Advancing and retarding
Was I wrong to pour scorn, when writing about my Austin Seven in Octane Cars, issue 177, on the idea that modern fuels negate the need to use advance/ retard controls? I really enjoyed Mark Dixon’s piece on the 1909 Vauxhall B-type [above] in
Octane 181, but I must admit that his puzzling statement to that effect did leap out at me.
Can anybody explain how modern fuel can compensate for incorrect ignition timing? The advance/retard lever on my 1932 Austin Seven makes the most fantastic difference to its power, acceleration, the noise the engine makes… It has always been so on the many ancient cars I have driven.
Just to check, I sought the views of a couple of vintage car experts. They agree with me but they point out that engines vary: the low-revving Vauxhall might be less sensitive to its advance/retard control than some others, especially those with higher rpm limits.
Moving on… regarding contracting-band transmission brakes in vehicles of that age, I have been led to believe that they are not for use on the move. By locking the rear wheels rather easily they can induce ‘the dreaded slide-slip’, much feared in the early days of driving. Braking from any speed should surely be via the lever, which operates the internal-expanding drums on the rear axle. Pedal-operated transmission-clamp brakes get very hot, very quickly, and risk being burnt out if used on the move. My view is that they were really intended for use when stationary, or nearly so, to prevent creep when primitive clutches tried to engage all on their own despite a depressed clutch pedal.
The early Mercedes and Benz GP cars had them, for example, and they were vital when I was trying to manoeuvre a fourcylinder machine of 11 litres or more out of the Goodwood Festival of Speed paddock with a mass of people milling around. I was instructed not to use those brakes when driving the cars on the hill or the open road.
Again my two experts agreed, one saying that he likes to apply the transmission brake in the last few feet when finally rolling to a stop at junctions. It would be fascinating to know what Vauxhall recommended to owners in 1909. Tony Dron, Cambridgeshire
Two very good points! I did try retarding the Vauxhall’s ignition when ascending a steep hill, as usual, but it made no perceptible difference. And the road testers of The Motor, 1959 – writing a mere half-century after the Vauxhall was built – made it clear they used the foot-operated transmission brake in preference to the outside lever. What do readers think? Mark Dixon