Dick Longbridge

After seeing @DaveDorson's for sale thread for his mate's Corolla saloon, I've been reminiscing on Mrs L's car when we met. She owned a G plate Corolla Executive hatchback which had been owned by a little old dear for many years. Then it was traded in at a local garage where she lived in Somerset and she picked it up for £250. It would have been 13 years old when she bought it! The Rolla's bodywork was still immaculate when I met Mrs L but I quickly discovered she'd run the engine pretty much dry of oil. Despite my efforts to refill it and keep a close eye, it only lasted another six months unfortunately. Still a bit gutted about that one - it was super clean even then.

No Lammy updates for now but just spotted this on Tippers Twixxer page. Interesting to see the age of some of the vehicles they're producing plates for. Several reregistered vehicles too, presumed plate raped. On a different note, bit of a GDPR issue by showing the customer's name, registration and reference number I'd have thought...

200+ year old oak tree which is protected by a TPO apparently should be removed because it casts a shadow. Might as well chop down all trees, just to be thorough.

That looks clean as a pin - lovely! I still find it bizarre that the very first Corrados were on an F plate yet Volkswagen kept the Scirocco going until K plate.

I can't see any rot on the driver's door to be fair.

Identical.

This is it about a week later. I wonder what happened since?

I had the rare M sport heated leather in mine - they were immaculate, too. I ended up selling them for decent coin and sticking a bargain pair of low mile standard heated leather seats in instead, once I'd decided I wasn't going to keep the car long-term. I've never seen fabric seats in a Z4.

I remember that! My mate used to change the colour of his badges on his red Cortina P100 pickup every other week. Yellow seemed to be a favourite from what I remember. While I'm reminiscing, the boss at the garage at the time bought a white mk2 Escort on an N plate for the forecourt. I remember stuffing a load of p38 in the front wings to cover his shonky plates. It was an unusual one though - it was on an N plate. Has anyone seen another on an N? I remember mk1s were still being registered on N plates. The Escort looks really solid - well bought. I see the sticker tells the story of its Portuguese past - that would explain the rogered paint but lack of rot.

I like mine. It's an 09 J10 QQ with the 1.5dci lump. It's a non-DPF setup - DPFs started appearing on some of the later 10 plate facelift examples. I think some of the earliest facelifts are also non DPF though. Mine had the rear arms replaced by a previous owner which is major box ticked. Mine sips diesel and hits 50mpg pretty easily despite its size and shape. I bought it as I'd had enough of zero storage in the MR2. I also wanted something half decent on fuel too. I didn't really want or expect to like it but both I and Mrs L both like it way more than we thought we would.

That's the cleanest one I've seen since Sonya's! Joking aside, it's a stunner. Is the colour rare? I don't remember seeing it back in the day? My parents rented a similar age Brava when we visited Jersey back in the 90s and my father was really impressed with it. Bravas seemed to vanish overnight, whereas Puntos hung around for longer although now also seem very thin on the ground. Excellent work!

R5 hovercraft

Pininfarina PT Cruiser 1960

PeeTay Cruiser offroad

Happy Rotter in his Anglia RV at MaccyD's.

https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/216080/saab-900i-aero-door-saloon

Great to see REV getting really decent attention to detail. At least that way you've got the maximum chance of some semblance of reliability when you finally find yourself back behind the handlebars again.

Our cars are insured on a multicar policy with LV. Last year's price was just over £370 and this year's price is just over £600. I've spent some time on the Admiral multicar quote page but it's crashed a couple of times and then said I need to call them as I changed a parameter. Then I tried Aviva multicar and that came in at just over £840. I'm knocking on the door of 50 years old and we both have years of protected NCD. I'm starting to think the LV automatic quote wasn't so bad! I think I'll call them after work tomorrow and see if they can wriggle on the price. Still mucking fental though. I'm used to paying similar ££ each year, being a decent driver and not having to take massive price hikes on the chin. Clearly things have changed... Edit: Just used Compare the market and they have given me a quote with a Hastings Direct multicar policy for a smidge over £560. Hastings also had a cheaper product for around £540 although it looked too stripped back to be useful. Hopefully this will be a useful bargaining tool for when I try and negotiate with LV tomorrow.

WTAF is this shite? The individual seems to think it appropriate to wear this getup to a children's charity event. So, so wrong. Fantastic* example of one the perverted knighthood crew, too.

Have you bought it yet?!

Bew!

This photo was taken in July 2023 so it's changed in the last 12 months. It looked quite tidy in its original guise.

It seems to be standard fayre for many historic, listed properties - let it rot then flatten when too far gone. 😕