Eight go rallying

[PrincessB]

It's an easy to look up TV show which involves four pairs of celebrity types who have to drive from Thailand to Vietnam in pre 1972 cars.

The cars appear to have been chosen for them and include an MG 1800 (Noel Edmunds) a Mini, a Morris Minor 1000cc and a Hillman Imp.

Without wishing to spoil the fun, two of the (fully rally specced cars) didn't make it out of Thailand. I won't comment on the driving skills of some of the contestants, but hills seemed a bit problematic for some.

The question I found myself asking as I watched them not being able to drive very well and breaking cars was...

If you had to do this kind of challenge, and were limited to British or European cars, what would you choose assuming the car is in as good a state as it can be given the age at start of challenge.

My entry is an Austin Maxi 1500 with the suspension pumped up to give the greatest ride height.

What would you choose?

B.

[johnhemming]

Am I allowed a Landrover?

[tea42]

A well sorted Staaaaag… Massive boot and rear seat storage, acompanying vee 8 burble, lovely soft suspension. A great Grand Tourer, done loads in Europe in mine. Alternatively my current VW Air Cooled T25 Camper

[bungeejumper]

I'm assuming that potholes, some river wading and deep ruts are part of the exercise? If so, a Landy would be the obvious choice. Mind you (don't laugh), they could do some quite interesting things with 1970s Skodas.

BJ

[ten0rman]

Having owned two 1750 Maxis for a total of 13 years, I can confirm that they are (were) very good in all sorts of awkward situations. I understand the 1500 engine was scrapped because it wasn't powerful enough. Next best would be the Minor 1000. I learned to drive on one of these and have taken them over some pretty rough ground. I wouldn't use a Mini, having spent 18 months driving one in a rural area - they are too low to the ground.

A few weeks ago, I saw a program about celebrities going caravanning. Frankly, it wasn't even funny, the so-called celebrities hadn't much of a clue at all, especially at one site which I know very well having spent quite a few holidays there. I therefore rather suspect that these celebrities will have been chosen for their cluelessness rather than their skill! And as such, I wouldn't even bother watching it.

ten0rman

[UncleIan]

If they're rally specced then I'm assuming some off road action. I'd be tempted by all sorts of things, but that old...hmmm...I would probably plump for something air cooled for simplicity, so that's a 2CV or a Beetle I guess. I'd definitely want the brakes improved though. The advantage of the 2CV would be when you pranged it you could just pull the bodywork back out by hand more or less, as if memory serves it was a bit like stiffened cardboard.

[redsturgeon]

A Ford Transit for me.

John

[bungeejumper]

The advantage of the 2CV would be when you pranged it you could just pull the bodywork back out by hand more or less, as if memory serves it was a bit like stiffened cardboard.

Hmmm, you're not thinking of the Trabant, are you? That really was made of resin and cardboard. But the 2CV did have a nice line in hammer-bashable bodywork, which was something of a blessing considering how the rear wheel 'haunches' stuck out.

It was one of the last cars to be built on a steel-girder chassis - no crumple zones! Which meant that if you hit anything you got the full impact right going through your body. Still, it would definitely have to be a contender if the test involved carrying eggs across a ploughed field.

BJ

[redsturgeon]

The advantage of the 2CV would be when you pranged it you could just pull the bodywork back out by hand more or less, as if memory serves it was a bit like stiffened cardboard.

Hmmm, you're not thinking of the Trabant, are you? That really was made of resin and cardboard. But the 2CV did have a nice line in hammer-bashable bodywork, which was something of a blessing considering how the rear wheel 'haunches' stuck out.

It was one of the last cars to be built on a steel-girder chassis - no crumple zones! Which meant that if you hit anything you got the full impact right going through your body. Still, it would definitely have to be a contender if the test involved carrying eggs across a ploughed field.

BJ

Many years ago a friend of a friend's wife was killed in her 2CV, the fire crew who attended the accident said she probably would have survived had she been driving pretty much any other car.

John

[UncleIan]

The advantage of the 2CV would be when you pranged it you could just pull the bodywork back out by hand more or less, as if memory serves it was a bit like stiffened cardboard.

Hmmm, you're not thinking of the Trabant, are you? That really was made of resin and cardboard. But the 2CV did have a nice line in hammer-bashable bodywork, which was something of a blessing considering how the rear wheel 'haunches' stuck out.

What you said is what I meant, having reversed into a wall and pulled the rear corner and bumper back into shape more or less by hand before going on my way, the metal used didn't seem, shall we say, the most robust.

It was one of the last cars to be built on a steel-girder chassis - no crumple zones! Which meant that if you hit anything you got the full impact right going through your body. Still, it would definitely have to be a contender if the test involved carrying eggs across a ploughed field.

And the bale of hay, don't forget the bale of hay.

[PrincessB]

Having owned two 1750 Maxis for a total of 13 years, I can confirm that they are (were) very good in all sorts of awkward situations. I understand the 1500 engine was scrapped because it wasn't powerful enough.

The Maxi had a 'Glass gearbox' coupled to a pretty robust engine, so less power in this instance is a good call.

Has anyone watched the show yet? I personally think a rally program set in Asia with eight contestants with only six able to drive can drive is scraping some kind of barrel.

I'll bow into second place as the suggestions of the Transit, Landy and Lada are great suggestions.

B.

[ten0rman]

The Maxi had a 'Glass gearbox' coupled to a pretty robust engine, so less power in this instance is a good call.

In fact, the actual gearbox was ok if a bit clunky. What was not ok, on the earlier Maxis was the cable system for operating the box. Once that was replaced, the next problem was a very cheap rubber bush somewhere on the mechanical linkage. I remember changing it on one of mine, being surprised at the result, and mentioning it to my tame mechanic who confirmed what I said. Said bush cost pennies!

There was, of course, the clutch problem caused by oil seeping through the worn primary drive gear seal onto the clutch. For me, it was par for the seal and clutch to last about 18 months, and then cost £15 for replacement parts plus, once I got used to it, about 2 hours of my time. A replacement primary drive gear, which would have solved the problem for about 4 or 5 years cost about £100, so for me, it wasn't worth doing.

But none of the above is anything to do with the actual gearbox.

I towed a caravan with my Maxis. In some rough places at that which required a lot of careful control to get out of without wheelspin. In snow & ice, it was next best thing to a 4x4, indeed I have driven out of Bradford without any problems when other vehicles, including FWD, just weren't moving. I've taken one through 6 in of snow, and up/down an icy hill with no problems - and on standard tyres at that. The only time that I can recall of my Maxis letting me down was when an alternator failed resulting in a flat battery. Whilst there were other problems, they did not cause the vehicle to come to a halt.

Actually, I do remember a time when one of them came to a halt. It was down a back lane, the snow had built up under the sump, and the front wheels were just about touching the ground.

Regards,

ten0rman

[PinkDalek]

Has anyone watched the show yet?

No but wasn't the Ford Cortina the best selling UK car of the early seventies and thus not chosen in favour of the Mini and the Imp to boost the likelihood of breakdown.

Maxi a good call, with plenty of space inside for a short double mattress and to collect those who fell by the wayside.

[Lootman]

The cars appear to have been chosen for them and include an MG 1800 (Noel Edmunds) a Mini, a Morris Minor 1000cc and a Hillman Imp.

My entry is an Austin Maxi 1500 with the suspension pumped up to give the greatest ride height. What would you choose?

I can honestly declare that I had totally forgotten about the Austin Maxi. Despite the fact that my Uni girlfriend's father had one, which I believe was the target demographic for that vehicle.

I suppose the pre-1972 requirement rules out other horror-show BMC/Leyland cars like the Marina (my mother-in-law had one) and the Allegro (nobody I knew had one).

I'd offer a mark one Triumph 2000. Had two of them and they never went wrong, unlike my ill-fated later 2500 PI.

Or if it helps to have a car built like a tank, a Rover 110.

I quite liked my Humber Sceptre from that vintage as well.

My favourite car was a 1953 MG Magnette ZB but that would have broken down before Dover.

[bungeejumper]

I suppose the pre-1972 requirement rules out other horror-show BMC/Leyland cars like the Marina (my mother-in-law had one) and the Allegro (nobody I knew had one).

Aaargh, stop it, stop it, it hurts.....

I used to teach the kids whose fathers worked at the Longbridge factory where they made those cars. Brum was full of them, because British Leyland workers could buy them at a 33% discount. Which was how I came to be driving a Marina home from a party after a mate got too drunk to be behind the wheel. Oh god, never again.

"Wounded whale" would be an understatement for the way the Marina handled. Every single thing about it was wrong - the weight distribution, the steering, the suspension, and of course the rear wheel drive. I remember hanging on grimly to the wheel around suburban corners at 15 mph, wondering whether I'd hit the parked cars or whether the car would turn over first? And when I recalled that this company had already produced the Maxi, the Mini and the Austin 1800, all of them pretty good, it brought tears to my eyes to think that they'd created such a monster.

Aaah, the Allegro. The perfect answer to a question that nobody was asking. Who but BL would have thought it a good idea to fit a square steering wheel? One of my neighbours had one - he jacked it up one day to change a wheel, and the rear window popped right out of the body shell. I wouldn't have reckoned its chances on a Vietnamese back-road.

BJ

[UncleIan]

I suppose the pre-1972 requirement rules out other horror-show BMC/Leyland cars like the Marina (my mother-in-law had one)

Oh no. That reminds me. My dad had a Marina Van. Awful. He used to get us kids to sit on the wheel arches in the back*, not sure it that was for handling reasons, or just so that when we went over a big bump or pothole we could re-shut the back door when it popped open. And I have vague memories that near the end it was drinking a good pint of water every 5 miles or so, and needed topping up, sorry, refilling, with the cheapest oil nearly every week.

* Acceptable in the 80s.

[redsturgeon]

I lived a couple of miles up the road from Longbridge while at Brum Uni, my landlord who lived next door drove a brand new beige Allegro (he worked at Longbridge. Many cold winter mornings I used to have to give him a jump start from my ancient Morris Minor.

John

[kiloran]

I suppose the pre-1972 requirement rules out other horror-show BMC/Leyland cars like the Marina (my mother-in-law had one) and the Allegro (nobody I knew had one).

Aaargh, stop it, stop it, it hurts.....

BJ

[embarrassed mode]
I had a 1.8 Marina from 1975-1980 and I quite liked it. It did get quite rusty by the time I sold it, in exchange for a Renault 15
[/embarrassed mode]

--kiloran

[Watis]

I suppose the pre-1972 requirement rules out other horror-show BMC/Leyland cars like the Marina (my mother-in-law had one) and the Allegro (nobody I knew had one).

Aaargh, stop it, stop it, it hurts.....

BJ

[embarrassed mode]
I had a 1.8 Marina from 1975-1980 and I quite liked it. It did get quite rusty by the time I sold it, in exchange for a Renault 15
[/embarrassed mode]

--kiloran

The car I most regret not buying was a Marina.

I can explain . . . the car in question had a potentially valuable number plate. But I didn't have the courage to take the chance at that time.

Watis

[bungeejumper]

[embarrassed mode]
I had a 1.8 Marina from 1975-1980 and I quite liked it. It did get quite rusty by the time I sold it, in exchange for a Renault 15
[/embarrassed mode]

Oh well, at least it had the right engine, which I think was the twin carb from the MG that's in the programme. Most Marinas had just the 1.3 lump, which developed a mighty 60 bhp on a good day. Unless it had the 1.3 MG engine, which had 65!

An' a coupe body style too. And stick-on plastic leather on the roof. (Which the monkeys in the safari parks would quickly learn how to remove.) And go-faster stripes. And the highly fashionable mustard yellow paintwork, or maybe the exclusive puke green. Phwoooar, you could pull the birds in one of those. Crows, pigeons and seagulls would practically line up for a bit of target practice.

BJ