Six Cylinders Motoring Notes - Progress with the Mini Mayfair, if a little slow.

[Six-cylinder]

Todays good news is I have collected the Xantia Activa with its new MOT today.

The only bad bit is the boot central locking motor has been declared dead. Trouble is it jams so a replacement is now been sort, but £50 for a new one seems a bit strong.

[hairnet]

i didnt know that was yours or i woulda licked it at horwood

 

[Six-cylinder]

4 minutes ago, hairnet said:

i didnt know that was yours or i woulda licked it at horwood

 

It ended up the other way, it would not unlock!

[Andyrew]

50 is a bit strong, guess parts are getting harder to find for these

[AnthonyG]

On 9/21/2021 at 12:16 PM, Six-cylinder said:

My Grandad always favoured the Austin 1800 Land crabs and as a child the back seat seemed vast!

First car I remember was my dad’s Austin 1800, it seemed enormous to a toddler but no doubt would look quite small parked next to a ‘supermini’ these days. 

For a few years my dad had a Austin 1800 MkII whilst my mum had a Wolseley 18/85, in 73-77 or about then the Greenwoods of Billingshurst were  a two Landcrab family! 

[Richard_FM]

1 hour ago, AnthonyG said:

First car I remember was my dad’s Austin 1800, it seemed enormous to a toddler but no doubt would look quite small parked next to a ‘supermini’ these days. 

For a few years my dad had a Austin 1800 MkII whilst my mum had a Wolseley 18/85, in 73-77 or about then the Greenwoods of Billingshurst were  a two Landcrab family! 

The parents of one of my school friends had a Landcrab & a Maxi in the late 1980s, when both looked quite old fashioned.

Later one they had a thing for Volvo 240 estates, & there was one still one the drive when I last passed their house.

Both had professional jobs, so it seemed to be an eccentric middle class choice rather than conscious bangernomics.

[Six-cylinder]

Last night Mrs6C struggled back in the rain and dark from the South coast with a replacement bonnet and other spares for her MK10 Jaguar. Once again the Merc estate was the beast of burden.

[DoctorRetro]

Finally grabbed those pics @Six-cylinder

First time in forever the garage door was open and an old bloke was pottering about. I mustered up the courage to speak to him, and asked if I could take pictures. He was more than happy to oblige and we had a bit of a chat. 

Sadly, Derek's eyesight is failing , so he fears he'll never get some of his projects finished. He said he's hoping his family take them on. He also had a Tr4 and a 100e under covers.

 

 

 

 

[Six-cylinder]

1 hour ago, DoctorRetro said:

Finally grabbed those pics @Six-cylinder

First time in forever the garage door was open and an old bloke was pottering about. I mustered up the courage to speak to him, and asked if I could take pictures. He was more than happy to oblige and we had a bit of a chat. 

Sadly, Derek's eyesight is failing , so he fears he'll never get some of his projects finished. He said he's hoping his family take them on. He also had a Tr4 and a 100e under covers.

 

 

 

 

That looks very sad. 

Last taxed 1986.

The create looks good and useful though!

[Six-cylinder]

Today was a good day!

My Clio has been away to get MOTed, a tense moment in any fathers cars life. Turns out both front springs were broken, a steering rack boot torn and the emissions had to be fiddled with to get it to pass. Overall I am very pleased as this Renault was also very close to death and I celebrated by having a light oil change service done.

It is now imitating a cork in a bottle and blocking all the large powerful cars in on the drive!

[wuvvum]

39 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

both front springs were broken

[beko1987]

It's such a lovely colour though... I bet down the roads you drive its quite good! Wind it up to speed then keep it there (might go better now with new springs) 

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

Today was a good day!

My Clio has been away to get MOTed, a tense moment in any fathers cars life. Turns out both front springs were broken, a steering rack boot torn and the emissions had to be fiddled with to get it to pass. Overall I am very pleased as this Renault was also very close to death and I celebrated by having a light oil change service done.

It is now imitating a cork in a bottle and blocking all the large powerful cars in on the drive!

Nicole!

 

have you had chance to drive my* Mercedes yet?

[Six-cylinder]

33 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

It's such a lovely colour though... I bet down the roads you drive its quite good! Wind it up to speed then keep it there (might go better now with new springs) 

Strange thing there were no bangs or bongs on the Clio that I experienced in other broken spring cars. It is a 90 bhp 1.6 so even with the auto gearbox it goes along just fine.

[Six-cylinder]

32 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

Nicole!

 

have you had chance to drive my* Mercedes yet?

I have to used the excuse that I borrowed it from Nicole, when people have considered it as an unsuitable car for me!

There is no petrol in your E320  and I have not ventured out yet to try and find petrol for it.

[richardmorris]

Just now, Six-cylinder said:

I have to used the excuse that I borrowed it from Nicole, when people have considered it as an unsuitable car for me!

There is no petrol in your E320  and I have not ventured out yet to try and find petrol for it.

People* must have enjoyed it. It had 50miles into a full tank when it left me!

[CaptainBoom]

2 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Today was a good day!

My Clio has been away to get MOTed, a tense moment in any fathers cars life. Turns out both front springs were broken, a steering rack boot torn and the emissions had to be fiddled with to get it to pass. Overall I am very pleased as this Renault was also very close to death and I celebrated by having a light oil change service done.

It is now imitating a cork in a bottle and blocking all the large powerful cars in on the drive!

 

Yikes!  I'm a bit worried that I missed the springs and the steering rack boot.  I'm glad GoldCar lives to see another day, it really wafts along very nicely indeed. 

Mrs Boom was quite taken by it, so I can envisage getting one for myself her before long.

[Six-cylinder]

6 minutes ago, CaptainBoom said:

Yikes!  I'm a bit worried that I missed the springs and the steering rack boot.  I'm glad GoldCar lives to see another day, it really wafts along very nicely indeed. 

Mrs Boom was quite taken by it, so I can envisage getting one for myself her before long.

Were you a former owner?

[Zelandeth]

Hopefully you'll be fine for fuel.  In MK aside from the BP stations they all seem to be back to normal today, not even any queues.

[AnthonyG]

That Clio is in such a 1990s colour.

Everything was briefly colourful in the mid/late 90s before the onset of The Silver Overlords. 

Hopefully colours will return when everyone has to work out which Tesla Model 3 or VW ID4 of the 300 of each in the car park is theirs. 

I’ll take my Tesla in 1996 Rover Amaranth please. 

[Six-cylinder]

7 hours ago, AnthonyG said:

That Clio is in such a 1990s colour.

Everything was briefly colourful in the mid/late 90s before the onset of The Silver Overlords. 

Hopefully colours will return when everyone has to work out which Tesla Model 3 or VW ID4 of the 300 of each in the car park is theirs. 

I’ll take my Tesla in 1996 Rover Amaranth please. 

Rover Nightfire for me please.

I think Rover Nightfire is the best colour ever, but have only managed to have one car in it.

[beko1987]

Could buy shares in a paintbooth and have the entire fleet painted in that colour! 

 

 

[sutty2006]

That’s a very similar colour to fords Infra red. Very nice colour indeed. I had similar spring issues with an old tdci ST years ago. All 4 springs were broken. Rode fine, no knocks or bangs. Only found out because I was putting lowering springs on it! 

[Six-cylinder]

16 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

Could buy shares in a paintbooth and have the entire fleet painted in that colour! 

When I was choosing my own car at the Vauxhall dealer my boss decided that me always having dark red Met was boring. He drove me 2 miles to our new car compound to show me the new Lagoon blue, I took one but soon returned to Saturn red.

[richardmorris]

34 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

When I was choosing my own car at the Vauxhall dealer my boss decided that me always having dark red Met was boring. He drove me 2 miles to our new car compound to show me the new Lagoon blue, I took one but soon returned to Saturn red.

Funny how different colours change a car. I think it looks a lot smarter and better looking in red.

[sutty2006]

It’s amazing how cars sold today come in such eye watering colours such as grey….grey….silvery grey…..dark grey……darker grey……slightly black…. blacker black……dark black……. and white. Give me the 90s colours any day. 

[Six-cylinder]

37 minutes ago, sutty2006 said:

It’s amazing how cars sold today come in such eye watering colours such as grey….grey….silvery grey…..dark grey……darker grey……slightly black…. blacker black……dark black……. and white. Give me the 90s colours any day. 

Back in 2008 I went to order one of the new Fiat 500s, all the build up marketing said they were individual cars that you could spec up just how you wanted. I wanted orange and was told I couldn't or yellow, in the end I bought an Ex Demo car in black! To be fair I did think it looked good with its chrome pack and red leather interior. 

[Mrs6C]

2 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Back in 2008 I went to order one of the new Fiat 500s, all the build up marketing said they were individual cars that you could spec up just how you wanted. I wanted orange and was told I couldn't or yellow, in the end I bought an Ex Demo car in black! To be fair I did think it looked good with its chrome pack and red leather interior.

IIRC Fiat had one of the first, online 'car configurator' services on their website, where the user could choose colours, trim packages etc. and have the on-screen views of the vehicle change to illustrate the options selected and do a 360 turnaround view of its exterior and interior. We had dial-up internet access at the time with what appeared to be just a wet piece of string for line back to the telephone exchange, so it was very slow and clunky...

[beko1987]

Myself and @gnomeot have wasted many many hours on online car configuratior over the years 😂

[sutty2006]

I used to go into Bristol street Ford and configure a mk4 mondeo into the highest spec possible in the best shade of blue and gorp over the picture until the parts for my boring mk3 were ready and leave disappointed.