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#1 karlth

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Posted 25 July 2014 - 11:27

Was the Rolls Royce Merlin engine, of the Spitfire fame, ever put in a racing car?


Edited by karlth, 25 July 2014 - 11:55.


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#2 brucemoxon

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Posted 25 July 2014 - 11:54

There was a drag-racing Holden with such a power plant here in Australia for a time. It should suprise nobody that they had trouble finding a transmission / rear axle that would handle the torque.

 

The car was detailed in Australian Muscle Car magazine some while ago. Here's a link to another article - the Holden in question is at the bottom of the scanned page. The early Holdens were pretty small cars, so the driver in this one had to sit right at the back of the cabin, as the engine took up so much room.

 

 

 

Bruce Moxon



#3 Lee Nicolle

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Posted 25 July 2014 - 12:26

No link Bruce. 

I do know the story. Though really a Merlin as cheap as they were then was never going to be an effective race engine. Wrong power characteristics.

I feel there was more than one Merlin used in a drag Fj in the 60s though. Not very succesfull though

Having heard a Merlin in Rod Hadfields Chev it was actually quite underwhelming.

Though for a big offshore boat or a plane the power is very suitable as has been well proven, even today.



#4 chunder27

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Posted 25 July 2014 - 12:41

Merlins, Packards etc are used quite a lot in tractor pulling

 

I doubt somewhat that Merlins are, there is quite a nice line in replica Spitfires that would love a Merlin if it is original, and doubtless worth a small fortune.

 

But tractor pullers will use anything, they even use radials.

 

I presume like the Reno stuff they are tuned a bit more than standard, and maybe use methanol rather than plane fuel, not sure.

 

Pretty spectacular though when you see a tractor with three of them in going down a run!



#5 Patrick Fletcher

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Posted 25 July 2014 - 13:17

There was one very good looking dragster built in New Zealand years ago attached to a Ferguson trans axle.

From memory the builders mother was very upset when all of her flowers were blown out of their beds beside the driveway after they got the V12 on stubs running one Saturday.

The constructor was banished to the ice south of NZ.



#6 Vitesse2

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Posted 25 July 2014 - 13:26

Mr Google (or your search engine of choice) can point you in the direction of the Swandean Spitfire Special and the Triangle Flying Saucer Special. Both Merlin-powered, but not designed for circuit racing.



#7 Allan Lupton

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Posted 25 July 2014 - 13:49

Mr Google (or your search engine of choice) can point you in the direction of the Swandean Spitfire Special and the Triangle Flying Saucer Special. Both Merlin-powered, but not designed for circuit racing.

I'm pretty sure the Triangle Flying Saucer had a Kestrel engine in its Daimler Dingo chassis! Still not a device for the lily-livered!



#8 f1steveuk

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Posted 25 July 2014 - 14:48

Circuit racers? I don't recall any, but a few sprint/drag cars.

 

The Swandean has recently (ish) resurfaced in the States.


Edited by f1steveuk, 25 July 2014 - 14:49.


#9 Odseybod

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Posted 25 July 2014 - 17:04

I think most wheeled applications (including tractor pulling) used the Meteor tank engine derivation of the Merlin (less intensively supercharged, so less highyl strung).  But I could be wrong.



#10 Allan Lupton

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Posted 25 July 2014 - 17:33

I think most wheeled applications (including tractor pulling) used the Meteor tank engine derivation of the Merlin (less intensively supercharged, so less highyl strung).  But I could be wrong.

Yes I agree most are Meteor-engined but it sounds better if you call 'em Merlins. Meteor is unsupercharged and has an automotive-style output shaft (and rotates widdershins, not that that matters).



#11 Siddley

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Posted 25 July 2014 - 17:56

I remember years ago reading about a drag bike which used two cylinders lopped off a Merlin as a V-twin engine. Monstrous thing it was...



#12 Ray Bell

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Posted 25 July 2014 - 19:43

Strange that they should be in short supply...

Just after the war there were aircraft being buried because nobody wanted them, complete with engines. Shipments of new fighters bound for Australia as at VJ day were dumped overboard in the Coral Sea... straight to the bottom.

I was once told that Lancasters returning to England after a sortie over Europe would stop at the end of the runway if they had an engine out, that engine would be unbolted and buried right there.

#13 ron54

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Posted 25 July 2014 - 22:40

Slightly OT I suppose,but I happened to be to be in my local scrapyard today (a well known business with a branch in Hounslow who supplied parts to D Campbell esq.) who told me

 the going scrap rate for a complete Spit in 1947 was 10 BOB! (" We  'ad  ter collect the b*ggers mind!")

 

In later years a Concorde engine was £ 300 (" They were b*stards to take apart")......

 

They did the Brabazon as well but that's too OT..



#14 Siddley

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Posted 25 July 2014 - 23:53

 

 the going scrap rate for a complete Spit in 1947 was 10 BOB! (" We  'ad  ter collect the b*ggers mind!")

 

 

It's enough to make a cat laugh...or a grown man cry...

Maybe they melted them down and turned them back into saucepans and park railings ? :D



#15 275 GTB-4

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Posted 26 July 2014 - 00:06

simple really...for example...

http://en.wikipedia....er_World_War_II

#16 f1steveuk

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Posted 26 July 2014 - 10:19

Slightly OT I suppose,but I happened to be to be in my local scrapyard today (a well known business with a branch in Hounslow who supplied parts to D Campbell esq.) who told me

 the going scrap rate for a complete Spit in 1947 was 10 BOB! (" We  'ad  ter collect the b*ggers mind!")

 

In later years a Concorde engine was £ 300 (" They were b*stards to take apart")......

 

They did the Brabazon as well but that's too OT..

Ah, what used to be Coleys!! Somewhere in Hounslow are quite a lot of Blue Bird bits, including possibly two R Type engines!!



#17 Ray Bell

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Posted 26 July 2014 - 10:59

The going price for the fighters left over at Oakey, Qld, was £12.10.0...

Some were sold, others merely buried where they sat.

#18 ron54

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Posted 26 July 2014 - 17:12

Yes Steve,The Bristol yard is run by one of the family,he was aware of the DC connection and next time I visit I will try to pump him a bit more!



#19 ray b

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Posted 26 July 2014 - 17:59

MAIN MOTOR SPORTS USE WAS UNLIMITED HYDRO'S

after the Allison's but before the turbines

I think they ran nitro not gasoline as do the tractorpulls



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#20 gtsmunro

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Posted 27 July 2014 - 03:22

Strange that they should be in short supply...

Just after the war there were aircraft being buried because nobody wanted them, complete with engines. Shipments of new fighters bound for Australia as at VJ day were dumped overboard in the Coral Sea... straight to the bottom.

I was once told that Lancasters returning to England after a sortie over Europe would stop at the end of the runway if they had an engine out, that engine would be unbolted and buried right there.

During my time in Defence there was always rumours of things being buried on base, or close to the base. About the only things I know of that were found on a dig was a cannon and some butchered panels at Williamtown. You could probably add the P51 pulled from a swamp in Cape York. Rumours included two Lincoln bombers buried in concrete bunkers under the runway at Amberley, two 'unknown' Mirage fighters in crates found in storage at Dubbo along with two or three 48/215 utes also in crates. Add to the list the various claims of aircraft hidden by contractors tasked with their disposal. None are verifiable.

About the only aircraft I can confirm as buried is a majority of our recently de-commisioned F111's which were buried at a tip Queensland.    


Edited by gtsmunro, 27 July 2014 - 03:22.


#21 Lee Nicolle

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Posted 27 July 2014 - 03:31

Merlins, Packards etc are used quite a lot in tractor pulling

 

I doubt somewhat that Merlins are, there is quite a nice line in replica Spitfires that would love a Merlin if it is original, and doubtless worth a small fortune.

 

But tractor pullers will use anything, they even use radials.

 

I presume like the Reno stuff they are tuned a bit more than standard, and maybe use methanol rather than plane fuel, not sure.

 

Pretty spectacular though when you see a tractor with three of them in going down a run!

On another thread here somewhere is some links to an Aussie tractor with a somewhat modified turbo Merlin. Ideal sort of application for that sort of engine.



#22 Lee Nicolle

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Posted 27 July 2014 - 03:48

During my time in Defence there was always rumours of things being buried on base, or close to the base. About the only things I know of that were found on a dig was a cannon and some butchered panels at Williamtown. You could probably add the P51 pulled from a swamp in Cape York. Rumours included two Lincoln bombers buried in concrete bunkers under the runway at Amberley, two 'unknown' Mirage fighters in crates found in storage at Dubbo along with two or three 48/215 utes also in crates. Add to the list the various claims of aircraft hidden by contractors tasked with their disposal. None are verifiable.

About the only aircraft I can confirm as buried is a majority of our recently de-commisioned F111's which were buried at a tip Queensland.    

WTF. Why did they not just scrap them. Scrappies would PAY for the material and not cost thousands to bury them. It could be done securely and is recycling. 

The F111s were a big story in the late 60s as their cost spiraled out of control, as did the Opera House. They were compared with each other!



#23 gtsmunro

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Posted 27 July 2014 - 04:23

You would assume that having someone pay you for their disposal would be economical but apparently it's far cheaper to bury them...... :rolleyes: . 



#24 Sharman

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Posted 27 July 2014 - 06:50

You would assume that having someone pay you for their disposal would be economical but apparently it's far cheaper to bury them...... :rolleyes: . 

Surely they needn't have been sold with a warranty



#25 Allan Lupton

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Posted 27 July 2014 - 08:12

Most of the stories of burying aeroplanes (or engines)  are unverifyable and can be written of as being just stories.

As Lee said, any scrappie would have paid (and probably collected them)  - and can you imagine the size of hole you'd need to dig to bury most of the aeroplanes listed as buried in this thread alone. (e.g. a Lincoln 120' across by 78+' long by perhaps 20' deep - perhaps 2500 cubic yards of soil @ approx 1 ton/cu. yd.)



#26 275 GTB-4

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Posted 27 July 2014 - 08:39

There was a reason for the disposal methodology....in order to comply with the US Dept's of State and Defense requirement's...plane and simple.

 

[edit: the plain, the plain!]


Edited by 275 GTB-4, 27 July 2014 - 08:40.


#27 Lee Nicolle

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Posted 27 July 2014 - 08:49

There was a reason for the disposal methodology....in order to comply with the US Dept's of State and Defense requirement's...plane and simple.

 

[edit: the plain, the plain!]

The Oz government purchased those planes in the 60s and 70s. What they are burying is mostly scrap alloy. Though a few thousand dollars worth.

If scrapped under supervision any 'secrets' :eek: of a 50 y/o design plane will be munched up. And recycled. 



#28 Glengavel

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Posted 27 July 2014 - 08:49

There was a reason for the disposal methodology....in order to comply with the US Dept's of State and Defense requirement's...plane and simple.

[edit: the plain, the plain!]


As with the US Navy's F14s - because they didn't want spare parts falling into the hands of the only other customer - Iran. Although surely the Australians are trustworthier? ;

#29 Lee Nicolle

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Posted 27 July 2014 - 09:05

As with the US Navy's F14s - because they didn't want spare parts falling into the hands of the only other customer - Iran. Although surely the Australians are trustworthier? ;

I feel Iran actually had F111s.

But really does any government want a 50 y/o airframe. And once all the avionics are removed there would be NO secrets at all.

I suspect more than a few collectors and museums would have liked one though. Even as just a shell with wings and undercarraige



#30 f1steveuk

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Posted 27 July 2014 - 09:40

Yes Steve,The Bristol yard is run by one of the family,he was aware of the DC connection and next time I visit I will try to pump him a bit more!

Please do!! I met Bill a couple of times, he had a list of Blue Bird stuff he had at Hounslow!!



#31 GreenMachine

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Posted 27 July 2014 - 10:20

I feel Iran actually had F111s.


Nope. They did/do have F14s, which have swing wings too ...

Some F111s have gone to museums. 



#32 DavidI

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Posted 27 July 2014 - 23:35

There was a reason for the disposal methodology....in order to comply with the US Dept's of State and Defense requirement's...plane and simple.

 

[edit: the plain, the plain!]

That was part of it.... the other part (as related bya former colleague who had been an avionics tech in F-111s in a previous career) was the large amount of non-recyclable toxic materials in the airframes (presumably not toxic if let to rot in the ground, but more so if disturbed).

As an aside, the scrap value of the aluminium would be minimal - I saw a doco a couple of years ago about the scrapping of a Boeing 747, and the total value of all the aluminium in the airframe was only about $27,000 - which in the context of an aircraft with 4 engines worth $1 million each was pretty inconsequential



#33 DavidI

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Posted 27 July 2014 - 23:39

I remember years ago reading about a drag bike which used two cylinders lopped off a Merlin as a V-twin engine. Monstrous thing it was...

Lucky Kaiser built that in Brisbane, initially as a burnout/curiosity machine to raise money for an attempt (using the same engine, but in a streamliner) on the LSR for motorcycles. 5 litre v-twin, made Harleys look and sound a bit limp. A car club associate of mine was to be the rider for the record attempt, but I lost contact - I believe they took it to Lake Gairdner at least once and it made some decent speed but don't know if it ever ran again or what's happened to it since, that was about a decade ago.



#34 Glengavel

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Posted 28 July 2014 - 08:00

Nope. They did/do have F14s, which have swing wings too ...

Some F111s have gone to museums. 

 

Yes, there's one at Duxford.

 

Interesting that with all the current shenanigans in Iraq, there's talk of the Iranians being flavour of the month again. Although any F14s they still possess are probably only fit for museum pieces.



#35 Terry Walker

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Posted 28 July 2014 - 08:11

The problem with the Merlin/Meteor is that is it bloody long and bloody heavy, and produces max power at 3000 rpm, which is a tad slow. Then there's the addtional problem of a strong enough, but fast enough changing, transmission. 27 litres produces a lot of torque. Aircraft engines used to be the go way back when races used long, long straights on wide open public roads, and on Brooklands, but on any artificial circuit a Merlin engined car, no matter where you put the engine, would be just too heavy annd too clumsy.

 

Still, the Merlin has a lovely beefy noise, like a grid full of F5000s. Some years ago at a Rolls-Royce rally-- I think it was 2004, the 50th anniversary of the meeting of Rolls and Royce, there was a flyover by a Spit, nice and low, and by gum is was magnificent. It was the first time I'd heard and seen a Spit in real life.


Edited by Terry Walker, 28 July 2014 - 08:11.


#36 chunder27

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Posted 28 July 2014 - 08:52

I can countl mtself very lucky to have lived in Lincolnshire for my early years and been very familiar with all sorts of flying, and also having parents that didnt mibd taking me to airshows and the endless queues to get in and out! So have sene lots of Spits and plenty of warbirds.

 

Regarding scrapping, I am hoping a few of you ahve watched the TSR documentary kindly uploaded onto youtube.

What the Labour government did to those airframes was unforgivable, they burned them out on purpose, didnt even try and scrap them.

 

Thankfully two remain. 

 

Our F111



#37 275 GTB-4

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Posted 28 July 2014 - 09:20

That was part of it.... the other part (as related bya former colleague who had been an avionics tech in F-111s in a previous career) was the large amount of non-recyclable toxic materials in the airframes (presumably not toxic if let to rot in the ground, but more so if disturbed).
As an aside, the scrap value of the aluminium would be minimal - I saw a doco a couple of years ago about the scrapping of a Boeing 747, and the total value of all the aluminium in the airframe was only about $27,000 - which in the context of an aircraft with 4 engines worth $1 million each was pretty inconsequential


Of course, what would I know anyway...Blue Orchid AV Tech against me...no contest! :lol:



#38 Lee Nicolle

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Posted 28 July 2014 - 10:15

That was part of it.... the other part (as related bya former colleague who had been an avionics tech in F-111s in a previous career) was the large amount of non-recyclable toxic materials in the airframes (presumably not toxic if let to rot in the ground, but more so if disturbed).

As an aside, the scrap value of the aluminium would be minimal - I saw a doco a couple of years ago about the scrapping of a Boeing 747, and the total value of all the aluminium in the airframe was only about $27,000 - which in the context of an aircraft with 4 engines worth $1 million each was pretty inconsequential

What does the remains weigh? At around $2 AUD a kilo i suspect a bit more. Whatever,, it is costing a lot more than that to bury it.



#39 Lee Nicolle

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Posted 28 July 2014 - 10:20

That was part of it.... the other part (as related bya former colleague who had been an avionics tech in F-111s in a previous career) was the large amount of non-recyclable toxic materials in the airframes (presumably not toxic if let to rot in the ground, but more so if disturbed).

As an aside, the scrap value of the aluminium would be minimal - I saw a doco a couple of years ago about the scrapping of a Boeing 747, and the total value of all the aluminium in the airframe was only about $27,000 - which in the context of an aircraft with 4 engines worth $1 million each was pretty inconsequential

They do not scrap the engines. 

Though on You Tube somewhere there is a clip of an excavator with a very special bucket ripping apart a gutted passenger plane in the US. The airframe is mostly alloy, and most scrappies have the technology to seperate ferrous from non ferrous.



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#40 Siddley

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Posted 28 July 2014 - 10:51


What the Labour government did to those airframes was unforgivable, they burned them out on purpose, didnt even try and scrap them.

 

 

That was par for the course back then ( I'm not trying to defend the decision though ) - it happened to most cancelled projects and all the tooling and jigs would be destroyed.

The UK aircraft and aerospace industry in the 50's and 60's was truly a case of lions led by donkeys.



#41 chunder27

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Posted 28 July 2014 - 11:42

It truly was Sid

 

And also the car industry I might add.

At least in the States you managed to get to the turn of the century before yours capitulated!

 

But what I do find interesting is in these times of recent economic downturn in the main European countries, one has managed to keep itself afloat, germany.

And what do Germany still make a lot of?  Cars, their engineering is now way ahead in monetary though perhaps not idea terms of ours, whereas after the war and into the 60's we were streets ahead.

 

Britain then privatises everything, the unions and management bicker like crazy forcing stancs of huge engineering firms to close with presure form the government who see finance as the future.

And now we are clamouring to get them back, offering massively cheap rental, huge benefits to car companies form abroad to come here, while our previously healthy economy is now built around insane house prices and the financial market, little else.

 

We have become a country of supermarkets.



#42 kayemod

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Posted 28 July 2014 - 13:01


 

We have become a country of supermarkets.

 

Those bloody Germans are starting to take over there as well, but hey, "Every little helps!"



#43 Odseybod

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Posted 28 July 2014 - 13:59

...

Britain then privatises everything, the unions and management bicker like crazy forcing stancs of huge engineering firms to close with presure form the government who see finance as the future.

And now we are clamouring to get them back, offering massively cheap rental, huge benefits to car companies form abroad to come here, while our previously healthy economy is now built around insane house prices and the financial market, little else.

 

...

 

If I remember correctly most of Britain's motor industry was privately owned (unlike, say, in France with Renault) until the Gummint took a controlling interest in BL in the mid-1970s.  Ford and (GM) Vauxhall were and are privately owned, Rootes/Chrysler is no more here. Management/Union bickering throughout the UK motor industry dates back to the 1950s (maybe even pre-WW2), but reached a crescendo in the 1970s.  The strange UK penchant for company cars (not seen to the same extent anywhere else in Europe) helped prop up the UK car industry for an artificially long time, until tax changes made them less attractive. But I agree with the rest of that para!

.


Edited by Odseybod, 28 July 2014 - 14:00.


#44 Charlieman

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Posted 28 July 2014 - 16:53

If I remember correctly most of Britain's motor industry was privately owned (unlike, say, in France with Renault) until the Gummint took a controlling interest in BL in the mid-1970s.  Ford and (GM) Vauxhall were and are privately owned, Rootes/Chrysler is no more here. Management/Union bickering throughout the UK motor industry dates back to the 1950s (maybe even pre-WW2), but reached a crescendo in the 1970s.  The strange UK penchant for company cars (not seen to the same extent anywhere else in Europe) helped prop up the UK car industry for an artificially long time, until tax changes made them less attractive. But I agree with the rest of that para!

.

All of it was privately owned prior to UK government buying shares in BMC/BL/Leyland/whatever it was called next week. Many car companies (unlike Ford and Vauxhall) had good connections as government suppliers (eg Wolseley cars to the police, Humber to the armed forces). Within GM, Bedford were notable as a supplier of specialised vehicles for the armed forces. Government intervened beyond its preferential purchasing policy when BMC failed to work.

 

Renault was expropriated by the French government in order to hold society and industry together during the close of WWII. I don't know whether it is valid to compare the interventions of two governments separated by 20 years, other than to say that both governments thought they were doing the right thing.

 

There are many books which profess to describe the downfall of the UK car industry but I have yet to read one that provides a convincing explanation. Whilst it is true that BMC etc and predecessors sold badly assembled cars of modest (and sometimes brilliant) design, Ford and Vauxhall assembled equally bad cars. Too many models and too many brands comprise a big part of the downfall story of BMC. 

 

Garages who sold Japanese cars transformed expectations. If a car has been shipped half way round the world to get to the dealer, the manufacturer and importer are motivated to deliver a car which works; you can't send the lemons back easily. The first imports were sold by small garages directly to owner/buyers (cf company car culture mentioned above) who made sure that they delivered a decent car to the customer. Some, but not enough, garages selling UK or European cars worked on the same principles. The Japanese imports worked at the time but were, on engineering values, like other motoring rubbish of the era. When did you last see a Datsun on the road in the UK?

 

Some time around the 1990s, most car manufacturers worked out how to assemble cars in volume which didn't require too much pre-sale inspection at the dealer. Small volume car dealers were swallowed up -- they had lost the element which gave them life -- and today some people assume that they can buy a car over the internet: pay, pickup, drive away. Awkward human contact is not necessary.

 

I'd love to end this waffle with something relevant to the thread. I have shared time with greasy heads who quickly pulled from under a single seater to watch a P-51 Mustang pull stunts overhead. The engine and the planes which it pulled are glorious to observe.



#45 kayemod

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Posted 28 July 2014 - 17:14


I'd love to end this waffle with something relevant to the thread. I have shared time with greasy heads who quickly pulled from under a single seater to watch a P-51 Mustang pull stunts overhead. The engine and the planes which it pulled are glorious to observe.

 

I'd say that most of that is true, but be fair, VWs etc at the time weren't all that much better in many respects, and not always more reliable, Renaults, Fiats etc certainly weren't, they could compete with anything British for crap-ness. Japanese cars were mostly more troublefree but pretty terrible in some other respects, don't mention the word rust.

 

On the sound of a Merlin being properly exercised, I remember an incident maybe 25 years ago. I was walking through the centre of Bournemouth on a busy Saturday, when I heard that unmistakable sound approaching, a Merlin that turned out to be powering a Spitfire, probably a display at the nearby airport. It flew over Bmth Square quite low, rolling as it sent, and everything stopped, just everything, traffic, shoppers, the lot. Everyone was looking up at our unexpected air show, there were probably tears in the eyes of many older residents, quite a few men and women could have flown similar planes, and I bet that many who were there that day remember the sight and sound as clearly as I do.



#46 Charlieman

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Posted 28 July 2014 - 18:01

Cheers, Rob. One has to remember that outside some plane shows (eg Reno), the Spitfire or whatever is unable to show its ultimate capacity. UK fliers are conservative, which seems sensible when one considers the flying bill and loss of heritage when an airframe has to be torn apart.

 

I was supposed to be looking at a saloon car race at Donington a few years ago. A DC-3 in military colours approached East Midlands airport during the race. What are you expected to observe?



#47 tsrwright

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Posted 28 July 2014 - 20:55

I feel Iran actually had F111s.

But really does any government want a 50 y/o airframe. And once all the avionics are removed there would be NO secrets at all.

I suspect more than a few collectors and museums would have liked one though. Even as just a shell with wings and undercarraige

 

Friend of mine was a leading light of the museum at Darwin and they somehow got a decommisioned B52 on loan. Everynow and then an operational B52 in Darwin would need a part so they would 'borrow' it from the museum aircraft. Then they read the fine print and realised they were supposed to hand back the plane in full working order. Another problem was that every year they had to fill in an enormous form in connection some disarmament treaty. I think they eventually gave the plane back!



#48 elansprint72

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Posted 28 July 2014 - 21:17


What the Labour government did to those airframes was unforgivable, they burned them out on purpose, didnt even try and scrap them.

 

As you were born in 1971 you are far too young to remember the situation. Absolutely the correct decision, which would have been taken by whatever stripe of politician had a shred of integrity. Read the history.

 

We have discussed this subject previously on the forum.

 

Back on topic; why on earth would anyone with a scintilla of engineering knowledge even consider for a moment an engine as unsuitable as the Merlin for any vehicular application?



#49 275 GTB-4

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Posted 28 July 2014 - 21:49

Back on topic; why on earth would anyone with a scintilla of engineering knowledge even consider for a moment an engine as unsuitable as the Merlin for any vehicular application?


Because you can? Australia! the can-do country! :wave:



#50 275 GTB-4

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Posted 28 July 2014 - 22:07

Friend of mine was a leading light of the museum at Darwin and they somehow got a decommisioned B52 on loan. Everynow and then an operational B52 in Darwin would need a part so they would 'borrow' it from the museum aircraft. Then they read the fine print and realised they were supposed to hand back the plane in full working order. Another problem was that every year they had to fill in an enormous form in connection some disarmament treaty. I think they eventually gave the plane back!


Was still there in 2011...

P1060407B52_zps8d227690.jpg

Edited by 275 GTB-4, 28 July 2014 - 22:22.