Roadster ownership

[ac]

Hello,

This thread is a request for help. Its also a bit of therapy - its good to talk even if its electronically

I built one of the original Moorhouse Cabrios back in the early 1990's when I was an unencumbered 20-something, and sold it on the day of my 40th birthday last year when my 3 year old couldn't come with us on my brithday drive through the Lake District. It probably only did a couple of hundred miles a year for the last 10 years, but selling it definitely took a little bit of me with it.

The Cabrio was replaced with a Golf convertible that takes a child seat, and lets me convey my family about in reliable safety with the hood down. I thought about a Berlinetta, but went for a cheap modern instead on the basis that I didn't think I wanted to get 'involved' with a car again.

Selling the Cabrio still left me with a Renault 4 based trike special I'd built and MSVA'd in the mid 2000's for fun motoring, but my partner never liked coming out in it, and that did even less miles than the Cabrio. So that went on ebay at Christmas, leaving me with just the Golf. So I'd gone from two 'interesting' cars to none in less than six months. I told myself I'd grown up, but when you consider that I'd owned two kitcars, a special, two Reliant SS1 1800ti's, an MGTF160 and an MX-5 since learing to drive, I probably went 'cold turkey' a bit too quickly .

Now the Golf is an excellent car, but I've realise I'm a car snob, and I have the urge to have something I actually like driving sat in the garage (and also that I don't feel ashamed of - we were out in the Golf the other day and by reflex I raised my hand to a passing TR4 - he sneered back, reminding me that a Golf is just a Golf even if Karmann took a tin opener to it). There is just room to squeeze something cheap and interesting in to the other half of my garage, but its not big enough for a Cabrio, and I don't really want that much car again anyway. And I also keep thinking about dabbling in a bit of cheap motorsport - hillclimbs, sprints, autosolos, trials etc., which I don't think I'd have done with the Cabrio.

Long story short, my thoughts keep coming back to the idea of a Marina based Roadster. I've never sat in one, let alone driven one, but this seems like it might tick a lot of boxes for something relatively simple, cheap, reliable and nimble. I loved the Cabrio, but I could never describe it as nimble. I built a Pilgrim Bulldog in my teens, and I know you can't get much more simple than that as a donor, and I keep thinking of the red Cosmic wheeled Roadster advert from back when I started buying Kitcar magazine.

So finally getting to the point:

Will I fit in a SWB - I'm 5'10" and weigh about 12 1/2 stone
If anyone has experience of both, how do they compare to Cabrio's for chuckability etc. - my Cabrio always felt quite a big car, even though it was an early SWB
Anyone have the actual dimensions in terms of width, length, etc.
Is the A-series or the B-series the best engine, and if so whats the performance like with them
Whats the typical price range for a useable/good one
Anyone have a Roadster close to Burnley, Lancs I could have a look at and see if I fit?

I know that a 40 year old pining after a red sports car is a bit of a cliche, but so be it - I'm a hopeless petrol head-case

[listerjp2]

Re: Roadster ownership

Ok Let’s take each one in turn:

Will I fit in a SWB - I'm 5'10" and weigh about 12 1/2 stone - Yes, you will but you will find the extra room in a LWB much more to your liking

If anyone has experience of both, how do they compare to Cabrio's for chuckability etc. - my Cabrio always felt quite a big car, even though it was an early SWB - Can't answer thatone Roadster driver only

Anyone have the actual dimensions in terms of width, length, etc. - SWB Length 3412mm or 136ins, Width 1520mm or 60ins. LWB has a further 6ins in extra in the cockpit, base of back seat to pedals 1090mm or 43ins and available seat width 380mm or 15ins

Is the A-seriesor the B-series the best engine, and if so whats the performance like with them- It realy depends, the 1.3 is quite pokey @ 100bhp per ton but you don't have the top speed whereas the 1.8 will give you around 150 to 160Bhp per ton. The 1.8 will give you 0 to 60 in around 7.5 secs but you will at best get 30mpg.

Whats the typical price range for a useable/good one - They are going foraround £2500 to £3000

Anyone have a Roadster close to Burnley, Lancs I could have a look at and see if I fit? - Can't help you there but if you can make it to the stonelegh Kit Car Show next month there will be numerous versions and all of us, I think you will find, will be more than happy to bore you with the for and against each type.

I have a LWB with a 1.6 Toyota Corolla and five speed gearbox and I am just building up a SWB with a 1.3 Marina lump with a 4 speed gearbox.

I am 5' 8" and around 14 stone and I can fit in both.

Good luck with you quest

Adrian

[CosworthCabrioLee]

Re: Roadster ownership

Hi ac I have had all tyPes of roadsters and one at mo as well as a cabrio, give me a call on 07720398794 and I can go over it with you. Regards lee

[keith_h]

Re: Roadster ownership

Hi Adrian,

On my screen, your post is mainly bright red text interspersed with whole chunks of black which is virtually unreadable on the charcoal background. I never solved how to set up choosing coloured text in the settings (I kept getting the same as you) so if I want coloured text, I put the set color command at the beginning of the text and the close colour command at the end

The set colour command is [color=#nnnnnn] but with nnnnnn =
ff0000 for bright red
ff7f70 for this pinky red

the close colour command is "/color" but with the quotes changed to [ and ]

Patently there is a better way somewhere but this works

[b_caswell]

Re: Roadster ownership

Keith just click default style at bottom of page and you can read it!

[listerjp2]

Re: Roadster ownership

I think it happens when I paste from word.

Is this readable?

Adrian

[keith_h]

Re: Roadster ownership

Yes - that's fine

[cameronfurnival]

Re: Roadster ownership

Pasting from word is always dodgy as microsoft adds loads of codes because it thinks it knows best. If you need to paste a better way is to use notepad or similar - paste from word into notepad and then from notepad into the forum poste, this removes all the formatting rubbish that MSWord puts in. I know its not great (and vbulletin isnt the only one that suffers) but it may make life easier. hth

[mark westbrookwhite]

Re: Roadster ownership

Hi Ac I am 5'-10" and 15.5 Stone and have an old SWB Roadster with a B series engine I am on the limit for the car width wise, My son is 6'-3" and
15 stone he really struggles we put in a small steering wheel (10") when I allow him in the drivers seat but he is fine as a passenger.
I am in the process of rebuilding the car at the moment but am hoping to get it to Stonlegh if I make it you will be more than welcome to try it for size.
Mark.