Dad's first car

[toad a caravan]

1952 Reliant regal,, aluminium body 750cc side valve engine similar to Austin 7.

 

[otherclive]

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.

 

[RogerL]

1952 Reliant regal,, aluminium body 750cc side valve engine similar to Austin 7.
View attachment 8341

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

 

[toad a caravan]

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

 

[RogerL]

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.

 

[toad a caravan]

I didn't realize that they still used pushrods in those

 

[RogerL]

I didn't realize that they still used pushrods in those

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

 

[Buckman]

My first car was the 1959 Mk2 Zephyr similar to this Zodiac which was my father's car and whichhe bought brand new!

 

[otherclive]

My first car was the 1959 Mk2 Zephyr similar to this Zodiac which was my father's car and whichhe bought brand new!View attachment 8346

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.

 

[Buckman]

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.

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.

 

[borderbilly]

1952 Reliant regal,, aluminium body 750cc side valve engine similar to Austin 7.
View attachment 8341

Is that on top of a double decker bus 🚌 🤔

 

[Lutz]

My first car was the 1959 Mk2 Zephyr similar to this Zodiac which was my father's car and whichhe bought brand new!View attachment 8346

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.

 

[Buckman]

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.

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.

 

[Lutz]

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.

 

[Buckman]

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.

I had the Mk2 Cortina and it was a great car,but alwaysand stilldo hanker after a Capri preferably with the V8 engine.

 

[Lutz]

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.

 

[Gafferbill]

......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.

 

[toad a caravan]

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

 

[Buckman]

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

Remember them well. Side valve engine with carb over manifold which did not work well in the heat in Africa.

If I remember correctly the VW beetle windscreen wipers worked off the pressure from the spare wheel under the bonnet?

 

[toad a caravan]

Pity they never had a four speed box,,I used to spend an hour or so once a month with a grease gun,lubricating the multitude of grease points from door hinges to steering gear

 

[Beachball]

I had a Renault 4 i think it had 4 gears , stick shift on dash but it was very economical