Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Rusty Pelican said:

Not a clue what this is TBH 

Micra based? Speed appropriate.

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

Micra based? Speed appropriate.

Looks like a big version of the Austin pedal cars you could get. There was a place near where we lived that hired them for half an hour or so.. Many seemed to end up fairground roundabouts.

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, inconsistant said:

Two of them today.
1. I thought it was a Toyota Avensis as I approached from the rear/side but says Subaru Levorg on the back

 

2. people carrier from outer space,  Aparently it’s a very modern Hyundai something. 

The Subaru Levorg could have / should have been the new WRX wagon. Instead Subaru in the U.K. just brought ii in with a feeble 1.6 turbo engine with about 170bhp and a price tag to compete with 320 Tourings and A4 Avants.

Even more bizarrely , in JDM guise , they did do a hot version labelled as an STi with upto 300bhp but with a CVT gearbox only.

WTF were they thinking?

[artdjones]

17 hours ago, Aston Martin said:

Saw one of these and maybe there's a billion I don't know, looked great.
 

(No, not just a Kangoo you wankers)

 

Front sunroof and then a complete webasto rear.

 

 

All the very early Berlingo Multidpaces had an full length electric vinyl sunroof and were three door. 

It stayed for a while as an option but was obviously more popular in hot countries. My brother in Spain had a 2000 model, a four door with two doors on one side and just the drivers door on the other. Also with the holy grail for reliability, a DW8 with a Bosch fuel pump.

[quicksilver]

14 hours ago, Rusty Pelican said:

Not a clue what this is TBH 

Wheels look Austin too. Counties A40/A70 with a home-made body would be my guess.

[bunglebus]

Saw a VW van with "all electric" plastered all over it but I didn't recognise it as a Transporter or Caddy. Didn't think the ID Buzz existed as a van yet?

[TheOtherStu]

6 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Saw a VW van with "all electric" plastered all over it but I didn't recognise it as a Transporter or Caddy. Didn't think the ID Buzz existed as a van yet?

Probably a test one.
I had a Vauxhall Mokka on a 12 plate, despite them not being released in the UK until early 2013 on a late 62.
It was a permanent demo from Vauxhall given to our fleet team.

As an aside, it was a Diesel Slushbox and was bloody awful. Vauxhall eventually replaced it with a slightly more sprightly orange Manual 4x4.

[MiniMinorMk3]

Available for test drive now.

ID. Buzz Cargo From £48,421.00 

ID. Buzz Cargo | Electric Cargo Van | Volkswagen Vans UK (volkswagen-vans.co.uk)

 

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Saw a VW van with "all electric" plastered all over it but I didn't recognise it as a Transporter or Caddy. Didn't think the ID Buzz existed as a van yet?

 

3 hours ago, TheOtherStu said:

Probably a test one.
I had a Vauxhall Mokka on a 12 plate, despite them not being released in the UK until early 2013 on a late 62.
It was a permanent demo from Vauxhall given to our fleet team.

As an aside, it was a Diesel Slushbox and was bloody awful. Vauxhall eventually replaced it with a slightly more sprightly orange Manual 4x4.

 

[chaseracer]

19 hours ago, inconsistant said:

...Subaru Levorg...

Urabus Grovel?

[martc]

Built by Industrias Eduardo Sal-Lari in Argentina. Eduardo Sal-Lari took over the old Citroen factory when Citroen withdrew from Argentina, the company didn't last long due to the crash of the Argentinian economy just after he took over. They were working on the all new 'Gringo' when they went bust -

 

[Aston Martin]

5 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Saw a VW van with "all electric" plastered all over it but I didn't recognise it as a Transporter or Caddy. Didn't think the ID Buzz existed as a van yet?

 

Yeah been available for a few months.

[sheffcortinacentre]

3 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Available for test drive now.

ID. Buzz Cargo From £48,421.00 

ID. Buzz Cargo | Electric Cargo Van | Volkswagen Vans UK (volkswagen-vans.co.uk)

 

 

 

Cheap at twice the price 

[TheOtherStu]

30 minutes ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Cheap at twice the price 

You'll be unsurprised to know that you can do tax hacks with EV vans.
https://www.gov.uk/capital-allowances/first-year-allowances
And despite them costing shirt buttons to run, you can claim the 45p a mile too!

I mean, clearly, you're not going to be running long distance deliveries, but I'd be surprised if urban delivery vans do 258 miles a day. Ironically, EVs absolutely love shite travel, particularly heavy traffic.

Hence why Royal Mail have moved to them.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Cheap at twice the price 

I hope that's irony

[Metal Guru]

5 hours ago, chaseracer said:

Urabus Grovel?

Makes as much sense as Subaru’s official explanation of the name.

[somewhatfoolish]

5 hours ago, martc said:

Built by Industrias Eduardo Sal-Lari in Argentina. Eduardo Sal-Lari took over the old Citroen factory when Citroen withdrew from Argentina, the company didn't last long due to the crash of the Argentinian economy just after he took over. They were working on the all new 'Gringo' when they went bust -

 

Ruined the simplicity of the Bau Haus inspired design and made it pig ugly.

[martc]

On 8/16/2023 at 1:22 AM, somewhatfoolish said:

Ruined the simplicity of the Bau Haus inspired design and made it pig ugly.

When Sal-Lari took over the factory Citroen left a fair amount of parts behind, but as they started to run out they had to fabricate their own - the lights and grille in this case.

Due to the ever shrinking pile of components some more complicated parts were bought in from France but this was too expensive in the long run and the Gringo was going to replace the Citroen derived products.

The factory was also involved in the cross border  'El Latinoamericano' a low-cost vehicle, equipped with a 4-cylinder engine. Various Latin American countries were to supply the parts and assemble the car. Of course this didn't happen.

[sheffcortinacentre]

20 hours ago, High Jetter said:

I hope that's irony

No sarcasm 

[Yoss]

21 hours ago, TheOtherStu said:

You'll be unsurprised to know that you can do tax hacks with EV vans.
https://www.gov.uk/capital-allowances/first-year-allowances
And despite them costing shirt buttons to run, you can claim the 45p a mile too!

I mean, clearly, you're not going to be running long distance deliveries, but I'd be surprised if urban delivery vans do 258 miles a day. Ironically, EVs absolutely love shite travel, particularly heavy traffic.

Hence why Royal Mail have moved to them.

Have they? Our office is still mostly ten year old Pugs, Partners and Experts. And some Vauxhall Combos, a couple of which are 08 reg. With the state the company keeps telling us they are in I was under impression they are never going to buy any new vans ever again but I suppose they will have to eventually. 

Electric vans will be interesting at our office as only about half of them can fit in the yard at any one time so getting the right ones inside the yard for charging would need some sort of rota system. 

[D.E]

Armoured Panda, Repetti & Montiglio.

[catsinthewelder]

[horriblemercedes]

13 hours ago, martc said:

When Sal-Lari took over the factory Citroen let a fair amount of parts behind, but as they started to run out they had to fabricate their own - the lights and grille in this case.

Due to the ever shrinking pile of componants some more complicated parts were bought in from France but this was too expensive in the long run and the Gringo was going to replace the Citroen derived products.

The factory was also involved in the cross border  'El Latinoamericano' a low-cost vehicle, equipped with a 4-cylinder engine. Various Latin American countries were to supply the parts and assemble the car. Of course this didn't happen.

I heard that there was another problem. The factory was confiscated from Citroen in 1982 because France supported the UK in the Falklands War. Naturally Citroen wasn't keen to supply the people who stole the factory so they just had to make unlicensed copies of anything they could, including the engine 

[bunglebus]

40 minutes ago, D.E said:

Armoured Panda, Repetti & Montiglio.

I'm surprised it could get out of its own way

[Mr Pastry]

3 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

I heard that there was another problem. The factory was confiscated from Citroen in 1982 because France supported the UK in the Falklands War. Naturally Citroen wasn't keen to supply the people who stole the factory so they just had to make unlicensed copies of anything they could, including the engine 

The 3CV America had its own bespoke tubular chassis and wishbone suspension, nothing like the 2CV, but presumably easy to manufacture locally.  It also had  a very practical Dyane style rigid tailgate, which the 2CV never had.

[barrett]

1 hour ago, catsinthewelder said:

Is that Launcesten by any chance? If so, that (and most of the vehicles there) belong to a friend of mine. If it's a different one that's a real turn up for the books!

 

edit: just saw the 'owned by' bit and that's not him, unless it's a psuedonym...

[catsinthewelder]

@barrett Must be a pseudonym as it is the one at Launceston.

[High Jetter]

50 minutes ago, barrett said:

Is that Launcesten by any chance

Jeez, not been there for years! 

[TheOtherStu]

13 hours ago, Yoss said:

Have they? Our office is still mostly ten year old Pugs, Partners and Experts. And some Vauxhall Combos, a couple of which are 08 reg. With the state the company keeps telling us they are in I was under impression they are never going to buy any new vans ever again but I suppose they will have to eventually. 

Electric vans will be interesting at our office as only about half of them can fit in the yard at any one time so getting the right ones inside the yard for charging would need some sort of rota system. 

I can only speak for my local office, but they've had them since 2018. Last time I was there, there was definitely more than 6.

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/16604786.new-electric-vans-pushes-royal-mail-into-future/

[Yoss]

6 minutes ago, TheOtherStu said:

I can only speak for my local office, but they've had them since 2018. Last time I was there, there was definitely more than 6.

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/16604786.new-electric-vans-pushes-royal-mail-into-future/

Thanks, didn't know that. That's only about half an hour from us too. Maybe they just don't trust us in Shirley.

[motorpunk]

On 09/08/2023 at 12:52, bunglebus said:

Dutton Surf. Perfect for rising sea levels

This was massive fun, we had such a laugh in it. 

ETA - Dutton is the oldest car company still operated by the founder that is still in business, apparently. It's also up for sale. I love the rotting workshops on the quayside and sometimes pop in for a nosey. When we filmed the above, Tim Dutton was wearing Vauxhall branded overalls. I joked that he shouldn't be advertising the competition when we were filming. He took this seriously and, in the next shot, he had scribbled over the Vauxhall logo in black marker pen.