Are we all mad in loving this piece of Western (En

[omichaelshar]

Some of you know that I am exploring the edge

But for all, I ask "are we all mad in loving the wedge - this piece of Western (English) engineering?

Today I played and came away wondering...
- how this hobby fits with social responsibility in a climate changing world?
- is my idea to engineer a best of breed solution on a marque for personal transport still appropriate?

Owen

[Hasbeen]

Owen, it makes a lot more sense to believe in, & play with our old
cars, than to fall for this CO2 global warming cr4p. Its about as
true as the Y2K cr4p was, before it. Oh, & we were going to run out
of food, in the 70s, & oil in the 80s.

The old one about, "If you're going to tell a lie, make sure its a
big one" seems to be still working.

Now we have the "Peak Oil" fear, that oil will again run out. Some
people just aren't happy, if they aren't scared of something.
If its going to happen, I wish it would hurry up, while I still have
a few mares, & a stalion. It would be nice to do an Al Gore, &
profit from the thing, by breading some replacement horse power.

Hasbeen

[Odd]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"> - how this hobby fits with social responsibility in a climate changing world? <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">It doesn't.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"> - is my idea to engineer a best of breed solution on a marque for personal transport still appropriate? <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Probably not. But that is not the personally important thing:

Important is: Enjoy it while it's still legal.

[Graham Robertson]

TR7's are environmentally friendly! They were one of the first cars designed to run on unleaded fuel, and think of all the recycling we're doing reusing second-hand parts!


Graham
1977 TR7 FHC Flamenco Red

[Odd]

Sure,
but please: Don't ever classify your UK wedges as <i>environmentaly friendly</i>,
at least not until you've retrofitted efi, lambda sensor <u>and</u> catalytic converter.
And you are running it on a <u>renewable (not fossile]</u> type of fuel.
[Like alcohol, nuclear/sun generated hydrogen or waste generated methane.
Running it on non-fossile (sun, hydro or nuclear) generated electricity is OK as well...]

[Yoke]

A very touchy subject and one that has been discussed in many other forums other than this one.[:)]

Can't save them all but I am trying!!!

[paul w]

This is way,way too heavy for a light weight like me!

Is this politically Korrect?

See ya. Paul

[Rich in Vancouver]

Just think of all of the oil based plastics, electronics containing heavy metals, metal made with coal-fired energy, transportation, etc etc involved in the production of a new car.
By reusing our old cars we are saving the world from this burden. Sure, they don't run as clean but how many years of driving will it take a modern car to pay back all of the carbon credits used in it's manufacture.[:D]

Richard

1975 TR7 ACL764U

[FI Spyder]

I echo Rich's sentiments. The production foot print of a TR7 is zero as it happened so long ago. Think of the tremendous carbon footprint of producing a Prius not to mention the problems and pollution of dealing with the poisonous batteries (recycling or desposing of).

Oh and by the way my Spider does have EFI, lambda feedback, giant Californian catalytic converter so I'm good until a better fuel comes along.

Impatiently waiting for global warming so I can keep my top down more days of the year.[;)]

TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra

[John Clancy]

Anyone seen the images of the site in Russia that produces the catalytic converters fitted to all modern cars? Now there is something to be worried about!

If global warming is a man made problem then it's down to the fact there are too many people. Channel 4 ran a very good programme earlier this year titled "The Great Global Warming Swindle". I think it should be shown regularly as some people are getting frightened and others a bit militant.

Magnetic connections have just been discovered between the earth and the sun. There is so much we still don't understand and as far as the solar system is concerned we've only existed for a very short time. Plus the planet has been through far more extreme weather than we're currently experiencing. So enjoy yourself while the sun shines!

Sorry chaps! Rant over.

<center><b>[url="http://www.triumphtr7.com/documents/sales/codenamebullet.asp"]Buy the story of the Triumph TR7/8 on DVD here[/url]</b></center>

[Underdog]

I'm with you Hasbeen. There have been large shifts in weather patterns back through history. I think humans are self indulged to think that they alone influence such changes and worse yet that they can somehow control them. There also is the matter of who can profit from such control efforts and the political aspects. Those two are well intwined over here.

72 MGB BRG
80 TR8 Persian Aqua
If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

[omichaelshar]

Hasbeen, I respect your skepticism. It is an appropriate response to doom merchants.

Odd, your advice is so practical and appropriate.

We all seem to have gravitated to supporting an old car that continues to meet our needs for transport that provides satisfaction.

The points around the carbon cost of production of personal automotive transport seem valid. I have always been amazed by consumerism for this manufacture - why have we not build devices good for upgrading?

It seems wrong to me to build obsolescence. For other high value consumer items we have built for longevity...

I value to contributions of all in this thread as it has helped me to resolve my approach.



I value to contributions of all in this thread as it has helped me to resolve my approach:
- I am still doing this project, but per personal reasons

Owen

[Beans]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Odd</i>

...Running it on non-fossile (sun, hydro or nuclear) generated electricity is OK as well... <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
So, any ideas on how to graft a nuclear reactor onto TR7 [:p]

<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)
1981 TR7 DHC (not very well known yet, but back on the road)
Also a 1980 TR7 DHC, 1980 TR7 DHC FI, 1981 TR7 FHC
http://tr7beans.blogspot.com/</i></font id="blue"></center>

[Orophin]

I hate new cars! No character. It will take a very long time for laws to come in to ban old cars on public roads, if ever. It's just the latest doom theory I think, isn't the earths climate meant to change anyway with time, just a natural process?

Who cares, but I really don't like rising fuel prices!!! [V]

[Urchin]

Let's not kid ourselves. The planet is warmer now than in recent decades and the amount of fossil fuels burned has increased the amount of warming. I live in Maine where the winters are quite cold; it's not even winter yet and we've had over 20 inches of snow and ice. This morning's temperature did not even cross 15 degrees F. I'm gong to burn wood in the woodstove and heating oil in my furnace because I cannot hibernate.

I am also going to need gasoline in the TR-7 Spider. Gasoline on this island now flirts wit $4.00 a gallon, still well below the $7.00 per gallon that you pay in the UK. Still, it hits home. So I walk whenever possible, plan my drives to include as little duplicate travel as feasible and refuse to add to the existing carbon footprint by purchasing new cars every time a television ad urges me to consider the possibility. But the fuel issue is only one part of global warming and resource depletion.

Driving my TR-7 means that I am keeping the car usable and in better shape that if it sat. Driving it means that I am not taking some overloaded behemoth on the road just to get to the village. There are fewer unctuous chemicals housed in the interior because it is a simple, unconnected-to-the-internet interior. There are miles of wiring in a contemporary Porche, I'm told, and the innards of auto computers are hardly safe to eat! The wedges in general simply have less of this stuff in them.

It really speaks to using our wedges more often, not less, as primary vehicles. From these postings it's clear that many of you do just that; we should encourage it to become routine again, just as when the TR-7 and TR-8 were launched.

Jeff

Jeffrey Aronson
P.O. Box 90
Vinalhaven, ME 04863
USA
'80 TR-7 Spider
'66 Land Rover Series II-A [2]
'66 Corvair Monza