HMC BMW Z4 3.0 (“new”)

[Floatylight]

2 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

They are fantastic cars aren’t they!

It’s got the blue oval badge but somehow it doesn’t feel like a normal Ford like the lower models. It’s such a pity so many of them have been smashed to bits on the track.

Agreed, my Dad had three when I was a kid as company cars, all driven hard, back in the days of the shell card, two used for towing. A V reg 2.8GL, a 1982 2.8 Injection Special manual and a 2.8i Ghia X.  They were all great cars, all did serious mileages, when the last one came to he replaced the best available estate was a 2.0i Ghia Sierra on a F, still a nice car but such a come down from the Grannies. 

Would love to find another Injection Special estate, (and have the budget to buy!) his was manual, gunmetal gray with red pinstripe, recaro interior (with tilting seats from a Capri /RS Turbo) and white TRX alloys.

[Dan the van]

One of my all time favourite cars was the 1978 mkii 2.8 ghia I bought off a mate for £200.Would have been around 1990 ish.Gold with lush brown cloth seats.I was the 18th(!) owner and one of the previous owners was deffo a minicab driver,the back seat springing had totally collapsed.Goodness knows how many times it had been around the clock but it drove really well.I stuck another 5k miles on it in 3 months and it never missed a beat.Sold it to my housemate who ran it for a few more years before selling it on,still running fine.Brilliant cars.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Speaking of Granadas being wrecked for entertainment, my uncle's old Granada went on to be a bit of a film star. I seem to remember his was fuel injection - it was a lovely motor and immaculate when he sold it. 

[Shep Shepherd]

I've never seen that film, partly because of the destruction of the Granada and the P6 (two cars which I greatly admire), and partly because it sounds a bit rubbish...

[danthecapriman]

7 hours ago, Floatylight said:

Agreed, my Dad had three when I was a kid as company cars, all driven hard, back in the days of the shell card, two used for towing. A V reg 2.8GL, a 1982 2.8 Injection Special manual and a 2.8i Ghia X.  They were all great cars, all did serious mileages, when the last one came to he replaced the best available estate was a 2.0i Ghia Sierra on a F, still a nice car but such a come down from the Grannies. 

Would love to find another Injection Special estate, (and have the budget to buy!) his was manual, gunmetal gray with red pinstripe, recaro interior (with tilting seats from a Capri /RS Turbo) and white TRX alloys.

An Injection Special is a very rare version now, they weren’t even particularly common when new.

That estate I had originally was bought by a sign writing and printing company owner, in Essex! (Shocker!), who put a company number plate on it. When I went through the old MOT’s I found its first certificate where it’d already done something like 70k miles. That’s a lot for the time in 3 years! Then you could see each following year it rapidly went up and up, then back to 0 around the clock. It’s annual mileage got lower and lower from around the mid 90’s but somehow it survived.

I loved driving that car though. It felt ‘big’ to drive, especially being the estate. It almost felt boat like when turning corners with that big overhang out back! One of my favourite things about it was looking in the door mirror and looking down the flank of the car with that ‘coke bottle’ style kick up in the side trim where the boot side windows were! Such a cool feature. I loved the dash design too, very American in style. Looked fantastic in blue with that wood effect trim and all important Ghia badge! 
When I first spotted it I was out at work. Went round that evening to have a look at it and he said he wanted £650, I paid £600 with a good screen in the deal. I’m not sure how good a deal that really was at the time considering how rotten it ended up being but I couldn’t leave it with him to get smashed! 
I went down with my dad in my old Volvo 740 saloon to pick it up, I drove the Granada home and dad drove the 740… that Granada left the 740 in its dust! The 740 was a 2.3 so not that much smaller capacity but it just couldn’t keep up. Once we got to the motorway slip road getting on that was it! Foot down and I’m gone! Didn’t see each other until back home then!

I need another one don’t I!?😆

[HMC]

on the way back but stopped off en route for some essentials…

 

 

 

[HMC]

I did a second take at this…..

[mk2_craig]

2 hours ago, HMC said:

I did a second take at this…..

Facelift 406 coop? Was that ever sold in the UK? 

[Missy Charm]

53 minutes ago, mk2_craig said:

Facelift 406 coop? Was that ever sold in the UK? 

God, I hope not!  Wouldn't want to bump into something that ugly on a dark night.  Shame, too, given that the original was a real looker.  

[Skizzer]

On 31/05/2024 at 16:34, danthecapriman said:

Here’s my old one.

186k miles or so it had done! I did loads to it after saving it from a local banger racer. Part of the deal was for a replacement windscreen as the one fitted was cracked. Removing the old one brought both rotten lower screen/scuttle corners away with it! Ended up chasing rust all the way down both A posts and into the front floors! 
It should probably have been cubed really but I spent months chopping it all out and making new sections then welded them in. Original wing fell apart at the bottom too so I got a new one. Front edge of the bonnet rusted away so I got a good used one and rattle canned them.

I absolutely loved that car! Not an easy decision to sell it tbh but the Capri was in more need of the time and money. I’d have another in a heartbeat.

Your Granada  still lives! Now safely indoors chez Skizzer. It needs an engine rebuild though after a water pump failure or some such. I bought it back off Junkman after it broke.

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, Skizzer said:

Your Granada  still lives! Now safely indoors chez Skizzer. It needs an engine rebuild though after a water pump failure or some such. I bought it back off Junkman after it broke.

Glad to see you’ve still got the old girl!

Hows it holding up body-wise?

[Skizzer]

7 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Glad to see you’ve still got the old girl!

Hows it holding up body-wise?

Pretty well - there’s some surface rust around the tailgate lock and boot floor edge, but it’s still very solid. 

[danthecapriman]

8 minutes ago, Skizzer said:

Pretty well - there’s some surface rust around the tailgate lock and boot floor edge, but it’s still very solid. 

It looks good still in your pic. Good (and surprising!) to see my rattle can painted bonnet still looks alright too!😆

Maybe my painting skills aren’t so bad!

[HMC]

So the mitsubishi, apart from the broken a/c, was brilliant 7 person transport on the french trip and was excellent at stowing french wine for the return leg.

Whether profiled by the choice of car, or by the booking placed by someone with a Russian passport, or random, but the outgoing customs inspection was quite thorough. This included being asked if explosives or a bomb was present (!) my hesitation in answering (sort of digesting the question) was noted 

Anyway it seems to be doing about 34mpg with the laid back driving style which this seems to encourage, which i recon is pretty good for what it is.

[Tenmil Socket]

On 02/06/2024 at 09:37, Shep Shepherd said:

I've never seen that film, partly because of the destruction of the Granada and the P6 (two cars which I greatly admire), and partly because it sounds a bit rubbish...

It’s a good film

[Shep Shepherd]

2 hours ago, Tenmil Socket said:

It’s a good film

Only one way to find out... 

[HMC]

Been using the Granada as a daily. 

The starter was a bit lazy but cleaning up the earth has sorted that.

I took it for a day I do teaching at the University in Exeter, which felt a bit brave as that would be an 80 mile round trip with a time deadline including some stop start city bits in a largely untested car…

But it was absolutely perfect and never gave me any cause for concern.

I havent checked the economy but a slushy 3 speed auto and a carbed v6 would probably not be breaking any records.

It is lovely to drive, quite relaxing and undemanding. Should be at shitefest assuming boredom doesnt set in in the meanwhile 😂

 

 

An old relic…. And a viaduct.

[danthecapriman]

Still a bloody good looking car too. Very stylish! 
These are exactly what a big saloon car should look like.

[HMC]

3 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Still a bloody good looking car too. Very stylish! 
These are exactly what a big saloon car should look like.

Totally. I had a good look at the styling the other day. Simple lines and good proportions. In a way it needs a confident hand to do yet avoid it being bland. But it works IMO.

[Boycie]

Going from a Roller to a scruffy Granada ....hmmm someone has done this already 

 

The world is your lobster .... You need to go XJ40 next

[junkyarddog]

6 minutes ago, Boycie said:

Going from a Roller to a scruffy Granada ....hmmm someone has done this already 

 

The world is your lobster .... You need to go XJ40 next

My Mk2 Capri Was XPF 816S😮

[HMC]

Also- should it have front overriders? In the MOT history somewhere IIRC theres an advisory for bumpers not being fitted- so these may not be original to the car.

[EspenO]

I think so, yes. The one on your car looks like a GL bumper to me.

[Boycie]

Foggies under the front bumper ....

 

[HMC]

@Junkman

[danthecapriman]

Definitely should have over riders fitted, and they should have headlight washer jets in them too.

You had a play around with the computer thingy in it yet? Mine used to make a god awful ear piercing sound when the fuel level got low! Used to scare the living crap out of you when driving along then all of a sudden that thing went off! I think you can set it to alarm if going over certain speeds too.

[Boycie]

I'll just leave this here , the first time I watched this I nearly missed myself at the Jason King pisstake ....the Capri is perfectly knackered ..W

 

 

 

[Schaefft]

Looking great indeed. I agree that the proportions of the Mk2 Granada are spot on, they look incredibly low and wide from the back, probably giving it more road presence than you'd expect from a car that isn't particularly big nowadays.

How do these compare to the Mk3/Scorpio when it comes to comfort and that "big car feel"? Was there a noticeable jump in refinement or maybe sportiness that would move the needle one way or another? Talking about the closest you could get to a US landyacht in the UK market, I actually felt this way about my Senator B. I'm really curious how close the Granada would get to that.

[Boycie]

Years ago Max Power did a article where the guys bought £1000 snotters , one bought a white mk2 Granada sport , it wasn't a minter .....God knows what it would be worth now

[Boycie]

To be fair the one place the Granada loses points vs the royale is the interior ....

Red 

Gold

Blue 

 

They even did green ....