122 NEW MEMBERS JOINED SINCE 4/1/2018

Well the title is self explanatory. 122 new members in 2018. But what I find inexplicable is the fact that EXACTLY
50% of the New Members - 61 members have never posted one word in that time.

This Forum was set up by Leopard Pagan as a Self Help group to discuss all matters Hi-Jet. I joined the Forum on 2/2/2013 having bought my first Hi-Jet - an S reg 1300 Pickup from Manchester in 2003.

I was working as Service and Warranties Manager for Romahome at the time - and didn't have the time to go to Manchester to buy it so I paid one of the lads at Romahome on his day off to go up on the train and pay for it and drive it back. That was 2003. I owned that Red Hi-Jet Pickup for over 12 years. It is the longest time I've owned any vehicle on the road. I found this Forum in 2013 and started by answering a few questions members had and selling Hi-Jet spare parts from the many Hi-Jets I had dismantled for spares and soon became the largest supplier of Parts on the Forum and behind Matt Simpson (Highly Jetted) and Richard Chanter (Rich the Mechanic) and Logi, the most prolific writer on here. Now all three have moved on to other things and vehicles. Which leaves Raggy and PFM trailing in my wake,

No one will ever compete with the knowledge and contributions and shere energy and advice that Matt made to to this Forum. I think that I now have the THIRD largest number of Posts on this Forum now and it gets tedious answering the same old questions.

You can enter questions on here to dig back through the 38,000 posts on Hi-Jet subjects that have been written on here.
Obviously many people have moved away from Hi-Jets for various reasons and some we were really sad to lose - number one being Highly Jetted and two - Rich the Mechanic, and three Logi.
.
I'm knocking on a bit now (69 in March) and do my best to answer questions that crop up and supply spare parts that I still have left.
But I find it very sad that the Contributions to the various subjects have dwindled to less than a trickle this year (last day of 2018). So PLEASE can you  add your comments on what Hi-Jet or Bedford Rascal or even the ugliest van on the road - the Daihatsu Extol ( but undoubtedly the most comfortable Micro Van to drive) your love/hate relationships - problems, projects,  advice, questions, parts wanted (so I can afford to still eat and not waste away to nothing) - anything interesting about your Vehicle and your plans for them and your self and where you live. Pictures speak a thousand words (according to Telly Savallas- but he is long gone like hundreds of members on here too.)
So come on you Shrinking Violets - get Tapping away and help this year to to get some life back into THE
NUMBER ONE FORUM OUT THERE - unlike the dreadful Morgue of 2017. There have been more boring Zombies on here in 2018 than I have ever seen in almost 6 years since I joined the Forum. Make 2019  a great year,. Get your bums in the driving seat and get into gear and CONTRIBUTE TO THIS ONCE GREAT FORUM.

Happy New Year to everyone on the forum, I've been a member for a few years but never posted, but now, after having my conscience pricked by Woody's post, I've taken the plunge.
I've never felt that I had much to contribute as I'm not mechanically minded, but I enjoy reading the posts and I have actually learned a lot from them.
I've owned four Hijets since about 2006, at the moment I have a 1999 pick-up which I keep in Spain most of the year and just drive it home for the M.O.T.
I live in a village in Wiltshire, just outside Swindon, but spend as much time as I can in Spain where I've been renovating a house for the past few years. The Hijet is the only vehicle apart from the odd dumper that can easily negotiate the narrow streets in my village in Spain, so it's perfect for getting building materials to the job.
There now that's the ice broken I'll try to contribute something more regularly, thanks to everyone for the interesting posts throughout the year, and wishing you all again a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Well done for taking the plunge, hope you held your breath first!

New member
Hi to every one, I joined a couple of weeks ago and have not posted any thing as any thing I wanted to ask had already been answered so I have been spending many hours reading old posts.
I am an Engineer and have a small business making parts for pre war racing cars and old bikes, I own and race a 1929 Frazer Nash and way too many motorcycles ( according to my wife ), I will be more than happy to offer any help with
questions posted but at the moment my Hijet knowledge is limited so don't feel qualified to chime in.
A couple of weeks ago I bought a 1999, one owner Hijet van with 21k miles. It was in Cannock some 200 miles from me down in west sussex, so having read many posts, I set off home watching the temp gauge like a hawk.
40 miles later on the M42 the alternator belt broke, but there was a spare in the glove box, I almost got it on, but the risk of loosing a thumb trying to spin it on made me call the RAC.
40 minutes later the patrol man fitted the belt and broke the thermostat housing clean off the engine when he tensioned
the belt with a crow bar ! move on a week and its all back together and I am enjoying driving it about.
Thanks for all the old posts that have answered my questions, all I need at the moment is a tow bar.
Happy New Year.

Welcome, am sure your talents will be appreciated here. That's a low-miler van, though I hope you checked it out thoroughly, like anything from the Black country!
Stat housings are pretty rare, you were lucky to get one. Tow bars are rare too.

Hello CD. Welcome along to the Forum. I see you have already had your baptism of fire with your Hi-Jet. Being an engineer will certainly be a good help for you with these great sometimes temperamental little beasts.

But if you are married then you are used to that and having a 1929 Frazer-Nash you will be used to temperamental vehicles too. Being a 1929 is it pre Isleworth days or the year of the move there.

I ask because I spent 13 years of my childhood going from Crowthorne to Isleworth at weekends and school holidays to my Grandfather's Nursery at Worton Road, not far from Kneller Hall and we could see Twickenham Rugby ground half a mile away.

My Isleworth days ended in 63/64 when Grandad died of a stroke and Middlesex Council stole the 3 acres of Nursery with Watercress beds and loads of Greenhouses and a 15 year old Bungalow from my Grandmother, by Compulsory Purchase, which caused Grandad to have a stroke and died 4 days later and all for £9,000. I never swear on here but I jolly well feel like it.

That was in 1964 when Grandma came to live with us and in 1974 I moved from my associations with Isleworth to the Isle of Wight. Been here ever since. Wonderful place to live and bring up a family and played with cars since 1959 both at Isleworth and Crowthorne and latterly at Winnersh near Reading.
Started my tinkering with buying and selling on 2nd January 1979 so 40 years in the car game. Ford's, Skoda, Hi-Jets and Romahome's and still just tinkering.
Always wanted a decent lathe but never got round to it. Too many other tools to tempt one's moth ridden wallet out for. Numerous times I've needed a lathe but could usually prevail on someone that owed me a favor - and there are hundreds on here that do too.

My Email address is thehijetmaniow@gmail.com if you want to have a chat about these obnoxious little 4 wheeled things called cars - oh, and of course there are Hi-Jets too.

I guess you wouldn't agree CD BUT - this is certainly one beautiful Frazer-Nash Beast.

if only it had anything that was remotely related to F-N it would be even better !

Hi my tenuous link is in the 50s my Dad owned a Nash Austin Metropolitan - not a lot to do with N I know.
Jon

As far as I know Jon the Nash Austin Metropolitan had nothing to do with Frazer-Nash. Nash was an American owned company and I seem to remember that it was styled by Pinin Farina who had their name involved with quite a few cars and concept cars.
The early ones had a BMC A Series 1200 engine and later on in the mid fifties had the B Series 1500 lump fitted which is the one I remember as our next door neighbors at Crowthorne had a brand new one.

They were certainly a quirky looking car - but I rather liked them.

Woodie wrote:As far as I know Jon the Nash Austin Metropolitan had nothing to do with Frazer-Nash. Nash was an American owned company and I seem to remember that it was styled by Pinin Farina who had their name involved with quite a few cars and concept cars.
The early ones had a BMC A Series 1200 engine and later on in the mid fifties had the B Series 1500 lump fitted which is the one I remember as our next door neighbors at Crowthorne had a brand new one.

They were certainly a quirky looking car - but I rather liked them.

Thanks Woodie, I think ours was a 1957 model. The problem, so far as I was concerned and my sistyer too was the tiny back seat and sloping rear window of the coupe style - even at 8 or 9 years old I was so tall my head banged the window if I sat up.
A year later Dad traded it in and brought home a Triumph Herald - yes it was a coupe. Another round of family arguments as again me and my sister could hardly fit on the cramped back seat - complete with sloping rear screen (anyone thinks I am brainless - it is probably the fault of those 2 cars )
Jon

IIRC even the Herald saloon was cramped in the back so the Coupe must have been horrible. No wonder Ford chose to slope the other way with their Anglebox! I loved the Herald shape though, and the fact you could change the clutch from inside.

And the last British made Production Line car to have a full chassis. I loved the Vittesse with the straight six engine. Early ones were 1600cc followed by the 2000cc lump. But the favourite trick was to fit the 2500cc PI engine from the Triumph 2.5 PI or the TR6 which were around 150bhp on the Injection. Fitted with the 2000 inlet manifold and Twin CD 150 Strombergs they were still quite a handful.

The biggest problem was when you really gave them some welly under cornering the independent rear suspension folded under or was known as "would wind up" and the backend would break away without warning a leaving you facing the direction you had come from.

I used to work in a Triumph, Rover, RollsRoyce dealership. I got sacked for having a Triumph Stag out on the road before the release time - I had come in early to do the first service and it should have been in the showroom under a dust sheet until 9am precisely, I finished the service at about 7 and took it for a blast along the Exeter bypass - unfortunately I overtyook the MDs Rover 3.5.
But the Heralds were great fun - quite a few of the saloons sold to little old ladies and they had a tendency to "coke-up" De coke consisted of Redex a couple of gallons of petrol and give it a hard thrash - Of course they got billed for a lot more! There was an aftermarket kit to stop the tucking in the back wheels.
Not as nice a car as the Hillman Imp - set up properly lowered by 2 inches (as originally designed) it could thrash any mini.
Jon

So Malta wasn't as friendly as I'd hoped, these people are driving and acting like Italians... Is there interest in a few mini-van pictures I took?

Definitely, always up for a few pictures on here

Posted it in the pictures section. I hope you can see them. I can, but that doesn't mean everybody else can...

https://www.allpar.com/cars/adopted/nash.html
It was a Englishman who set up Nash in USA see above Austin made them under licence, (Nash-Kelvinator) ugly little beast with garish 2 tone colours.
Nash joined Hudson, Essex, & turned into AMC.The Hudson strait 8 was a side valve flat head with splash lubrication we looked after 3 sports bodied cars made by Railton it was a lovely engine you could put a threepenny bit on the head on tickover the cast iron pistons were lighter than the replacement alloy ones on the one a customer raced we had over 170 HP all on original splash lubrication