Is having a 'scene' a good thing.

[vulgalour]

If I try hard enough the Princess might become scene, then someone might throw £megabucks at Dunlop for their minimum order requirement to put Hydragas displacers back into production.

[rml2345]

If I try hard enough the Princess might become scene, then someone might throw £megabucks at Dunlop for their minimum order requirement to put Hydragas displacers back into production.

 

Try selling the idea of Hydragas to the VW scenesters as the best thing since pineapples. I'm sure you could find enough of them wanting a self levelling roofrack to make it worth Dunlop's while. 

[Split_Pin]

The so called 'Redtop' engine attracts a strong scene with older Vauxhalls. Only the best examples are not tappy, leaky smoky POS lumps nowadays though. People keep asking me what's in my Corsa and look confused when I say "1litre M8".

[Richard]

There is a scene of sorts for square Volvos, and inflated prices to go with it. It's still easy enough to get Volvos of the same standard or better for pocket money prices though.

[EssDeeWon]

good if you are selling, shit if you are buying

 

This sums it up perfectly for me.

[Partridge]

I've noticed my Polo is starting to get "scened".

 

To be honest, I don't care.

 

I don't care if other people think it's cool.

I don't care if other people think it's shit.

 

It chugs on fine, and I'll drive it until breaks. If some berk wants to offer me ££££ for it in 15 years, more fool them.

[Des]

^^That sums it up, scene bollocks is that wierd thing where it's followers are motoring something based on garnering approval from some random shower of misinformed wankers, rather than make their own choice.

[plasticvandan]

Having bought my mk2 Polo Comet (possibly the only one left,even had a german polo guru asking for pics as he had never heard of it and wanted it for his reference library) ,which i bought through this forum btw i actually feel like a spare prick at a wedding in the various online polo fora,no im not "slamming,pineappling,alloying or tuning it,and there seems precious few people who like them for what they are,or who like keeping them standard,much more at home on here Sadly this means that prices of a lot of parts are stupid just because it has a vw badge,and because its not a Golf a lot of it isnt available any more. I bought mine because i liked it,and searched for ages to find one that hadnt driven to the moon and back or wasnt pineappled,in the end i found it on here

[Matt]

Good for sure. A community centred around a particular model brings all kinds of benefits like ease of getting second hand parts and more of them will be kept around thanks to enthusiasts saving them from scrap and owners selling them instead of scrapping them due to higher prices. Look at the MK2 Golf, they are still pretty common and the parts supply new and used is excellent, I doubt you could say the same thing about the Nova.

[Skizzer]

i actually feel like a spare prick at a wedding in the various online polo fora,no im not "slamming,pineappling,alloying or tuning it,and there seems precious few people who like them for what they are,or who like keeping them standard ... I bought mine because i liked it

 

Totally with you on this, but times fifty for a Mk1 Golf.  The owners' club is good for technical support and parts supply though.

 

^^That sums it up, scene bollocks is that wierd thing where it's followers are motoring something based on garnering approval from some random shower of misinformed wankers, rather than make their own choice.

 

Well put.  I do have a nagging voice in my head, though, wondering whether at some level this is why I bought a Renault 16 instead of (say) a 10 year old Berlingo - Autoshite being the approving group in question.  Mainly my motivation was the comfy seats, ride, rarity, general unloved-ness/uncoolness and old-school Frenchity, but that might just be man-logic.

 

I'm not saying shiters are misinformed wankers, mind.  Random shower, maybe.

[fordperv]

They forget I bought all these cars when they were worth fuck all and looked down upon but now they're scene they're the dogs bollocks.

 

This is exactly what I did, i bought my mk1 3 door sierra when they were worth the square root of nowt and you couldn't give them away and my Capri and the mrs rs turbo a few years later because I liked the cars, i got people winding me up about my car choices, now they lust after the cars I bought because they are now cool, i just tell people I was ahead of my time, oh wait but that means people like us started the scene

[vulgalour]

I don't seek approval from Autoshite, the day I do I will hand in my membership card and buy a Vauxhall.  It is nice that quite a lot of people here like my cars, it reinforces my belief that my love of terrible motoring choices is eccentric rather than ill-informed.

[scruff]

Alex's post has it bang on.

 

There's nothing really wrong with 'scene' but I think a lot of people forget it is possible to simply own a vehicle and enjoy it without joining an owners club, going to one marque shows or spunking money at specialists.

[RoadworkUK]

Scenes are good and bad.

 

Case in point; My A4 is on the edge of the same weird circle that has engulfed all 1990s VAG products. The benefit of this is that there are so many people with an interest in these cars that parts are plentiful, maintenance advice is easy to come by and there are plenty of upgrades available should I wish to take that path.

 

As a downside, because my Audi is fitted with Mercedes AMG wheels (they were free and I like them), there is probably some kind of assumption that I'm an attention craving status hungry cockwand who desperately wants to be part of some kind of movement. Scene folk probably PHREAK OUT when they catch an earful of Dire Straits or Classic FM spilling from my stereo.

[Junkman]

A scene is good thing when you have a little ego, a big bank account, and a mindset superficial enough to allow you to believe that you can buy adulation.

For everyone else, it's a waste of money, or something that makes it impossible for him to afford the cars he wants.

[Lukas]

A scene is a good thing if you want unproblematic parts supply, a wide range of potential cars to buy and meetings where there are people who admire your car.

For everyone else -> Get an old Pajero or an old Leone...

[Junkman]

A scene is a good thing if you want unproblematic parts supply, a wide range of potential cars to buy and meetings where there are people who admire your car.

 

Wouldn't a marque specific club provide all that without any scene tax?

[Lukas]

No marque-specific clubs for my kind of cars. Mitsubishi -> EVO-tuners and Colt-girlys; Subaru -> Impreza Turbo-tuners and nothing else.

[Cavcraft]

I honestly don't think it matters at all if people like your car or not.

[barefoot]

Wouldn't a marque specific club provide all that without any scene tax?

 

I don't think so, without the scene, no-one bothers to re-make or source all the NOS stuff that you need to keep an old motor running.

I have a 35 yr old T2, It is "scene" I can get any part I want for it, I have a 27 yr old 944, it is not "scene" but there is a breaker within walking distance, I can get any part I want for it, I have a 27 yr old Scirocco, bizarrely it's missed the "scene" & I don't know a breaker, I've just bought the last back box in the country.

My man in the shiny shoes at the Porsche breaker is happy to sell parts to the VW scene boyz because he charges them twice as much!

You know those trigger door handles on VW's, you get the same handle on a 944 with Porsche stamped into in on the bit you hold and he charges them £400 a pair.

& Beetles are no longer very hip & trendy, there used to be a woman made a cup of coffee on a cliff top in hers, plugged a kettle element into the fag lighter, but the T2 has completely taken over. I challenge you to watch an evenings telly without seeing one in a ad for something totally unrelated.

In a way it's good. But as has been said earlier, you get the monied twats buying into it. For example, at a local VW specialist, they completely re-built a T2, a Devon Sunlander, utter shite in it's day, sold close to bog all, so now rarer than rare. Twat bought it for £10,000 and paid another £40,000. It was like new.

Turned up to collect it in his 6 month old Range Rover, left his kids in the RR whilst talking, kids had sunroof open and were bouncing up and down on the front seats.

How long do you think a relatively fragile, 42 yr old camper will last when used by twats who treat their vehicles like that?

 

& what happened to OMGHGF thread?

[New POD]

Why get rid of something you like because of what others are doing to theirs? It doesnt make any sense.

 

Some sort of mental block when the head gasket went for the 2nd time in 3 years.

[New POD]

I didn't know you had a Calibre too, POD.

 

Was it you that turned up to mine in a Commander, by the way? One of the gang did and I was seriously impressed as I seem to recall it had some working electrics.

 

I bought it off a guy in Skem, and I had rose tints on.  Kept it about 6 months, blew the engine up and sold it to Rabbit, for a decent price.

 

If you remember you came and looked at the SRi in Runcorn when I had the Calibre, and wanted rid of the SRi, but ended up keeping it another year or so.

[catsinthewelder]

I don't think so, without the scene, no-one bothers to re-make or source all the NOS stuff that you need to keep an old motor running.

I have a 35 yr old T2, It is "scene" I can get any part I want for it, I have a 27 yr old 944, it is not "scene" but there is a breaker within walking distance, I can get any part I want for it, I have a 27 yr old Scirocco, bizarrely it's missed the "scene" & I don't know a breaker, I've just bought the last back box in the country.

 

Does the Scene factor mean that they do remanufacture useful parts though? Don't forget that the T2 has only just gone out of production in Brazil,  JK and the others import a lot of parts from over there where they are still normal stock in the motor factors.  Most of the parts that don't come from Brazil are either expensive tuning parts from the States or shiney shit from China.

 

When the vans in Brazil have thinned out do you think parts will still be available?  There arn't many engine parts available for the 1700/1800/2000 or European style running gear as they didn't use it in Brazil.

 

BMC stuff (apart from Mini's) is far from scene but I can still get most bits for the 1100 from Earlpart.

[Junkman]

No marque-specific clubs for my kind of cars. Mitsubishi -> EVO-tuners and Colt-girlys; Subaru -> Impreza Turbo-tuners and nothing else.

 

Scenester, look you.

[barefoot]

Does the Scene factor mean that they do remanufacture useful parts though? Don't forget that the T2 has only just gone out of production in Brazil,  JK and the others import a lot of parts from over there ...

I don't know, the Brazilian t2c used the watercooled polo diesel engine, yet the aircooled bits are still easy to get.

A lot of the remanufactured stuff for the type 1 engine is absolute shit as are some of the other bits, hubcaps, anything chrome, door and window rubbers, remanufactured CV gaiters bizarrely last only a year or so, but you can get them easily and cheaply. It's an odd situation that I don't think has occurred previously.

 

Type 4 stuff, granted is harder, but not impossible to get, but when you do, I am lead to believe it's better quality.

JK import a lot of shit, but they claim to have taken these points on board and now offer a premium range of bits which seem to be closer to OEM quality

 

I hold my hand up to knowing absolutely nothing about bmc bits though.

[Pete-M]

Scene tax = popularity, more often than not.

 

If more people want something, more are likely to pay for it. The rarer the better as demand increases.

 

If something is rare and obscure then it has to be sought after to be worth anything. If it's rare and obscure but nobody wants it then it tends to be featured heavily on here.

 

I was following a gorgeous 2 door estate Mk2 Cortina down the M6 today. Lowered on banded steels, but very very straight and clean. I'd say it's worth about £6k maybe more depending on spec, it was straighter than most of the 12 month old repmobiles it was staying with. Wasn't noisy either.

 

If it was an Allegro estate in the same condition its £1500.

[Bren]

Not sure about "scene" but clubs are both good and bad.

 

They can be a mine of useful information, however I have seen too many people fall out when money becomes involved.

 

I like my cars and I will offer help and assistance (and opinions) to like minded owners, but other than that it's a definite no-no

 

Just a thought - if I was really into the "scene" I would never post on sites like autoshite - I would be quite possibly too pretentious for that.

[Lord Sterling]

Soz lads, bit late to the party etc....

 

I reckon most cars have some sort of "scene" but some others like VW_loverz/Ford_feelerz and the like get more attention as they have more members and thier cars seem to be deemed "cool", whether it's the mainstream media or simply places like Faceshit helping to promote those ideas.

 

I am a sort of member of a Micra_moaners_club, but they have the mentality of "scene" people as 99% of cars on there are modified (as in, slammed to tha weedz, big wheelz etc..) except for mine, though it's not exactly very interesting, there have been some favourable comments.

 

Is it a good or bad thing? Depends entirely on the scene itself and what side of the fence you are on at the time. Some "scenes" can raise the demand and therefore price of the motors, also parts hoarders/suppliers will be a lot more willing to supply parts. But it does price some fans out of buying these cars which isn't great.

 

I reckon sometimes, when "scenes" are recognised, it's almost like a licence to print money for some suppliers/people heavily involved.

 

Some "scenes" don't necessarily raise the price of cars but a following is created anyway, the Micra Sports owners club is a good example of this.

 

So...er...yeah, some boring ramblings of mine.

[I_am_Diesel]

For me I must admit that it's a good thing. I bought my Mk2 Golf GTi not because I wanted to be part of a scene or to project a certain image but because I had driven a couple in the past I had always liked them and always wanted one and it was a car that unusually had 100% SWMBO approval.

As luck would have it I picked up a reasonable 3 door 8v for a grand. I have spent a bit of time and money on it and I have been impressed by the availability of spares.

It is the only car I've owned that does attract positive attention (sometimes from ladies) and now I couldn't buy another in the same condition for the same money.

It's not very often I buy the right thing at the right time, but this time I may have got it right.

[RayMK]

I saw the title of this thread and wondered if an Autoshiter was seeking marriage guidance.......and what the hell is pineappling???

 

Now, having read the posts, I realise I'm anti-scene.  This is purely a personal view and I am untroubled if others are "scene."   Must be because I love beige and velour.