What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread

[Lord Sterling]

Mr Duke - That is great news. I feel very happy for you mate. I only wish the same thing would happen with my cat, she gone, probably forever:

 

 

She was quite old anyway, I kind of got the feeling she wouldnt be around with us forever anyway

[Lord Sterling]

Anyway, this is a grin thread so here are some grin worthy (to me anyway) stuff:

 

Rolled my way down to the quint town of Milton Keynes, it looks sort of like a big flat version of Telford, only a little more upmarket, some double roundabout with a huge curb between the 2 was quite a laugh to get around. The Rover behaved impeccably, a soft smooth run is what I expected and what I got. Tried to spot some shite down there but time was against us so had to leave it.

 

Yesterday I was quite bored having spent Sayurday at home doing absolutely nothing, so spent the day looking for a Rover 800 in Oldbury, didnt get to see the 800 but the amount of shite around that area was absolutely breath taking, I couldnt drive a couple of yrads without seeing rammle parked up outside various houses, its almost as if Oldbury still lives in 1993 (Probably does actually, not alot has changed)

[boobydoo]

 

Snaffled this little beauty up off ebay last week. It's a collection of road tests, articles and adverts from said cars starting in 1975 with the Alpine launch, to '83 and a scathing What Car? write up on the Tagora SX where it was pitted against the new Volvo 760GLE and Granada GhiaX.....although only as a last minute afterthought when BL were unable to supply a Rover 3500SE.

 

What I found interesting and confusing was that those who had a Tagora on long-term test had almost universal praise for the car, whilst those doing a one-off comparison didn't. It was as if they were testing two completely different vehicles.

 

MOTOR magazine did 12,000 miles in a 2.2 GLS and gave it 5 out of 5 in EVERY category ( reliability/ on delivery/ servicing/ running costs) bar one, which was Living With The Tagora which scored 4/5. They marked it down on ventilation.

 

What Car? were just pre-occupied with its 'blandness of style' which I would dispute, rather than its practicality. Twats.

 

It seems there was a whole series of these books produced, I think they date from the mid-nineties, covering virtually every model of car available from the 70s and 80s. Well worth a punt if you see one!

[r.welfare]

I used to have a copy of that (bought in the mid-90s so you're right on the date), I remember thinking the Tagora V6 was a bit of a rocket and IIRC even What Car were surprised by the performance, 0-60 in 7-odd seconds or something?

 

I believe the fella producing (Trevor Alder - he had a custom-built Opel Senator estate BTW) them only did so for a couple of years; I think I bought my copy in 96 and he wrote to me soon after saying he was ceasing printing. Not sure whether there was a copyright issue? They seem to be mighty similar in content to the 'Brooklands Road Test' jobs by the ubiquitous RM Clarke (albeit covering much more autoshite) so perhaps there was some kind of legal contest.

[Vin]

I've got one of those books too - the one for the Fiat Panda. Agree that they are excellent

 

 

Also, last night on BBC4, Dirk Gently and his Princess made me grin

[wuvvum]

Got the Scimitar running again today after work. After a while of fruitless pissing around in the dark, a spark plug borrowed from the Volvo revealed that the source of the issue was not fuelling or loss of compression as I'd thought, but lack of a spark. Further pissing around revealed that the live feed to the coil was shorting out against one of the distributor cap retaining clips - I must have pulled the wire when I was removing the air filter. A bit of electrical tape around the exposed connector and the old crate spluttered back into life. This was good, as it meant I could move it into a better position so I don't have to lift my pushbike over the top of it every morning on the way to work. It also means that the engine isn't completely fucked, as I (being my usual slightly paranoid self) was beginning to think it might be, so hopefully once I put everything back together minus the knackered thermostat and fill the thing back up with water it should be driveable again. That will have to wait until the weekend though.

[trigger]

Allegro Owners Club Feature 1994 (1) by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

Allegro Owners Club Feature 1994 (2) by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

Allegro Owners Club Feature 1994 (3) by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

Allegro Owners Club Feature 1994 (4) by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

[Pete-M]

Those two at the bottom. Which of you is it?

[trigger]

I'm the one coming from behind.

[autofive]

lynn marshall just about sums up allegro lovers

 

 

my grin this evening; more old photo finds

 

segga 2cv

 

[DSdriver]

Nice young lady from an accounts department rang me up chasing payment for a couple of advertisement invoices. Made me sit up and take notice so I checked through what I had payed them and when. Result: they are refunding over £300.00 because I paid them twice already.

[Vin]

Receiving a 'virtual pint' from Mr Bollox, in the form of a reel of welding wire. Brilliant.

 

Many thanks Richard

[dollywobbler]

lynn marshall just about sums up allegro lovers

 

 

my grin this evening; more old photo finds

 

segga 2cv

 

 

T'is a Dyane. T'is very, very saggy!

[MrDuke]

Seeing a mint, and I do mean MINT, Proton Lynx saloon in Aldi's car park, complete with 70-year-old couple filling the boot with shite biscuits and surprisingly nice gin. Pale metallic blue with dark grey splitter/diffuser, and properly fugly alloys. I nearly did a mess in my trousers. Really should've offered them a swap

[trigger]

Sounds like a fair swap.

[MrDuke]

True. And if they didn't go for it, I would've settled for the gin instead. Oh well, I'll know for next time

[Guest]

 

SCTSH_ANDY brought the 460 round and we gave it a mini service.

 

 

I also tried the Black Racing wheels out I picked up for it. Offset seems spot on and the brake calipers don't foul the spokes.

[Pete-M]

Damn it, after the 305 wheel swap I wish I'd been there for this one.

[Guest]

Damn it, after the 305 wheel swap I wish I'd been there for this one.

 

They're not on the car at the moment Pete. It was getting late and I tried one on the front to see what it looked like.

[DSdriver]

They look a bit small in the wheelarch. How much less is your rolling circumference? From this you should be able to calculate percentage speed difference on the speedo. Fitting them will increase acceleration and reduce top speed and mpg.

[chaseracer]

They look a bit small in the wheelarch...

Looks like it's on axle stands...

[Negative Creep]

Girl at work goes to the same doctors I used to, and mentioned to me today how she has to park a long way away beyond the resident permit zone. I mentioned there were free short term spaces nearby, to which she replied

 

"I used them last time, but the appointment didn't take long so I ended up standing around for over an hour"

 

and upon questioning why she was doing this

 

"well the sign said no return within 2 hours"

[trigger]

^

 

I've been sent this message today over on flickr, I don't really understand it though!

 

Hi Trigger,

 

My name is **** and I work for a trends and market insights consultancy called SCB Partners based in London (www.scbpartners.com)

 

My company is currently working on a digital influencer research project, and based on your blog and Twitter account we thought you might be interested to participate. We are in the process of compiling a list of active online commentators and technology/ automotive experts such as yourself who would be interested to discuss cars online. I thought you would be a suitable interviewee and thus we would like to invite you to participate!

 

The incentive of participate is between £200-250 depending on your level of participation in which the research will be done primarily online.

 

It would be great to know asap of your preference to participate in this research, so please do reply if interested. I can also be contacted at ************ for further details.

 

Thank you very much and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

 

Best regards,

 

****

[dollywobbler]

Looks suspicious to me, especially the rather poor grammar. Not quite I R NIGERIAN KING but it doesn't scan that well.

[Negative Creep]

Why jump on the bandwagon when you can jump on the train to Hell instead?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and this one

 

[fordpoplier]

no doubt a repost but this gave me a chuckle:

 

Renault and Ford have joined forces to create the perfect small car for women.

 

Mixing the Renault 'Clio' and the Ford 'Taurus' they have designed the 'Clitaurus'. It comes in pink and the average male car thief won't be able to find it - let alone turn it on - even if someone tells him where it is and how to do it.

 

Rumor has it though, that it leaks transmission fluid once a month, and can be a real bitch to start in the morning! Some have reported that on cold winter mornings, when you really need it, you can't get it to turn over.

 

New models are initially fun to own, but very costly to maintain, and horribly expensive to get rid of. Used models may initially appear to have curb appeal and a low price, but eventually have an increased appetite for fuel, and the curb weight typically increases with age. Manufacturers are baffled as to how the size of the trunk increases, but say that the paint may just make it LOOK bigger.

 

This model is not expected to reach collector status. Most owners find it is best to lease one and replace it each year.

[Autoplas]

^

 

I've been sent this message today over on flickr, I don't really understand it though!

 

Hi Trigger,

 

My name is **** and I work for a trends and market insights consultancy called SCB Partners based in London (http://www.scbpartners.com)

 

My company is currently working on a digital influencer research project, and based on your blog and Twitter account we thought you might be interested to participate. We are in the process of compiling a list of active online commentators and technology/ automotive experts such as yourself who would be interested to discuss cars online. I thought you would be a suitable interviewee and thus we would like to invite you to participate!

 

The incentive of participate is between £200-250 depending on your level of participation in which the research will be done primarily online.

 

It would be great to know asap of your preference to participate in this research, so please do reply if interested. I can also be contacted at ************ for further details.

 

Thank you very much and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

 

Best regards,

 

****

 

Trigger, SCB partners are legit not a Nigerian 'Prince'

[brammy777]

SCB are real, they contacted me the other day regarding the same thing, and I spoke to a few different people down the phone, they ultimately decided against using me for their marketing because my Flickr is too 'old car centric' and they wanted stuff which was more related to new cars. I think they would have realised that had they actually, you know, looked at my Flickr beforehand?

 

Oh and to level that out, going to Alton today and seeing a utterly knackered looking Rover 800 on a G reg being driven around by an OAP made my day.

[trigger]

I don't think I'll be bothering to make contact as my flickr content is all old cars as well.

[eddyramrod]

THIS!