igor

What he said ^. Garage door best solution all ways around.

If it were me I'd go widebody but if you are in city traffic and tight parking most or all of the time this might not be the best. I don't like the way narrow gutted Japanese trucks (especially box body) lean excessively on fast turns. Gave myself a fright once on the motorway like that.

Go OS. J1 or TK Bedford. Meets all your criteria except for being dinosaurusly old.

Geese make good roasts. Just like a really huge duck. Bastards to pluck though. Any left over next day makes a good curry. Wonder how much they charge if you kill a goose and try to carry it out along with your chosen parts?

kyteler makes a good point about the size of cars growing with each generation. It's like the car grows a size and the manufacturer must then produce a new small one to fill the gap in the range. Toyota's offerings between 1970 and now are a perfect example of this. And every time my wife says the Falcon is too big I remind her that it was first released stateside in 1959 for the 1960 model year as Ford's new small car alongside the full size Galaxie.

Saw a mint as '28 Plymouth and a tidyish '60 Dodge Pioneer this morning while taking wife's shitty BG Laser to the wof garage. Dodge is rumoured to be for sale but I have no money. Shame. Kids'd love it.

 
Might be too old for many of you to be interseted in but I saw these two Dodges in the main street of 'clutha last week. '28 Victory Six and '29 DA model. Keep seeing cool stuff when I'm driving or when I don't have a camera. Must remember camera more often.

V8. Go on. You know you want to. With an aluminium block (I'm thinking Buick/Rover, maybe something Japanese) you might find you don't even need to change the front suspension setup. Insurance could be an issue though.

Just remove the garden hose and let the clutch cover vent to atmosphere. I've had a lot of these things and Minis and I've never seen that vent connected to anything. Some of them don't even have a vent, just a place where the hole in the casting never got cut out. Look at a few others, especially later Minis, and you'll see what I mean. Even having a squiz at engine bay pix on trademe should tell you something.

As to the rust in the cooling system you must remember that the car is nearly 43 years old and it is going to have a lot of shit in there no matter how well it has been maintained. That said it does look like you have found a good one. It looks a lot better than my Wolseley.

The first thing to look at when you suspect a blown head gasket is the oil. If it has water in it you will notice immediately as the oil will be milky grey rather than black. Being a push-rod motor replacing the head gasket is dead easy. While you've got the head off have a look at the bores and the valves, rockers, etc.

You may be interested to know that BMC 1800 valve springs fit these. They are the same external diameter but have heavier coils. I belive that this makes them a valid alternative to Cooper S double springs. I used one once when I broke a valve spring. Should have changed all of them at the same time. Means you can rev it harder before it starts to valve bounce.

There is tremendous devlopment potential in these motors. I knew a guy in the '80s who had one just a bit hotter than Cooper S spec and it blew away a lot of V8s. Looked stock as a rock just like yours but was good for 105 mph.

Early Toyota Starlet 12" rims fit these things too. I know this because I bought some with good tyres on them thinking that I would need to swap the tyres onto my BMC rims but found that the stud pattern was the same and they fitted.

Good luck with your project. Mowogs Rock.

I'd love to cut a Rolls Royce into a ute.

Welcome aboard Aaron. Best thing about the HC Viva is the huge engine bay that can swallow a V8 like it belongs there. Was one in Whangarei in the '90s with a 215 Buick in it. Real stealth mobile. Just looked like a Viva with mag wheels then when you looked again it was gone.

Who the fuck'd drive a thing that looks like that? Even in 50 years it still won't be cool.

Bugger. That thing is so cool.

My mate has one of these. A real tidy one. Stock as a rock with 12R, column 3 speed, and a bench seat. Like a time warp.

Both lots of grandparents had some cool British stuff back in the day.

1st lot Phase 2 Vanguard (before my time), Mk3 Zodiac, BMC Tasman and Kimberley, two automatic Allegros (had my first driving lesson in one of these around the paddock when I was about 12). These were followed by an EN Civic that I've still got. Wish the old boy had kept the Zodiac then I'd have that. My kids'd love it.

2nd lot Morris 1100, Morris 1300, Marina. I really wanted that Marina. It was immaculate with about 80,000 kms on it but dumb uncle sold it before I could get to it.

Guess my liking for BMC stuff is hereditary.

Mum and Dad had Standard 10 when I was a baby, then Isuzu Bellet (seen any lately?), '76 Corona 18R 4 speed (used to go pretty hard), '74 B1600, '81 Hilux 12R column 4 speed (got my licence in that), Mk5 Cortina 1600 Wagon (felt like a pig to drive compared to the Corona but wasn't bad really for what it was), coupla Sentras, now on their third Navara.

Uncles had some cool stuff way back when too.

One had a '56 Morris Oxford then got a new VH Valiant Ranger that he kept for years.

Others variously had a VF or VG Valiant (not sure which), coupla Ford Prefects, Ford Pilot V8, XY Falcon, XA Falcon Wagon, another VG Val, Aussie Mk4 Cortina Ghia 4.1, XJ6 4.2, '68 Mercedes 230 (but he reckoned the XY was a better car).

Latest Fiat 500 Abarth?

Or the Ford Focus V8. Shame that never made it into series production. Reckon they'd have sold a few.

Many years ago I had a TK Bedford with a 214 running a dual fuel setup. Ran sweet on lpg but the few times I tried it on super petrol it ran like shit. I knew next to nothing and just assumed that the ignition timing was advanced way further than it should be for petrol to make it sweet for the lpg. It never bothered me because lpg was way cheaper anyway but I've often wondered about it. Does anyone care to share their knowledge on this?

Driven my Wolseley 1300 in the snow on the ten mile rural commute to work a few times as was my daily for seven years. Never felt the need to use chains. One morning I only saw one other two wheel drive car moving and I couldn't go slow enough in top gear to stay behind him so I passed him at the breakneck speed of 35 mph.

That hydrolastic demo on your signature line is brilliant. Saw the whole thing on tv years ago. Heard they destroyed about seven cars doing it.

Chch to Aucks in a 1300? Piece of piss mate. Did Whangarei to Bluff in mine in '94 with 6x6 trailer full of household gear. Three and a half days. Was hard work holding the speed down to 55 mph. Just couldn't do it on the big straights in South Canterbury. Was so boring I let it creep up to 70 mph. Bet the 8 inch wheels on the trailer didn't like that much.

Did you pass the licence test?

Don't worry about that shit on the sump plug magnet. All A series engines do that even if they're in good condition. It's a design feature to save everything else. Just clean it every time you change the oil.

Let us all know how that flexi-joint on the exhaust works out. All the minis and 1300 I've had over the years have had a habit of breaking the exhaust.

Loved the black and white photo outside the tower block. That's the height these cars should ride at. Plenty of ground clearance. You'd be amazed where they can safely go off road if you are confident enough.

I'd say carbs, prefereably something simple like a big arse single SU, but that might be cos I'm old fashioned and don't know shit about electronics.

A friend had an XJS for a while. I think he told me something like 14mpg but he always drove it pretty hard. Those V12s make a sweet noise winding out in the lower gears.

I've always run 91 in my BMC cars since it became available, except for my Wolseley 1300 which doesn't like it, and in all my Falcons. Using 91 or super grade made no measureable difference with the BMC cars and I've never put super in the Falcons to know.

Used valvemaster in an Austin 1300 when lead-free first came out but haven't bothered for the last twenty years and I've never had any of the problems it supposedly prevents so I'm inclined to the belief that it is snake oil.

Fuel consumption figures from memory for comparison purposes in case anyone is interested as follows;

Austin 1300 33mpg,

'51 Vanguard 20mpg,

XC Falcon 4.1 23mpg on a good day,

RX30 Cressida with 18R manual 18mpg (mostly around town usage),

EN Civic hondamatic 37mpg hard thrashed Dunedin to Whangarei,

EA Falcon 4 speed automatic 30mpg (Whangarei to Porirua 802 km on 78 litres).

I'd be interested to know what others get from similar vehicles.

Hey cressy. Coolest looking thing Toyota ever made. Always liked them. If a Corona was a Falcon this would be like a Fairlane. I had one for a couple of years in the late '90s. Wish I'd kept it. Under powered as hell with the 18R but still cool. Had dreams of putting a Holden 186 with a yella terra head and triple carbs in it but had no money. Thought it should be a relatively easy swap. With so many people putting Toyota five speed gearboxes into Holdens back then I figured that most of the thinking had been done.

Guess you already know that in other parts of the world they came out with the 2.6 litre 4M six that the older Crowns had. Would have been far better that way.

My Falcon is my main tow car but all my vehicles have towbars, even the wee front wheel drive ones, it is compulsory. I got my XC wagon from a guy who used it to tow his stockcar. It's got air shocks in the rear which help prevent it dragging its arse. I forget what he told me he'd bought to replace it.

I'd agree with the member who stated that the tow vehicle should be heavier than the load. I've had a Falcon wagon on a trailer behind another Falcon and that got a bit interesting even with trailer brakes.

I sometimes swap the trailer from the Falcon to the wee Civic when I get home and need to back it into a tight park because the short wheelbase car makes it easier get around the corners.

BMC rocks. Go the MOWOGS.

I used to ride a '76 CG125 in the '90s. Got 115 MPG fuel economy out of it and top speed of close to 120km/hr if I laid down flat on the tank. Only real problem was it wouldn't start when the battery was flat. Kick, kick, kick, and nothing. Figured it was trying to charge the battery rather than making a spark to fire the engine. Removed the dead battery and ran it without one. Started first or second kick nearly every time after that.