barrett

I don't think the EU banned yellow lamps, it just stopped being a legal requirement to have them whilst driving in France. Still thousands of older cars driving round France with a full compliment of selective yellow lamps, don't worry.

Clue: one of the answers has been discussed, since I posted this, in some depth on a popular 89 page thread elsewhere on the forum...

"Could you let me know the basic spec of the Hyundai, please? If you don't end up swapping it for the Sierra, I'd love to buy some raffle tickets for it despite the fact I live about as far away from you as is possible"
 
 
That first shot of the Proton is great, looks like a late '80s CAR magazine feature shot

Bump. Not much time left to get those entries in. I have realised that not only was this unsolvable by anyone but myself, it was also offputtingly (not a word) difficult, so sorry about that. It would be a shame if FIVE YEARS of planning went down the toilet though yeh, so at least have a crack at it, ya miserable bunch of cunts

Cocks pissing all over the Sochaux lion. Wouldn't surprise me

Bump. Not much time left to get those entries in. I have realised that not only was this unsolvable by anyone but myself, it was also offputtingly (not a word) difficult, so sorry about that. It would be a shame if FIVE YEARS of planning went down the toilet though yeh, so at least have a crack at it, ya miserable bunch of cunts

Bump. Not much time left to get those entries in. I have realised that not only was this unsolvable by anyone but myself, it was also offputtingly (not a word) difficult, so sorry about that. It would be a shame if FIVE YEARS of planning went down the toilet though yeh, so at least have a crack at it, ya miserable bunch of cunts

In!

 
In!

 
Out!

 
 
Unchanged: Heron, Panhard, 404, BX, 406

And yeah, stop sneering, asking sensible questions about a car isn't exactly a bad idea. For some people £140 is meaningless small change but for others its a significant sum and wasting a day/cash on travel to answer questions that could be transmitted online isn't gonna make you feel great if the thing ends up being a nail. There's no reason why an undesirable old car shouldn't cost £140 and go on indefinitely. Tbh that's about the going rate for a ZX in 2018.

I've been interested in this period of Saab for a while, and I might have told you this before, since one night when I was working until midnight and was driving my old silver BX down the deserted A23 looking forward to getting my head down. I was doing an indicated 95, with all the associated crosswind buffeting and general 'driving a lightweight old car a bit too fast' cheek clenching, and this scruffy turbo 900 just glided past like I wasn't even there. It was absolutely rock steady and true, the guy had one hand on the wheel, sitting in a relaxed reclined position like he wasn't even trying. I think it's the only time I was ever overtaken by something older than that car. He must have been doing 110* and it was clearly no thang at all.
 
Approved.
 
*based on my clearly inaccurate speedo reading

And yeah, stop sneering, asking sensible questions about a car isn't exactly a bad idea. For some people £140 is meaningless small change but for others its a significant sum and wasting a day/cash on travel to answer questions that could be transmitted online isn't gonna make you feel great if the thing ends up being a nail. There's no reason why an undesirable old car shouldn't cost £140 and go on indefinitely. Tbh that's about the going rate for a ZX in 2018.

As has been pointed out before, there is no such thing as a classy American car. They just can't do it. And, despite the various novelties abounding in the 1950s, most of them were appallingly designed and built purely because they were expected to be cast aside after a couple of years (most prewar stuff was different, of course, but that's true of all nations).
 
Don't get me wrong, I love American cars. I would absolutely love a Fuselage-body Mopar or a giant Buick wagon, but with my serious car collector head on there is only a handful of American cars that are worthy of anything more than nostalgic longing.
 

 
1953 Studebaker coupe. Probably the only car built in postwar America that is beautiful. There are lots of imposing, stylish, impressive, muscular, attractive cars, but not really any beautiful ones. Obviously it's all subjective, but the 53 'Lowey coupe' is the closest Yanks ever got to European-type understanding of form. It's totally subtle, understated and we'll proportioned and of course it was totally ruined by cheap restyle attempts starting in 1955. Unfuckwithable and underrated.
 

1937 Lincoln-Zephyr. I know they're a bit shit (because Ford) but this is about as stylish as mainstream cars got in the uncivilised wasteland of Detroit. They don't drive very well, the engines don't work and they are a touch spivvy (or whatever the American equivalent of a spiv is) but they are fantastic to look at and be in.
 

1965 Galaxie. Nothing particularly outstanding really, no great technological leap or stunning styling, but proof that a set square and a ruler is all you need to create an impressive design. It's like a brutalist tower block on wheels and probably the car I'd most like to actually own from the US, although like most yanks they don't really work in the context of Britain.
 

1960 Corvair. A clean sheet design, genuinely revolutionary in its design and engineering and, unlike every other American car I've driven, actually really nice to drive and totally at home on British roads. Looks fantastic, handles like a 911, sounds great and smaller than a modern Euro box. But, byilt down to a price with no attempt at longevity. Pressed steel rockers? C'mom guys.
 

Avanti. Has to be a '63 with round lamps, preferably a supercharged R2 like this. Colour is important, of course: white, gold or metallic blue only. Probably the most impressive piece of car design to ever emerge from the states. Trying to find a piece of styling with no genuine antecedents is near impossible but the Avanti was truly unlike anything that came before. Some people don't 'get it', but then some people like Ford Escorts and Chris Rea. The Avanti was a glorious failure, a car only a company fighting for survival wpuld dare launch. It was also pretty much the fastest thing on the road that wasn't built in Modena.
 

Cord 810. I know everyone wants the supercharged one, but they look so much better without the side pipes. Has to be a sedan, white or green, cloth seats. Just an astonishing bit of design, with the technological trousers to back up that uncompromising mouth. Weirdly, only now just beginning to become as valuable as they deserve to be and still just about in the realms of reality for normal working stiffs to own.
 
Honorable mentions: '49 Shoebox Ford, '54 Kaiser Manhattan, V16 Cadillac, Airflyte Nash, step-down Hudson, '68 Charger

I've been interested in this period of Saab for a while, and I might have told you this before, since one night when I was working until midnight and was driving my old silver BX down the deserted A23 looking forward to getting my head down. I was doing an indicated 95, with all the associated crosswind buffeting and general 'driving a lightweight old car a bit too fast' cheek clenching, and this scruffy turbo 900 just glided past like I wasn't even there. It was absolutely rock steady and true, the guy had one hand on the wheel, sitting in a relaxed reclined position like he wasn't even trying. I think it's the only time I was ever overtaken by something older than that car. He must have been doing 110* and it was clearly no thang at all.
 
Approved.
 
*based on my clearly inaccurate speedo reading

Almost forgot the Ruxton! I will concede these are pretty damn classy, actually.

I'm sure none of those charmers have proper tyres on their cars

Looks great as-is. Just slather it in Ankor Wax and be done with it

I'm sure none of those charmers have proper tyres on their cars

I've been interested in this period of Saab for a while, and I might have told you this before, since one night when I was working until midnight and was driving my old silver BX down the deserted A23 looking forward to getting my head down. I was doing an indicated 95, with all the associated crosswind buffeting and general 'driving a lightweight old car a bit too fast' cheek clenching, and this scruffy turbo 900 just glided past like I wasn't even there. It was absolutely rock steady and true, the guy had one hand on the wheel, sitting in a relaxed reclined position like he wasn't even trying. I think it's the only time I was ever overtaken by something older than that car. He must have been doing 110* and it was clearly no thang at all.
 
Approved.
 
*based on my clearly inaccurate speedo reading

Looks great as-is. Just slather it in Ankor Wax and be done with it

I'm sure none of those charmers have proper tyres on their cars

I've been interested in this period of Saab for a while, and I might have told you this before, since one night when I was working until midnight and was driving my old silver BX down the deserted A23 looking forward to getting my head down. I was doing an indicated 95, with all the associated crosswind buffeting and general 'driving a lightweight old car a bit too fast' cheek clenching, and this scruffy turbo 900 just glided past like I wasn't even there. It was absolutely rock steady and true, the guy had one hand on the wheel, sitting in a relaxed reclined position like he wasn't even trying. I think it's the only time I was ever overtaken by something older than that car. He must have been doing 110* and it was clearly no thang at all.
 
Approved.
 
*based on my clearly inaccurate speedo reading

"Could you let me know the basic spec of the Hyundai, please? If you don't end up swapping it for the Sierra, I'd love to buy some raffle tickets for it despite the fact I live about as far away from you as is possible"
 
 
That first shot of the Proton is great, looks like a late '80s CAR magazine feature shot

I've been interested in this period of Saab for a while, and I might have told you this before, since one night when I was working until midnight and was driving my old silver BX down the deserted A23 looking forward to getting my head down. I was doing an indicated 95, with all the associated crosswind buffeting and general 'driving a lightweight old car a bit too fast' cheek clenching, and this scruffy turbo 900 just glided past like I wasn't even there. It was absolutely rock steady and true, the guy had one hand on the wheel, sitting in a relaxed reclined position like he wasn't even trying. I think it's the only time I was ever overtaken by something older than that car. He must have been doing 110* and it was clearly no thang at all.
 
Approved.
 
*based on my clearly inaccurate speedo reading

I'm sure none of those charmers have proper tyres on their cars

I've been interested in this period of Saab for a while, and I might have told you this before, since one night when I was working until midnight and was driving my old silver BX down the deserted A23 looking forward to getting my head down. I was doing an indicated 95, with all the associated crosswind buffeting and general 'driving a lightweight old car a bit too fast' cheek clenching, and this scruffy turbo 900 just glided past like I wasn't even there. It was absolutely rock steady and true, the guy had one hand on the wheel, sitting in a relaxed reclined position like he wasn't even trying. I think it's the only time I was ever overtaken by something older than that car. He must have been doing 110* and it was clearly no thang at all.
 
Approved.
 
*based on my clearly inaccurate speedo reading