Show me a nice old car

It may not be pretty, but...
SDIM5660.jpg


...It's a runner!
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I decided to see what kind of an animal would drive this junker.
SDIM5662.jpg


Hmmm, the driver is friendly.
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Just a note (excuse): I should have done better focusing on the dog but I was shooting in manual and I was a little nervous that the real owner might show up and wonder why I was getting cozy with his pet without permission. So I rushed the shots and you can see the results; not my best work.

Sigma Sd Quattro H, Sigma 28mm f1.8 EX DG lens
Yokohama, Japan
October 2020

All the best,
Mike
 
I like the doggy in the window! Protective too, looks like. And this wreck is parked right behind a distant cousin!
 
Yokosuka_Mike said:
It may not be pretty, but...

...It's a runner!
SDIM5661.jpg



Sigma Sd Quattro H, Sigma 28mm f1.8 EX DG lens
Yokohama, Japan
October 2020

All the best,
Mike
Click to expand...

One of the best years for Microbuses. Wheels are new, chrome and wider than stock; it’s been decambered and lowered. I would bet it’s got twice the original horsepower, if not more. I’ve never been mentally able to leave cosmetics alone after upgrading the mechanicals. I’d love to own this, having once owned a ‘67, but know I’d ruin it. That’s a piece of art.
 
Having had a friend barely survive a T bone collision in a vw bus .....and having been a vw nut myself who considered a 59 bus full of cancer....these things are built like s*** and god help the person driving that thing when a careless bad driver wallops him.0
 
Ambro51 said:
Having had a friend barely survive a T bone collision in a vw bus .....and having been a vw nut myself who considered a 59 bus full of cancer....these things are built like s*** and god help the person driving that thing when a careless bad driver wallops him.0
Click to expand...

There’s that. Not to mention the adventurous effect of crosswinds.
Loved my ‘67 though, nevertheless, and would buy one in an instant, and use it, if I could get it for what I sold it for, which probably didn’t crack 4 figures. Have got a spare 356 engine which would bolt right in. 72 mph, here I come!
 
Larry Cloetta said:
...Not to mention the adventurous effect of crosswinds...!
Click to expand...

Damn! that brings back memories. When I was in high school my Father had a fire-engine-red Pontiac Bonneville (with white leather interior). He also had a Ford Econoline (3-on-the-tree) van. Guess which one I got to drive?

Man, driving that van on a windy day was like taking sailing lessons on lake Cayuga. What an experience. Steer into the wind just to maintain a straight line down the road.

Thanks, Larry, you brought back some great bad memories! :D

All the best,
Mike
 
Doug, or anyone else, I'm not an aficionado, do you know what year this Porsche is?

SDIM5556.jpg


Sigma Sd Quattro H
Sigma 28mm f1.8 EX DG lens (37mm on Sd Quattro H)
Yokohama, Japan - October 2020

All the best,
Mike
 
The Anglo-American Sports B*****d

I've just found this negative. I had this car while an art student in the Midlands in the '60s/70s. I make no apology for the condition of the neg or the car.

Powered by a 4 litre straight eight Hudson engine and with a lightweight aluminium British body, this was my Railton University Saloon. Surprisingly light and docile for what it was, it offered performance beyond an art student's wildest dreams. However fuel consumption limited its use...

I no longer have the car but at lest still have the camera that took this pic.

img080 by dralowid, on Flickr
 
Yokosuka_Mike said:
Damn! that brings back memories. When I was in high school my Father had a fire-engine-red Pontiac Bonneville (with white leather interior). He also had a Ford Econoline (3-on-the-tree) van. Guess which one I got to drive?

Man, driving that van on a windy day was like taking sailing lessons on lake Cayuga. What an experience. Steer into the wind just to maintain a straight line down the road.

Thanks, Larry, you brought back some great bad memories! :D

All the best,
Mike
Click to expand...

Ford Econoline pretty similar. You do have to steer into the crosswind wind a bit to stay centered in your lane going straight ahead, sort of like side slipping a light plane, crab walking. But, the pucker moments in an early VW microbus are on the highway when you see a semi approaching from the other direction, because as soon as it is past you the negative pressure behind it sucks you into oncoming traffic, so you have to resolutely steer straight ahead before the semi gets to you and while being jostled by his vortex when alongside, to keep from being blown off the road to your outside, then instantly steer towards your outside shoulder as soon as the semi is past so you don’t get sucked into the path of oncoming traffic. It kept me on my toes, and honed reaction times.
 
Dralowid said:
The Anglo-American Sports B*****d

I've just found this negative. I had this car while an art student in the Midlands in the '60s/70s. I make no apology for the condition of the neg or the car.

Powered by a 4 litre straight eight Hudson engine and with a lightweight aluminium British body, this was my Railton University Saloon. Surprisingly light and docile for what it was, it offered performance beyond an art student's wildest dreams. However fuel consumption limited its use...

I no longer have the car but at lest still have the camera that took this pic.

img080 by dralowid, on Flickr
Click to expand...

That’s a handsome car.
 
I drove a VW bus for years back in the 1970's. It was instinctive to prepare for the wind bursts on the highway. I have never done much sailing on water but had a lot of experience with it on the road.



There was so much air moving around inside of those things that if you made a sharp turn you could feel the wind moving against your face in reaction to the turn.



Larry Cloetta said:
Ford Econoline pretty similar. You do have to steer into the crosswind wind a bit to stay centered in your lane going straight ahead, sort of like side slipping a light plane, crab walking. But, the pucker moments in an early VW microbus are on the highway when you see a semi approaching from the other direction, because as soon as it is past you the negative pressure behind it sucks you into oncoming traffic, so you have to resolutely steer straight ahead before the semi gets to you and while being jostled by his vortex when alongside, to keep from being blown off the road to your outside, then instantly steer towards your outside shoulder as soon as the semi is past so you don’t get sucked into the path of oncoming traffic. It kept me on my toes, and honed reaction times.
Click to expand...
 
Note the 'town and country' tyres on the Railton. These were once a common feature of British rear-wheel drive cars. 'Town' (smooth tread) on the front and 'country' (knobbly tread) on the rear. The introduction of radial tyres and front wheel drive cars meant that their use fizzled out. The car alongside the Railton looks like tail-end of a Vauxhall Viva HB Estate?

Regards

Andrew More
 
Dralowid said:
Indeed it is! Thanks for that, I had heard that it had gone abroad. Well found!
Click to expand...

My absolute pleasure, Michael! Given all my old cars rusted away (well, bar the one I parked on its roof), it's nice to come across one that's still around. I'll be honest, I just googled Railton University Saloon as I'd never heard of it. Bit of a lost genre - 1930s English cars built on American chassis'.

Intrigued to hear that about the tyres. My brother has an Austin A40 Devon (like that below) on very tall crossply tyres and, combined with the big steering wheel, apparently it feels as though the car is drunk.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/312648399110071995/?nic_v2=1a755lVx6
 
Yes, town and country tyres and a big engine made for enthusiastic oversteer in the wet!

The Railton story is that of Noel Macklin who previously created Invicta cars and later on developed prefabricated construction for motor gun boats during WWII ('Dogboats'). His father, also an Old Etonian, is said to have come up with a 'system' that worked in the casinos of Monte Carlo, his son Lance (Eton again) was involved in the '55 Le Mans crash.

It is the people behind these things that tell the tale.
 
A beautiful old Corvette parked on the Nihon Odori boulevard.
The owner was sitting nearby smoking a cigarette. I asked him if I could take pictures of his car. He smiled and said "yes".

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That's the beauty of a 21mm lens; I can get a close-up of the engine and still get the the owner and his son in the background.
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Soon after I finished taking these pictures the two of them got in the car and drove off. Just another Sunday in paradise.

Voigtlander 21mm f1.4 Nokton VM lens
Sony A7II
Yokohama, Japan - October 2020

All the best,
Mike
 
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