Spiny Norman

Going back to the pets in rented properties thing, our last two tenants had a rabbit and a small dog and neither caused any problems. To me, a good tenant will take care of the property regardless of whether they have pets or children and a bad tenant will destroy it on their own without assistance.

Jings! Exeter to Oban that's some hike but I can't think of a better car to do it in. Well bought, and well played getting 30mpg from what I'm assuming is a 5 litre V8. 😎

Don't know if you've found a result for this but my old Volvo Amazon had quite a few of these in the throttle linkage assembly, being a similar age they might work? I imagine Amazon parts are reasonably easy to come by in Norway.

Depends how you define worst I guess. I've had some pretty snotty old shitheaps but when you pay a couple of hundred quid what can you reasonably expect? For me, the worst car is defined by expectations not being met, something I thought would be really good which turned out to be anything but. A VW Jetta taught me that VW reliability was a myth, a Rover 600 turbo confirmed my suspicions that the last good Rover was the P6 and the Volvo C70 was so shit whether it was working or not it destroyed my faith in the whole brand. The Jetta went to auction with the bill for its new (and also fucked) engine in the glovebox and at least returned the cost of the engine if not the car itself. The tinny, torque steering Rover I hated so much when the new Land Rover spec head gasket went pop I insisted I got to watch as it got fragged despite the car being in almost perfect condition, and the Volvo went to a dismantler for £1500 less than I'd paid for it 3 months earlier from someone I thought I could trust.

Innocenti Mini. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innocenti_Mini

As far as the Montego was concerned, the fact that it still existed largely unchanged from launch by the time they rebranded it as a Rover (or not, I can't ever remember seeing one with a Rover badge either) was the problem. Typically for BL, when it came to do a new model they raided the corporate piggy bank, went through the pockets of all their trousers, dug down inside the couch and found the budget would stretch not to an entirely new model, or even a decent sheetmetal reskin, but only to some new wheeltrims and lamps. The Montego was a pretty good car when it was launched in 1983, it compared well to the Sierra and Cavalier Mk2 but by the time it finally died in the mid 90s it was hopelessly outclassed compared to the Mondeo and Mk3 Cav, not to mention the Primera, Passat, Accords of the day.

Three amigos parked up together opposite a bus garage in Glasgow.

Print media in general is on its very last legs. The only people who want to read magazines these days no longer have the eyesight to do so. I treated* myself to a sub for the once great CAR at Christmas last year and to say I was shocked at how the quality has plummeted is putting it mildly. It's a comic, printed on bog paper with photographs of a quality you could take with a 10 year old phone. I cancelled the recurring sub the day the first issue arrived and I haven't even bothered opening the last couple, binning them when they come through the door like junk mail. Sad.

I was expecting this to look like a hazmat scene but it's got to be a grand's worth as a beaker if nothing else?

I handle lots of cash every day and while the new plastic notes aren't impossible to counterfeit they're not easy to do convincingly so if you're handed a pile of new currency it should* be kosher and you can usually feel the difference. Bear in mind the old marker pens don't work on the new notes though. That said, the last half dozen car transactions I've done have been online transfers which I think generally are safer and less hassle.

This was absolutely immaculate.

I'd never seen this thread until tonight and I've just read it from the beginning. Superb. 🥰

More three slot than three spoke, but the ones on the old R5 Gordini looked the biz.

I used to work in a barn of a place with no airflow and a metal roof and during a hot spell about 12-13 years ago I was opening up in the morning and the temperature inside was 30-32C at 8am.

Remembered another incident from years ago. I'd helped a mate do the timing chain on his Renault 5 (a story in itself...) and between us we managed to completely fuck it up and the engine just wouldn't run. My mate decided the best course of action would be for me to tow him to a local garage which we did under cover of darkness one night. I'd never towed anything before and was just starting to get the hang of it when there was a loud bang and the rope snapped. A second after that I saw a wheel that looked suspiciously like that fitted to a R5 bouncing past me along the road and off into the shrubbery. Turned out matey had only put the wheel nuts on finger tight for whatever reason and forgot. More of a brown trouser moment for him than me when the car suddenly lurched over and bit the tarmac with the brake disc and he lost control at maybe 20-25mph. The deep gouge in the road was there for years....

Mine is 36 for regular use and 44 for 4 up fast running. That's way above anything I've ever had before and is I think is more a requirement of the wafer thin tyre profiles on modern cars rather than the weight. My old Merc weighed more but had 65 rather than 45 section tyres. Explains why most moderns have such a shit ride quality.

Must admit, I've come to accept the constant grey. muggy west of Scotland 15C drizzle as the norm and hardly notice it now, except the odd day like today when the sun comes out and all the peely-wally jaggies decide it's a 'taps aff' day and the females dig out the most skin tight apparel they own to show off their slender* size 20 frames. I'd happily cope with dinner plate size spiders if I didn't have to witness some of the sights I saw today...

Could be worse. Or better, depending on your allegiances.

It's here to stay and I know folk who've had it more than once but it does seem that the mass inoculation programme has had the desired effect. *Touches wood* I still haven't knowingly had it but the general opinion now is that while being far worse than just 'a bad cold', it's certainly not putting people in hospital with anything like the ferocity of the initial wave a couple of years ago. Glad you're over the worst of it. Celebrate your life by buying something silly and unnecessary... 😛

This didn't happen to me but a couple of mates years ago, one of whom had just passed his driving test and had acquired a pristine* Mk 5 Cortina in finest beige. He and another pal were returning home one sunny Saturday afternoon when the front suspension suddenly collapsed sending the car straight for a lamp post. The car hit the lamp post at just about where the NS headlight was and it tore through what turned out to be a front end constructed from chicken wire and Cataloy. Neither of them were hurt but mate #2 in passenger seat was just beginning to regain his composure and peering through the cloud of steam when the light unit part of the street lamp decided to part company and fell straight onto what was left of the bonnet with an almighty crash. Apparently he baled out the car and jumped head first over a hedge into someone's garden, convinced the world was about to end.

In my dream last night I was the proud owner of a 79 Mk1 Vauxhall Cavalier 2 door saloon in gold. Can't remember that much apart from the car, but it featured heavily in then dream, I was driving it for ages. I was so disappointed when I woke up and it wasn't there.

Never managed green or red unfortunately but a 5 series and a Volvo 240 have had blue interiors, and of course the caramac velour-fest in the 70s Vauxhall.

I'll stick a couple of these in here as well for anyone who doesn't look in the 'WTF is that' thread. It's a Hydrocon Hamilton mobile crane, long since seen its last paying job and now sits quietly by the side of the road.

Went down to where the Hydrocon is parked up and got a few shots. Basic doesn't begin to describe the driver's cab.

I'm going down to get some photos of it this week so I'll get a closer look.