What happened to ...?

[Miniliteman]

All those companies that sold race/rally parts in the 70s/80s/90s?

Larkspeed, EARS, Ripspeed, Swift Motorsport, abp motorsport, Quickbits, mini sport, Mick Briant, Rally Equipe etc. Are they all long gone? Burton and Gartrac must be one of the few that are still going. In those days, we here in the Netherlands had ... well nothing like those companies. Had a mate who drove every month to the UK to get parts for everyone. And John Cross bringing over bulky parts (arches) when he went to Holland or Belgium for Rallycross.

[Vista]

They all largely died when the age of chipping cars for performance cane along.

[DT36]

16 minutes ago, Vista said:

They all largely died when the age of chipping cars for performance cane along.

This ^^^

I've probably put about £2k into my Pinto to take it from 105bhp to 153bhp.

Spent £140 on my old Astra GTC. Took it from around 160bhp to 203bhp.

[MM77]

On 16/09/2022 at 19:56, Miniliteman said:

All those companies that sold race/rally parts in the 70s/80s/90s?

Larkspeed, EARS, Ripspeed, Swift Motorsport, abp motorsport, Quickbits, mini sport, Mick Briant, Rally Equipe etc. Are they all long gone? Burton and Gartrac must be one of the few that are still going. In those days, we here in the Netherlands had ... well nothing like those companies. Had a mate who drove every month to the UK to get parts for everyone. And John Cross bringing over bulky parts (arches) when he went to Holland or Belgium for Rallycross.

Slightly off-topic but are there any places to buy Escort (Mk1 & Mk2) parts in NL? I've Googled for days on end and come up with nothing.  I've even considered Germany, France, Belgium but come up short there also.

 

[Miniliteman]

What kind of parts are you after? Racers Hardware was popular for Mk1/2 Escort parts but long gone. Closest for me anyway is Timms Autoteile in Duisburg.

[MM77]

37 minutes ago, Miniliteman said:

What kind of parts are you after? Racers Hardware was popular for Mk1/2 Escort parts but long gone. Closest for me anyway is Timms Autoteile in Duisburg.

Well nothing in particular just now because I'm simply collecting parts when they become available.  When I was in the UK I'd basically buy something every week that I have on my shopping list for the build, however this has become uneconomical to do with shipping etc.  I could save up and buy in bulk every say 3 months but where's the fun in that.  Plus psychologically doing it this way feels like the build is on hold for massive periods at a time.

If I'm not mistaken Timms is the same as Burton in the UK only the prices are much cheaper at Burtons.  If I ever get anything from them I'll tie it in with a holiday and go to Burtons rather than pay the extortionate Timms prices.

 

[Johnny Boy]

Is it not cost effective to get someone you know in the UK to post stuff out to you ?

[Johnny Boy]

I'd help you out if needed.

[MM77]

4 minutes ago, Johnny Boy said:

I'd help you out if needed.

That's very kind of you, thank-you.  I may take you up on that offer.

I do have friends over there that could help out but didn't want to burden them with the shipping and storage.  Not to mention most people aren't as tolerant as us with dirty car parts inside the house 😄

 

[Johnny Boy]

1 hour ago, MM77 said:

That's very kind of you, thank-you.  I may take you up on that offer.

I do have friends over there that could help out but didn't want to burden them with the shipping and storage.  Not to mention most people aren't as tolerant as us with dirty car parts inside the house 😄

 

No problems here, I just happy to help out, good Karma , and all that. 😁

[Rally Pack 2000]

23 hours ago, Johnny Boy said:

Is it not cost effective to get someone you know in the UK to post stuff out to you ?

I personally feel guilty asking people though but sometimes I get desperate. I cant be 100% sure but sometimes I feel some of the European sellers are price gouging on postage costs? Maybe im just being paranoid 🤔

 

Before the internet I used to buy from QuickBits and Ripspeed. Would get their catalogues and get a foreign Bank Draft and post it off.

[Johnny Boy]

That's mental postage, just to put you off buying it, I guess they don't want the faff of sending it to OZ

[Miniliteman]

In the description seller writes that foreign bidder should ask for shipping price before bidding.

[Rally Pack 2000]

5 hours ago, Johnny Boy said:

That's mental postage, just to put you off buying it, I guess they don't want the faff of sending it to OZ

You can select what countries you want to send to specifically so it seemed an odd way to do it.

5 hours ago, Miniliteman said:

In the description seller writes that foreign bidder should ask for shipping price before bidding.

Ahhhh is that hidden in German? LOL Trouble is the payment system is so automated that the thousand Euro postage would automatically apply and would require the seller to re-issue an invoice at the end. However  one seller in the UK just this week didn't know how do do that so I didn't get the Wiper stalk that was itself a good price but the postage set four times the price of the switch itself, so I let it go. So if they cant do that manually your stuck with the postage charge that's set there by default. So I suspect many like me would just play it safe and move on.

[The Transplanter]

On 22/10/2022 at 00:50, MM77 said:

Slightly off-topic but are there any places to buy Escort (Mk1 & Mk2) parts in NL? I've Googled for days on end and come up with nothing.  I've even considered Germany, France, Belgium but come up short there also.

 

EARs were good and cheap, I remember buying a complete RS2 twin box exhaust system with 4 branch manifold for about £80 😄 Mind you, that was 2 weeks wages when I was an apprentice!

There was also Croydon Race & Rally. Used to drive to them all years ago before mail order, plus it was a Saturday morning out, followed up by a trip to a breakers yard 😋

[BaileyMex]

On 27/10/2022 at 22:15, The Transplanter said:

There was also Croydon Race & Rally. Used to drive to them all years ago before mail order, plus it was a Saturday morning out, followed up by a trip to a breakers yard 😋

Cor blimey, I remember Croydon Race and Rally, spent a few quid in these back in the day, the other one was AutoMex in Mitcham, parted with a chunk of then 17/18 year old meagre wages for mainly MK2 stuff, spoilers and the like.

And the breakers yard of choice was mainly one in Wimbledon, Atkinsons I think it was called from memory.

[The Transplanter]

20 hours ago, BaileyMex said:

Cor blimey, I remember Croydon Race and Rally, spent a few quid in these back in the day, the other one was AutoMex in Mitcham, parted with a chunk of then 17/18 year old meagre wages for mainly MK2 stuff, spoilers and the like.

And the breakers yard of choice was mainly one in Wimbledon, Atkinsons I think it was called from memory.

 

 Or as we call it "The good ole days" 👍

Edited November 1, 2022 by The Transplanter

[Daddio]

On 31/10/2022 at 19:43, BaileyMex said:

Cor blimey, I remember Croydon Race and Rally, spent a few quid in these back in the day, the other one was AutoMex in Mitcham, parted with a chunk of then 17/18 year old meagre wages for mainly MK2 stuff, spoilers and the like.

And the breakers yard of choice was mainly one in Wimbledon, Atkinsons I think it was called from memory.

Was that the one by the level crossing BaileyMex? Spent a fair bit there too in the past. The fella used to have a nice JPS mk2 as I recall. 

[guido]

Does anybody know if Burton Power is still online? I could not find their website anymore today.

[BaileyMex]

https://www.burtonpower.com/

[guido]

Thank's. something must have been gone wrong with connection then