Timewaster

I'm old enough to remember old fellas that would have a football club or political party like loyalty to a brand and would happily tell you "I'm a Vauxhall man" and had only ever owned Griffin badged cars in their 40 years of driving. Then another chap, usually someone's brother in law would pipe up and say he had only ever have a Ford and wouldn't consider anything else. I don't remember any Morris Austin or BMC advocates, but we were well in to the Leyland era by then, so I'm not surprised.

I find if your Virgin service is working (and to be fair it usually does), then TOUCH NOTHING, DO NOTHING, CHANGE NOTHING. The moment you try and change anything, they fuck it up royally. I had a virgin mobile on Vodafone. They merged with O2 but I don't get a great signal, so they let me keep my Vodafone sim and that was OK. Then I got a call centre call, promising to half my bill, double my data... all that usual schpeil. I must have told them 10 times, it MUST be a Vodafone sim. Yes, yes, no problem sir. Vodafone sim. Guess what they sent me? It took hours and hours on the phone / chatbot etc to sort out. Because I now had a new contract they couldn't supply new Vodafone sims to new customers. But I'm not a new customer, and I have a Vodafone sim. You cancelled it! And so on and on and on.....

To be fair, my memory of cold 70s mornings was that the minis and 1100s would start and the Escorts and Cortinas not so much. But that is largely based on the crap my dad drove, and that of the neighbours. Dad's mk2 Escort once refused to start for 2 weeks, despite his spending 4 hours on it every evening and weekends. He never did know why, but one evening having got home on the bus, it burst into life first turn of the key, having flatly refused the evening before.

I know nothing about how AI works, but it must be getting tagged references from images elsewhere on the net to generate these new images. Which we are posting on the internet. So next time someone somewhere asks for a Routemaster image, is there a chance it references the group B rally version here and incorporates that into its next image? Given the intelligence and diligence of some of the worlds journalists, we could easily end up with poorly researched references to things that never were in all sorts of places.

Possibly a Reggie Perrin? Similar outcome but slightly less murdery.

It has got to the stage where I don't check insurance, I check tax bill. I dodged a bullet with a cheap (fucked) jeep Cherokee I had an eye on for a cheap off roader and a bit of green laning. £795 a year to tax. Er.... No thank you. I'll go back to looking for a Jimny with an actual floor.

You ever tried to set light to diesel?

I think that's what made it even worse. The Metro looked like your grans shopping car and the Corsa was all modern and funky. Until you drove them and it was the other way around.

In a lot of ways, yes. Butto drive, the Metro inherited the go-kart feel from the mini and was lively and chuckable. The Corsa was stodgy and numb. Steering, brakes and gear change were vague and it wasn't an engaging or fun thing in any way. I base this entirely on two work vans we had when I was a yoof. An early Metro van in doom blue which may even have been badged Morris, and it's eventual replacement an L reg Corsa.

Most mainstream cars leather seats are horrible. I have a leather clad Bini and it is hard, either stone cold or roasting hot and always slippy. It reminds me of summer holidays as a kid in the back of dads Renault 12 with my legs stuck to black vinyl seats. Most 2nd hand cars I see with leather, it is split and flaking away at the edges. In the 90s, a couple of acquaintances had leather seated luxo barges. An XJ6 and a Senator. The Senator was mint, and fast. The Jag was old and scruffy and plodded along. But the seats?! The Jag was soft and supple and comfortable and lovely. The Senator was hard and scratchy and just not nice. Also, leather covered steering wheels. Scratch and scuff easy, the surface wears away and they look like an 8 year olds school shoes at the end of term in no time.

I've known of that dealership for 30 something years, I've been there, I could sing you the 1990s radio adverts (#T C Harrison, there's no comparison #) and I never ever saw "Harrison Ford" before. Oh, nice Boxter by the way....

Thought of this thread the other day when I spotted a Dolomite SE. Sadly abandoned in a farmyard and beyond saving.

Fiat X1/9. Note the B pillar Ds3

New Ford Ranger 1979 Ford Cortina

When I had a Sapphire C*******h it was like cat nip for bell ends. Wherever you went you could bet that firstly they ask "is it a real one" followed by a load of bullshit that their milkman's aunties plumber had one with 800 horse power blah blah blah... The novelty soon wears off. I used to dread taking it to the petrol station. I owned it longer than any other car, it sat unused for a few years and I sold it a while ago. I don't miss the car or the bell ends one bit.

He DID kick me up the arse!!

I took my test in a F reg Nova Merit. All 3 times. My older brothers instructor had an all white MG Metro turbo. The instructor told him, the quicker you get to the test route, the more lesson time you have! The same instructor was killed in a motorbike accident a couple of years later. None of this shite was very old at the time though.

Heather Mills early work?

I saw a YT video yesterday on Suzuki SJ410s (stick with me, I'll get to the point eventually). They pointed out that at the time the SJ ride was seen as appalling but "now everything is an SUV and hard riding, it doesn't seem so bad". The 405 was definitely from the peak car era. Enough tech and electronics to make it start every morning, but not so much that you need a PC to work on it. Enough pace, good handling and comfort and rustproofed. @matty is spot on.

A guy I know has a Greek cousin and calls him "Malaka". He told us it meant wanker.

Don't. He will try cabbing one of those next.

That looks lovely. And I barely get 25mpg from a Bini!

Was going to suggest a suicidal micro banger entry before I saw It was a good example. How about: