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chrisyork

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Home again to Thailand and a refresher on all the classic cars to admire. In the village here we have several 1960 ish Fiat 1500's of the "pagoda" variety, a few Fiat 124's, a four door Escort Mk1 and a mid sixties Alfa GTV (how fragile are they!). In the local town the star turn has to be a Citroen CX Prestige complete with high roof, long wheelbase and division. Also to be seen is a BMC 100/1300 and a couple of Allegro's plus a selection of Mk 3 Cortina's. On the way in from the airport a mk 1 Capri.

I have seen ONE P6 in Thailand, an almond yellow 3500S in the resort town of Pattaya. Looking forward to the day my 4600SE will be joining it. We'll be able to have a club meet then!

There's a close relative of the P6 in our local town, a '63(?) Buick Special with the GM antecedent of the Rover Alumium V8.

In Bangkok you see all sorts if you keep your eyes open. There's a good selection of exotica - mainly Ferraris - right down to '52 Hillman Minx phase 1 and Standard Flying 8 Convertible.

As you can see from the above there's no shortage of technical expertise to keep more or less anything going!

Any other foreign correspondents out there with local classic car collections?

Chris
 
How do all those old cars survive ? Does the climate not encourage rust or are they kept alive thro' necessity ?

Keeping an old CX going is no mean feat !
 
Rust does happen. but much slower than in the UK cos there's no salt on the roads. Generally, when it's wet, it's very wet indeed; so it tends to act to wash the undersides off. When its dry, its nowhere near as humid as most people suppose; so overall i guess that's a reasonably benign climate.

Mechanically, the Thai's are absolutely superb engineers. In my local shops you can get an alternator or starter rewound on the spot. We have a radiator shop that was able to press from flat copper a new top tank and sweat it on to our otherwise OK radiator on the pick up in around 4 1/2 hours. Engine work is no problem, they can copy absolutely anything on the most unpromising of lathes etc, so camshafts, pistons etc etc can either be adapted from something similar or made new. Boring, line boring, crank grinding etc they can literally do in their sleep. Electrics are a bit messier - all Thai cars are equipped with birds nest to a greater or lesser extent!

I agree with you about a CX though! I'm absolutely amazed to see that one. I do know of one garage in Bangkok that specialises solely in DS's though. And don't forget that French colonial Vietnam, Laos and Canbodia are within spitting distance for spares!

All this is facilitated by cars being an absolutely huge price in terms of an ordinary persons income (if you convert to UK£ they're around 10% cheaper than the UK new). Because rot is a fairly minor issue depreciation is extremely slow, so even old crocks have quite good value.

And the Thais really love driving. The road network is similar in character and quality to France - wide open sweeping A roads and dual carriageways. The only real downside is that driving at night is a complete nightmare - drunks walking, small motorbikes without lights etc etc!

Chris
 
Seen today in our local town (big village) a Mk1 Transit minibus with Ford V4 petrol engine - remember the fibre gear drive (or not!) for the oil pump?

The couple who own the Alfa GTV are both doctors. Their other car is a Saab 9000cs so they clearly have taste when it comes to motoring!

Chris
 
chrisyork said:
Seen today in our local town (big village) a Mk1 Transit minibus with Ford V4 petrol engine - remember the fibre gear drive (or not!) for the oil pump?
Click to expand...
I remember those all right, the teeth on the timing gear would just break up, but at least that stopped the engine, the oil pump drive was a hexagonal rod driven from the distributor which rounded off in the oil pump so you lost oil pressure but the engine kept running!! Great!!
 
Quote (chrisyork @ Mar. 15 2008,10:33)
Seen today in our local town (big village) a Mk1 Transit minibus with Ford V4 petrol engine - remember the fibre gear drive (or not!) for the oil pump?

I remember those all right, the teeth on the timing gear would just break up, but at least that stopped the engine, the oil pump drive was a hexagonal rod driven from the distributor which rounded off in the oil pump so you lost oil pressure but the engine kept running!! Great!!

Hi guys,

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the cam gear wheel was made from the hardest wood on our planet,...Lignum Vitae (aka Ironwood)
I once had a wooden car,it had wooden wheels,wooden doors, wooden engine,....and wooden go!!! :D
 
Back in the 70's there was a lot of negativity about Ford's V engines . I never had any problems with my Corsair 2000E
There are many classics running around with the Essex 3 litre V6 which shows it wasn't that bad an engine
 
Latest little gem spotted in daily use - a Series One 108inch Land Rover Safari. They were as rare as hens teeth when new! I doubt whether this one still has a Land rover engine, but the owner is obviously proud of it and has made up new "Land Rover" sign writing for it.

I was particularely taken with it as I know my Grandfather was foreman of the experimental shop where these were produced - a sort of early version of LR Special Vehicles, and my father once took me (aged around 3!) for a short ride in the one the Royal Aircraft Establishment kept for munitions trials.

Chris
 
Spotted and inspected languishing in a yard near SaraBuri (around 200km NE of Bangkok) a P5 3 Litre Mk2; perhaps around '64 to '65? Not a scrap yard in the English sense - the Thais don't scrap cars. Sort of a recycling yard full of old Land Rovers and Jeeps and apparently cannibalising them to make good cars.

The Rover is under a smart awning and looks like a failed re-engining attempt. The straight six is missing and a four cylinder Mazda is clinging to the chassis rails. It was a manual with overdrive judging by the transmission tunnel stickers. Bodywork is in perfect rust free condition, all the original wheel trims present along with whitewall tyres. Interior has had a retrim in Brown vinyl (not bad considering).

Any P5 enthusiasts out there wanting to import a perfect rust free rolling shell?

Chris
 
DaveHerns said:
Wonder if a P5 V8 drops straight in ?
Click to expand...
The front subframes are different, but they can be changed or modified to take the V8. If it's a manual you'd have to fit a suitable gearbox, if it's an auto, only the Mk111 uses the 35 box.
It's all a fair bit of work, but definately "doo-able"

Will you be investigating shipping and import tax prices?
 
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