What's your fetish?

[Tadhg Tiogar]

….The bright blue shit that VW went for a few years ago looked very snazzy at first, but I reckon if I'd had one, I'd have found it wearing to look at rather quickly, and then about as appealing as a UV money checker after a while....

 

Blue seems to be the default colour to represent electric / hybrid cars now.

[Talbot]

All the options. Every single last one of them. Every single button possible with all the fiddly functions available. Backlit at night, and all vying for attention. Also information overload.. I want every single dial possible, every readout and every bit of information that exists presented to me.

 

But not in a menu system like modern mercs and BMs.. it needs to all be shown all the time all at once.

 

Basically an aircraft cockpit.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Roller gauges - the antidote to digital displays:

 

[AMC Rebel]

I thought I didn’t really have one - but then I remembered that I always notice the camber differences from front to rear -especially on modern vehicles which are seemingly moving towards Hillman Imp territory

[DaveDorson]

Funny, nobody has mentioned rubber....

 

I'll get to it once I've read the rest of the thread..

[DaveDorson]

My Vintage Tyre.

 

Embrittled in honour classic* rubber, depending on the vehicle in radial or crossply flavour,

extra hard horn growage ensuing if they are of the full grandpa spec 8 ply knobbly Winter variety.

Rover V8s for example are only really fun to drive if shod with 40 year old Pirelli P6es

(guess how I found out) and utterly boring if you replace those with some freshly vulcanised Vredestein shit.

I'm seriously sifting through the once free, now severely censored, internet, in search of some crumbly Michelins in the correct size for my R16.

I hope this will come together before it'll carry four people and their belongings on an extended Continental road trip in September,

the purpose of which being to load it up with even more heavy tat obtained there (note: warped Norevs don't count, they weigh nothing),

delightfully testing fossil caoutchouc sidewall strength in the most death defying way gay abandon allows.

 

I miss the times when I hooned big septic bloody V8 chod on good old F70-15 Polyglas GTs.

 

I could also write a thing or two about driving with end of life dampers, but that just wouldn't be pre watershed material.

 

 

I get very excited by seeing classic cars with period correct tread pattern tyres.

 

I once bought 40 tyres just because I wanted the Avon CR6Z's and some michellin ZX tyres for some cars I had.

 

Details like the right tyres very definately make or break a car for me.

[SierraMikeHotel]

When I was little I had a bit of an obsession with tail lights. I especially liked the Viva because the indicators were not on the outside edge of the cluster, like most cars, and the Orion because they'd made the effort to make them a nod to the outgoing Cortina rather than just sticking Escort ones on.

 

It's back a little bit in recent years as manufacturers are getting to grips with the possibilities of LEDs. I like the way the tail lights wrap around the rear of the C-class, for example, and the way the indicator light moves across on Audis.

 

Otherwise, I do like to see a nice font (Volvo are good for this) and minor controls should feel nice to the touch and be ergonomically placed. Citroën used to be brilliant for ergonomics but the plastic always felt cheap and nasty - the C class, in comparison, feels lovely to touch but you can't find anything.

 

My 9-5 is a mix - I like the shape of the head and tail lamps but the controls aren't that nice to touch. The dash looks fantastic though.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

….It's back a little bit in recent years as manufacturers are getting to grips with the possibilities of LEDs.....

 

LED lighting design is the only part of new cars that interests me - occasionally nice to see LEDs used in old cars too, as long as they've got the colour filter right.

[chodweaver]

Extra respect to the madmen on club-xm.co.uk in this matter - collectively, they have devoted literally years of their lives to research into headlight and switchgear lighting upgrades that are legal, technically correct and worth doing.

[Richard]

Original stereos. Nothing bothers me more than a modern flashy CD bluetooth jobbie held in with cable ties and scotch locks in the chopped up dash. Give me a mono AM/FM Cassette any day! When I bought the Jag, the modern Pioneer CD AUX thing was binned in favour of a late 90s Pioneer radio cassette. I'm still on the lookout for a factory Jaguar radio cassette.

 

 

Same here. The original stereo being present in the Volvo was a factor in my decision to buy the car. I actually replaced it with the CD version briefly but put the original back in because all my music comes from one of these anyway https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-Transmitter-Wireless-Adapter-Function/dp/B01MZADLK8/ref=sr_1_34?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1534189498&sr=1-34&keywords=fm+transmitter

[mat_the_cat]

All the options. Every single last one of them. Every single button possible with all the fiddly functions available. Backlit at night, and all vying for attention. Also information overload.. I want every single dial possible, every readout and every bit of information that exists presented to me.

 

Can you tell I share the same fetish

 

(BX buffs will know that Citroen never made a dashboard combining all gauges, with a diesel rev counter...)

 

 

Compared with how the LT dashboard used to look like in this video I shot:

 

(This also leads onto another fetish of mine, cold start videos. And judging from the number on YouTube, I can't be the only one!)

 

The Stellar's instruments were a big appeal!

 

 

Even the blank warning light in the last shot is functional, wired up to a coolant level sensor. Although the lack of a printed symbol bugs me more than I can describe!

[25v6turbo]

So my fetish is the Safrane V6 RXE Phase 1,a car I remember brand new when lauched as I worked for Renault and just loved all the toys it had in 1992,forward to 2007 and I had found my dream Safrane,early cars didn,t have a sunroof or drivers airbag,almost  everyone had cloth that was Feb 93 in UK,Jan 94 and all had sunroofs and drivers airbag,i HAD to have one with every single option even Renault care the aftercare warranty.

My car has every single UK option,leather,CD player(double DIN with graphics)and the mega rare ergomatic inflatable front seats,i have added a few foreign spec items to go above the UK top spec with rear limo footrests,glass partition behind rear seats and Baccara suitcase fitted under rear parcel shelf,i doubt there is a more loaded Safrane in the UK,the electric steering column,self levelling suspension and electric individual rear seats just add to Renaults brave attempt to make a luxury car for the U.K,it was at one time Renaults most expensive car and I always wanted to own one since day one.

My car is a Renault UK registered car(most are)and was  a Renault publicity car used in the brochures,i have the letter stating the chassis number and its use by Renault,it was a MASSIVE flop for Renault and they only sold 600 RXE in the U.K countless electrical issues and gearbox problems condemmed most.

Now only a few exist,i have all the history,3 sets of keys,a complete bookpack with full history to this day,original keyring,tax disc holder etc and even the Safrane courtesy hotline card to ring,i have the Renaultcare card in the tax disc holder from 1994 and then theres all the brochures,presspacks,showroom items,posters XR25,and mountains of parts I have stored away,lots of them brand new,it goes on and on.....

But its a rare car,but no-one cares about them,rare but not desirable!

[Cavcraft]

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Extra respect to the madmen on club-xm.co.uk in this matter - collectively, they have devoted literally years of their lives to research into headlight and switchgear lighting upgrades that are legal, technically correct and worth doing.

Wonder if we could adapt some of that for the CX?

[RobT]

Steering wheels. Has to be non-airbag, I don't care if they are safer they look shit (I'm talking 90s chod not moderns). I also like a design that is comfortable to use, such as the two-spoke effort you got on early Mk3 Astras. I severely want a pre-facelift Cavalier CD for many reasons, one of which is the flat-face leather trimmed steering wheel.

[Junkman]

When I was little I had a bit of an obsession with tail lights. I especially liked the Viva because the indicators were not on the outside edge of the cluster, like most cars,

 

Have a good wank on me.

 

[Talbot]

Steering wheels. Has to be non-airbag, I don't care if they are safer they look shit (I'm talking 90s chod not moderns). I also like a design that is comfortable to use, such as the two-spoke effort you got on early Mk3 Astras.

What's your opinion on the MK2 Cav higher-specification steering wheel, along with the column stalks designed to be operated with two fingers touching the end of the stalk rather than just pushing it on the side?

 

Most comfortable steering wheel I've ever used.. but then the '88 MK2 Cav 2.0GLi I had was the most comfortable and ergonomically-suited-to-me car I've ever driven. Shame they're all now £onebillion

[Pillock]

Is that why they have a long edge?

[RobT]

What's your opinion on the MK2 Cav higher-specification steering wheel, along with the column stalks designed to be operated with two fingers touching the end of the stalk rather than just pushing it on the side?

 

Most comfortable steering wheel I've ever used.. but then the '88 MK2 Cav 2.0GLi I had was the most comfortable and ergonomically-suited-to-me car I've ever driven. Shame they're all now £onebillion

This one?

 

 

I've never used one myself but I'd say that fulfils the fetish.

[captain_70s]

Wood.

 

Real or fake, I like a bit of wood garnishing a motor car. Obviously all of my classics have featured real wood on the interior but I appreciate the solid gold naffness of the fake stuff in something like an Allegro.

 

Obviously external wood is the best wood, including those Formica strips top spec Mini Clubman estates had and a special mention goes to top end Yank wagons with huge slabs of simulated timber along the sides.

 

Estate cars in general are just great, sadly they are also usually more expensive than the saloon counterpart...

[SierraMikeHotel]

Extra respect to the madmen on club-xm.co.uk in this matter - collectively, they have devoted literally years of their lives to research into headlight and switchgear lighting upgrades that are legal, technically correct and worth doing.

This is because original XM headlamps were utterly, utterly useless. To the point of being dangerous.

 

If I'd kept mine that was the next job I was planning to do, at the time there was a question over the legality of fitting aftermarket HID lights. I'm guessing it's easier now with advent of LEDs?

[Talbot]

Is that why they have a long edge?

Yep. You keep your thumb, index finger and little finger on the steering wheel, and put your "up yours" and ring finger on the end of the stalk. Works perfectly, and becomes second nature in no time at all. You fast wonder why all cars aren't like it.

 

This one?

Yes. Has to be the T-type though. There were some models with "droopy two-spoke" steering wheels, which were very miserable to look at, and not very comfortable to use.

[danthecapriman]

Have a good wank on me.

 

That sounded disgusting!!

[Guest Hooli]

That sounded disgusting!!

Not as disgusting as the thought of owning one of those awful cars though!

[sierraman]

Watching old diesel buses and trucks do cold starts.

[Talbot]

because the indicators were not on the outside edge of the cluster, like most cars,

How about a '58 Edsel wagon then. The left indicator is a chevron pointing right, and the right indicator a chevron pointing left. Genius*

 

 

Who else is stunned this never caught on as a good idea?

[chodweaver]

This is because original XM headlamps were utterly, utterly useless. To the point of being dangerous.

 

If I'd kept mine that was the next job I was planning to do, at the time there was a question over the legality of fitting aftermarket HID lights. I'm guessing it's easier now with advent of LEDs?

 

Not having driven one when they were new, I don't know about that - certainly they soon got a reputation for being very poor - how much of that was down tp dip beam lenses fitted on S1 RHD models being made of plastic that rapidly yellowed from UV exposure, I do not know (and not just from the sun, the output of some modern bulbs now includes a bunch of UV that just makes matters worse). But the dip beams on mine were certainly dangerously dim when I bought it. Fixing all the various issues was very satisfying though - first by banishing the very stylish-but-not-helping-the-situation yellow bulbs the previous owner had fitted, then by realising that the fiendishly clever Bowden cable adjusters were completely detached from the lamp assemblies and were doing nothing to aim them, and finally by completely dismantling them to polish the yellowing off the dip beam lenses and very gently clean up the reflectors. The result was a massive improvement, leaving them in standard form with a score of 'not bad at all'.

 

Still room for improvement though, on which said forum gurus have the following to offer: Osram Nightbreakers or equivalent will generate a brighter light in the correct places for the right beam pattern and no dazzling (all users of early aftermarket upgrade LED replacements on any type of car, take note) but also the newest designs of LED upgrade bulbs seem to be better positioned: rather than having a massive 'tree' of LED elements, most of which are in completely the wrong place for an accurate and non-dazzling beam - looking very impressive when you first install them, and nigh on deadly to all other road users.

 

#soapbox

[chodweaver]

 

I'm curious as to why Judge Dredd is remonstrating with a member of the public, just out of shot to the left. Or have baseball caps now been declared against 'The Law'...