Metal Guru

Short power cut in the Scottish Borders about an hour 10.15 ish.

That is so much better than any of those crap stretch limos based on Lincolns or even worse Hummers.

Can’t imagine you could detect the difference between 5 and 10% ethanol unless you were a trained wine taster / blender.

Basic is not the word. I think the heater was an option. I think it also had vacuum operated wipers (?) that went slower as you speed increased! Radio ? That was for rich people.

Continuing a theme , my Dad had one of those too, but in a very boring grey. It was a 1961 model beginning BYR but I can’t remember the numbers , might have been 365, not sure. Had the same old AA badge attached to the grille. 3 gears prone to jamming , 70 mph flat out.

My Dad had one of these in a dark green metallic. H reg too , automatic.

I quickly learnt about the hard shoulder within 30 minutes of driving in Ireland for the first time. Leaving Dublin , soon after the dual carriageway ended, I was confronted by an HGV over taking another one , way over into “my” lane. I swerved onto the hard shoulder thinking “what a fecking idiot !” and then it happened again. Soon realised , this was normal and accepted way of driving there.

What’s the name for the Italian part of Luton? Last time I was there I saw what looked like a mafia funeral, straight out of the movies.

Surprised not to see any WR Blue Subarus , surely a classic.

Simon Le Bon has a couple on his car.

I had a 2.8 TDL from new in 1995 until 2000. It wasn’t a bad drive , certainly better than the equivalent Land Rover. Last drove one in 2014 on a friend’s farm a scrapper without wings or doors, which we christened the “ Fourtrak Superlegerra”.

Falken are decent tyres, not Chinese rubbish, but then they are only marginally cheaper than the premium brands.

Wasn't that the Belmont when it was sold here?

You can’t be fussy at £700 but it annoys me when people put cheap tyres on decent cars just to sell. The last car I bought was a mini for £13500 and they’d put a couple of HiFlys on it, especially as it was an All4 model that should really have matching tyres Dealer agreed they were crap and swapped them for Dunlops.

In my experience the price range isn’t as wide as your example. In the sizes I’ve ever bought, cheapest are about 60% of the price of premium. That’s fitted price , add ons included in the fitted price like valves, balancing and environmental charges are the same for any tyre, the price range may be greater for supply only but who fits their own tyres? I do appreciate people are strapped for cash, and it’s probably better to fit two new cheap tyres than use very worn ones, but the point I’m trying to make is if you work out cost per mile, the poor wear on cheap tyres, renders the difference negligible, so you get superior performance almost as a bonus.