gallondrunk

Some E39s leak between the foam behind the door card and the door skin, especially on the rear doors. It's quite a simple job to repair with aftermarket rolls of putty, but worth checking for wet floors.

The Perodua range is for champions, especially when they first started being imported. I love them - Cute, tiny, and unashamedly old school. The Nippa nails all of these qualities.

An excellent purchase. I'd love to hear more about it in the future.

I was of the impression that after about 2005 private car parks and the like are treated as an extension of the public road network.

It was done ostensibly to stop people doing doughnuts in their local B&Q car park, but I would bet it applies to parking tickets as well.

I'd really love to know how it handles once its on the road - I imagine it as tremendous fun flecked with brief moments of absolute terror.

Brilliant purchase.

Wow.

In 2010 myself and Mrs* Gallondrunk were shopping for a new car. We'd spotted a seemingly tidy Daewoo Lanos 1.6SX in the classifieds with 29k, 12 months MOT and a FSH. It wasn't especially cheap (for a Lanos), but for a completely coddled car that might last us a decade it seemed quite a good idea.

It wasn't quite what we expected. There was no MOT whatsoever - the dealer said we could have it tested at a discount (of course, it'll sail straight through). The FSH turned out to be the Daewoo Deal three years free servicing and nothing else.

The 29k had mostly all been added in those first three years, and it had not been driven or tested for four. The oil had the consistency of Canadian tar sands, the sunroof seal broke off when we tested it, all four tyres were badly cracked and there were deep parking scratches everywhere.

It seemed to be the epitomy of conceited car advert tactics. I hope no-one had the misfortune of buying it.

I didn't expect to see a Michael Hastings conspiracy theory mentioned on here!

To the uninitiated, he was a journo who actually seemed to do journalism, as opposed to retyping press releases. He wrote about the surveillance apparatus in the US in particular, and before his death was suspicious that he was being targeted by the FBI.

Part of the mystery was the fact the car exploded, which in the days of modern safety with fuel cut offs and the like seems rather unlikely, but not impossible.

Foul play seems pretty unlikely to me, but who knows?

Obligatory "Oof!"

A tidy looking Alto:

An enormous square behemoth of a car named Matilda.

Finally a handsome looking Rover

Always thought the Mk2 Astra would have been better with electric windows all round and air conditioning? If so, check out this Nexia:

Also, this Samara looks absolutely fucking wonderful.

Mk3 Astra gets my vote - You can get them with as many or as few features as you like and the 8v engines are wonderful as long as you change the belts & water pump according to the schedule. Mk3 Cav is much the same.

You could also go for a Daewoo Lanos. Astra drivetrain and they're buttons to buy.

A lot of the others I'd suggest like a 306 have already been mentioned, so I won't bother repeating.

There's a fair bit of Chinese content in most new cars, they just don't advertise the fact.

This. A lot more parts are sourced from China than people realise.

Some of the motoring journo response to this reminds me of articles from the 60's and early 70's criticising Japanese cars. People believed that they would never get better and Japan would never get a strong foothold in the European and US car markets. Then in the late 70's and 80's suddenly Japan were building some of the most reliable cars in the world and taking Detroit in particular to the cleaners.

Give it a decade and I bet at least two or three of the best selling UK cars will be Chinese.

Gummed up idle control valves can do this, though don't ask me where it is on a Vectra. Worth popping it out and cleaning it.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with doing that, but it makes no logical/financial sense to me.

Think of it this way - If less people bought or leased new cars then we wouldn't be able to pick them up for such a small fraction of their original price a few years later.

That Dacia reminds me of the no frills approach Kia took with the mk1 Rio.

I imagine in 5 years they'll be ridiculously good value.

£10,250 or so.

That would be a good choice coupled up to an amplifier. High end Pioneers and Clarions are worth a look as well.

If you want a really high end cassette deck, try looking for old Nakamichi car audio. Not sure if a £50 budget will stretch like, but I'll link some brochures anyway.

http://www.geocities.ws/p9019/nakamichi/nak_mobile.html

To make up for my ignorant disinformation campaign regarding ARB on Citroens, have a scan of an LJKS editorial about them.

Xantias definitely do have anti-roll bars, and BXs too I think.

I take it back!

Early povvo spec Corsa Bs didn't have anti roll bars; I never appreciated how capable this made them on rough roads until we sold ours.

i imagine part of the problem is the design trend for moderns to have as little roll as possible. Wide, low profile tyres coupled with "sports" suspension and fucking great thick anti roll bars front and rear. It'll bollock around a test track fine but a potholed, badly cambered roundabout completely throws it. There's very little feedback.

All this is not helped by the fact that more and more roads seem to be completely knackered.

Oh, hydropneumatic Citroens don't have them either!

BlueCol seem to make decent old school style wiper blades, at least compared to cheapo Wilkinsons bought affairs.

(197hp with LSD)

How many with THC?

420hp.

Suckers to the side I know you hate my 98.

(You're gonna get yours)

Not cheap, but pretty reasonable with 12 month's MOT and considering how much pre 70's Detroit iron makes. I'd hit it.

70's US spec bumpers.

GR8 4 WOOLARDING

Thanks for uploading, these are excellent.

I love how about 3:15 in, while bigging up how wonderful the Montego is, they cut to a shot of a beige one with a really skewed panel fit on the boot.

This Kent engined 2 door looks class, if needing a bit of work.