VW Beetles (old air cooled)

hollie.weimeraner

iolanthe07 wrote: »

I owned both a Mini and an Imp and I think the Mini was far superior, mainly because the engine was mounted where it should be, over the driving wheels in the front! The Imp's engine was also over the driving wheels, but placing it in the back made handling problematic, to say the least. In the wet it was truly horrible. Anyway, the facts speak for themselves - the pre BMW Mini outlasted the Imp by very many years.

My first car was a 1967 Mini 850 with a gearstick that went through the bulkhead if I remember rightly. I followed that a few years later with a Singer Chamois Coupe bought with a failed head gasket but made sure the engine was removed and the head and block both skimmed. It then performed without fault for 3 years of more or less trouble free motoring. One of the most enjoyable cars I have ever owned and far better than the mini (IMHO )

Decent models of these will set you back in excess of 7 or 8k nowadays

[Deleted User]

facade wrote: »

I felt the same, compared to the mini (which didn't have synchromesh on 1st) it seemed to zip along, handled like a little go-kart (in the dry) and parked easier. The ride was better too, likely the larger wheels.
The best bit was the rear widow lifted up and you threw your shopping straight onto the back seat.Better to buy a proper camper like a Peugeot or a Ford based conversion



I had 4 minis, wish I'd kept the last one, it went for scrap


Back on topic- there are a couple of beetles round here, and I sometimes see an old air-cooled camper on the way to work. All of them absolutely stink of petrol if you get behind them, I doubt if they get more than mid 20s to the gallon. I leave a massive space behind that camper, it always sounds like it is about to cut out at the lights, they must have an automatic choke that stays full on for miles.

No chance of mid 20 s mpg from a 1600 air cooled type 2 camper van. I had three and 18 to the gallon average was the norm from the underpowered engine.
They are truly awful things in every respect.
Unbelievable how people are conned into buying them at 15k ish just because they look cute . There is nt any room in them neither with the engine bay hump at the back taking up a third of the space

Richard53

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Ahh, but no-one had mentioned the revolutionary Daf with it's Variomatic CVT

I was sure *someone* would.

Joe_Horner

Richard53 wrote: »

I was sure *someone* would.

Well, it was the Video 2000 of its day :rotfl:

iolanthe07

you never see a Ford Anglia on the road these days, do you? I have fond memories of ours .


The older version of these only had three forward gears and a side valve engine, which really struggled. Also, the windscreen wipers worked on induction from the engine, so when you were stopped at lights they went like the clappers, and when you at top speed (around 55 mph!) they almost stopped working altogether. I thought the Morris Minor of the time was far superior at about the same price (though £12 extra for a heater, iirc.)

facade

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

You never see a Ford Anglia on the road these days, do you? I have fond memories of ours ... and I learned a very important lesson, following my boyfriend of the time across the Pennines. He was driving a mini, and I learned that an Anglia can't take corners at the same speed as a mini. :rotfl:

You should have fitted the "Carlos Fandango" super wide wheels


My uncle had 3 or 4 of the 105E Anglias, they were great little cars mechanically, but they Rusted (with a capital "R"). He was a welder, and eventually even he knew when to stop patching it up and get another slightly less rusty one.

onomatopoeia99

facade wrote: »

You should have fitted the "Carlos Fandango" super wide wheels

Which 90% of people seem to think was an advert for Hamlet cigars (it wasn't).

And yes they did rust, my dad had one in the 1970s and one year at the MOT the tester basically condemned it and told him to take it to a scrapyard :rotfl:

Joe_Horner

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

Which 90% of people seem to think was an advert for Hamlet cigars (it wasn't).

No, Hamlet never had six appeal

Does show how effective that "Happiness is..." tag line was though!

Gloomendoom

Joe_Horner wrote: »

No, Hamlet never had six appeal

Does show how effective that "Happiness is..." tag line was though!

Panama cigars...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqqZ28m8uCo

Joe_Horner

Yep, the only cigars with six appeal