Here in the land of kiwi 40 km (25 mph) over the limit it is instant 28 day confiscation and automatic loss of lisence plus mega fine welcome to the land of Nana State where the law knows what is best for you.

 

Get caught doing 86kph (53mph) in a Norwegian 60 (37) zone (26kph (16mph) over), and you're looking at three months worth of suspended licence and a 8000NOK (=ca 1300USD) fine. This we learned the hard way. >.<

 

So Shadow I've always had this picture in my mind of the research and development that went into the 3L V6 Cortinas

(To be read in your best SA accent)

Scene : late Friday afternoon in the Ford factory somewhere in SA. Two engineers knocking back a few beers after a weeks hard graft:

Eng 1 "So Jahn what do you think we should do with those Capri engines those stupid sheets in Dagenham sent us by mistake"

Eng 2 "Ya, I've been thinking abut that. The 1.3L model is selling like sheet. Maybe we could biff the 3L into them and get rid of the sheeters"

Eng 1 " Ya, worth a fleeck, but I guess we'll need to uprate the brakes and suspension "

Scene : 3 hours ,1 engine transplant and several beers later:

Eng 1 "Holy sheet, that seemed like a good idea but now I'm not so sure"

Eng 2 (returning from changing his underwear) "No it's all good, we can get this into production on Monday. We'll throw some fancy upholstery in it, stick a "Big Six" badge on the back and the yarrpies will buy sheetloads of them"

Eng 1 "Maybe we should check out how it handles on a wet road"

Eng 2 "**** it, hardly ever rains here. Oh, and make sure none of them are released as Press Demonstraters, that way we should have sold them all before the word gets out"

CHEERS , more beer

Unfortunately it does rain here in NZ sometimes. Lots of changes of underwear, but would own it again in a heartbeat.

 

rediculous!

 

So Shadow I've always had this picture in my mind of the research and development that went into the 3L V6 Cortinas

(To be read in your best SA accent)

Gawd is that how you think we speak ?
It's more like

"Howzit"
Those 13 hundred motors are krap, hey, let's chuck a V6 innit, hey ?
Ja sure. It'll pull sheet off an army blanket for sure.
Let's give it a go, and if it works, we'll keep the best two for ourselves, OK ?

 

About the same time that the jarpies were stuffing those extra 3L crappi motors into cortinas the ozzies found that they had a problem selling the 1.3 1.6 and 2.0 cortinas so their solution was to modify the firewall extending it back into the cabin by a few inches then they stuffed a falcon motor and 3 speed into them.The falc motor was either 200ci or 250ci inline 6 all cast iron heavy as all hell but boy they make a great straightline car,understeer was the second most obvious trait after brutal acceleration.A few of these found their way into NZ as factory sixes but there was a period when body components for local NZ production were sourced from Oz rather than UK they were only ever fitted with the standard 4 cyl but were sought after by the "boy racers" of the day for the 6 cyl upgrade.Another popular mod here was using the Rover/Buick 3.5L alloy V8 which had the advantage of being a reasonably light motor.

Hey this is supposed to be a motorbike forum you nostalgic old f4rts

 

You know why you ended up with all those 1300, 1600 + engines ? Us Japies sent them to you from Souf Effrika when WE couldn't sell'em

The V8 was a far better conversion - no need to move the firewall, and the 3.5 Alloy Rover motor weighs within 10Kgs of an 1800cc MGB pig iron lump (ask me how I know this)
A friend of mine does all the engine work on the WESBANK modified series cars here - all V8's - some healthy get up and go there, for sure Still some old Capri's running in that series, Hawk....showing their age a bit now, but still wickedly quick with 500+ BHP on tap.
A buddy of mine stuck a Sunbeam Tiger engine in a 105 Anglia - 260 cu inch - THAT hauled *** ! Wouldn't corner for **** but that didn't matter hehe
And yup we're old farts but thank the good Lord for the memories, eh ?

 

Yep the old Rover 3.5 was a great engine.For some time I tooled around Dunedin in a Vauxhall Chevette that had a 3.5 Rover in it. Was built for for hill climbs and topped out at about 100 mph, but by fark did it get there quick.
As for the MGB they have always been referred to in our house as the Morris Oxford GT. But still Mission Control wants one as her car, I think she'd be much better off with one of those sexy little Honda CRX things. But what do I know?

PS : sorry I didn't get the SA accent right, I know how it sounds, just maybe not so good at turning that into type

 

Yeah we had the 3.5L V8 Capri here in the UK too. Was VERY rare though, would have been a bit tail happy I think

That old 3.5 litre Rover V8 was a GEM! The MGB V8 was a beast, only made as a coupe, the roadster frame wasn't strong enough to take the torque. Would have been the ultimate car though, give it the beans and It'll eat itself

Loved the gear change on the old MG though, was like flicking a switch

 

Speaking of Rovers , my Uncle .. the Dentist had 2 of these behemoths
when I was a kid. At the time I thought it was the nearest thing to driving
around on a king sized bed......... these tanks were quiet and comfortable
These the ones you were thinking of Hawkwind ?