AUTOMOBILE WORLD – CAR NEWS, CAR REVIEWS, CAR INTRODUCTIONS, ALL ABOUT CARS » dream car http://mycarblog.org Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:36:14 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 TRIUMPH 2000 MKI http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/25/triumph-2000-mki/ http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/25/triumph-2000-mki/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:00:36 +0000 fahad majidi http://mycarblog.org/?p=3937 With the introduction of the Michelotti styled Triumph 2000 of 1963, a new kind of executive car was born. A luxurious 2 liter, six cylinder, four door saloon with compact dimensions and youthful diver appeal, it clashed head on with Rover 2000, a technically more sophisticated car than the Triumph. However, the Rover was bereft of the refinement of the Triumph’S six cylinder engine. Making 90 bhp, the old Standard Vanguard derived twin carburetor straight six could haul the 2000 up to just on 100 mph (160 km/h) in manual overdrive form. With all independent suspension (struts up front, semi trailing arms at the back) and servo front discs, the 2000 was a comfortable, nicely finished, well mannered car, just for the new breed of young executives who didn’t want big, lumbering cars of the old school. Leather seats, with a wooden dashboard and door cappings, increased its up-market image and sales were strong. The car’s appeal was broadened in 1965 by variants such as the 2000 Estate, one of the most handsome load carriers of its generations, which wasn’t bettered at the time.

Best of the bunch however was the 2.5 Pl of 1968, with the Lucas injected 2.5 liter engine form the Triumph TR5, detuned to 132 bhp by virtue of a single outlet manifold, tamer valve timing, and the milder camshaft from the GT6 MK II. Top speed leaped to 160 mph (170km/h), with 0-60 (96 km/h) in 10.6 seconds. Production of the classic original 2000/2500 saloons and estates the classic in 1969. It was landmark car for Triumph and opened up a new niche market that it very capably filled during it six year lifetime.

Searched as:]]> http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/25/triumph-2000-mki/feed/ 0 TRIUMPH TR 4-5-6 http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/24/triumph-tr-4-5-6/ http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/24/triumph-tr-4-5-6/#comments Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:34:50 +0000 fahad majidi http://mycarblog.org/?p=3929 By the beginning of the saloons, Triumph’s enduring TR 3 needed a facelift if the needed sales and interest were to be maintained. Triumph decided on a European look and went shopping for Italian styling. They ended up hiring Michelotti to re-skin the car in a more shapely body that also had to be both roomier and a little more comfortable than the TR3. Launched as the TR 4 in 1962 it retained all the rugged qualities of its predecessors. Chief among these were a torquey 2.2 liters four cylinder engine and a separate chassis. However, an all synocromesh box was an innovation. Complaints about the poor road holding and the bumpy ride were answered by the TR 4a of the 1965, which came with a new form of semi trailing arm rear suspension shared with the highly praised Triumph 2000 saloon. More power was the next obvious step, so Triumph fitted their new 2.5 liter straight six in the TR 5 of 1967. Injected and producing 150 bhp, this gave the TR a much smoother delivery and the potential for up to 120 mph.

This was a short lived variant however, and it was supplanted in 1969 by the TR 6, with new crisper, if less characterful-styling from the German firm of Karmann. Mechanically little changed, and the TR 6 continued to sell in large numbers, mostly to the North American market, until 1976 when it was no longer able to meet the increasingly strict challenge of the Federal safety requirements.

Searched as:]]> http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/24/triumph-tr-4-5-6/feed/ 0 TVR VIXEN http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/22/tvr-vixen/ http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/22/tvr-vixen/#comments Sun, 22 Aug 2010 18:56:12 +0000 fahad majidi http://mycarblog.org/?p=3827 Under new ownership of Arthur and Martin Lilley, TVR, sportscar builders of Blackpool, Lancashirem became a more professtional company. The 1967 Vixen, son of the earlier Grantura, was one of the first products of this new approach. Outwardly the entry level TVR looked much like its predecessor with the usual ‘sausage bonnet’ front end. A closer inspection revealed new ‘Manxtail’ styling with a bigger rear window and Mkl Cortina lights behind, at the rear. Although the first few cars had an MGB engine, TVR policy was now to just offer one unit, the 88bhp 1599cc Ford Cortina GT limp, matched to the excellent Ford four speed gearbox. The optional brake servo became standard on the S2 of 1968, which also had a longer wheelbase chassis developed for the Tuscan SE, bolt on (not bonded on) body panels, twin bonnet vents and Cortina Mkll rear lights. The S3 of 1970 had a 92bhp engine, and vents in the front wings.

It was still available as a kit but the new Lilley management no longer encouraged do it yourselfers and, in any case, by the of the decade new British purchase tax rules wiped out the kit market. The 1600M carried on the tradition of a small engined TVR after 1973, but by then the majority of buyers were opting for the much faster 3 liter models.

Searched as:]]> http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/22/tvr-vixen/feed/ 1 TVR TUSCAN V6 http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/21/tvr-tuscan-v6/ http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/21/tvr-tuscan-v6/#comments Sat, 21 Aug 2010 21:28:18 +0000 fahad majidi http://mycarblog.org/?p=3783 TVR began building fiberglass sports cars with tubular chassis frames in the 1950s, and they sold most of them as kits to be built at home. The first cars had four cylinder engines but, in the 1960s, TVR offered the Griffith with Ford V8 power and the Tuscan V6, the first of a long line of cars using the 3 liter Ford ‘Essex’ engine. In concept the Tuscan V6, launched in 1969 at 1500 pounds for the do-it-yourself kit, was a niche filler between the four cylinder Vixen and the slow selling Tuscan V8. The chassis and demountable body was a Series Two Manx tail Vixen with Tuscan V8 alloy wheels and brakes, and Fords 3 liter V6 engine (giving 128 bhp) and four speed gearbox optionally over driven on third and top, also had the strengthened Salisbury lock differential of the V8. The only way you could spot one from the outside was the badging and twin exhaust pipes. The delicate corner bumpers, big tapering rear window and Mk II Cortina rear lights were pure Vixen.

In fact, only 101 Tuscans built between 1969 and 1971. Its engine, the unit from the Ford Zodiac 3 liter, didn’t meet North American emission regulations, and TVR couldn’t sell the Tuscan there with dirty power. It was this scenario that gave rise to the TVR 2500 with a clean Triumph straight six engine, but the V6 would live in the improved M Series models.

Searched as:]]> http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/21/tvr-tuscan-v6/feed/ 0 VANDEN PLAS 4-LITER R http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/20/vanden-plas-4-liter-r/ http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/20/vanden-plas-4-liter-r/#comments Fri, 20 Aug 2010 20:35:49 +0000 fahad majidi http://mycarblog.org/?p=3740 Launched in 1964, the Vanden Plas 4- liter R was the only fruit of a liaison between Rolls Royce and the British Motor Corporation (BMC). It was a high specification, wood and leather luxury saloon based on the 3- liter A110 Westminster shell, but using a 4- liter Rolls Royce straight six engine. Externally, it sported clipped tail fins and horizontal tail lights, and more upright front and rear windscreens to increase the headroom inside. The shell was stiffened to improve the handling, and featured smaller 13in. (33cm) wheels. Inside, the 4-liter R had the full Vanden Plas treatment, with Connolly leather on the seats and lavish use of walnut veneer on the dashboard, door cappings and picnic tables. With a claimed 175bhp, the smooth, all-alloy, seven bearing, Rolls Royce straight six gave the 4-liter R an impressive turn of speed. It accelerated cleanly up to 100mph (160km/h), and road testers attained up to 112mph (179kmlh) flat out. With the standard Bong Warner Model 8 automatic gearbox, there was no manual option, the car would whisk up to 60mph (96km/h) in an effortless 12.7 seconds.

The pay off was a dismal 14mpg (20liters/100km) thirst, and the critics were underwhelmed by the 4-liter’s overlight power steering, which lacked feel and precision. A projected output of 100 cars a week from the Vanden Plas Kinsbury works never actually rose above 60. Even at that rate there was a big stockpile of 4-liter Rs. BMC ended the unequal struggle in 1968, with sales totaling just 6555 cars.

Searched as:]]> http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/20/vanden-plas-4-liter-r/feed/ 0 TVR CERBERA http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/19/tvr-cerbera/ http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/19/tvr-cerbera/#comments Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:27:02 +0000 fahad majidi http://mycarblog.org/?p=3730 Other TVRs had looked good and performed strongly but the Cerbera was different. For the first time here was a TVR with its own bespoke engine. This was in the form of a 4.2 liter V8 packing a 350bhp punch, the promise of 185mph and scorching acceleration. Best of all, this came for the price of an ordinary executive saloon. Engine apart, the Cerbera was mostly traditional TVR, the GRP body covering tubular space frame. It was a fixed head only though, with an imaginative 2+2 interior that showed amazingly little evidence of the parts- bin plundering so typical of this type of low volume car. The engine had flat plane crank that gave it much busier, less brutal engine note than the Rover engined cars. Low down it wasn’t as torquey either, but a light flywheel allowed pin sharp pick up for devastating through the gears acceleration. The Cerbera was renowned for the way it could demonstrate its power.

It has an engine of V8, with 4185 cc with the total amount of power 350 bhp. It could accelerate up to 100mph (162km/h) in 9 seconds beating speed. In 2004 long term owner Peter Wheeler sold TVR to a young Russian businessman Nikolay Smolensky. However, by 2006 TVR production had slowed to a crawl and stopped all together by the end of the year.

Searched as:]]> http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/19/tvr-cerbera/feed/ 0 VAUXHALL ASTRA 16V http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/17/vauxhall-astra-16v/ http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/17/vauxhall-astra-16v/#comments Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:29:03 +0000 fahad majidi http://mycarblog.org/?p=3675 The motoring press’s disappointment when it first saw the boxy lines of the Mk 2 Golf was turned into delight when General Motors launched the new Astra a year later, in 1984. Here was a car that looked like it was fit for 1980s, with a low, rounded nose, rising window line and high tail. The body details, such as the wing mirrors and bumpers, were carefully smoothed and integrated into the futuristic shape. Vauxhall had already built up a decent reputation for its Sri- and GTE badged sports models, and few were disappointed by the unveiling of the smartly dressed 1.8 liter GTE in the late summer. The interior was as well considered as the outside, getting heavily bolstered sports seats and an LED- display dashboard. The feeling was that the Golf GTI was just too civilized and refined to be a hot hatch; the Vauxhall was rather more brutal and torquey in its delivery. The Astra, though, trumped the hot hatch pack in 1988 with the launch of a new 2.0 liter 16 valve engine for the GTE. An advanced mass market design for the era, the engine produced 154bhp which, mounted in the relatively light shell of the GTE, allowed near supercar in gear performance.

Unlike the vast majority of the new 16 valve engines, the General Motors unit was very torquey, even at low revs. The Astra GTE 16V was about as hot as the hot hatch got in its heyday, but that didn’t guarantee sales success. It was quick, but had a rather ragged ride, a propensity to torque- steer and was difficult to drive flat out. Ultimately, the Golf’s suave image and more mature road behavior proved a more popular driving blend with buyers.

Searched as:]]> http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/17/vauxhall-astra-16v/feed/ 0 VAUXHALL LOTUS CARLTON http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/16/vauxhall-lotus-carlton/ http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/16/vauxhall-lotus-carlton/#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:03:15 +0000 fahad majidi http://mycarblog.org/?p=3626 To open motoring magazine of the late 1980s was to be confronted by an extraordinary number of super high performance road cars. The most extreme road car based super car was the Lotus Carlton, which was launched in a blizzard of bad publicity. The company had to suffer police chiefs in the UK sounding off about the irresponsibility of producing a car capable of 176mph (282km/h). GM gave the respected midsized Carlton/Omega saloon to Lotus (its then subsidiary) to be transformed into a car that could carry four people, and frighten the average Ferrari at the same time. Most of the modification centered on the straight six 24 valve engine. The block was strengthened, and then Lotus increased the capacity and made some modifications to the head design. Manifolds that could resist 750 degree temperatures were fitted, along with twin Garrett turbochargers. A new electronic management unit was sourced, and a charge cooler was also fitted, to massively increase the effectiveness of the turbos. Other GM companies around the world were roped in, with Holden in Australia donating the rear differential and Chevrolet the Corvette ZR-1’s six speed manual gearbox.

One of the finest body styling kits ever seen, designed by Lotus’s Julian Thomson, completed the Lotus Carlton project. A four wheel drive conversion was mooted, but GM decided against the investment. The result was a staggeringly fast car, 0-100mph (160mph) in 11.8 seconds that was also very refined. The Lotus Carlton was well capable of crossing continents faster than anything else on four wheels, but needed the kind of road space to exploit its performance that’s rarely on offer in Europe.

Searched as:]]> http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/16/vauxhall-lotus-carlton/feed/ 0 KARMANN GHIA http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/14/karmann-ghia/ http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/14/karmann-ghia/#comments Sat, 14 Aug 2010 18:43:46 +0000 fahad majidi http://mycarblog.org/?p=3539 The exotic Italian looks of the VW Karmann Ghia hid annoyingly uncharismatic VW Beetle power, but for some that very deceit has always been part of the cars charm, and the looks of Karmann Ghia are more than enough to make you forgive it almost anything, even its reliance on Beetle power. Designed by Ghia of Italy and it was built by Karmann in Germany, on a slightly widened Beetle platform, the car made an instant hit in the market when it was revealed to the general public in the late 1955 and sales lasted strongly for almost 20 years. A carbriolet followed the Coupe production in 1957 and in America they sold by the boat load nobody seemed to mind that these rather expensive machines drove just like a humble VW Beetle. In fact, some enthusiasts almost seemed to relish the fact of this limitation. There was an attempt to up date the concept of the ride in the 1961 when the bigger more modern version with a 1500 engine was offered, based on the Type 3 VW.

It was plusher and faster than the previous one but never caught on like the original, although 42,000 sales in eight years in hardly disastrous for the Karmann Ghia. The power went up gradually over the years, but the Beetle’s trusty backbone platform, air cooled, rear mounted engine and rattling exhaust note remained the same. As did, of course, the well known reliability of the car.

Searched as:]]> http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/14/karmann-ghia/feed/ 0 GOLF GTI MK1 http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/13/golf-gti-mk1/ http://mycarblog.org/2010/08/13/golf-gti-mk1/#comments Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:46:36 +0000 fahad majidi http://mycarblog.org/?p=3446 In the early Volkswagen desperately needed to replace the venerable Beetle. A lot of people especially in the motoring press though that the company might fail to meet the challenge. It didn’t replace the old stalwart with a car that was destined for amazing success. The MK 1 golf was an utterly conventional interpretation of what was becoming the Euro small car norm a hatch back body powered by a transversely mounted front engine. Because it was a Volkswagen, the Golf was sensibly and ruggedly engineered and, perhaps best of all by the Italian designer Giugiaro. However, the MK 1 Golf will be remembered for more than those admirable traits. It was the basis for one of the most enduring automotive trends ever the hot hatch. It is this fact that makes it a true landmark car and has forever endured it a place in the history of the automobile. Early in the model’s life, enthusiast VW engineers tried fitting the Golf with the 110 bhp fuel injected 1.6 liter engine destined by the Audi 80 GTE, and the resulting prototype had a magic production and eventual popularity with the car buying public a certainly.

The winning formula for the original GTI was simple; a punchy engine, stiffish suspension and some sporty additions and trim. The unobtrusive spoiler, restrained striping and alloy wheels made for a suitable, but effective formula that was still being copied more than two decades later. The combination of reliability, strong performance and razor sharp handling meant that GTI became the common man’s sports car.

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