RoadworkUK

With your permission, I would like to lick the Sierra's nose if it's present at FOTU.

Booked into the Days Inn at Peterboghorror services on Friday night. Means the very finest cuisine will be at my disposal the night and morning immediately prior to the shiteparty.

There's been a bit of Ford StreetKa love upthread, so I thought I'd join in. Some years ago, eBay was full of 1/18 bargains, because the word on collectability hadn't got out. Today, everything costs £££ so I've gone totally cold turkey, but back then I used to set an eBay filter up at "max £15" and do a search for 1/18 and see what popped up... and up popped this: It's by Welly – a brand that I really didn't have a clue about at the time, but I gather they've been churning out smaller-scale diecast rammle for donkeys years. I bought this on the basis that if a Ford StreetKa exists in 1/18 scale, I absolutely have to have it, no questions asked, and if it turns out to be any good that's a bonus. It turned out to be any good. Possibly the wheels are on the large side, but there's nothing to get upset about with regards proportions. There's a bit of orange peel on the paint, but the coverage is even and the body is nicely cast, with none of the rough edges and stray moulding lines that Bburago serves up from time to time. It's probably the interior that really sells it, though. My favourite detail is that, while the Model 5000 RDS stereo is accurately portrayed, with the cassette loading slot (no fancy-pants Model 6000 CD player here) and all the buttons in the right place, it's clear that the removable four-button security panel was missing from the prototype car at the time of modelling. I wonder if the modelling team even realised. And sticking to the prototype theme: Interesting to see the Rocam decal here; the Rocam (roller finger camshaft) engine was developed in Brazil and would go under the Duratec name when it arrived in Europe, so it looks like the Welly StreetKa was modelled on a pre-production machine. So there we have it. Another 1/18 model from a relatively undistinguished brand, but which happens to be way, way better than you might expect.

What a tremendous conveyance! Good on you for giving it a home.

This is just fantastic. I had the unalloyed joy of driving a Pride the other day. I was overwhelmed by how basically competent it is even today. Plus you get better visibility from the driver's seat than they get in the control tower at Stansted airport.

That's beautiful.

Nice assortment! What's going on with the 2.0-litre Sierra with Ghia / XR4i front bumper and wheels but L/GL grille panel? It's most unsettling.

Another Tim I know got his circa 1990. The fact that it was 1/16 made me cross – it towered above my 1/18 Ferrari 288 GTO when we played with them on the parquet floor of the hall after school.

I have one car registered twice! Or however it works. No idea really. I've a feeling the 306 will just be waved into a regular car parking area anyway, thus kind of defeating the object... Also: please attend.

Nice. I've often been tempted by one of these, they look better now than they did new, and I'm a huge fan of the 1.8T engine, too. Thing is, I fear I'd buy a TT and suddenly wish it was a bit bigger, and it's not as if my current A4 hangs about.

My wife and I are currently in the process of being 'conveyanced'; essentially an open invitation for a solicitor to take as much time as they want and charge us as much as they like to supply us with something we've already paid for. So, with all this money sloshing around, I figured I'd direct some of it towards the Rover. TL:DR, it's now booked in with these people (http://www.mg-rovermobilemechanics.com) to have all the belts replaced and a general mechanical birthday. Because I want it to last forever and ever and I don't mind paying for it. (well, I do, but because I've spent a negative amount on depreciation during my life so far, it doesn't hurt so much). And it's not going in until November, so I have time to save up.

Guy who's breaking the Mondeo goes by the handle sticktowhatyouknow. "14" si Alloy wheels" Ghia, I think you'll find.

That's mental! I remember a kid at school's Nan bought him "a book about cars" one Christmas. It was a Haynes manual for a Nissan Bluebird. He was ten.

Amazing. Truly humbled. Thank you. And my apologies for not updating this thread in reply earlier. When I posted last night I completely forgot I had a bit of a mad day coming up. There's now a plan afoot to acquire these at FOTU, where the Grand Installation will take place. And we'll suddenly have three spare. (Although I might actually splash out on some cable ties this time).

Hello all. The above 306 is still very much alive (and in rude health – commuting a 20 mile round trip every day and now on 180k. However, the very worst thing possible has occurred. We've lost another hubcap. A quick survey of eBay hasn't turned anything up, but if anybody has one and needs it gone in exchange for a handful of shekels, please, please hit me up. Assuming I got things right when the free FOTU tickets were being handed out, it'll be in attendance – either on display or in the car park, depending on the Marshalls' discretion. And in the interest of full disclosure and honesty, I should come clean about something. You see, I've only just realised that I started this thread five years ago. So far it has clocked up five years since it was killed. That's five years in which I really should have got around to effecting a proper cosmetic repair of the damage, but I haven't. It still looks like this (albeit one wheel trim short) Worse still, because the laquer on the roof was coming off like dandruff, I elected to strip it all off with a view to repainting. And, of course, that hasn't happened either. Trouble is, it's just such a reliable, economical car that having it out of service for any length of time is very inconvenient, and we're too busy enjoying it to worry about prettying it up. I do actually have the paint, and when we move to our next place I'll have a garage that's better suited to painting. So it will be done. So that's how it'll look at FOTU. Scars and all. But if anybody has one of those placca trimz, we'd be damnably grateful.