The grumpy thread

[warren t claim]

One of the new centres of world capitalism.

 

You did hear about this...? 

 

http://history1900s.about.com/od/coldwa1/a/berlinwall.htm

 

It was meant to be a flippant quote! Oops!

[warren t claim]

What are you trying to sell?

[Angrydicky]

How is it possible to live in Essex and not track down a series of complete and utter oxygen thieving morons and smash their bastarding heads in?

I dunno, Essex folk aren't that bad. Of course there's plenty of waste of space chavs around but I wouldn't say it's any worse than other areas of the country, Scunthorpe  and Leeds for example....

The only thing that irritates me are a few local so-called car enthusiasts who can't see past anything that doesn't have a blue oval badge on it. Bloke who saw my dad's Consul asked me why I'm not driving a "proper car" like that? Maybe it's because I prefer BMC/BL cars?

[Hendry]

Family.

 

True what they say about being able to pick your friends but not your relations

[autofive]

Car clubs.

 

Right, so when I want something off you it's the last one ever made and all the money, but if I'm selling something it's worthless and you're allowed to low ball me worse than a comedown?

 

Oh.

 

 

tell me about it

 

I offered a scimitar very cheap on the scimitar owners club forum and got a load of shite about it as im 'not a member' from some cloth cap newby member who was stupid enough to pay the 15 quid to join

 

fuck you dave cock. (or Cook) I cut it up with a grinder and im selling the parts for a huge profit to 'non-members'

[eddyramrod]

 when I want something it's the last one ever made and all the money, but if I'm selling something it's worthless

 

That has been my ENTIRE experience of buying or selling absolutely anything, throughout my 54 years.

[maxpower]

Guy comes to look at connect van and offers stupid price... "i have travelled all the way down from leeds"

 

"the advert says the van is in london, so you knew how far you would have to travel"

 

"yeah but..."   save your money cockhead and buy a van in leeds

[skattrd]

I left work 10 minutes early so I would get back home in time to collect a small package from the post office. Well, after 1.5hrs stationary on the A46 I didn;t get my parcel.

Oh, and what am i trying to collect from the post office? The N75 valve I bought from a breaker over 2 weeks ago. They have managed to send the wrong part twice all ready. I gave them the damned part number and told them to check it was the right one before sending it each time. It had better be the right one this time.

 

Thinking about it now, two weeks without the turbo working is possibly why I'm hating the bora more than usual.

[Cavcraft]

Are you getting it second hand, Chris? I don't think they're very expensive new to be honest, mine was £50 inc. fitting from a specialist.

[skattrd]

Yep, second hand Billy, trade from VW they're £83+VAT. I've tried a few other places and nowhere was under £80 for a shitty plastic valve.

[Cavcraft]

WTF? £80? Robbing bastards.

[Wilko220]

tell me about it

 

I offered a scimitar very cheap on the scimitar owners club forum and got a load of shite about it as im 'not a member' from some cloth cap newby member who was stupid enough to pay the 15 quid to join

 

fuck you dave cock. (or Cook) I cut it up with a grinder and im selling the parts for a huge profit to 'non-members'

 

Just had a read of the Scimitar club thread for my own entertainment/depression. Some of these dicks really do make you wonder.

[retrogeezer]

Yep, second hand Billy, trade from VW they're £83+VAT. I've tried a few other places and nowhere was under £80 for a shitty plastic valve.

 

Is this one of those VAG parts that would be cheaper if you bought it in a Skoda garage?? Or is that an urban myth?

[Jon]

That's funny, the 205 wasn't there when I came home from work last night. Must've been a really windy night to blow it that far....

 

 

And leave the passenger door slightly open.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh.  

[vulgalour]

@Wat:  yeah, don't worry, I get you on this.  That's why I thought paying for new brake shoes was more important than another tin of purple paint and do you know what, new brake shoes stop the car far better than that tin of purple paint would have.  Funny how that works.

 

@cav_estate: Balls, that's not a good thing to have happen at all.

[RedSparrow]

Just had a read of the Scimitar club thread for my own entertainment/depression. Some of these dicks really do make you wonder.

 

Link for LOLZ please.

[beko1987]

 

Oh.  

 

Bastards, sorry to see that dude 

[Wilko220]

Link for LOLZ please.

http://www.scimitarweb.co.uk/sgwrs/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=20599

 

@cavestate - really sorry to see that. Hope you're able to get the parts you need to fix it without too much hassle.

[autofive]

I can film this in HD for you if required....................I could do with a laugh at the expense of a jeb-ended car club.

 

too late

 

its down to a rolling chassis now, and i will be cutting that up over the weekend

[autofive]

http://www.tradermediagroup.com/media/59694/auto-trader-digital-transition-070513.pdf

 

autotrader to be no longer in print

[plasticvandan]

ahh the scimitar lot,being a hardcore Reliant 3 wheeler/small 4 wheeler fanatic,sometimes i dont get on with some of them lol,mainly when i remind them as they try to dissaccociate the Scimitar from the 3 wheelers,that their cars wouldnt have existed had it not been for the money brought in by the success of the trikes,and that the money wasted on the woefully ugly ss1 was the main reason reliant started going down the pan in the 80s

Plus they dont seem to get why scim values are low.its simple.its got nothing to do with the delboy thing,but anyone who can afford to run a 22mpg classic,and has the money to spend,is going to get something flashy like a big jag,not a scimitar.plus it annoys them that a really decent classic (hate that word!) 3 wheeler is worth more than an average scimitar LOL lol

[autofive]

having recently watched both 'trouble at the top' and 'the cars the star' i see your point.

 

also, too many scimitar owners pay over 2K for a shiny example then (after zero maintenance) when something breaks (rather than repair it) they put it up for sale and expect to get their money back. A thirty - forty year old car needs constant attention, not just a rub with a chammy.

[coalnotdole]

 anyone who can afford to run a 22mpg classic,and has the money to spend,is going to get something flashy like a big jag,

 

Sounds like the voice of ignorance there Dan, you seem to be implying that anyone who owns a scimitar does so because they couldnt afford anything else. There are loads of people who are passionate about the cars which have a lot to offer in terms of looks, performance handling and comfort. Lots of owners are prepared to spend decent money looking after their cars, values are mixed but there have been sharp rises in the value of  tidy GT's and GTC's and as numbers of GTE's decrease I can see prices starting to climb on the Se5/5a's too.

 

I have no idea where this percived sobbery against the Scimitar comes from they are actually great cars and every bit as good as a comparable GT car of the time. Sure they have thier faults but most the period reviews were favorable and the GTE in particular did a lot to influence the designs of other car makers well into the 70's. But lets not let facts get in the way shall we?

 

Its easy to read a single thead on a forum with a couple of twattish posts and get a poor impression but I really dont think thats a good representation of either the cars or the club. Lets not forget that last year at the NEC show the reliant owners club and and Scimitar lot put on a joint stand which was well regarded and well recived. So I really think your overstating the issue.

 

I have to agree with the sentiment of Autofives origonal Grump though, clearly the comments by Cookieboy in that thread show him to be a complete wanker. Hope you make a decent return on 6a, from the photos I thought there was about £1000 in spares there.

[Station]

Is there a bigger bunch of anal, incestuous fuckers than over there on Retro Rides? I don't think I've ever posted on a thread without having a sarcky comment from some of those clique-y twats about how I've made a mistake in my posting, "For Fuck's Sake"."

[Junkman]

Sounds like the voice of ignorance there Dan, you seem to be implying that anyone who owns a scimitar does so because they couldnt afford anything else. There are loads of people who are passionate about the cars which have a lot to offer in terms of looks, performance handling and comfort. Lots of owners are prepared to spend decent money looking after their cars, values are mixed but there have been sharp rises in the value of  tidy GT's and GTC's and as numbers of GTE's decrease I can see prices starting to climb on the Se5/5a's too.

 

I have no idea where this percived sobbery against the Scimitar comes from they are actually great cars and every bit as good as a comparable GT car of the time. Sure they have thier faults but most the period reviews were favorable and the GTE in particular did a lot to influence the designs of other car makers well into the 70's. But lets not let facts get in the way shall we?

 

Its easy to read a single thead on a forum with a couple of twattish posts and get a poor impression but I really dont think thats a good representation of either the cars or the club. Lets not forget that last year at the NEC show the reliant owners club and and Scimitar lot put on a joint stand which was well regarded and well recived. So I really think your overstating the issue.

 

I have to agree with the sentiment of Autofives origonal Grump though, clearly the comments by Cookieboy in that thread show him to be a complete wanker. Hope you make a decent return on 6a, from the photos I thought there was about £1000 in spares there.

 

I must second this.

A friend of mine in Germany wanted to add an SE5a to his vast collection of old chod and sent me shopping here in Blighty. I found a reasonably good one with a fresh MoT, overdrive, and the ultra-rare electric windows, all for 1100 squid, but as we all know, old cars do need this and that. So it was decided to sort a few things before it goes to Germany due to much better resources in the UK. This led to me driving the car quite frequently for about six weeks, which was also seen as a good shakedown before the long trip to its new home.

 

Before this, I was pretty nondescript towards Scimitars, although I always found the look of the GTEs quite nifty. But I'm now converted. There is nothing negative I can say about these cars. They are superb GTs in the truest sense of the abbreviation. They are long legged grand tourers, ideally suited for gentlemanly cross continental trips in total comfort, and once outside Britain, they are coveted 'exotics' without being tarnished with the reputation they enjoy* in this country.

 

The only thing that actually keeps me away from SE5a ownership is in fact those ignorant folks slagging the Scimitar off as some form of uber-plastic-pig, which it absolutely isn't. I don't know for how much longer I can resist and become able to ignore those folks and the fact of being frowned upon. I think now is a good time to look into Scimitar ownership, because numbers are still dwindling at an alarming pace, and prices will shoot up in the foreseeable future.

 

As for that bloke on the Club forum - stupid gits come from all walks of life, they aren't exclusive to the Reliant Scimitar Club, trust me on that.

[dollywobbler]

I'm not sure how I feel about Scimitars to be honest. Mine wasn't quite as joyous as I expected. But then, I've driven much more expensive sports cars of the same era which have similarly left me cold, so at least the Scimitar is good value. Found the club entirely helpful.

 

Clubs can be very, very different but without them, we'd really be in shit creek. Yes, there are arseholes in some clubs (probably all of them) but there are also a lot of people who care passionately about the future of the cars they own. Clubs often jump in and get parts remade when the commercial world says (ten years to earn back £1000 on a bunch of panels? F*ck that!).

[RedSparrow]

Seen the trailer for the new Alan Partridge film - They missed a trick there, he's driving a new Kia covered in dealer advertising, an MG6 would've been far more appropriate!
I recon Partridge is bang on their target market.

[plasticvandan]

coalnotdole,i prob didnt explain my viewpoint well enough,and the last thing i wanted to do was cause offence.

what i was trying to say is that my theory on why scims are undervalued and under appreciated is not because there is anything wrong with them or their image.I would have one tomorrow if i could afford to run and maintain one properly,but the scim club seem to always be trying to up the values and the interest in them to a wider audience,fair enough,but what i meant was that mr arthur smith,56,semi retired wanting a big classic car to run around in at the weekends,would not automatically think scimitar,theres a wide range of other more status symbol cars out there he could choose from,its not the scims fault,just a lot of options.

I think they are a prime example of if you have to ask you wont understand,ie the people that own them generally love them to bits,but they will always be a specialised more exclusive car.

[autofive]

I think GRP cars have a bed press in general, too many people see them as kitcars and therefore badly built and hard to get spares for

[Mr Lobster]

The Great British Summer.  I'm supposed to be trading at the classic car show at Hoghton Tower nr Preston on Sunday and despite this being summer the weather forecast is for heavy rain and wind.

 

Fucking deep joy.