Current Cars in 2080

[john.wigley]

That's pretty much how I feel too, 'TDIvolvo', except you expressed it much more eloquently!

One point where I may differ is, are you being totally fair to the young? It is not just they who lease cars, so do many companies and older people, too. Were we not all young once, impassioned, wanting to change the world? The young of today, like us, will undoubtedly gain life experience with increasing maturity, which may well cause them to both modify their views and criticise the young of their day.

Where I do totally agree with you is that we live in a consumerist age and society. When it is cheaper to replace something that is worn or broken, rather than repair it, that surely cannot be right - yet it is true of just about everything from the boots on our feet to the appliances in our homes, and yes, even to our cars.

Having said that, do we really want to service our cars every 1000 miles or so? This trend has been developing for many years. In the '60s I had an early Imp, the kingpins on which were equipped with grease nipples requiring attention every 5,000 miles. Those kingpins could be expected to last for 40 - 50,000 miles. Later cars were not so equipped, having kingpins that were allegedly 'sealed for life'. These typically failed after fewer than 20,000 miles. An advancement? I suppose it depends how one sees things, but I didn't think so!

Regards, John.

[V8XCV]

I think the problem will be the components inside all the modules that start to fail, capacitors drying out etc and then gradually things won't work.

It would probably be possible to build custom modules to replace them but whether anyone will want to bother is the real question.

If you want to have an internal combustion engine in 2080 buy a fully mechanical petrol or diesel engine and cars with basic wiring and relays and it will still be going fine.

In my work we regularly deal with relay circuits 50+ years old that work fine.

So 240s etc will probably last a century, but my P3 will be long dead and recycled into a Tesla....

[green van man]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

That's pretty much how I feel too, 'TDIvolvo', except you expressed it much more eloquently!

One point where I may differ is, are you being totally fair to the young? It is not just they who lease cars, so do many companies and older people, too. Were we not all young once, impassioned, wanting to change the world? The young of today, like us, will undoubtedly gain life experience with increasing maturity, which may well cause them to both modify their views and criticise the young of their day.

Where I do totally agree with you is that we live in a consumerist age and society. When it is cheaper to replace something that is worn or broken, rather than repair it, that surely cannot be right - yet it is true of just about everything from the boots on our feet to the appliances in our homes, and yes, even to our cars.

Having said that, do we really want to service our cars every 1000 miles or so? This trend has been developing for many years. In the '60s I had an early Imp, the kingpins on which were equipped with grease nipples requiring attention every 5,000 miles. Those kingpins could be expected to last for 40 - 50,000 miles. Later cars were not so equipped, having kingpins that were allegedly 'sealed for life'. These typically failed after fewer than 20,000 miles. An advancement? I suppose it depends how one sees things, but I didn't think so!

Regards, John.

You were lucky John, 40,000 miles out of your greasable king pins on an imp.
As I recall they had a Teflon coating which ment they did not need to be reamed to size, very poor idea as no matter how ccarefully one pressed the bushes in there was always a degree of missalignment. This caused the Teflon to quickly wear in parts and give rise to play in the assembly.

I tried pumping lots of grease into them, made no difference. In the end I kept spares on the shelf and changed them every year at mot time.
Did you do the negative camber mod on yours? Shave an amount off the top of the swivel arm where it was located on the wishbone and replace it with an equal amount of packing on the underside.

Had a mate whom rallied an imp. 19 house bricks fitted between the front wheel arches which helped to keep the front on the floor. I just used my tool box, that and the front rad worked a treat.

Paul.

[john.wigley]

Hi, Paul, I didn't have that much to do with Imps. The first was bought as it was cheap to buy and reasonably economical - important considerations for an apprentice! That one was a very early car ('63(?)) which, at the time, was already well into middle age. It was memorable for several reasons - none good - notably the problematic pneumatic throttle.

The second was a much later car, a '73 Sunbeam Imp Sport (It wasn't only BMC who were into 'badge engineering') bought at four years old. I didn't do any mods - suspension or otherwise - but I did carry a paving slab in the boot which greatly improved front-end stability and braking.

I do recall that both cars had a tendency to overheat which required constant bleeding of the cooling systems. The aluminium engines would also have benefitted from factory fitted helicoil inserts to all external threads. Apparently, this was considered at the design stage, but dismissed as being too costly. It would have spared many subsequent owners much anguish (and many swear words) if the decision had gone the other way!

BTW I think I got a few hundred pounds for the Sunbeam when I sold it in '78 to buy a brand new Mini - my first and only new car. Have you seen what they go for now?!

Regards, John.