British Cars with separate chassis/body ?

[tigler]

bet if u got one sh ,.,../t cheap u would snap his hand off and sell it on get summat decent like a tvr

Thats a plan , but I would actually get something decent , not a TVR

 

[brightspark]

Older Aston Martins , proper MG's .............

yep WET DREAMS aston martin that is

 

[zzr1200]

Alvis, Sunbeam......

Range Rover up to the P38.

 

[metalspanner]

I think I am correct in saying landrovers (the proper ones) from series ones through to the latest defenders have the longest production run of ladder chassis vehicles that are mass produced.
It could be argued that TVR, morgan, Aston Martin etc have been around just as long, but they are not mass produced.

 

[Wedg1e]

TVR and Lotus (amongst others) gave up supplying kit versions of their cars when the robbing government of the time started demanding tax on the kits. Up to that point most kits were intended to give an old car a new lease of life. TVR and Lotus both offered factory-built versions of their cars. In common with most small manufacturers they raided bigger makers' parts bins for components and this is largely why people apply the kitcar moniker. However the idea of sharing components is not exclusive to them; consider the PRV engines of the 80s or the fact that the DB7 is based on a Mondeo. Which is the kitcar there then?

Frankly, I'd rather drive a hand-built TVR with chassis I can weld, body I can glassfibre and engine with spares availability second to none, than some mass-market tintop with a kudos badge and the repairability of a nuclear warhead. I've met some of the guys who built my car, they are blokes who did a job, went to the pub, raised families and ultimately got shafted by some Russian tw*t. I'm glad those blokes got my money and not some faceless corporation.

Oh, and TVR are still the last small-volume British maker to introduce TWO entirely new engines. Not bad for a kitcar maker

 

[riessbooth]

British Cars with separate chassis/body ?

I was wondering what cars the british had that have chassis/body combinations ?
Before monocoque construction became the norm....

I know TVRs have separate and probably Lotus...but they're really non-matal body 'kit cars'.

triumph herald followed by vittese spifire tr6 (i think)

 

[tigler]

Frankly, I'd rather drive a hand-built TVR with chassis I can weld, body I can glassfibre and engine with spares availability second to none, than some mass-market tintop with a kudos badge and the repairability of a nuclear warhead. I've met some of the guys who built my car, they are blokes who did a job, went to the pub, raised families and ultimately got shafted by some Russian tw*t. I'm glad those blokes got my money and not some faceless corporation.

Oh, and TVR are still the last small-volume British maker to introduce TWO entirely new engines. Not bad for a kitcar maker

Fair enough , doesn't make up for the chronic reliability and widow maker handling though !

 

[zzr1200]

and widow maker handling though !

In the old days that was called character..... ill handling cars weren't uncommon........

 

[Coo]

sorry not been on for a while....cheers for all the replies..
Yeah, just thinking of projects..having a little knowledge incase anything pops up.

As for TVRs being unreliable - I thought it was mostly electrical problems..which can eb remedied...
They still fetch good money

 

[Wedg1e]

Fair enough , doesn't make up for the chronic reliability and widow maker handling though !

What chronic reliability? I've had TVRs for 14 years, neither ever went near so-called specialists or even a local garage other than for MOT (but then I do everything myself).
Never had breakdown cover and neither has ever left me stuck in such a way that I couldn't get home. Actually, I tell a lie. The first one suffered a seized fuel pump after I hit a pothole... but it was a Bosch part that failed, not a TVR one, and that fault could have happened to any car.
Two hours, a trip to a scrappie and a petrol-soaked arm later and I drove away.

It tends to be the drivers that are unreliable; it was the IT boom of the 90s that led to many young lads being able to buy the cars, but they went straight from mum's 205 to a hand-built car and (for the most part) hadn't a clue what the oily bits did so (as stated elsewhere) when a trivial electrical glitch developed they didn't know where to look or what to do. Add in the rapid growth of internet whinging and hey presto, TVRs are the most unreliable car on the planet. Well, from the number of similar young guys I see, stood scratching their balls at the side of the M1 with the bonnet on their M3 pointing skywards, BMW have taken on that role...

As for the handling... er, well, you may have a point...

 

[Wedg1e]

In the old days that was called character..... ill handling cars weren't uncommon........

I like to think of it as an excess of enthusiasm over ability

 

[tigler]

What chronic reliability? :

The chronic reliabilty I know from experience !!

 

[zzr1200]

I like to think of it as an excess of enthusiasm over ability

Seeing and dealing with some of the youngsters these days "stupidity over ability" would be more precise.......

 

[Wedg1e]

Seeing and dealing with some of the youngsters these days "stupidity over ability" would be more precise.......

True enough, but I was meaning that the car has more 'go' than the chassis can cope with

 

[zzr1200]

True enough, but I was meaning that the car has more 'go' than the chassis can cope with

A bit like the mechanic's old car l served my time with a split rear screen beetle fitted with a Porsche flat 6 as the only modification, the brakes and suspension, tyres/wheels, were totally standard fitment but that was back in the early 70's.......now that car had, arr,,,,,,,,,, interesting handling.............