Five doors?

In 1964? This was the year of the Renault 16. Two doors on each side was the norm, but the large rear door was not. Estates and ‘Shooting Brakes’ were not new in Britain, but a regularly styled family car, albeit a French regularly styled family car, with an opening back? That was new.

In standard form it was a bit of an ugly duckling, call it ‘awkward’ styling if you will, but it was roomy inside and very comfortable. The rear folding seats could be set in a variety of positions, more than the driver could remember, so it was always a good idea to have the manual handy. Oh, yes, the spare wheel was under the bonnet, so didn’t get in the way of the seat permutations and load.

Eventually, a TS model was released which finally gave the vehicle decent performance but the best was yet to come. In 1973, Renault released the TX version. It was the most fully loaded family car I had ever seen.

It featured electric windows, centralised door locking, good heating and decent facia vents, a very slick five speed column shift gearbox, the best car seats I had ever sat on, rear seatbelts, incredibly good Cibie headlamps, a very novel map reading light which actually illuminated where you needed illumination, rear window wash/wipe, and a ride not too far off the Citroen DS.

It’s worst feature was heavy steering at parking speeds, and if that is the worst thing said about a car, you know that it is a good one.

TX performance was more than adequate but as with all smallish four cylinder engines, when pushed hard, it was a little raucous. Having said that, if you just want to cruise along the N7 in real comfort, who would have cared?

Canadian Snow Plows..

If you happen to live within the North American snow zone, you are really going to appreciate this one. I think that the one in the photo is an older International, but still being used in Ottawa. The business end has been folded away on the right side of the vehicle. So, what is there to like about these things?

They get full marks for being ugly, and after a session on the roads, they are the grubbiest trucks on earth.

They’re definitely not fast, and passing them when they are flinging out salt and sand behind them is hazardous to say the least.

They leave mountains of snow across the front of driveways, and sometimes they knock down whatever is at the side of the road when plowing rural areas. One should NEVER ever stand at the side of the road when one of these vehicles is strutting its stuff because the driver doesn’t always have a good view. Just ask a mail box for confirmation.

BUT, they really are beautiful vehicles. Canada in the east and centre is a lot flatter than you might think. Both areas border the high Arctic, and the capacity for snow and drifts is beyond the comprehension of many.

If it wasn’t for these and their drivers, you wouldn’t get the kids to school, get to work, get to the grocery store, or get anywhere at all. Mind you, there would be no point in going to the grocery store because there would be nothing to buy. Most of what is bought in Canada gets to the stores courtesy of road transport.

To finish, I have posted a video of formation snow clearance on North America’s busiest highway, the mighty 401, which starts on the Ontario – Quebec border and finishes at Windsor Ontario on the Canada – USA border.

Mercedes 230 SL

In 1963, we all got treated to a Mercedes sports car which we may be able to afford. It was pretty much a M/B220 shortened by the length of the rear seats and foot well, and being a Mercedes means that it was built to standards which much of the rest of the world did not understand.

Note the lack of rubber noses, huge bumpers and over-riders. Safety was built in from the get-go, not something thought about after the horse had bolted.

It was powered by a 2.3 L, fuel injected straight six which gave it 125 mph on the Autobahn, putting it in the league of the fastest TR’s of the day. Unlike the TRs, the soft-top fitted well and was not the whistle inducing, leaking, flapping things that were British soft tops.

There was a hard top too, Pagoda style which could be bolted to it, and if you could afford the car, you could afford somewhere to store the hard top.

Everything about the car is neat, nicely squared off. The front is typical Mercedes, the large ‘Star’ and vertical headlight binnacles. At the back, nicely formed rear lights and another ‘Star’ which reminded you that you have good taste.

In-between, it looks like this..

Note the padding in the wheel centre and along the top and lower edges of the dashboard.

The 230 SL was a in a different league to the British TRs and Big Healeys. The car was refined, not the kind where you had to hang on for dear life, fighting with the controls in a bid to keep the shiny side up.

It was also beyond the pockets of TR and Big Healey buyers. That isn’t and wasn’t a bad thing because we all needed a dream, and for me, this car was ‘the’ dream.

Triumph GT6..

They called it the ‘poor man’s E-Type’. By the time it made it to Mk III version, it was one of the best looking cars to ever roll out of the Canley plant.Why didn’t it sell very well?

Maybe because:

• It was developed from the Spitfire which in turn grew out from the Herald. Do I hear ‘Girl’s cars’? It was actually a Vitesse chassis and engine with Spitfire panel bolted to it
• It was always overshadowed by it’s ‘TR’ cousins, a problem that the better selling MGB GT never had, because the B didn’t have any illustrious cousins.

OK, so rear three quarter vision was not particularly good, but look at it. Can you tell that the car was a bit nose heavy because the straight 6 engine weighed more that the Spitfire inline 4’s did? Not with uprated front springs, you can’t..

In 1972, the year before Triumph dropped the GT6, 112 mph and a 0 – 60 in 10 seconds wasn’t bad and comfortably better than  ‘B’ GT could manage.

In the end, safety laws and emissions limits killed it off. Where the MGB was adapted and was the worse off for the changes, Triumph let the GT6 go. Personally, I am glad that Triumph dropped it. To overburden this beautiful little car with rubber noses, jack it up to get the headlight height to conform, and add weight to get the safety features incorporated would have killed it off anyway.

As it is, one can still find the GT6 in various states of restoration, and it still looks every bit as good as ever it did.