THE GUBBERMINT ALWAYS KNOWS BEST

[Spottedlaurel]

I'm well chuffed; My favourite international vehicle discussion forum / magazine / site of awesomeness, Hooniverse, has just published an article of mine.

 

About the guilty pleasure of collecting car brochures. Here if anybody's interested.

 

Enjoyable lunchtime reading! I can probably you help you out a bit with stuff from my spares/duplicates box.

[Tayne]

Nice work on publication Earl.

Now get that goddamn Tagora brochure over to the scanner!

[barrett]

Excellent read Earl! I really enjoyed that. Congrats on getting something published on an 'outside' website too, I'm sure you feel all warm and fuzzy inside now. I'd love to do stuff like that but my inability to form words into coherent sentences is against me I'm afraid.

[dollywobbler]

Went laning around Nant-y-Moch in the Rangie this afternoon. It isn't ideal going laning on your own, but this place isn't hideously remote and I'd driven it before, so knew it wasn't too bad. Well, apart from the small matter of a lot of rain and traffic since I last did it! Bit of a brown trouser moment at one point - getting stuck just after a good 30+degree lean. That feels a lot when you're so high up! Thankfully a bit of bravery and throttle got me through it.

 

Also clouted the towbar good and proper just after that and discovered that cows have their own rules about giving way. I reckon they've been speaking to their cousins in India...

 

Pics to follow. Not of the brown trousers...

[Spottedlaurel]

Camry Sport passed its MoT, needing just a wiper blade. Will now formally put that one up for sale.

 

Two passes in two working days, not bad I reckon. Nothing else in the fleet (as it stands) needs doing until next year, so no worries on that front for the rest of 2011.

[trigger]

I'm well chuffed; My favourite international vehicle discussion forum / magazine / site of awesomeness, Hooniverse, has just published an article of mine.

 

About the guilty pleasure of collecting car brochures. Here if anybody's interested.

 

Well done Earl!, I wish i could write like that but I've always sucked at writing (and speaking), I know how you feel though, I'm always on ebay looking for job lots of car magazines, annoyingly they always pop up bloody miles away, It's not worth buying £10 postage just for 10 magazines i think.

 

I used to collect brochures as well but i had a very silly moment in about 2005 were i sold most of them off on ebay which I'm still annoyed about now, I have started to buy a few replacement ones now though, I bought a 1985 Austin Rover cars one recently at a boot sale for £1.

[dollywobbler]

Off road pics! Isn't she a beauty? She could be yours for just £995! Then I'll be stuck with off-roading in the 2CV, which means I'll keep breaking it.

 

Suspension works fine.

 

Seems pretty water tight.

 

This cow was concerned that its relatives were used in the interior, but it's hardy velour, not cow skin.

[wuvvum]

Went on a car run organised by the local Sherpa Coupe Owners' Club yesterday. I took the Beemer, which coped well enough with 100-odd miles of crawling along the back lanes of Norfolk and Suffolk, although it did suffer slightly from a sticking NSR brake caliper (my fault for leaving it parked all week with the handbrake yanked on hard) and the nearside wiper arm made a bid for freedom during a torrential shower on the way back which saw me having to crank the wipers up to full speed - the spring clip which holds the arm onto the spindle seems a little weak, I might have to apply some glue at some stage.

 

Other than that it was thoroughly enjoyable, and there was a nicely eclectic mix of cars, from a gorgeous little 1930s front-wheel-drive BSA up to a '72 Corvette Stingray and a vast early '60s Merc 300SE coupe. In fact Sherpa coupes were probably in the minority, which was nice. The Merc SLK and '07-plate Saab 9-3 convertible were, I felt, taking the piss ever so slightly though. I went round with my mate in his 1969 Mini Cooper S, which behaved impeccably.

 

Highlight of the day for me was seeing a snake cross the road right in front of me. I've never seen a snake in the wild in this country before. It was only a grass snake mind, but still not something I expected to see. We also stopped off at a museum on a disused WW2 airbase, which was quite interesting - plenty of old radial engines salvaged from crashed bombers to poke around, and a couple of dead Merlins as well.

[RoadworkUK]

Cheers Trig, Tayne, Cort, Barrett, Laurel.

 

I always wanted to get involved in car writing, somehow, but it's entirely the wrong time to be doing it. Magazines are closing left right and centre, and it's highly unlikely I'll ever make a career out of it, looks like I missed the boat by about 20 years. Should have tried when I was 10.

 

Damn good fun as a hobby, though. The best thing is that you're able to re-live everything as you write it down. Love it.

 

Dollywobbler; that RR looks delicious.

[trigger]

Wuvvum was that with the SVEC?

[Cavcraft]

BMW's gone, exchanged for something 'slightly unpopular' on here

[cort16]

?

[Tayne]

Silver Audi TDi S-line or Sherpa Coupe?

[Father Ted]

Oh, it'll be a VW Beetle knowing our Cav and his love of VW's.

A proper one too, all cal look and frenched lights.

[Cavcraft]

?

 

Took me a while but

 

]*Got a Vectra, this time it's a 2.5 V6 GSi

[Father Ted]

V6= FTW.

Well done.

[scooters]

I'm heading back into hospital today for an operation...will be in for at least a week, perhaps two.

 

It will give me a chance to type up the backlog of reviews I have including:

 

Uber shit Renner Scenic

Subaru Legacy AWD

306 DT

 

 

- all a bit newer than the usual fair!

[Guest Len H]

 

I acquired this 405 Executive TD (parked next to a bloated impostor) at the weekend from autoshite member 'baldrickthecunning'. I would have liked an estate but they are increasingly difficult to find in decent condition.

 

It blitzed the 600 mile drive home and it steers, rides and handles superbly, the engine is the punchiest XUD9T I've tried.

On the twisty B-road between my house and the speed it was carrying was barely noticed by me. I've never driven a car that's so unruffled on difficult roads.

Top marks Peugeot!

 

There's a bit of a balljoint knock and it could do with a new timing belt (I'll just worry about it if it's not done) and oil change on the downside.

[Cavcraft]

I'm heading back into hospital today for an operation...will be in for at least a week, perhaps two.

 

It will give me a chance to type up the backlog of reviews I have including:

 

Uber shit Renner Scenic

Subaru Legacy AWD

306 DT

 

 

- all a bit newer than the usual fair!

 

Good luck with the op.

[cort16]

I was watching the Avantime on ebay with no intention of buying it but it sold for £1600. Does this not seem cheap or am I being swayed by my love of these future grande shiters?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130568567429?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

[dollywobbler]

Nice purchase Len. That picture neatly shows what has gone so very wrong with Peugeot. The 05 an early 06 Pugs really are good at the ride/handling combo. Probably because they don't weigh as much as a house.

[scooters]

 

I acquired this 405 Executive TD (parked next to a bloated impostor) at the weekend from autoshite member 'baldrickthecunning'. I would have liked an estate but they are increasingly difficult to find in decent condition.

 

It blitzed the 600 mile drive home and it steers, rides and handles superbly, the engine is the punchiest XUD9T I've tried.

On the twisty B-road between my house and the speed it was carrying was barely noticed by me. I've never driven a car that's so unruffled on difficult roads.

Top marks Peugeot!

 

There's a bit of a balljoint knock and it could do with a new timing belt (I'll just worry about it if it's not done) and oil change on the downside.

 

Top buy.... having recently got the 306 dt i am amazed at how much i rate it.

psa really seem to know their shit back then. What toys do you get with an executive spec?

[trigger]

405 TD are probably one of the best diesels ever made, cobbled with a brilliant chassis and comfortable seats you can't really fault them, and the estates are even better, sadly it was just the poor french build quality that let them down with trim that kept falling off and sagging headlinings on the estates.

[Lord Sterling]

I was watching the Avantime on ebay with no intention of buying it but it sold for £1600. Does this not seem cheap or am I being swayed by my love of these future grande shiters?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130568567429?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

 

Avantimes and the Vel Satis seemed to have depreciated like nothing else, you can pick one of these up for between £750 and £4000. My mate has one in exactly the same spec and colour, I've not driven one and only been a passenger in one but it seems pretty well appointed. Not sure what the crack is with engine jobs, whether, like the Espace its an engine out job to change the spark plugs or what.

 

R9UKE will know more about these.

[Cavcraft]

405 TD are probably one of the best diesels ever made, cobbled with a brilliant chassis and comfortable seats you can't really fault them, and the estates are even better, sadly it was just the poor french build quality that let them down with trim that kept falling off and sagging headlinings on the estates.

 

/\

This, though I'd add the annoy squeeks/rattles that came and went from the interior trim. Never know interiors to do this as badly as Pugs do, though you get used to them in the end.

[cort16]

I really fancy an Avantime and i thought they went for much more than the Vel Satisisies until I saw this one.

[Guest Len H]

None of the 405s I've owned have squeaked or rattled excessively and the 2 estates had perfect headlining, I think the early (pre-93) creaky dashboards were bad for rattles though. It seems reasonably solid inside, it's better built than my Mk3 Golf.

It is a lightly built car overall, but I'm quite happy to forgo motoring journalist-led delusions of 'solidity' for agility.

 

The Executive has all the mid '90s high end features you'd expect; 6 disc CD changer, leather heated (not working) seats, air conditioning, headlamp washers (not working), etc.

I think it might have been owned by an actual Executive, judging by the stub of a BT mobile phone aerial drilled through the rear screen.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Check out this MAJOR MILESTONE:

 

 

I've now done 32k in this car since I got it on the road, 25k on the new secondhand engine I fitted almost a year ago. Its been totally reliable and i still love driving it (good job seeing as i'm sat in it for 3hrs/day most days). Drove it to the Bo11ox museum last weekend, averaged 40mpg and nailed a lot of Belgian motorway at 80-90mph.

 

 

Soon be time for a bit of TLC on the bodywork, i've never polished it in all the time i've had it.

[dollywobbler]

Nice one Mr Bol. Glad it's turned out to be a decent motor after all that work!

[Pete-M]

Range Rover fiddlage started today...

 

First thing to go, side steps. 'orrible things designed so short arse Pikey bints can drive Range Rovers. This is a bad thing.

 

 

 

Much better.

 

Investigated the slight wobbly clunkiness from the front end - which had worried the previous owner into flogging it - and discovered that the offside front anti roll bar link was missing, presumed dead. £17.00 later and it's all nice and lovely again.

 

Gave it a quick scrub too. It's rather nice.

 

 

Avalon blue, not a colour I remember seeing on one before.