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Re: Squire's voitures
Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 10:43 pm
by mercrocker
You can if you ignore a timing chain making like a Trinidad steel band......Luckily that was on a Mini and didn't matter.
Re: Squire's voitures
Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 10:47 pm
by fried onions
mercrocker wrote: ↑Fri Aug 30, 2019 10:39 pm
fried onions wrote: ↑Fri Aug 30, 2019 10:10 pm
Likewise with the wheels. They always struck me as slightly bigger than normal but I thought nothing of it until I measured them against a standard wheel and discovered they are van wheels.
Genuine LCV wheels carry a stamped "L917" on the flat adjacent to the valve hole. There were apparently some after-market Minor rims with the same 4.5J width as well - marked "LP936". Either of these types, particularly the latter, are quite sought after now - many people who bought vans and pickups in recent years haven't realised there are specific wheels for them and are scrabbling to replace the "incorrect" passenger-car wheels they have inherited. LP936s have a greater offset too.
I take it your spare is a standard car rim or does the Traveller have a greater height capacity for storing it? I can't get a 155x14 in my saloon compartment....
I checked and the rims are stamped L917. Apparently they were optional equipment on the 8cwt van only for the years 1968-71. So a van wearing the ordinary 'car' wheels would also be correct. My spare is an ordinary size wheel but it has a 155 tyre which fits in the space no problem. But there could be a difference in space between the Traveller and Saloon.
Re: Squire's voitures
Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 8:17 am
by The Reverend Bluejeans
I remember the Austin Minor van complete with crinkly grille. If looking for a Minor commercial I would seek one out as it was so BL and thus utterly bizarre. Teal blue was a good colour.
Re: Squire's voitures
Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 9:27 am
by dean36014
When I got divorced I had to sell my Austin van, I was 2/3rd's of he way through restoring it. One o lifes regrets, but not the divorce.
Re: Squire's voitures
Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 11:17 am
by mercrocker
Another van oddball from BMC was the fitting of a longitudinal 848cc to the A35 van. Can't blame BL for that one - it ran from 1963.
Re: Squire's voitures
Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 11:52 am
by The Reverend Bluejeans
Bizarre why BMC made the A35 van until 1968 as well as the Mini Van and the Minor. The special inline 850 engine would have cost them money as well when a 1098 was already in full production. No wonder they went bust.
Re: Squire's voitures
Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 12:09 pm
by fried onions
Something for everyone, it's nice to have a choice. Don't forget that if fleet operators had special requirements and wanted a certain configuration, that's a lot of orders at stake. So if the demand was there, it would be built.
Re: Squire's voitures
Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 12:12 pm
by captain_70s
The Reverend Bluejeans wrote: ↑Sat Aug 31, 2019 11:52 am
Bizarre why BMC made the A35 van until 1968 as well as the Mini Van and the Minor. The special inline 850 engine would have cost them money as well when a 1098 was already in full production. No wonder they went bust.
BL's ability to manufacture bespoke items for base models is quite impressive. Quite a few BL motors have trim parts which are unique to the base model and therefore, presumably, had to made separately thus costing more money.
I think their thinking must have been as such:
Should it be rationalised? Yes. - Don't rationalise it.
Is it a bad idea to rationalise it? Yes. - Rationalise it.
Re: Squire's voitures
Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 12:22 pm
by The Reverend Bluejeans
Guy called Joe Edwards - a manufacturing guru - was in the seat for taking over BMC before Stokes. He had the ear of the unions and wanted to basically halve the model range. The BMC Leyland merger was a disaster.
Re: Squire's voitures
Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 12:57 pm
by mercrocker
The power of the big distributors and dealerships shouldn't be overlooked during the pre-BL era either. Often Morris/Nuffield and Austin dealerships would be run from opposite sides of the road, or around the corner. Anything, no matter how illogical or senseless, to ensure that nobody walked from one showroom to the other was fiercely lobbied for by the retailers.