surely you jest
Cars You Never See Anymore
- Thread starter Idris2002
- Start date
I actually saw the unveiling of the prototype XJ220 at the 1988 motor show. AFAIK the production car didn't live up to the hype.
i love wheelers dealersI'm whiling away a mild hangover with old episodes of Wheeler Dealers, including the one where they did up one of these:
So do I, but it was better when Edd China was the mechanic. Couldn't help liking Edd, whereas Ant Anstead is a bit colourless.
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Books, not bombs
I have seen a more radical 500 than that, possibly at an Italian day. It had a huge engine sticking
out of it's rear end and the bonnet did not close on it, it was permanent open about 6 inches away from the bodywork.
It was a white or cream colour if I remember correctly.
Leafster
.
I'm pretty sure many of the original 500 Abarth's had the boot/bonnet permanently propped open for clearance and or cooling reasons.
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It was for cooling, but they found it worked like an spoiler and improved the handling. So it stayed
I must admit, I think it went downhill a bit after that series where they moved half of it to California. I don't dislike American cars, but I thought they came to dominate a bit too much, whereas I'd enjoyed watching Edd tinker with quirky old British and European cars. Besides, the budgets got a bit too big and the whole thing started feeling a bit more polished, and was that much less engaging for it.
The episode I wish they'd followed up with more of the same is the old Darracq. It was interesting watching Edd get to grips with century-old engineering, and I'd have liked to see them do more pre-war cars. Nothing too rare or expensive; an Austin 7 or something of that ilk.
Which kind of brings us back to the original point of the thread, although tbf Austin 7s haven't been that common a sight since they introduced the MoT test, at which point they were still just old bangers and a load of them were scrapped. Still, you can buy serviceable ones for well under 10k these days. If I had that kind of money to spend on a toy and somewhere to keep it I could be tempted tbh.
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A beautiful thing on WD and similar is some of the skills they illustrate. I seem to remember some programme where they got a new
windscreen made for a car. Tonight the Messerschmidt (the prices for those things
)...they just had hub caps made for it, by hand from scratch - quality.
windscreen made for a car. Tonight the Messerschmidt (the prices for those things
)...they just had hub caps made for it, by hand from scratch - quality.
yea, Edd was much better, and funnier
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I wasn't keen on Elvis
A beautiful thing on WD and similar is some of the skills they illustrate. I seem to remember some programme where they got a new
windscreen made for a car. Tonight the Messerschmidt (the prices for those things
Absolutely. That's one reason I enjoyed the Darracq episode - all those craftsmen still making wooden wheels, reconstructing ancient mechanical parts, and so on.
The Messerschmitt episode had me feeling sorry for Edd. He looked genuinely mortified when he cracked that canopy.
The only problem I had with Edd was he made all those tasks seem a doddle, so much so that laypeople thought they could take on similar work. I got fed up of mates getting in touch on weekends asking what do I do know?
One lad that worked with us back in the mid nineties had one of these. It was a glorious summer, so one afternoon he removed the rear windscreen, rear windows and cut through the roof pillars with an angle grinder, leaving the front windscreen intact. He then proceeded to drive around in his homemade cabriolet.
He didn’t understand that the roof was the strength along with the bodywork. Built on two subframes it bent in two as he went over the first humpback bridge outside the village. Twat.
Yes, he's a seriously talented mechanic, although AFAIK Paul Brackley did quite a lot of the legwork off camera.
China runs a company making novelty vehicles. He holds or has held the land speed record for various motorised things - an office, a sofa, a bed, and so on. My favourite of his creations is his motorised bathroom, basically a motorbike and sidecar where the passenger sits in the bath and the driver sits on the toilet and steers with the basin. It's called Bog Standard.
On my way to work I quite often used to pass an original 3-series BMW, an X-reg, so from 1981-2.
It seemed to go well enough when I saw it moving but it was a battered old thing, with dull paint and a bit of rust here and there. Then it disappeared altogether and I assumed the owner had sold or scrapped it, but just the other day it was back in its usual place, having evidently had a strip down and full respray. It's immaculate now.
It seemed to go well enough when I saw it moving but it was a battered old thing, with dull paint and a bit of rust here and there. Then it disappeared altogether and I assumed the owner had sold or scrapped it, but just the other day it was back in its usual place, having evidently had a strip down and full respray. It's immaculate now.
DownwardDog
Riding a Brompton with a power meter.
Poverty spec. 315 but still a very worthy restoration. E21s are very rare now.
Saul Goodman
It's all good, man
I had one with a fucked camshaft. Sold it for about 2 grand in 1990. I do wish I'd kept a lot of the cars I owned back then.
Cross-posted from the 'state-sanctioned exercise' thread, an incongruous sight in the middle-class Muesli Belt.
My mum had a Saxo when I was a student and I liked it. It was only a 1.0 so it wasn't exactly quick, but it was comfortable and it handled very well. Fairly flimsy little cars, though.
My mum had a Saxo when I was a student and I liked it. It was only a 1.0 so it wasn't exactly quick, but it was comfortable and it handled very well. Fairly flimsy little cars, though.
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Looks like it could be saved with a little love. Probably not worth it financially though.
Definitely not. I've just googled out of curiosity and you can buy them for £300. A decent VTS might be worth saving ... if you can find one that hasn't either had the Max Power treatment or seen the wrong side of a hedge or two.
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Bit sad really. They were a good first car.
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"could be saved". Try this. It was sold on bangers and cash for about £18000 to a bloke in the North East
Saul Goodman
It's all good, man
Words fail me
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Sorry for link n adverts Derelict Mini Cooper S sells for £20,000 at auction - Here’s why the car is worth so much
