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Post by lygonos on Dec 12, 2017 14:26:23 GMT
What a funky piece of kit compared to turds like the Countach!
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Dec 12, 2017 15:04:22 GMT
Yes, a fine piece of mid-century madness, the stuff of Top Trumps triumphs. A bit like all those Monteverdis; even in Switzerland I don't think I've ever seen one.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2017 15:24:23 GMT
Without seeing the sales breakdown I'm guessing many of the 1200 were sold/registered before the 1973 oil crisis. 7.5mpg for 321 horsepower from twelve cylinders. Thinking about it though I think the 911 only had mid-200hp at the time.
The two rotary vents on the dash and the instrument panel light switch look remarkably like those from a FIAT 128.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2017 19:33:40 GMT
Dontcha just love it! In 1972, you could have 12 cylinders, 320bhp and four seats... Perfect family car for the young and very wealthy family. I've always wanted one. The nearest I got was about 15 years ago when one was being sold in South Manchester for £20,000. However, it probably needed another £20,000 spent on it.
But given current prices, I should have bought it.....
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2017 19:36:03 GMT
When we had our Lamborghini factory tour, the only model missing from the museum was the Espada. It was on display at Bologna Airport. Pity. But they did have the prototype Countach with the 1 lira coin used as a washer for the bulkhead.. Famous story from Car in the early 1970s.
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Post by tyrednexited on Dec 12, 2017 19:38:13 GMT
But given current prices, I should have bought it..... ........'cos now you could sell it to put the kids through University.......  |
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Post by Hofmeister on Dec 12, 2017 19:46:15 GMT
Perfect family car for the young and very wealthy family. They would need the wealth for the emergency overnight hotels, breakdown and recovery fees, hire car, and very warm clothes for those road side strandings. Remember help was not at the end of a mobile phone in those days. |
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Dec 12, 2017 20:11:31 GMT
Wasn't that just the motoring norm in the 1970s? My own children have nothing comparable to my memories of cars that wouldn't start after a night in the rain, or of chunks of family holidays wasted getting fallen-off exhausts replaced.
An Espada just got you to your next breakdown a little - a lot - faster.
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Avant
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Post by Avant on Dec 13, 2017 0:07:49 GMT
I wonder what make those cars were, WDB. For all their faults, British Leyland cars had one saving grace at least - the SU carburettor, which in my case and my parents' as well, on several cars ensured first-time starting, hot or cold. In fact the two Maxis I had in the 1970s were both very reliable, as were the successive big Renaults in the 80s and 90s.
But my children remember the brand-new Fiat 131 estate which let SWMBO down three times in its first and only year with us.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Dec 13, 2017 7:28:36 GMT
Renaults, mostly. My dad had two 12 estates, both bought new, from 1973 to 1985. He chose Renault after a 1968 Hillman Minx that was - apparently - unreliable even by the standards of the day. The first Renault must have been better, as he bought another, but I remember a catalogue of punctures in its tubed Kleber tyres, as well as poor starting - even in the garage at home - and hit-and-miss heating, as well as the holiday-spoiling bits. Significantly, nobody seemed to find this any of this unusual.
Conversely, in 23 (I think) car-based holidays (plus two more in rented US cars) since the 1990s, the most serious problem I can remember was the - possibly spurious - warning light that I reported from the Alps in August.
I've only ever owned one carburettor, in my 1989 Escort 1.3, and I've no idea what type it was. I do know that the car never failed to start, which suggests that the 70s problem had more to do with manufacturing standards than component design. The scary part of the Espada is not so much that it will go wrong - of course it will - as what it will cost to fix it when it does.
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Post by tyrednexited on Dec 13, 2017 9:41:53 GMT
I've only ever owned one carburettor, in my 1989 Escort 1.3, and I've no idea what type it was. ....I suspect that even then they were still using Webers. Dismantled one of those (a "twin-choke" version) on my Escort on the drive at Caversham. Following a Haynes manual, all was well until I removed the accelerator pump diaphragm (exactly as instructed). A tiny spring shot out from behind the diaphragm and it took me over an hour to find it on the pea-gravelled drive. More galling was the fact that the instructions actually read something like "remove the retaining screws and extract the diaphragm".......page break....... ........and on the next page (which needed the page turning)................ "Note: as you extract the diaphragm, hold the centre carefully in place, and ensure you extract the return spring located underneath (otherwise it will escape).  |
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Dec 13, 2017 9:46:57 GMT
I don't do Haynes manuals but I do use cookbooks. One thing you learn is always to read to the end, for the bit that says 'leave for a minimum of 24 hours', that you otherwise spot ten minutes before the guests arrive.
I have a 3.8kg half-leg of pork in a bucket in the garage at the moment. That requires 'a minimum of three and a maximum of four' days per kilo in its salty, beery Wiltshire cure, and I'm always late setting it off because I only do one a year. This weekend's cold weather was a bonus because temperature control in the early days is crucial and the thing is too big for the fridge.
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Post by commerdriver on Dec 13, 2017 10:38:01 GMT
Renaults, mostly. My dad had two 12 estates, both bought new, from 1973 to 1985. He chose Renault after a 1968 Hillman Minx that was - apparently - unreliable even by the standards of the day. The first Renault must have been better, as he bought another, but I remember a catalogue of punctures in its tubed Kleber tyres, as well as poor starting - even in the garage at home - and hit-and-miss heating, as well as the holiday-spoiling bits. Significantly, nobody seemed to find this any of this unusual. Conversely, in 23 (I think) car-based holidays (plus two more in rented US cars) since the 1990s, the most serious problem I can remember was the - possibly spurious - warning light that I reported from the Alps in August. I've only ever owned one carburettor, in my 1989 Escort 1.3, and I've no idea what type it was. I do know that the car never failed to start, which suggests that the 70s problem had more to do with manufacturing standards than component design. The scary part of the Espada is not so much that it will go wrong - of course it will - as what it will cost to fix it when it does. Reminds me of the Renault 16s I had as my first company cars in the late 70s, when I was based in Newcastle. Both reliable, started well etc but the second one rusted while you watched. When it went back (after 2 years 9 months in those days) it had visible rust on "chrome" and wheel arches. Carburettor was fine except in the winter when it had a habit of getting iced up on long drives from Newcastle to British Steel in Redcar, curable with a 10 minute stop in a lay by when the symptoms first appeared to let the engine heat melt the ice. |
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Post by lygonos on Dec 15, 2017 22:10:24 GMT
Jarama next?
14:15 - serious exhaust note! |
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Dec 16, 2017 0:35:44 GMT
Never heard of that model. Engine aside.... I'd rather a Leaf.
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