Overtaken by an - A30 or A35

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Sat 30 May 2015 19:49
Overtaken by an - A30 or A35 - oldroverboy.

There we were in lane 2 on the M25 clockwise this afternoon at about 60 something when an A30 went past us at 70+ mph in lane 4.

And noI hadn't been drinking!

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Sat 30 May 2015 20:11
Overtaken by an - A30 or A35 - Doc

Some of these were converted to accept the MG Midget and Austin Healey Sprite engines either 1098 cc or 1275 cc.

Other bits (brakes, suspension arms, dampers) from these cars bolt straight on.

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Sat 30 May 2015 21:46
Overtaken by an - A30 or A35 - John Boy

Only this morning a neighbour was telling me about a local garage owner who races one.

There are some more here:

tinyurl.com/nza777m

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Sat 30 May 2015 23:14
Overtaken by an - A30 or A35 - ExA35Owner

My two A35s, well past their prime when I bought them in the 1970s, would just about do an indicated 70, though I have no idea at all how accurate the speedometers were.....

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Sun 31 May 2015 13:29
Overtaken by an - A30 or A35 - mike hannon

I had an A35 about 1969. It had a stage one tune - ie the rotten sills were filled and repainted by my pal in the trade who used the paint he put on his own MGA.

We were coming out of Exmouth 4-up one evening when we sneaked up on and passed an unsuspecting bloke in an MGB. We laughed about it for weeks.

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Sun 31 May 2015 15:21
Overtaken by an - A30 or A35 - expat

One A30 had a 3lt 6 cylinder Holden engine put in. Supposedly it was good for 140mph.

www.uniquecars.ninemsn.com.au/portal/alias__unique...x

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Sun 31 May 2015 16:20
Overtaken by an - A30 or A35 - madf

I owned an A30 as a student. £40 it cost.

I am amzed anyone dares drive one.. once crash and it will break into bits...or the steering column will kill you..

And they are SOOO narrow...

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Sun 31 May 2015 19:26
Overtaken by an - A30 or A35 - ExA35Owner

My A35s were so much more expensive: £60 and £70!

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Sun 31 May 2015 21:25
Overtaken by an - A30 or A35 - bathtub tom

Had a 4-door A35. I'm over six feet tall. Modified the seat runners so I could get comfortable, but it meant I had look through the rear door window at junctions.

Gave the appearence of no driver or one sitting in the back seat.

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Sun 31 May 2015 22:29
Overtaken by an - A30 or A35 - focussed

I seem to remember that the rear brakes were cable operated from a single brake cylinder mounted on the chassis that pulled on the linkage leading to the rear drums.

Shudders!

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Mon 1 Jun 2015 00:15
Overtaken by an - A30 or A35 - bathtub tom

I seem to remember that the rear brakes were cable operated from a single brake cylinder mounted on the chassis that pulled on the linkage leading to the rear drums.

It's worse than that!

That single brake cylinder was mounted under the (RH side located) handbrake and pulled the same rods (IIRC).

If a certain clevis pin failed, the single slave cylinder would have nothing to push against, resulting in total brake failure (foot and hand).

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Wed 3 Jun 2015 00:31
Overtaken by an - A30 or A35 - Bilboman

I took my granny's A35 for a short trip in the country one afternoon, the day Dad and I went to clear out her house and sell things. (One of the things was the car in question.)
Lots of play in the steering, a rorty exhaust note and, oh yes, those drum brakes...
I began to cadence brake in Wiltshire and came to a stop in Gloucestershire.

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Wed 3 Jun 2015 16:58
Overtaken by an - A30 or A35 - ExA35Owner

Brakes did work - after 1950s fashion - going forwards. Rolling backwards down a hill, they were spectacularly useless and very terrifying. Did drive over Hard Knott and Wrynose in one of mine: exciting would be one description......

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Wed 3 Jun 2015 18:52
Overtaken by an - A30 or A35 - bathtub tom

Brakes did work - after 1950s fashion - going forwards.

They had twin leading shoe front brakes - became twin trailing shoe when going backwards.

They worked fine, for their time, but you had to keep on top of adjustments.

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Thu 4 Jun 2015 01:54
Overtaken by an - A30 or A35 - Avant

It's 46 years since I had my first car, a 14-year-old Austin A50 (similarly equipped with unservoed drum brakes) but I don't remember there being a problem, and I certainly did hill starts in it. I didn't drive it over Hardknott although I did drive it in Guildford, which is almost as bad with the addition of a high proportion of drivers who are 90 in the shade.

I can still remember going over one of those passes - must have been in the 1970s as we had a Maxi - and the line of cars in front stopped for some reason going up a steep bit. One of the cars in the line, an elderly Wolseley 1500, suddenly rolled backwards, off the road and down a bank. Fortunately it soon hit a tree and the driver and passenger emerged uninjured. I've never forgotten the number - 273 GUM.

Clearly the brakes just wouldn't hold it, but if properly maintained and adjusted, I think 1950s brakes could hold a car on a hill facing either way.

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Thu 4 Jun 2015 08:21
Overtaken by an - A30 or A35 - Dwight Van Driver

A30 - van - ahhh memories

Many, many, many years ago recovered an A30 van that had been stolen. That vehicle had the sweetest gearbox of any car I have driven. Like silk.

dvd

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