[tweety]

My manic life when young meant cars and lots of them.

Falcon wagon XL, XT sedan, XB panel van
Cortina Mk2 GT
Simca Aronde (Some car a Simca)
Valiant VC VG  CM panel van
Renault Dauphine (made it into a convertible...not good idea)
Escort panel van one of the few sunliner camper conversions
Toyota Celica, Corolla (2), Hiace, corona
Ford Escort Twin Cam (2) Lotus engines
Ford AU LPG only ute, LPG only sedan
Ford Fairlane
Honda CRV auto (thirsty)
Holden tigra (lots of road noise)
Holden EK, EJ, HG, HQ, FJ, HJ panel van,
VW Golf diesel 1979 (loud), Passat S/W, Tiguan diesel
Fiat 500 (fragile, 65 mpg 2 cyl)
Morris Nomad (hit kangaroo), mini (3), Cambridge
Suzuki swift 1000 3 cyl, Sx4
Ford Zephyr mk 3 (5) restored one
Datsun 2000 sports nice car, 260C coupe, 1200 coupe, 180B SSS
Torana LC LH
Proton Jumbuck
Mazda van, 808 coupe (2), 929 coupe
Dodge 1938 3 ton truck
Peugeot 504TI, 505 on LPG (great cars)
VW fastback (2), squareback (2)
Vw trike

Suzuki Gt750, 100 trail, 250 trail, 250 MX
Cossack 175 (bone shaker)
Yamaha 350 road, 260 trail
Kawasaki GT750
Honda 750/4, 500/4,

i30 crdi

There are more but cant remember them. The Datsun 2000 sports was memorable and a good car except for heavy steering which was irritating, the Escort twin cam lotus powered cars were high maintenance, the VW's were a waste of money (good when new) hence my VW trike was converted to Subaru power and the i30 CRDI is simply the best car I've owned for reliability, economy and all round practicality although recently replaced the turbo in it. We live in the country and needed this reliability.


circa 1978 





lotus powered ?Ford escorts were raced at Bathurst and rallied. They are distinguishable by their bumperettes rather than a single bumper

[Surferdude]

With the Dauphine,  if you wanted a convertible you should have just bought a Floride.
One of the prettiest cars around.

[Surferdude]

I used Datsun 2000 Sports clutches in my Datsun 1600 rally cars.

[Doggie 1]

I would love that Escort in my shed.
And when I say I'd like a 44 year old Escort, I mean the car.   

[tweety]

There were 793 lotus powered Ford Escorts made in Oz. (I started up and ran the Escort Twin Cam car club in 1982).

They were less special than the Lotus Cortina which had independent rear suspension, but the Escort had trailing arms, larger wheels, nice full instrument dash and that 1558cc engine. The twin cam engine was based on the Ford Anglia block with the twin cam head and twin 40DCOE carbies.

Typical of a large manufacturer once they ran and won their races Ford sold all their parts to small businesses and they charged a fortune. The engines didn't last long without a rebuild but cruised effortlessly at 160kph and often them days you could.
My first twin cam wasn't running well one day, parked it on the side of the road and opened the bonnet and up it went...burned to the ground. The foam aftermarket air filters caught fire when the engine backfired. The second one pictured was eventually sold to a car yard owner that turned it into a race car.