The 'E' Type Forum

I've been an occasional exhibitor at these informal, free to enter, free to visit themed events for a few years. They have grown now such that turning up on the day can no longer guarantee entry to the inner circuit. today one has to apply in advance.

Today's theme was Rule Britannia, basically anything British, any age. There were some interesting cars there, but only a few E-Types.



I can hear you all saying, what is interesting about this? It's a BL 1100/1300. They weren't particularly good in their day, so why has someone preserved this one?

Look closer at the grill.



Back in the day a Downton tuned A series engine was considered the best you could get.


I get the Spitfire, it matches the theme, but Sinclair C5s? That is a joke, surely.




An Austin A35 van, with a supercharged engine!


There were a few E-Types there.








There was one more that I saw. Sadly, its owner said it had eaten a slave cylinder.

After the breakfast meet, I drove home to discover a lunchtime parade in the next village. So I turned up and added my E-Type to the proceedings, joining two other Es and an assortment of other classics in a parade around the village, to cheering and waving crowds. The cars parked up on one side the village playing field while the rest of the village sat down at long tables to have a Jubilee picnic.


Red white and blue.



Of the other cars, this was my favourite.

Two 'shows' in one day. And about 175 miles.

I must take you up on the ADO15 not being particularly good in its day. It was a wonderful car, small but spacious , and with outstanding ride and handling characteristics. You do not sell more than 2 million of them for no good reason

christopher storey wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 05, 2022 4:59 pm

I must take you up on the ADO15 not being particularly good in its day. It was a wonderful car, small but spacious , and with outstanding ride and handling characteristics. You do not sell more than 2 million of them for no good reason

I’ll second that. My first car was a Morris 1100, which the previous owner had fitted some tasteful leopard skin seat covers to

As usual, YMMV. Dad’s car broke. In half! Both sills rotted through in less than 30,000 miles, and one day the car started to fold in the middle. Admittedly this was at 3,000 miles a year, but a car with a flat floor, no central tunnel where all the structural integrity of the chassis is the direct path of salty dirty debris from the front wheels, was a serious design failure. This fault wasn’t restricted to 1100/1300s but also Maxis, 1800s and 2200s, Allegros, and other members of the BL landcrab family.

Awful cars, all of them.

This was the car that John Cleese ( Basil Fawlty ) whacked with a branch when it wouldn`t start
We had one just like it . I remember a family outing to Scarborough in it , we only got half way and the big end went . On another occasion , flames and smoke started coming out of the steering column area and I had to pour a can of fizzy drink over it to put it out
I know rarity is valued these days , but maybe some cars are best just forgotten ( Austin Allegro , Princess , TR7 etc ).

christopher storey wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 05, 2022 4:59 pm

I must take you up on the ADO15 not being particularly good in its day. It was a wonderful car, small but spacious , and with outstanding ride and handling characteristics. You do not sell more than 2 million of them for no good reason

I agree with this post they were good cars. I owned a couple of them, comfy economical and reliable. The weak spots were the gearbox and rusty frames. A series engines were very reliable "IF" they were serviced (but back then many cars of all makes were not) As for the rusty car that fell in half, how did it pass its yearly MOT if it was that rotten.

I've never seen a rotten Landcrab, nor , for that matter, a rotten Allegro , whatever its other faults. The subframes on the 1100/1300 tended to rot , but the structure itself tended to be fairly durable. In any event, as lovers of E types, we have no room to crow about body rot

PS oh... and the Maxi, which I thought was a horrible car, was probably the most durable of them all!

christopher storey wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 06, 2022 10:46 am

PS oh... and the Maxi, which I thought was a horrible car, was probably the most durable of them all!

Reminds me of when Car magazine back in the Eighties used to run their regular 'The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly' feature in the back pages.

All currently available cars were boiled down into a fairly pithy 'For' and 'Against', and there was a Datsun/Nissan (I think) for which the summary was simply:

For: Lasts forever
Against: That's the problem....