Love them or hate them

[CaptainK]

But then, if the body panels are all stainless steel, surely you can take them off and put them in the dishwasher with the rest of the stainless steel utensils.....

 

[Chuffer]

But then, if the body panels are all stainless steel, surely you can take them off and put them in the dishwasher with the rest of the stainless steel utensils.....

I think the missus might have something to say about that !

 

[Chuffer]

Food for thought , is the Messerschmitt KR a gull with only one wing or just half a scissor door ?

 

[Roscobbc]

Hardly the height of motoring fashion even its day but how about the slide door Bedford CA van ? Me and three mates drove one all the way down through France , over the Pyranees and down to Benidorm in 1973 and back via Biarritz . Painfully slow but great for driving in the Spanish heat of high summer with the doors slid back . If you stoView attachment 28399od on the brakes the doors slammed shut of their own accord though .

As a teenager a bunch of us hired a van version of the Dormobile for the 300 mile trip from Essex to Newquay for a weeks holiday. No M25, M4 or M5 back then. There were 4 or 5 of us in the van plus tents and camping gear.
Obviously several of us sat in the rear.....on the wheel arches?. This van had the sliding front doors - seem to recall a strap holding them back open.
The great thing in summer was driving around with both doors open - the front seat passenger would rest his foot on the open door frame.........if that retaining strap was to snap under hard braking.......it could make a nasty mess of your foot........
Did the same trip a year or so later in a 1960 Mini - 4 of us, two tents, camping gear and sleeping bags with the boot lid open holding stuff........must have been crazy.....seem to recall it being an 8 to 10 hour journey!

 

[Roscobbc]

Food for thought , is the Messerschmitt KR a gull with only one wing or just half a scissor door ?
View attachment 28405

My first vehicle (other than a motorcycle combination) with more than 2 wheels

 

[Nassau65]

The sliding front door transit was pretty cool. We had a couple of them in blue. I remember the summer of 76, helping with deliveries sitting in the passenger seat door open trying to keep cool.

Health and safety people would have a field day nowadays.

 

[Roscobbc]

The sliding front door transit was pretty cool. We had a couple of them in blue. I remember the summer of 76, helping with deliveries sitting in the passenger seat door open trying to keep cool.

Health and safety people would have a field day nowadays.

And with no seatbelts (in earlier vans) and no legislation applicable back then to even use them if fitted...........go around a corner too fast there's a risk of loosing a front seat passenger. Didn't seem a worry on LT double decker buses though

 

[Nassau65]

And with no seatbelts (in earlier vans) and no legislation applicable back then to even use them if fitted...........go around a corner too fast there's a risk of loosing a front seat passenger. Didn't seem a worry on LT double decker buses though

I very nearly fell out of the drivers seat of a 1976 Trans Am. Wasn’t wearing a seat belt, and door wasn’t properly shut. As I went round the corner door opened, I slid towards the open gap, dad grabbed me and pulled me in.
Happy days.

 

[Chuffer]

My first vehicle (other than a motorcycle combination) with more than 2 wheels

A Berkley I do believe ? Chain driven motor cycle engine .There is an old boy local to my area that turns up in a green one that he has owned for donkey`s years .

 

[Chuffer]

As a teenager a bunch of us hired a van version of the Dormobile for the 300 mile trip from Essex to Newquay for a weeks holiday. No M25, M4 or M5 back then. There were 4 or 5 of us in the van plus tents and camping gear.
Obviously several of us sat in the rear.....on the wheel arches?. This van had the sliding front doors - seem to recall a strap holding them back open.
The great thing in summer was driving around with both doors open - the front seat passenger would rest his foot on the open door frame.........if that retaining strap was to snap under hard braking.......it could make a nasty mess of your foot........
Did the same trip a year or so later in a 1960 Mini - 4 of us, two tents, camping gear and sleeping bags with the boot lid open holding stuff........must have been crazy.....seem to recall it being an 8 to 10 hour journey!

We sure knew how to have fun in our youth didn`t we ? For me , 1971 was 6 of us in a Commer 15 cwt from Northampton to Dover , Calais down through central France , then over very tricky mountain roads in the Pyranees ( at night !! ) into Andorra and on to Spain . Camped in Callella for a few days then drove down the coast to Benidorm . We didn`t rate the place so drove up through Zaragoza to Saint Sebastian and camped . Then up to Biarritz for a week and the surfer scene . Real cool , and oh my ! the French girls . Then a long drive back up to Paris for a night ( slept rough in some woods ! ) then a final dash back to Calais and the ferry to end that 3 week trek . With fading headlights in the dark near Silverstone as the dynamo brushes gave up we limped home to Northampton on the battery !! Don`t know how many 1000 miles we put on that old Commer as we run it into the ground on camping trips in the UK and going to all the major rock festivals . We fitted leather front seats and rear bench seat from a scrap yard Mk2 Jaguar in the back and was well comfortable .
1972 was the same 6 of us in a 3 speed column shift Thames 15 cwt van doing France and Spain again . 1973 was me 3 different mates in the Bedford slide door van doing France and Spain again down to Benidorm , then up the Med coast and back up to Biarritz for another week . We drove from Calais to Benidorm in one hit by taking it in turns to drive , navigate and sleep in the back . That was just to win a bet with some lads we were at college with at the time who were flying to Benidorm on a package holiday . They said our old van would never get us there , so we found out what hotel they were staying in and we were actually sitting outside the hotel drinking cold beers when their bus arrived with them from the airport . The look on their faces was priceless !! When asked if we were going to stay in town we said " no , been here before " and promptly drove off to the Atlantic coast . Point made !
As you say Ross , the Bedford`s slide doors were great to open on hot drives as long as the front passenger braced one leg against the wheel arch as per USA Willis Jeep style . One of my mates had one of them too but that`s another story !!

 

[Nassau65]

You certainly had some fantastic adventures.

 

[antijam]

An unusual but not unique 'door' design was incorporated in the Nova kit car.
Originally a British design originating in the '70's featuring a glassfibre shell to be mounted on a VW beetle pan and mechanicals, it was subsequently widely licensed and kits were produced under various names somewhere in the world well into the '90's.
This is an american version, where it was called the Sterling......


Rarely seen these days, they were a not uncommon sight in the Kit Car heydays. Only a year or two ago one cropped up briefly parked a mile or so from where I live.

 

[Chevrolet]

Rarely seen these days, they were a not uncommon sight in the Kit Car heydays. Only a year or two ago one cropped up briefly parked a mile or so from where I live.

Saw one (Lotus powered) this May at a car meet in Cobham.

 

[Roscobbc]

A Berkley I do believe ? Chain driven motor cycle engine .There is an old boy local to my area that turns up in a green one that he has owned for donkey`s years .

328cc Excesior Talisman 2 stroke twin. 4 speed sequential gearbox - Dynastart. Superb handling.......on a par with a Mini!

 

[Roscobbc]

I very nearly fell out of the drivers seat of a 1976 Trans Am. Wasn’t wearing a seat belt, and door wasn’t properly shut. As I went round the corner door opened, I slid towards the open gap, dad grabbed me and pulled me in.
Happy days.

The Berkeley I owned had 'issues' with its construction. Main structual component was a stamped mild steel 'punt' which the laid-up 'glass front and rear body sections were pop rivetted to.
'Enthusiastic' acceleration, clutch dropping would not just snap the drive train but additionally would stress the rivetted 'glass body section joints resulting in the rivets 'pulling through' the respective 'glass body section joints.
Heavy braking would cause the front scuttle to judder, and the doors lift off their catches and involuntarily open.
It was a really bad move to combine both heavy braking and an aggressive sharp turn at the same time. A door would tend to fly open, snap its check strap and open 180 degrees, snapping-off its hinges and falling-off, generally skidding up the road (as happened to me once).

 

[Chuffer]

The sliding front door transit was pretty cool. We had a couple of them in blue. I remember the summer of 76, helping with deliveries sitting in the passenger seat door open trying to keep cool.

Health and safety people would have a field day nowadays.

Now that was a proper heat wave in 1976 , seemed to on for ever and reservoirs drying up like parched deserts . Nobody ranted about global warming back then !!!

 

[Chuffer]

The Berkeley I owned had 'issues' with its construction. Main structual component was a stamped mild steel 'punt' which the laid-up 'glass front and rear body sections were pop rivetted to.
'Enthusiastic' acceleration, clutch dropping would not just snap the drive train but additionally would stress the rivetted 'glass body section joints resulting in the rivets 'pulling through' the respective 'glass body section joints.
Heavy braking would cause the front scuttle to judder, and the doors lift off their catches and involuntarily open.
It was a really bad move to combine both heavy braking and an aggressive sharp turn at the same time. A door would tend to fly open, snap its check strap and open 180 degrees, snapping-off its hinges and falling-off, generally skidding up the road (as happened to me once).

Sounds like a death trap to me ! At least the self opening doors allowed an easy escape in an emergency .

 

[Chuffer]

An unusual but not unique 'door' design was incorporated in the Nova kit car.
Originally a British design originating in the '70's featuring a glassfibre shell to be mounted on a VW beetle pan and mechanicals, it was subsequently widely licensed and kits were produced under various names somewhere in the world well into the '90's.
This is an american version, where it was called the Sterling......
View attachment 28406
View attachment 28407
Rarely seen these days, they were a not uncommon sight in the Kit Car heydays. Only a year or two ago one cropped up briefly parked a mile or so from where I live.

I always thought they were the best looking kit car them all .

 

[Chuffer]

You certainly had some fantastic adventures.

Yeah ! They were great times without a care in the world . Never paid much for any of the vans and no breakdown cover in those days , just took a few spares like fan belt , bulbs and jerry cans full of petrol . If we broke down we said would either fix it or abandon it and hitch hike home . We actually did a head gasket change on the Commer in a pub car park in the Peak District after me and one of mates had thumbed a ride into Sheffield and back to buy a new gasket . Probably the 113 degree F heat in Spain had done it in as we used more oil and water than a steam engine on that jaunt It was a very gentle drive back down the M1 with the head bolts torqued up by hitting the spanner with a hammer !! We sold it after that for what we paid for it .

 

[Roscobbc]

Sounds like a death trap to me ! At least the self opening doors allowed an easy escape in an emergency .

Back then in the very late 60's and 10 years old it was considered an old banger and worn-out (unlike todays cars, which at 10 years old are just getting started......). Yes, a death trap indeed, and it really was worn-out. Amazing that so many have survived and are now cherished.