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Cars You Never See Anymore

Great little cars the K10 Micra (apart from killing you in anything above a 30mph accident.) Modified one for a laugh and it is still the most enjoyable car I've driven on a road :oops:
 
Dogsauce said:
This week’s selection of underwhelming motors of yesteryear from my current neighbourhood, where stuff doesn’t rot away as they don’t need to grit the roads. First three are all everyday runabouts, the last one someone’s actually put a bit of effort into making it nice.

View attachment 142394
(Nissan bluebird, old style Fiat Panda, an early Micra and some well loved 70s fiat thing)

Still plenty of the more rounded later version of the Micra knocking about in the UK.
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My mum had a first generation Fiat Panda- it actually was the pink one from the advert - they did a custom paint job then sold it at our local garage. The colour was so popular they then started offering it as an option ( cool story huh). Anyway, it was actually a really good car. A hoot to drive round town and it just kept going - when it was about 15 my mum gave it to my ex when we broke up ( me and my ex, not me and my mum...)and it ran for at least 20 years. Great car. (Unlike my fucking Polksmi Fiat 126- which was shit personified).
 
rubbershoes said:
Saw a nice V8 Rover 3500 today. Is it the last decent car that they made?
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P series or the SD1 series? P series were deffo the best cars, SD1s I don't think quite so, specially with the slab dash board and money saving cuts everywhere
 
OzT said:
P series or the SD1 series? P series were deffo the best cars, SD1s I don't think quite so, specially with the slab dash board and money saving cuts everywhere
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I am very fond of the SD1. My uncle used to have a 2 litre SD1, I loved it. I’d say there’s a case for that to be described as the last great Rover, before they became rebadged Hondas.
 
What's with UK/Euro car manufacturers and silly names and numbers that make cars sound like rocket ships and bad spy names. SD1s, XK8s, 335iXdrive, 850CSi. OK, so BMW and Merc have always had accountants naming their cars, but I mean can't we have some memorable fucking names?
 
Smick said:
I am very fond of the SD1. My uncle used to have a 2 litre SD1, I loved it. I’d say there’s a case for that to be described as the last great Rover, before they became rebadged Hondas.
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I've owned both a P6 2000 and an SD1 2600, and I have to say it feels much nicer driving the P6. A better sense of style and comfort, as well as that little something I can't describe (plus the emergency fuel lever was great too!!).

Whereas the SD1 was an ex police, with the holes stil in the roof for their lights, and with low profiles held the road like glue, was shifty and roomy. But just felt like driving a big car, the P6 was heaps more refined I felt.

Poi E said:
What's with UK/Euro car manufacturers and silly names and numbers that make cars sound like rocket ships and bad spy names. SD1s, XK8s, 335iXdrive, 850CSi. OK, so BMW and Merc have always had accountants naming their cars, but I mean can't we have some memorable fucking names?
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Like old British cars with names huh? Minx, Rapier, Heralds, Tiger, Alpine, Maxi, Allegro, Maestro, Mondeo, Granada, Escort, Consul, Pop, Prefect, Hunter, Zodiac, Zephyr, Capri, Avenger . . .. ooo was just having fun remembering names but realized the list could go on and on and on!! lol!! :)
 
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Well I know the SD1 was abbrevation for "Specialist Division" and 1 was the first car designed there.

I guess at the time marketing thought letters and numbers made the model sound more exciting as opposed to the traditional names maybe?
 
Numbers supposedly sound more engineer driven. There are still companies doing names, but they are names they have made up. Captur, Evoque, Prius.

But even the numbers used to mean something. A BMW 316 was a 1.6l 3 series. A Merc C220 was a 2.2l C class. Now it just seems to be one engine and now it is mapped / the number of turbos strapped to it is denoted by the end of the number.
 
You're right Smick, numbers used to mean the car.

BMW as you mentioned and Mercs, as well as Volvos 244 series 2 4 cyliner 4 doors, 265 series 2 6 cylinder 5 doors etc.

Be nice for someone to start a thread on car designations. for example when Zetec was the engine, then onto trim spec. Consuls the cheap version of its better brothers, as Minx was etc

ETA: whereas now I think the names are thought up my marketing men so they could be pronounced in any languages, I think I was told, to increase its market shares.

Whereas old names were quite evocacal, or something liek that :)
 
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Smick said:
I am very fond of the SD1. My uncle used to have a 2 litre SD1, I loved it. I’d say there’s a case for that to be described as the last great Rover, before they became rebadged Hondas.
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I had one. Worst thing ever created apart from my Italian made Nissan cherry. You cannot believe how bad and soft the straight 6 engine was
 
Smick said:
Numbers supposedly sound more engineer driven. There are still companies doing names, but they are names they have made up. Captur, Evoque, Prius.

But even the numbers used to mean something. A BMW 316 was a 1.6l 3 series. A Merc C220 was a 2.2l C class. Now it just seems to be one engine and now it is mapped / the number of turbos strapped to it is denoted by the end of the number.
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The BMW system has always had anomalies: the E30 316 was a 1.8, the E28 525e was a 2.7 and the E23 745i was a 3.5.
 
The Arna, wasn't it. Alfa Romeo Nissan something. The more I think about it, the more exciting it would have been to have Alfa and Nissan working together on high-revving, twin cam engines in sexy bodies.
 
Currently kinda hopscotching around central med - have allocated a few extra days on the end to tie down a deal on a well priced Brit classic should one pop up. Cyprus is silly money, Malta is better but not bargain. Have checked out escorts and cortina s both 1 and 2 series. May have to spread net wider in Malta and hunt something down this week. Updates to follow
 
Poi E said:
Cracker in Barnsley this evening

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Lovely cars, though in the days when they were round in England I prefered the Vauxhall's (FD/FE) versions, like the Venturas or VX 4/90s. Same coke shapes but I guess stems from Holdens preference back home to Fords. (Kingswoods over Falcons)

That Cortiuna though should be in that Cortina's slightly tinted golden Brown to be really in era! :)
 
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bloke down the road has this. nut and bolt restoration; he does his own paintwork, too, which is of a high standard. IMG_0223.jpg
 
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