yano) and fold the windscreen down for some real summer fun. When it came down to it though, a Defender 110 was a lot more practical for not a lot more money than a good nick Series 2 with a new chassis and engine conversion anyway.

I love quirky old cars, I'd have loved to have driven an old Citroen BX with non correcting indicator buttons :yep: Or a DS *cums a little in his boxers*. Old Citroens are the kings of quirkyness, strange french lot :yep:


They do have fun little oddities, I love the way the headlights adjust by turning a rod tilting the whole headlamp mechanism.

Non correcting indicators take a while to get used to.

Have you seen the gear change in the 2CV?
Reply 29
I've played with one I think, it's sort of like an umbella isn't it? You twist left and right like moving the stick in a 'normal' car left and right and push/pull like you would with a normal stick too? I dearly hope to drive a 2CV one day, but I fear that they're getting so rare that by the time I have a chance to they'll all be gone :frown: There used to be a garage near us with a thriving 2CV graveyard that dealt spares but they don't even have one left now I don't think.
Nuffles
I've played with one I think, it's sort of like an umbella isn't it? You twist left and right like moving the stick in a 'normal' car left and right and push/pull like you would with a normal stick too? I dearly hope to drive a 2CV one day, but I fear that they're getting so rare that by the time I have a chance to they'll all be gone :frown: There used to be a garage near us with a thriving 2CV graveyard that dealt spares but they don't even have one left now I don't think.


Thats right yep.

They are getting rare, restoration projects have doubled in price over the last year or so.

They are fun to drive, generally the more you rev them the better they respond. I tend to be between 3000 and 7000rpm all the time.
Reply 31
terpineol
Thats right yep.

They are getting rare, restoration projects have doubled in price over the last year or so.

They are fun to drive, generally the more you rev them the better they respond. I tend to be between 3000 and 7000rpm all the time.


That tends to be true the smaller the engines get though, non? My ex's 50cc motoped (don't ask) could do 17k rpm, and the little 4.2cc engines I used to race with in RC cars would hit 50k. Then you get Massive truck engines that don't like going much higher than 2 or 3k.
Nuffles
That tends to be true the smaller the engines get though, non? My ex's 50cc motoped (don't ask) could do 17k rpm, and the little 4.2cc engines I used to race with in RC cars would hit 50k. Then you get Massive truck engines that don't like going much higher than 2 or 3k.


Generally true yes.

The highest I have taken the 2CV would be to 9000rpm, the racers stick around 10-12k depending on the cam they are using etc.

The speedo has red lines at 6000rpm for each gear to suggest roughly the best point at which to change up.

The RC engines sound like fun.