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Re: Ruby Performance

Hi
Seems an obvious comment but strange to find 'Ruby' and 'performance' in the same sentence! Just been for a leisurely drive out to the river - plenty of flexibility and low end torque - but not acceleration and did not exceed 40mph...

When cars are so noisy, where is this coming from? My car is reasonable at 45-50mph indicated - the engine is the loudest, but we can still hold a conversation. Perhaps the heavy woollen headlining helps?

Most faster prewar cars I have travelled in have tended to cruise at a maximum of 45 - 50mph on the open road - I don't think many drivers are happy at more than that - even if they can go faster, thinking will the car stop if someone pulls out without looking? The Ruby seems best at a gentle 35-40mph.

Regards
Colin

Re: Ruby Performance

The Works did run a supercharged Ruby as a rally car for a while. Rubies seem to go okay on the level which suggests that they are more aerodynamic than the earlier cars, it is when they get to hills that all that excess weight takes its toll...
My 31 SWB saloon has a tuned engine but I rarely go above 50mph. It does get off the mark rather better than a standard car which is handy in modern traffic.

Re: Ruby Performance

The tendency is to overlook how different the motoring scene was. Trucks although here much less common than now, maintained a very moderate speed, and in the UK the limit was just 30 mph, possibly less for a long time, and were not geared to exceed. Ludicrous though it now seems, well into the 60s my Seven was often severely obstructed by trucks on hills. Our main roads were the bare two lanes, winding, undulating, and extensively patched. Short sight lines. Rail crossings often zig zag and 30 mph and less corners common, often unexpected and unsigned. Long level straights were rare. Judging by the not so modified lesser secondary roads the UK similar. 45 mph was a common cruising speed for many into the 1950s, including for late model cars. My father used to maintain that just post war 45 mph in the Seven on the only four lane road placed him in the fast lane overtaking a continuous stream. Many Sevens in everyday use were in a sad state and struggled to muster 45 mph. Ours was meticulously maintained but my father found 45 mph too tiring on long trips (200 miles) and settled for a more typical 40. Very many late 20s cars were still in use here and although American, 40 mph was still a comfortable speed for many.
I have an extract from some magazine where a Morris 8 enthusiast reflects on the agony of UK holiday traffic just postwar. The potentially 50 mph Morris repeatedly obstructed by overloaded Sevens at 30 mph...and then they reached a slight upgrade!

Location: Auckland, NZ

Re: Ruby Performance

Sorry Bob C, but in the UK -
Historically, there have always been speed limits of one type or another on urban roads, except for a brief period in the 1930s; though there was no ‘national’ speed limit until the mid-1960s. Between 1865 and 1896 locomotives on the highway had to be preceded by a pedestrian carrying a red flag and were subject to a speed limit of 2 mph in populated areas, and 4 mph elsewhere. The maximum speed limit was then increased to 14 mph and, in 1903, to 20 mph. In 1930 speed limits for cars and motorcycles were abolished because they were so widely ignored. The Road Traffic Act 1934 later imposed a general 30 mph speed limit in built up areas. Other roads had no speed limit at all until 1965 when a general national upper limit of 70 mph was introduced for all roads including motorways.
(currently 60mph max for unrestricted single carriageway roads, 70mph for unrestricted dual carriageways and motorways.)
Source among others:-

www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN00468.pdf

Steve V.

Location: Polegate, East Sussex, United Kingdom

Re: Ruby Performance

Stephen Voller
I've never seen it mentioned or written anywhere but I've formed the opinion that 30's Austin saloons may have had similar cruising and top speeds amongst the various engine size models -eg 7, 10, 12HP, due to the the corresponding increase in body size and therefore weight for a given size of engine.
Steve V.

I think this is a valid opinion, Steve.
For instance, in the Practical Motorist road test [of the Austin 14/6] dated 28 April 1937 the tester says '...the best cruising speed is undoubtedly around the 45 m.p.h. mark. At this speed, engine and other noises are noticeable by their absence, and it is not until maximum speed being reached that any harshness is to be felt...' The tester found the maximum speed to be 64 mph. Also in the Brisbane Courier-Mail dated 27 December 1937, their motoring writer, reporting on his road test [again of an Austin 14/6] is of the opinion 'Like other light British cars, the performance of the Austin Fourteen is rather surprising by reason of the fact that while its maximum speed is about 60 miles per hour it can cruise quite comfortably at 50 miles an hour'. This echoes my experience with my own Fourteen at these speeds, which to an ear used to driving six cylinder cars with [typically] 2.73 :1 ratio axles sounds like it needs another two gears for comfort Possibly not just an Austin trait as the two DX Vauxhalls I once owned, while capable of higher top speeds, were also much happier at around 45 mph.

Location: Far West of New Zealand

Re: Ruby Performance

Hi A G,
Yes there's the theoretical or maximum possible speed given the right conditions and then there's what the car is actually comfortable doing without being silly

Interesting to hear of the Vauxhall DX's I've always been fascinated by the Dubonnet suspension!

Steve V.

Location: Polegate, East Sussex, United Kingdom

Re: Ruby Performance

Stephen Voller


Interesting to here of the Vauxhall DX's I've always been fascinated by the Dubonnet suspension!

Steve V.

Yes, an ingenious interim way for GM to fit independent front suspension without fully re-tooling. And Dubonnet [aka knee-action] has certain advantages over SLA systems. However, the front end rise under braking was quite a surprise to most people...
Fascinated would not be the word I would have used when I owned the DXs, on both cars the suspensions were shot and at that time there was no way of repairing/refurbishing them without spending a lot of coin.
On reflection to the lasting regret of an older self, the cars should've had the attention they deserved [one was a two-owner car] while I owned them. However in my defence I should say that as an impecunious 18 year old in the late 1960s/early 1970s my mind was on other [ahem] pursuits...

Location: Far West of New Zealand

Re: Ruby Performance

I would humbly suggest that the juxtaposition of Ruby and Performance is an oxymoron.

Tony.

Location: Malvern, Melbourne, Australia.

Re: Ruby Performance

Reference to du Bonnet suspension may have aroused curiosity of some. A colleague has just reconditioned a DX using bronze bushes in place of corroded needle rollers.

A conventional system comprises body, spring, axle, kp, hub. The duBonnet sequence is; body, axle beam, kp, spring unit, hub. The steering links do not rise and fall and the toe in fluctuations which plague many ifs cars esp as rubber bushes settle, are avoided. About the only good explanatory diagram I have found is one of a myriad under Chev Knee Action, a site confused by a lot of later systems. The early Vauxhall and Chev coil spring models had a reaction link to the back plate which was free to rotate; the later torsion bar models did not and with these the leading spring arm rises on braking.

According to Sloane of GM ifs was persued to dodge shimmy problems then being encountered with straight axle cars with heavy brakes and tyres. The absence of camber change was seen as the answer. Sevens are uncommonly free of shimmy.

Location: Auckland, NZ

Re: Ruby Performance

Hi
The fact that I can go out to the shops, visit friends and otherwise use my Ruby around here - where speed limits are generally 30 or 40 with nothing above 50mph these days on the nearby A roads - without getting in anyone's way (unless they are speeding) is most pleasing. What more performance do I need?
Regards
Colin