Members' Old Cars - (Not 356 Porsche)

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Cliff Murray
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Location: 30 miles west of Phila. PA

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

#151 Post by Cliff Murray »

Dan Macdonald wrote: Mon Oct 26, 2020 8:40 pm What's up with the disc brakes?
Janis is a modern bike made to look like a 1930 era bike. Very unusual. No oil leaks.
1957 Speedster
1959 Sunroof
1960 Devin D Porsche racer
1963 GS2133 Coupe
1967 911S
2003 575M
Various vintage motorcycles

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

#152 Post by David Jones »

At what age does a car become an old car? My boxster is 23 years young and I had a 94 Subaru SVX which I think of as old. Does the cut off depend on car or personal attitude?
If I had known I would live this long I would have pushed the envelope a little harder.
Cymru am byth
David Jones #9715

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Robert Reed
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Location: Lascassas, TN

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

#153 Post by Robert Reed »

Cliff; I too thought that the Janus was quite unusual. Hence my purpose in posting a picture of it. I had never even heard of Janus prior to seeing that one. I looked it up on the web and found that they make a few different models.
Doesn’t hold a candle to your Velocette...
Bob

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Phil Planck
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Location: NE Michigan, lower penn.

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

#154 Post by Phil Planck »

All gone now.
53 XK 120 DHC 42 yrs
53 Dodge fluid drive with Bosch fog ligjt 14 yrs
53 or so TR2 about 5 yrs
55 356 35 yrs
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Phil Planck

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

#155 Post by Cliff Murray »

Phil, I love it!
1957 Speedster
1959 Sunroof
1960 Devin D Porsche racer
1963 GS2133 Coupe
1967 911S
2003 575M
Various vintage motorcycles

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

#156 Post by Jack Walter »

Cliff Murray wrote: Mon Oct 26, 2020 11:51 am Robert, it is a 1962 Velocette Venom 500 single. They went out of business in 1970. They were a little like Morgan in that they did not advance much after WW2. The shocks do slide to change the effective spring and damper rates without changing ride height. Forward = soft, rearward - stiff.
Cliff - Back in 1978 I came back from a trip to Europe with a suitcase full of parts for a friend of mine's Velocette Venom - new Thruxton seat, Thruxton front brake, muffler, clutch plates and a few other parts.
I paid a visit to L Stevens in London with a long shopping list for Steve's bike. I also had a bunch of hard to get Land Rover parts in the battered old suitcase I picked up in a flea market in London.

When Steve passed away from liver cancer years later I never heard what his wife did with the Velocette. Very cool bikes.

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

#157 Post by Ashley James »

I still have this, but I’ve owned lots of Velocettes from prewar OHC models to Clubmans and Thruxtons, the best were Clubmans, which were surprisingly smooth and powerful. They’d exceed 100mph.

Image

Not a good photo, but this 1960 Venom Clubman was leading the 1967 IOM production TT when the gearchange fell to bits. It was quite a fast bike, but I think a Honda 450 won. I sold it in the seventies, but it went to a good home and is back to original and cherished now. I think a Venom Clubman might have been the first 500cc bike to do 100mph for 24 hours.

Image

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Cliff Murray
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Location: 30 miles west of Phila. PA

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

#158 Post by Cliff Murray »

I love this thread.

Velocettes make the largest oil spills of all the classic British bikes. Did I see that picture on the Velocette FB page?

My Velos are resisting all attempts to repair their shortcomings. They are very simple machines but not easy to "get right". I rebuilt the gearbox on the 1954 MSS which now shifts up well but downshifts allow it to pop out of third. I will get it fixed but this simple machine is not so simple.
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The 1962 Venom decided to develop a split fuel tank while sitting in the garage. Owning an old English motorcycle means that you always have something to do.
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1957 Speedster
1959 Sunroof
1960 Devin D Porsche racer
1963 GS2133 Coupe
1967 911S
2003 575M
Various vintage motorcycles

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

#159 Post by Ashley James »

The MSS in that picture is lovely bike, they went well, we’re really smooth and flexible, but they all stretch the hell out of primary chains and the breather (through the crank if I remember) tends to fill the primary chain case.

Velocette was a tiny, struggling company that invested in the most idiotic products and then introduced the Thruxton which was slower and not as nice to ride as an MSS or Venom. Very sad really because they made some wonderful machines in the early days. Was the ever a more beautiful bike than the KTT MK8.

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Cliff Murray
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Location: 30 miles west of Phila. PA

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

#160 Post by Cliff Murray »

I own a KTT MK8 and it never breaks down. I haven't ridden it in the last 20 years. :wink: The picture above it depicts Stanley Woods winning the 1939 IoM TT on a MK8. I love the history.
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My Venom has a belt primary and electric start.
1957 Speedster
1959 Sunroof
1960 Devin D Porsche racer
1963 GS2133 Coupe
1967 911S
2003 575M
Various vintage motorcycles

Pete Indelicato
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Location: Yountville, CA

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

#161 Post by Pete Indelicato »

Here's my 'old car', I bought it new in 1991 (god, it's 30 years old now), and it has never disappointed me--not a rock climber but will literally go anywhere. Just an example of a different old car.
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1963 T6 couple #212891, motor #*KD*P*730464

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Cliff Murray
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Location: 30 miles west of Phila. PA

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

#162 Post by Cliff Murray »

Pete, we owned 2 of those and my father owned one. Renault designed most of it I think. They were nice to drive. In fact my wife put 150,000 miles on hers. It was a six cylinder with 5 speed manual. I bought a really cheap used one, four cylinder 5 speed that was white with blue vinyl, no air and rubber floor mats. It had very high miles and I think it was a fleet vehicle. That ran great too. My 97 year old father just stopped driving and gave me his 2013 Wrangler 6 speed soft top. The grandkids love it. My father owned 3 new 356s so there seems to be a Jeep/356 connection.
1957 Speedster
1959 Sunroof
1960 Devin D Porsche racer
1963 GS2133 Coupe
1967 911S
2003 575M
Various vintage motorcycles

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Bill Lawless
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Location: Northern Vermont

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

#163 Post by Bill Lawless »

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 Thanks,
Bill
65' 356 SC Cab Irish Green :D
82' SC Targa
81 VW Westfalia with 2015 Forester Engine
BMW 64'-R50/2, 75'-BMW R90/6, 74' BMW R90/6, Yamaha BW350

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

#164 Post by Ken Tuvman »

R69S ? Very nice
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Greg Bryan
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Re: Members' Old Cars - (Not 356 Porsche)

#165 Post by Greg Bryan »

Pete - I bought a brand new 86 Jeep Cherokee - at the time it was the only small 4 door SUV on the market and they were selling like hotcakes. We had 2 small kids and my wife was wheeling them around in a VW beetle, so it was definitely a step up - the first car I ever owned with air conditioning. Unfortunately, in 86, AMC was using the GM 2.6 V6 (absolutely guttless) and Chrysler Torqueflite trans (crude but strong) - in 87 they went with their own straight six with fuel injection and an Aisan-Warner 4-speed auto which are much better powertrain components than the 86 stuff. A coworker of mine who came from AMC said they couldn't get the truck to pass the passenger compartment intrusion crash test with the straight six until they did some redesigning that was done and certified by the 87 model year.
Anyway, it was a terrible car - trans had a problem, engine died with cracked heads, rear diff carrier broke in half, interior plastic started to literally disintegrate. I know they got better, but mine was a lemon.
Greg Bryan

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