Surface Rust

I think some very early p4s with the older engine and the later 105s were the only ones with twin carbs.

That's lovely, I could only afford the base spec 95, but they are lovely to drive, and the quality of the engineering and materials is impressive. I use mine year round, though fitting a 'colonies spec' radiator was the best thing I did, it sat happily in traffic in 38deg temps last summer. Can't say I was as comfortable as the engine though...

As there seems to be some slot car love here, I thought I'd share this. I got bored during the long winter nights and thought I'd revert to a favourite pastime of my youth, customising Scalextric cars. Sadly none of those creations survived the last 30 odd years, but I thought I'd still maintain the connection and make some cars from my youth, in particular, vehicles produced in Northern Ireland. A dim recollection from a visit to the Ulster Transport Museum in about 1989 was that Northern Irish automotive output was limited to: Some kind of steam powered horsey horseless thing from 18somethingorother Various armoured Land Rover products from the RUC workshops in Belfast DeLoreans This didn't give me many options to work with, and as I didn't even know what the steam contraption looked like, the list narrowed further. Eventually I settled on making both of them. Fortunately Scalextric had saved me a lot of effort by already making a Delorean, unfortunately it was plastered in BTTF guff, like every Delorean you see at a car show. I wanted the pure design intent so had to carefully remove all the Mr Fusion stuff and file the body smooth for a quick stainless steel* paint job. Anyway, that wasn't the exciting one. This was. Not terribly accurate, but a lot of fun to build. I was always fascinated by the Tangis when I was young, they used to sweep past my dad's Volvo 240 at what seemed like outrageous speeds for a big Land Rover, accompanied by a lovely V8 roar. The inaugural Norn Iron street racing championship was a predictable affair, the Delorean streaked away thanks to modern Scalextric 'sticks like shit' handling , however the Tangi had me giggling like a school kid as it slo-mo drifted round every bend. Eventually, due to its weight, I had to give the motor and controller a rest as they smelt HOT, but it's a firm favourite already.

I have come across a kill switch for the electric pump on old cars before. Just an unmarked toggle switch, sometimes hidden under the dash. Was a guaranteed* anti theft precaution, 'back in the day'.

I wonder how long my kids would keep quiet looking for this lot the next time I drive up the M1....

Judging by some of the creations my 5 yr old comes home with from school, PVA should be safe on polystyrene, however, maybe best to test a bit first.

I think that might be a Clubman rear bumper.

I have nothing useful to add really, other than one of my first cars was a Mitsubishi Colt with the reg NIL9440. It had the following characteristics which I reckon will be also be shared with that Cadillac: -Low rent though durable interior plastics -Difficult to access rear seats -Extremely reliable -Hilarious understeer Can't think you'd regret buying it.

Apologies for gatecrashing your thread with this, but thought this snippet of Safrane history ought to be captured for posterity, and as your Safrane milkshake has already brought all the Safrane fanciers to the yard.... A few years ago I worked for a Peterborough based diesel engine manufacturer. Languishing in the corner of the works car park was a Phase 1 Safrane (met green). Shitters in the car park were not unusual, my period of employment coincided with Xbollox. Anyway, this Safrane was a bit special, as it was an former development vehicle, housing a specially developed executive class 2.5 litre V6, twin turbo, Bosch VE diesel. It was called the 'sunshine' project, and sadly after building several prototypes, including this fully functioning Safrane, it was eventually scrapped. The Sunshine engine was, by all accounts an absolute peach, it developed about 168bhp and had received significant NVH benchmarking to place it well ahead of any contemporaries. Apparently the Safrane was trailered over to France to be demonstrated to Renault top brass, but they decided to pursue their own in house 4cyl diesels instead. What might have been eh?

I think this evening I will have to tell my wife that the reason I keep furtively checking my phone every 5 minutes is that I'm having an affair. I think I'd get less grief that way than if I admit I'm looking to acquire more model cars...

Thanks! I actually need some navy which narrows down the options, but well done on the recycling, it looks great.

Did you manage to source some new houndstooth material, and if so, may I ask where you got it from. My Mini City uses similar and it's been on my to do list for some time.

Thanks so much for doing this, much appreciated. I used to avidly collect brochures at the Motor Show each year and can remember many of these! Unfortunately my parents chucked them all after I left home, together with certain other 'select' publications I clearly hadn't hidden well enough...

Festival of the Dead, 2nd July, Stamford, Lincs. No, not the start scene from a Bond film, but a car show featuring only defunct car brands. https://www.classiclineinsurance.co.uk/festival-of-the-dead/

Love the Commodore, interested to see you've gone with a non-standard clutch installation. You'll upset the purists with that approach...