The new news 24 thread

[Split_Pin]

I think my neighbour's daughter must be getting married. Outstanding choice of cars!

 

[Schaefft]

1 hour ago, RayMK said:

Was there any mention of the Taurus and the hire car market?  In the 90s and early 2000s I visited the USA frequently but never saw a Taurus or indeed any other Ford in the hire car parking lots.  I always had GM or Chrysler products or occasionally a Toyota (Camry). 

Yes, naturally the goal was to remain America's top selling car so fleet sales (rentals) were one way to ensure this. Ford wanted to move away from that with the 3rd gen Taurus for more profitable retail sales. They don't go too much into detail on that side, the author concentrated more on individual buyers at the end of the book. Funnily enough the cheapened the 4th gen (same car) so much that it became THE rental car in the 2000s.

[Asimo]

5 hours ago, RayMK said:

Was there any mention of the Taurus and the hire car market?  In the 90s and early 2000s I visited the USA frequently but never saw a Taurus or indeed any other Ford in the hire car parking lots.  I always had GM or Chrysler products or occasionally a Toyota (Camry). 

I had a Taurus as a hire in El Paso Texas, 1999 ish. It made no impression at all, which is just what you want in a business hire.

[RayMK]

37 minutes ago, Asimo said:

I had a Taurus as a hire in El Paso Texas, 1999 ish. It made no impression at all, which is just what you want in a business hire.

True to a certain extent with me, but a Pontiac Sunbird (i.e. same GM platform as the Cavalier MK2) was completely gutless in the heat of New Mexico and an Oldsmobile Ciera up near Seattle was appallingly bad. It shuddered and fussed at the slightest imperfection on the road surface.  Chevy Luminas and Buicks generally satisfied the efficient, comfortable, good stereo but otherwise bland business transport remit.  Dodge impressed me with their Intrepid Mks 1 & 2, to the extent I usually asked for one if it was in the rental fleet.  They drove and handled beautifully as if they'd asked Europeans how to iron out the soggy characteristics of typical yank cars (although I still enjoyed and was amused by Buicks and a Cadillac).  I've never been in a Taurus.  The only American Ford I've travelled in was a Crown Victoria in the early 90s.  The rear seats were surprisingly cramped for such a large car with three of us at the back.  Maybe more to do with being bloated with rib eye steaks and Redhook ale 🤪. 

[Lacquer Peel]

41 minutes ago, RayMK said:

True to a certain extent with me, but a Pontiac Sunbird (i.e. same GM platform as the Cavalier MK2) was completely gutless in the heat of New Mexico and an Oldsmobile Ciera up near Seattle was appallingly bad. It shuddered and fussed at the slightest imperfection on the road surface.  Chevy Luminas and Buicks generally satisfied the efficient, comfortable, good stereo but otherwise bland business transport remit.  Dodge impressed me with their Intrepid Mks 1 & 2, to the extent I usually asked for one if it was in the rental fleet.  They drove and handled beautifully as if they'd asked Europeans how to iron out the soggy characteristics of typical yank cars (although I still enjoyed and was amused by Buicks and a Cadillac).  I've never been in a Taurus.  The only American Ford I've travelled in was a Crown Victoria in the early 90s.  The rear seats were surprisingly cramped for such a large car with three of us at the back.  Maybe more to do with being bloated with rib eye steaks and Redhook ale 🤪. 

The Intrepid is distantly related to the Eagle Premier which is related to the Renault 25, may have had an influence on the ride and handling of the Intrepid. 

[RayMK]

31 minutes ago, Lacquer Peel said:

The Intrepid is distantly related to the Eagle Premier which is related to the Renault 25, may have had an influence on the ride and handling of the Intrepid. 

Thanks for that info.  I was unaware of the relationship via Renault/AMC and Chrysler's acquisition of AMC which resulted in the Eagle brand.  It was an interesting read in Wiki.   

[Rustybullethole]

These tyres only have a few thousand miles on them!

Bugger.

Least its in the middle of the tread.

Two liquorice sticks later and back in the game.

[Schaefft]

1 hour ago, RayMK said:

True to a certain extent with me, but a Pontiac Sunbird (i.e. same GM platform as the Cavalier MK2) was completely gutless in the heat of New Mexico and an Oldsmobile Ciera up near Seattle was appallingly bad. It shuddered and fussed at the slightest imperfection on the road surface.  Chevy Luminas and Buicks generally satisfied the efficient, comfortable, good stereo but otherwise bland business transport remit.  Dodge impressed me with their Intrepid Mks 1 & 2, to the extent I usually asked for one if it was in the rental fleet.  They drove and handled beautifully as if they'd asked Europeans how to iron out the soggy characteristics of typical yank cars (although I still enjoyed and was amused by Buicks and a Cadillac).  I've never been in a Taurus.  The only American Ford I've travelled in was a Crown Victoria in the early 90s.  The rear seats were surprisingly cramped for such a large car with three of us at the back.  Maybe more to do with being bloated with rib eye steaks and Redhook ale 🤪. 

Chrysler really tried hard to gain a foothold in Europe in the late 80s and early 90s (with some moderate success) so platform siblings to the Intrepid like the Eagle Vision Tsi (Chrysler Vision) and it's successor the 300m were all having optional handling packages to really appeal to say the German market. You probably wouldn't have these handling packages in a US rental version but fundamentally they tried to deliver solid cars.

In general Chrysler was on a roll in the 90s and turned out to be a real thorn in Ford's side during the development of the '96 Taurus (they always seemed to steal the marketing spotlight).

[comfortablynumb]

12 hours ago, RayMK said:

.  The only American Ford I've travelled in was a Crown Victoria

This one?? 🤣

(Sorry...)

[Hertz]

Clocked this going relatively cheap on ebay Friday night. Dashed across to Liverpool first thing Saturday and bought it. It's a brilliant thing in really good condition for a 20 year old van. 

[Asimo]

Returning from Manchester airport today, spotted an IKA Torino near Cannock! Never seen one before, amazing that there is one in England. What is it doing here?

[RayMK]

7 hours ago, comfortablynumb said:

This one?? 🤣

(Sorry...)

No.  I think the Seattle plod had Caprices and Crown Victorias at the time (1991).  The Ford I was in was owned by a US based colleague who was showing us the local area, also demonstrating how to do a u turn in one of the narrower city back streets by whacking the back end round using the gas pedal.  Fortunately the road was wet and quiet.  The senior colleague in the front passenger seat told him to quit that sort of stunt...or else.  

[catsinthewelder]

On 11/09/2025 at 23:38, IronStar said:

I’ll leave it here so we can play guess the car 🤣

Facelift mk1 Megane in that nice green with a diesel engine.

[sdkrc]

Spent several hours doing the brakes on my nissan Leaf only to see some suspicious crumbly bits around where I'd put the jack. 

This is before I went at it with a screwdriver.

Missing about 4ft of driver's side sill now. 

It's already out of MOT, I need to quickly decide whether to take out a big dirty loan and spend real money on a car or to learn to weld and buy all the equipment. What a pain in the hoop

[sdkrc]

Under some solid advice I've resolved to fix this to just barely 'MOT standard' so it can live another year

Couple of patches

Generous lashings of Tiger Seal

Rattle can of radiator paint

[stuboy]

nipped up the pub for a pint of pepsi max and look at jdm car meet... pics may follow.............

[stuboy]

JDM...AND OTHER MARQUES...

[Marina door handles]

I decided that I had been ignoring my project Scimitar for just about long enough, so time to try and at least gather some parts to push things in the right direction. 

First up a big heavy purchase, I found what I think is the correct back axle advertised in the Retro Rides forum. I bought it off a nice chap called Tim who has a turbocharged motor bike amongst his projects! 

Apparently this has good internals even if it looks a tad scabby....

So were to store it whilst I focus on finishing other projects?

Under the scimitar of course, I mean there is a large gap were a back axle should go, so that will do! 

 

 

[wuvvum]

Got the shiny new injector fitted to the Carina today.

It actually turned out to be a pretty easy job - everything came undone with no problems, although I did have to get the hoover out and hoover up the leaf debris that had collected around the injectors and was threatening to fall into the engine when I pulled them out.

The new injector is a cheapo aftermarket eBay special (£9.89 including postage, believe it or not) and the O ring where it fits into the fuel rail is a slightly looser fit than the original, but the car fired up OK once I'd put it all back together and ran on all 4, and there wasn't any sign of fuel pissing out anywhere.  I ran out of time to take it for a proper run to see if it's cured but I left it running long enough to get up to temperature and it didn't misbehave.

Didn't really get any fettling done yesterday (apart from making a start on removing hoses etc on the Carina) as I spent most of the day getting stuff done in the garden (mainly cutting back the brambles at the bottom of the back garden) and then in the evening I went to see a mate who's just bought himself a tidy but non-running bustleback Cadillac Seville, with the notoriously unreliable 8-6-4 6-litre V8.  Be interesting to see how much hassle it is to get back up and running, but in the meantime it's an impressive beast - auto headlights (including auto dip), digital climate control and trip computer are pretty advanced shiz for a 44-year-old car, and then there's the acres of dreadful American fake wood on the dash and doors, the fake spare wheel carrier, faux wire wheels and mock convertible roof complete with fake ribs to make it look more like a soft top.  I love it.

[bunglebus]

Went to a local car show yesterday, interesting mix of stuff. Unfortunately it clashed with another local show which is usually very well attended. 

All pics here

 https://www.flickr.com/gp/bungle_bus/vk2dd93084

[Metal Guru]

On 14/09/2025 at 08:12, comfortablynumb said:

This one?? 🤣

(Sorry...)

I visited Portland (Oregon) about 30 years ago and ordered a cab. The company was called Veteran  Cabs and the car was an ex police car (think the drivers were ex police too) with the marking like that. 

Apparently New York police , (and others probably) who used to have light blue cars, now have plain white as a cost saving. 

[Sunny Jim]

Got a week's work doing entry control and rescue cover for a team surveying the tunnels that serve a hydroelectric power station up in the hills above Conway. Yesterday was absolutely minging with strong winds and heavy rain - it's all right for the guys in the tunnels, they're sheltered - I had a nightmare trying to complete my paperwork and hear radio transmissions in a gale.

Today though was lovely.

[EyesWeldedShut]

Today I filled a yawning gap in my wife's life boot.
Just call me Mr Generous - £13 delivered. All sorts of goodies in there - even a wee pair of nursey, nursey scissors.

[Asimo]

13 hours ago, Sunny Jim said:

team surveying the tunnels that serve a hydroelectric power station up in the hills above Conway.

Good to know they keep an eye on it all. Don't need another Dolgarrog disaster.

[Marina door handles]

According to the calendar on my wall its the 17th of September today which means I have made it to the half century point.... 

So to celebrate the fact that I am not dead yet Mrs MDH bought me a large box....

After a thorough  cat scan, it appears that it contains one of these..

 

For those unfamiliar its a Gibson Les Paul Standard in a funky colour. 

Sorry this isn't very car related but it put a smile on my face! Anyway happy 50th B-day to me...🥳🤩

 

[Tickman]

Congratulations on reaching the point where you pick up extra speed downhill

[Snake Charmer]

Sat in a car park near a Datsun specialist, another 6 outside yesterday. 

[IronStar]

On 12/09/2025 at 00:27, IronStar said:

Oh and, I may have accidentally bought another car whilst picking up mine.

The car, which hasn't been picked up yet because it's being used as a parking cone, now comes with a brand new, never used steering wheel, which was bought for it but never fitted. Seller dug it out from his storage, and will be throwing it in the back FoC, along with any other bits for the car he finds in his possession. He's happy the car will be going to a good home, as, once again, I'm saving cars from scrap. I think this wheel suits the car well, but it has the default non-wooden option on currently.

What did I buy? 

[JakeT]

Rover 45 V6 with an automatic gearbox that won’t go into reverse.

[Brigsy]

Wired up a hall effect vehicle speed sensor to my ecumaster ecu on my clio 182 trophy yesterday and set it up with the software.

 

Mapping on Sat, should be able to have boost by gear etc. Cant wait