Staff cars of the 50's.

I understood that we had Standard Vanguard's as staff cars because MoRAF Lord Tedder made the decision and in return got a directorship with Standard.

Staff cars of the 50s. - Ian

Only £5500 - don't all rush at once!

https://www.gumtree.com/p/other-cars...ery/1217875688

Jack

Fords were most notorious for non-wipers when under load, but the 1950s series Vauxhall Velox and Wyvern even had a knob on the dash for adjusting wiper speed, of course it made no difference. This posed problems for the police who used the Velox and found the wipers stopped when they opened up to chase the baddies.

Regarding oil consumption, and returning to our aviation theme, may I recommend OMD-370 as used in the Bristol Hercules? Being as thick as tar it greatly reduces oil consumption while muffling the bearing rattles as well. This quite extensive roadgoing use may have caused an apparent increase in Hastings oil consumption, though maybe I should not say this lest the Historic Allegations Squad breaks in the door. :uhoh:

I'll resist the temptation.

Fareastdriver (#10298),
In France in the '50s, two geniuses (genii ?) appeared. One was the Citroen body designer who came up with the "DS" * - a car so lovely that it can turn heads even today - but it was too pricey for most people in RAF(G), who had to do with the poor man's version, the Citroen "ID". Same body, but fewer bells 'n whistles, £620 if memory serves. Very popular with our barons on flying pay.

Note * : "DS" = "Dé-ess" = Déesse = "Goddess" (geddit ?)

At the same time a Peugeot suspension designer threw all preconceived ideas out of the fenêtre and started with a clean sheet. The result was the 403 # (£520 if you picked it up in Paris and cut out the German middleman). I bought one, it was the best car of my life. I got the 403J, with the very clever "Coupleur Jaeger" two-pedal transmission (Google: Coupleur Jaeger", select first website <divers403 - Blower>. (Schoolboy French will get you through, don't know what the Google translation would be like).

Note "#": all brightwork (except light rims) stainless steel (in an ordinary family car) !

If there is a Heaven, and if they have cars there, I want my 1950 Bond and my 1960 403J in my garage ! - nothing else,

Danny.

We had a Velox (I think '49) and IIRC it had electric wipers.

After an excellent landing etc...

Remember flt cdr on 360 jacking up his Slough built Citroen ID on the drive of his MQ one Saturday - and as the jack went up, only the centre of the car went with it whilst the wheels stayed on the ground. The sills had rusted through

Aaah, the Standard. I learnt, from a journey across the Pennines, to always carry a few tools* in my briefcase when travelling in a staff car.


* Thank heavens for the Leatherman in my latter years!

I remember how basic the Standard Eight of the fifties was. Sliding windows, driver-only wiper, no boot lid, luggage through the folding rear seat and a switch instead of an ignition key.

Who would want to nick one?

only one wiper ? NO ! When Australian National Airlines was confronted with unionism from its pilots just after the war, the MD Ivan Holyman , remained steadfast in refusing to fit wipers to the R/H windscreens of the many DC-3 s that lacked same. Eventually the newly formed pilots federation had a win. But it did not stop the uninformed prejudices of Ivan Holyman upsetting (and amusing) his troops. He addressed his pilots one day, complaining of their lack of respect and their crudeness in filling out maintenance logs. How so SIR? I will not have entries stating a component or an aircraft is U/S . We all knows what U/S really stands for . It is an obscenity.

I understood that the car didn't have a jack, just a prop.

One set the suspension to 'High', placed the prop under the car.
Then set the suspension to 'Low', the car couldn't go down, so the wheel came up.

Fareastdriver (#10298),

There were many cases in my time there ('60-'62) of VWs "pole-vaulting over the half-shaft" in the way you describe. It was said that, on average, every member of RAF(G) would make one crash insurance claim during his tour (ie, the good record of those who'd bought new cars to take home was counterbalanced by the bad one of others who'd bought an old 2/h one just to knock about in. The combination of power (the old Opel "Kapitan" was a favourite), wet cobbles, autobahnen with no speed limit, inexperience and cheap alcohol was disastrous. Curiously, the "wrong side of the road" played only a minor part - you had your "prang" when you came home and forgot where you were !

Consequently, comprehensive insurance was scarce and dear. There was no road tax (other than 17/6 [?] being a BFG Registration Fee, and you got a black plastic BFG number plate for that), but that saving was wiped out by the high cost of insurance. I was with General Accident, Fire & Life, and there was a Dutch company (name forgotten) which went bust. Other than that, I can't think of anyone else in the business.
I believe the record was 6½ minutes !

Danny.

Flash2001 (#10307),
Good car. It had a little (cheaper) brother, the "Wyvern", same body with only four pots and less power. Would think it too puny to sell in the US.

STOP PRESS,
Peugeot/Citroen have put in a bid to buy Vauxhall ( and Opel ?) from General Motors - much fluttering in the dovecotes !

Danny.

Wander00 (#10308) and ian16th (#10312),
Happened to me on the 403, too, after about 5 years. The side jack point was rusted out, the pillar jack wound up all right - but there was this horrible graunching sound.....
True, but the suspension oleo struts lifted the car up and you just put this "prop" under the point on the car, the struts retracted, and voilà....

But how on earth do you get the wheel nuts off with the tyre off the ground ?

Danny.

Slacken them off before you tell the suspension to do its tricks.

ian16th,

Of course - silly me !

Danny.

Jacking points? My Ford Popular had them in the rear passenger compartment... lift the carpet, and there was a little metal cover for the hole for the jack. Never used for that purpose, but quite handy for disposing of used rubber products.

TMI, sorry :(

Forgive the awry technicalities, outcome the same and it was about 50 years ago, feels like 100. Sadly the guy was not at the 360 Badge presentation at the RAF Club on Tuesday. His widow's claim is that he had radiation sickness from flying, deliberately and courageously, through the cloud post a nuclear explosion.

I wonder to what extent my BIL's cancers were caused by 'sniffing' on 27 Sqn.

The Chevvy Corvair was the American cousin of Danny's pole-vaulting VW and its swing-axle tuck-under antics inspired Ralph Nader to write Unsafe at any Speed -- a book which changed automotive design and brought a revolution in safety from 1962. However, Chevrolet did get it right with its super six-cylinder, alloy crankcase, air-cooled engine which I have seen in a couple of light aircraft.

Another swing-axle contender was the Tatra T87, a Czech streamlined saloon far ahead of its time with V8 engine taking it to 100mph. Many were seized when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia and were highly prized by senior officers. But the combination of big V8 behind the swing rear axle was lethal, and the Tatra handling killed so many officers that it became known as the Czechs' secret weapon. After several Luftwaffe pilots wrapped themselves round a tree, reputedly the German officers were forbidden to drive it.
https://s12.postimg.org/mdl0fkztp/tatra.jpg