Thread: Beautiful cars.

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

.......
Strangely enough, my 1963 aussie built "D" has (aussie made) seatbelts fitted front and rear with the manufacture date of 1962. I can only assume the aussie assembled cars either fitted belts from new, or they were a dealer fitted option. I would have htought seatbelts would be unheard of in 1963.

seeya,
Shane L.

Dealer I suspect. But seatbelts were certainly not unheard of - I fitted seatbelts in my VW in 1962, and the 1956 Series 1 I replaced it with in 1963 had been fitted with them from new by the fleetowner (SMHEA), as had the Series 2 I replaced that with in 1964. However, when my brother bought the family's first ID wagon in 1965, he had to fit them himself, as I did when I traded the Series 2 for a S/H 1961 2A in 1966.

John

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Dealer I suspect. But seatbelts were certainly not unheard of - I fitted seatbelts in my VW in 1962, and the 1956 Series 1 I replaced it with in 1963 had been fitted with them from new by the fleetowner (SMHEA), as had the Series 2 I replaced that with in 1964. However, when my brother bought the family's first ID wagon in 1965, he had to fit them himself, as I did when I traded the Series 2 for a S/H 1961 2A in 1966.

John

Readily available from most good parts shops then. I was fitting lap/sash belts to my road cars from about 1962-63. I had been A over T a few times both on the road and at motorkhanas and speedway so saw the need for them.

Radial tyres were a hard sell. Until the early sixties the only ones available were Michelin X which had an appalling reputation in the country for sidewall damage. "Soft walls" or "saggy walls" the customers would say. Good reason too. The unsealed roads of country Australia with sharp rocks cut these tyre's sidewalls to ribbons. Country dealers then would order cars with 6 & 8 ply tyres as a matter of course. GM-H offered a full range of radial tyre brands with the HK and later models as factory options.

Brian, you should be lauding the Volvos, they're often referred to as Sweedish Valiants.

Mercedes 220S Ponton 1957

Originally Posted by V8Ian

Brian, you should be lauding the Volvos, they're often referred to as Sweedish Valiants.

Good cars, Valiants. Major problem with the later models was rust. I once managed a fleet with 70 VC Valiants as rep's and manager's cars, Valiants for the reps and Regals for the managers. These were the most nearly maintenance free fleet cars I ever had to run. Hardly anything ever went wrong with them and overall cost per mile was less than other makes in spite of higher purchase price and using a bit more fuel. Good resale value too in those days when Valiants were perceived as an up market car over Holdens and Fords. The reps loved them. They thought of themselves as superior to others who had lesser company cars. This is important from the fleet manager's point of view. Happy drivers don't go out of their way to wear out or damage cars they like.

I bought my daughter a Volvo 144 when she got her learners. Very reliable and comfortable. Not good performance though, heavy car and small engine dragging an auto, a bit thirsty for a small car. Revved too hard on highway cruising for my liking. Easy maintenance but never buy parts from a Volvo dealer. Example - brake master cylinder, dealer $640, aftermarket $180, same item from ATE. The steering and the brake plumbing took a bit of sorting out when first purchased. Generally a good car though

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

Readily available from most good parts shops then. I was fitting lap/sash belts to my road cars from about 1962-63. I had been A over T a few times both on the road and at motorkhanas and speedway so saw the need for them.

Radial tyres were a hard sell. Until the early sixties the only ones available were Michelin X which had an appalling reputation in the country for sidewall damage. "Soft walls" or "saggy walls" the customers would say. Good reason too. The unsealed roads of country Australia with sharp rocks cut these tyre's sidewalls to ribbons. Country dealers then would order cars with 6 & 8 ply tyres as a matter of course. GM-H offered a full range of radial tyre brands with the HK and later models as factory options.

They should "sag" as you say by design. They only run about 24psi. Soft in the sidewall they still are. I staked the sidewall of one of the tires on my mothers 2cv just moving it around my backyard at one point (sigh.....). There still bloody nice tires to drive on the old Michelin X's though. The insane bit is the 400mm Michelin X's are now cheaper to buy than the 15" tires for later cars (XAS/XVS).

seeya,
Shane L.

Originally Posted by PAT303

So a dumb question,looking through this thread there is no modern vehicles posted,why can't they build modern cars that are pretty?,another one,the Jag E type is a classic in every way and they sold thousands because they were affordable,why doesn't Jag or whoever build a modern day version that follows the same principle,stylish,quick and affordable and sell thousands?. Pat

This is actually a very complex design related question.

The problem is it is often hard to distinguish between "beautiful" and "fashionable". You can't just say "oh, the new Alfa 4C/Jaguar F-Type/La Ferrari etc is beautiful" since there is a lot about the design that is only interpreted in the current automotive design context. Designs need to age and then be reviewed independently form any current, fleeting fashion trends. There were a lot of people who went ga-ga over the new Monaro back in 2001 but now they seem a little, well... dull (apologies to all the Monaro fan-bois).

And if a designer was to just re-hash an E-Type, then it can only be viewed with reference to it's source material. You then have to ask why the original is not therefore the better design. Kind of like music using samples. Originality is one of the pillars of good design.

Originally Posted by solmanic

And if a designer was to just re-hash an E-Type.................... .

Not a bad "re-hash" here. Personally, I reckon it looks better than the original.