Skizzer

To go and retrieve my Granada and Jaguar from their respective locked down locations

As an aside, what on earth kind of a shop was Sophie’s Choice? ”Hey, let’s have a brand name from a Meryl Streep movie about murdering children in concentration camps. Way to go!”

Prototype sold for £750. I paid a bit more for my 1:1 scale one, which also has opening doors and (tell me about it) bonnet, but I haven’t had much more play value out of it.

Oh my goodness [faints]

The facelift came in on a B-plate across all models. You’re right that a City or base would’ve had recessed lights on a D-reg. That one has bonnet, grille and headlamps (and non-metric wheels) transplanted from a phase 1. Bumper could be original or transplant.

I like 14s too, very much, and don’t get the pub fact* that they were rubbish. You’re right about the transmission whine, but that doesn’t make a car crap, or people would have to sneer equally at Range Rovers, Minis and every Citroen prior to the XM. The styling was unusual at the time, but has aged well and become normalised by the sundry rounded shapes of the 1990s. It was simply well ahead of its time. They could rust, but no worse than most late 70s contemporaries - Fiat 127, 128, Mirafiori? Capri? Mini again? XJ6? Alfasud? 2CV? None of these is considered rubbish even by blokes in pubs. They sold well enough to be a common sight here, and were well received by reviewers. CAR GBU from 1978/9 (under ‘Interesting’) said: For: Room, zip, versatility Against: Transmission noise Sum-up: Softer, more comfy Golf

Like this, but there were worse.

I’ve got this brochure somewhere - it’s a whole book, with some alarming pictures in a section in the middle of asymmetrical R12 prototypes from the late 60s. The Boutique options pages are pretty special too - lots of go faster stripes and mad 70s alloys.

Great work. How did you put the clear lacquer on? Just brush and then wet flat and polish?

Yes, because we all* drove around in Kuwaiti custom Mercs back then. And you never see anything like that nowadays in these enlightened* times of elegant refinement*.

Excellent purchase! And great to have you back posting. Nowt wrong with a B series. Torquey, tunable, burstproof.

It’s a Lancia Appia.

Maybe a guide dog?

Many of the cars in the early/mid 80s turbo vogue were carburetted - the Renault installations Wuv mentioned plus their daddy, the R18; the Lotus Esprit; the Bentley Mulsanne; the MG Metro. The MG Montego and (eventually) Maestro had EFi in normally aspirated form but a carburettor with a turbocharger. I can’t think of another carb’d twin turbo either though. The Maserati was the first production car to have two turbos, I believe, and I can’t think of another offhand until the era of catalysts and ubiquitous fuel injection.

The honour of owning a Biturbo without the tears? Definitely count me in for a random please.