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What’s in your work car park?


The Vicar

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Not sure if we’ve had one of these threads before, we might have, but here’s another one for good measure anyway. 

So, what’s in your work car park? Anything interesting/old? I live in Rome, and from my office window there is a sea of Pandas and Puntos. Among them there is also:

a daily driven Lancia Thema turbo 

a very early looking e36 saloon 

a Vatican registered pre-facelift Mk3 Mondeo Ghia 

a Vatican registered mk1 Renault Master 

a couple of interesting moderns too, namely a VW Up! GTI & a Cayman 987

what’s the shite situation like where you are?

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39 minutes ago, straightSix said:

This was yesterday. I work in the Silverstone technology park so always loads of interesting machinery around. Forgot to take a photo but there was a Holden Maloo last week. Also an 850r estate, x308 xjr, a JRG xjs, occasional Clio Williams 

IMG_20230306_130654687_HDR.jpg

That looks like the limo body at that angle. Could be wrong. Cool as fuck with those plastic arch extensions on though!! 

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Very limited amounts of interesting in my current works car park - it's usually exec team and visitors only. All modern SUVs apart from the CEO with a Tesla Model S and one of the directors with a BMW M4. Respect to the C-level exec still rocking a 60 plate Freelander though.

At my previous job, we had 3/4 of the building and a consultancy firm had the other 1/4 - one of them had a 70s Beetle of some description. Most of us didn't have anything interesting -  someone had an Audi S5 with the V8, we had one guy with a Harley that you could hear half a mile down the road, and someone had an E36 coupe for a bit. Most of the devs were keeping up the shiter end of the car park - For the first 4 months of the job I still had my Megane, we had one alternating between a Zafira B and a Ph1 Mk2 Clio, one had a Smart Roadster before I started but just kept buying random crap to get to work in (I remember a Corsa C, a 206 and a 106 - now has a new Fiesta ST). My mate had an early Mk3 2.5 V6 Mondeo Ghia X in what I think was Juice Green looking back - was a magificient beast but eventually he chopped that in for a Freelander and then as working from home kicked in, a 207. I later saw the Mondeo outside a garage near me - it had been bought from a trade auction and was being used for a banger rally and had been impressively graffiti'd all over - Carbaba indicates it's not been scrapped but it hasn't been MOT'd since after he traded it in. 

Interestingly the CEO that left shortly before we were made redundant drove round in an immaculate 57 plate Citroen C3 - believe it was his mothers that he inherited - Given the MOT history indicates it had a grand total of 8000 miles in 2017 and was still only on 33k when it failed its last one in December, I'm inclined to believe it (and don't blame him for getting use out of it!). Don't think it's still his given his career change, he's a current Tory MP.

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On my shift, my Team leader has a Jag XJ, an X350 I think it is. Other than that, nothing exciting. Unless you like Japanese estate cars with hybrid powertrains.

The engineering department manager has a Sapphire Cosworth, one engineer has an "offroading" Disco and another has an electric MG 5 estate.

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My 2004 C Class is the oldest car in the company car park day to day. The Marketing Manager does have a '74 HRH Princess Anne Scimitar with a breathed on 24v Cosworth lump. Very rare he brings it in though. 

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This thread reveals the downside of working from home. 😂 I know many people in the same industry do drive some pretty interesting car but it's not the same innit. Then again back when I still had to go to the office my car almost always was the oldest, most unusual thing in the carpark anyway, so I couldn't even get the satisfaction of discovering weird tats around the place.

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Home office so whatever is in my drive.

Previous employer carpark had a Nissan Pao, Lotus Elan and whatever I usually turned up in so that's something.

Most people are now working from home so nothing exciting at my current place other than the occasional flavor of the year supercar.

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Like Ghosty… school car parks are not the final word in interesting cars.

I usually win oldest in the car park if I’m in the Saab, unless one of the TAs brings their P Reg Mazda Bongo. Other than that it’s an 03 plate Vauxhall Signum owned by our DT technician and a 2002 MR2 owned by one teachers… in the summer one of the assistant heads sometimes brings his 2000 Audi TT… 

Mostly dull blobs from 2010 to the present day. 

 

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46 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Like Ghosty… school car parks are not the final word in interesting cars.

Ooh I don't know about that, there were a couple of interesting motors in mine, admittedly about 12 years ago.

One of the TAs had a K-reg Rover 416, a science teacher had a modified late 90s Civic, and one of the SLT used to have a C-reg Renault 4.

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On my team it's the usual German PCP'd fodder, Audi Q7, Audi A7 (×2, both brothers), Ceo has a newish S Class,  BMW 5 series,  Tesla, don't know which one, not remotely interested and up to last Christmas my old Peugeot 206, yes I was badly letting the side down, I'm now in a virtually free 2005 E Class with lunar mileage so I'm more "acceptable " now, they've known me long enough to realise that I really don't give a f#ck about appearances and won't join the rent a car mob. 

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Mostly leased shite and Euroboxes, but there are a few decent things (depending on the campus). One manager has a Soarer, another has a LS400  (‘92 I think, bit crusty), and one a JDM Estima. Students can have some right garbage.

Until recently there was a stunning Saab 9-3 Carlsson but it was switched out for some Audi POS. I’d have gone in for that if I’d have known. Lovely it was.

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Funnily enough I spotted a late Herald convertible in mine recently.

The most unusual thing in the last year was a late 1970s Corvette in that was just VERY ORANGE in that unambiguous American way…

Weirdest thing ever, last seen a few years ago, was a late 70s or very early 80s Mini Clubman estate with some sort of hot motorcycle engine in place of the A series, much of the front end appeared to be attached to a space frame underneath the panels, it was very cleverly done and engineered yet just looked like a random 1970s blue Mini estate with wider wheels on the outside.  

No Cooper lookalike crap on it at all! 👍

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Mostly dull moderns, there are a few older vehicles such as a ‘04 Golf and ‘53 Clio. The guy who I work with drives a mint T-plate Seat Arosa in frog green.

Theres a chap who’s into his American stuff and sometimes comes in with his ‘97 Dodge pickup.

There is however a guy who has a lot of nice Alfa stuff and has been on a certain YouTube channel…

 

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We get the odd interesting thing being a retail park. I saw a Morgan and a McLaren on the same day once.
More our level there's a red Mk1 Punto I see occasionally right at the other end of the estate, must belong to someone who works in one of the shops.

Seen this a couple of times.

CX in work car park (1).JPG

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My old office was at an automotive proving ground, not allowed pics but everyday had loads of incredible new cars on test, and some old oddities. My favourite was a Tommy Kaira thingy, owned by a customer. McLaren F1 was a regular, too.

New place is miserable. My Elise and Fiat 500 are the only things you’d remember if you parked there. Even engineering colleagues drive forgettable dull stuff.

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