N Dentressangle

Certainly is. When are we doing the o/s spring? 😉

I had a Beetle when I was 18. 34ps, 1200 engine, with crossplies on the back and radials on the front. The oversteer was pure comedy, and it was actually good fun to drive. Yes, the bottom hinged pedals are weird, and they're cramped and thirsty, but I loved mine. Don't expect a working heater unless all is tip top, which is more of a pisser than you might think when the screen keeps misting up. I also had a Renault 4 around the same age, also 34ps (guess where the German insurance brackets fell?), and similarly banger-ish - I was as skint as most 18yr olds. The 4 was clearly far better than the Beetle: it cornered safely on the doorhandles, would swallow unfeasible numbers of crates of beer and girls, sometimes at the same time, sipped fuel and even overtook a Porsche once on the motorway to Konstanz. Currently got a Mini, which is in a different league of modernity to the Beetle. I've never driven a Minor or a 2CV, but that's a sin of omission - I'd be up for either. If I had the room I'd have another R4. They're brilliant cars. Fun to drive, useful, cheap to run and easy to mend. What's not to like? So no, I wouldn't talk you out of a Beetle, but if you're after a 'people's car' there are more rewarding things out there, I'd say.

If you bank with Nationwide (or don't mind switching), their FlexPlus account gives you it plus travel insurance and a few other bits for £13 per month. Also pays 3% interest, so if you keep a decent balance in your current acc then the cost is offset: https://www.nationwide.co.uk/products/current-accounts/flexplus/features-and-benefits ADAC won't cover Brits any more, as far as I know. They cancelled my insurance with them as I had the temerity to call them out twice.

Woohoo! It's the little things...

Liked, but in the wrong bit of the forum, shurely?

God, I saw better looking things in Bucklands this week.

Looks fine to me. As you say, it's all hidden anyway, and what the eye don't see the heart don't grieve over...

I wish the ticket prices were a bit more realistic - £20 is too much for what it is. I went to the bike show in Nov, which was a similar amount, and couldn't really see the value. Enjoyed it, though. The steam fairs are much less to get into, and generally much more to see and do. I don't understand why anything at the NEC has to be so pricey.

As I said, this gets used for trialling with my local club: https://www.ccroc.club/ Generally all you need to compete is the same stuff as the LR would need to pass an MoT anyway, as well as carrying stuff like a rope and hi vis. All the rules are set down by the Association of Land Rover Clubs (ALRC), with plenty of stipulations about which bits you're allowed to modify and upgrade and what has to be standard. They recently tightened the regs on fire extinguishers, so I bolted this lovely red shiny thing in this morning: Mmmm, shiny.

First off, some pics for you filament fetishists and lens lickers. Here's one of the original Lucas SB's from Mrs D's '84 Mini: Markings on the back look like this: and here's the back of the Unipart. No other markings on it:

It's a Land Rover parts specialist, but as I guess so much stuff is common they might be of use to you at some point. They're open on Sat mornings as well. It's a very old school place, run by a guy with an encyclopaedic LR knowledge, and yes, he does disappear into the back somewhere to rummage and find the bit you need!

I'll have a look tomorrow. You'll be pleased to know I found that one of sealed beams I took out of Mrs D's Mini was an identical pattern Lucas to the n/s lamp, so I swapped it into the o/s of the Land Rover. Oddly, the other Lucas taken from the Mini was a similar 'stepped' lens pattern to the Unipart from the Land Rover, so they now reside as a pair. I've still got two halogen Autopa Chinesium lamps which are too sodding big, mind you.

Aaaanyway... Thing of beauty and wondrous usefulness picked up from Moss in Bristol this morning: I do like Moss, and I like buying stuff from them because it keeps them in business, but I wonder how they keep the lights on in the physical shops. I will be very pissed off when places like this and Christian Autos in Kingswood disappear. A kwality bit too, better than the Ebay tat on the other side. Must be from a different Chinese factory. I cleaned up all the wiring at the junction behind the grille, too. All glass papered, tightened and tidied, so now all is good: Well, as good as you'll ever get with fucking sealed beams...

Is it too early for a drink?

OK then, sealed beam fetishists. Here's the Lucas lamp on the LR: and here's the Unipart version on the o/s: obviously not fitted as I now have to buy another fucking headlamp bucket in Bristol today. Bollocks. Anyway, it's lucky I don't have any hint of OCD as the lenses are quite different. The Lucas one is kind of what you'd expect, whereas the Unipart one looks like some kind of kaleidoscope. Weird, huh?