Cars don't have 'chokes' anymore do they?

[RubyToogood]

I am extremely jealous of a local 72 year old man who has had a Velocette Thruxton motorcycle from new and can still start it first kick.
(Basically I suspect the bike is thief proof unless three or four people pick it up and load it into a van.)

My old motorbike was nicked several times but always recovered because they'd wheel it away and then find they couldn't kickstart it. Ha!

My current bike has a choke. Most of the time. There was the memorable occasion outside Ms T's house when it wouldn't start and I lent down to pull the choke out and it had been nicked along with the carburettor...

 

[Dhimmi]

I remember chokes, or poor man's turbo charger as we used to call them.

 

[Tom A]

Was it a pull out knob and did she use it to hang her handbag on? This used to be a standard cause of high fuel consumption amongst female drivers.

Yes it was a pull-out knob, but no, she knew better than to do that, it was only needed when it had difficulty starting due to cold weather, or because it was falling to bits (ie very frequently).

 

[King Biscuit Time]

My 1984 Transporter has a choke

 

[Ich bin ein Mod]

My J-reg Nova was the last car I had that had a choke o at admitting i drove a nova)

 

[pogofish]

And the reason why some people retro-fitted carbs. with manual chokes on cars originally fitted with carburettors with automatic chokes was that automatic chokes often did not work properly, making the car hard to start in cold weather. At least with a manual choke you could decide that it was cold enough to need it, and operate it yourself.

Never mind that auto chokes could also be a bit of a liability when the car was warming-up as well, especally as some were often a bit unwilling to switch-off!

 

[pogofish]

I am extremely jealous of a local 72 year old man who has had a Velocette Thruxton motorcycle from new and can still start it first kick.

Justifiably - a most impressive bike.

The mechanic who works on my BM has an immaculate racing-spec one that still gets out on a track occasionally & there are a couple more in the the hands of local VMCC types. One of which at least is still in regular road use.

 

[longdog]

I had a good old banger, which I was driving to the South of France once, it was during a heatwave, 56° on the road, the radio kept giving warnings to stop, park in shade etc.

Of course I didn't.

The engine cut out.

I had the carb stripped and cleaned.

It cut out. Again and again. The mechanics could not understand it.

I drove at night- fine. G/F suggested "I think the petrol may be vapourising in the fuel feed" -bloody women.

Eventually I read the owners manual.

"If driven in ambient temperatures of over 38° this vehicle requires a tropicalisation kit British Leyland part no xxxxxxx. Otherwise the petrol will vapourise in the carburetor fuel feed"

That was when we were really English

The early Mk4 Cortinas with variable venturi carbs had a problem with vaporisation in hot weather. The problem was so bad that it could cause the carb to ice up and burst in to flames

 

[longdog]

The old man has been offered £9500 for his unrestored Thruxton.

Do you think he'll take £95 for a quick sale?


Or if you know where I can get one of these dirt cheap better still.

 

[chymaera]

Or if you know where I can get one of these dirt cheap better still.

A Bonnie in bits, packed in several Tea chests seems to be worth at least £1500 plus these days.

 

[longdog]

A Bonnie in bits, packed in several Tea chests seems to be worth at least £1500 plus these days.

My brother paid three grand for a US spec Bonnie which rolled but that was about all it did. As far as I know it's been sitting in his garage for the last three years waiting for him to finish it.

He went out and bought a new Bonnie but did he pass on the old one to me? Did he fuck

 

[19sixtysix]

My old Maxi has a choke with the standard clothes peg fitted to stop it slippng back in as all BL chokes have a habit of doing.

I suspect a choke is useful as an anti theft device now. The youngsters nicking cars won't know what its for

 

[gentlegreen]

One of my many mechanical clangers was to forget to replace the rubber sleeve on the metal choke cable outer in a 2CV after I'd done so well replacing the clutch on the living room floor.
It was fine until it touched the battery terminal in the middle of winter when it was needed ...

Not nearly as much fun as when my "spare 12 volt supply" cable touched the throttle pedal of my Reliant at a critical moment

 

[Chz]

Oh how I made fun of my girlfriend when I met her car a year and a half ago...

"A manual *choke*? You're kidding me. This car was built in 1988 - what kind of primitives put a manual choke in a car in 1988?!"
(answer: Renault)
"Carbs are primitive enough for 1988, but cheaper cars still had them. But a manual *CHOKE*?!? For fuck's sake, I've driven a Beetle - the old kind - with fuel injection..."

That said, I've lived with General Motors' incredible invention of the throttle-body injector in the past. Why re-engineer the engine for EFI? We can just replace the carb with a single, large fuel injector!

 

[timebomb]

You dont get cars without headrests now either unless they're fairly old,I knew a bloke who used to drive a '50s Morris Minor which did'nt have any seatbelts.

I drive a 1999 Leyland Daf lorry which doesn't have seat belts.