NorfolkNWeigh

E30's have gone up in value quite a lot in the last few years, we've got a nice 316 that cost £700 12 years ago. It was sitting on the drive from 2013 until a couple of months ago, which saved it from drifters and modifiers , it seems to be worth four times that now it's back on the road and both the MOT tester and the guy that replaced the brakes offered that sort of money for it Spec is important, 2 doors are more desirable than 4 and if it's a 325i manual, 2door, although the nasty ( Volvo 440?) spoiler and towbar suggest it's not, it could be worth as much as the house! Of course, Johnny Foreigner got diesels and 4x4s , no idea how desirable they are.

Parked next to a 2009 Audi A6 estate at the airport earlier, it was a taxi from Suffolk and I noticed the front end was quite stone chipped . So much for Audi paint quality ,I thought. Then I looked up the mileage- MOT'd last week at 347,000 miles, no advises !

The answer to LP's and my question appears in the Captain's linked article; a secondhand MAF sensor cured it. I'm sure that had been tried by someone before, or maybe we all assumed it had! That picture of me without a beard looks weird, I'd shaved it off for the first time in more than 10 years that day and haven't shaved since , I only recognise myself because of the t-shirt.

I was just about to ask that!

Useful consumer information, a late S3 V12 on tickover will take 3 hours to run a practically full tank out. Well I say full I'd done about 60 miles ( probably 4-5 gallons) prior to sitting with the air con on full , on a 30c day . After switching tanks I turned the engine off, luckily I was only there for another hour or so.

Just saw a trail and I'm sure there was a Bagheera on a raft. , Flintoff has already done the Roadtrip buddy movie thing with Jack Whitehall and Jamie Redknapp to amusing effect, he comes across as gung-ho , fearless and with no mechanical sympathy whatsoever- perfect for Top Gear. The other fella is a very polished TV presenter and as such is the perfect person to compliment the knowledgable , enthusiastic but ultimately geeky Harris. Ive got high hopes for this new series and for all the popularity for other car programmes and YouTube stuff Top Gear is always far and away the best visually and for technical excellence ( and massive budget).

I believe Captain Slow writing under his pseudonym Sam Skelton.

That 2.3 Ghia is lovely, I don't think I've ever seen a Ghia in that colour , most of them were metallics or white.

Certainly looks like an SE, wonder if it was stolen for the Cosmics. Do we know if it was from Blackheath in trendy S.E. London or the one in the even trendier Black Country?

I once bought a 2.3 Ghia that someone had done the chopped down Granada spoiler trick on, but they'd gone one further and picked out the 2 and half of the 8 in white paint so it read 2.3 although the other half of the 8 and the i were still there. It went in a skip, probably worth more than I paid for the complete Cortina these days. Nice chrome wheel centres too, much classier than plastic mk5 ones.

Youve just reminded me of when I damaged a wing on a facelift Mk2 Carlton in the snow , when the Carlton was only about 3 years old. I bought a pattern wing, got it painted and set to changing it one Sunday morning, only to discover, like you, there was no repeater hole. However unlike you, I'm a bodging bastard, so I taped the repeater to the inner wing and bolted the new wing on, inte di g to sort it later... Well, it went through a Council Taxi test and an MOT without anyone noticing the repeater on the offside only and the guy that bought it 6 months later didn't notice either. I often wondered if when that bulb taped into the wheelarch failed and the others flashed more quickly, how long it would take to trace that fault. Incidentally that Carlton was a J reg 2.0 GLi and almost a competitor to your 200e when new, except the Merc would have been priced closer to a fully loaded CDX, ( probabl even a 2.6) the spartaness of the Merc makes it so much more appealing now. I've since learned my lesson and have a bASe e-class for work.

With the unique Cavcraft picture distorter, that looks like an XK150. At first glance

On Friday I went to a funeral. No that's not the grin, it was my wife's Grandmother, who had made it to 98 still living in the house she had lived in since 1947 and had passed away after a very short illness , in the hospital that she was born in( St Mary's in Paddington) so not a desperately sad occaision. Three things made me smile, the hearse and limo were both Saab 9-5 s. Far classier than the ugly glitzy Insignia and Jag outside the crematorium. There was a massive " Remain" bouquet in the remembrance garden, whether it was the deceased wishes or from a relative that wanted the last word- who knows. And a bright red Mk2 Consul, I rember seeing it at a family function 30 years ago , it belongs to an old workmate of Mrs N's long dead Grandad , I didn't get to speak to him, but it looks as if it's 75% wob.

Be careful of full size MPV's such as Sharan and siblings or Eurovans. When I used Ullysees and Galaxys as cabs some years ago there were a lot of elderly people that couldn't get in. .Didnt have a problem with my Tourneo -as thy could climb onto the step . The obvious* answer is a P38, just drop the suspension to get in and out , better still a fucked P38 with the suspension permantly dropped!

Well, I live 20 miles from Luton , so when I win the Merc and a shiter of a more North Eastern/Scotcsh flavour wins the Fiat, some arrangement could be made.