1970s cars

[pwa]

In the early 70s my mother had a second hand Morris Traveler and when we went to the car wash we had to dab the inside of the windows with rags to mop up the water.

[Audax67]

Our Fiat 500 has automatic air conditioning.
It's set to 22degC for most of the year. You don't touch anything, it just does it all for you.

If you want the heated rear window on, you have to press a button of course.

Chum of ours had a Fiat 500 in the early 70s. On the way up from Edinburgh to Banff a hole appeared in the floor on the passenger's side, and they finished the trip with his wife looking down at the road.

It turned out that the floor had rusted through and before selling it the previous owner had "repaired" it with cardboard and kitchen foil.

[kwackers]

Those problems were almost all down to poor maintenance particularly of the ignition system.

No. They were down to shoddy design and manufacture. You can only argue maintenance if you consider regular replacement of most of the ignition system part of that maintenance.

Ignoring the obvious things. Points that close up, burn, condensers that fail, coils that that fail etc etc.

Remember the HT leads? Bakelite plug caps that screwed onto copper cored wire. The caps offered no water protection and more importantly no protection against condensation for that all important morning start.
A tin of WD40 or equivalent was a prerequisite item in the armoury of your 70's car owner.

Then there was the fact the plastic on the HT leads was crap, it'd harden and crack - allowing moisture in. The cables would flex with engine vibration causing the copper at the plug and/or distributor ends to break. I've no idea how many sets of HT leads I went through but it was a few.
Remember when silicone HT leads first appeared? Expensive but they were a revelation! Plug caps that sealed to the plug, leads that could bend without cracking - they were the first nod towards reliable starting.

Then the points, adding electronic ignition was the next big step. Even with the points in place this got rid of the condenser and the points would last for the life of the car. (Obviously replacing the points with optical sensors was an even bigger move forward.)

Then the plugs. What driver in the 70's didn't own a plug spanner? Taking out the plugs, cleaning them and setting the gap was almost a routine. Gaps would close up on their own and then there was the carbon ball that would mysteriously appear and short out the plug just when you were in a rush. (Fixed of course by better engines that don't try to burn their own oil and better plug technology).

Then there's just shoddy manufacturing. One mini I owned required sealant around the distributor cap because it simply didn't fit the body properly! I had at least two distributor caps crack over the years too.

Newer engines fasten cables in place, almost completely removing vibration fractures. They don't burn oil, have better plugs, electronic ignition, computer controlled fuel mixture. All of which make starting more reliable and nothing at all to do with maintenance - unless swapping entire ignition systems is considered maintenance.

[thirdcrank]

This reminds me of one of the few times I've come close to being stranded by a breakdown. (That's not because I've never had any, most have occurred close to home or have been failures to start first thing.)

In my dear old dad's new MG 1300 ( "G" reg with the "G" on the end ) we set off around tea-time to spend Christmas with the in-laws in Hertfordshire. In those days the M1 started (or ended depending on POV) at Stourton on the Leeds city boundary. I only mention that because it began to snow when we joined the motorway. After perhaps a couple of hours driving in snow, the car began to stutter and with the warning lights (probably only a couple) flickering faintly. Nowhere near home, of course, but approaching a service area.

Pulled in and thought about it for a bit and did a bit of light worrying. Experienced drivers will know what's coming next. After a while fretting, I thought I'd have a go at starting and Bingo! bright as a button. The snow had also eased and journey completed without any further problem. For anybody wondering about this, the electrical bits as described by kwackers had been drenched and when we stopped, the heat in the engine compartment had dried them out. In later models, there was a sort of plastic apron to protect things from the worst of the wet.

[pete75]

Those problems were almost all down to poor maintenance particularly of the ignition system.

No. They were down to shoddy design and manufacture. You can only argue maintenance if you consider regular replacement of most of the ignition system part of that maintenance.

Ignoring the obvious things. Points that close up, burn, condensers that fail, coils that that fail etc etc.

Remember the HT leads? Bakelite plug caps that screwed onto copper cored wire. The caps offered no water protection and more importantly no protection against condensation for that all important morning start.
A tin of WD40 or equivalent was a prerequisite item in the armoury of your 70's car owner.

Then there was the fact the plastic on the HT leads was crap, it'd harden and crack - allowing moisture in. The cables would flex with engine vibration causing the copper at the plug and/or distributor ends to break. I've no idea how many sets of HT leads I went through but it was a few.
Remember when silicone HT leads first appeared? Expensive but they were a revelation! Plug caps that sealed to the plug, leads that could bend without cracking - they were the first nod towards reliable starting.

Then the points, adding electronic ignition was the next big step. Even with the points in place this got rid of the condenser and the points would last for the life of the car. (Obviously replacing the points with optical sensors was an even bigger move forward.)

Then the plugs. What driver in the 70's didn't own a plug spanner? Taking out the plugs, cleaning them and setting the gap was almost a routine. Gaps would close up on their own and then there was the carbon ball that would mysteriously appear and short out the plug just when you were in a rush. (Fixed of course by better engines that don't try to burn their own oil and better plug technology).

Then there's just shoddy manufacturing. One mini I owned required sealant around the distributor cap because it simply didn't fit the body properly! I had at least two distributor caps crack over the years too.

Newer engines fasten cables in place, almost completely removing vibration fractures. They don't burn oil, have better plugs, electronic ignition, computer controlled fuel mixture. All of which make starting more reliable and nothing at all to do with maintenance - unless swapping entire ignition systems is considered maintenance.

You just didn't seem to have much luck with your vehicles did you?

[kwackers]

You just didn't seem to have much luck with your vehicles did you?

Err - what's luck got to do with it?
I had lots of them and none of them were new, plus I had lots of friends who were mechanics.

[bikepacker]

This is my wife Pauline's car:

It is a 1955 Austin A50. Yes it has column change and front bench seat.

[fausto copy]

That's a corker Alan. Lucky her.
Is it true that they designed those front bench seats so that you didn't have to hop in the back for a cuddle

[al_yrpal]

That A50 is similar to the old Westminster. Three years ago at the Goodwood Revival someone rolled one at the chicane. Overnight they put it right and it was racing again the next day.

Al

[Mick F]

You just didn't seem to have much luck with your vehicles did you?

That, in a nutshell is the issue methinks.

I can agree with the design issue, but it worked ok. Not well, but ok. I never broke down in the 70s except twice:

First was when the brushes had worn out in the dynamo. Mini Van driving down to Portsmouth. I noticed the lights dimmer, and the wipers slower. Eventually, the battery was flat. Luckily, I was towed the rest of the journey by a friend who spotted me on the side of the road. I'd made it as far as Winchester all the way from Lancashire.

Second, I was in my Herald on the M5 near Gloucester. All of a sudden, the heater went cold and the engine slowed down. I pulled over onto the hard shoulder and the engine was seized solid. I called the AA and the chap said that a core plug had come out on the cylinder block and I'd lost all my water. He found the plug on the RH wishbone! He smacked it back in, filled me with water, and started my car. I completed the rest of the journey without issue, and the car carried on for a few years until the rusty chassis became un-pachable, so it was scrapped.

[Mick F]

This is my wife Pauline's car:

It's a WIGAN car!

JP and EK were Wigan registrations.

[BigFoz]

My first car was a 1975 Mk1 Escort 1600GT (South Africa only model as the GT was a 1300 here). Was so rusty, in spite of living in the dry Jo'burg area all its life that the suspension "floated" in the chassis. Made it very lively over expansion joints, especially when on a bend - driven too quickly it would change lanes, whether you wanted to or not. Sold it quite quickly to a friend who wanted a car to race. He spent a fortune on it, then rolled it on his first practice session at Kyalami. I replaced it with a Laverda Mirage bike.

[bikepacker]

I replaced it with a Laverda Mirage bike.

I had a Laverda Jota, beast of a bike and real handful to ride.

[bigjim]

This is my wife Pauline's car:

It is a 1955 Austin A50. Yes it has column change and front bench seat.

I had one of those in the 60s. Paid £20 for it. Wrote it off when I crashed into a roadworks at 5am in the morning. Thought it was a lovely smooth car. 4 speed column change and leather seats. Babe magnet.

[reohn2]

This is my wife Pauline's car:

It is a 1955 Austin A50. Yes it has column change and front bench seat.

I had one of those in the 60s. Paid £20 for it. Wrote it off when I crashed into a roadworks at 5am in the morning. Thought it was a lovely smooth car. 4 speed column change and leather seats. Babe magnet.

Babe magnet you say?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
This(exactly like the one I had)was a babe magnet :-