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My first car I drove on the road, a Rover 213 bought for about £200. One elderly owner from new, had never been above 40mph. I was sceptical about this until the first time I took it on the motorway when it shivered and eventually died on saddleworth moor. Was a great car after I’d got it running right, the 12 valve Honda engine was one of the sweetest I’ve encountered

On 3/7/2020 at 2:15 PM, dc2100k said:

When my wife first got into my W124 (a mid spec 260E with cloth, but electric windows and sunroof, vacuum headrests and locks, Gullideckel alloys) she had the temerity to look at all the space in the dashboard that wasn't filled with switches and exclaim 'I don't think this was top of the range was it'.

Needless to say we had a lengthy conversation about material quality after that. In retrospect, the W124 feels so special to the touch. Every element feels soft-touch and correctly weighted. I miss it, quite fancy an R129 or a 300CE-24 drophead.

If yours is a saloon there’s 2 switches for the rear wiper and wash on T models that will be blanks

I remember looking at some old heap with my dad at a used car dealer in Holbeck, Leeds (E34 525i IIRC) when an artic transporter turned up fully loaded. "What the fuck's that" shouts the owner, pointing at a pretty nice looking Lada Riva, to be told by the transpoter driver it was a freebie. He wasn't impressed and would've sent it back if it wasn't right on the back of the lorry. It was a similar age and in better condition than most of the stuff on the forecourt. Struggling to think of anything as comparably worthless now

Not heard of technolube but would assume it conforms to pretty modern standards which will make it better than what the engine was designed for, and clean oil is better than dirty regardless of what brand it is

I for one would love to see more of both these machines

Strong money though

^ cars I mean, not stalks. Mercedes had it right with one stalk for everything

Indicators should be on the right stalk for rhd though. Keeps your gear changing hand free. Does take a bit of thinking about when you have 2 of each though

My memory is skewed by childhood and nostalgia but the Dedra turbo my dad has in the mid 90s was sublime: comfy, fast and the best seats ever. Nobody was using alcantara apart from Lancia then and it’s everywhere now. And they look like an Italian Primera which has to be a good thing. Now they’re remembered as the last car Lancia sold in the UK, and so the model that killed the brand to the point where their current models have to be rebranded as a fuckin Chrysler to have any hope of selling any. 

There’s no way it could be done for cheap but I’ve always loved the idea of fitting the engine and box from a wrecked clio 182 into an early Volvo 440, stripping it out and sitting it on OZ Super Ts like a touring car that never existed. The fact that the early fwd Volvos used Renault motors leads me to belive it would all just bolt together but this theory is most likely bollocks and in any case it wouldn’t drive as well as a clio but still...

Knew it would be a Bristol by the first 2 posts. They really do look hand built 

56 minutes ago, greengartside said:

The Ronin chase is up there for me as well, the way the XM and 406 were driven was fiendishly brutal.

Would imagine you’ve got to give a 406 a fair booting to keep up with an M5

Paid now sorry for the delay

4 minutes ago, garbaldy said:

Yes this.

We did crail a few times this year in a 330d on slicks and what a hoot, the bloody thing is mental quick.     It's stripped out and could be cheaply bought but not road legal.

The idea of running a proper track car on red diesel is both sensible and hilarious

There was a fully track prepared Xsara VTS with a naff WRC paint job sold on eBay for about £800 earlier this year. They are few & far between though, and the pretty version of them is starting to be worth a bit now

Such thoughts rattle around in me head all the time. The obvious choices are so for a reason but there aren’t any rules really. A couple of ideas I’ve seen/though of:

Toyota MR2 mk3. Cheap, mid engined, not a backwards facing metro

BMW 330d E46. There was one on slicks at the last track day I went to and it was brutal

Pug 206 gti 180. Seen as the poor relation but will keep up with the clios

Citroen Xsara VTS. Great if you can find one

Could I have number 11 please?

Of the cars I currently own, 2 of 4 have come from Scotland and the one I’ve just sold is going there. 

I know we aren’t what’s generally seen as normal people on here but travelling decent distances to collect a car are some of the best days of my life, major events notwithstanding 

I love that green the mk1 Fabias came in. If I ever see an SDI one for sale I might have to buy it

Seen a few minutes ago on the M62, it’s the first one I’ve noticed

They can be very sensitive to width and tension though, correct one might just cure it. 

Lovely looking bus by the way, and I am in complete agreement that everyone needs a five pot at some point in their life 

The more I see the more I love it 

I was perving over this on eBay. Glad it’s in the fold, I really like the look of it 

E30 318is coming back from the ring in the worst rain I’ve ever seen, drivers side wiper decided it would rather flap around on the side window than clear the screen. Took the arm off to find stripped splines, so a cheese & onion pasty wrapper was wrapped around the spindle and the arm pushed over it and tightened. Lasted at least the remainder of my ownership

2 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Came here to say the very same. It’s great that the best looking cars out at the moment are made by Peugeot and Volvo, just like they were in the 90s