Rusty Old Rubbish, a shite blog (11 Nov - put it in H!)

[quicksilver]

I decided the time had come for me to have my own blog where I can express whatever shite thoughts and ramblings go through my head. I'm not a professional writer by any means but I hope at least someone finds my jottings of interest and I've started off with a piece on a car so shite and obscure I managed to double the internet coverage of it!

http://rustyoldrubbish.blogspot.co.uk/

Comments and feedback very welcome. Enjoy!

[privatewire]

I like that a lot! Is it possible to subscribe to the blog?

[quicksilver]

Thanks, you should be able to subscribe now. I'm still new to this blogging lark so I guess it'll be subject to rolling improvements (much like our cars).

[Luckythirteen]

Looks good! Shows personality and humour, and looks quite nice too.

 

How many of us are blogging now? I haven't seen a dud among them. What a talented bunch, pats on the head all round.

[fordperv]

Oooh according to how many left there are 2 vauxhall Albany on road and 3 on sorn, i can't remember seeing one in the wild

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I've not only seen one, I've driven one. 1991 and my boss volunteered me to drive a gaggle of directors secretaries to Ascot for Ladies Day. As we couldn't fit 6 amply proportioned middle aged PAs in a 420 SEL, and I in those days the company fleet of 600 cars contained not one MPV( not that that term existed) ,a fancy minibus was scrounged from the Fleet Demonstrator dept at Luton.

At the time I was impressed, it wasn't slow and on the motorway at least, pretty car-like. And as a bonus the seats folded flat,alas only for me to have my customary afternoon kip after the chauffeurs barbecue in the Boxholders carpark.

[quicksilver]

New shite-related article today, pondering what might have happened had the CityRover been a success. This one might be controversial so I'm hoping for plenty of comments

 

http://rustyoldrubbish.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/cityrover-what-if-things-were-different.html

[UltraWomble]

City Rover could have been better - a price point of (just) sub £5000 would probably have seen it fly in a similar way to the Picanto during scrappage.

 

Not sure about the name thing really I think the Roer badges actually helped it to sell. This is all speculative as it appears Phoenix's days were numbered well before the City Rover's inception. The consortiums £42 Million pension and salary probably did nothing to help MG Rover, there was nothing for new vehicle development and an aging portfolio, the company was also rather dogged by the K series reliability issues which probably affected sales. Nothing ever came of the consortiums promise to develop a new range with another "partner".

[AnthonyG]

I think to be honest Rover's premium image had gone long before the CityRover came out, it started to die with the SD1's manifest quality problems in the late 1970s.

 

The R8 was a nice cut above the standard competition, and so was the 75, but none of the others were particularly special, just had much nicer interiors than the Fords/Vauxhalls/Renaults, and Project Drive put paid to even that.

 

I also don't get why Tata would relaunch a Rover badged large family/executive car 'below' the Jaguar range, apart from the obvious competition with the Jaguar XE and the diesel XFs, where's the market?

 

But a well written blog. I too remember looking at a City Rover back in 03 after reading how MGR had worked on 'improving' the interior for Europe, thought 'Christ the Indian ones must be horrible if this is the improvement'.

 

But yes, as a relaunched 'Austin Metro' or 'Morris City' or something, offered at a sub 5k price point with Dacia type marketing, it could well have been different. Trouble is I think most of the better dealers were on the point of giving up around this time anyway. The canny ones got Skoda/Hyundai/Kia franchises.

[quicksilver]

Excellent, those well-reasoned disagreements are exactly the sort of comments I was hoping for. That's the beauty of these 'might have been' scenarios - they never actually happened so no one can say anything is right or wrong and other perspectives are equally valid.

I also don't get why Tata would relaunch a Rover badged large family/executive car 'below' the Jaguar range, apart from the obvious competition with the Jaguar XE and the diesel XFs, where's the market?

A slight misunderstanding of my point here I think. This would not have been a relaunch but a continuation of Rover in something similar to its existing market sector as MGR would never have gone bust in this scenario, instead being taken over by Tata and continuing production from 2005 to present. Rovers would already have existed before Tata bought JLR and as a result cars like the XE would probably never have been developed as Rover occupied that market sector and Jaguar would be positioned above it.

 

Anyway, if you thought that was controversial wait until you see today's piece. I've let Mr Angry out to explain why I think the scrappage scheme was nothing short of a crime: http://rustyoldrubbish.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/the-scrappage-scam-and-why-it-still.html

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Wow,you seem to have come over all Daily Mail Online. I'm sure you don't believe ,any more than I do , that a Morgan was scrappaged. If anything some halfwit sales manager at a Kia dealership looked out of the window at the day's victims and saw a Moss or Spartan or similar and listed it as a Morgan, likewise the Quattro ,M5 etc were just lazy or incompetent people writing down what they thought they'd seen or reading Poundshop badges on old heaps.

[quicksilver]

I don't think I'm being anything like the Daily Mail, I haven't even tried to blame it on immigrants or claim it lowered house prices And although I hope it isn't true I do believe there is a small chance someone would be stupid and lazy enough to scrappage a Morgan.

 

By way of redressing the balance, today I follow up by proposing something rather more shite-friendly, an anti-scrappage scheme that rewards owners of older cars for keeping them on the road. Just an idea and probably woefully impractical, but hey ho, it's my blog and I can write whatever I like and I don't care if no one agrees with me. http://rustyoldrubbish.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/the-anti-scrappage-scheme.html

[320touring]

Nice blog chief-reads really well.

 

You've obviously given the latest piece quite some thought!

[UltraWomble]

 MGR would never have gone bust in this scenario, 

Phoenix were going down with the consortium at the head. Have a glance through the BDO report into the collapse. The company was in such shit at the end no one would buy them out, instead they just waited for MGR/Phoenix to go bust then buy the assets at a reduced price. Mandelson did his fruit (mind you he had just ordered a brand new 75 Tourer when they went tits up*)

 

*might not be true

[quicksilver]

After covering other topics as diverse as social media, architecture and languages I've written another vehicular post pondering the demise of Mondeo Man, inspired by the realisation I still haven't seen one of those new Mondeos that were supposedly launched this year. http://rustyoldrubbish.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/the-death-of-mondeo-man.html

[quicksilver]

Lack of time and lack of inspiration has meant no new blog posts for a while but I decided it would be topical to discuss my thoughts on Clarksongate. http://rustyoldrubbish.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/my-thoughts-on-clarkson-saga.html

[quicksilver]

After various diversions into politics, tech and all sorts of other interesting(?) things, I'm back to vehicular content with a tribute to some coachshite that doesn't get the recognition it deserves: the old Ford R-series

http://rustyoldrubbish.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/unsung-heroes-ford-r-series.html

[Ghosty]

Those Mongdeos aren't selling that well here.

 

Some places in the US are using them as police cars/taxis, New York for one.

[quicksilver]

Those Mongdeos aren't selling that well here.

 

Some places in the US are using them as police cars/taxis, New York for one.

I feared as much, the local dealer still has the one I mentioned and isn't making any effort to sell it. It's just sitting on the forecourt never moving with no price or details on it so I haven't a clue what spec it is or how much it costs. GR12 sales technique.

[quicksilver]

It's been a while but I've finally written something new. TooSavvy will like this one, which I was inspired to write by the shocking discovery that Protons are still on sale in the UK although no one is actually buying them!

 

The rise and fall of Proton: http://rustyoldrubbish.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/unsung-heroes-rise-and-fall-of-proton.html

 

My top tip for a sound* investment. Buy a new Proton this year as no one else will. Stash it away and in 20 years time as an OMGBARNFIND it will be worth 37p and half a packet of crisps** but everyone here will be fighting over it.

 

**Actual value may vary. An empty crisp packet will probably be sufficient.

[oldcars]

Good read. I remember the first Proton, i used to call it a Proton Proton as it had no name 

[quicksilver]

A little later than expected due to a data loss disaster (which is also documented there if anyone cares), I have now published my review of Saturday's Festival of the Unexceptional at http://rustyoldrubbish.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/an-unexceptional-day-far-from-it.html

 

Lots of chod content in this one so you should enjoy it!

[J-Rod]

After covering other topics as diverse as social media, architecture and languages I've written another vehicular post pondering the demise of Mondeo Man, inspired by the realisation I still haven't seen one of those new Mondeos that were supposedly launched this year. http://rustyoldrubbish.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/the-death-of-mondeo-man.html

 

I blame the parallel rise of John Lewis... and other 'aspirational/prestige' nonsense... 

 

It seems somehow ironic that new Mondeos aren't shifting, yet Sierras seem to be fetching top dollar, regardless of spec!! 

[quicksilver]

Time to celebrate another unsung hero, one that I have many fond memories of and had the best name of ever: the Mitsubishi Space Wagon. http://rustyoldrubbish.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/unsung-heroes-mitsubishi-space-wagon.html

[quicksilver]

Back to automotive blogging with another unsung hero: the minicabbers' favourite. http://rustyoldrubbish.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/unsung-heroes-nissan-bluebird.html

[Felly Magic]

I do have a fondness for the Why Aye built brick. When they got the first tweak in late 87, the base model became the 1.6 LS, and had so many toys it was unreal. Leccy everything including sunroof am

and power steering, whereas the base Sierra you got a push button radio and manual everything. Drove an inter stellar ex minicab D plater for a short while, and it still felt tight as a drum mechanically

[quicksilver]

Another unsung hero and something a bit different - who remembers the Invacar or 'spaz chariot'? http://rustyoldrubbish.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/unsung-heroes-invacar.html

[eddyramrod]

Remember it?  I rear-ended one in my brown Toledo in about 1981!

[quicksilver]

Remember it?  I rear-ended one in my brown Toledo in about 1981!

Oops, I imagine that would have made quite a mess of the flimsy little Invacar!

[eddyramrod]

Yes, it did a bit!  The Toledo hardly had a scratch, despite being pretty rusty even then.