Dralowid
Michael
Don't give me your Wilson epicyclic pre-selector gearbox reminiscences...can't be doing with that English rubbish, apart from the Skoda my other car is a DS with gear change operated by hydaulics...which makes messing about with a Contax seem simple.
wolves3012
Veteran
No, they sit on top of the cylinders like a BMW boxer and the plug leads seal in much the same way. The first issue in deep water is when the bottom of the fan hits and throws water around. If you did swamp it, there is the trick of putting it in first gear and using the crankhandle to wind it out; of course you'll get your feet wet then. I'd say it probably takes 18" of water to kill it, minimum. Remember, they have high ground clearance anyway - unless heavily loaded! Also, many 4WD are pretend offroaders and I'm not including the "real" ones.
The inboard drums were dropped long ago (1981 for the 2CV and earlier on Dyanes) for inboard force-cooled discs which are a doddle to change the pads in. The drums are less fun but once setup they stay good for a fair while.
They're surprisingly expensive here too; rarity value is kicking in as more and more got scrapped due to terminal tinworm. The dashboard gearchange is actually very easy to use and doesn't clutter the floor. Just pretend it's a 5-speed and 1st is missing (that's where reverse lives).
wolves3012
Veteran
I envy you the DS but not the cost of buying or running one. Voted the most beautiful car ever and also (recently) voted the most technically advanced car ever. If I could afford it, it'd be my number one pick.
wolves3012
Veteran
The only issue I had in 10 years plus of ownership was the rear brake pipes. That's because later cars had rear seat belts and lost the access panel to the t-junction because of the belt-anchorage, making the job a nightmare. The kingpins are straightforward with a drift-set, the roller bearings rarely give trouble and the hydraulics are mainly unconventional in having no flexible hoses and using LHM fluid (which never needs changing). By French weirdness I think you probably mean Citroen. Unconventional is often innovative and that it was. Find me another engine that LJK Setright was unable to criticise and which can shrug off being run for 100 hours non-stop at maximum power and revs.
Dralowid
Michael
Bought ours many years ago when Summars were cheap.
The running costs are not that severe if you know what's what (and we have the Skoda!) but the prices seem out of step. Do they sell for the prices you see around? I doubt it...a bit like old cameras.
What one man might call a design icon another might call an MOT failure....
The running costs are not that severe if you know what's what (and we have the Skoda!) but the prices seem out of step. Do they sell for the prices you see around? I doubt it...a bit like old cameras.
What one man might call a design icon another might call an MOT failure....
wolves3012
Veteran
Oh, and please stop feeding my 2CV interests! The Mods will complain! Back to whether FSUs rock or not...
Gabriel M.A.
My Red Dot Glows For You
Pentudlian
Established
very good analogy..gee would`nt a british car sub forum be fun: austin allegro anyone
No: just no!!! I started learning to drive on one of those. I gave up for the next dozen years or so.
I do have a FED2, however................
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Perhaps the difference is between those of us who bought them new, or as recent second-hand cameras, in the 60s and 70s, and expected them to work as cameras (as even 30- and 40-year-old Leicas did, i.e. cameras from the 1930s) and those who are buying them today as toys.
If you're expecting a usable camera, even a 20% failure rate isn't too good.
Cheers,
R.
pakeha
Well-known
Wilfred Thesiger purchased a new Leica in the early 1930.s. It did not work `out of the box'
French cars and FSU cameras - masochists
Dralowid
Michael
Wolves,
You are not allowed another 2CV until, like a proper Citroenist, you have saved a GS from the scrapyard.
For what it is worth, I went to college in Wolverhampton in the 60/70s. I remember buying a car that was the first registered in Wolverhampton after the war. Armstrong Siddeley EJW 72 (I think...)from an elderly couple on the Tettenhall Road??? Yes, pre-selector...
On a rather more photographic but hardly FSU topic I also bought a Leica II with a Thambar...long gone...and somewhere I still have loads of negs of canals and general industrial decline...but best of all some pics of castings being made in buildings with sand floors by elderly chaps in Leather aprons.
Give me the Black Country every time...far more girls than California...Bilston rocks!
Reminiscent rant ends!
pakeha
Well-known
hey, i`ve done that. Also saw a HY [ or is it HU ] truck earlier this week. its a replica, they are extremely rare around here. Once i get film developed will upload into this thread