Cars

[Grumpy]

Just remember that PRS don`t build the SEs themselves.
That SE won`t do `creamy` .... not with EMG pickups - and not the cheap ( Korean made ) EMGs fitted to to that guitar. `Creamy` is a feature of PAF humbuckers - not high-output ones.
Carlos Santana has conventional type humbuckers on his PRS Santanas but he doesn`t do `creamy` either - his tone for several years has been pretty naff - like listening through a curtain. Years ago when he was using Les Pauls he had a lovely tone.

[Grumpy]

The SEs aren`t built by PRS ..... and no guitar with EMG pickups ( including the cheap Korean made types on this SE ) does `creamy`.

[timmy]

Funnily enought I`ve just been reading about Mustang shock towers cracking and also how on the 390s the towers will pull in towards the engine unless beefed-up.

The whole front of those cars was suited for passenger car use, but for racing and hard duty, that was another thing altogether. By those cars, I mean the Falcons, Mustangs, Fairlanes, Cougars -- all of these were the same basic car and many of the front end components will interchange, or at least, swap.

A common accessory for the racer was a brace that ran across the tops of the shock towers. Some factory cars had braces from the center of the firewall angling out to the shock towers. Aftermarket suppliers had a brace that ran across. Some had a loop that went around the air cleaner, and others went in front of the air cleaner. This made the front end much sturdier. Remember that these cars were unibodies -- no frame. The whole front end was all sheet metal. Even the motor mounts bolted to a sheet metal folding at the base of the shock towers.

It`s apparent that the FE has a LOT of fans.

Is that your impression? Many non-Ford lovers hate the FE, and call them "boat anchors." Even the younger Ford lovers, to me, seem to consider the FE as some sort of insignificant anachronism. Maybe it's just me, but I always felt that the FE never got the respect that it was due.

Renaults: The ones I remember reading about as a kid were these Renault Gordini models. As I recall, they had a little 4 cyl with a big, wide hemi-style head, and they put out some huge amount of power for there size. Were these things running around the UK?

Renault tried several times to get into the US market. When I was a little kid, I remember a catchy-sounding commercial on the radio that went, "Ren - ault Dau - phine <beep> <beep>!" There was no "ren-o" to it; it was "ren-ault," just like that.

Then they got into an arrangement with American Motors, just before AMC folded. By that time, I think that AMC's biggest cash flow was coming from stamping Chrysler 5th Avenue body parts (The 5th Avenues that were based on the Aspen-Volare chassis) at their Kenosha plant. I think those were called "Renault Alliance" or something.

Grumpy, somewhere along the line, I' like you to hold forth on Vincent and Ariel Square Fours, if you've a mind to. I've always had a really weak spot for Vincents and Nortons.

[Skyman]

IMO, the PRS original that he used to make by hand wayy back were great.Now, it's mostly cnc which is just so.....ugh.

[Grumpy]

Our next door neighbour when I was 11-19 ran a Vincent Rapide - at one stage he had two. The big V-twin sounded lovely .... but nothing like a Harley. Build quality was fantastic - they were the Rolls Royce of the motorcycle world. He swapped the second one ( a rebuild after the former owner had a fatal crash ) for a BMW which some Germans brought over. He was incredibly disappointed to discover that the flat twin wouldn`t handle - couldn`t tip it over for cornering without the rocker covers skidding along the road. Vincents weren`t exactly common ...... - mostly, I suppose, because they were very expensive new. The difference between the Rapide, Black Shadow and Black Lightning were mostly engine tune - the Rapide was the slowest ( but as quick as a 650 Bonneville ) but the best touring bike of the three. Engines were 45 bhp, 55 bhp and 70 bhp respectively .... although the series three Rapides could be up to 55 bhp as well. A well-tuned ( but standard ) 55 bhp Black Shadow would do 125 mph - although the engine looked vast the bikes weighed only about 450 lbs. Somebody once said that if you rode a Black Shadow at full speed for any length of time you`ld end up dead - something like that anyway. I think that what he meant was that the bike was, for it`s time, bloody fast ..... and the roads back in the late forties and early/mid-60`s weren`t great.
Don`t know much about Ariel Square Fours - there was only one in the town where I grew up that I knew of. They looked quite impressive but the engine was old fashioned - even in it`s final incarnation - and only made 40 bhp. They`d do a genuine 100 mph however.
Vincent ceased production in 1956, the Ariel Square Four continued until 1959.
Nortons with featherbed frames were nice bikes. In the `60s there seemed to be more Tritons ( Triumph engine, Norton frame ) around than actual Nortons but that`s almost certainly my perception. I don`t remember ever seeing one back then but the Manx Nortons are wonderful looking machines.
If you`re into motorcycles you really ought to attend the Manx TT .... and the classic races in August. Thousands of motorcyclists and their bikes descend upon the Isle of Man for the races ..... and watch goodness knows how many bikes and their riders race. The riders have staggered starts so the races are time trials of a sort ..... that`s because the course is bloody lethal. This is a 6 minute video :
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/alj ... 60175.html
and this a 48 minute film about the event:

[Grumpy]

I used to really rate the PRS Customs but have gone right off them in recent years. Strangely, the same thing has happened with my oldest son - he has two that he intends to sell. One Custom and one Artist.

[Skyman]

The greatest and most dangerous race in the world, the IOM TT.I wish to do it some day.

I'll take the custom if you please. Yes, PRS has dipped in the recent years.

[Grumpy]

The Artist is the better guitar .... and more expensive.

[Grumpy]

Something we saw on Monday was an Allard P1 ..... towing a caravan. `Kin `eck that was ugly !
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... on.arp.jpg

[Skyman]

Whichever you please.

[timmy]

Thanks for that, Grumpy.

Never heard of Tritons!

So, how were the Vincents set up? did both cylinders share a common journal like Harleys and Indians? The thing that gives a Harley its unique loping sound is the 405^ - 315* firing order (as opposed to the even 360* - 360* order of a Triumph, for instance). Harley and Indian used a fork and blade arrangement, which gave a little bit smoother running, but wasn't as strong as a side-by-side rod arrangement. Do you know how a Vincent was set up?

From the pictures I have seen of them, they do look like they are finished like jewels. What a horrible thing for such a company to go under! Do you know about their demise?

[Grumpy]

Triumph engine in Norton frame = Triton. Triumph engine in BSA frame = Tribsa. Vincent engine in Norton frame = Norvin. ( I guess no-one liked the sound of `Vinton` ....... )
I very much doubt that the the cylinders shared a common journal - the engine was designed in 1937 so was quite late compared to many. The 1937 engine was a 47.5 degree V-Twin. In 1948 this was changed to 50 degrees.
The engine and gearbox looked huge - even more so because the bike had no frame ... the front forks and rear suspension were attached to the engine - hence the light weight for such a big bike. The bikes didn`t look `jewel`-like - they were just too imposing. They came in black and silver only - black baked enamel crankcase, cylinders, suspension components and tank with aluminium gearbox casing, mudguards and chromed exhaust pipes.
It`s strange because the bikes weren`t any bigger than any other twin of the time really .... it`s just the engine/gearbox were so large and so visible .... and the tank was enormous as well.
What really killed-off Vincent was the availability of cheap cars - the Vincents were hand built and bloody expensive. Sales were declining rapidly when they introduced the Black Prince and Black Knight which were enclosed versions. The fibreglass mouldings had major problems and were,as often as not, removed by the owners but sorting the panels out was another cost that added to the financial woes. The enclosed bikes might have been slightly more streamlined but are sin ugly to modern eyes.

[Grumpy]

A Vincent Black Shadow cost £402 in 1951 ..... and more in 1954/55. People could buy a small car for that .... and did.
You have to remember that the UK was a very different place to the US in the `50s. Much of industrial plant had been destroyed during the war and what was left was old and there was little money to replace it. What money there was went towards paying off the war debt to the US. Because as much production as possible was exported, many products were in short supply in the early `50s - including cars ..... and food ( food rationing didn`t end until 1954 ..... Food rationing in Germany ended in 1950 .............. Germany had aid, the UK had huge debts and no aid. ) Because people needed transport there was a boom in motorcycle sales post war which had declined by the mid-`50s.

[TwoRivers]

There are some nightmare arrangements on some cars as regards how one has to go about changing sparkplugs. I`m trying to think which car it is that, because the rear of the engine is well under/behind the scuttle, it has to be dropped to allow access to the rear plug/plugs.
.

I remember two of them, back in the 60s, a Chrysler and the Lincoln. One of them required to have the exhaust manifold dropped; on the other you could remove the rubber engine mounts and lower the engine enough to get to that last plug.

[Grumpy]

Well, I didn`t know about those two but it just goes to show how stupid manufacturers can be sometimes.