Man I would love that as a rear bumper sticker with the caption BACK OFF!!! It would be handy around here for all the impatient lug nuts who sit on your tail.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
MF, that Back Off sticker has been around for years, usually on the back of big wheeled 4WD's, don't think they would have much impact stuck on the back of a Huyandai
Even though it was made in your home town?? I love the HZ too as well as the XC Falcon (especially the later batch with the blackened grill and blue oval Ford logo in the centre). The hemi six engine jib the Valiant was the least affected of the sixes by the 27A emission requirements of mid 1976. The 202 red motor in the HZ was a dog's breakfast in comparison to both Ford and Chrysler. 66kw out of a 3.3l inline six was appalling and not much better with the 253 V8 at around 80 measly KW. Only the 308 managed a three figure amount of 120kw. The 265 hemi six achieved the same. Ford' s crossflow version of the 4.1 fared better but neither compared to the more advanced 245' and 265 hemi sixes.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Many thanks AVB for the famous 'Back-off' image! An iconic image that has so many places nowadays. I wish so many people, things, politicians, commerce ... life ... would back off!
Mowerfreak, that is a fantastic image! I love the composition ... - the centred new tarmac - the centred grill - the centred light post
You - the handsome young man - sit off centre, a sign of independent thinking, and rebellion. You dictate your self-created lane in life. A somewhat confident stance.
And no 'flano' shirt in sight. This was South American chic fashion for youth of the day. The vertical stripes present binary opposites - black and white - that remind me of Robert Frost's, The Road Not Taken.
Nice old car there Mowerfreak! Is that the CL or CM Model Valiant? Seriously when I was looking to buy a first car there was a family friend down the road that had one of these same cars I think it was a 1980 model CM Valiant, it was like a gold coloured model sedan and it had the ELB 4.3 litre inline six? I think that's what it was? Anyway he didn't drive it anymore as back then he had retired and had just bought a newer VS Commodore or something like that. I think back then they wanted something like 1 grand for the car as it was. Anyway he let me take the keys and drive it around for a day to see what I thought of it and if I wanted it I could buy it or just return the car to him if I didn't want it. This must have been around 1998 or 1999. Same era as your photo there Mowerfreak!
It did have quite a bit of rust especially in the plenum area under the windscreen in the engine compartment. Also the interior was pretty worn out and stuffed. The engine also felt like it was missing on a cylinder all the time and felt like it was low on power. I had a look at the engine and it looked like it was recently serviced so I thought back then that the engine had problems and needed a rebuild or something. Anyway in the day that I had it I ended up fixing something where the handbrake lever was and got it working properly. Sadly in the end it needed to much work to get it into roadworthy condition so I returned the car to him, I said sorry but it needs a bit too much work to get it into roadworthy condition. I think after a few months of sitting at the front of his house someone ended up buying it as a parts car or something.
Back then I was also looking at buying a first car, I looked at a few HZ Kingswoods and also a few XC Falcons, as you could imagine even back then most of them were rustbuckets and they were asking around 3 to 5 grand for them! I was looking only at the V8 models though.
Cheers!
Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay, another trash picked Victa, hip hip Hooray!
CyberJack, great breakdown of the one picture! You possess a gift of the abstract!! You made my day. Thanks for pointing out that was not a flannels shirt but a pullover. I had forgotten about that top until I recently discovered this long forgotten gem inside a book as I was helping my mum to pack for moving. I had long been lamenting my lack of a decent photograph of my first car, the Val and was overjoyed to find this print doing a task I didn't look forward to. Converse, that is a CL with either a CM grill out CL Charger grill I fitted as I never liked the standard CL Valiant grill with the horizontal slats it came with. This, as well as painting the inner part of the headlight surrounds gunmetal grey, as with the CM, lifted it's appearance greatly to my (and others) eyes. It was dual fuel but the petrol part stopped working due to lack of use. It became a gas only vehicle for most of my time with it. After the manifold spung a leak, the local muffler shop fitted extractors as they said they couldn't source an original exhaust manifold. While it gave a very sporty sound, I missed the distinct 245 hemi exhaust bark it made before and it kind of lost it's character. Performance lifted though and It really took of at the lights, so there was a silver lining and others commented they could hear it coming long before they saw it, but I was a purist and always wished I had hunted out a used original manifold as I loved the factory original note.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Hi Mowerfreak, great stuff mate. Takes me back to an almost forgotten point in time!
My mates who had various Valiants back in those days actually didn't have one of these CL or CM models. I think theirs were the older models like the 1969 2 door Pacer as used in the Wog Boy movie. I remember they had a couple of them with the rumbling V8 engines and the twin exhausts out the back. Gees it seems so long ago now. My neighbour had a mate that had the same style Valiant as yours. I tell ya he kept onto that thing until literally the police eventually caught up with it and put a sticker on it making it unroadworthy, which was probably around 5 years ago now. It was rusted pretty badly all over. I remember my neighbour telling me that he had shoved scrunched up newspapers in all the rusted body holes around the cabin as the wind entering the cabin was pretty bad when it was quite cold outside! lol. Well anyway at least that owner did drive it and keep that beast until it's very last day it was on the road! Good old Valiants!
I might have to try and find a photo of my first car and my mates first cars from back in the day. I think we took a photo of all 4 cars lined up back then. I hope I still have it somewhere on an old backup hard drive in the cupboard. I still remember when I bought my first car back in 1999 which was a 1977 XCGS sedan all factory original 302 V8, t-bar auto, LSD, 4 wheel disc brakes and the twin exhaust system, the price of leaded super petrol which was still available in late 1999 when I bought my car was around 79 cents a litre.
Cheers!
Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay, another trash picked Victa, hip hip Hooray!
Can't remember how much a gallon fuel was when I first started driving but I do remember that a jug of beer was 7 shillings and I think when we swapped to decimal currency that became 70 cents so about 10 cents a glass. Bottle of light beer at the pub last night $5.80
Hi all, I don't think the 3.3 Holden was that bad a motor compared with the Chrysler 245 it's just that the 202 suited a lighter car like the LX Torana.
CM Chrysler 3391 lbs Weight 245ci rating 153 (DIN) hp = 22.16 lbs per Hp / LX 2608lbs weight, 202 rating 118 (DIN) hp = 22.10 lbs per Hp .
Never had an interest in HQ to WB invented by captain understeer ,they went ok in a straight line if you dropped in a 350hp V8.
Cyberjack, like the poem, the picture I posted is open to infinite interpretations, much like the choices in life opening more branches of unexplored possibilities as you go along -or do they? I personally fail to see the connection to the poem (yet?), but I'm glad you do and thanks for sharing your very interesting take on the picture. I much appreciate it.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Well I found this old picture of our first cars on a backup hard drive today. Going by the details on the photo it was taken on the 17th of September 2000.
Ok some details on the cars going from left to right. The first car was my mates Ford Fairmont XB Coupe 1974 model. This was a factory 302 Cleveland with the original factory fitted 2 barrel carby, t-bar auto, standard diff, it also had a twin exhaust system but it was fitted with aftermarket extractors and it really made it rumble. It only had a standard bonnet when he bought it and I helped him with getting a GT bonnet and we fitted it as you can see in the photo, it's still in undercoat but it was later painted in black to match the car. We also later fitted a GT front grille to the same car. It really made it look more tougher with the GT bonnet and GT front grille! A few years later we also fitted a 351 Cleveland to this car and also a 9 inch LSD diff with rear disc brakes as it still had the factory original single spinner diff with drum brakes in it. So it looked like a GT in the end except it wasn't an original one.
The second car was my mates Ford Falcon XF Utility 1988 model. It was just a factory 4.1 litre six cylinder car. He fitted the sporty headlights to that car and also that sporty front bar.
Third car was my red 1977 Ford Falcon XC GS Rally pack. It was a factory original car. 302 Cleveland with the standard 4 barrel carby, t-bar auto, LSD, twin exhaust system.
The last car on the right was another mates 1982 Ford Fairmont XE Ghia sedan. This was a factory 351 Cleveland car. I think it had all the options back then like power steering, air conditioning, power windows etc.
Certainly brings back some memories this old photo!
Cheers!
Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay, another trash picked Victa, hip hip Hooray!
The XB's during their time were just such a great looking car after the average XA's appearance and then the XC upgrade was a slick / classy looking car with style. I always thought that the Rally Pack theme was a good money spinner for the Ford Motor Company regardless of what car they applied it to. Loved the European Escort with the Rally Pack option. I just never....... along with the motoring media ever thought that Chrysler's had any flair regardless of what they did or tried apart from the "Hey Charger" theme which was a really corny advertising hook.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
XC-lent example there Converse! I always liked those driving lights built into the grill for a sporty look. B_B I guess I like daggy grandpa cars what can I say? Here is what I get around in, a 1992 NCII Fairlane Ghia with LTD grill fitted. 302 Windsor on duel fuel. You can barely tell the difference and It eats hills. Parked next to a somewhat older model lol. I have added a pic of an immaculate XE Falcon S I recently came across too. A bonus shot for B_B lol!!
Great to see a lineup of Ford's only. Great friends you have there Converse.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
The HZ I only really liked in Premier guise which had the twin headlights. Never did like the singular version once the squarer HJ was released after the highly successful HQ
Last edited by Bonnar_Bloke; 02/08/1912:56 PM.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
