Is your car Grandpa Spec?

[Cord Fourteener]

2 hours ago, quicksilver said:

Thinking about it a bit more, I don't think grandpa spec is base but exactly the opposite. Your typical grandpa probably wants a bit of luxury in his retirement but doesn't want to be spending all his pension on fuel, nor does he want to show off, so he'd choose a mundane car in a high trim level but with a small engine, something like an Escort 1.3 Ghia or Metro Vanden Plas, probably automatic as it's easier to drive.

Agree about the video, he makes some good points but the execution is lazy - just dub a voice-over onto some stolen photos that aren't entirely relevant to what you're saying and call it done. A HubNut vlog exploring grandpa spec might be fun though.

 

I agree, hub nut would make a much better grandad spec video! 

[vulgalour]

[barefoot]

23 hours ago, Skizzer said:

I didn’t warm to that YouTuber at all, for what it’s worth.  It struck me as an unbearably smug, unoriginal, overlong voiceover to other people’s pilfered uncredited footage.  I had to stop halfway through.  Each to his own though, clearly it works for some.

Plus eleventy on this.

I didn't even get half way through , so NO. My car is not grandpa spec.

[rantingYoof]

My Saab 9000 was quite Grandad spec.

 

Black, proper three spokes, CSE trim level (it was a hatchback not a saloon, alas) with velour and virtually no blanking plates.

 

Buuuuut it was one of the very few 2.0 16v nasp powered ones sold, with a stonking 135hp.

 

So it was very slow but thirstier than everything from the 2.0 LPT with 150hp to the Aero.

 

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

[Cord Fourteener]

8 minutes ago, rantingYoof said:

My Saab 9000 was quite Grandad spec.

 

Black, proper three spokes, CSE trim level (it was a hatchback not a saloon, alas) with velour and virtually no blanking plates.

 

Buuuuut it was one of the very few 2.0 16v nasp powered ones sold, with a stonking 135hp.

 

So it was very slow but thirstier than everything from the 2.0 LPT with 150hp to the Aero.

 

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

I can imagine it was.

Mine came to me as a 150hp LPT then I had SaabNoob (Karl) over at UKSaabs send me a tuned ECU - upon recommendation from everyone there - for £80. Turned it into a pocket rocket! Torque steering everywhere, 0-60 indicated in the high six seconds. And it kept it's decent mpg in day-to-day driving.

But n/a would be grandad spec for sure.

[anonymous user]

Hmm, low, but not quite base, spec eco box with sheepskin seat covers and private plate (yes I'm a twat)

[Cord Fourteener]

1 hour ago, anonymous user said:

Hmm, low, but not quite base, spec eco box with sheepskin seat covers and private plate (yes I'm a twat)

Not just any econobox, but the best value for money econobox with the best base kit. Definitely good value.

[puddlethumper]

No Grandpa wagon here. 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

My car was bought by my Grandad and I inherited it when my Grandmother died.  He’a blind and 91, so unlikely to use it.

Surprisingly un-grandpa.  Yes it has steel wheels, wheel trims and a cloth interior but it’s the most powerful engine variant, diesel and even has climate control - and not particularly good value for money when new, although probably was second hand, when he bought it.

It is an estate variant though.  Which makes me look like an eternal geography teacher.

[AnthonyG]

Virtually any Rover 216, 416 or 45 saloon was grandpa spec, that was the target market after all. 

Plus Vanden Plas Allegros, and anything Austin-Rover in the 1980s with that name attached to it...apart from maybe the SD1, I think VP was the top spec if a Vitesse was just too mad/brutal for you.

[Cord Fourteener]

10 hours ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

My car was bought by my Grandad and I inherited it when my Grandmother died.  He’a blind and 91, so unlikely to use it.

Surprisingly un-grandpa.  Yes it has steel wheels, wheel trims and a cloth interior but it’s the most powerful engine variant, diesel and even has climate control - and not particularly good value for money when new, although probably was second hand, when he bought it.

It is an estate variant though.  Which makes me look like an eternal geography teacher.

What car is it?

[Cord Fourteener]

7 hours ago, AnthonyG said:

Virtually any Rover 216, 416 or 45 saloon was grandpa spec, that was the target market after all. 

Plus Vanden Plas Allegros, and anything Austin-Rover in the 1980s with that name attached to it...apart from maybe the SD1, I think VP was the top spec if a Vitesse was just too mad/brutal for you.

True, that.

[sierraman]

Yeah I don’t think anyone under the age of about a hundred bought a 2000 Mondeo Verona (limited edition you know) and mines completely original apart from the sills...  Strangely enough my grandfathers car was a special edition Talbot Sunbeam. 

[iainrcz]

Boring colour, check.
2.0 na petrol with modest output, check.
Manual transmission, check.
Small wheels, check (for a modern anyway)
Cloth interior, check.

5/7 who knew an 86 was a wanna be giffer chariot.

Sent from my VFD 710 using Tapatalk

[GrumpiusMaximus]

1 hour ago, Tim_E said:

What car is it?

The most boring and derided car on Earth.  MKIV Golf Diesel Estate.

[stuboy]

mondeo                                                 galaxy

silver                                                       beige

1.8 petrol                                                diesel

edge model                                          zetec model

manual                                                  manual 6 speed 

18inch wheels                                      16inch wheels

std plate                                                 private plate

cloth interior                                        cloth interior

 

 

grandad spec bar wheels and numberplate

[2MB]

16 hours ago, rantingYoof said:

My Saab 9000 was quite Grandad spec.

 

Black, proper three spokes, CSE trim level (it was a hatchback not a saloon, alas) with velour and virtually no blanking plates.

 

Buuuuut it was one of the very few 2.0 16v nasp powered ones sold, with a stonking 135hp.

 

So it was very slow but thirstier than everything from the 2.0 LPT with 150hp to the Aero.

 

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

My dad had one just like that, but it was a CS with every option. First owner must’ve been adamant they didn’t want a fancy turbocharger 

[captain_70s]

All Triumph Acclaims are grandpa spec, regardless of trim.

All non-HL Dolomites are grandpa spec.

[Lacquer Peel]

My Volvo has a mostly beige interior with cloth seats but looks quite sporty on the outside with foglights, alloys and a spoiler. Mixed granddad rating.

 

 

[paulscavalier]

Does this qualify as grandpa spec.?
 

[Uncle Jimmy]

No such thing a 'grandpa spec' nowadays, soon everyone will be driving 'premium' German euroboxes. 

[junkyarddog]

Cars don't come much more grandad than a Vauxhall viva hc!

 

I'm not that old,honest  

[paulscavalier]

I like that ?

[Uncle Jimmy]

My Grandfather, RIP, wouldn't drive anything but an Austin, German cars were strictly verboten and God forbid any mention of the Japanese. 

Some of the old boys used to like a Skoda MB, maybe a Renner4 or Saab 96 if they were a bit socialist but most stuck to a Luton, Longbridge or Dagenham product. 

[paulscavalier]

I used to live in a small town and even in the late eighties the admittedly small second hand car dealer next to the filling station told my mum who was buying a small car that he didn’t sell Japanese cars because a lot of the older people in the town wouldn’t touch them because of the war. My mum was happy with a Fiesta ....

[catsinthewelder]

22 hours ago, stuboy said:

 

grandad spec bar wheels and numberplate

Aye, Barry's grandad ?

[Cord Fourteener]

16 hours ago, paulscavalier said:

I used to live in a small town and even in the late eighties the admittedly small second hand car dealer next to the filling station told my mum who was buying a small car that he didn’t sell Japanese cars because a lot of the older people in the town wouldn’t touch them because of the war. My mum was happy with a Fiesta ....

Weren't Fiestas German?

[Cord Fourteener]

16 hours ago, Nibblet said:

My Grandfather, RIP, wouldn't drive anything but an Austin, German cars were strictly verboten and God forbid any mention of the Japanese. 

Some of the old boys used to like a Skoda MB, maybe a Renner4 or Saab 96 if they were a bit socialist but most stuck to a Luton, Longbridge or Dagenham product. 

Not my Grandad. Racist bastard though he was (despite living with an Indian family whilst working in India) he bought a Nissan Bluebird turbo and top spec. That's after his top spec Capri 2.8i

[stuboy]

1 hour ago, catsinthewelder said:

Aye, Barry's grandad ?

only 44???

[paulscavalier]

Yes but Fords always sold well wherever they were built.