Interesting films - a Cambridge Special and period Morris engine building

[jansens]

Two interesting films I found on YouTube lately. The first is Steph from the "I Drive a classic" channel in an Austin 7 Cambridge Special: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-rtV40TTSk

She does a lot of interesting little reviews of older cars. I was waiting for her to mention the clutch and yes she seems to struggle with it.

The second isn't Austin but Morris and their engine building factory but it shows some interesting details I had never seen before. It's a Pathe film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieF3d_YBUh4

At 7:55 they show the boring of the white metal big ends but they then use a special roller tool to give it a perfect finish. Also interesting is the use of a diamond cutting tool to get a mirror finish on the sides of the pistons. I imagine the Austin factories would have been similar? 

Simon

[Mike Costigan]

That's the car that Pete Kukla built up in 1974 from a kit of parts supplied by yours truly - here seen with Pete at the wheel, and Andy Storer bailing out!

   

[Renaud]

Hi Simon,
Nice film. Very interesting indeed. Al that "lapping"in particular is beautifully made.

[Alan]

Remember it well.

[Chris Garner]

As I do, Alan. It was quite a car in it's day.
I seem to remember at one time it had a rear view mirror taken off a WW11 Spitfire!
Pete also built a replica of Raymond Mays' White Rabbit.

[Rogerfrench]

As I do, Alan. It was quite a car in it's day.
I seem to remember at one time it had a rear view mirror taken off a WW11 Spitfire!
Pete also built a replica of Raymond Mays' White Rabbit.

Ahem.....Marcus Chambers, not Raymond Mays, methinks.

[Stuart Giles]

Relieved to see it painted red in the video clip as I'm sure  it wasn't green when Pete had it at Beaulieu way back when. Pete subsequently gave me a  dimensioned drawing of the Cambridge woodwork, which was more than handy as I happened to be working on a mate's Cambridge at the time.

[Austin Nippy]

Hi,
I also remember Pete's car in which he won a trial organised by the MG car club in Lincolnshire in about 1975 / 6 or so with me bouncing for him whilst in my early teens. It was definitely red by then and certainly went extremely well. I've no idea what happened to either Pete or the car since then but, somewhere in a box at my mum and dad's there will be various photos of our triumph that day!
Best wishes,
Nick

["Slack Alice" Simon]

At the Peak Trials we used to call it "The Fire Engine", just to annoy Pete.

It used to go like stink, and had a whistling burble of an exhaust note, due to the valve overlap.

As I remember, Pete told me something horrible happened to a piston or a big end on one of the trips back from Derbyshire to Sussex, and Pete removed the useless bits and carried on on three cylinders.

[Mike Costigan]

As first built it was green, but once Pete started to trial it he decided he wanted it to stand out more. I think the green colour scheme lasted two or maybe three years.