Just looking through my shed contents, a tin of copper grease big enough to last until year 3000, Simoniz Polish I bought before the children were born, Redex from about 1994 etc etc.
Come on - who's hoarding stuff from the fifties and sixties - 'just in case'?
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Still got most of a tub of Filtrate Plus lithium grease bought in 1977. And lots of bits in 50's/60's National Dried Milk tins from the FoL's stock.
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My dad has got a huge tin of copperslip grease that never seems to go down - it must be 15 years old easily
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I've still got a Nenette - a sort of duster / polisher with a handle - dating from when I got my first car in 1969. Last used in 1970-something and discovered may years later still in the garage.
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My Halfords' wheel-ramps first saw service under my 1965 Rover 2000 - that would be around 1977!
But then perhaps they don't count as you'd expect wheel ramps to last for decades.
Cheers, SS
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Half a can of Waxoyl still out in the shed from the days when I tried preserving my mk1 Astra (1987), along with approx a third of a can of tetroseal underseal bought for the same purpose.
I've also still got my original ice scraper / wiper blade that I bought for £1.99 back in 1985 when I got my first car. 8 cars later and it's still squeegee'ing the windows dry, just like the day when I first bought it.
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I've also still got my original ice scraper / wiper blade that I bought for £1.99 back in 1985
I've still got one that was brought back from Scandinavia by a colleague who had been carrying out cold climate tests on Rootes Group cars in about 1965.
--
L\'escargot.
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I have a spoke brush which originally used by my father before the war on his 1930 Humber 16, still useful for alloy spokes.
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I have a can of Duckhams lithium grease which (i think) came from my grandads garage when he died. Packaging looks very old but i have no idea how old it actually is.
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I found in the loft of my current house a owner's manual for a E12 BMW 5 series. It's on eBay as we speak (type?).
I'm sure that I've got some Isopon lurking from my Chevette days.
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I've still got a touch-up TIN of Ford peppermint green paint, bought in the early 80's.
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A Sutty foot pump. I have no idea how old it is, except it has "Made in England" stamped on it (when was the last time you saw that on anything?) and has it inhabited the great heavy chest of tools and yes-I-know-it's-junk-but-it-might-come-in-handy which has followed me around the world since 1967, so it must pre-date that. It probably remembers Harold Wilson, Selective Employment Tax and Retail Price Maintenance.........
I have replaced the perished hose on it a couple of times, and last year it started to wheeze not pump so I thought that's that. But anyway I took it apart simply to find the leather washer had dried out. A night's soak in 3-in-1 and the pump's as good as ever it was. Even the gauge works and is surprisingly accurate still. The Chinese double-barrelled one given to me last X'mas as a present busted within a week........
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An unopened tin of Girling Crimson brake fluid, dating from about 1968 when I had a Triumph Roadster 1800. In those days it was apparently important to use the correct fluid - Girling or Lockheed. There was no such thing as universal Dot something.
Ditto upper cylinder lubricant. Funny how things coloured red were felt to be more effective than colourless products.
Tin of pre-war Castrol Water-pump grease.
Rusty tins of T-cut and hard polish from the 50s.
Collection of piston ring compresors for cars I disposed of decades ago.
Valve grinding stick with useless rubber sucker, also double-ended tin of course/fine paste - will last a lifetime.
Box of old fashioned headlight bulbs from pre British pre-focus days, some 6 volt, but lettering now unreadable.
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>>>>>>>>>>>>Funny how things coloured red were felt to be more effective than colourless products.
I always put some of the runaway success of Duckham's Q20w/50 to the fact it was green. Seems like the marketeers were at it even then.
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When I was sorting out a shed in the house we bought recently I found a wing mirror for a 60s Ford. New in its box.
The box is in perfect condition apart from the glue on the joints has gone. The original glass has suffered some degredation but there is also a new piece of glass present.
I currently have my Haynes Manual for the first car I ever owned, a 1969 Mini 850.
Somewhere I'm sure I have some chrome grille trim for a series 6 Morris Oxford. This is also new and in its box.
I also have a load of spares for my old Renault Trafic van that I collected off e bay as I thought it was a good idea at the time. That van has now gone and I am finding out why I managed to come by this rubbish so cheaply to begin with.
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My father's garage, from which I removed some of the less desirable items earlier this year contained most notably:
Wheel ramps, c1950s - given to the vicar.
Tyre levers - why would he ever have wanted these? Stargazer is the only person who has admitted to me to having used tyre levers... in the Outback. These are now in the collection of Richard Hall (known to some of you from years gone by) who was excited to have been given them along with the next item:
Various sundry never-been fitted voltmeters, pressure gauges etc.
copious quantities of imperial spanners
Bottles of antifreeze that I imagine to have dated from the 1970s
A left hand drive headlamp lens for a Carlton (a remnant of a foreign holiday that saw the disintegration of its predecessor).
Some super duper gadget for setting the timing - brand new in box; 1970s.
Stacks of spare bulbs of various sizes.
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I still have the various spanners (and tyre levers!) that came in the toolkit of my first car - a 1949 Sunbeam Talbot (I bought it in 1968 - 19k on the clock). The (good quality)toolkit fitted in to a little compartment in front of the front drivers door, about next to your knee. Just next to this was a lever which opened a flap for ventilation - useful in summer but very cold in winter - no heater in those days - driving on a frosty/snowy morn meant several layers of clothes!!
I also have an old hydraulic jack which was my grandfather's - my dad said he remembered it from his schooldays in the 1930s - it still works!
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