[Mark07]

Inspired by this discussion started by @Rolebama, I'm curious what is the best car, bike (or whatever else) you've ever owned?

Of course, 'best' is completely subjective. It could be the most fun, the most valuable, the fastest, or just the one you loved the most.

[Drivingforfun]

I had a Power Wheels toy like the one below at my Grandparents' house

It had a top speed of about 4mph and was even slower off road but when it got too bumpy was actually faster because my Granddad would carry a rope in his pocket and use it to pull me along 😊

[Rolebama]

Undoubtedly, for me, it was a Transit minibus I picked up in the 80s. I converted it into a camper with a sink and a cooker across the back. It was a 9-seater which converted to a double bed. I built my own custom roof rack with a slightly adapted metal framed studio couch which fitted across the back. 9 of us used to go to Prestwood to watch banger racing, as well as trips and long weekends in Wales, and a few weeks wandering around the Yorkshire Moors and Dales. Spontaneous trips all over the country were the order of the day.
A nice man at Michelin gave me a letter stating that a particular car tyre was OK to use on it, which totally transformed the road-holding and comfort level of the ride.

[olduser]

For me it was a Mini (a real one).
I had several, until the children got too big to cram in.

The engine was simple and easy to work on, and easy to tune, the 850 cc could only manage about 9,500 RPM before the crankshaft broke. (three bearing crank)
A Nitride treated crank would have run to higher revs but that cost money.

The intention with the tuning was to improve efficiency but increasing efficiency also increased power output.

[Drivingforfun]

9500rpms seems plenty high to me already!!! Did older cars used to rev higher? I’m aware smaller engines tend to rev higher

[olduser]

In those days, it was a matter of how well the engine could breath, (air/fuel mixture in exhaust out) I would guess that 5000 - 6000 would be about max, but really not a lot to be gained revving up there the power would probably be dropping much beyond say 3000 - 3500. The valves bouncing would probably be the upper limit to revs.

A small carburettor + badly shaped inlet manifold + bad inlet ports, made the torque curve flatter and longer, power was lower but less gear changing gears or only three gears.
I would guess the torque curve would be flattish from about 1500 to 2500 and then fall off.
Ideally, on the road you aim to stay in a gear for the length of the torque curve, (the gear box is a torque transformer!)

And of course once an engines can breath you were then up against the mechanical limits, how fast could it rev before bits started to break? In the case of the 850 Mini it was the crankshaft, that broke in the middle of the centre main bearing (there were only three crankshaft main bearings), a really effective torsional damper may have allowed a few more revs but the racing boys fitted toughened crankshafts.

The most dramatic examples of restricted breathing would have been the American V 8's, big heavy cars but only three gears because they had high torque.