What vintage car would you buy ?

[Night Train]

For those who keep raising the question, I think we are resigned to just sharing our most desired classic cars rather then official designations of 'Classic' Vintage', 'Veteran', etc. as the OP has a asked the question but listed classic cars.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

A story is told of a guide doing a tour of York with a group of American tourists. On reaching the Minster, one woman pipes up "Is this building pre-war?".

To which, in his iciest voice, the guide replied, "Madam, this building is pre-America..."

Love that, not heard it for a few years though!!


There appears to have been something happening locally, as I've just been into Wakefield, & seen quite a few classic bikes (newest was on a 'M' suffix plate)

 

[screenman]

I must say these picture make me feel vintage, I started car dealing on a larger scale in about 1978 so I have bought and sold a lot of the styles shown.

Now to answer the OP, not got a clue really but for something to sit in the living room it would likely be a Lancia Stratos.

Funny how often Citroen's come up as desirable classics, must admit I like them a lot myself. Mention the newer one's and we get slated sometimes.

 

[biggs682]

ok wild card time

Hillman Avenger Tiger ?
Vauxhall Chevette hsr
Opel Monza 400

 

[MontyVeda]

 

[Over The Hill]

I would love to buy an old and perhaps rusted out Morris Oxford from 1957 and a brand new Hindustan Ambassador (which are basically the same car) and strip out all the nice old inside and chrome details off the old one and fit it in the new one.
Result - Nice old car that is practical to use.

 

[colly]

I would love to buy an old and perhaps rusted out Morris Oxford from 1957 and a brand new Hindustan Ambassador (which are basically the same car) and strip out all the nice old inside and chrome details off the old one and fit it in the new one.
Result - Nice old car that is practical to use.

You are a Bangalore taxi driver AICMFP.

 

[Brandane]

Haven't seen this little beauty mentioned yet. If you ignore the fragile V8 engine (no idea why, was it not the same engine as the Rover V8?), it was a cracker of a car......

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Haven't seen this little beauty mentioned yet. If you ignore the fragile V8 engine (no idea why, was it not the same engine as the Rover V8?), it was a cracker of a car......

No, a very different engine

Rover & Triumph were 'at odds' then, and after different customers

I do believe though, that the Dolomite Sprint 4-cylinder is basically half a Stag engine??

 

[Chromatic]

Haven't seen this little beauty mentioned yet. If you ignore the fragile V8 engine (no idea why, was it not the same engine as the Rover V8?), it was a cracker of a car......

http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/fond-memories-of-cars-gone-by.33070/post-632178

See my posts in this thread.

 

[Chromatic]

No, a very different engine

Rover & Triumph were 'at odds' then, and after different customers

I do believe though, that the Dolomite Sprint 4-cylinder is basically half a Stag engine??

Yes, although I think its more correct to say that the Stag engine was two dolomite engines stuck together.

Whatever, I loved my Stag and wish I had kept it.

 

[Piemaster]

I owned a Stag at one time. Retrofitted with a Rover V8 (fairly popular mod). I actually spotted it and spoke to a later owner of it, by which time it had acquired a Triumph straight 6.
The Triumph V8 did get a bit of a reputation but the wisdom within the owners club said that a lot of it was down to early failures and finding casting sand in the block/radiator wasn't uncommon. Looked after they were ok, but could say that of a few engines of the period, A-series, crossflow, etc. Think it was maybe a case that the Rover engine survived neglect better.
More the Stag engine was 2 of the Triumph 4 cylinders. They were never fitted into any other car either. Engines were 2 valve/ cylinder, dolomite sprints had a 16 valve head. I also had a TR7 with a dolly sprint engine in it, ownership overlapping briefly with the Stag. Think there was some sort of link between the Triumph engine and a Saab one too.
Rust bucket? Compared to a modern car yes, compared to a contempary? No worse than the likes of an MG BGT. Must be a mass produced car with one of the highest % of surviving ones left.

 

[donnydave]

There's loads of old cars I'd like to drive, not too fussed about owning them all but the ones I would like tucked up in my garage are a cobra 427, gt40 and either ferrari p4 330 or porsche 906. Basically mid to late 60s Le Mans racing exotica. The list of stuff I would just like a go in is endless and goes right up to late 90s. Very little in the last 10 years or so excites me. It all seems too safe, too boring, too complicated.

 

[Chromatic]

I owned a Stag at one time. Retrofitted with a Rover V8 (fairly popular mod). I actually spotted it and spoke to a later owner of it, by which time it had acquired a Triumph straight 6.
The Triumph V8 did get a bit of a reputation but the wisdom within the owners club said that a lot of it was down to early failures and finding casting sand in the block/radiator wasn't uncommon. Looked after they were ok, but could say that of a few engines of the period, A-series, crossflow, etc. Think it was maybe a case that the Rover engine survived neglect better.
More the Stag engine was 2 of the Triumph 4 cylinders. They were never fitted into any other car either. Engines were 2 valve/ cylinder, dolomite sprints had a 16 valve head. I also had a TR7 with a dolly sprint engine in it, ownership overlapping briefly with the Stag. Think there was some sort of link between the Triumph engine and a Saab one too.
Rust bucket? Compared to a modern car yes, compared to a contempary? No worse than the likes of an MG BGT. Must be a mass produced car with one of the highest % of surviving ones left.

I remember reading somewhere, but I can't remember where, that quite a large proportion of Stags ever made are still in existence. Mine was certainly no rust bucket and they were certainly a lot better than most contempory cars as far as rust went.

My understanding of the engine fragility was concerns with the timing chains and the cooling system. The chains were prone to wear and stretching(chains a bit slack! ( copyright various cyclechat posters) geddit??) and the cooling system problem was the location of the water pump, which I believe was positioned such that just a little amount of coolant loss resulted in loss of coolant circulation. If these things were looked after then the engine was quite good.

 

[Soltydog]

Always admired the Rover 3500 as kid. One of our neighbours had one & I loved it, but on the way to work this morning, saw one of these & thought it looked rather 'cool' like many old VWs