Why did Maxis sound so good?

[targarama]

My Dad had a couple of Autin Maxis when I was a lad. The later one, 1975 P reg'd 1750HL KKH 301P was brilliant. It took all the family crap (3 boys), loads of abuse and sounded wicked. My Dad was always balancing the carbs to keep it running sweet though.

The sound this car made is one of the main memories I have of growing up. Weird but true.

So what made it sound so good? (compared to other non-sports cars of the era).

[Simonelite501]

The huge rusty hole in the silencer? That if you could distingush it from the huge rusty holes in the body work. Maxi and good in the same sentence, what ever next!

[crankedup]

And whilst on the subject of exhaust notes, what is it with those Morris Minor 1000's when you lift off your greeted with a noise which resembles an old dog pharting. Have to say its every 1000 I have owned and heard too, would'nt be a 1000 otherwise.

[Balmoral Green]

I assume you mean the smooth turbine like wooshing noise the engine made when revved, not like a rattly chain driven 4 cylinder at all and not what one would expect. The Volvo 240 range is similar.

Unless you meant the exhaust sound?

Very true about Moggies farting.

[mickyveloce]

I think that time may have eroded my memory a bit but maxis were part of the landscape of my childhood . Essentially a well designed and poorly executed machine in common with most other cars of the era , there were some great ideas there if you looked hard enough. My `78 Lotus Eclat shared much interior trim , stalks , levers , door handles and gearbox innards with the maxi! I`ll have one in olive green please .

[Simonelite501]

You are quite correct that the Elite/Eclat had Maxi gearbox inards housed in a bespoke Lotus casing. I have found this gearbox to be one of the most troublesome parts of the car. Door handles were also from the BL parts bin, I've had trouble with those too

[ARH]

my partners Moghgie farts all the time. don't know why no other a series engine does it.

[Mutant Rat]

Simonelite501 said:

You are quite correct that the Elite/Eclat had Maxi gearbox inards housed in a bespoke Lotus casing. I have found this gearbox to be one of the most troublesome parts of the car.

I had a Lotus Plus 2S130/5 with the maxi-based 5 speed box. It didn't give me any reliability problems (though as Simon says, they are usually pretty fragile), but the gearchange was horrible and it whined like a starving spaniel. Ruined an otherwise brilliant car.

[mickyveloce]

when I bought my eclat , I had the gearbox and engine rebuilt as well as the suspension etc and I did not have a moments trouble with anything serious on it . The `box was great ; very short throw and accurate with a nice little wooden gearknob . The only problems I had with it in 20000 miles of everday driving was a fuel starvation issue ( it sometimes used to coast to a halt if you went round a left hand bend too quick , and I had to "prime" the system by squeezing the fuel filter in the boot) and some minor electrical anomolies . The vacuum headlights rose up and down like Roger Moores eyebrow although none of the BL parts caused a problem . Sadly underdeloped motorcar but a real piece of 70`s exotica

[Pigeon]

ARH said:

my partners Moghgie farts all the time. don't know why no other a series engine does it.

Other A-series powered cars do do it, it's just nothing like as pronounced. B-series powered cars like Farina saloons do it as well but again it's much less pronounced. I reckon it's mainly something to do with the exhaust system, as it can be completely eliminated with a non-standard system.

[Alpineandy]

targarama said:

My Dad had a 1975 P reg'd 1750HL KKH 301P was brilliant. It sounded wicked.So what made it sound so good? (compared to other non-sports cars of the era).

Sorry, To me they sounded awful...
I guess sounds are like beauty, In the eye/ear of the beholder.

[godwinj]

I thought Maxi's sounded like trumpets....
Moggies and late 80's Sierra and Granada 2.0i's farted, and Volvo 850/S70/V70 and S60 sound particularly bovine (mooooo).

Actually, come to think of it, the Maxis, Grannies and the old Volvos did have that intercooler whooshing sound. In the Fords case, this was probably to mask the waling din of the grotty Pinto plant under the bonnet.

At least the sounds give the car character, as aural quality is absent in most cars nowadays