The A-Z of Cars

I have no model cars, but I would love to have that one. Gorgeous. I have always thought the Talbot-Lago was the most ahead-of-its-time car design ever.

All it costs is money. More than your first motorcycle.

Not quite sure where I'm going to place this -- already have a 'C' -- maybe it'll become my 'B' -- but I decided I wanted one and it was cheap. I really like the way the back opens up -- unique!

That looks like a Citroen 2CV or maybe a 2CV6. Good choice for "C" but I don't see how you can use it for "B".

Maybe "B" for Bizarre.

Citrōen 2CV Berline

Or D for deux chevaux.

At this point, Porsche and Bugatti are apparently not interested in completing my collection so I'm having to improvise.

The funny thing about the 2CV, it's 1952 but it looks like 1938. The Talbot Lago is 1938 but it looks like 1969.

Found a solution to my 'P' problem. Only $15.

Which is cooler, the ribbed bonnet or the spare tyre bonnet?

They're both ugly, but maybe the ribbed is slightly less ugly.

_Howard wrote:

What's that black strap on the back of the E-Type bonnet? Packing you forgot to remove?

The green Jag I acquired has these black bonnet straps too (you can see in the picture). I was extremely reluctant to force them open (they're pretty stout) but I noticed the underside of the hood was hinged to open at the front, so I screwed up my courage and pried them open. Yay, the hood opens.

So, in answer to your question, the hood latches are there to hold the very heavy hood down securely, and it takes a CONCERTED effort to open them.

NoCoPilot wrote:

So, in answer to your question, the hood latches are there to hold the very heavy hood down securely, and it takes a CONCERTED effort to open them.

The bonnet on the early E-Type was not very heavy and was very easy to open and close. Maybe it's just difficult on your toy cars. And they did open forward. Made it easier to work on them.

The answer i gave for the question early on:

_Howard wrote:

Hold down straps have always been available. I do not know for sure whether they were ever available as an option on the early production cars. Notice the pictured car is for competition. The sheet metal at the bottom attachment of the strap is not present in production cars. Competition cars quite often had bonnet straps in case of a shunt.

No Harley.
No GT-40.
No Jaguar.

I am so disappointed.

There are several makes on the YouTube video this comes from that I have never heard of before.

Emgrand?

Geely?

Qvale?

Uaz?

W Motors?

Xiali?

YES?

Zaz?

Oh. I thought that was your collection.

Had another idea for my missing “B”.

In this case, I think missing is better. You have so many options for "B".

Right now my Citröen is standing in for the letter U.

I dunno. "U-ropean" or something.

They're doing some construction up the street from us, forcing us to take a detour out of the neighborhood. Detour takes us past a house that has a Jensen Healey rotting away in the front yard. Looks about like this (but this isn't it):


When I was younger I really liked the looks of this car, and might have even considered buying one. But a co-worker at the time offered to GIVE me his, at no cost, because it was such an unmitigated piece of shit mechanically.

So I changed my mind.

But driving past it again today it occurred to me, hey, I could buy a 1:18 diecast model and have all of the fun with none of the pain.

Except I can't.

Apparently(?) nobody's ever made a 1:18 diecast Jensen Healey. There is a 1:43 which goes for stupid money.

They never should have made the 1:1 model.

When that car came out, I was still making a living working on British cars.
The local British car dealer used to send their Jensen-Healey customers to me. I wouldn't touch the silly things. And I worked on Triumph Stags, more rare than the Jensen. There were four Stags in the county, and I had three in my shop at one time. The fourth one was home in my garage.

I remember the Stag coming out - it got a spot in a TV show, as the hero's car. I told my dad it looked pretty good. He said that looks don't mean much.

I looked up "Triumph Stag on TV" and it showed up in a lot of programs. Even Dallas.

It was a pretty nice car. I really liked it. When I had fatal engine problems (well, not really fatal but I didn't want to work on it), I had a friend install a Mazda rotary engine. I eventually wound up selling it to another friend who drove it for many years. Then someone offered him way more than it was worth so he sold it.

The four Stags in the county: one was owned by a woman in the "horsey set" who eventually was killed when a horse tore out her throat. Another one was owned by a private detective (ex-cop). One was owned by a student from either Kuwait or Iran (I can't remember). And the fourth, or course, was mine. I managed to keep mine running from the money I made keeping the other three running.

Are you sure there were only four in this country?  Almost 26,000 were made, and I could SWEAR I've seen a couple before.

Wait. You said "county." Nevermind.