Interesting comments.
Perceptions of gutlessness change over the years. 50 years ago I toured France in my heavily-laden 1950 side valve, basically the pre-war Morris Eight engine. I never felt aware of being particularly slow, there were plenty of vehicles cruising at under 50 mph even on Motorways. In those days there were still plenty of early Citroen 2CVs on French roads which the Morris easily left trailing behind on long climbs with its stonking 27 bhp versus the Citroen's 12 bhp !
The world went and got itself in a hurry......
Along with a few other things.........
Not all 'progress' is good progress................
Best wishes,
Mike.
1954 Series 2: 4 door: "Sally" -- Back on the ground with (slave) wheels and waiting to be resprayed......
1970 Triumph Herald 1200: "Hetty" -- Driven back from Llangollen in Wales (twice.....)
Interesting comments.
Perceptions of gutlessness change over the years. 50 years ago I toured France in my heavily-laden 1950 side valve, basically the pre-war Morris Eight engine. I never felt aware of being particularly slow, there were plenty of vehicles cruising at under 50 mph even on Motorways. In those days there were still plenty of early Citroen 2CVs on French roads which the Morris easily left trailing behind on long climbs with its stonking 27 bhp versus the Citroen's 12 bhp !
The world went and got itself in a hurry......
Along with a few other things.........
Not all 'progress' is good progress................
Best wishes,
Mike.
My view is that if it is not good, then it isn't progress! There is always change - but not all of that is desirable or beneficial......
Graham Hill used to drive an A30/35 in saloon car events and they always beat the Moggies due to smaller cross sectional area and lighter weight I think.
"Here is a perfectly magnificent handling automobile, as practical as money in a sound bank, dwarfed by an engine with only a teaspoonful of dig.".
So we're back to a good car (the Morris Minor) let down by an engine that....... how does the saying go again??...... Oh, yes, 'wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding!'..............
They should have gone straight from side valves to a 948 unit, a far better engine, then developed into the 1098 and finally a 1275 option.
Just my opinion of course, for which I will now be shot at dawn....
Best wishes,
Mike.
1954 Series 2: 4 door: "Sally" -- Back on the ground with (slave) wheels and waiting to be resprayed......
1970 Triumph Herald 1200: "Hetty" -- Driven back from Llangollen in Wales (twice.....)
I vaguely remember hearing that BMC Gold Seal exchange reconditioned engines addressed some of the flaws in the originals. Gold Seal engines were reckoned to be better than the originals across the BMC range (theory was that engine reconditioners were more skilled and diligent than the builders of the original engines), but I don't know whether they incorporated actual "improvements" .
The only improvement was the removal of some of the wear and worn parts
So no 'improvement' at all then.....
1954 Series 2: 4 door: "Sally" -- Back on the ground with (slave) wheels and waiting to be resprayed......
1970 Triumph Herald 1200: "Hetty" -- Driven back from Llangollen in Wales (twice.....)
