Mike's Manta.

[cam.in.head 301]

nice one .

 do you remember the spoof " i wanna be elected" rock song . mr bean collaboration in the 90's ?

i had the "vote bean" sheet in my cavs rear window at the time. raised a few smiles and peeps.

 

[Mike. 814]

I took the Manta out of winter hibernation today so I could fit the OMOC round window stickers I purchased from the club shop,

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it was nice and sunny but bitterly cold, 

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the Manta is completely useless even with the small amount of snow she was skating around, how people coped with these back in the 80’s as a daily driver in the winter must have been a nightmare,

Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member.

still, she looks the part, even when there is snow on the ground. 
Back into hibernation in the garage, CTEK battery conditioner connected up and breathable car cover on 👍

Can’t  wait for spring!

Edited January 24 by Mike.

[Monaco Blue 547]

7 minutes ago, Mike. said:

how people coped with these back in the 80’s as a daily driver in the winter must have been a nightmare,

It was just the way it was back then when the majority of cars were RWD. Before the 80's, the only Ford FWD car was the Fiesta and Vauxhall/Opel had no FWD cars until the Mk1 Astra and equivalent Kadett.

[IanMc 1,506]

I frequently carried bags of sand and gravel in the boot to give a bit of extra traction in the late 80’s/early 90’s

Of course that didn’t do much for the steering though lol

[Jessopia74 1,079]

49 minutes ago, IanMc said:

I frequently carried bags of sand and gravel in the boot to give a bit of extra traction in the late 80’s/early 90’s

Of course that didn’t do much for the steering though lol

Snap, although I used concrete blocks, but it carried a lot to make it work 😁

Would still rather have oversteer in a car than a FWD understeer, however I could never give up 4wd now I had it for so long in winter.

[H-400 1,521]

Hi Mike, nice pics!  Now you know why we painted our tanks white in the winter, those red army guys never saw us. About the handling, we were used to it. As Ian wrote some weight in the boot. This is me some years ago in Germany, will never do it again:

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Salt kills your car...

[®evo03 689]

3 hours ago, Monaco Blue said:

It was just the way it was back then when the majority of cars were RWD. Before the 80's, the only Ford FWD car was the Fiesta and Vauxhall/Opel had no FWD cars until the Mk1 Astra and equivalent Kadett.

Probably skinny tyres helped, minors, cortinas, old toyotas and datsuns etc, its funny seeing bmw, merc, drivers loose it now! Not so smart looking now, eh! Absolutely useless, Saying that fwd drivers aint much better, momentum is key, even if it is sideways.

Carried three bales of compost or woodchip, cheap in the winter, useful in the summer!

I remember passing a bmw, stuck on a 1% gradient, completely sideways in a manta, running 9 inch ats, momentum is key, sideways is still going forward!  Usually get at least two to three months of winter driver training a year. 

Its not as if snow is a shock! Or we wont ever experience it, young drivers should be put through a skid pan, as part of their test, while facebooking, instagramming, putting on makeup, being an influencer? While drifting their BMW like a champion. 

[Jessopia74 1,079]

I did my test and passed in snow, the reverse around a corner was a challenge. I had convinced myself after that I had failed and was pretty mad at the examiner for making me do it in the particular location that had had zero traffic .

I obviously passed, and the comments of pdf the examiner was quiet amusing at the end. He could not believe I did not give up or hit the Kerb haha