HMC- Mr Chowdhury’s Mercedes

[Boycie]

1 hour ago, Bren said:

The royale has the greatest interor ever. The seats are like something you would park your arse in in a 70's soho club.

I like granadas because of their mechanical simplicity but special feeling - back in the day they were easy to work on and the parts inexpensive - people who bought used SD1's back in the day soon realised why they were so cheap.

Is this a keeper? Or do you have your eye on a replacement?

What's next , looking at his recent array of snotters ..... Alfa Arna turbo with 10 minutes MOT , 1 careful owner , 17 not so careful .....on Chinese death rings ....one of which has a slow puncture 

 

 

ers 

[Boycie]

Just now, Bren said:

Oddly I was thinking of the revue bar when I saw the royale....

......I was thinking of Fiona Richmond .....

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

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.

fun fact: I once borrowed this car for a week, and had to break into it after locking the keys inside.

Yes they do have a mechanism to prevent you locking the keys inside. Yes, I held the door handle up to bypass this mechanism. 

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Boycie said:

......I was thinking of Fiona Richmond .....

Ooh hello...

[grogee]

On 08/06/2024 at 17:55, HMC said:

Should be at shitefest

Excellent. We can all play 'Soggy Granada'. 

[grogee]

22 hours ago, Boycie said:

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

 

 

 

That is superb... Is that the one where they lose the car and have to run around getting buses in tight underwear? 

It's made me want to find a box set. I remember watching it with the sound very low (because I should have been asleep) on my black and white TV. 

GUVGUVGUVGUVGUV!!! 

[Boycie]

1 hour ago, grogee said:

That is superb... Is that the one where they lose the car and have to run around getting buses in tight underwear? 

It's made me want to find a box set. I remember watching it with the sound very low (because I should have been asleep) on my black and white TV. 

GUVGUVGUVGUVGUV!!! 

No thats " The Bullshitters " , it's on YouTube , worth a watch just for the ending music , piano and a certain Mr Costello ..

Enjoy 

 

 

 

[Boycie]

19 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Ooh hello...

.......I prefer Mary Millington ...

[Metal Guru]

On 01/06/2024 at 11:45, cort16 said:

Some seems to have stole your fuel injection and replaced it with a carbpotator. I appreciate the removal of the i on the boot for accuracy though, 

These are great big barges, the gearbox is a bit on the slushy side if you've been driving automatics from the 1990's onwards but nice cars. I had a 2.3v6 LX estate in gold, very slow but I liked it. 

My Dad had a 1985 2.3 LX auto estate. It was black and looked like a hearse. Wasn’t as good to drive as the 2.3 Cortina it replaced. 

[HMC]

So the£290 rover made its way out west with @Rave at the helm. The 1.8 litre technical masterpiece under the bonnet held together…..

And here we are

 

 

 

Great to meet you again @Rave- a pleasure as always. He talked me through the programme of works to keep the old tub going. Hes a proper shiter with a lot more skills than i have!

Theres a strange symmetry at play as my old focus was sold to rave, who swapped it for this 75; at bridge money its such good value, even if the headgasket might well need some attention in the future. Ive always loved the look of a black 75 and know im not alone @Split_Pin

Its a credit to @Tetleysmooth and @Rave thay they put the time and effort to keep it going 💪

[NorthernMonkey]

On 08/06/2024 at 22:22, Bren said:

Oddly I was thinking of the revue bar when I saw the royale....

Can I throw my hat in the ring?

[Split_Pin]

Good choice. I was torn myself but with 2 cars already on fleet with issues I couldn't justify it. 

Lovely way to travel! Enjoy!

[HMC]

Loving the facelift styling, all £290 worth. Valu IMO

[2flags]

That is cracking value! These ride so nicely. Even better I may say than my Jaguar X Type. What MPG are you getting from it? I get around 37mpg from my 2.0 diesel tourer. Lovely cars these. 

[fatharris]

It's in good hands there!

[Rave]

21 hours ago, HMC said:

Great to meet you again @Rave- a pleasure as always. He talked me through the programme of works to keep the old tub going. Hes a proper shiter with a lot more skills than i have!

Cheers bud, likewise, great to see you again. I'm no great shakes as a mechanic but I've found that nowadays there's a video on youtube showing you how to do pretty much any job on any car, so I just watch them and then get stuck in. Admittedly it helps that I've got loads of tools and and house to store them in.

I had a lovely ride along Drake's Trail, though the first leaky tunnel was a bit sketchy on my 20" folder as I shot through it in the near pitch black! Then my coaches were both bang on time and I managed to get a pretty decent McDonalds while awaiting my connection in Bristol, which was entirely free as I'd won a load of grub entering sticker codes from chip cartons into the app. So all in all a pretty decent day out, albeit that it felt instinctively wrong to be coming home on the coach rather than in some new and exciting old banger!

13 hours ago, 2flags said:

That is cracking value! These ride so nicely. Even better I may say than my Jaguar X Type. What MPG are you getting from it? I get around 37mpg from my 2.0 diesel tourer. Lovely cars these. 

I did the 225 miles from London to Devon on 6 gallons, mostly pootling along at 55-60. Had to cross the Blackdown Hills on the A303, the A38 is very hilly, and I had something of a headwind I reckon. Plus I kept having to brake on downhill single carriageway sections of the 303 because some drivers apparently can't take even the slightest bend at more than 40mph.

Agree about the ride, it was a most wafty trip and I emerged after 5+ hours nonstop driving feeling perfectly fine.

[Tetleysmooth]

Glad to see this stayed in the fold. It's basically a good car. I just didn't have the patience to turn the spanners on it. It sounds like Rave did a good job on it though.

I've still got the Focus. Bloody good little car, but it's currently parked in my front garden, de-insured and sorned due to a downturn in employment and subsequentially, finances. I suppose I'll have to sell it eventually, but it's my backup car should anything happen to our CRV.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

On 08/06/2024 at 20:00, Schaefft said:

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.

The Mk3 felt completely different, much lighter and airier inside , roomier with tons of rear legroom but even in leathered up Scorpio form nowhere near as luxurious. The 2.0i auto was as quick as a Mk2 2.8 carb auto but for some reason 2.8i Scorpios felt slower than 2,8i Mk2’s. The entry level ( GL) was very Spartan and bare , I never drove a 1.8 but they must have been grim. You have to remember Ford did the usual up-speccing thing in the last year or so of Mk2 production so even LX and GLs were pretty plush. The big thing was the ABS. I remember scaring my Dad to death demonstrating the ABS on a 2.0i Ghia auto ,by putting 2 wheels on a wet verge at 40 and standing on the brakes! He didn’t even know ABS existed.

As the Mk3 developed it became a much nicer place to be the 2.4 and 2.9 transformed it and the 24v was a proper quick car- not quite as fast as a 24v Senator they would show150 on the digital speedo whereas theScorpio ran out of puff at an indicated 140. Or about the same as a 2.7 Sterling or Vitesse.. They all ran rings around equivalent priced Mercs and BMWs though.

My Euromillions garage would have  a 2.8 injection manual with Recaros and a 24v Scorpio engine fitted.

[AnthonyG]

Mk3s, at least the early ones, didn’t seem to last anything like as well as the Mk2s.

The interiors seemed fragile and I suspect the structure and panels were thinner gauge steel as they certainly didn’t feel anything like as solid as a Mk2, which was up to Volvo/Merc standards I would say.

Mk3s also seemed to rot faster, rear wheel arches and sills in particular. I remember seeing a B reg one in a scrapyard in about 1992, not crashed, just worn out, was a bit shocked as Mk2’s normally lasted at least 12-13 years, even the rattiest ones. 

The post 1990 ones seemed a bit better quality wise, and obviously went a lot better with the Cosworth engines, but I think a lot of the market had moved on by then, and then the Vauxhall Omega just wiped it out. Amazed they bothered with the ‘94 Scorpio to be honest.

[AnthonyG]

Also - fun fact - the Mk2 uses a surprising amount of Mk1 panels, including the door structures. I’ve got an Autocar which mentions the bits they reuse somewhere. Ford had form with this, there was an awful lot of Taunus TC (1970 Mk3 Cortina equivalent) in the Mk4 Cortina/Taunus, the estate was practically the same car from the A pillar back. 

[wuvvum]

When did diesel Mk3 Granadas move from using the Indenor to the VM four-headed monster?  Was it after the facelift?

[AnthonyG]

15 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

When did diesel Mk3 Granadas move from using the Indenor to the VM four-headed monster?  Was it after the facelift?

Wiki says yes, the facelift from March 1992 onwards ones.

[HMC]

Rave and i decided to lob in some of the k series elixir before his trip out west as there may be a slight issue with the headgasket.

Yes its a bit of a bodge. But its a £290 75- how much more use will be had out of the car before something more definitive is needed?

Handily despite project drive, this 75 has the accessory dashboard radweld holder…

It even matches the interior colour scheme…

Its a british underdog in its current state

How long will it last?

I took it out to exeter today as i was feeling patriotic and brave/lucky

[Rave]

Note I went for the Radweld Plus rather than your common or garden Radweld, so a fix is practically guaranteed*

[Marm Toastsmith]

I was tempted, good to know it's come out west.

[jon.k]

The whole design of the 75 still looks great, but I can't stop thinking that steering wheel badge looks like it's been home made from clip-art. Or like something on a model car where they've had a go at a sticker of a dial or a badge but not really got the scale right.

[Split_Pin]

The MK1 steering wheel badge looks much better.

[Royale80]

51 minutes ago, jon.k said:

The whole design of the 75 still looks great, but I can't stop thinking that steering wheel badge looks like it's been home made from clip-art. Or like something on a model car where they've had a go at a sticker of a dial or a badge but not really got the scale right.

As Split-Pin said-MK 1 looks much better.

[Royale80]

On 12/06/2024 at 22:52, NorfolkNWeigh said:

The Mk3 felt completely different, much lighter and airier inside , roomier with tons of rear legroom but even in leathered up Scorpio form nowhere near as luxurious. The 2.0i auto was as quick as a Mk2 2.8 carb auto but for some reason 2.8i Scorpios felt slower than 2,8i Mk2’s. The entry level ( GL) was very Spartan and bare , I never drove a 1.8 but they must have been grim. You have to remember Ford did the usual up-speccing thing in the last year or so of Mk2 production so even LX and GLs were pretty plush. The big thing was the ABS. I remember scaring my Dad to death demonstrating the ABS on a 2.0i Ghia auto ,by putting 2 wheels on a wet verge at 40 and standing on the brakes! He didn’t even know ABS existed.

As the Mk3 developed it became a much nicer place to be the 2.4 and 2.9 transformed it and the 24v was a proper quick car- not quite as fast as a 24v Senator they would show150 on the digital speedo whereas theScorpio ran out of puff at an indicated 140. Or about the same as a 2.7 Sterling or Vitesse.. They all ran rings around equivalent priced Mercs and BMWs though.

My Euromillions garage would have  a 2.8 injection manual with Recaros and a 24v Scorpio engine fitted.

I had a Mk 3 2.8iGhia after a mk2 2.8Ghia.

The Mk 3 was 3 years old-interior nowhere near as plush as the mk2 and it even had plastic wheel trims whereas the Mk2 had alloys.  Plenty of space inside-but the 2.8i was sluggish and heavy on juice-no better than the carb 2.8. Friend years later had a 2.9 which was a different ball game as NorfolkNWeigh said.

[HMC]

Evening shite pilgrimage/ collection. Its a path many of us have trod before, to this shiters door.

K-seal special parked up behind a derelict avantime beiade the station….

 

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