Rare, precious bass

[rwillett]

Possibly overpriced by 100x

 

https://ebay.us/m/ffFDAS

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Si600]

Or for the same price, seven bags of this stuff...

 

https://nenevalleyfirewood.co.uk/product/kiln-dried-economy-firewood/?srsltid=AfmBOoqmVox3yrPuzTfRn4cnfIkTHh-8RvfEOLL1q3kJcjXFF_yenBh1

[rwillett]

Hi @Si600

 

And I know which is far more usable. I could probably cobble together a better bass from the firewood than the bass for sale. I'm going to watch it just to see if any fool is parted from his money. 

 

Also as there is a discount on three bags or more I could probably get half a bag or so extra. 

[Si600]

38 minutes ago, rwillett said:

Hi @Si600

 

And I know which is far more usable. I could probably cobble together a better bass from the firewood than the bass for sale. I'm going to watch it just to see if any fool is parted from his money. 

 

Also as there is a discount on three bags or more I could probably get half a bag or so extra. 

Delivery cost from Daventry to North Yorkshire would be a bugger though, you may not get the extra half bag.

[rwillett]

That's very true. 

 

I used to drive up the A1 regularly and would always stop near the Nene Valley railway as it was a pit half way from London to York.  Never had the opportunity to go on it. I do become a little boy when near a steam engine. No idea why as they had long gone when I was younger. 

 

 

[Si600]

I know why I do....

 

   

 

I can thank my dad

[rwillett]

When I was 7-8, my best friends dad used to make steam engines, He'd do everything including making the tiny nuts and bolts. It could take him 10-12 years in his little shed and little lathe.

 

His last project was a flat four engine based on the original engine that was supposed to go in the Morris Minor. The engine that did go in was a more normal straight and upright four. This is why the engine bay in an old Morris Minor is so wide and why you could drop a somewhat large engine in to play with, you needed to upgrade the mounts but a small V8 has been made to fit. 

 

This useless fact was brought to you by Car Nerds 2025  

 

Rob

Edited December 4, 2025 by rwillett

[Si600]

 

I'm not sure you'd be allowed to a) run live steam down a road at a village fete with only a rope pinned to bales as a safety barrier or b) allow 11 year olds to drive said train, with paying passengers.  I loved it mind you

[rwillett]

Seems perfectly acceptable to me... 

 

I live in a small village in the Dales, sometimes it feels like the village that time forgot. In fact you can see my village here in this YouTube video from 1962. Apart from the cars, it looks exactly the same. I live just before the house that you can see the side off on the right., One of our gateposts can be seen, but not the house. Just about everything else is identical, though the trees are 60 years older and taller. 

 

 

[Si600]

Oooo, I've been there.  We went up t' top o' Ingleborough one holiday.

 

None of this is relevant to a firewood bass though  

Edited December 4, 2025 by Si600

[rwillett]

Did you get issued a mandatory flat cap and t'ferret?

 

We will get back on track though

Rob

[alyctes]

We moved to Horton in Ribblesdale when I was two.  Then to Burton in Lonsdale from the age of three to the year I was ten.

[tauzero]

On 04/12/2025 at 10:30, rwillett said:

His last project was a flat four engine based on the original engine that was supposed to go in the Morris Minor. The engine that did go in was a more normal straight and upright four. This is why the engine bay in an old Morris Minor is so wide and why you could drop a somewhat large engine in to play with, you needed to upgrade the mounts but a small V8 has been made to fit. 

 

An old friend of mine had a Capri that he was very proud of. He was sitting at some traffic lights when a tatty brown Moggy van pulled up alongside him. He decided to take on the challenge and was promptly left in the dust, and later found out that under the Moggy's bonnet was a V8 Chevy engine.

[rwillett]

Like it when things like that happen.

 

I used to have a 73 Alfa Romeo 2L GTV.  This is the old Giulia shape. Nice car, 90-100mph top speed. 

 

I was driving out of Brighton up the long hill toward the M23 and I saw two very large headlamps behind me. I thought it was a Land-rover. Put my foot down and they kept getting closer. Turns out it was a 2CV overtaking me at probably close to 90mph uphill. The two men waved and laughed as they went by me. I couldn't keep up. 

 

Q-cars are brilliant. I have no idea what the 2CV had under the bonnet but it certainly wasn't stock. There is a hill climbing 2CV with a BMW engine in but this was 30 years ago so it's not that one. 

 

 

I was humbled by the 2CV and I did try to catch them up but they were long gone. 

 

Rob

[JottoSW1]

4 hours ago, rwillett said:

Like it when things like that happen.

 

I used to have a 73 Alfa Romeo 2L GTV.  This is the old Giulia shape. Nice car, 90-100mph top speed. 

 

I was driving out of Brighton up the long hill toward the M23 and I saw two very large headlamps behind me. I thought it was a Land-rover. Put my foot down and they kept getting closer. Turns out it was a 2CV overtaking me at probably close to 90mph uphill. The two men waved and laughed as they went by me. I couldn't keep up. 

 

Q-cars are brilliant. I have no idea what the 2CV had under the bonnet but it certainly wasn't stock. There is a hill climbing 2CV with a BMW engine in but this was 30 years ago so it's not that one. 

 

 

I was humbled by the 2CV and I did try to catch them up but they were long gone. 

 

Rob

Used to be a company that squeezed a flat 4 from Citroën CX into a 2CV , should think that would do the job

[bass_dinger]

On 03/12/2025 at 21:23, rwillett said:

Possibly overpriced by 100x

 

https://ebay.us/m/ffFDAS

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'd be all over that if it was a 2-string.  GLWTS.

[Stub Mandrel]

I've asked the seller a question:

 

"Are the bits broken off the headstock included in the sale?"

[rwillett]

I also received an offer from him to Buy It Now. 

 

I recall it was £600 or so. In a moment of madness, I declined. 

[Beedster]

Bass-firewood-steam trains-village fetes-early street lighting-overpowered 2CVs and all within a single page. Very good work chaps 👍

[rwillett]

Never say Basschat is not a source of diverse information 😁

 

I note we have managed to avoid contentious issues though and nobody has gone passive aggressive. 

[Stub Mandrel]

On 04/12/2025 at 10:38, Si600 said:

I'm not sure you'd be allowed to a) run live steam down a road at a village fete with only a rope pinned to bales as a safety barrier or b) allow 11 year olds to drive said train, with paying passengers.  I loved it mind you

 

 

Not sure of the road, but there are responsible youngsters who do driver training with their clubs and do just that.

[Hellzero]

On 09/12/2025 at 22:31, JottoSW1 said:

Used to be a company that squeezed a flat 4 from Citroën CX into a 2CV , should think that would do the job

Almost correct, but it's the GS that had a flat four, not the CX.

 

My father was a mechanic and fond of Citroen, and we had the project to put one GS engine (1299cc and 65 hp, so the roughly equivalent of 2 x 2CV engines) in my 2CV in the late 80's, but I literally dismantled my 2CV before we could make it happen.

 

That said in the 60's and 70's, it was quite common to put a Panhard engine in a 2CV. 😉

[Si600]

2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

 

Not sure of the road, but there are responsible youngsters who do driver training with their clubs and do just that.

I've been driving that loco for as long as I can remember.  The footpegs had a little set higher up where my sister and I would sit in front of dad at steaming days and eventually we learnt to drive it.  MKMS had no fixed track at the time so it was fete after fete in the summer.  Moving clubs to Northampton SME with their fixed track at Delepre was a joy with monthly running days.  Night running with BBQ in summer.