The new news 24 thread

[D.E]

On 27/03/2024 at 11:53, Mr Pastry said:

Looking at those prices though, the Gilbern was a serious amount of money for what it was.  It's surprising they sold any when you look at some of the competition. 

The initial demand for the Mk III Invader exceeded production capacity! Selling them wasn't the problem it seems, but attempting to increasing production output was (overworking essential staff members, increasing quality issues, which in turn made them waste a lot of time on correcting said defects), along with cashflow issues and the frequent changes of ownership. Shame really, another example of a manufacturer that offered a fairly okay product but went under regardless...

[artdjones]

12 minutes ago, D.E said:

The initial demand for the Mk III Invader exceeded production capacity! Selling them wasn't the problem it seems, but attempting to increasing production output was (overworking essential staff members, increasing quality issues, which in turn made them waste a lot of time on correcting said defects), along with cashflow issues and the frequent changes of ownership. Shame really, another example of a manufacturer that offered a fairly okay product but went under regardless...

Strange, because in my view those stupid wheelarch extensions really messed up the styling.

[brownnova]

6 hours in the Saab today. Amazing how comfortable and capable this 27 year old car is. Handled the whole journey there and back with ease, and I didn’t get in any way uncomfortable until I got stuck in a bit of traffic on the very last 15 minute to home and my clutch leg got tired. It’s true what they say about Saab’s legendary comfort! 
 

However, normally I see at least a few retro cars out and about. Today, the only other car from the 90s (or earlier) I saw was a K Reg Polo…. 

[Spottedlaurel]

Used the Carina E for some daily driver duties this week, found a 1996 friend:

It did well, apart from an unexpected FTP - went to a work meeting, came out and it wouldn't start. I'd left the lights on, silly boy. Luckily one of the friendly engineers there had a jump pack.

Ideally I should get the door switch for the interior lights working again, then I might have had a lights-on warning chime....

Although Mrs SL prefers the Lexus RX in terms of comfort she did concede that the radio in the Carina E sounds better to her. I recall @Alan Prost saying similar in comparison to his other half's more modern MINI.

In other fleet news, poor planning on my part means that all three of the other cars are going into garages for work this month. RX is going to the main dealer for a scheduled service (major one, so that won't be cheap), and I have both the LS400 and Laurel booked-in for service/MoTs on consecutive days next week......

[Yoss]

Went out for a drive in The Forest this morning and the whole area is as waterlogged as I've ever seen it. No chance of taking the dog off the major paths and even some of those were impassable. On the plus side , the place was deserted. We had one of the New Forests major car parks entirely to ourselves at 9 o'clock on a bank holiday morning which is unheard of.

[andyberg]

52 minutes ago, Yoss said:

Went out for a drive in The Forest this morning and the whole area is as waterlogged as I've ever seen it. No chance of taking the dog off the major paths and even some of those were impassable. On the plus side , the place was deserted. We had one of the New Forests major car parks entirely to ourselves at 9am on a bank holiday morning which is unheard of.

I love the new forest. I lived in Sway for a while.

[Twiggy]

Looks like Janesmoor ?

[barefoot]

On 20/03/2024 at 16:59, barefoot said:

Rover 75 - OMGHGF update.

Test drive time; to Loughborough in the slowest of crawling market day traffic and then to Manchester & back, twice in two days - Sorted.

[Yoss]

57 minutes ago, Twiggy said:

Looks like Janesmoor ?

Spot on. You can claim your free prize.

[andyberg]

On 28/03/2024 at 10:30, andyberg said:

Bollocks

I posted in my Safrane thread, but I forgot on here 🙄 

It's only a small patch required on the nearside sill and the spring mounting is the cup that the spring sits in on the shock absorber, so just a new shock needed no welding. Looking through the extensive history of the car these are still the original shocks! Who says french cars are tat????

[richardmorris]

[hairnet]

why is there a horse kneeling resting on your fiat?

steering wheel needs to be in the sea sorry 

[richardmorris]

10 minutes ago, hairnet said:

why is there a horse kneeling resting on your fiat?

steering wheel needs to be in the sea sorry 

It was tired. 
wheel is original if faded leather.

[EspenO]

On 26/03/2024 at 23:37, D.E said:

One chapter in this 1970s book ("The Small Business Casebook", S. Birley) is about the (mis)management of Gilbern. The price and specs of the Invader are being compared to other cars, but this list doesn't seem to make much sense? Cars in a totally different price and performance league (AC, Aston, Dino), the Citroen DS and GS, floppytop Cortina... Also, according to sir Google the Crayford William is a microcar!

 

 

The Morgan +8 seems to have been a bit of a bargain? Cheaper than a Triumph estate, half price of a 911. 

[Metal Guru]

33 minutes ago, EspenO said:

The Morgan +8 seems to have been a bit of a bargain? Cheaper than a Triumph estate, half price of a 911. 

I thought that. The current prices probably reflect the vast increase in labour rates since then. I don’t suppose the skilled craftsmen are relatively much better off , but it’s probably more due to overheads especially energy.

[reb]

I have an interview in an hour, one which will allow me to buy my DVDs 25% cheaper. (Volunteering at BHF)

[High Jetter]

Hope it goes well.

[Bazfr69]

It is sunny in NI.

 

That is all. 

[Metal Guru]

8 minutes ago, Bazfr69 said:

It is sunny in NI.

 

That is all. 

It’s sunny here in Scotland too. It won’t be in 10 minutes time but probably will be again within the hour.

[Bazfr69]

17 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

It’s sunny here in Scotland too. It won’t be in 10 minutes time but probably will be again within the hour.

All morning here, it’s like a heatwave…

I’m heading out soon, likely chuck it down now I’ve cleaned the car. 

[SiC]

Really warm here in the South West too. Like suddenly Spring has arrived over night 

[richardmorris]

Just been for a walk in bright sunshine from the ponderosa on the horsehoe pass.

[EssDeeWon]

After 3 years sat in the garage and only covering about 5 miles to the MOT station and back last year, my 75 has set sail, quite literally and has gone to some fanatical 75 collector in Belgium.     I now live in Gibraltar so getting the car over here was going to be costly and a bit of a faff to say the least.   It served me well for 8 years but deserved better in the end so some chap from Belgium contacted me and offered a healthy sum to acquire it.  

[EssDeeWon]

In other news I bought this recently, not my ideal choice of motor but second hand cars are somewhat limited here in Gibraltar and this has been well kept.    Very little choice of nice 15-20 year old stuff here.  It’s mostly death traps that haven’t been MOT’d since last millennium or nearly new Mercs and Range Rovers for eleventy million pounds, only for it to be scraped and dented before you get the thing a mile up the road.   So this tank was acquired, starting to quite like it and very practical for going shopping over in Spain (when our Spanish neighbours let us through the border) 

[hairnet]

man in enclave buys panzer

is that in case anything interesting happens

 

[17-Coffees]

I got a new car today!

was amazed to find one in the wild, Home Bargains no less! 

[Snake Charmer]

Saga lout! 😁

[Barry Cade]

6 minutes ago, 17-Coffees said:

I got a new car today!

was amazed to find one in the wild, Home Bargains no less! 

I saw one of those in B+M in Berwnick upon Tweed, couldn't quite believe it 🤔

Astro passed its mot today, 1 advisory for an idler arm. Had to guide the tester through the test, he'd never done a test before where it had a cat but doesn't get a cat test, never done an mot with a steering box, never seen plastic leaf springs, never seen a hydroboost brake system, or front torsion bars..

Youngsters these days. Strange thing is, he's older than me! Been testing 4 years..

[Zelandeth]

28 minutes ago, 17-Coffees said:

I got a new car today!

was amazed to find one in the wild, Home Bargains no less! 

That's normally a shop I avoid as our local one is a total zoo most of the time, but I'm going to have to go looking now!

[vulgalour]

Today has been spent working on a friend's white Rover.  Another friend was here helping and arrived in his red Rover.  The Princess was just there to provide moral support and tools.