garethj

Can you put me down for one random please

Time for a small update - I've sold a few of these as slot cars but a few people have asked about doing them as static models, This meant doing a full interior and a cheaper steering system. Here's the one I make for my PCS32 chassis The interior was resin cast, got some nice details of the interior dials and switches The slot car alloy wheels and rubber tyres are horrifically expensive so I made some 3D printed ones with decent tyre tread. I designed some waterslide graphics too So with the usual vacform windows and resin bodyshell, the whole kit looks like this First one is listed on eBay tonight, let's see if it sells

I’ve had some success searching for a car in the wrong sections of eBay. It does take a while but there’s a lot fewer people searching for a car in the laptop spare parts section

Agreed, and it’s about the only example I’ve ever seen of a Mini rolling over and the Beetle not! They are good to drive within their limits, like lots of old cars.

This is worth a look from 5:35. The handling isn’t as bad as many people make out as long as you know you’re stuff and don’t do anything stupid like braking in a corner. In fact years of driving Beetles meant that when I came to ride motorbikes, I already knew to avoid things like that

The bit about them being expensive to tune is true but that’s true of lots of old cars. You could get an old Beetle, spend 2 grand it would still be beaten around a track by a 2003 Corsa. However a friend of mine has an original Fiat 500 which he spent several thousand pounds uprating to Abarth spec. That got him something like 28bhp. If you measure it by anything like speed, acceleration, mpg etc then it makes no sense at all. However if you measure it by wanting to drive an old Beetle then nothing else comes close

Yes they do, but most cars are scrapped after the second round of bodging fails, it’s stuff like aircooled VWs, Land Rovers etc that are still around after several uncaring owners.

I've owned quite a few, if you get a rusty one it will be a continual drain on your finances as you patch up the heater channels, floorpans under the back seat, inner wings, bottom of the A pillar, bottom of the C pillar... That's as well as working your way through previous bodges - it's one of those cars where previous owner neglect is a big thing. I also bought one that wasn't rusty, wasn't modified and it was an absolute delight. Driving was like going on a holiday to the time of Ladybird books and it was a really sweet thing to own. I imported it from Sweden but would also have considered one from the dry states of the US. If you can get one that's original, it will all make sense why they sold so many. If you get one that's been modified or repaired using (the usual) poor quality parts it will drive you crazy with frustration.

Excellent purchase! Replace a Volvo with another Volvo

Vehicle Wiring Products is worth a look to see what's what and they've also got a general sizing guide here. Having said all that, they're not too cheap so once you know what you want, hit ebay for the cables, crimps etc

If you've watched any of Kanye West's self indulgent crap, you might have seen this in "Runaway". However it brings this old TV advert to my mind A few more pictures of it Interior bits shamelessly cribbed from the current Tatra 613. My 1994 car had exactly this little aircon controller in it!

This was launched in 1991 by Czech racing car builder Metalex (MTX) in cooperation with Tatra. It used the Tatra quad cam V8 enlarged from the usual 3.5 litres to 3.9, still air cooled of course. Scissor doors and BMW 850 pop-up headlamps complete Václav Král's styling and this is the only test of one in English.

You’re right, of course. Speedo is pretty much accurate up to about 80, I think it’s within 1mph at 50. I’ve told him that if there’s traffic ahead and you’re being tailgated then you need to increase your gap to the car in front so you can stop more gradually. There weren’t any cars in front so I didn’t think slowing down was a good thing

How a driver with L plates is treated. Taking my eldest out for some lessons in the Mazda, we're doing 50 in a 50 limit and the driver behind is less than 2 metres away from the back bumper. I tell you what mate, if you're in a hurry then overtake but no. From a purely practical point of view, if the learner makes a mistake (as they're quite likely to do) the insurance company would almost certainly find the car behind at fault, why would you do that? Another thought they might not have had, as this is some twat who's effectively bullying my child, it brings out all sorts of strong feelings. If there's a queue of traffic ahead and we all have to stop I then have an opportunity to make those feelings known. So, if you hear a news story about someone who gets pulled from their car and getting a freak head injury, it'll have been me

I had a 1964 Tatra 603 when they were pretty rare, I flew out to Germany and drove it back. There was also a 1994 Tatra 613/4 Mi, pretty sure it was the only one of its type in the UK and they only made a few dozen anyway. I’ve had 2 Suzuki Whizzkids which were awesome and a 1958 Peerless GT which was sold to a bloke in Australia. The Land Rover station wagon was pretty rare too, it was a Series 3 109 V8 with overdrive which was fairly unusual spec but quite a common car