A thread in praise of the private car!

[dessiato]

Absolutely!! I spent my early years with constant earache from my dad driving me round in a Triumph Spitfire with the hood down. Character building.

I love drop tops. As long as it's sunny and the temp is 18 or more the roof is down. I get earache in my left ear but that's the one with significant hearing loss and with tinnitus.

 

[plurker]

Volvo?
I drove my dad's V70 for a few weeks after he passed, an ok car but very much not my style. The father-in-law has a 164 which again is nice, but dull

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

The C70 came out of TWR, fine pedigree...

 

[dessiato]

The C70 came out of TWR, fine pedigree...

Although many Volvo are a bit ordinary when they make a good one it's good. Remember the T5?

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Yeah, quality cars that get a bad rep because some of their drivers can't drive, but many are fast and handle well, up there with BMW and Audi.

 

[dessiato]

Yeah, quality cars that get a bad rep because some of their drivers can't drive, but many are fast and handle well, up there with BMW and Audi.

But more discrete and less boy racer. I like the idea of sleepers. It's why I like Honda too. They can seem dull, but get the right one and it'll give many "good" cars a run for the money.

 

[hash tag]

Exactly. Which is partly why Richard Dunwoody and Cleement Wilson pitched a Volvo V70R against the likes Ferrari, Lamborgini, Porsche Etc. in the 2004 Gumball Rally. It wasn't cool, but it shifted without raising too many eyebrows.
Our Gumball Rally by Clement Wilson - Books - Random House Books New Zealand

 

[DownwardDog]

Exactly. Which is partly why Richard Dunwoody and Cleement Wilson pitched a Volvo V70R against the likes Ferrari, Lamborgini, Porsche Etc. in the 2004 Gumball Rally. It wasn't cool, but it shifted without raising too many eyebrows.
Our Gumball Rally by Clement Wilson - Books - Random House Books New Zealand

The Gumball record is now 28 hours 50 minutes - 98mph average. There's no way a V70R would be fast enough these days.

 

[felixthecat]

I am unable to drive at the moment due to a broken shoulder. It has just taken me 2.5 and a bit hours to get back from fracture clinic, cold, wet and in pain on public transport. I could have driven it in 20 minutes tops.
So fuck you, all you pampered city dwellers with your marvellous public transport who think cars should be banned. Fuck you.

 

[dessiato]

I am unable to drive at the moment due to a broken shoulder. It has just taken me 2.5 and a bit hours to get back from fracture clinic, cold, wet and in pain on public transport. I could have driven it in 20 minutes tops.
So fuck you, all you pampered city dwellers with your marvellous public transport who think cars should be banned. Fuck you.

Hope you recover quickly.

 

[DownwardDog]

For reasons which aren't really germane to the anecdote I was walking down an unfamilar street this morning. I walked past an open garage and my car collecter 'Spidey Sense' started to tingle when I saw a familiar shape under a pile of curtains, garden tools and paint tins. Could it be? No, it can't be. IT FUCKING IS.

1982 Countach LP500S in red.

Having had the Countach ownership experience once I swore that I'd never have another one. They are madly impractical, impossible to insure, difficult to drive and really badly built. However this one was an RHD example which makes it slightly less dangerous so I knocked on the door and bought it off the old Saffer geezer who had owned it for 25 years. It last ran 15 years ago but the engine looks tight (ha!), it was the gearbox failing that put it off the road. Never fear! The old Saffer had another gearbox in his shed which he threw in. At this point he could see from the maniacal glint in my eye that reason had long since departed and he also sold me a spare wing. The bodywork isn't great but it does have the all important fibreglass underbody tray that is fucking impossible to buy.

Here we go again...

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Wicked! Got any pics?

 

[DownwardDog]

Wicked! Got any pics?

It's staying in PW Botha's garage until the new year. I'm going to get the shit kicked out of me for buying it and I'd rather not have that happen over Xmas.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Ok, so any Oyster card owners fancy pairing up? Need at least three mungbeaners to offset the new motor. You'll be pleased to known we have managed to switch off the thing that bleeps at you when you go over 90

 

[Spymaster]

Ok, so any Oyster card owners fancy pairing up? Need at least three mungbeaners to offset the new motor. You'll be pleased to known we have managed to switch off the thing that bleeps at you when you go over 90

What are you in, geez?

 

[blairsh]

What are you in, geez?

Massive Audi, blates.

 

[twentythreedom]

Ok, so any Oyster card owners fancy pairing up? Need at least three mungbeaners to offset the new motor. You'll be pleased to known we have managed to switch off the thing that bleeps at you when you go over 90

Gimme a shout if you end up with a couple spare

 

[twentythreedom]

Audi shooting brakes ftw

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Massive Audi, blates.

Oh yeah....

 

[twentythreedom]

Massive Audi is the only way tbf

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

320bhp, 0-60 in 5.2, limited to a mere 155mph.

Bought the cunt in Sheffield, on the thrape back worked out that the MK2 Escort I had in 1989, aged 17, with it's mighty 1.2 Ford lump, would have got me home in about the same time. But with far less risk of stacking it due t fiddling with nav/ents etc.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Massive Audi is the only way tbf

if only they made trucks.

 

[blairsh]

Shiny

 

[blairsh]

I would crash something like that.

Happy with my 150brake saabarge but i would like a dirty great estate with a bit more poke...

 

[twentythreedom]

Dirty great estates (shooting brakes, rather) with a bit more poke are the way

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I would crash something like that.

Happy with my 150brake saabarge but i would like a dirty great estate with a bit more poke...

Frau Bahn has not driven it yet, she does 90% of the driving round here, her excuses for crashing include, "I though them census cunts were old bill, so I dropped my spliff and bent down to pick it up..."

It's a nice car, tonight

 

[blairsh]

Not got that much disposable cash, if i ever get owt like that it will be an auld one...an auldi?

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Dirty great estates (shooting brakes, rather) with a bit more poke are the way

Really like the A4's, kids + horse-dog mean it is too small.

Odd how Audi are so far ahead of anything else though. BMW, Mercedes & Volvo are the closest competition, fucking miles behind in looks, performance & toys.

The Merc that was equivalent was a 6.2 petrol ffs.

 

[twentythreedom]

Lights up exterior, interior, door step, etc

Bet yours don't look this cool at night, Hof

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Not got that much disposable cash, if i ever get owt like that it will be an auld one...an auldi?

The one we part-ex'd was 11 years old, £3.5K and still a well nice motor, I drove it up to Sheffield this morning from Guildford, 190 miles with no stops, piece of piss.