In article <02e701c1de7f$9709cfa0$9bf4a8c0@zebu>, Graham Stretch
<technical@iwnet.screaming.net> writes
>Hi Michael
>I will confess to not having owned a convertible, and not being particularly
>keen on the 1200 styling (too dated for my tastes)
I think that that is its appeal to me. I reckon the standard of car
design nose-dived (you'll excuse the pun, I hope) with such
awful-looking cars as the Austin Princess and the TR7. I *like* perky
round headlamps, sticking up at the side of the bonnet. It worked for
Michelotti and Issigonis...
> but my real loathing for
>the 1200 is the engine, with that 'orrible downdraught solex, and the fact
>that you cannot improve on this from Triumph stock.
Surely you could just bung on a pair of 1.25" SU HS2s from an 1147 Spit?
> I did have a 13/60
>estate (which has the non siamese port head like the Spit)
and the ghastly eyebrows over the headlamps frowning at oncoming
traffic...
> and I loved it,
>it would do Circa 90 MPH, which gave it a real ability to do 75 on the
>motorway, though it did tend to drop off a bit if you hit a long up
>gradient, based on this knowledge I am not sure whether a 1200 would cope
>too well on the motorway.
There are modern family cars that struggle to go up a long steep
gradient at 75+, particularly when laden, (my wife's Mazda Demio, for
one). Besides, living where I do, the motorways I use most are the M1,
M25, M6 and M4 - and it isn't often that you can get to 70 on any of
them! (True story: I did most of the running in of the rebuilt engine
of my Spitfire on the M1/M25 - it was the only place I could think of
where my slow speed wouldn't irritate drivers behind me...)
> Also I can tell you that a pair of SUHS4's from a
>1500 engine give an improvement in the torque available and also better MPG
>than the single Stromberg (I do like the Strombergs on my 2000, just can't
>get twins for the 4cyl engines).
It certainly seems to be a popular conversion to add twin carbs (of
whatever vintage) to the 1200 engine. It also has the advantage that
it leaves the car easily restorable to original spec. I will probably
follow this up (if the car I end up buying hasn't had the conversion
done to it already).
> I hope this information is some help in
>your decision making process, one thing for certain is you will enjoy a
>Herald, though until you have owned it a while getting about in one will be
>a bit of a problem! This is not a bad reflection on the car, more a
>wonderful reference to its charm.
I have owned several British cars of a similar vintage, so I hope I
shan't find it too idiosyncratic. "Charm" is just what I am looking
for.
>I predict that you will be astounded by the number of people who:-
>Used to have one of those,
>Learned to drive in one of those,
>Always wanted one of those, "Can I sit in it?"!!!
>My ***** Had one of those. (for ***** chose from a list of relatives)
I get that (about Heralds) all the time, due to driving a Spitfire. The
conversation usually starts, "Is that a Spitfire? They're based on the
Herald, aren't they? I used to have/learned to drive/always wanted..."
ATB
--
Mike
Michael Hargreave Mawson, author of "Eyewitness in the Crimea"
http://www.greenhillbooks.com/booksheets/eyewitness_in_the_crimea.html
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