Little boring boxes with wheels

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Originally Posted by Tins

Speaking of sane, I still peruse mp looking at Ovlov, Benz or Jag candidates for a Barra swap. I was even looking at a Chrysler Royal. I'll never do it, but I can imagine the look on the faces of SS owners.

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There is so many nice old cars I see come up you could do this with. particularly old Jags ... they often look really tidy with nice interiors .... for so little money! The pommy cars just seem so unloved. There is often old Mercedes with that amazing seemingly indestructible interior for sale really cheap too.

There is so many cars out there you can have some fun with for not a huge amount of $$$$ if you don't go for the popular makes :) What about a Humber super snipe? there has been one of them for sale near me for a while now.

I've seen a couple of Humbers on mp as well. They haven't become the target for the restorer mob yet. I love the idea of a Jag, because a Barra is almost a modern interpretation of the good ole twin cam, similar size and displacement, but way more powerful and reliable. Parts are easy as well. An old XJ or MKII with a Barra and a six speed would be awesome.
I like the idea of the Ovlov or Benz because they strongly built. But the other options are plentiful. Wolseley, Vauxhall etc. Even an old Falcon Ute.

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Originally Posted by Fattima

Yep, Yellow. I had a Twin Cam Escort years ago and that was a fun thing, well out of my budget now.

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Too many years ago I eyed-off these Dolomites as an upgrade from my little screamer BRG IMP GT.

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Originally Posted by Tins

One of the best handling cars ever. In my experience only the Alfasud Sprint could equal it. Of course, modern tech has gone past them but there's no fun in that.
Gorgeous car sir.

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Thank you.. it's been quite the journey.

On the club run yesterday with all the modern ones.. It's still alarmingly quick. It's small size means I can pick quite different lines to all the modern cars. The road is much bigger for me!

The modern ones can certainly go faster but whats the point?

https://youtu.be/DQTyd18vmqU'si=tuP5Onhg_6ERDBXI

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Originally Posted by Tins

I've seen a couple of Humbers on mp as well. They haven't become the target for the restorer mob yet. I love the idea of a Jag, because a Barra is almost a modern interpretation of the good ole twin cam, similar size and displacement, but way more powerful and reliable. Parts are easy as well. An old XJ or MKII with a Barra and a six speed would be awesome.
I like the idea of the Ovlov or Benz because they strongly built. But the other options are plentiful. Wolseley, Vauxhall etc. Even an old Falcon Ute.

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Why go to all the hassle of a transplant for a Volvo, when modifications can extract 1,000 hp from the Volvo red block?

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Originally Posted by V8Ian

Why go to all the hassle of a transplant for a Volvo, when modifications can extract 1,000 hp from the Volvo red block?

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Barras can do that with very few modifications, produce way more torque which is better than just HP. And they are easy to find. A green top hardly needs anything more than a turbo and oil pump. Much easier, and there are shops everywhere that do them.
and why would I put a 4cyl where a 6 used to be, which would be the case in nearly every car mentioned.

Volvo? Most were four pot. That is a very reliable and understressed foundation.

Years ago my son had a 264 volvo sedan, we've all seen them blue paint nearly all faded and gone, it was his first car body was sound but that PRV (Peugeot, Renault, Volvo) alloy V6 was a time bomb and eventually dies so we stuffed a 4 cylinder from a 244 in it and it was much more reliable. Somewhere around our location in Hornsby , Sydney at the time there was another 264 that looked very similar but had been repaowered with a V8 complete with blower and heavens knows what else as I never got to look at it up close but that thing went and the torque steer would nearly lift the fron wheels off the deck when it launched.

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Originally Posted by oka374

Years ago my son had a 264 volvo sedan, we've all seen them blue paint nearly all faded and gone, it was his first car body was sound but that PRV (Peugeot, Renault, Volvo) alloy V6 was a time bomb and eventually dies so we stuffed a 4 cylinder from a 244 in it and it was much more reliable. Somewhere around our location in Hornsby , Sydney at the time there was another 264 that looked very similar but had been repaowered with a V8 complete with blower and heavens knows what else as I never got to look at it up close but that thing went and the torque steer would nearly lift the fron wheels off the deck when it launched.

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when I was a kid, my uncle had a baby poo brown 244 volvo. its motor died, so he fitted an all alloy 3.5 rover v8 into it. The main thing I remember is the sound of it .... my cousin reckoned it near did wheel stands until he blew up the 4cylinder auto and diff and re-geared it for the V8.

I've noticed on the amercian youtube car channels .... the sort of nutter that like old junk like me, they often talk about "importing that austrailan 6cylinder barra motor". So that thing is legendary around the world! In the land of readily available, basically worthless small block V8s (america) I dont' see why they would bother with the 6 banger though.

seeya
Shane L.

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Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

Thank you.. it's been quite the journey.

On the club run yesterday with all the modern ones.. It's still alarmingly quick. It's small size means I can pick quite different lines to all the modern cars. The road is much bigger for me!

The modern ones can certainly go faster but whats the point?

https://youtu.be/DQTyd18vmqU'si=tuP5Onhg_6ERDBXI

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The only reason I've never looked into these sorts of cars (like the lotus etc) ... is they are expensive for a toy :) For a crazy/stupid fun car I would have looked at something like a Renault 8 fitted with a Renault 16ts motor ... You can build this sort of car for very little money in the past. (the Renault Alpine A110 etc motors are based on the 16TS motor). So you end up with an insane rear engined, swing axle.... tail happy terror. Well its the stark opposite of the lotus, but gee's the fun you will have.


About 10years ago my wife took me on one of those drive days. I got to drive a little modern lotus, a V8 manual gearbox ferrari, and an AWD paddle shift Lamborghini ....

The lamdo was no doubt the vastly superior car. I didn't like it at all. stupid flappy paddle gearbox, so extraordinarily competent I couldn't imagine being able to push it ... "boring not fun to drive" was my feeling. The little lotus was fabulous... absolutely loved it ... So light and nimble .... Until I drove that ferrari.... Oh man. I couldn't care how crap it was as a car. The gearbox.... the motor ... the sounds .... That V8 howling out to its redline behind your ear. I'd do right hand turns out of round-a-bout with the go pedal nailed to the floor, the tail squirming under power ... the sound ... How could you ever own one of these and keep your license for more than 5 minutes. What a machine, something you want to drive just for the experience, you don't even have to really be going fast.

seeya
Shane L.