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My cars
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Volvo PV (1958) The first car I bought - half a year before I got my driving permit - was a Volvo PV 444, from 1956. It was orange/red/brown(ish) in colour. Probably to cover up the rust attacks better for an unsuspecting young customer. Because of certain problems with the mechanicals, I bought a spare vehicle for parts. But things started to dawn on me when I tried to jack up the "real" car to change over the wheels. And had to run for cover because of fibreglass that started to fly around my head. Both the cars were eventually scrapped without me ever driving them on the road. Citroën AMI 8 Berline (1969)  The next car I bought was a mustard coloured Citroën AMI 8, and knowing that the French word ami means friend, I have to agree. This was a wonderful car, friendly and cozy and brought me around in my first year of driving. The seats and suspension are VERY comfortable and that little 602 cc two-cylinder "big" 2CV engine just chugs and chugs. However in the Norwegian winters it became a little bit cold, so I had to let it go after almost a year. Peugeot 404 Berline (1968)  The task of giving almost as much French comfort but more warmth in the winter was handed over to the big white Peugeot. The 404 with its hemi combustion chambers, foot long plug caps, armchairs and column gear change. Had it for almost 3 years, and except from a busted head gasket and 7 bent pushrods on one occasion it behaved very well. Opel Ascona 1,9 SR (1975) 
 After my military service period was over and I got myself a job, I felt rich and wanted something a bit more sporty. By coincidence I visited the same used car dealer that sold me the Citröen, and they had one of the sporty Opels. The Ascona 1,9 SR. Many boys put the SR badge and rev counter on their standard 1,6 L, but this was the real thing. Bright red, original 5,5" rostyles with 185/70 tires and lively road manners. It lasted almost 2 days before being pressed off the road by a trainee who didn't look in the mirrors. Crashed into a hard piece of terra firma. But the car was repaired and it served me well for 3 years. Among other things it brought me to Sweden where I would watch car races and get ideas. This was also the first car that I altered in any way. Got hold of an extra 1,9 engine and a 1,7 litre cylinder head. Had the block bored to 95mm/2 litres, ported the head myself with a electric power drill and a flexible shaft and installed big (45 mm inlet and 40 mm exhaust) valves. Then bought a high duration high lift camshaft, high compression pistons and a pair of 45 mm marine Solex carbs. When this engine was lifted in and started, it obviously had a punch, but something prevented it from reaching above 4000 rpm. And after a couple of days with testing, the engine suddenly went BANG. When I lifted the head, I found that the valves had hit the pistons. Not because of the high lift, but because the valve pockets were just a fraction of an inch to narrow. Then the original engine went back in and the car was sold. VW Golf GLS (1981) When the Ascona was sold, we (both the missus and myself) wanted something a little bit special. We were not in the Lamborghini league, but something that looked nice and stood a little bit out of the crowd was wanted. So without any real system we just scanned the ads, and after a while the pizza-racer came up. A Golf with a standard 1,5 engine, but painted completely black from the factory, the car itself, the door handles, mirrors and even all the badges.
Since the standard family car was too boring, and since we often
needed 2 cars in the family, I bought a very cheap car no. 2 with a
stuck clutch. This I would use during "office hours" and with the
possibility of modifying. That hadn't worked too well with the
family Ascona. When the family saloon has a major break down because of dads
wrong doing with the spanners, then the standard family life gets
difficult. And mum's understandably enough getting annoyed. But
if dad "fucks up" his own transport, he has to take the consequences
himself. And that's it. The Magnum came with a worn 1800
engine, so it was duly replaced by a 2300 version. And the
springs became DTV rally versions while the dampers became GasSpax.
The humble looking Magnum is not a plentiful sight in Norway, and several
BMW owners became a bit frantic on curvy back roads when this Viva
wouldn't let go.
Company car that came with a new job. Nuff said really.
Or: one of the other guys in the company said that he had to approach the car
from 11 o'clock. (Diagonally from the front) Or else he would leave
again since he thought the car was so ugly from all the other angles.
It was comfortable though. And new. But when we got the
chance to chose between this arrangement or a standard extra amount per
month to keep something else, the choice was simple......
During the period with the Peugeot, the Magnum was in the docks, so when
we sold the Opel Ascona we had to have something else for car no. 2.
A Fiat Uno seemed a good alternative. Agile, 5 doors, small, black
and cheap to run. The gearbox let go after a few thousand
kilometres though. But since Fiat Norway took the bill I was
satisfied. Then when the Magnum was ready, the Fiat had to go
again.
The car that replaced the Peugeot 305 as the main family transport. And what a change !
1,8 injection, Recaro seats, ventilated front discs, 5 speed short ratio
gearbox, digital instruments and a sleek wind cheating body style.
And 5 doors for practicality. We had many happy kms
in that car.
Brazilian! Because of the heavy import taxes in Norway, Ford of
Norway tried for a couple of years to import an Brazilian Escort model
and badged it Escort LX. It had a Renault sourced all alloy
engine, tinted windows and a much higher equipment level than the normal
European versions. But the petrol hoses couldn't take petrol!!
Ford hadn't taken into consideration that the Brazilian market used a
very different mix of petrol that contained a lot of alcohol. And
the petrol hoses dissolved in our mix, and subsequently clogged up the
filters, the carb and the plugs. Even the car I had that was many
years old still had the problem. On one trip I had to drive home
on the squirts of the acceleration pump only, pumping frenetically on
the pedal, on snowy and icy winter roads. A scary experience at
the time.
Yet another bog standard family saloon, with a big boot and not much
more. But at least I took a couple of pictures before I sold it.
Including the RWD Ascona rostyles.
Alfa Romeo Alfetta 1800 (1974)
This pedigree saloon was bought only to supply the GTV with its engine.
The point was that the Alfetta had a 2 litre GTV engine installed and
came with the original 1800 at the side. So the job was simple: Buy the
package, swap the engines sell the car again and keep the engine.
I even managed to earn a little bit of money in the process. Plus
ending up with a free motor.
Thinking of having 2 Alfas, one for summer and one for winter. The
GTV had become a fine automobile, so I wanted to spare it the Norwegian
salt infected winters without letting go of the Alfa feeling. And
the Giulietta came with a fine set of wheels that immediately ended up
on the GTV. But the green car it self had too many faults and
rust, so in the end I decided to sell it for spares. But I had a
scary moment when leaking petrol from the carbs dripped down onto the
starter motor and caught fire. But the fire extinguisher was never
far away, so soon the engine bay was nice and white.
This car took us
on vacations all over Europe without missing a beat. And in great
comfort. Spending whole days on the German autobahns at 150 km/h
and the fuel consumption stayed at 7,3 litres pr. 100 km.
After thinking
about cars, tin worms, Norwegian roads with all the salt, a fibreglass
body seemed the most logical choice....
Lotus Esprit S2
(1978) What I bought though was not a car as such. It was a body, a backbone frame and an engine. And the parts had an identity, so I can spend the next 10 years building everything up and get it registered on Norwegian licence plates.
And that is where
I am at the moment. |
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