Author Topic: Industrial Birmingham  (Read 38609 times)

Ian Dalziel

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #165 on: August 24, 2019, 08:18:06 PM »
They both had fibre-glass bodies?
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Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #166 on: August 26, 2019, 06:23:19 PM »
They both had fibre-glass bodies?
Correct.
Ferrari 308GTB Vetroresina - Vetroresina - Italian for Fibreglass.
So Reliant made their cars from fibreglass because it was cheap and cheerful? No. In fact the opposite is true, car bodies made in fibreglass can truly be considered hand-built, the process does not lend itself to mass production because although the start-up cost is low, the unit cost of each product is high: perhaps 30mins to produce a fibreglass panel compared with a second or two in steel (once you've invested a fortune in a line of power presses and press tools).
Reliant found itself in a dilemma,  attempting to market a low-end product with high-end costs, the Scimitar GTE was better able to carry the cost because of the high-end market (and hence price) it was aimed at, as was, of course, the Ferrari Vetroresina.
Here's a touch of irony -  Ferrari made the 308 in fibreglass 1975-77, 808 were made, after that, in response to customer pressure, the bodies were made in steel (customers considered this better quality). Here's the irony: If you would like to buy a Ferrari 308GTB Vetroresina now expect to pay 2.1/2 times the price of the steel bodied equivalent, because of the rarity value.
Peg.
P.S. So would I buy a plastic or steel 308? I'll let you know when I win the lottery.   
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Ian Dalziel

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #167 on: August 27, 2019, 07:18:01 PM »
My E Type kit car was fibre-glass and some of my chums rather unkindly referred to it as the 'Plastic Pig'. It had a Rover V8 engine and sounded great. I was sorry to sell it but next on my 'bucket list' was to ride a sports motorbike.

Let's make the best out of a bad situation.

astoness

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #168 on: August 28, 2019, 07:43:15 AM »
lovely car always liked the shape of the e type jag and with a rover v8 engine it should have been reliable...dont know why it was nick named the plastic pig though....THIS is a plastic piggy ;D hope you got to ride the sports bike ian...


lyn








Ian Dalziel

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #169 on: August 28, 2019, 01:48:01 PM »
Thanks Lyn, some of the purists dislike kit-cars but at least mine did not disintegrate in a heap of rust like many E Types, so very practical if you don't have a garage. Also, It took my wife and I down to the Dordogne and averaged 30 mpg at a gentle cruising speed - another item knocked off my bucket list.

 
Yes, at the age of 63, I did buy my first motorbike and we enjoyed several trips to France on it. We later bought a Honda CBR 600F which my wife found very comfortable - it's funny that nobody objects to fibre-glass fairing on a motorbike. After the inevitable crash at the age of 72, my wife persuaded me to stop being stupid and trying to re-live my youth, so I swapped it for a Vespa scooter so I could carry on re-living my youth.


Sorry that a Japanese motorbike and an Italian scooter (this one was made in India) have not got much to do with Industrial Birmingham except to emphasise the unfortunate decline of British industry.
Let's make the best out of a bad situation.

Phil

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #170 on: August 28, 2019, 02:02:03 PM »
Back in 1971 I toyed with the idea of buying a bright yellow used E type Jag from a local showroom. Bearing in mind that the same amount is equal to over £30,000 today I asked our mechanic to run the rule over it for me. In short the last time I saw him some 10 or 15 years back he was still laughing about it.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

mike mancott

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #171 on: August 28, 2019, 04:13:47 PM »
As a young man I quite fancied a Lambretta. But also, during those early years of my working life, I spent time working at the 'Acci', and was put off riding on two wheels by the steady stream of of badly injured (and worse) riders being admitted. Mind you, it was before the days of crash hat legislation.
Mike


JudithM

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #172 on: August 29, 2019, 01:09:16 PM »
My E Type kit car was fibre-glass and some of my chums rather unkindly referred to it as the 'Plastic Pig'. It had a Rover V8 engine and sounded great. I was sorry to sell it but next on my 'bucket list' was to ride a sports motorbike.
Such a beautiful looking car  :)

A few years back me & my then boyfriend contemplated doing a kit car.  He'd nearly been talked into buying a Morgan, but the waiting list was so long he considered doing a kit car himself (between him & his step dad they had the skills to DIY it), but decided against.
"I know tomorrow's gonna taste like cake"

astoness

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #173 on: August 29, 2019, 01:41:02 PM »
good for you ian...my son has 2 honda bikes and a scooter he uses for work...hes been to many countries over the past few years this year he toured switzerland trying to find the highest mountain passes he could and trust me they were high :o  he is a serious rider and has no time for the idiots we see on the roads be it on bikes or in cars...i have tried to post a couple of his switzerland photos but as usual this forum blocks them because they are too large so i resize them but they are still too large..if i reduce them anymore they will not be worth looking at..its a pity really as i could be posting hundreds of photos on this forum but its just too much hassle...the one he tours on has  got africa twin on the side..


lyn

Phil

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #174 on: August 29, 2019, 01:49:52 PM »
Lyn


If you want send them to me and I will post them for you.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #175 on: August 29, 2019, 01:52:05 PM »
Wide wheels DO NOT out-perform narrow and in some cases (notably in the snow and wet) they can be inferior, ........
Peg.
I finished at mid-day at Mayflower (was  Motor Panels), Coventry, on a Friday, and I made my way home to Sutton Coldfield, there'd been a snowfall but no serious delays on the M6 and M42, then I turned of at The Belfry Island and took the London Rd, then I made a bad call, I turned left on to Ox Leys Rd, a lane that led to the Anvil Pub on the SE outskirts of Sutton and soon I was battling with deepish snow, I made slow but sure progress and then I came to the brow of a hill, the road sloped down from me with a LH bend at the bottom, I descended but as soon as I touched the brakes the wheels locked and I lost steering, my XR3i's wide wheels, acting like snowshoes, just sat on top of the snow and I continued to descend at an alarming rate.
I was sure my fate had been written and had resigned myself to having a very close encounter with the pub sign on the bend, but then at the very last second my front wheels found just enough grip on a bit of bare tacmac to get me around the bend. O0
Peg.   
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.


 

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