Morris Cars take over Canberra

switch said :

KB1971 said :

Quite a few environmental factors are the reason for that. One is that we don’t salt the roads in winter because we don’t get that much snow.

But most cars in Australia live near the coast, and get their salt treatment that way. Cars in Sydney rust a lot quicker than they do here (the pollution also helps)

KB1971 said :

Most old pommy cars were also built with rust from the factory, the oil leaks were supposed to be rust prevention but that didn’t stop anything other than the floor from rusting 😛

I thought that was the self-changing oil system!

I grew up on the coast, the ones that lived in townships right on the ocean used to have heaps of problems along with the ones that used to tow boats.

Live a few km inland and the salt had little effect.

I worked with a guy who used to sell pommy cars, aparrently they had to have drip trays on the dealership floors………

KB1971 said :

Quite a few environmental factors are the reason for that. One is that we don’t salt the roads in winter because we don’t get that much snow.

But most cars in Australia live near the coast, and get their salt treatment that way. Cars in Sydney rust a lot quicker than they do here (the pollution also helps)

KB1971 said :

Most old pommy cars were also built with rust from the factory, the oil leaks were supposed to be rust prevention but that didn’t stop anything other than the floor from rusting 😛

I thought that was the self-changing oil system!

I for one welcome our new automotive overlords.

It could be worse, it could be Morris Dancers…

JimCharles said :

It amazes me the amount of old cars in Canberra that are in mint condition, years after they’ve rotted away in the UK.
At the Melbourne GP i saw a collection of British cars that you just wouldn’t see in Britain anymore.
I saw a very old little Volvo automatic driving around here in pristine condition, my grandmother sent hers to the scrapheap nearly 30 years ago and I hadn’t seen one since. Got quite nostalgic.

Quite a few environmental factors are the reason for that. One is that we don’t salt the roads in winter because we don’t get that much snow.

Most old pommy cars were also built with rust from the factory, the oil leaks were supposed to be rust prevention but that didn’t stop anything other than the floor from rusting 😛

Seriously though, the panel were never galvanized, the designs were full of water traps and mud traps. Cars of today don’t have these inbuilt rust features.

A ghastly car to drive give me a muscle car any day of the week.

poetix said :

I was born in Headington (Oxford) in the house of my grandparents who worked at the Morris Motors factory there. Perhaps with my connection I should look up how much they cost now and get a nasty shock!

Funny to think that my grandparents (now deceased) might have helped build one of the cars that will be part of this, given that they never left England.

They are very cute, modest cars. I have no doubt that the engines are terrible, but they look nice. Much better looking than a Camry, for example.

It amazes me the amount of old cars in Canberra that are in mint condition, years after they’ve rotted away in the UK.
At the Melbourne GP i saw a collection of British cars that you just wouldn’t see in Britain anymore.
I saw a very old little Volvo automatic driving around here in pristine condition, my grandmother sent hers to the scrapheap nearly 30 years ago and I hadn’t seen one since. Got quite nostalgic.

KB1971 said :

Pork Hunt said :

KB1971 said :

I just shuddered…….when I did my apprenticeship I purposely didnt buy any Whitworth spanners so I would not ahve to work on old Pommy cars…….I got my wish ……sort of.

I had the “pleasure” of working on HS748 and BAC-111 aircraft but the RAAF supplied the tools 🙂

Jeez the 748 crash a lot……

Were they Whitworth or AF like pretty well everything else of the era?

I spent a bit of time fixing things out at the airport, the biggest was a Cessna Conquest & a Beech King Air & the smallest was a Gazelle (next step up from ultralight).

From memory, most nut and bolts were AF but there were some odd sizes thrown in. 11/32″ was one common spanner size. Other ones for hyd fittings were equally odd like 25/32″. Why?
Linseed oil was used for corrosion prevention. Used to heat it up in a 20L urn and pump it into the struts that held the engines on.
You could never get the smell out of your overalls.

I was born in Headington (Oxford) in the house of my grandparents who worked at the Morris Motors factory there. Perhaps with my connection I should look up how much they cost now and get a nasty shock!

Funny to think that my grandparents (now deceased) might have helped build one of the cars that will be part of this, given that they never left England.

They are very cute, modest cars. I have no doubt that the engines are terrible, but they look nice. Much better looking than a Camry, for example.

Pork Hunt said :

KB1971 said :

I just shuddered…….when I did my apprenticeship I purposely didnt buy any Whitworth spanners so I would not ahve to work on old Pommy cars…….I got my wish ……sort of.

I had the “pleasure” of working on HS748 and BAC-111 aircraft but the RAAF supplied the tools 🙂

Jeez the 748 crash a lot……

Were they Whitworth or AF like pretty well everything else of the era?

I spent a bit of time fixing things out at the airport, the biggest was a Cessna Conquest & a Beech King Air & the smallest was a Gazelle (next step up from ultralight).

KB1971 said :

I just shuddered…….when I did my apprenticeship I purposely didnt buy any Whitworth spanners so I would not ahve to work on old Pommy cars…….I got my wish ……sort of.

I had the “pleasure” of working on HS748 and BAC-111 aircraft but the RAAF supplied the tools 🙂