Dad's first car
- Thread starter toad a caravan
- Start date
- Nov 11, 2009
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Mine was purchased using my redundancy payment from GEC, even fitted the new fangled seat belt things and windscreen washers to replace a Squeezy bottle. Note the overnight parking light too…..cool.
The engine wasn't merely similar to the Austin 7 - Reliant bought out the tooling from Austin when they ended production of the 7 engine and put this engine back into production - similarly the Reliant side-valve engine was replaced by an all-alloy 803cc OHV engine reverse-engineered by Reliant from the Standard 8 engine although Standard-Triumph kept their engine in production gradually enlarging it to 1500, as used in the Spitfire and Midget - this engine also became the basis for the Triumph 6-cylinder engines and in turn the Rover 6-cylinder engines used in the SD1
They produced the crankshaft differently on the 7 engine and increased its H.P,,the 750 cc ally engine was the last ohv to be produced in Europe
The Robin ended production in 2002 but the Rolls-Royce / Bentley V8 was OHV and lasted until 2020, built in Shropshire and final asembly in Crewe.
In production for 61 years - but with constant development the last versions produced 2.5x the power of the first and using 40% less fuel
- Jul 18, 2017
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My first car was the 1959 Mk2 Zephyr similar to this Zodiac which was my father's car and whichhe bought brand new!
- Nov 11, 2009
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When I was a student my flat mate and I shared a Zephyr 6 but it was registered in his name. Awesome windscreen wipers that faded at the time you most needed them. Lovely cars to drive in though.
- Jul 18, 2017
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For an eighteen year old, the power from the straight six engine was awesome. I think way back in 1968 it was under 2/6 for a gallon of fuel. It would have been cheaper, but we had an oil embargo/sanctions imposed on our country by Mr Wilson.
- Feb 13, 2024
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- Mar 14, 2005
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That was almost identical to my dad’s second car, even to the colour scheme. His first car was a 1957 Consul which he bought second hand but only kept for about six months.
- Jul 18, 2017
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My Dad's car was Maroon & grey. He traded it in for the Mk3 with the floor gear shift and even then the ones with the floor gearshift were rare.
- Mar 14, 2005
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My dad traded the Zodiac in for a new Cortina GT, but as the dealer mistakenly ordered a two door instead of a four door he didn’t keep that long. He then also moved on to a Mk 3 Zodiac (but with steering column shift). I wrote that off only three weeks after passing my driving test. Thereafter, my dad had a spate of Cortina and Capri GT’s until I started to work at Opel and he changed allegiance to Opel, too, and later Vauxhall after Opel stopped selling in the UK.
- Jul 18, 2017
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I had the Mk2 Cortina and it was a great car,but alwaysand stilldo hanker after a Capri preferably with the V8 engine.
- Mar 14, 2005
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My dad’s second Mk 1 Cortina was a special that he had modified by Ford Motorsport just up the road at their centre in Boreham. It was basically a regular Cortina GT but with chassis modifications of a Lotus Cortina. For example, it had the same fat wheels and tyres as the Lotus.
- Jul 15, 2008
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......my Dad's first car was a Bean.
He was the son of a farmer and the farm had its own 250 gallon underground petrol tank with a wind up delivery pump.
He was the son of a farmer and the farm had its own 250 gallon underground petrol tank with a wind up delivery pump.
I had a Ford Anglia 100E that had vacuum operated wipers that slowed down when throttle opened, due to lack of vacuum.it also only had a 3 speed gear box and side valve engine yet a rust free body,that was in the mid 70's
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