The new news 24 thread

[Lord Sterling]

Vectra has been doing estate car things today:

Picked up a new to me 2-seater sofa:

Visited an old friend:

Covered up another one: (prior to sofa picking up)

Had to stick a days insurance on the Vectra as the new policy starts tomorrow. Had to cancel the old policy too as it was a little more than the new policy. It's actually gone up but not by much thankfully like others have.

Got back home and stuck in new sofa. Getting up the stairs tested me. I really am so out of shape, it's unreal.

In grump news, I managed to pick up a nail in the new rear tyre. I mean FFS! Where the fuck do these bastard nails come from. If it ain't random flying stones hitting your screen it's bloody nails in tyres 😤 😡

 

[Split_Pin]

What Sterlings do you still have Mo? I always think of those whenever you post, not least because of your username!

[Lord Sterling]

11 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

What Sterlings do you still have Mo? I always think of those whenever you post, not least because of your username!

827 Sterling:

I went to this one today and I REALLY want this back on the road.

My 825 Sterling:

Again, another one I'd like back on the road. 

And my 820e

This is the only car I own that I've never had on the road. In fact, in the last 10/12 years I've owned it, I've driven it literally a mile around the time it was stored at the place the above pic was taken (in Lower Moor, Worcestershire)

I've technically never had E50 UKJ 825 Sterling on the road legally either.  That's because I had an identical one which imploded it's own engine. As the then owner was looking to cut down on cars he didn't need, we did a straight-swap deal.

[MrGTI6]

43 minutes ago, Lord Sterling said:

Vectra has been doing estate car things today:

Picked up a new to me 2-seater sofa:

Visited an old friend:

Covered up another one: (prior to sofa picking up)

Had to stick a days insurance on the Vectra as the new policy starts tomorrow. Had to cancel the old policy too as it was a little more than the new policy. It's actually gone up but not by much thankfully like others have.

Got back home and stuck in new sofa. Getting up the stairs tested me. I really am so out of shape, it's unreal.

In grump news, I managed to pick up a nail in the new rear tyre. I mean FFS! Where the fuck do these bastard nails come from. If it ain't random flying stones hitting your screen it's bloody nails in tyres 😤 😡

 

Good to see the Vectra earning its keep, I also used it to transport a sofa!

Bad luck with the nail in the tyre though. 

[Split_Pin]

50 minutes ago, Lord Sterling said:

827 Sterling:

I went to this one today and I REALLY want this back on the road.

My 825 Sterling:

Again, another one I'd like back on the road. 

And my 820e

This is the only car I own that I've never had on the road. In fact, in the last 10/12 years I've owned it, I've driven it literally a mile around the time it was stored at the place the above pic was taken (in Lower Moor, Worcestershire)

I've technically never had E50 UKJ 825 Sterling on the road legally either.  That's because I had an identical one which imploded it's own engine. As the then owner was looking to cut down on cars he didn't need, we did a straight-swap deal.

I'm so glad you still have those. On the road or not, they wouldn't have survived if you didnt own them. I should love the Sterling the most but it's the 820e that's my favourite.

[Dave_Q]

In France scrolling through hotel room telly, happened on a show called Top Mechanic.

2 French mechanics are given a crash damaged car (Renault Scenic Vs Grand Picasso in this one) and they appear to be competing to fix them up in 5 days.

Frederic just lucked out finding the locking wheel nut key for his amongst the in car detritus, Christophe was stuck hammering a smaller socket onto his enabling Fred to get a head start going to Le U-Pull-It to find a Megane to rob the engine out of.

Brilliant viewing, way better than wheeler dealers or car SOS.

[Dave_Q]

Oof, Christophe has now made it to Le U-Pull-It and found another Grand Picasso, opening the bonnet to find a DV6 and declaring it a "bonne moteur". Sounds like a result but he goes to the desk only to be told that the motor Ne Marche Pas. A second one is found but he's told he can't have it for some reason. This is amazing stuff, high stakes, could watch all day

[richardmorris]

Nothing remotely exciting, but got four new tyres on the TIPO today. F1 auto centres at camberley were efficient and I now have Goodyear efficient grip performance all round after 29,000miles on the original falkens. Tread still legal but cracking was becoming noticeable and an advisory in Feb for the mot. 

dot codes are 1025 so quite recent.

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, SiC said:

Dragged it's sorry arse out of the bay and pump up the tyres. I'll do a walk around/poking video in a sec. 

Even in those colours, it's such a well balanced, crafted design. 

[SiC]

An important purchase for someone who dailies two 2000-era BMWs. 

And I didn't even buy it for oil changes. 

[Split_Pin]

6 minutes ago, SiC said:

An important purchase for someone who dailies two 2000-era BMWs. 

And I didn't even buy it for oil changes. 

Weirdly, mine is bone dry. Well, oil anyway. It has the obligatory coolant leak 😂

[stuboy]

1 hour ago, Dave_Q said:

In France scrolling through hotel room telly, happened on a show called Top Mechanic.

2 French mechanics are given a crash damaged car (Renault Scenic Vs Grand Picasso in this one) and they appear to be competing to fix them up in 5 days.

Frederic just lucked out finding the locking wheel nut key for his amongst the in car detritus, Christophe was stuck hammering a smaller socket onto his enabling Fred to get a head start going to Le U-Pull-It to find a Megane to rob the engine out of.

Brilliant viewing, way better than wheeler dealers or car SOS.

wonder if on youtube

[SiC]

9 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Weirdly, mine is bone dry. Well, oil anyway. It has the obligatory coolant leak 😂

BMW undertrays are phenomenal engineering masterpiece. I don't know how they can hold and disperse so much oil without it dropping onto the ground.

(I think in both of mine its the oil filter housing leaking out the front and gettings the oil atomised by the fan + belts. Z4 also on occasion makes an impressive oil cloud on cold startup - but TADIS on M54 and iirc its short journeys filling the CCV with oil making it worse. Plus that engine has done 180k miles.) 

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, Dave_Q said:

In France scrolling through hotel room telly, happened on a show called Top Mechanic.

2 French mechanics are given a crash damaged car (Renault Scenic Vs Grand Picasso in this one) and they appear to be competing to fix them up in 5 days.

Frederic just lucked out finding the locking wheel nut key for his amongst the in car detritus, Christophe was stuck hammering a smaller socket onto his enabling Fred to get a head start going to Le U-Pull-It to find a Megane to rob the engine out of.

Brilliant viewing, way better than wheeler dealers or car SOS.

What channel? I’m going in a couple of weeks and will search it out.

[IronStar]

Temu has no shame 🤣

~35€ delivered. Seems decently made.

Now to find a hub adapter for Alfa 155….

[Dave_Q]

@richardmorris the channel is called RMC.

 

@stuboy looks like there are some episodes but dunno if they will work in the UK. 

Full episodes here but suspect you need to have a France IP.

https://www.rmcbfmplay.com/chaine/top-mecanic?subMenuId=RefMenuItem::c67c4f5e-73ae-40fe-b562-35391a9f5931

Now watching what looks like a sister program called Vintage Mecanic. Not a race, they are fixing up a 2CV.

[Popsicle]

1 hour ago, richardmorris said:

Nothing remotely exciting, but got four new tyres on the TIPO today. F1 auto centres at camberley were efficient and I now have Goodyear efficient grip performance all round after 29,000miles on the original falkens. Tread still legal but cracking was becoming noticeable and an advisory in Feb for the mot. 

dot codes are 1025 so quite recent.

Good tyre choice, I reckon for cost, comfort, life span and wet ability, the Efficient Grips are the best all round everyday tyre available at the moment.

[gm]

milestone mileage day today :

on the mighty mazda 

and

on the former @davehedgehog31 C30

 

 

[stuboy]

Morning all you shiters..  I've come to show you my pictures and slide shows from Sundays meet .. I held back 2 pictures I know some you would need a minute alone with in a dark room...

And now for the other pic n mix..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Christine]

11 hours ago, richardmorris said:

Nothing remotely exciting, but got four new tyres on the TIPO today. F1 auto centres at camberley were efficient and I now have Goodyear efficient grip performance all round after 29,000miles on the original falkens. Tread still legal but cracking was becoming noticeable and an advisory in Feb for the mot. 

dot codes are 1025 so quite recent.

 We're still  only at   05 25 .... ? 

[Dave_Q]

3 minutes ago, Christine said:

 We're still  only at   05 25 .... ? 

Week 10, not month 10

[Christine]

Oh yeah of course ! 

 

Edit  , anyway, zoom in .... its 09  25  !  ....

[Lord Sterling]

On 03/05/2025 at 18:03, bramz7 said:

Went to Brooklands today, as it was Auto Italia day....

Lots of memories of these cars for me

I've always loved the Quattroporte, they are, by far, my most favourite of Italian cars. Fast, classy and a saloon.

The first one reminds me of the James Bond 'Licence to Kill' bad guys' Quattroporte. Same colour too.

The second later Quattroporte reminds me of a late 90s/early 00s Syrian TV comedy series called "Four Seasons" the head of the family, a wealthy successful businessman drove one of these around quite extensively, his son initially had a Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo, but later that changed to a late 90s black Alfa Romeo Spider TS.

I remember the 156 estate that I collected from London from @purplebargeken and delivered to @Cavcraft. A really nice thing to cruise about in, it had a lovely 5-pot burble to it.

I used to to see a lot of Alfa 33s in Brussels. One thing I remember about them is that distinct acceleration sound they made, they sounded an awful lot like a 1.6 or 2.0 Montego.

I had an uncle who lived in London in the late 90s, he had an Alfa 164 and let me drive it one time when he came up to Birmingham.

I'd honestly considered one of these as one of my first cars (well, I wasn't going down the usual small car route)

The Lancia Kappa was something seen in Brussels/mainland Europe but rarely if ever seen on British roads.

Toyota Avensis - Last year I stuck up a pic of one of my uncles' latest acquisition; a Toyota Mirai:

Back in the day, his first brand-new car was a Toyota Avensis. 

Despite the lack of Italian cars in the UK, especially around the Midlands, the original Fiat Tipo wasn't a rare car around there.

Years ago in Telford, where I used to walk to school along a busy thoroughfare, there used to be Lancia Delta parked on the side of the road there. One day as I was passing, I remember seeing it had been smashed into.

[richardmorris]

3 hours ago, Christine said:

Oh yeah of course ! 

 

Edit  , anyway, zoom in .... its 09  25  !  ....

I think there must be a mix of 09 and 10 then. Will check this evening - am in the 2CV today.

[Lord Sterling]

Well, today didn't quite go as planned. I'd loaded my old sofa into the car yesterday to take to a charity shop. Also, I wanted to get the nail on the tyre sorted. Both places were located on the same road which meant I could kill two birds with one stone. None, however worked out 🤨

The charity shop made excuses about my sofa not having the right label/batch number etc... so unfortunately off to the dump it went. I hated doing that as I felt it was still had life in it 😠

Then I went to my local tyre place, they were closed and no one was around.  FFS, really?

So off to the dump I went.

Got chatting to a nice chap at the skip who helped me dump the sofa into the container. We spoke about the Vectra and other 'cooking' models such as the SRi/GSi RS/ST Fords etc...

Then off to another local tyre place I went. They did the tyre and cost me more than I was expecting, but, better safe than sorry. All that because of fucking a nail sitting there in the road 😡

Still, got back and actually found a few parking spaces! So I spent a but of time tidied the boot. Hopefully it'll actually stay like this:

 

[richardmorris]

[IronStar]

26 minutes ago, Lord Sterling said:

 

 

I can highly recommend these for tidying up the boot

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Parkside-Ultimate-Speed-Boot-Compact/dp/B0CTTWPJN8

They cost a few quid equivalent in Lidl when available. Much tidier than random boxes, and have the velcro thingy to stick to the carpets.

How much is patching up the tyre over there? It's about a fiver-equivalent at a local non-chain shop here. 

[Lord Sterling]

 Cheers. They look nice those bags, there are/was some on eBay that also carried a manufacturer's logo if you wished. I will be considering them, but for now I like the random boxes.

19 minutes ago, IronStar said:

How much is patching up the tyre over there? It's about a fiver-equivalent at a local non-chain shop here. 

It depends where you go. The closed place I went to (if they were open) would patch up a tyre for £10. The place I went to charged £20. Both non-chains as there are many non-chain tyre suppliers here.

[chadders]

3 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

Well, today didn't quite go as planned. I'd loaded my old sofa into the car yesterday to take to a charity shop. Also, I wanted to get the nail on the tyre sorted. Both places were located on the same road which meant I could kill two birds with one stone. None, however worked out 🤨

The charity shop made excuses about my sofa not having the right label/batch number etc... so unfortunately off to the dump it went. I hated doing that as I felt it was still had life in it 😠

Then I went to my local tyre place, they were closed and no one was around.  FFS, really?

So off to the dump I went.

Got chatting to a nice chap at the skip who helped me dump the sofa into the container. We spoke about the Vectra and other 'cooking' models such as the SRi/GSi RS/ST Fords etc...

Then off to another local tyre place I went. They did the tyre and cost me more than I was expecting, but, better safe than sorry. All that because of fucking a nail sitting there in the road 😡

Still, got back and actually found a few parking spaces! So I spent a but of time tidied the boot. Hopefully it'll actually stay like this:

 

"Charity shops cannot accept upholstered furniture for resale unless it has a valid fire safety label attached. This is a legal requirement under the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire Safety) Regulations 1988."

We've scrapped a few suites because of this.

[richardmorris]

20 hours ago, richardmorris said:

2cv was because my mechanic was coming over after work as I thought the clutch was getting progressively noisier over the last few long journeys.  Good news- he doesn’t think it’s the clutch ( replaced 2007 30,000miles). Bad news, he thinks it’s the gearbox bearing. 
it’s growling in neutral, and particularly 4th gear. 
he’s meeting rick pembro next week at the 2cv racing so will talk to him about it.