Comments about this vehicle

Author	Message
WoodyWoodstock ◊ 2011-03-13 03:27	This could become my first car
Bebert ◊ 2011-03-13 08:10	1977+ en raison des entourages de poignées de porte qui semblent noires.
Ingo ◊ 2011-03-13 12:21	WoodyWoodstock wrote This could become my first car A good idea, if you want to avoid trouble with getting spare parts. Everything is available (o.k., you have to take care about the quality, it's a plenty of cheap junk among there). To avoid annoying problems, it's recommended, to throw out all electric parts, made by Lucas (well known as "the founder of the electric darkness") and replace them with Bosch-stuff.
Bebert ◊ 2011-03-14 07:31	I really don't understand what you mean with the electric Lucas's stuff... I diary drive with my Spitfire MK3 and never get any problem with that...
Ingo ◊ 2011-03-14 15:17	Very expectable, a comment by Bebert... This tip goes areound since decades in the classic car-scene. And it's repeated often in the restoration-stories and buyers-guides in the oldtimer-magazines. More often said, than quotations of owners like "I kept the original electric inside and never had any problems with that". Yes, this happens indeed sometimes, too. But not very often.
dsl ◊ 2011-03-14 17:07	Lucas electrics - the big dilemma - do I try and defend their reputation against ingo's cruel humour or...? Unfortunately he's mostly right, but here goes. European electrics in 60s and 70s were pretty crap - Lucas was probably no worse than French or Italian. But those cursed Germans - Bosch - managed to get it right (and so did the Japanese, which was one reason why Japanese cars did so well in UK in the 70s - they might have been porridge, but they were reliable porridge). For the rest of Europe, reliable electrics was a bit like nuclear fission - the technology was always nearly there, but never actually happened. Where Lucas were particularly weak was exported UK cars - UK cars in UK-like conditions worked OK, but send them to eg US and constant problems, and so the reputation grew. And Germans could smugly point to their Bosch systems as they passed a broken-down Mini/MG/whatever on the autobahn hard shoulder. But fiddle with the Lucas systems and/or drive them in normal conditions and they work OK most of the time - as Bebert's comment. Most UK classics will by now have well-known tweaks/upgrades to the Lucas bits to work reasonably well. The other Lucas disaster - which was very evident in US - was their fuel injection; bearing in mind that having fuel injection was nearly as prestigious in the early 70s as a vinyl roof, Triumph persevered long and hard (2.5Pi, TR5, TR6), but in each case had to develop back-up carburetor versions to prevent sales meltdown. Again they can now be made to work effectively, but again Bosch/Kugelfischer/etc seemed to have the secrets which no-one else could match.
an_unusual_eye ◊ 2011-03-14 17:21	would Lucas have been responsible tor the inertia switch in my 1978 MGB that was designed to shut off the fuel supply in case of an accident (raher than cruising down the highway on a sunny afternoon ~ time and time again)..?
dsl ◊ 2011-03-14 17:36	an_unusual_eye wrote would Lucas have been responsible for ....? Probably.
an_unusual_eye ◊ 2011-03-14 19:06	it was puzzling... after about 6 rides on the back of a flat-bed, either home, or to the shop i used when i was tinkered out ~ my mechanic slapped himself on the forehead, bypassed that switch, and all was well ever after. i never had any other electrical gremlins with that car. my jags were another story. that mechanic had a bumper sticker on the shop refrigerator that said "Why do the British drink warm beer? They have Lucas refrigerators".
DeltaGolf ◊ 2011-03-14 19:28	It's amazing how many jokes it's possible to come up with about one single company... "If Lucas made guns, wars would not start." "Back in the 70's, Lucas decided to diversify its product line and began manufacturing vacuum cleaners. It was the only product they offered which did not suck." "The three position Lucas switch - Dim, Flicker and Off." ...and so on. http://www.mez.co.uk/lucas.html
Ingo ◊ 2011-03-14 20:08	dsl wrote do I try and defend their reputation against ingo's cruel humour or...? Sorry, but I'm really not joking, I'm just referring to that, which was written in the classic car magazines, I'm used to read since 21 and 25 years And which you can hear on many oldtimer-events, too. I strictly avoid the connection (but there is no Lucas-stuff in my cars anyways). It became a ritual for me to make degrading comments every time, when I see a writer for one oldtimer-magazine, who holds a deep love for old British cars and offers his leftovers on oldtimer-markets. One time I've rapped a friend over the knuckles, when he looked on the guy's pasteboard and have said loudly "Don't touch this! It's Yuck-Yuck! Everywhere around Lucas- and inch-measured-stuff. Hurry on and wash your hands!" A propos oldtimer-magazines: is anyone else interested in issues of the German "Oldtimer Markt" and "Oldtimer Praxis". I'm sorting out them, as it makes no sense to hoard them for more decades. The wishes of DynaMike and 130rapid are already registrated.
Ingo ◊ 2011-03-14 20:35	But not everything made by Bosch or other German companies was perfect. So the DC-generators were junk (but this goes for the whole system). Once I had a breakdown with my NSU 1200 C, caused by that part (even with a NOS regulator, mounted shortly before). Guess, when and where this happend. Usual time and usual opportunity: at the 24st of December, on a 500 km-trip to the beloved family and during the worst iced rain of the decade. No kidding! Fortuntely at a sheltered big gas station with garage in the town, where friends from my NSU-club are living. It doesn't bear contemplating, when I would have chosen an open Autobahn-rest area for my pee . So with a fast-loaded battery, made for free by the friendly gas station attendant, I could reach the friends - and have spend the afternoon of the Holy Evening with changing this fucking DC-junk to a trustworthy three-phase alternator (and with ruining my good family-Christmas-clothes). Fortunately NSU had the intelligent modular construction system. Three-phase-alternators were used for the TT (and were an extra option for the 1000 and the 1200). A more powerful choice is a K 70-alternator. You only have to wide the TT-holder a bit with an anglegrinder. Back home after Christmas I immediately have thrown all my DC-NSU-stuff into the scrap-metal-container. Alternators, regulators, holders, even renovated and NOS-parts, everything. -- Last edit: 2011-03-14 20:41:19
cl82 ◊ 2011-03-14 20:50	@dsl/ingo: Kugelfischer (mechanic) injections were moody and over-the-top complex, too. And they were thirsty. An uncle drove a Ford Capri RS 2600 flat out in the early 1970s and averaged 25 litre per 100km. Sadly, I don't know what that is in M.P.G., but it's immense. -- Last edit: 2011-03-15 20:00:41
Ingo ◊ 2011-03-14 20:58	Yes, they were ill-reputed as overweening drinkers. And very problematical to repair. Defect Kugelfischer-injection have caused the early death in a shredder of the majority of VW 1600 TLE and 411 LE. But it's not ignorable, that back then the most VW-mechanics were totally overexetended with any kind of High Tech (which means: everything except the simple Käfer-Low Tech). The K 70 was annother victim, as the VW-cobblers couldn't handle the Solex 40 DDHT-carburator (which is perfect reliable, if noone hasn't damaged anything).
Gomselmash11 ◊ 2011-03-14 21:04	Well, its not a really problem when you see the Citroën-ignition. Even if you stay in the middle of nowhere, with only one crank, can you start from the front. Excellent, if clear, you are strong. My father sometimes, had use the crank (i think this its the name in english).
dsl ◊ 2011-03-14 21:12	cl82 wrote Kugelfischer injections .... thirsty..... Ford Capri RS2600 flat out ... averaged 25 litre per 100km. In real money - 11 mpg.
cl82 ◊ 2011-03-14 21:25	"In real money" You sound like Jezza Clarkson.
dsl ◊ 2011-03-14 22:27	cl82 wrote You sound like Jezza Clarkson. It is true that we've never been photographed in the same room .....
Bebert ◊ 2011-03-15 08:05	Bon, vous êtes bien gentils les gars... mais parmi vous, qui roule tout les jours avec une voiture équipée par un système Lucas?.. Parce que la littérature ne manque pas sur tout les sujets et on y trouve tout et son contraire. Jusqu'à preuve du contraire, rien ne vaut l'expérience...
cl82 ◊ 2011-03-16 18:39	@Deltagolf: Superb link! Thanks!
dsl ◊ 2011-03-18 19:36	cl82 wrote @dsl: You weren't born in Doncaster around 1960, were you? No and no. And I'm bald enough to be able to hear snowflakes.
rjluna2 ◊ 2013-03-10 16:46	an_unusual_eye wrote that mechanic had a bumper sticker on the shop refrigerator that said "Why do the British drink warm beer? They have Lucas refrigerators". deltagolf wrote "The three position Lucas switch - Dim, Flicker and Off." -- Last edit: 2013-03-10 16:47:11

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1977 Triumph Spitfire 1500

1977 Triumph Spitfire 1500 in Kummeli, TV Series, 1991-2004 Ep. 2.08

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