Hello!

1396midget

1396midget

Well-Known Member
Hi everyone!

Just bought my P6 yesterday, 'tis a tobacco leaf 1970 3500 auto, and it's great! bought with MOT 'till december, seems to have a lot of new bits on it , including rebuilt RPI engineering engine, which has gone 16000 miles since.

hopefully some pictures..


P8200081 by 1275midget, on Flickr


P8210550 by 1275midget, on Flickr


P8210551 by 1275midget, on Flickr

it's great, but very brown...

not had much of a chance to poke about under it yet, but looks all ok so far, some of the boot lining stuff fell off the inside of the boot and it all looks nice in there :)

where am I going to have to check for rusty holes before MOT time in december?

whole thing feels very solid, and fantastically quiet for a 40 year old car. Not what I'm used to at all!
 
Not by any chance bought from Aberystwith?

Welcome to the forum. A P6 and a 1396 Midget sound an excellent combination!

Chris
 
I had a friend who was interested in that exact car, but had his bidding hand firmly sewn to the chair as he already has a bit of a Rover problem. :roll: Looks like a real nice car there, hope you enjoy it and it gives you many trouble free miles :D
Cheers,
Jon.
 
restojon said:
I had a friend who was interested in that exact car, but had his bidding hand firmly sewn to the chair
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mine was too, but I tore it off and bought it anyway. Now I have to be on *best behaviour* for a bit.

still seems to be working this morning :p tee hee hee it's very amusing.

It was bought from north yorkshire, was going to bid on one in derby, but after doing some actual maths ( not man maths) then a working one was going to be cheaper. it's a LOT of car for £1K :D
 
DaveHerns said:
have some fun with it first
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Absolutely!! It's done 160 miles since Sat of blasting about being a loon, and is returning 20mpg, so actually slightly better than I thought!

have taken rear seats up to poke in there, and the footwells, and there's lots of horrible sound deadening but no rust. loving the adjustable brightness dash light as well!
 
Hi welcome that is a very smart v8, i love the look enjoy for now dont go poking and stripping her, as we all have the habit on here of doing. thats for the long winter months.
enjoy and welcome
marcus :mrgreen:
 
It runs fantastically, so it'll be staying as is at least till (if!) it needs work for its MOT. starts better in N than P, looking at threads here it's mostl likely to be the inhibitor thingy, and the end of the water temp sensor has fell off while I was checking the connections, so the temp gauge isn't working. Fuel gauge don't work either.

Going to be fixing the little things that are wrong, but nothing insane planned for it, even the brown is growing on me.... Got the K-midget for luncay if needed, so this is going to stay as a wafto-motorway machine I'm a total auto convert after being very skeptical previously!

I'm particularly amused by the rear seat springs! No wonder it's comfy.

Nice to be here and thanks for the warm welcome :) :)
 
hi and what i nice series 1 v8 you got have a lot of fun from her first be for you start looking i do really love that colour my friend has got 1 and same colour as yours keep looking after her
 
The midget is a 1.4 K-series conversion, details in the website in my sig :) And yes, it's a seriously different piece of kit from the big V8.

This will be well looked after, I'm debating sending a letter to the chap who sold it to the 'dealer' who I bought it from, since he had had it form new. Judging by the signature on the receipt from him to the 'dealer' he's quite old, I wouldn't want to upset anyone if he is no longer with us...

It gets more looks and questions than the midget, which is nice, don't think people know what it is!

Here's another picture taken by someone better at pictures than me :)
 

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Hi Rob

I've just enjoyed reading some of your Midget web site. I'm saving the K conversion for another pleasurable evening. Have to say I'm deeply impressed.

Some of us have been holding off the rust discussion to allow you to fall in love with the car first. No need! P6's hold no terrors at all for someone who's done that to his Midget!

I wonder why you chose to buy a P6? On the face of it you've bought a soft 60's executive saloon. Wrong1 The P6 is an engineers car. It was conceived and brought to production by a young team of enthusiast engineers, many of whom are still with us.They were indulged by a far sighted company board who placed no restrictions of compromise on them, much to the horror of sales and marketing. The principles of the design team had cut their teeth by building and campaigning a single seater racer still a notable contender today. Then they ran their own sports car firm, before retiring into corporate anonymity and building such delights as a 4WD, mid engined, gas turbine, 2 seater sports coupe in '56 (That's just 3 years before the P6 in case you were still under the illusion it was a 60's car). So the P6 has pedigree with a capital P. You may notice that the the suspension is a trifle unconventional - trust me it works - and I'm not talking ride quality. The brakes are a very direct descent from the LeMans Jaguars. You may find there is rather less need for major modification than you're accustomed to! And of course you are in possession of a dial a horse power lightweight V8 into the bargain.

So we need to see you at Rugeley on the 11th where we will see if we can educate you a little on what you can do with a P6!

I'll get my coat now and go and read the rest of your K site.

Chris
 
Glad you enjoyed the site!

chrisyork said:
The P6 is an engineers car.
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chrisyork said:
dial a horse power lightweight V8
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That's why. I'm an engineer by trade (sort of) , coming to then end of a PhD in Electronic engineering. And I fear no rust. (or rather, dad who does all the welding fears no rust). And I've always wanted a V8 since I could hear. I've got a book on Landmark engines and I'm working my way through it, done A series, K-series and now *the* V8. Also, I didn't understand how a de-dion tube worked so I had to get one. Books only help so much :D

So far I've been very impressed with the P6 dynamically, nothing at all has jumped out to say 'well that needs to be better' (apart from the fuel use, but hey, it's a V8!) It's going to do exactly what I wanted it to, which is eat up motorways like nobody's business (even with the 5 speed the midget gets a bit wearing) while also being a hoot to drive, and of course tax free.

So now I'm in love with it where's the bad bits to hunt for the tinworm at? :p
 
Motorways! The P6 is a scrathchers delight on fast rural A and B roads. You just need to get your head round the fact that roll is not the same as bad handling. It suffers from poor turn in on very slow corners - but that's eminently fixable by reverting to the suspension settings enjoyed by the prototypes. Once with a bit of speed under it, the handling is utterly neutral, you'll be astonished by how much adhesion in a long fast bend is available from those skinny tyres!

Come along to Rugeley and we'll talk you through everything.

Chris
 
I've noticed the handling - comedy squealing on low speed roundabouts but steady as a rock for high speed work. PO has fitted 205/70 14s on the standard wheels on mine, a bit balloony but they grip well! Just been out for a night time jolly, the lights are good too!

Would love to come to Rugeley but am a bit tied up with trying to help organise a conference, but if I can escape for a day I'll come!
 
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