Spottedlaurel

Ditto. It's located just a few feet from where I'm sitting, but the boxes are rather too well-packed to easily find it. Mine has a foreign coin in it for some reason, which doesn't appear to want to fall out. As such, I shall heed this advice and leave it in there as an unsolved mystery.

Nice. I was distracted by one when I was looking for my RX. I think they have a similar engine to mine, but they're faster and more economical. The main thing that put me off was the lack of practicality, as they don't have a folding rear seat.

I can't say about Skoda owners, but I did and still do. The LS400 has one in the boot, I listened to something on it on the way into work a little while ago but it wasn't a long enough journey to move onto the next disc. When I bought it last year I removed the previous owner's CD collection and handed them back to him. It's fair to say there wasn't much overlap between the tastes of a former Tory councillor in his 80s and mine.

Banger racers seem to love them, pretty much as popular as the Scorpios at present. I assume most have a Ford 2.3 transplant, which looks a bit lost in the engine bay, otherwise there must be something basically 'right' about them.

That's excellent! Has the blue one 3rd from left been lowered?

Thanks (hopefully - it depends what you were saying!). Was there much in the way of kits there? I've seen very few at those I've been to, seems to be a different scene. Maybe for that reason, any I've got there have been very reasonably priced - sellers just want to move them on as they take up space.

I'd like to visit one of the local fairs again soon. Will probably leave it until after Christmas when everything's unpacked, in the meantime it'll be like going through tat boxes as I rediscover my own stuff. That being said, my resolve has weakened slightly..... Also got a Hasegawa Isuzu Gemini on its way to me. I may have one or two of them already, but most are new to me. I actually picked up the HW thing for a lady who was rummaging through the Matchbox case next to me looking for "anything pink". I then found her some terrible fantasy thing which she preferred, and as this Manga Tuner looked somewhat Skyline-ish I thought I'd keep it for myself. It's as cartoonish as the Noppo Skyline kit I have in the stash. In other news, most of the kits have left my office and are now back home again: Last batch of 30-40 kits are in the car now, just the built models and diecasts to go now (I don't yet have anywhere to display them). This isn't the permanent storage solution, but it's good to see them at home.

Too late! That's where it came from. I know your suggestion was tongue-in-cheek, but I can't think of anything they were offering that looks like it. And the chances of it being here would be incredibly slim. What's odd is the fastback rear which is usually seen on older cars with slightly separate front wings (Peugeot 203, Volvo PV544, various Americans etc) mixed with the late '50s grey porridge front end. The split screen and what look like sliding door windows are also dated, yet the whole thing looks quite well-resolved. It seems like an odd thing to build as a special.

I was looking at that today, it has a rather sturdy look to it that's somewhat un-Aurelia. Not sure if it's the angle, but does it maybe have a split screen?

I'd be interested if you do find it, otherwise it'll be one for me to look out for......

Popped out at lunchtime, saw an odd shape on the road heading towards me. Turned out to to be the 6-wheeled Mondeo "Coastal Alamor" camper M742 VRB. Can't remember if I have a photo on Flickr, but it was good to see out and about. Surprised to see it only has a 1.8-litre petrol to haul itself around.

Might it be like on my RX, you have to have either the left or right adjust button pressed-in to activate it?

I was pondering this thread yesterday. I had an electric Lexus UX300e for the day as a courtesy car, no complaints at all about the driving experience although as an overall package it certainly wouldn't be a replacement for the RX but it got me thinking. Forthcoming NX450h PHEV could be a good compromise when used examples have dropped to my budget. Now the fleet has been thinned somewhat due to the house move, I can concentrate on those I still have. RX will be purchased at the end of the PCP in six months' time - I can buy it for £10k, low mileage examples like mine are currently at £22-24k with the main dealers, if not more, so I'd be stupid not to. It's a fine thing to drive, comfortable, very capable at carting heavy loads of 'stuff' and the driver interface isn't overly complicated despite the clever tech under the bonnet - I can see similarities with Toyotas of old that I've had. I'm planning to run it until I retire and for as long as possible thereafter, with that possible, eventual change to NX450h in mind. Laurel has to stay. The only Datsun I'd rather have would be the previous-gen 200L, with very '70s Coke bottle styling. The LS400 is a wonderful thing to waft around in, but it's difficult to know whether it has a long-term future. It will eventually need a lot of money putting into it, and I think there are probably better candidates out there for that treatment. Perhaps this is where I go back to my "random 3rd car" thing? I fear (well, I know) the days of picking up tidy '80s Accords, 323s and RWD Starlets for £150-300 are long-gone, but if I look for useable things that can be insured as a classic, will tolerate living outdoors for a bit and can be sold-on without incurring too much loss then I could sample a bit of variety instead of getting too attached to anything. Realistically that's all I have room for, but if I could somehow work a Manta A or big, late '60s/early '70s American land yacht into the collection then that'd be good. Mrs SL's Auris will doubtless be with us for many years, but maybe that'll be the one that gets replaced by something electric for the local running around? Like DC, I rather like the look of those little Hondas, with less/no family carting duties it'd be fine for what we want.

It was in the standard range AFAIK, I've had one complete with trailer and Surtees since I was young. Although the latter two have survived the years reasonably well, the Ferrari has suffered with the headlight cover broken and stickers removed. So, if ever you're looking to rehome that one.......

Have been completely offline and only now catching-up...... After relocation of the 2x 240K engines and a gearbox, the Laurel engine then got collected Wednesday night, the engine crane was finally delivered back to its owner and the glass got put into a borrowed van courtesy of Miss SL's boyfriend. Moving day did happen on Thursday, it all went very well. I managed to work it so the Laurel didn't spend a night ungaraged. It was only walking distance from where I'd parked it during the day of the move! It won't be going anywhere in the near future, as it's still full of wheels and tyres, parts etc and stuff is surrounding it, but at least it's at the house. Currently having to juggle who's in what space on the driveway, some important landscaping will take place to enlarge it. I now have to work out where to put all this lot currently in the 20' container, plus all the models and kits in my office: Luckily, the steep roof pitch means that I have plenty of loft space. The RX has been doing a lot of work. On Sunday it was used to move all of the plants across to our new house (our former neighbours had kindly let us leave them there). Yesterday it took around 100 of the 110 boxes we apparently used during the move back to the removals people: There certainly wasn't room for many more. I then used it for collecting 8' long chipboard floor panels for the lofts. It was a shame I didn't have the Camry estate* available for the move. It certainly had a longer, more useable loadbay than the RX, although I have to admit the latter has it beaten when it comes to taking weight (ideal for when I move the magazines and brochures back home). I had to take a load of asbestos to a disposal place last week, another last-minute, pre-move activity. After that had been uploaded, with just me and a box or two of stuff on board it still weighed 2300kg. I must have been adding several hundred kgs more on each container run, but it wasn't immediately obvious. *A DVLA check suggests it has been scrapped. RIP faithful old thing.