Leyland Lawrence

That is utter stupidity. Nice car with 200k still to go and no ongoing finance agreement to pay against £370pm for a Hyundai?!

Dolomite

Dolomite

Dolomite

Today on the M4

Could you take the body off and just repair and respray the underside and valances?  I know the bodyshop won't want to but it your car so your choice.
 
If it was mine it would probably end up with a tidemark*.
 
*or more accurately if it was mine it would probably end up abandoned on the drive with no MOT because of some minor mechanical problem

I'm no lover of tech in cars, but at least with most stuff you can see why at least someone would want it. Electronic handbrakes though... an answer to a question no one asked and a problem that just didn't need solving. Lazy people don't use the handbrake anyway, they just sit with their foot on the brake (except when parking of course), I bet they would still do it even if the car operated the handbrake for them.

Ahhh electronic handbrake, forgot that on the avensis. Either ended up releasing on a hill with slightest throttle causing roll back or not releasing at all until you was revving the tits off the thing and slipping clutch

I have just watched a you tube clip about the new 7 series. The fucker parks itself via the key when you hold down a button! So your 2015 already fat exec doesn't have to waste calories putting the motor away. Bone idle twats.
 
Thats not really whats is bit strange. I went to an rta on a certain bridge the other day,and there was a fairly minor smash. Everyone was ok,but i couldnt move the x1 blocking 2 lanes even though i had the keys. The car had lots of panel damage,but was in rolling condition. Only thing was,it had totally locked itsef up! Elec handbrake was solid,no start up,couldn't be pushed either. Struck me as taking a bit of choice from the owner,as the car had took a strop and wouldnt budge. (I imagine there is a simple button to press like a cut off switch,but it seemed a bit creepy that it wouldnt move its arse by owner commend.)
 
Which takes me back to the 7 series. That maps its location,anticipates road surface,and selects gearchanges,and likely steering ferocity etc etc. So it tracks itself basically and takes lots of choice out of your hands,if you wish,for now. Fucksake its a car!! Do we really need this shit? I pity the poor bastard who has to fix it in 10 years. Wont be us,will it??
 
Sorry to bore everyone,the tech is amazing,but come on,do we need all this caper? If efficiency,for example, was moving ahead like technology, surely cars should do 200 OMGMPG by now? Why can't i fucking sleep........

'Drives superb'  should read drives superbly'

'Drives superb'  should read drives superbly'

My old QT50 - a shaft driven dream. Bought locally from an eBay listing - it was owned by a guy who'd bought it from the first owner who had always garaged it and only clocked up a tiny mileage. The 2nd owner used it for commuting and it lived uncovered, outside. I stepped in at the right time - it was just 'on the turn'.

Stripped it down, repacked bearings, bought a S/S crankcase bolt set from the US (shares a mill with the kids fav the PW50), managed to order a NOS basket for the front from my local Yam dealer. Cracking bike! Ended selling it to a guy in London for £300!

The beauty of owning one of these wonderful machines is that if you get bored/they break,you can just hide them away somewhere and come back to it at a later date,not like the constant depressing sight of a car on axle stands demanding that you fix it so that you can use it or sell it on.If it weren't for the fact that my Mrs insists I have a car,I would just have a fleet of peds,fun,cheap and almost carefree.

Sweet. I know of one- express SR or Caren. Bloody lovely.

It wasn't so much the danger that put me off big bikes, that's something I can control to a large extent.
It was this arriving somewhere and having to change into something that carrying with me actually made the entire ride less enjoyable, the self-imposed folklore around big bikes,
the constantly being nannied ("Think Bike" signs and all that elth'n'serfty bollox) and those "Bikers Welcome" signs royally piss me off to this day. I set a few of them on fire in my heydays.
Everywhere I went there was this scourge in form of hoardes of wankers on these Hardly Dangerous septic mobile toilets trying to look cool despite in reality they looked like
chimpanzees on a sharpening wheel and I just didn't want to be associated with them. In the end, I only used my bikes locally and for this purpose, they are too impractical and mopeds
are simply better and more fun.

I find mopeds some of the most interesting and varied machines out there. Transportation at its purest and most simple. I'd love a 32cc winged wheel

Only 6 left on the road (at present)
 

Friction drive, yo!

 
What do I win?

Only 6 left on the road (at present)
 

Only 6 left on the road (at present)
 

My Dolly 1850HL has done 89,500 miles, give or take. It feels like it's done it as well, steering is fooked, brakes are fooked, clutch biting poing is 5mm off the top of the pedal travel, gearbox wails in most gears, interesting noises from engine bay, interior is shabby, exterior is worse. Some of it's 11 previous owners probably weren't angels either, given the amount of time it changed hands during the 1990s. Hell, some dodgy car dealer could have wound the clocks back or something.
Still, the fact that it's still going at this point is nothing short of amazing given that BL motors tended to last 100k or 10 years, whichever came first...
 
The 1300 has done an indicated 26,000 miles. Judging from the hole in the driver's side carpet and the hole that worn in the driver's seat bolster I suspect it's probably done 126,000 miles, either that or the owner weighed 4 tons and got in and out of the car 20 times a day... Everything feels very tight on it though, it had one Coventry based owner for most of it's life and I suspect he looked after it well.
 
 
Condition is key, a high miler that's been well looked after is a better bet than something that's done nowt' but been thrashed and neglected...

The sound of something that has been sat for a while, especially with a drop of stale fuel finally coughing and spluttering into life; the thrill of the battery dying, and then at the last second before all hope is lost it finally kicks into life

I like the sound of the boot catches and the sound of the doors slamming on '90s Rover Group stuff.

I've had a couple recently. If I take off all the trim on the Dolomite, windscreens out, rubbers, brushes, badges, windows, door cards, remove the doors and bonnet the ccar can be resprayed for £2,500 with provisional sum of £400 for unforeseens.
 
Really surprised by how much I like Dolomites so inclined to invest in the car as a daily driver to last years and years and go for it. Two fingers to new cars. All a new car means is that you got a finance agreement.

I've had a couple recently. If I take off all the trim on the Dolomite, windscreens out, rubbers, brushes, badges, windows, door cards, remove the doors and bonnet the ccar can be resprayed for £2,500 with provisional sum of £400 for unforeseens.
 
Really surprised by how much I like Dolomites so inclined to invest in the car as a daily driver to last years and years and go for it. Two fingers to new cars. All a new car means is that you got a finance agreement.