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[Lizzie Zoom]

Vanden Plas 4 litre R was the one to go for.

Yep,4.0 RR lump in that one

Maybe then but not now, with the straight six Rolls Royce lump having a top speed of 108 mph and mpg at 14.7!

That is worse than my V6, but at least I  can could do 150 mph!

That comparison really does show how car engines advanced from the 1960's to 1990's, let alone to those of today.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Vanden Plas 4 litre R was the one to go for.

Yep,4.0 RR lump in that one

Maybe then but not now, with the straight six Rolls Royce lump having a top speed of 108 mph and mpg at 14.7!

That is worse than my V6, but at least I  can could do 150 mph!

That comparison really does show how car engines advanced from the 1960's to 1990's, let alone to those of today.

Well above the 'magic ton'

Back in the sixties that was a good amount of velocity....

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

......anyway Motor magazine managed 112.5 mph in 1965 and zero to sixty in 12.7 seconds.

[Lizzie Zoom]

......anyway Motor magazine managed 112.5 mph in 1965 and zero to sixty in 12.7 seconds.

With a tailwind and downhill?

[Lizzie Zoom]

As I mentioned before engine development for cars has come on a long way.

Even just over 10 years from the age of the 4 litre Vandam Plas, I used to get my 1.6 Ford Cortina estates up to 100 mph, and maintain it. Then in the 1980's my 1.8 Cavalier SRi was easily getting to, and holding, 130 mph. No wonder really why the big, heavy, BMC cars of the earlier decade went into history, especially with their average mpg

[dave the builder]

As I mentioned before engine development for cars has come on a long way.

Even just over 10 years from the age of the 4 litre Vandam Plas, I used to get my 1.6 Ford Cortina estates up to 100 mph, and maintain it. Then in the 1980's my 1.8 Cavalier SRi was easily getting to, and holding, 130 mph. No wonder really why the big, heavy, BMC cars of the earlier decade went into history, especially with their average mpg

the 2.0 cavalier SRi 130 20SEH engine went into Carlton but with a less aggressive camshaft  20SE
"someone"   fitted the SRI cam to their Carlton ,ported the head etc ,it was quite nippy. I couldn't possibly say who 

[Lizzie Zoom]

As I mentioned before engine development for cars has come on a long way.

Even just over 10 years from the age of the 4 litre Vandam Plas, I used to get my 1.6 Ford Cortina estates up to 100 mph, and maintain it. Then in the 1980's my 1.8 Cavalier SRi was easily getting to, and holding, 130 mph. No wonder really why the big, heavy, BMC cars of the earlier decade went into history, especially with their average mpg

the 2.0 cavalier SRi 130 20SEH engine went into Carlton but with a less aggressive camshaft  20SE
"someone"   fitted the SRI cam to their Carlton ,ported the head etc ,it was quite nippy. I couldn't possibly say who 

That's interesting Dave.  I had two 2 litre Carlton CD's in succession before going on to the Senator and Omega's. The Carlton, without modification, was a great motorway car for me on business and went up to great speeds, which meant once I did a run from Bristol to Whitby in 3.5 hours.

The Carlton's were lovely cars, but I always wanted either the 3 litre plain version, or better still, the GSi featured in your earlier picture

[dave the builder]

I think the 2L 4 banger Carlton was under rated , it would sit at 70 all day long
sadly with it's thermo viscous fan , it disliked traffic jams or sitting at zero MPH 
resolved with a retro fit electric fan

but engine technology has moved on dramatically ,as you say

it's a shame they only fit all the new technology into ugly, jelly mould, FWD tat 

[BazaJT]

In the early '60s dads company Super Snipe came due for replacement and duly made way for a brand new Van Den Plas 3L[gloss black with a gold pinstripe down its flanks.loads of chrome and a bright red interior reg. number was 4567 ET] at the end of the first month as it was being taken to the dealers to have its 3rd gearbox fitted dad told them to keep it and went back to the much loved Super Snipe and stayed with them until they ceased production in '67.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

In the early '60s dads company Super Snipe came due for replacement and duly made way for a brand new Van Den Plas 3L[gloss black with a gold pinstripe down its flanks.loads of chrome and a bright red interior reg. number was 4567 ET] at the end of the first month as it was being taken to the dealers to have its 3rd gearbox fitted dad told them to keep it and went back to the much loved Super Snipe and stayed with them until they ceased production in '67.

Two words to make Lizzie go all misty-eyed and nostalgic .......

[Lizzie Zoom]

In the early '60s dads company Super Snipe came due for replacement and duly made way for a brand new Van Den Plas 3L[gloss black with a gold pinstripe down its flanks.loads of chrome and a bright red interior reg. number was 4567 ET] at the end of the first month as it was being taken to the dealers to have its 3rd gearbox fitted dad told them to keep it and went back to the much loved Super Snipe and stayed with them until they ceased production in '67.

Two words to make Lizzie go all misty-eyed and nostalgic .......

 

My father-in-law had the Snipe, and yes I am still very fond of that car as it taught me how to drive a lovely big, heavy, and full leather interior 1950's car with no power steering and a non-synchromesh gear box. The 'modern' cars I drove after that were a doddle, and helped me pass my driving test. My father-in-law, who was such a lovely guy, and an ex-British Army man who drove lorries throughout WW2, knew all about driving vehicles with 'crash gearboxes' and he passed the skills on to me.  I miss him, the Humber Snipe, and the Austin Westminster.  God let them all rest / rust in peace!

[Lizzie Zoom]

In the early '60s dads company Super Snipe came due for replacement and duly made way for a brand new Van Den Plas 3L[gloss black with a gold pinstripe down its flanks.loads of chrome and a bright red interior reg. number was 4567 ET] at the end of the first month as it was being taken to the dealers to have its 3rd gearbox fitted dad told them to keep it and went back to the much loved Super Snipe and stayed with them until they ceased production in '67.

Yes, I for one love the nostalgia of those cars and the ones that had gone before, but it is all too easy to forget how those same vehicles broke down so frequently, with gearbox, big end, carburetor, tappet, distributer, etc, etc problems.  On most trips on the road you would always see other vehicles with their bonnets up and men (yes, it usually was in those days! ) scratching their heads as they attempted a repair.  The average British car had either built in flaws, or ones produced during production when quality control seems not to have existed!

The 1960's cars on to the ones of the 1970's were sometimes / often awful.  My first Ford Escort Mk1 had a patch of paint missing from the right front wing; the Ford Cortina Mk2 i had for a short while had a long reach gear stick, which came off whilst driving; my first Ford Cortina Mk3 had various engine problems; the first Ford Cortina Mk4 was supplied to me with the drive shaft linkage not bolted up correctly, until only one bolt was holding it on whilst I was doing 60; the same cars alternator packed up after just 4,000 miles; the next Ford Cortina Mk4 overheated after having it just a week out of the dealers, with me finding a huge chunk of metal shaff inside the inlet pipe over the thermostat; then we went to Vauxhalls of the 1980's and the cars did not let me down!!

When I think back to the amount of Morris Minors I saw with collapsed front suspension; Rover 2000 and 3500 broken down at the side of the road, then numerous Ford, BMC (like Mini's, 1100 & 1300's) , Rootes Group, and many other cars I also saw in trouble on my very long business journeys, with RAC or AA vans assisting, was then never ending. That did not ever include all those cars that would not start the following morning after a damp night, as I had myself on quite a few occasions.

How lucky we are with our 1990's and 2000's cars!

[Nick W]

Some rose tinted spectacles there I think.
Modern cars still breakdown but the failures tend to be either electrical or major mechanical ones, neither of which are fixable at the roadside. The AA, RAC, Greenflag, National Breakdown etc are just as busy as they always were, and that doesn't include the smaller more recent providers.
Anyone who has worked for manufacturer's warranty providers will tell you that they're busy too; the company I worked for had at least five people on the road, and meeting colleagues at main dealers happened every week. We were at Maidstone Mercedes so often that they told us to just unload cars without checking in first!
You could proably convince me that cars designed in the 90s and 00s  were better than ones from 20 years earlier, but the increased complexityand cost of getting work done means that we've gone backwards; for instanc3 the cost ofa replacement clutch can easily kill a £1000 everyday car

[BazaJT]

Yes dad was "lucky" in as much as up until '69 all his cars were company cars were company cars replaced at maximum 2 yearly intervals. If they didn't start/broke down he simply phoned a garage to get them fixed.When Super Snipe production ended he wanted a P5B but grandad[his dad] wouldn't allow it so he got a MkIV Zodiac Executive which as it turned out was his last company car.When buying privately he bought a Wolesley 18/85 which was then joined by a 5yr old Silver Cloud III,they were then both replaced by a Mercedes 280CE pillarless coupe which was then replaced[because once in the garage he couldn't open the door wide enough to get out!]by a '74 Escort MK1 1300XL which he owned until he passed away in '77.

[henryd]

......anyway Motor magazine managed 112.5 mph in 1965 and zero to sixty in 12.7 seconds.

With a tailwind and downhill?

I was passenger  (about 9 years old)in a A110 Westminster that just touched the magic ton,it took miles and much 4 star to do it though but it seemed proper fast then on 7.50x13 crossplies