Magnificent Rustbucket

I haven't visited Autoshite for a while, but have enjoyed reading this.

A Lendrum and Hartman right hand drive Caprice - a rare car. Sad to see it in this state.

The XJ-S has a fly-off handbrake.

Talking of Audis, the Audi 200 of both shapes are a good fit for this thread. They were good cars and very competent against the likes of the Granada, but comedy over-pricing pitted them against the XJ6, the S Class and the 7 series. Vanishingly few were sold - and discounts were huge. I only ever saw one at a dealership, never once on the road.

It was - particularly at over £17,000 in the early 'Eighties. You could have a Jag or an S Class for that.

Ford LTD

It is not absolute, but it does exist. The law of defamation sets a high bar with strong defences. So to does Article 10 of the ECHR. The law does set limits as I also believe it should, but these are far below that imposed by Autoshite. The moderators here elect to go further than they have to. The harm held in words varies. At all but the extremes, where this is determined is arbitary. Time for my coat, I think.

The same is true for those in positions of authority, but magnified by an order of magnitude.

I don't enjoy joining these types of discussions but this comment is so extreme I couldn't let it pass unchallenged. It is quite extraordinarily authoritarian and controlling. To anyone who places value in liberty, free thought and free expression it is difficult to hear. The culture of the UK, as in all countries is cyclical. Sadly we are entering a phase of increasing puritanism, only this time not rooted in religion, but manifested in a concerted attempt to heal the world of its 'ugly thoughts'. In the process, everything the self-appointed moral arbiter decrees as offensive is extinguished. I am deeply unhappy about this in life and on Autoshite: I can see it leads nowhere good. FWIW, I don't hold you responsible for the manifestation of this new authoritarianism and controlling behaviour in Autoshite's moderation. I can see you agree with it, but I don't believe you are the prime mover behind it. I look elsewhere for that. No doubt I will be flamed for this comment and I am fully expecting to be laughed at by people who have not understood me. But I feel it has to be said.

It sounds like a train!

I have an Autocar magazine somewhere which pits the Rover 2400SD Turbo against the Peugeot 604 Turbo D.

I do - it's a personal thing I guess. I threw in the towel here a while back and removed the thread I wrote on my own car because it had content personal to me on it. I didn't want it on a forum I felt I was not a part of. She possibly feels the same. I didn't remove any of my replies on other people's threads since I felt it would break up the continuity of them and cause them damage which I didn't want to do. I ended up coming back after a few months in the end because I found I was still visiting occasionally. I semi-regret removing the thread because I had put a lot of effort into it, but hey, that's life.

All my old magazines are buried somewhere in the storeroom so the closest one I have to 1989 is a 1990 Autocar&Motor. The most expensive Vauxhall Senator it lists is the '3.0i CD 24V Cat Auto' at £24,900. The Granada Scorpio was listed at £25,350. The Daimler DS420 wasn't listed but the standard XJ6 'Daimler' was £36,500 - the DS420 will have been more than this. The BMW 535i was £27,495 - so the Daily Mail's 1989 price was probably correct. The 'Top of the range' XJ6 was £36,500 for the Daimler - the most expensive Jaguar version was the Sovereign at £32,500. The XJ-S V12 hardtop was £33,500, convertible £41,000. I think they've priced the 3.6. Range-Rovers were priced between £23,784 for the 2.5 turbo diesel to £31,900 for the 3.9 Vogue SE. The most expensive Mercedes G series listed - the 280GEL was £24,300. The 300GDL was £23,120. Defender 90s were £15,336 - the Citroen BX 19GTI 16v was £14,971 in the 1990 magazine. The BMW 635csi was £45,780. A very expensive car - more than a DeTomaso Pantera at £43,980. Mercedes W124 200E was £19,020, the 230E was £21,430, the 260E was £25,700, the 300E £28,790, which puts the Senator into context - though at these prices the cars would have been a rather bare spec and the Vauxhall will have been discounted. The Mercedes W126 300SE was £31,210. The 500 SE was a thumping £43,660. The Audi 100 ran from £15,930 for the 2.0E to £24,592 for the 2.2 Turbo quattro. The original quattro was £33,819. BMW 3 Series entry level was £11,985 for the 316i 2 door. The 4 door was £12,510 - the same price as a Ford Sierra 2.0EFI GLX £12,475. BMW 325i 2 door was £17, 975. The 4 door was £18,500. The Mercedes 190E 2.0 was £18,000 - as was the BMW 520i BMW 525i was £21, 575 - so a lot cheaper than the Senator list of £24,900 - though a fairer comparison would be the 525i SE (Special equipment) at £23,285. Rolls-Royce Corniche III was £123,808. The Silver Spirit was 85,609. The Bentley Turbo R was £101,389.

I didn't like the TR7 years ago, but now I find them really attractive cars. So '70s - in a good way.

I'm sad to see this. I enjoyed reading your posts.