Mash

So have I..... It's like I said about the gold Strada - I thought it was a reasonable price on first look. Agreed, 2k is going some for even a factory fresh B11, but if it was a Ford of comparable age there'd be a queue down the street at that price I reckon. That guy at Affordable Classics seems to move his stock on at a good pace and they ain't cheap. I'm with Ed, buying a minter is going to get more expensive because soon the freebies from pensioners will dry up and all the 200 quid ones will have been scrapped.

Ah, Sarah Michelle Gellar, now you're talking. Just done a rather nice shoot for US Maxim: Whilst we're at it, another choice is Louise in her new job modelling undies: And if it's not being too greedy..... And to bring the balance back I'll have one of these too please (with or without optional bonnet mascot):

No way!!! Not fair.Luck or not, I never have the knack to be in the right place at the right time somehow Must be one of the very last ones is it?

It seems to me that Mitsubishis have the lowest survival rate of all 70s and 80s Japmobiles. I only know of one B-reg Colt in this area and a 1980 Lancer which doesn't count because I see it at shows.Were they less popular, more expensive, more crap???

Right that's it - I'm moving!

Found it:http://autoshite.commlm/forum/viewtopic.ph ... iat+stradaDidn't know it came off eBay cheap as chips. If I didn't know that, I'd say it was a fairly reasonable price for a tidy rare car, especially if you really wanted a standard Strada. I always seem to value cars higher than most other people do, I don't know what that is. Thing is, I look at what it is and why I want it rather than how old it is or how fast it will go or how desirable it is to other people. Granted if all you want to do is turn a profit in a years time it's not the best way of buying cars, but I tend to keep mine a while and invest a lot of time in them.I also have the knack of never being in the right place at the right time when the old giffers are giving them away for a hundred quid...

You can keep your common as muck Abarths, oh yes, I so want this: http://www.bradleyjamesclassics.co.uk/c ... ada_10.htm Unfortunately I don't have enough money as usual

Or quite possibly extinct. Following my musings on the possibilty that all the Honda Quintets have disappeared, I started to think of some other cars that I haven't seen for years, even on eBay. I now want want of these just so that I can say I have one Doesn't have to be a Turbo, in fact the 1400 would be better cos it's shiter.

I don't think I've ever seen one of those before, they're always Felicias or Caddys.

The Paseo came out in the mid-90s didn't it? But whenever I see one I always think it looks like it should have been introduced in about 1987. Don't see many round here nowadays.

Nice one Ed, that's the only one I've seen on eBay so far, hope they start filtering through soon. Back to the 504 for a minute, I've found the Welly 1:18 one and it looks bloody good. Seems to be 4 or 5 colours available. Makes a nice pair with the Norev R16.

How strange Some of the text reads like a Japanese website that has been badly translated into English.I actually think the car looks a little bit cool in a cheesy 80s stateside film sort of way....

Blimey, look how similar these are, never compared them before

There are still quite a few of those run-out Crusaders around. They seem to be pretty well made and rust protected.

It's on the way to Goole from Hull, a place called Gilberdyke. :DCome over the Humber Bridge onto the A63 and turn off at Newport heading for the A614 Thorne road.

And it's gold too. All good 80s shite should be beige or gold. An awful lot of low mileage autos I've seen from this period seem to be gold. I suppose it went well with the beige/brown decor of the original retired owners bungalows. And their beige cardigans. And beige slacks. And beige loafers.

I'm beginning to think I have a Renault 14-owning clone!

A few from my neck of the woods now, starting with the slightly less interesting ones, and all now gone unfortunately This was Birchwood Garage in Beverley, pretty standard fare really: This one was the Austin Rover dealer for Beverley, Armstrong Massey which started off as two separate concerns Gordon Armstrong and Masseys. They came together and sold BMC and BL cars in a couple of locations then moved here in the mid-80s IIRC. I did my school work experience here in 1990 including a full engine rebuild on a Rover 800! They closed as Rover steadily went down the drain. Crystal Ford were in the town centre in Beverley and this photo was taken just after they closed and was demolished for shops. You could just get 2 cars in the little showroom on the right and the middle was a big service area. I was always hanging around there as a kid trying to scrounge brochures and a look at the latest Orion or whatever! This is my favourite, the groovy Oxford Filling Station in Hull, now demolished though it really ought to have been listed I reckon. Note my ever so cool FB Victor

My collecting philosophy exactly. I've also tried to discipline myself further by only concentrating on 70s and 80s now which seems to ease it a bit! Trouble is, I've been collecting for around 15 years and I've gathered up a lot of tat in that time too that I really didn't need to get. Next year will have to be a bumper eBay year for me (selling not buying!!)

They should leave well alone. The Ladykillers is one of the all time great films of the last century and its subtle brilliance should never have been sullied by that piece of diabolical cinematic cack the Americans dared to call by the same name. I have never heard so many gratuitous and unnecessary uses of the word f**k in all my life.

Haven't seen the 1:18th 504, I'll have to have a look for that.The European model companies as you say have done a few "ordinary" cars in the bigger scales, it's a shame we've got no-one here to make a giant Allegro!

I feel exactly the same, now is the time to squirrel them away in a nice dry shed. That's actually one of the reasons I've decided not to get Will's 140Y after all. For the same price I just know something like this will come along again next year and I'll kick myself for getting something that needs more work. By that time I might be looking to replace the B11 with something like this and the funds won't be there!

Sooo cool! But where's the rust??? One of my teacher's had a bright yellow estate in the late 80s and it was totalled in quite a bad accident. he and his sons were injured fairly badly but recovered OK. The car was almost unrecognisable though.

Awesome Art Deco palace! I think it was used in an episode of Poirot selling a made-up Italian sports car make. Certainly similar anyway.

Don't forget the R9 won COTY in 1982 as well, so it must have some redeeming features!I think that with a lot of these lists and so on, that the author gets the word "crap" confused with "dull but worthy and reliable".A dull car doth not a crap car make in my book.