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Jan 12, 2015 15:00:12 GMT
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As has been said before the wheels in the earlier photos look better to me. Its funny at the time these were so common and nasty I would never have given one a second thought, now looking it looks so much better than I remembered them! Its a definate rarity and will turn heads as a lot of people will never have seen one before. Does it still sound like a diesel?
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Jan 12, 2015 17:59:45 GMT
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It's a car that you hardly ever see on the roads anymore, That most "normal" people under 40 would have trouble identifying, it's nicely lowered. Yup that's cool.
And for the record I like the wheels it has now.
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fred
Posted a lot
WTF has happened to all the Vennies?
Posts: 2,957
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Jan 12, 2015 22:46:59 GMT
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Alpine was the the first 'Brand new car' I ever rode in, My Uncle Tom took me to fetch his new Alpine back in 1980 or so. Yeah, they are cool, and I love Marmite too, Bike and such, whatever, your ride do as you will. !!
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'79 Cossie ran Cortina - Sold
2000 Fozzer 2.0 turbo snow beast
'85 Opel Manta GSI - Sold
03 A class Mercedes
Looking for a FD Ventora - Anyone?
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Jan 13, 2015 20:45:52 GMT
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Wow, that's quite a response, i really didn't believe that everyone would think it's cool, i am very surprised. For me, this wasn't an ego trip or anything like it, like i said in the begining, i get a lot of fun poked at me by quite a lot of friends who consider themselves to be "car guys" However, oddly after i've asked them to make their opinions public on my farcebook page where i've posted pretty much the same as i've posted here, they have not made comment. I personally think this is a shame, as i really wanted to know what people think of it. Back when i got my first one in 1989, a ten year old T reg at the time i was largely regarded as a a joke because of my interesting car choice, most of my friends where running mk3 Cortinas at the time, and although i loved, and still do love the styling of the mk3 Cortina i wanted something different, so when i was given a Chrysler Alpine, which i might add i hated at the time (I really wanted a Vauxhall Carlton) I went with it. It was a tidy car right up until i had my first fender bender with a Volvo 240 that just happened to be a police car! Luckily for me, and my friend we somehow escaped unscathed, although my Chrysler Apline looked somewhat worse for wear! Even more luckily for me, i was a photography student carrying my camera everywhere and was able to take lots of photos of my car showing that the police car was on the wrong side of the road on a blind bend when he hit me! My Dad and I then spent a year straightening my Alpine out, before i used it again. It was during this time that i really became a fan of the Alpine, and i have owned several of them wearing Chrysler, Talbot, and even Simca badges over the years. Anyhoo, i'm getting off track. So, why have i not uploaded a build thread in the readers rides section? Well, simply because i didn't build it, i just came along and bought it, and didn't want to take credit for someone elses hard work. Having said that i have changed, modified, and even undone some of the things the previous owner did. For example i have raised the suspension back up! It was savagely low, and looked awesome, but i just couldn't drive it around here. I had to re-attach the exhaust five or six times, and i was getting bored of picking it up off the road. When i came to MOT it the heavily chopped rear springs dropped out and the MOT inspector just looked at me and said NO so i bought some new springs and popped them in. This raised the back about an inch and a half, so i've raised the front about an inch to suit! Sometimes that extra inch is all you need, and i've not had to pick up my exhaust since, and the difference in comfort is phenomenal (i hate to say it, but i'm in my mid forties and comfort has become quite important to me lol) By the way, although i've raised it by an inch or so, it's still a good four inches lower than stock! I have also changed the wheels as has been mentioned. To be fair i love the Barchetta steels, and still have them although they've been powdercoated white now. The reason i changed them was because i took a big chunk out of the sidewall of the tyres which were on the Barchetta wheels, and i managed to score a set of Fiat Punto alloys with nearly new tyres on ebay for just ÂŁ40, of course they were nowhere close, so i then had a 400 mile round trip to collect them and bring them home. Still, it gave me a chance to get out there and drive the Talbot, and it was my first long distance drive in it, it was great, although it was very cold as the heater didn't work, and very noisy because, well it is very noisy! Apart from that my efforts have been concerned with trying to stop it dissolving whenever there's a hint of rain! If i was going to do a thread, and going on the response from you guys perhaps i should, it would be more like a journal of the trials and tribulations of living with the old thing. Incidentally, about the wheels, i am planning to change them, at this moment in time i'm hoping to put a set of slotmags on it, or possibly get a set of Punto steels, and have them banded and powdercoated. On to the bike on the roof thing... Well, it's not some kind of fasion statement. I'm into old bikes and this photo was taken one evening when we had been out to pick up a bike i won on ebay. It was a Raleigh Bomber, the discription on the ebay ad just read "RALEIGH BOMBER" i tried to ask questions but the guy never replied, so in the dying seconds of the auction i put my bid in and got it for the starting price of just ÂŁ20!!! I emailed the guy asking if he would let me arrange a courier, but he sent me a very rude email back saying that it was cash on collection ONLY!!!! So i set off with my eldest daughter on a 370 mile round trip to pick it up. When we got to the address the bike was parked outside with a note taped to it telling me to post the money in the letterbox, and P*SS OFF!! So i did! Unfortunately for me, it wasn't a full sized Bomber, however, my eldest who was with me said, nevermind Dad, i'll have that!! And so she did, and she loves it! So, although it does often have old bikes on the roof, it's not because it's cool or anything, it's because i've either bought an old bike, or i'm taking my old bike somewhere to ride. Having now owned this car for about a year i do still find peoples responses to it very surprising. Tonight i came out of Asda to find a young woman stood infront of it while her husband took a photo of it, we then had a chat for a bit and it turned out her Dad owned one when she was a kid. I get people hanging out of windows of cars taking photos as i drive along the motorway, and i get older people coming up to me to reminisce about the one they had, which i think is quite nice. Now, in the past i think i've had some quite cool cars, but none of them have drawn the attention to themselves like this little car... Wierd! Of course, not everyone likes it, and thats ok too. Back in the summer i went to a local classic car show, and i was in line to drive into the show behind a fairly used looking 1993 Jaguar XJ6. Anyhoo, the big fella on the gate waved the Jag in, so i figured i'd just follow him. Nope, the big fella stopped me, and said "show cars only mate, this is for classics!" I said, but this is older, and therefore more classic than the 1993 Jag he'd just let in. He just looked at me and said, Yep, but people wanna see 'em mate. Public parkin's over there mate." And pointed to a fairly rough looking field that had just been harvested! So i ground and graunched my way across the field and parked next to an absolutley mint Austin Princess in that awful yet oh so cool butterscotch colour! My guess is that wasn't classic enough for the fella on the gate either lol! Lastly, i'm more of a vegemite man myself
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Jan 13, 2015 21:18:35 GMT
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Nice to see the old girl is still going, personally I love this car, but I guess I would say that, has been said before but the barchetta wheels look better, if you ever fancy parting with it let me know.. ?
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Jan 14, 2015 10:47:35 GMT
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......,and breath Get a build thread up, if you've worked on it and it's an ongoing project it belongs in there
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Jan 14, 2015 13:42:23 GMT
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aaargghhh...too many words, not enough pics
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andyf
South West
Posts: 415
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Jan 14, 2015 15:32:19 GMT
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I had one back in the eighties and moving from an Austin 1100 it seemed like a spaceship. In reality it was a rattly pile of old poop that dissolved quicker than my old Austin, but that was then and this is now.
Yes it is cool and if I was in the market for a car I would look at an Alpine again because you just do not see them today.Like you I care little about other peoples opinion (good thing as I have a TR7), if you like it that is all that matters.
And Retrowarwick is right - more pics.
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1980 Triumph TR7.
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Jan 21, 2015 19:35:43 GMT
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Thanks for all the comments, i am quite surprised at the lurve for my little car! So it looks like i need to do a build thread, although i reckon it'll be more of a trials and tribulations of owning the Talbot thread, but what the heck, i'll start to dig out some photos, and start to think what to write! Thanks for voting guys, just one more day of voting to go!
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Jan 21, 2015 21:27:12 GMT
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It's cool in my book , make sure you bring it to the Retro Rides Gathering at Shelsley Walsh , it won't get turned away at the gate there ! ( In fact , I took some pics of it about two years ago at a previous Gathering )
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You've been telling me you were a genius since you were seventeen ... in all the time I've known you I still don't know what you mean !
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Jan 25, 2015 23:30:20 GMT
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Is your car cool, well lets think about that. If everyone said no would you then rush onto ebay and sell it? If you did that then you are simply trying to fit in or follow a trend, and who wants to do that. What matters most about everything in life, is if YOU think its something you want in your life. You obviously think the car is cool, so it doesn't really matter what the rest of us think. Fill up with fuel, jump in, and enjoy
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1993 Fiat Panda Selecta 2003 Vauxhall Combo 1.7DI van 2006 Mercedes Kompressor Evolution-S AMG SportCoupé
"You think you hate it now, wait til you drive it"
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I think it's super cool. Is it pretty much the same car as an early Passat?
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