Lawnmower

[vulgalour]

It's not that I've been told there's a particular car I can't have, more that taking in any more strays might be hazardous to my long term health.

[STUNO]

I don't have another half, I just have a bank account, that does it.

[Norbert]

Mrs_N is more or less cool with anything and everything automotive, as you might expect (we met through her agreeing to lend me an engine hoist). She's probably more of a threat to our driveway space than I am - she wants a classic bus and a classic lorry (and has the licences to drive them), and a big pre-war or 1940s saloon wouldn't go amiss either. Or a scooter. Or a scrambler....

 

However, there is one car which I know not even to mention as it'll get The Big No... The Farina Oxford/Cambridge (and other BMC badge-engineered variations thereof). Totally justified, as when she was little she narrowly avoided this man, who was driving one at the time.

[Rod/b]

My Mrs is fine as long as

 

1: she doesn’t have to go in it

2: it’s not blocking in the wheely bins

3: it’s not a pickup truck

 

 

I really want a pickup truck

My Mrs suggested that since I had turned 40 i should get a truck, so I called her bluff and bought an F150.

[Magpie215]

No more k11s apparently lol

[binbag]

Mrs binbag hates small cars. She calls the 3 series "a shitty little thing"

 

So the ideal car for her would be a 5 litre Jag XJ .

 

I suppose I could live with that .

[lisbon_road]

Zealandeth, have you really got a Beford Y series Duple coach?  Wow.  Pictures please!

[Junkman]

The Junkwoman sez I'm not allowed to have a Lincoln before I'm 70.

[Asimo]

Previous spouse drew the line at a Lancia Fulvia because, she said, "Fulvia" sounded like a ladies parts.

No objection was raised to the Gamma I bought instead.

[beko1987]

I've always been told no red cars, but tbh the state of play now, I'd buy one just to annoy her... Again, like many though she doesn't really care as long as she has a car she likes. I have to limit myself with a lack of spare time or money to fix/fettle the one car I have let alone others

[SierraMikeHotel]

Mrs H and I are generally pretty much agreed on this.

 

No BMWs because the owners see them as penis extensions (that doesn't apply to BMW owners on here, of course, but it most certainly does apply in the corporate world where she spends her working life).

No Audis because they're uncomfortable.

 

I was looking at an older 320 on ebay the other night and considered bidding despite the ban, but actually I'd rather have a Volvo or Saab so I wasn't too upset at the restriction.

[Ghosty]

Parents are probably going to commit joint suicide if I show up with an XJ.

 

Still going to.

[Guest 1an316]

Mrs 316 has her mini convertible, so i'm allowed any shite I like hence the trail of old mercs, saabs  and jags but only one at a time sadly

[Rod/b]

Parents are probably going to commit joint suicide if I show up with an XJ.

 

Still going to.

You’re the master of tact and sensitivity aren’t you?

[Zelandeth]

Zealandeth, have you really got a Beford Y series Duple coach?  Wow.  Pictures please!

 

Not *yet* but it's a pretty realistic plan for a few years down the line we reckon.  There are just other priorities that have to come first for now - and we need to get a ruddy great tree removed from the front yard yet (which we want rid of anyway as it's undermining the drive), once we eventually convince the Council to let us remove it.

 

It will happen though I reckon. 

 

Got to be a Y series Duple for me though - that's the vehicle which kicked off the interest for me in that whole sort of vehicle many years ago.

 

This exact one to be precise is to blame for it!  Sadly she's now long been turned into tin cans I believe.

 

 

Disclaimer: That's from somewhere on Flickr goodness knows how many years ago - I can't for the life of me remember who originally uploaded it...If I track it down later I'll link to the original when the website is actually co-operating rather than freezing up the moment I try to click on anything.

 

I knew that bus in its final days, she'd lost all the chrome aside from the radiator grill, headlight surrounds and front bumper by that point and was in plain white save for the operator name.  Despite the fact that it was obviously on its last legs and kept going by sheer willpower on the part of the operator, the thing had such character and utterly captivated me as a 14 (I think I would have been when I first started travelling on it) year old.  Was downhill into madness from there!

 

It wasn't a great time for me in my life, between problems that my parents had due to my father's ill health and having shall we simply state "a somewhat rough time at school" courtesy of my peers.  I thoroughly enjoyed the hour or so on the bus getting to and from school though, as it meant getting to spend time on that coach.

 

Several other vehicles we had on that route over the next five years, none resonated with me though to anywhere near the same extent as "Star" though.  Yes - if/when I do pick one up, that'll be the livery that will be getting recreated.

 

I know it's a daft, idiotic idea - especially given that Duple Dominant IIs like to rot like a 70s Fiat...Doesn't stop me wanting one though - and having known a gent who restores coaches for several years, do fully realise what I'm letting myself in for too!

[busmansholiday]

^^^^^ Good luck with that, they are getting rarer by the month. Being an AEC man, driving these was a pain, slow, crap steering and those Duple bodies are really shite, a true shitter objective then.

Despite this, and having killed AECs, Leylands, Volvo's and other associated heaps of shite, I only managed to break a single Bedford, and that was the gearbox that would only change gear when you inserted a bloody big crow bar into the selectors.

[Zelandeth]

Isn't that about normal for the gearchange on one of them?

 

I'm not kidding myself that it'll be easy to find or to keep in good shape. Especially as my intention is to try to find a decent one that's either a miraculous survivor or one that's had a decent amount of remedial work already done. I know that there's no such thing as a cheap good coach! They're an expensive, maddening, time consuming, sod of a hobby. That's if you get a good one!

 

I know that a Volvo B58 Plaxton Supreme would make far more sense - but they (to my eyes) don't look as good as the Dominant, and don't have the same emotional attachment.

 

The lack of the huge free standing dash in the Supreme counts against it too.

 

Have only driven a couple, but never found the steering bad, the one in particular seemed to nigh on know where it was going! They do take a bit of time to get up to speed though!

[xkjagnz]

However, there is one car which I know not even to mention as it'll get The Big No... The Farina Oxford/Cambridge (and other BMC badge-engineered variations thereof). Totally justified, as when she was little she narrowly avoided this man, who was driving one at the time.

 

My first car was a Farina Wolseley 16/60

[catsinthewelder]

I'm not allowed any more Renaults,  the lack of BMW's, Aldi's and Mercs is a joint decision.

 

The PT Cruiser was vetoed too.

[SiC]

Not allowed Green cars. Apparently they're unlucky and her mum agrees. I kid you not.

 

Plus anything that dirty/dodgy old men drive. Things like Octavia MK1/Passat B5/PT Cruiser/whatever else she decides fit that criteria.

 

Also limited to 3 cars as that's what fits outside the house. Solved that by renting a garage.

 

However old British cars seem to not be minded too much. Except I've yet to convince her that the MGB is reliable enough to travel in without breaking down all the time.

[Bradders59]

My wife had enough of me dismantling Omegas for parts on the drive and I eventually agreed to stop doing it. Of course soon after I was offered one for breaking for peanuts and couldn't turn it down.

I parked it in my work car park while I came up with a plan. After a while I had a eureka moment. The car concerned was a silver Omega and so was my daily driver.

I parked the breaker on the drive and parked the daily driver on the road, just far enough from the house, so she couldn't see it she looked out the window.

That bought me another week, and I then pulled the breaker apart as quickly as I could, at which point there was nothing that could be done to reverse the process.

I gave her the first £40 I took from parts off it to placate her and it worked a treat.

I then bought her a little greenhouse which took up residence on the very spot I previously used for dismantling Omegas, so my career as a scrappy came to an end.

[Mr A Lawrence]

I asked the OH this and her initial thoughts were MINI until I pointed out she'd previously let me have 2 of them.

 

A little more thought was done which came to anything with a Renault badge on it is a big no no.

 

She once told me when I was a recovery driver that if a brought anything home I'd better make sure that it was comfortable as I'd be sleeping in it. 

[skoda_fan]

Sad to see there seems to be a fair amount of residual anti-Skoda snobbery amongst the wimmin of this parish.

[rusty_vw_man]

The only thing banned outright is any 90's VAG.

 

All down to a very fine* reliable* mk3 golf that FTP wherever we went in it.

[TataBobu]

Apparently I'm not allowed to buy a bike. I'm looking at bikes with sidecars attached to them. I think I'll get one of those Ural thingies.

[panhard65]

Sad to see there seems to be a fair amount of residual anti-Skoda snobbery amongst the wimmin of this parish.

The poor old hearse gets a bad response as well so it seems. I don't understand the hostility really we will all ride in one at some point so you might as well enjoy it. My other half has driven my previous hearse but she can't get on with the left hand drive and column change on the current one. She hasn't risked trying to ban me from any thing but there are a few she wouldn't even sit in which now seems to stop me buying the real rough heaps.

[stephen01]

No bans as such-  just a numbers game, which I don't really stick to that well. I have 3 cars I don't drive, the twingo I should really get on the road and sell, and two Heralds, one may never see the road again as it's been off the road for the past 30 years, my 67 will go back on the road at some point, MOT exempt soon  

[Ghosty]

You’re the master of tact and sensitivity aren’t you?

I'm autistic. Damn straight I am*.

[dozeydustman]

My list of vehicles OH won't let me have is pretty much anything on this forum. Bit steep methinks, bearing in mind she has a 19 year old corolla.

[Asimo]

she has a 19 year old corolla.

Sign her up!