Mr Lobster

Oh, hello. Bank Holiday Barnfind...

Oh, hello. Bank Holiday Barnfind...

Oh, hello. Bank Holiday Barnfind...

Oh, hello. Bank Holiday Barnfind...

Oh, hello. Bank Holiday Barnfind...

Oh, hello. Bank Holiday Barnfind...

Oh, hello. Bank Holiday Barnfind...

Oh, hello. Bank Holiday Barnfind...

Oh, hello. Bank Holiday Barnfind...

Its wierd but whenever I go abroad and see the Ypsilon or Delta parked in some foreign place I quite like the look of them. But when I see the Chrysler version parked in a dreary urban car park or outside Lidl I always think they look thunderingly shit.
 
Must be the sunlight affecting my head or something.

Fuggin 'ell. GR7987659 thread, you've owned some proper old shite there.
 
My hat is duly raised to you.

Had an old Alto (99/T) and that was superb as I have mentioned many many times before. Should have kept it really. The new Alto is the same as a Nissan Pixo which again is very very basic but still an acceptable enough thing to drive as long as you accept it for what it is.I'd quite happily have a C1/Aygo as I rather like them. Good to drive, pleasingly basic and cheap to own.

I didn't agree with some moderating decisions whilst I was a moderator, but they were/are all undertaken with the best interests of the whole forum and it's membership at heart. There are no hidden agendas, no personal vendettas, and no unilateral moderating actions.
Cavcraft works harder than anyone for the good of the forum as a whole. It would be a hugely sad day if he were to be hounded out by a vocal minority who know/care little about the immense work he does behind the scenes.
It is a fact of life that there will always be a percentage of the population that are dickheads, and as the forum membership has grown greatly in the last few years so has the (still thankfully relatively small) number of unpleasant people who treat this place as somewhere to let their rampant narcissism run wild, shouting their opinions about matters for which they don't know (or care about) the full story. Usually while posting nothing about cars.
Take for example the absurd outcry over the recent temporary ban handed out to a member. This particular member has ignored countless polite requests and subsequent warnings about posting vile derogatory slurs on people of a different race, gender, sexuality, size, and the disabled. During my time as a mod he probably accounted for half the total forum posts that needed to be hidden and yet not once showed the slightest care or inkling that he might be doing anything wrong. It seems that after a frankly astonishing amount of patience and leniency on behalf of all the moderation team he was finally banned as a last resort. This has lead to a slew of posts from a shouty minority defending him and slagging off the mods, saying that they never saw him post anything bad. You'd think the clue in the term 'hidden posts' would be picked up on but seemingly not. You don't see the bad stuff, the disgusting bigotry and whatnot, because it has been HIDDEN. Barring heavily edited (and often false) versions of what happened from the member himself, people do not see the full picture yet still some are desperate to yell their uninformed opinions.
There is not an increase in moderation, just unfortunately an increase in posts that need to be moderated. The guidelines have never changed. There are a few simple rules to follow which boil down to 'don't be a dickhead' and 'POST ABOUT CARS'. It's not difficult.
I, like The Moog, stepped down as moderator not because we disagreed with any moderating decisions or fellow moderators but because the troublemaking minority on here were making the job so massively unbearably unpleasant. If these people used even a fraction of the time they spent trying to cause disharmony on trying to add something to the forum then this would be a much brighter place.

I can visualise pictures of teenage Parisians, swapping carbs, banding steels, fitting cherry bomb rear boxes, pancake filters in search of a bit more va va voom

Echo Tech
 
 
I have no fucking idea what they are doing.
 

 
 
But I'd buy anything from her.
 

 
 
Anything.

Ebbro.
 

 

 
I spot a T1 Kombi. Hey, that's not a Samba or panel van.

Basically, yes. 
 
Business is very difficult and there's no realistic sign that 2019 will be any brighter. Number of reasons - consumer confidence amongst them but theres an amazing lack of anything really good that will really grab people and get them spending.The higher priced super cars do sell but I do sometimes wonder how. Horses for courses though. Its not difficult to work out what would sell - and it isn't, despite how many people tell me they'd like to see them,  1:43 Metro, Maestro and Montego models - but seemingly only Oxford are listening as the 1:76 range is consistently excellent. But you've got to sell a lot of 1:76 Oxfords before you start troubling the taxman.
 
But otherwise, there's very little that excites me generally. Solido will be ok, Norev 1:43s are generally good news (though I've heard little of new stuff from them for beyond mid 2019) and other smaller ranges - Odeon etc as they are nice, niche lines but there's nothing at all that screams 'volume seller' at me. 
 
I had a look at the 2019 Revell catalogue last week. They're back to doing diecast again although its largely re-issued 1:24 US stuff and the inevitable 1:18 Isetta thus far. Again, not that much to get excited by.
 
Overall, 2019 worries me. I'm hoping that we see a couple of good partworks come through that might do decent numbers because otherwise it looks a bit bleak.

I think the assumption that that stuff will sell in penny numbers is plainly wrong.

We get sent an invite every year. Trouble is, as much as it might be interesting, it equally seems a bit hard work shlepping all the way there and back again when i reality most of it will arrive on emails this week anyway. That and its cold, expensive and i CBA.
 
Theres not a lot I've seen that really pushes my buttons though in terms of exciting new stuff to sell in large numbers. I mean theres a few that will sell but nothing that gets me that excited. That NZG transporter looks nice but will be an absolute fortune.
 
On a personal basis, theres a few that might make me twitch a bit and end up with one of - Solido R4 vans (either Renault Service or La Poste livery), Otto Saviem Renault Service car transporter, plus theres some nice new 1:76 scale Oxfords due later this year (including an R4 - full list here), still wanting Otto to do a Mk1 Twingo though. Hopefully 2019 is the year..

And they would be were it not for the UK importer and their insatiable greed. See also Solido.

We get sent an invite every year. Trouble is, as much as it might be interesting, it equally seems a bit hard work shlepping all the way there and back again when i reality most of it will arrive on emails this week anyway. That and its cold, expensive and i CBA.
 
Theres not a lot I've seen that really pushes my buttons though in terms of exciting new stuff to sell in large numbers. I mean theres a few that will sell but nothing that gets me that excited. That NZG transporter looks nice but will be an absolute fortune.
 
On a personal basis, theres a few that might make me twitch a bit and end up with one of - Solido R4 vans (either Renault Service or La Poste livery), Otto Saviem Renault Service car transporter, plus theres some nice new 1:76 scale Oxfords due later this year (including an R4 - full list here), still wanting Otto to do a Mk1 Twingo though. Hopefully 2019 is the year..

We get sent an invite every year. Trouble is, as much as it might be interesting, it equally seems a bit hard work shlepping all the way there and back again when i reality most of it will arrive on emails this week anyway. That and its cold, expensive and i CBA.
 
Theres not a lot I've seen that really pushes my buttons though in terms of exciting new stuff to sell in large numbers. I mean theres a few that will sell but nothing that gets me that excited. That NZG transporter looks nice but will be an absolute fortune.
 
On a personal basis, theres a few that might make me twitch a bit and end up with one of - Solido R4 vans (either Renault Service or La Poste livery), Otto Saviem Renault Service car transporter, plus theres some nice new 1:76 scale Oxfords due later this year (including an R4 - full list here), still wanting Otto to do a Mk1 Twingo though. Hopefully 2019 is the year..

Are you in the toy trade?
This is not a public fair and in order to get a pass, you have to submit your company registration, or a letter from your employer.
 
The only one around here who could possibly attend is Mr Lobster.

No, sold locally so the end of its AS adventure. I'll add a final part to the story in the next day or two...

Thanks!  Lap belt, I think.
 
However, its sold now. I'm somewhat sad really as I actually really liked it and its been a cracking car so I'm going to miss it a bit.  Onwards and upwards though!