Practically Classics Forum

How about a classic car, no road tax to pay, cheap insurance. Can you shovel coal?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJq2Hc_mXFI

Seems it can run on used engine oil? Hmm, we've all owned at least one car so worn that it would do just that and without the need to boil a rather large kettle before setting off to the supermarket. My conclusion: Shagged out engines that burn the contents of their own sumps are the way forward. Anyone fancy lending me a new Audi to use as the test mule?

JPB wrote:Hmm, we've all owned at least one car so worn that it would do just that.

The Trabbant, in it's day it was said to be the longest car in Europe. Seven metres including the smoke.

There'll always be folk who have no idea how much mix to add, especially when, as in the Trabant, (spelt with two Ts, it's a hamlet by Pittenweem, I assume that was intentional ..) it's added straight into the fuel tank which is then shaken to blend the stuff with the petrol but Ford's two stroke Fiesta, as used almost exclusively by some regional Police services and Molly Maid franchise holders before they started using their now trademark Nissan S-Cargos, is actually cleaner than the conventional, four stroke equivalent of the same car thanks to some form of witchcraft.. Witchcraft, and a very loose definition of clean. Possibly.

Trabants, like any other two stroke that hasn't been equipped with a separate oil supply to its bearings, have to have a freewheel as standard which means that they must be eco friendly because the engine doesn't do more than half of the work. I test drove the unusual and useful Kombi version of the 601 once, with a view to replacing a Rebel Estate with it. The seller never mentioned that it, being a late one, had a four cylinder, 1043cc NSU engine as found in the Polo of the time. That, and the Trab's all up weight at well under the quad licence limit of 550Kg, oof! Just as well it had brown chairs before I drove it as well as after, scary quick for something with a transverse trap spring and swing axle suspension but great fun, I ought to have but bottled out and bought a car without cotton-Bakelite bodywork instead.
Trabants are cool, almost as cool as a K10 series Micra, IMHO.

JPB wrote:Trabants are cool, almost as cool as a K10 series Micra, IMHO.

The body work, reputedly made of compressed cardboard, meant that they didn't rust. So no tin worm to worry about, although I did hear that they were prone to book worm.

GHT wrote:How about a classic car, no road tax to pay, cheap insurance. Can you shovel coal?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJq2Hc_mXFI

i would love to see more steam cars on the road...

GHT wrote:

JPB wrote:Trabants are cool, almost as cool as a K10 series Micra, IMHO.

The body work, reputedly made of compressed cardboard, meant that they didn't rust. So no tin worm to worry about, although I did hear that they were prone to book worm.

The covering panels were made from a similar resin to Bakelite, but lighter in colour and using grounds made not from beetle shells, but from cotton bolls that afforded it some flexibility. They rotted like nobody's business beneath thae outer panels and can last well but must be carefully checked in all of the usual spots, most of which are hidden. Repairs are cheap though, as the steel structure is made from thick steel in simple shapes. I seriously love the things.

rich. wrote:....i would love to see more steam cars on the road...

My neighbour owned a steam engined Freelander for a while, another friend of mine owns a steam engined Rover 45 from around 2003 and I once walked away from a purchase of an otherwise beautifully turned out MGF because I wanted an IC engined version instead..

ok i shall rephrase that.. i would like to see steam powered cars on the road

rich. wrote:i would like to see steam powered cars on the road.

So would I, my friend, so would I.

I was stuck behind a traction engine today, once I overtook that 3 miles down the road I became stuck behind a sentinel steam wagon.
A warm weekend in the countryside and you'll be surprised how many steam powered vehicles (not broken down k series powered vehicles) there are on the roads