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Apr 29, 2015 21:18:45 GMT
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Wow. What a fleet!!
I can't believe nobody's asked before, but please can we have a build thread for the Volvo 262C? Pretty please?
and the Barracuda. and the Beetle. and the Mustang (if you squint (a lot) it looks retro enough!!)........
....the Alpine's cool too. I much prefer it's new "stance", Kwik Sh!t might let it grace their ramps now!! :-)
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Apr 30, 2015 15:41:57 GMT
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My dad bought both new - he traded in a Wolsley 6 (landcrab) for the Chrysler Horizon - MUP 607T, in mint green with the checkered beige/tan cloth and beige/tan plastics. I think it was a 1.1. The old Wolsley was too thirsty and I think the appeal of the Horizon was it's economy. 1983 He bought a 1.3 Solara (A599 XNL) in white - it was part of a cancelled fleet order so I expect there was a good deal on. It had a 5 speed box and even had the decal on the boot to tell everyone! That lasted until 1987 when it went in favour of an MG Maestro. Man alive, a Wolsley 6, i can't remember the last time i saw one of those, i remember thinking they looked hideous, but now they'd look so damn cool it would be unreal! Oddly, the Solara does nothing for me, i've looked at them, and i think i should have atleast one of them at some point, but i always feel saloon cars look a bit odd, and unfinished. A bit like the designer was drawing the car, then went oh curse word, we need somewhere to store stuff, lets just tag a box on the back! As for the Chrysler Horizon, again, they never did much for me, however after seeing Ades... Soho  Top weekend!  I must admit that i do have quite a hankering to have one, and hopefully one will feature as part of my Twelve Cars In A Year thread found elsewhere on the forum. Wow. What a fleet!! I can't believe nobody's asked before, but please can we have a build thread for the Volvo 262C? Pretty please? and the Barracuda. and the Beetle. and the Mustang (if you squint (a lot) it looks retro enough!!)........ ....the Alpine's cool too. I much prefer it's new "stance", Kwik Sh!t might let it grace their ramps now!! :-) Er, well, i shall write about them as and when i do anything to them or with them, as of yet i've not really got around to doing aything with them. Apart from the Beetle, that was sold quite a while ago, infact as i remember it sold a year ago today, but just for you, i'll put some pretty pictures of it up for your viewing pleasure       I must admit i never got the Beetle thing... Until i owned this one. I just loved it, it was fabulous! I bought the Volvo 262c over a year ago and i've just never touched it. Partly because i'm bone idle, but mostly because it was such a struggle to import it, that i really had fallen out of love with it, and was fed up with it before it even got here. I keep thinking about offering it up for sale, but then i think i should keep it in the hope i get my mojo back for it, as if i sold it, when would i find another one?   Here's a couple of pictures of it when it had just come off the boat, it isn't perfect, but it's pretty solid and there doesn't appear to be any rust on it!  First fill shot!  Hopefully i'll get my mojo back for it, actually just looking at these photos again makes me want to go out and do something with it, so fingers crossed! The Barracuda, i've not touched since it got here... Some of the problem is doing my other thread, i really have neclected all my other cars and projects to do it, and partly because i've been a bit too busy at work.    But rest assured, as soon as i'm doing something with it, you'll read about it here, in the meantime, here's a couple of photos of it leaving Montana. It's a cool car alright... I've always wanted one of these, and it's all the fault of the HotWheels car i had as a kid, it had to be a fastback, and it had to be green! As for my Mustang, i think i babbled on about fitting rear foglights a page or so back, but, again, when i do something to it, or with it, i'll let you know.  |
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andyw
North East
Posts: 238
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Apr 30, 2015 19:22:30 GMT
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He had an Austin 1800 before the Wolsley 6 - he loved that but the Wolsley was a BL product and he reckoned it wasn't build as well as the Austin.
One of my memories of the Horizon were travelling back from our first foreign holiday to Majorca. We landed at Luton Airport early morning and my Mam and Dad folded the rear seats flat so me and my brother could sleep in sleeping bags! Would have been a bit of a trek in a slow 70s hatchback back to the North East.
I think a treat on the Barracuda is definitely needed, love those cars - I'm one of the oddbods who likes the really early ones with the curved glass screens. Wouldn't mind a plain jane valiant either.
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Apr 30, 2015 22:04:44 GMT
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So yesterday when i was babbling on about Auto & Technik Museum in Sinsheim i said:- ...if you're ever in the area, it's well worth having a look around this place, there really is tonnes to see... I'll try and post a few more photos from inside the museum later...  So as promised, here's a few photos. Might be best if you're sitting down for this one, i took loads of photos, but here's a very small selection of the stuff they had in there. As ever, i'm not going to caption them, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, and that should be more than enough  I'm going to start off with one of the first things the youngest Pistonpoppet saw as we entered the building. Pointing wildly she exclaimed, look at that Dad, they've got your bike!! I looked, and sure enough there was a Coker Monster exactly like mine... Awesome!           See what i mean? It's pretty big, and varied. It's well worth the visit if you happen to be in the area... Here's another ten photos that i took in the museum, but thats your lot or i'll be here all night lol!           One for all you Wankel fans out there! Lastly, because i thought i couldn't really post a bit on my thread about this museum without posting this picture...  Concord and Concord-ski where else are you going to see those two together? And yes, you can go inside them, as you could with a lot of the planes on exhibition! As you can see there really was something there for everyone, and we could've stayed for hours if we didn't get kicked out because they were closing! It is well worth a visit, and even the admission is cheap, or atleast, it was far FAR cheaper than any automotive museum i know of in England, and it was far bigger than all the auto museums i've been to in England... It was massive! If you need to see more, click here!Thanks for looking |
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Apr 30, 2015 23:14:55 GMT
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Shame, but when the mojo returns, I'd love to see more of the Volvo, I remember drooling over the little black and white photo in my "Observers Book of Cars" back in the early 80's.
Sorry for the hi-jack. Look forward to more Alpine updates.
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How about for wheels those new Wolfrace slot mags??
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I've had a look at them, but I don't like them much. I like the original ones, I even tried a set on, but being a deep dish RWD offset they hung out the arches a loooooooooooooong way, which I thought looked a bit too Carlos Fandango for my local police force. Having said all that, if a set of those new Wolfies showed up cheaply enough I'd probably have them. There's something about this car! I have to say I preferred it on the steels though Again, there have been a few comments like this already, but i must say that you're all wrong Having said that these wheels arn't my preferred choice, but they were cheap, and had four new tyres on them, and as i'd managed to take a chunk out of the side wall of one of the tyres on the steel wheels (On my way home from picking it up from the previous owner!) I bought them, plus, it made me feel like i was leaving my mark on it a little bit! Having said that, i have a couple of wheel choices that i might put on if i can find a set cheap enough. One of my previous Alpines, a Chrysler Alpine 'S' had a nice set of wheels, hold on, i'll put a pic up, please excuse the poor photography skills, and slightly blurry image it's blown up from a small photo!  I quite like these, and infact i still have them in my garage, the rest of the car got weighed in years ago (i know it looks good in the photos, and it even looked good in the street, but most of the bottom half was made from filler, even some parts of the chassis!  Anyhoo, i tried them on, but they just looked too small being of 13" diameter, so i've been looking out for a set of these...  I believe they're called a BK Racing 550. I think they'd look similar to the original Talbot wheel, but bigger, and just different enough to see that they're not a standard wheel. But finding a set is proving to be a bit hard... I'm not forking out more than the car cost me originally on a set of wheels no matter how pretty i think they'd look on the car! Failing that, when i was a kid in the eighties my family used to drag us to Germany and Austria on holiday (much like i am doing to my family lol), and at the time these were the hot wheels to have on your car out there...  Yes, ATS Cups. I know they're a bit 'scene' but i still reckon they're cool, however, i don't believe they're £200+ worth of cool for a second hand set of wheels, and as the majority that you see on fleabay are on there for weeks and weeks on end with starting bids of £200, and no bidders, i'm guessing that no one else thinks they're £200 wheels either. But i'll probably get some eventually. Of course, in the meantime something else might turn up, and i'll end up putting them on for a while, i always give wheels a good looking at when i'm at the autojumbles! I've even got a fairly good selection in my wheel collection, the problem is that pretty much none of them are a 4x98mm PCD, and thats why the selection for the Talbot is pretty thin on the ground. I know that i could use 4x100mm PCD with wobbly bolts, but i'm usure about wobbly bolts to be honest, is anyone else using them, and if you are, have you had any problems with them at all? Speaking of my Talbot Alpine, i realise that i've not really had much to say about it of late, this is mostly due to my Twelve Cars In A Year thread i've not been driving the Talbot all that much lately, and therefore i've just not had much to write about of late. Having said that, i have done, or should that be, i have had done a few jobs i was planning to do, mainly give it a good service. So, apart from the regular Oil, Filters, Plugs etc, while my mechanic was servicing my Talbot I asked him to have a look at the brakes as i felt they were a little on the spongey side, and they could be better, and i felt that the brake fluid was probably the same stuff it left the factory with 30 years ago! I also asked him the change the pads and shoes while he was at it. So after a small brake overhaul, and some new DOT 4 in the system the brakes were felt to be much sharper, which was good. Other jobs that need to be done are more about parts that have broken. For example, with the warmer weather approaching (possibly) I thought that i would roll down the drivers window, well that wasn't a good idea. Firstly, the window seemed stiff to roll down, and as i am a man, i decided that the best way to 'fix' the stiff window was simply to add more power to the winder handle. This did indeed work out very well. However arriving at my destination i decided to roll the window back up, again, it was stiff, actually VERY stiff, but thats ok, i just applied more power and then... It was broken! Upon taking it all aprt it would appear the wire that forms part of the mechanism has snapped, but worse that that, so have the plastic spools that the wire goes around! GREAT! So, if any of you out there reading this happens to have a manual window winder for the drivers side door of a 1985 Talbot Alpine, please let me know as i have a good home for it waiting! The other thing that is now broken is the passengers side tail light. This happened on the school run one morning, and i'm fairly sure i kow who the culprit is, but of course no one saw it. But, there's this woman, and she drives an old Vauxhall Zafira, it's a real shed of a car, not a straight panel on it, not even the roof, and covered in scratches, it's only made worse by the fact that it's black. Anyhoo, she's what would best be described as a contact parker, actually, by the look at her car, i reckon she's probably more an impact driver. I've seen her parking, and she's just keeps going until the car infront, or behind moves as she bumps it, this is usually followed by the sound of an alarm! I have a particular dislike for this kind of driver, and i genuinely believe that if you don't like your car, and have no interest in driving, and motoring, then you have no busness owning a vehicle, and being on the road! This is because i believe people like this, and don't get me wrong here, she's a lovely lady, friendly, chatty, nice to be around, but she can't drive for toffee! But as i was saying, if you look on your car as just a means of getting about, and never bother cleaning it, maintaining it, or looking after it, you probably don't care too much about it, and you probably don't care at all about anyone elses car. I realise of course that a car is just a machine, a tool if you like, but i think that the best craftsmen are the ones who look after their tools... Anyway, rant over, but this does of course mean that i'm looking for a passenger side tail light for a series 2 Talbot Alpine, or Solara, again, if anyones got one kicking about in their garage, please do let me know.  Anyway, as i was saying I've neglected the fabulous Talbot. Infact, worse than that, i've neglected all of my cars that are not starring in the previously mentioned thread, this is bad! I've had some time off this month, and in that time off i thought that while the kids were at school, and Mrs Pistonpopper is at work, i'm going to head out in the Talbot for a bit of a drive round one day. This hasn't happened. I can't really explain why this hasn't happened, but i guess i've just been plain lazy, and it was easier to go and jump into the current star of the Twelve Cars In A Year saga, the Jaaaaaaaaaaaag and drive that, rather than go and take the battery off the Talbot, charge it up, re-fit it, and drive it. I did think about it though, infact i thought about it so much i eventually wrote a little thread entitled, Show me your most memorable car where i rambled on about my first Alpine, my previously mentioned 1979 Chrysler Alpine... Anyway, writing that little thread really did make me think that i had to get out in the Talbot again. Saturday night, was the night. My friend, previously referred to as Ginger (when he was a lurker on this forum) but now known as beamer121 now of this parish came over to do a spot of gardening, and have a spot of dinner (yep, i know, i'm so rock n roll it hurts lol). I casually mentioned to him that i had planned to take the Talbot out for a bit of a spin-a-rooney tonight. Ok he said, where shall we go. A quick check with Mrs Pistonpopper, and Mrs beamer121, and it was all systems go for a bit of cruising in the Talbot! So, first things first, see if it will start. Knowing the battery was flat i took along two battery jump packs, i put the first one on, and it slowly cranked away, but there was no way it was going to go, so, i put the second one on as well, pretty soon it was rattling away happily, and we were off! I had decided that we would cruise down to Hayling Island which is about 30 odd miles from my house, and that for a change we would go cross country, rather than just blast boringly along the motorway. Its funny, while i've been busy driving other cars for my other project you kinda forget how raw the Talbot is, or how the exhaust howls and make your ears go numb after a long drive lol! This rawness, combined with the howl of the exhaust is what make this car in my eyes. When you're driving it, due to the excessive noise and lack of driver comforts it gives you the illusion that you are travelling faster than you are. As we blasted through the twisty and undulating country roads the drive felt extremely invigorating with tight bends, and steep desents and inclines which the Talbot was coping well with as i went up and down the box, and sawed away at the steering wheel. Being that it is a mid eighties Talbot it is quite light and responsive, even though it's only got a 1600cc engine, the engine roars away, and accelerates very well. Due no doubt to it's power to weight ratio being aided by rust, which as we all know, rust is lighter than carbon fibre! The steering too is very responsive, and on several of the tighter corners the tyres chirped away as we went round... Cool lol! It felt pretty darn fast, and pretty good fun, i glanced at the speedo to see just how fast we were blasting through the countryside, 50!! FIFTY MILES AN HOUR?!! I reckon in any of the cars that have so far featured in my Twelve Cars In A Year saga this drive would've felt like i was crawling along at a snails pace, but in the Talbot with it's exhaust roaring away behind me, it's engine rattling away infront of me like a bag full of rusty spanners, it's slammed and quite stiff suspension jarring us on every twig we ran over, and complete lack of creature comforts in the cockpit I felt like i was blezzing through the countryside like Jimmy McRae on the RAC! In short it was a fantastic drive, at a relatively slow, and safe speed, especially as it was dry, and there were very few other people on the road! It was great!  It really was quite a lovely evening, romantic even...  Look at that sunset... Gorgeous!! Anyway, as we move away from Broke Back Mountain, and back somewhere near my point, all of this got me thinking, all my friends who are bikers go out riding. They're not going anywhere in particular, they just hop on their bikes and head on out on the open road, for no other reason than a recreational ride, i've even done it myself on my own bikes. We (or atleast I), as car drivers don't do this. As a rule if we get into the car we're going somewhere, there's a purpose, we're off to work, the shops, meet family or friends, go to the cinema, so on and so fourth. We don't just jump into the car for recreation, just for a drive round, just for fun! Why is this? Why don't we just go for a drive, i like driving my cars, it's fun, but they sit forlornly out on the street waiting for me to need to go to work, the shops, take the Pistonpoppets to school etc. This is a shame, as when i drive it, it's an event, a bit of an adventure, it's fun (unless it breaks down and i end up on the side of the road for hours on end waiting for the RAC to show up!). I don't even feel the need to be blasting through the countryside at warp speed (apparently) like many of my Power Ranger clad biking mates feel the need to do on their bikes, i'm happy at just 50odd MPH! Even the drive back was pretty cool, we drove along the M27 then the M3 toward home, and although the road was fairly empty we still only drove along at about 65MPH, and it was enjoyable, by the time i got home i looked like i had been driving with a coathanger in my mouth my grin was so big! Out on the motorway we got passed by several cars who all gave me the thumb as they passed, i don't know why, but this in my eyes is damn cool! I stopped to get some go-go juice, and had some random fella come up and just start talking to me about my Alpine, again, i think this is pretty cool. The funny thing is, when i had my original Chrysler Alpine one of the things that i hated about it was just how un-cool it was in my eyes. All my friends had Capris, Cortinas, and Escorts. My Chrysler was the newest car in our little group, but it was so un-cool it hurt. Fast forward 26 years, and now, in the same kind of car i'm getting thumbs up from people. People are interested in it, they even like it. I come back to it when i'm out shopping to find lads, and Dads photographing it in the car park. Its a cool car, due no doubt to the fact that you just don't ever see them about, and very often the people who want to talk to me about it have no idea even what it is, some have never even heard of the Talbot brand! I never expected the Talbot Alpine to be on everyones list of cars they'd like to own, and it really isn't, but the appreciation it gets is incredible. It's so great infact that i've thought more and more lately about my original Chrysler Alpine, infact i thought about it so much that eventually i felt the need to try and wake it from its 20 odd year slumber, and pulled it from it's resting place where it has hidden out of sight, and out of mind since about 1992...  Hiding in a damp and apparently very leaky garage has not been kind to the old thing.  Having said that, the cellulose paint that was put on it back in '91 has held up quite well. Although it looks a bit dull, this is mostly due to dust, and nature growing on it. Sadly, as good as this looks (if it does indeed look good to you) it is very rusty, there are quite big blisters around the rear arches, door bottoms, bonnet, and various other places. The less said about the underneath the better, it would need quite extensive patching, If not starting again from scratch, and a new exhaust, new brake lines, new, well everything! It also refuses to start, I put a good battery on it, new fuel in it (some of which leaked back out!), and my Dad and I towed it around for an hour or so in gear, but nothing  Inside the damp has also got in, no doubt due to the stupid sunroof that i had cut into the roof back in '91, I wish i'd never done that! So anyway, what to do? Sadly, back in '91 when I drove it into the garage it was driveable, but I had moved on to other cars, thinking that I would get back to the Alpine 'some day'! Perhaps the day is now, I should round up some friends and hit it hard! We shall see, I know i don't want to get rid of it, so really the best thing to do would be to fix it, and maybe make a few improvements? But back to the plot, and my current beige blaster! Why arn't I driving for fun more often? The funny thing is, I consider myself to be a 'Driver', no, i'm not the Stig, or even the Stigs bald fat cousin, but if I were to blow my own trumpet I would consider myself to be an above average competant amateur. I don't look at cars as a tool that gets you from A to B (even though it seems thats how i use them!) So why havn't I been just out and about driving them for fun? I'm sure that part of the problem is lack of time, but I think the majority of the problem is that I just didn't think about doing it! The stupid thing is, when I was a lad in my original Chrysler Alpine all those years ago, thats what we (as boy racers) did, it's all we did, get out in a cars with no particular place to go, and just drive about all evening, then for some reason or another, we just stopped doing that, and only drove our cars if we had a place to go! Odd, very odd! So, just out of interest, am I alone in thinking that we just use our cars to get from A to B, or is everyone else just taking their cars out for a drive with the sole purpose being to just drive their cars for fun? |
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May 27, 2015 16:35:51 GMT
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Read from start to finish - Top writing fella, top fleet.
Love the RPU the most. Gorgeous
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96 E320 W210 Wafter - on 18" split Mono's - Sold :-(
10 Kia Ceed Sportwagon - Our new daily
03 Import Forester STi - Sold
98 W140 CL500 AMG - Brutal weekend bruiser! Sold :-(
99 E240 S210 Barge - Now sold
02 Accord 2.0SE - wife's old daily - gone in PX
88 P100 2.9efi Custom - Sold
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Jun 13, 2015 23:55:21 GMT
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Read from start to finish - Top writing fella, top fleet. Love the RPU the most. Gorgeous Thanks mate, i appreciate that, just for you, here's some in-progress photos of my '32 RPU when it was, well, er, in progress! I'm not doing a build thread for it though, this was a very long time ago, in a galaxy far far away... Having said that, i still have the thing, so as and when i have anything worth writing about it happens, i'll wrtie about it! Anyway, enough of this drivel, you probably want to see the photos right?   I look at this sometimes, and wonder how my friend and i managed to build two fairly nice rods in leaky council garages... Still, atleast we had 'lectric, which was umm, sort of plugged in down the street a little bit!  When i was building this, a few of my friends called it 'The Wrong Rod' because apparently i had used parts on it that were wrong for a hot rod... Looked pretty good to me though!  This was one of the wrong bits.  A two litre Pinto, but the car was made of fibreglass, and it was light, that two litre Pinto was, and is more than enough!  Off for a bit or wiring etc, that was a laugh getting it on the bed of that thing. The rod was so damn low that i had to do it in stages.  Of course getting it off when we got there was a lot easier, i backed the Transit flatbed up to the four poster ramp, then we pushed the rod off the Transit and on to the ramp, then i moved the Transit out of the way... Simples!  My friends and I love Cheese, so i covered the bed with the biggest cheese grater in the world!   The finished product... Over four years of hard work and head scratching!  |
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Jun 15, 2015 11:18:59 GMT
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A bit of a sad update today, as long term followers may know a while ago i wrote this:- ...time to introduce one of my other 'projects'... My 1980 Opel Monza.  As you've no doubt gathered it is a little bit rough around the edges, frankly i've no idea where i'm going with this yet, or what will become of it, but it is very VERY rusty. Sadly as i've lost my storage space lately i have a feeling that this will become one of the cars destined to lurk in your kitchen cupboards masquerading as soup cans et cetera! Honestly the photos make it look better than it is! AAAARRGH!!  It's so damn annoying! Well, i finally had to move it from it's resting place due to losing my storage, i figured that what i would do is try to sell it on the bay of E, a pointless excercise really but there you go. So i listed it once, and got a couple of bidders, i listed it saying it was probably best used as a source of spares as it's pretty rusty! Started the bidding at just 99p with no reserve, and we were off. So the auction ends at £203.00! Great, so i contact the guy, and get no response, i try to contact him again several times over the next week or so, and still nothing!! IDIOT!! Oh well, i guess i'll report this W + Anchor, and relist the thing, which i do, this time there's even less interest, as often seems to be the case, but eventually it sells for just £167.00... Great, so i contact the winning bidder, and he responds, and says he'll be down for it by the end of the week. I thought that'll be cool, but then towards the end of the week i send him another email asking when he was hoping to collect it, no response! Eventually after a couple more emails asking when he was coming i get an email back from him saying he's can't come as he lives in Ireland and can't get over to collect it, and can't find anyone to deliver it, so on and so fourth!! He suggests that i offer it to the next guy down the list. By this point i'm well and truly cheesed off, so i call a scrap metal man thinking i'll just scrap it and thats the end of it. This is something that i hate doing, but the fact of the matter was i needed it to go. So i called up a scrap collector who told me that it wasn't worth his while picking it up as it was only worth about £28 in scrap!! I did eventually find one that would collect it for me, but it was going to cost ME £50 for him to come out and collect it!! Is scrap Iron and Steel really worth so little? Anyway with nothing to take it to the scrapyard in myself, there was just no other option... (If you have a particular loving for Opel Monzas, i suggest you scroll past the next images!)   Right... Time to get busy with the disc cutter    See... It really was pretty rotten...    Chop chop...  It still had a full tank of go-go juice! When i flipped it over it all ran out and collected in the wheel arches... That was the end of cutting with the angle grinder for the day!  I HATE doing stuff like this, it feels so counter-productive. I feel like i've violated some sort of code amoungst car lovers, and the car gods are now looking down at me frowning, and they're not happy... Not happy at all!! But i really had no option, i couldn't even give it away! I have however managed to save anything that was worth saving which will all end up on ebay over the next couple of weeks/months! Of course if after i've listed it and it doesn't sell, sadly that will be taken to the scrapyard in the end too... So if you need any bits, please let me know, i'd rather give them to someone that needs them and will use them, than just throw them away! Stupidy, after i had spent the weekend cutting it all up some fella came by in a Transhit pick up full of scrap and asked me if he could take it away! Typical! So i gave it to him, and gave him the documents as he said he'd need them at the scrapyard... There is a bright side to all this however (Maybe)... I've always loved the Opel Monza, or Vauxhall Royale, and this little episode has made me even more determined to get a good one, in good working order... Someday!  |
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Geordie
North East
Course I'm out of my mind...........it's dark and scary in there!!
Posts: 2,520
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Jun 15, 2015 12:12:10 GMT
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Enjoyable thread.
Ref peoples reactions, I get the same sort of thing when I'm out in my Primera, believe it or not. At filling stations, or at the shops, people come up to it and strike up conversations with me about how they/their uncle/their Grandad ("probably cabbies"...don't worry, I heard all your mutterings!!) used to have one, and how despite them not being particularly 'old' (compared to most cars on this forum), you just never see any about any more.
Ref Talbots, my then girlfriends dad's friend used to take us to the NUFC matches (circa 1990) in a Solara. Just remember it being big and comfy. I'd have one now, just to see if they were or not.
Ref simply driving for pleasure, on a sunny evening after work I've known me often take 45 minutes to move 5 yards forward into the garage in the Boxster. Strangely, it'll select reverse almost by itself and take me on a jaunty blast round the coast to Saltburn or over the moors. Naughty, naughty Boxster! I think the fun of driving has gone from most people because of a few reasons: 1. fuel costs, 2. demands of work, 3. busy urban roads, 4. the increase of selfish, ignorant drivers. There'll be more reasons, but that's all I can think of as I finish my Shape dessert and finish my lunch.
Anyway, great thread. Keep it going.
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CURRENT FLEET
'95 Rover 623SLi (65k miles)
'99 Renault Laguna Executive
'55 BMW 318i (52k miles) for sale
'06 Audi A6 (18 year old 'modern' daily)
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Jun 15, 2015 23:55:53 GMT
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Enjoyable thread. Ref simply driving for pleasure, on a sunny evening after work I've known me often take 45 minutes to move 5 yards forward into the garage in the Boxster. Strangely, it'll select reverse almost by itself and take me on a jaunty blast round the coast to Saltburn or over the moors. Naughty, naughty Boxster! I think the fun of driving has gone from most people because of a few reasons: 1. fuel costs, 2. demands of work, 3. busy urban roads, 4. the increase of selfish, ignorant drivers. There'll be more reasons, but that's all I can think of as I finish my Shape dessert and finish my lunch. Unfortunately, only No.4 applies. Most drivers these days just want an auto econobox that gets them from A to B, and they can check their faecesbook/twitter on the multimedia head unit whilst sipping an orange mocha frappacino. Car manufacturers are only too happy to oblige, because they can build truly horrid cars with no soul and disguise the "experience" with cheap technology. (I work for a manufacturer, but lament the cars we produce not being fun) I currently only have a Dualis (qashqai series 1), and took it for a drive in the rain through some country roads the other day, just because I miss driving for pleasure. Whilst it's never going to be as engaging as my former car (R32 GTR Skyline), it's got me thinking how much I want a good driving car again, fuel costs and busy roads be damned. |
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Jun 30, 2015 13:15:31 GMT
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I think I agree with sciclone that most of the problem is #4. the increase of selfish, ignorant drivers. Most drivers these days just want an auto econobox that gets them from A to B, and they can check their farcesbook/twitter on the multimedia head unit whilst sipping an orange mocha frappacino. Car manufacturers are only too happy to oblige, because they can build truly horrid cars with no soul and disguise the "experience" with cheap technology. Very sad, but very true. on a sunny evening after work I've known me often take 45 minutes to move 5 yards forward into the garage in the Boxster. Strangely, it'll select reverse almost by itself and take me on a jaunty blast round the coast to Saltburn or over the moors. Naughty, naughty Boxster! I think the fun of driving has gone from most people because of a few reasons: 1. fuel costs, 2. demands of work, 3. busy urban roads, 4. the increase of selfish, ignorant drivers. There'll be more reasons, but that's all I can think of as I finish my Shape dessert and finish my lunch. Anyway, great thread. Keep it going. Reading what you say about your naughty Boxster, it's funny, my little Street Ka seems to enjoy a blast to the coast or through the New Forest if you try to move it in the evening... I'll bet it happens again tonight. I like the bit about the shape dessert... although it does show your age, I never even looked at them until I was in my forties, now it's like, ooh, shape desserts? Don't mind if I do lol I want a good driving car again, fuel costs and busy roads be damned. Agreed... Now let's drive!! As you all know the other night i took the Alpine out for a bit of a blast to the coast, well, tonight, i figured that i'd take the Street Ka out for a bit of a run... I realise that this is a bit of cross pollenation from my other thread, but bear with me!  Even though i'm not the Fonz, I thought to myself, Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey, I've got a little convertible i could be taking out on a bit of a run! But the bit of a run turned into quite a bit of a run! Still, not to worry, it's a warm evening and i've got a convertible, even if it is regarded as a girls car. So, roof down, hat on, and lets go!  I know that it's not a very sharp, well composed, or even good picture, but it's atmospheric, it's arty!! Stay with me... I beg you lol. So, where to go? Well i thought that i just fancied some fish and chips, so i headed off to Coastgaurd Cafe on the Sea Front at Hayling Island. I realise that there are infact hundreds of chip shops nearer to me, but it wouldn't be much of a drive if i went to the one half a mile from me in the town would it? Besides the tucker from the Coastgaurd Cafe is gorgeous. I thought that i would take the scenic route and headed off down the M3 toward the M27. I know, i know, thats not the most scenic route i could've chosen!  I thought that i would take in a bit of the New Forest on the way, and as you can see by the map, the New Forest is not the most direct route i could've taken to Hayling Island!  I thought that i would have a look at the beach at Lepe first, i'd never been there before... Very nice, i think i'll go there again, and i thought that while i was there, i might as well try and take a couple of nice photos of the the Street Ka named desire before i sell it on to someone else, even had a bit of a stroll along the beach... I lived by the beach once, i'd always wanted to, and then for about a year and a half i did it, and i loved it... I miss it! (Sorry, wandering off track there a bit in my rose tinted glasses!)  Pretty soon i was back behind the wheel of the lovely Ka, and on a dark desert highway, cool wind in my, um scalp, warm smell from the chippy, rising up through the air, up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light, my head grew heavy and my sight grew dim, I had to stop for a bite! I'm not sure how Don Henley, Glenn Frey, or Don Felder would feel about me bastardising their lyrics from Hotel California like this, but there we go! So from here it was back on the road for a 60 odd mile drive to the chippy! lol, what sort of idiot drives 60 odd miles for fish and chips? Anyhoo, driving through the New Forest was really cool and it would appear that nearly everyone who had an open toppped car was out in the New Forest cruising in it, and who can blame them, it was fabulous! I saw various different cars ranging from an Austin Healey 3000, to a TR7, and even a Smart Crossblade! Is it just me, or is that one of the maddest looking cars ever?  Another atmospheric shot cruising through the New Forest! If i lived in California no doubt i would have been cruising along the Pacific Coast Highway, unfortuantely i don't, however i did the best i could and cruised along the M27 instead! By the time i reached the Chip shop on Hayling Island it had got pretty dark, but i still managed a small Cod and Chips, and sat on the wall listening to the sea lapping against the shore while i watched what remained of the sunlight as it faded through the orangey-red part of the spectrum on through the blues and purples until finally it was just replaced by the inky blackness of night. By then, stuffed full of the gorgeous Fish and Chips it was time to head for home. Hayling Island, as i'm sure you've gathered is an Island which is accessed by a bridge. I have been going there since i was a child as i live within about an hours drive of it. My earliest memories of going there was when i was about five years old, sitting in the back of my Mums green Consul Classic on those hot sticky vinyl seats, with the warm wind blowing through my hair as we crossed the bridge. I've always thought that i might be able to take a nice photo of a car on that bridge when it was dark as the street lights illuminate it very well, so, as it was getting late, and nothing was about i thought i'd give it a go. Stand by for more photos...    Well, i'm not sure they've turned out as good as they look in my minds eye, but atleast i had a go. Then, with the roof still down i headed for home. I went the back roads way, and it was pretty good as the roads were pretty much empty, so i had them to myself. All in all it was a pretty damn cool way to spend an evening, and didn't even cost much in fuel, or chips for that matter! Now i'd just like to say that although my previous drive out in the Alpine was indeed very good, i do believe that the drive in the Street Ka was better  I know, i'm as surprised as you are, especially as it's widely regarded as a girls car. So why is it better? Is it because it's newer? Well, no, not really. Don't get me wrong the Street Ka handles much better than the Alpine, it's pretty much got a wheel on each corner and i think i can safely say that it handles like a go-cart. I would say that the Street Ka is not any faster than the Alpine, however it does accelerate slightly quicker! The Street Ka is also marginally more comfortable than the Alpine, but oddly it doesn't feel more refined, and i don't believe that it would make any difference if it was more refined, none of these things make it a better driving car than the Alpine. Absolutely none of them! So what makes it better to drive? Well, to put it simply, NO ROOF! With the roof down somehow it transforms the drive, it becomes more thrilling, more exciting, more fun, more of an event. It just seems to intensify everything, this is only my seconed ever convertible, the first one being the previously mentioned Beetle, which it has to be said was also very good with the roof down, but, it's not as good as this is! I'm gonna miss this little thing when i release it back into the wild, but it does need to go! Speaking of releasing things back into the wild, i realised when i started the whole Twelve Cars In A Year project that i probably wouldn't get my money back every time. I've not even broken even once yet so once in a while would be nice!! I decided that as i am currently a bit down quite a lot down, having not really even broken even yet it was time to sell one of my Motorcycles, a non running Yamaha TW125 project, stand by, i'm bringing a bike into the thread.   There it is in all it's lovelyness.  Now, i described this as a non running project of a bike with no keys or documents, i have never had this running, and infact it was one of those projects that i was going to get to "some day" but have never got around to it. Therefore i figured that it was time to release the TW back into the wild in order to keep my toybox fund topped up, so that i can continue to play for a bit (at this point in time i am seriously questioning whether or not to finish the saga! Or even if i can afford to!) What i found strange is that my perfectly good Jaguar X-type estate, which was also on fleabay losing me money, and is all good and running and in a fit state to hit the Queens highway had 1064 page views, 69 watchers, and 24 bids. Not many people have asked me any questions about it, and it didn't seem to have much interest in it, possibly because it's the third time it was listed, but i don't know. In contrast to the Jaguar, my unroadworthy, non running Yamaha TW project had 3794 page views, 197 watchers, and 37 bids, and i was constantly answering all sorts of questions about it, most of which had already been answered if the person who was asking the question had bothered to read the listing. I find the popularity of my bike to be very odd, don't get me wrong, they're a nice bike when they're all up together, and roadworthy, but mine isn't. I guess it's just a case of the bike is cheaper/easier to do up, and probably more likely to appeal to Dads who might want a project to do with their kids, i'm guessing it's more a case of just a different audience. Having said all that, the fella who bought the Jaguar has 334 ebay feedbacks and has been a member almost since the dawn of time, and the fella who has bought the bike is a new member, without any feedback... I have a feeling that the bike probably isn't sold, time will no doubt tell, and i'll keep you posted if and when the TW does actually go... I'm not holding my breath! |
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andyw
North East
Posts: 238
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Jun 30, 2015 15:21:50 GMT
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That Alpine needs saving for sure!
I agree with the driving for fun comments - when I was a single lad I must admit I would often just go out with the car and take it through some twisty roads just for fun.
In the past ten years I've done more static car shows, maybe now is the time to take them on more drives out or even back to the drag strip for a bit of fun.
I did do a drive out with my mates in the Yorkshire Dales earlier this year and it was a great drive - a heavy (underpowered 2.0) probe with lowered suspension and three adults on board on potholed single lane roads shouldn't have been so fun to drive but it was.
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Jul 20, 2015 22:07:54 GMT
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Agreed andyw That Alpine needs saving for sure! Yes it does!  But the thing is, while i'm cruising in the Beige Blaster, i'm not working on my original one, perhaps i should just get it on the road in place of the beige one, and patch, fix, drive, enjoy as it is, with the rust and everything. I'm half tempted to upgrade it, and have toyed with doing (or having done for me) a rear wheel drive conversion on it, but i'm not sure of the legalities involved with that kind of malarky, and i feel that i may well end up with a 'Q' plate if i end up doing a rear wheel drive conversion? It's something i'm looking into, half heartedly i'll admit, but there you go... I should just get it back on the road as it is shouldn't i? Anyway, something else i've been toying with is actually selling the current Talbot Alpine due to losing my storage space, but as it is currently roadworthy, and the blue one (or the green one... Yes, there's a third!) are not roadworthy i'm not sure about selling this...  I'll be honest, i have been backwards and forwards about this for some time now, and after taking it for a nice long run last month i really thought that i had made up my mind, but the trouble is, that was the last time i took my Alpine out for a spin. But today, while i was sitting there having my lunch looking out the window at it i thought i might offer it up for sale! I must admit i'm not happy about it either, and that is why i have offered it quietly for sale here, rather in the for sale section. The reasons i am offering it up for sale are as follows. Fisrt, due to my other saga found elsewhere on this fabulous forum i just don't seem to be using it enough, it's not that i don't want to, it's that i just don't seem to have the time! Second, i have lost my storage, which already reached full capacity anyway, so i was thinking about having a bit of a culling before trying to find a new home for the rest of my collection of rust and filler. Third, I'd probably be better off getting my original Alpine back on the road, i bought this one in the hope that it might help me ragain my mojo for it, and to an extent it has. However, one of the reasons that i've been backwards and forwards with the idea of selling it, is that this would bring my little adventure with this lovely little Talbot to an end, although if one of you guys from this forum sees fit to offer it space in your life, then atleast i'd still get to see how it's doing So anyway, if you do have room for a Beige 1985 Talbot Alpine in your life/garage, please do let me know. It's MOTd until the end of Septemeber, it's a good little runner, it's a fun little car, and i'm only looking for about £500 for it. In other news... You may remember that a couple of weeks ago i said this... the fella who bought the Jaguar has 334 ebay feedbacks and has been a member almost since the dawn of time, and the fella who has bought the bike is a new member, without any feedback... I have a feeling that the bike probably isn't sold, time will no doubt tell, and i'll keep you posted if and when the TW does actually go... I'm not holding my breath! Well, as Cilla might say, Suprise Suprise!! He showed up in a van with his mate, had a quick look at the bike, and by a quick look i mean, he looked at it, and said, "Is that it mate?" I said, Yep. And he said "Nice, here's the money mate." Then they flung it inot the van and away they went... Even left me good feedback! Why isn't every ebay transaction so easy? So before i move on, here's a few photos of my TW125 just after i bought it as a non running project... I know, i know, more bike content!    It had to go really, i've had this thing since August 2011, and i've not done a thing to it! I've always loved those fat tyred 'sand bikes' and i think that of the current crop of 'sand bikes' the TW is the best looking. However it has to be said that the bike that got me into wanting a 'sand bike' was the early '70's Suzuki RV125, like this one:-  Hopefully i'll get my hands on one at some point soon, although no doubt it wont be as pretty as this one, and due to their not being too many left the prices are starting to climb quite rapidly dammit! I reckon if i'm going to get one, it needs to be sooner rather than later as they'll be out of my reach if i'm not too careful! I quite fancy a Honda C50 (i'll bet quite a few of you guys who own and know bikes are shaking your heads right now) Anyway, after selling my TW i thought i'd just see how much one would cost me, i figured i'd be spending a couple of hundred quid for something half decent and ready to ride... A quick browse on fleabay, CRIKEY!!! HOW MUCH!? Hmm, should've got in there sooner i reckon. I think i've missed the boat on that one already! So, with the sale of my gold TW125, that just leaves me with one 'sickle' in my toybox, a blue TW125, which is of course a project! More about which i will write once i've got my lazy ass out to the shed and done something to it lol... Please don't re-tune your sets, normal car type madness will be back soon! |
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dikkehemaworst
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,636
Club RR Member Number: 16
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Pistonpoppers MotorJournal.dikkehemaworst
@dikkehemaworst
Club Retro Rides Member 16
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Get yourself some bigger storage.. that solves your problem. Or use it as your next 12 cars a month. Then you have to sell it. But i'd go for bigger storage.
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Jul 21, 2015 16:43:24 GMT
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I must admit dikkehemaworst I did think about more storage, but at the moment I've already got eleven cars in storage so really it's time for a bit of a culling. I also thought about using it as one of the Twelve Cars In A Year, but I feel that this would be a bit of a cop out, and would let the project down a bit. I am still not wholly convinced about selling it to be honest, which is why at the moment I've only advertised it here, rather than in the for sale section. |
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dikkehemaworst
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,636
Club RR Member Number: 16
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Pistonpoppers MotorJournal.dikkehemaworst
@dikkehemaworst
Club Retro Rides Member 16
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I had 23 cars and parts cars at one moment. And a bar , a wife , two kids and no time on my hands. I sold all but 4. And i still have no time to drive them...... :-)
Whats funny is that i sold all my cars , but the ones i kept are all with the engine in the back. And i never noticed but now.....
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Jul 22, 2015 22:42:03 GMT
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23 Cars and your own bar!!? Show off lol |
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Hopefully i'll get my mojo back for it, actually just looking at these photos again makes me want to go out and do something with it, so fingers crossed! The Barracuda, i've not touched since it got here... Some of the problem is doing my other thread, i really have neclected all my other cars and projects to do it, and partly because i've been a bit too busy at work. 
I'm going to start off with one of the first things the youngest Pistonpoppet saw as we entered the building. Pointing wildly she exclaimed, look at that Dad, they've got your bike!! I looked, and sure enough there was a Coker Monster exactly like mine... Awesome! 
Anyhoo, i tried them on, but they just looked too small being of 13" diameter, so i've been looking out for a set of these...
Inside the damp has also got in, no doubt due to the stupid sunroof that i had cut into the roof back in '91, I wish i'd never done that! So anyway, what to do? Sadly, back in '91 when I drove it into the garage it was driveable, but I had moved on to other cars, thinking that I would get back to the Alpine 'some day'! Perhaps the day is now, I should round up some friends and hit it hard! We shall see, I know i don't want to get rid of it, so really the best thing to do would be to fix it, and maybe make a few improvements?
It's so damn annoying! Well, i finally had to move it from it's resting place due to losing my storage, i figured that what i would do is try to sell it on the bay of E, a pointless excercise really but there you go. So i listed it once, and got a couple of bidders, i listed it saying it was probably best used as a source of spares as it's pretty rusty! Started the bidding at just 99p with no reserve, and we were off. So the auction ends at £203.00! Great, so i contact the guy, and get no response, i try to contact him again several times over the next week or so, and still nothing!! IDIOT!! Oh well, i guess i'll report this W + Anchor, and relist the thing, which i do, this time there's even less interest, as often seems to be the case, but eventually it sells for just £167.00... Great, so i contact the winning bidder, and he responds, and says he'll be down for it by the end of the week. I thought that'll be cool, but then towards the end of the week i send him another email asking when he was hoping to collect it, no response! Eventually after a couple more emails asking when he was coming i get an email back from him saying he's can't come as he lives in Ireland and can't get over to collect it, and can't find anyone to deliver it, so on and so fourth!! He suggests that i offer it to the next guy down the list. By this point i'm well and truly cheesed off, so i call a scrap metal man thinking i'll just scrap it and thats the end of it. This is something that i hate doing, but the fact of the matter was i needed it to go. So i called up a scrap collector who told me that it wasn't worth his while picking it up as it was only worth about £28 in scrap!! I did eventually find one that would collect it for me, but it was going to cost ME £50 for him to come out and collect it!! Is scrap Iron and Steel really worth so little? Anyway with nothing to take it to the scrapyard in myself, there was just no other option... (If you have a particular loving for Opel Monzas, i suggest you scroll past the next images!)
I know, i'm as surprised as you are, especially as it's widely regarded as a girls car. So why is it better? Is it because it's newer? Well, no, not really. Don't get me wrong the Street Ka handles much better than the Alpine, it's pretty much got a wheel on each corner and i think i can safely say that it handles like a go-cart. I would say that the Street Ka is not any faster than the Alpine, however it does accelerate slightly quicker! The Street Ka is also marginally more comfortable than the Alpine, but oddly it doesn't feel more refined, and i don't believe that it would make any difference if it was more refined, none of these things make it a better driving car than the Alpine. Absolutely none of them! So what makes it better to drive? Well, to put it simply, NO ROOF! With the roof down somehow it transforms the drive, it becomes more thrilling, more exciting, more fun, more of an event. It just seems to intensify everything, this is only my seconed ever convertible, the first one being the previously mentioned Beetle, which it has to be said was also very good with the roof down, but, it's not as good as this is! I'm gonna miss this little thing when i release it back into the wild, but it does need to go!
