The new news 24 thread

[Christine]

No , i did go out and clap though

[Christine]

Rust collector  , weird car , Kiltox  ,  Me ,   Renault Clio mot'd , all legal again  now.  

 

Have a pic ..

[EspenO]

4 hours ago, horriblemercedes said:

Are you sure?

 

I'm pretty sure it would've been offered. Plenty of people (for example many Hindus) would not want real leather.

Well, no, I can’t be 100% sure. But I’ve never seen one without (unlike say the E46 M3 which had a gorgeous cloth interior), and I can’t find any reference to it by googling.

Perplexity.ai says no, and the reference links it gives seems sound enough. This one is kind of cool, I think 🙂 

People who didn’t want leather for whatever reason, probably had to order through the Individual division? I seem to remember Paul McCartney’s velour trimmed Lexus was an one-off as well.

[Mally]

2 hours ago, horriblemercedes said:

 

 

I really doubt there was mass screaming. It's something from films - I don't think it really happens.

I'd have been swearing a little*.

I've heard screaming on a plane that went round 4 times.

[somewhatfoolish]

3 hours ago, horriblemercedes said:

I have no idea - was Instagram something to do with the crash?

Maybe the driver was making a Tiktok and became distracted?

[Bren]

My local petrol station has a hand car wash at the rear of the forecourt. I have just seen somebody welding a bench while customers put fuel in their cars.

I have left the area and I am waiting for the bang.

[MJK 24]

🤦🏼

 

[artdjones]

A Doblo* takes more than you'd think.

Like a whole tree.

*Maxi.

[richardmorris]

Live webcam at tampa port, Florida.

https://www.porttampawebcam.com

[Christine]

Englewood beach cam 

 

https://www.earthcam.com/usa/florida/englewood/?cam=englewoodbeach

[SiC]

3 minutes ago, Christine said:

Englewood beach cam 

 

https://www.earthcam.com/usa/florida/englewood/?cam=englewoodbeach

"Beautiful beaches, relaxing views, and incredible sunsets - Punta Gorda/Englewood Beach in Florida has it all! EarthCam and Punta Gorda/Englewood Beach Visitor & Convention Bureau invite you to visit this uncrowded, hidden gem of a getaway in southwest Florida with these gorgeous live views. Wouldn't you rather be here?"

 

No I wouldn't 

[Christine]

There were 4 people on the beach 1/2 an hour ago !  

[artdjones]

https://www.thejournal.ie/car-touchscreen-safety-distraction-6509824-Oct2024/

 

[MAF260]

As a follow up from the unfortunate events of 3 weeks ago I've negotiated a very good settlement from the insurance company and just collected the replacement car today. We were so well looked after by BMW Milton Keynes we've bought another brand new car, but upgraded as the new F70 1-Series has just been launched.

From this:

To this:

The F40 has been given a Cat B marker, so won't go back on the road.

 

[catsinthewelder]

Well done on getting sorted but after that crash I'd have gone for a bright orange one!

[richardmorris]

Looks a tad windy here today, better tie the house down!

[beko1987]

Seems florida got lucky overnight/during their day, I was half expecting utter carnage this morning when I had a look

[Metal Guru]

47 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

Seems florida got lucky overnight/during their day, I was half expecting utter carnage this morning when I had a look

The hurricane was downgraded to a four at about 6 pm last night. Still bad but small mercies etc.

[MAF260]

10 hours ago, catsinthewelder said:

Well done on getting sorted but after that crash I'd have gone for a bright orange one!

The old gimmer who smashed into it on the wrong side of the road probably wouldn’t have seen an orange car either!

[mercedade]

15 hours ago, SiC said:

"Beautiful beaches, relaxing views, and incredible sunsets - Punta Gorda/Englewood Beach in Florida has it all! EarthCam and Punta Gorda/Englewood Beach Visitor & Convention Bureau invite you to visit this uncrowded, hidden gem of a getaway in southwest Florida with these gorgeous live views. Wouldn't you rather be here?"

 

No I wouldn't 

These are the kind of hurricanes I'd enjoy by the looks of things

 

[mercedade]

Back in August (!) I bought @DirtyDaily's old XC90, and have steadily been working my way through the front end assembly. Not all of it was planned, some was self-inflicted and some was discovered.

Started with both lower control arms as the car veered quite heavily under braking - basically it 'twisted', with the car heading left whilst the steering wheel turned right. Fun. The first one took me probably 8  fucking hours, stretched over two days, because despite it just being a case of undoing a grand total of 4 bolts or nuts, it was a war of broken ball-joint forks, insufficiently large ball-joint splitters, and insufficiently large muscles. Eventually perfected a technique with a jack, a ratchet strap and crow bars used as wedges , I managed to get the ball-joint into the locating hole on the arm.

Somewhere around hour 3 I had lost my temper and mangled the boot on an otherwise good ball-joint - future job ACTIVATED

Got the second side done in somewhere closer to 2 hours, this time the ball-joint was shite anyway, so I didn't care about destroying the boot, which consequently made me feel better about creating the job on the other side.

During the second side, I also discovered that the track rod end was a bit flappy, so got a pair ordered up. Whilst I was doing that, I discovered a 20% code on eBay for carpartsinmotion, so ended up ordering the full set of Febi track-rod ends, drops links and ball-joints.

Spent another Saturday morning doing everything bar the ball-joints (only the TREs were a bit of a challenge thanks to the very, very unwilling lock nuts, but some big heat and a shock managed to get things moving), because by then I'd already looked at:

a) the state of the hub

b) the pitiful selection of tools available to me on my driveway

and decided to give @NorthernMonkey the 'opportunity' to do some work for me at his premises in Colne. I headed up to him on Friday, and he did a brilliant job AND I got to perve over the selection of classics and chod scattered around the place (plus @Split_Pin's lovely looking Beemer whilst the gearbox swap was nearing completion). Mega pleased with everything he did, thanks!

Got wheel alignment sorted in the local place round the corner from me in Stockport, and I can say that the big bus is driving beautifully now.

Then took advantage of its nice driving, by taking it for a rumble up to @DeanH's place to pick up his VIDA unit (and very happy to make it available to help any other modern-ish Volvo owners once I've got it set up).

A few jobs on the 'maybe one day' list, including the vacuum driven engine mounts that would make a big difference to low-rev vibrations through the cabin, and getting a fresh MOT sorted before Xmas.

Nice little tour of Autoshite completed, for now...

[Split_Pin]

I wondered whose XC90 that was in the background!

I immediately assumed NM had done another buy and got an XC90.

[mercedade]

7 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

I wondered whose XC90 that was in the background!

I immediately assumed NM had done another buy and got an XC90.

That one actually is his. Mine ain't as fancy as his!

[DirtyDaily]

Back in August (!) I bought [mention=28666]DirtyDaily[/mention]'s old XC90, and have steadily been working my way through the front end assembly.

Glad to hear it's getting some love, sad to hear it needed so much! Happy to open up my services if you ever need a hand with something small or simply need some tools.

[mercedade]

11 minutes ago, DirtyDaily said:

Glad to hear it's getting some love, sad to hear it needed so much! Happy to open up my services if you ever need a hand with something small or simply need some tools.

 

It's all good, that's just what 20 year old things need, nothing out of the ordinary or special, and certainly no shade cast on you or the car.

And same goes for you, if you need the VIDA (or any other tools), you know where I am!

[Dyslexic Viking]

The Vivaro took its last journey today and I am now down to just 2 cars.

[reb]

Every vehicle in my immediate vicinity right now is pre-2000

[Snake Charmer]

I spent some time this afternoon wondering if after so many years in production, did anyone confront the total seanut who placed E-Type rear brake caliper bleed nipples without an access panel or a remote hose. Series 3 V12 brake fluid change, l hope the whole team receive a stiff biff on the bugle. FFS.

[lesapandre]

Road pricing 'debate'. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I can tell ya all the infrastructure put into London's ULEZ was not to catch a few old vans (which disappear off the road each year).

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/oct/10/uk-road-pricing-infrastructure-electric-vehicles-35bn-tax-shortfall

Also this doozy:

"Although some schemes exist in the UK – including the M6 Toll, Mersey Gateway bridge, and London congestion charge – they are far more widespread in other countries such as France and Germany."

In France only some autoroutes are tolled - and the system is seen as a strategic distribution and fast long-distance travel network - with limited junctions. There are always alternatives - and many French people don't use the network at all because it is too expensive or only rarely for long distance trips. Any comparison with the UK is lazy journalism. The UK experience is completely different. Very few miles of overall French roads are tolled - and...there is no road tax...

I drive a lot in France - it's easy-ish to avoid the tolls. 

Also any comparison with the Congestion Charge is wrong - the CritAir restrictions in French cities are about pollution not revenue raising  -   though they rather let the cat out of the bag if they say the Congestion Charge is to garner revenue. 

Serco, Capita and the rest will enjoy implementing this. ££££££

One thing that is omitted from all this is the clapped-out nature of a lot of the UK motorway bridges - probably billions needed.

Hilarious. 

[Popsicle]

19 minutes ago, Snake Charmer said:

I spent some time this afternoon wondering if after so many years in production, did anyone confront the total seanut who placed E-Type rear brake caliper bleed nipples without an access panel or a remote hose. Series 3 V12 brake fluid change, l hope the whole team receive a stiff biff on the bugle. FFS.

Make your own access panel, thats what angle grinders are for.... 🤠