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Re: [VintageLambo] Re: Inventions

Zak McGregor

On Tue, 27 May 2003 11:39:51 -0400 wspohn4@aol.com wrote: > In a message dated 5/27/2003 9:51:00 AM Eastern Standard Time, > zak@mighty.co.za writes: > > > I"m not sure which Italian cars your mind is running over, but firms like > > Alfa Romeo and Fiat have had common or garden family cars with all-round > > disc brakes, twin cam engines, and 5 speed gearboxes when most if not all > > equivalent British cars (1963-) had live rears with leaf springs, drum > > brakes, 4 speed gearboxes and wheezed along with pushrod valves. > > Uh, Zak - you"ve slipped a cog here, son. Not at all actually... > The first series production car to have 4 wheel disc brakes was the Jensen 541 > Deluxe in 1957 and the Triumph TR-3 had the first front discs in 1956. I wasn"t saying that Alfa and Fiat were first, but that their ordinary family saloons had them at a time when the contemporaries (Hillmans, Austins, etc) didn"t. > FYI, while your Alfalfas (and Ferraris for that matter) were still making do > with drum brakes, my old 58 MGA (the one I still race) had a 1600 cc double > overhead cam engine with 108 bhp @ 6700 rpm, with Dunlop disc brakes all > around - much to the dismay of the contemporary Giuliettas I used to regularly > thrash. Yes, one example from the old Morris Garages that did have these features. Every other MG after the Twin Cam (a lovely machine, I hasten to add) reverted to at least drums on the rear and OHV pushrod engines. All the while with dead rear ends. > Oh yes - many British cars of the 50s had 5 speed gear boxes - they used > Laycock de Normanville electrically operated over-drives instead of an other > cluster in the box. > > My old TR-3 had 7 forward speeds in fact......(most other makes had OD only > operating on 3rd and 4th, so they were _only_ 5 or 6 speed boxes). Point taken. Ciao Zak -- ======================================================================== http://www.carfolio.com/Searchable database of 10 000+ car specs ======================================================================== Get A Free Psychic Reading! Your Online Answer To Life"s Important Questions. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Lj3uPC/Me7FAA/CNxFAA/9jLplB/TM Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to