Members' Old Cars - (Not 356 Porsche)

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C J Murray
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Re: Members' Old Cars - (Not 356 Porsche)

#46 Post by C J Murray »

Nice looking Mustang!

The America theme continues wit 2 Z06 Corvettes, one street car and one SCCA T-1 National race car. Both car were extremely competent at their specific purposes. Gone but not forgotten.
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'57 Speedster
'59 Sunroof
'60 Devin D Porsche Race Car
'63 Cabriolet "Norm"
'67 911 S Original Owner
'03 Ferrari 575M
'09 Smart Passion

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Jim Alton
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Re: Members' Old Cars - (Not 356 Porsche)

#47 Post by Jim Alton »

C J Murray wrote:I took my PA driving license test in my "mother's" 1967 LR 88 in 1968. It was blue with a white top and had a 4cyl gasoline engine. First and second had no synchros so you double clutched a lot. My father got the bright idea that we were going to take a family vacation in it camping our way to Alaska and back from PA! He bought the LR new from George Alderman's in New Castle DE who also sold Lotus and Datsun. My poor 100lb mother had to use the thing as her daily transportation.

So after my father bought out every possible device from the local camping store he, my mother, and I set out on a dry run camping test session about 10 miles from our home. My mother was a girly girl but with a strong will. She usually went along with my father but only to a point and the test camping was the trigger. We managed to pitch the tent right on a wildlife path/trail. All night long animals would be cruising along on their local "road" and suddenly they encountered a TENT at which point they would cry out in shocked disbelief! The pheasants and raccoons and possums and deer had my mother jumping out of her skin! The Great Alaska Expedition was cancelled!

That Alaska trip would have taken a really long time since the LR was really slow. My father and I drove it to New Brunswick Canada for a deer hunting trip and that 4cyl was thrashing hard as cars wizzed by on the highway. It redeemed itself though when we drove the last 30 miles into the wilderness in a blizzard.

The abuse I put that 88 through was criminal. I drifted it around corners, did burnouts, and did jumps with it. My father didn't understand why the axle and transfer case broke.

My first mechanic job was at an authorized Rover/Land Rover service center but those stories would wear out my fingers to type.
Burnouts in a Series IIa? How does that happen? Glare ice maybe? My Series III could accelerate at about 3 g, but only for a tenth of a wheel revolution--then the engine was at redline in low 1st. Come to think of it, I made two top speed runs (got to 66 mph) and the first attempt was in Quebec.

I had that Land Rover for 11 years and after parting with it I needed a "hobby car" so I got this:
Pumpkin 20Nov99_Provia100_25.jpg
After many years, it became this:
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I went to swap meets looking for things the bus needed and found this:
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Eventually, I got my 356A.
 
Jim Alton
Los Angeles County, CA
1958 Porsche 356A Cabriolet
1965 Porsche 911 Coupé
1966 Volkswagen Type 2
2003 Porsche 986 Boxster

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TomDoherty
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Re: Members' Old Cars - (Not 356 Porsche)

#48 Post by TomDoherty »

This is my '65 Mustang that is now in Norway - they love early American muscle over there!
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C J Murray
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Re: Members' Old Cars - (Not 356 Porsche)

#49 Post by C J Murray »

Jim Alton wrote:Burnouts in a Series IIa? How does that happen?
Sixteen year olds are very abusive. I wouldn't call them "smokey burnouts" but I did get a little screeching noise. Maybe I used 2nd gear? I am sure I revved the piss out of it and the flywheel was heavy. My memory isn't that good but all the cool kids were doing burnouts in mom's car and I didn't want to miss out. I also used to drift it around corners. The low CG design for traversing mountains was helpful said the brochure but this also allowed drifting which I enjoyed until I scared the crap out of myself drifting with about 6 passengers. Being on 2 wheels was not what I expected but we all survived my stupidity. No crash. No more drifting the LR.
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Jack Walter
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Re: Members' Old Cars - (Not 356 Porsche)

#50 Post by Jack Walter »

My first Land Rover would do a 4-wheel burnout - you had to have it in 4WD to keep from breaking the notoriously weak axles.
I drag raced another Land Rover down Peachtree Street one time - after literally smoking him he pulled up next to me at the next light and asked what the hell I had under the hood..

Small block Ford V-8... 289 cubic inches will make even an old 1961 Land Rover fast(er)
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Jim Alton
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Re: Members' Old Cars - (Not 356 Porsche)

#51 Post by Jim Alton »

C J Murray wrote:
Jim Alton wrote:Burnouts in a Series IIa? How does that happen?
Sixteen year olds are very abusive. I wouldn't call them "smokey burnouts" but I did get a little screeching noise. Maybe I used 2nd gear? I am sure I revved the piss out of it and the flywheel was heavy. My memory isn't that good but all the cool kids were doing burnouts in mom's car and I didn't want to miss out. I also used to drift it around corners. The low CG design for traversing mountains was helpful said the brochure but this also allowed drifting which I enjoyed until I scared the crap out of myself drifting with about 6 passengers. Being on 2 wheels was not what I expected but we all survived my stupidity. No crash. No more drifting the LR.
I had a cousin (who also attempted the Pennsylvania driver's test in the Land Rover) who later tried power shifting it. The result wasn't anything one could call acceleration. I think my microbus can easily out-drag a Series Land Rover. At least the rear axles didn't snap.

The Series III was really good at running down the narrow back roads of Western PA. They're probably similar to English country lanes.
 
Jim Alton
Los Angeles County, CA
1958 Porsche 356A Cabriolet
1965 Porsche 911 Coupé
1966 Volkswagen Type 2
2003 Porsche 986 Boxster

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Jim Alton
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Re: Members' Old Cars - (Not 356 Porsche)

#52 Post by Jim Alton »

I think "A Guide to Land Rover Expeditions" claimed the weak rear axles were a "feature."

The idea was that the axles were easy to replace (except for fishing out the inner end of the one that broke) so they'd protect other driveline components. It wasn't a huge problem with an 85 hp four--a 289 might be another matter.
a_guide_to_land-rover_expeditions-1.jpg
I had one, maybe two copies when I had the Series III but I haven't re-read it carefully.
 
Jim Alton
Los Angeles County, CA
1958 Porsche 356A Cabriolet
1965 Porsche 911 Coupé
1966 Volkswagen Type 2
2003 Porsche 986 Boxster

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Jack Walter
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Re: Members' Old Cars - (Not 356 Porsche)

#53 Post by Jack Walter »

I've owned two other German rear engine air cooled 4 cylinder cars that weren't Volkswagen products too. A pair of NSU 1200c's
People tell me I've had a bunch of weird cars... they're right - a VW Thing and a 57 Caddy were also sharing space in the driveway with a 66 Chevy campervan
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Adam Wright
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Re: Members' Old Cars - (Not 356 Porsche)

#54 Post by Adam Wright »

Jack Walter wrote:My first Land Rover would do a 4-wheel burnout - you had to have it in 4WD to keep from breaking the notoriously weak axles.
I drag raced another Land Rover down Peachtree Street one time - after literally smoking him he pulled up next to me at the next light and asked what the hell I had under the hood..

Small block Ford V-8... 289 cubic inches will make even an old 1961 Land Rover fast(er)
Since we're talking about taking on Atlanta in big 4WD vehicles. I hit a guy head on one time on Ponce in my Scout. It totaled his car, it pushed the corner of my bumper, the ATL cop said, "That thing is a leviathan!"

And yes, those are leather pants, it was the 90's, don't judge me!
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Re: Members' Old Cars - (Not 356 Porsche)

#55 Post by Ashley James »

This was me in the seventies.

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C J Murray
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Re: Members' Old Cars - (Not 356 Porsche)

#56 Post by C J Murray »

Ashley, Ashley James! Shaken, not stirred.
'57 Speedster
'59 Sunroof
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Gordon White
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Re: Members' Old Cars - (Not 356 Porsche)

#57 Post by Gordon White »

1929 Roadster pick up I owned since 1960.
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Ashley James
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Re: Members' Old Cars - (Not 356 Porsche)

#58 Post by Ashley James »

C J Murray wrote:Ashley, Ashley James! Shaken, not stirred.
The Rolls was to help me cope with ever slowing traffic. :wink:

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Trevor Gates
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Re: Members' Old Cars - (Not 356 Porsche)

#59 Post by Trevor Gates »

1967 Cadillac Coup deVille convertible with the original 429 engine I rebuilt myself.
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Martin Bruechle
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Re: Members' Old Cars - (Not 356 Porsche)

#60 Post by Martin Bruechle »

This is my 66 Westfalia. Graduated HS in 78. Got this bus in 79. Was working at a VW shop for 3 years. The owner and other guys had some class 1 and 10 off road cars. They raced Baja 500, Mint 400 Vegas, and other places. I worked in the pits. They converted a old swing axle race car to IRS, figured why not convert my bus.

Ended up chopping the whole frame in front of the torsion then spliced in a 69 IRS rear end. The new frame was about 1" wider per side, had to box them in. Them put a 69 bus balljoint front end. Put 76 Bus brakes F&R front disk, no power assist. Had 15" rims made with the stock centers. Bilstien shock.

Motor was a 1775 ? thick walled 90mm NPR P&L Engle 110 cam, full flow steel braided to a dual filter set up, dual Kadrons carbs, doghouse cooler. That thing ran good 5 years. Had Safari windows (hard to find back then, no repops yet). My buddy and I made roll/crash cages inside, one on his 67 crewcut and my westy. Drilled out the overhead air box and had VDO oil temp, volts, tach, oil pressure gauges. 2 spares, one behind the seat, one on front.

4th gear up long grades, lots of ski trips to Mammoth, 30+ surf trips to Baja, many more in So Cal
Sold it in the late 80's. Catching air in this old pic.
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