Your favourite car, boys and girls!

Anything that doesn't fit anywhere else, and is NON CH related - chat about the weather, or anything else that takes your fancy.

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sejintenej
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Post by sejintenej »

After a disaster of a VW Beetle I got a Renault Floride - real skirt turner that was!

http://www.delest.nl/media/img/DCP_2896.JPG

Later, we had a bit of fun with my wife's employer; I had a string of Renault 19 16V's delivered to the front oher company's head office - the ford Motor Company!
the 16V was a wolf in sheep's clothing - a basic 139BHP but mine (computer, black leather ....) ran 170bhp in a light body and excellent set of gear ratios; definitely outdid the XR3s which were the lout's theft targets. I worked on the tracks and of course had to get to my post each day -'nuff said. Also got the suspension tweaked by engineers who knew what they were doing - wow!

Driven a few other things - some definitely not road suitable but the nostalgia stays with my first Lambretta!
Last edited by sejintenej on Mon Jul 10, 2006 9:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown? That is solution!!!
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Ruthie-Baby(old a/c)
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Post by Ruthie-Baby(old a/c) »

Oh wow what a cool thread.
When I was younger I dreamed of a Ford Coupe - I think that's what they were called - dreadful 70s car. But then they stopped making them. Then I got older and wiser and dreamt of a black mark 3 Golf. That's still where my dream is as I STILL haven't learnt to drive and now I'm getting old and it's not fair there are sure IDIOTS out there on the roads and how did they pass their tests and how come I can't?
Rant over.
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jtaylor
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Post by jtaylor »

I dreamt about a Golf GTI since I started driving.
Had two of those in my time to date.
Currently thoroughly enjoying a Civic Type R, and in the process of acquiring a Honda S2000 - test drive tomorrow morning!

Always fancied a soft-top - got to be done once in my life!

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huntertitus
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Post by huntertitus »

Ruthie-Baby wrote:Oh wow what a cool thread.
When I was younger I dreamed of a Ford Coupe - I think that's what they were called - dreadful 70s car. But then they stopped making them. Then I got older and wiser and dreamt of a black mark 3 Golf. That's still where my dream is as I STILL haven't learnt to drive and now I'm getting old and it's not fair there are sure IDIOTS out there on the roads and how did they pass their tests and how come I can't?
Rant over.
You can pass a driving test if you can get the right teacher

29 is not old

To pass a test all you have to do is move your head when you look at the mirror (every 3 seconds, slow down just a little when approaching things like traffic lights even when they're green, look up all side roads and move the head not just the eyes - this shows the instructor / tester that you are really looking and reading the road ahead. Don't give up!
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Ruthie-Baby(old a/c)
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Post by Ruthie-Baby(old a/c) »

huntertitus wrote:29 is not old
Neither is 27.
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huntertitus
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Post by huntertitus »

oops

no offence meant

just thank the lord you are not 47
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Ruthie-Baby(old a/c)
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Post by Ruthie-Baby(old a/c) »

Yeah, I can't get to the test stage. I know all the theory, I've been a back seat driver since about age 3 but it's the co-ordination lets me down...
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Post by huntertitus »

I have 2 friends who are completely eccentric artists and they both passed 1st time - one was in his mid 30s

He actually got told off by his teacher for not overtaking cyclists - he was worried about scaring them and preferred to go along at 3 mph behind them!

He passed the test 1st time!

Don't give up trying!
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Happy
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Post by Happy »

I used to want a Ford Sierra as a kid - I grew up with land rovers and John Deer tractors so anything sleeker was an improvement.
Alas, now a BMW driver....sorry. An aging 3 series ("Emily") who loves kids, bikes and supermarket runs. When I am feeling less sensible, I do like the power in the TT, although the interior styling is somewhat ickky. It goes some. :twisted:
Saw some great vintage cars at a fete recently and can't help feeling the industry has left some beautiful styling behind.
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hoob
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Post by hoob »

I'm back in a mini - unfortunately not the original and without the cameraderie, but its got the speedo in the middle (only reason I got it).

Or is it just that its a BMW?

Regarding Bikes - Specialized Rockhopper, 1989 model, 21 gears, 1/2 horsepower and bl**dy quick downhill (52 mph on the hill behind Goodwood).
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englishangel
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Post by englishangel »

Ruthie-Baby wrote:Oh wow what a cool thread.
When I was younger I dreamed of a Ford Coupe - I think that's what they were called - dreadful 70s car. But then they stopped making them. Then I got older and wiser and dreamt of a black mark 3 Golf. That's still where my dream is as I STILL haven't learnt to drive and now I'm getting old and it's not fair there are sure IDIOTS out there on the roads and how did they pass their tests and how come I can't?
Rant over.
I think you mean a Capri, I saw one the other day.

I learned to drive (passed my test anyway) at 29. I had my first lessons while at Hertford (17th birthday present) in an orange mini with a little man who used to mistake my knee for the gewar stick, and I don't think I was the only one.

Uni was in Brum with good buses and loads of men with cars, nurse training in the Socialist Rpublic of South Yorkshire where no bus fare was over 10p, then to London with Underground and stuff.

Husband didn't drive either, until at the age of 32 he got a job with a car and I got pregnant. I said I didn't want to drive myself to the hospital in labour so he took a week off work and did a crash course (pardon the pun) with a company called Impact.

He is a very good driver, but not a jealous one, we do equal amounts of driving when we go out. He drives there and I drive home!!!
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Post by matthew »

I remember the 'Impact School of Motoring'. I think it was featured in Private Eye once.

Half the people I know in London don't drive. One or two are getting around to it.

I never drove until I moved out here. Well, I say 'never'. I took a few lessons when I turned seventeen, but it didn't come to anything. I had better things to do, moved away from home, and hated the instructor anyway.

You more or less have to drive in Canada, unless you live in the middle of Toronto and never go anywhere else. So I bit the bullet and started from scratch about a year ago. The first few lessons in the car were a little daunting, and there was a point where I wondered whether I'd ever figure it all out. But I managed enough to pass a test. And, for the record, I'm older than Ruth. :)
midget
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Post by midget »

Keep trying Ruth. Iwas in my 30's when I passed (3rd try). My neighbour had promised herself she would buy a car and learn to drive, which she did in her 60's.
My first car was a Morris 1000 which some b******* stole when I had only had it 6 weeks. I eventually got another, which I had foe about 7 years. I cried when it died. I haven't driven for years because my hands are unreliable when the arthritis decides to remind me of its presence.
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Post by Jude »

my first car after I passed my test at 17 was a white mini 1000. It cost me £250 which included teh tax for 12 months MOT for 12 months I could fill her up, buy a packet of fags and still have change from a £5 pound note - these days I would need something larger than a £50!
Some idiot piled into the back of me - I had been sensible and had static seat belts put in her as I hated not being belted in - anyhow this guy hit me while I was stopped at lighs with hand brake on - shot my 40 yards throught the central reservation - with me pumping the brake and stearing - wrote it off - I got £1,000 for severe necke injuries and cost of car, I then had a Sunbeam Rapier - not may will know if it's ilk - however it was an ex Cor diplomatique car - incl reg plates, the powder blue seats had never been sat on and have a massive ½" thick plastic cover on them! It had 4 forward gears, handbrake by the drivers door dip/undip button in the footwell, 1600cc twin over head carb, a walnut dashboard - non of this veneer crap - it was at least 1½" thick! and a Ford Bakerlight radio. Reg 7711CD - if anyone sees it please let me know as I hate my ex husband for making me abandon it when we moved to glos - (one of the small ends had gone).. it was a poser car - no central A pillar, the 2 side windows cam down to half a moon shape and it was a babe to drive - I raced a Ford XR3i on the way to Cornwall in it and won - she went well over 120mph ( well your honour, I couldn't tell what speed the car was doing as the pointer on the dial went to zero). After her, it was Tissa - a Renault 5 TS; then a red Renault 11 which we hardly had any time with as DIVORCE came upon us, so then I had a fiat Uno sport (my 1st car with electric windows!! then a Fiat Tipo which got eaten by a snow plough out of control pirroetting down the hill I lived on and reduced her to the size of a mini, Then 2 Ford Mondeo diesals follwed until I got Tally - a Ford Focus 1800 with added bits (air con, ABS, ES, 4 air bags, and some gadget that gets you up a snowy icey hill in December with an extra person on board - anti - slip steerage or something - as you can see I have gone from knowing all about the interiors of the cars engines to now just pushing buttons......... I intend to keep Tally until she or I are dead! after that? Well I would never say no to an XJ, XK8.... Jags are my favs!
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huntertitus
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Post by huntertitus »

A Sunbeam RAPIER!

Now you are talking

I used to sometimes be taken to primary school in a late 50's / early 60's Rapier

It looked a bit like dame edna's glasses

It had sort of curved raised fins on the back

It was fast

Also had a numberplate like yours now worth i.r.o £5000

something like 555XXX

beautiful car but owned by a mad lady artist and you had to keep your feet off the floor if you were in the front passenger seat because under the carpet was a hole about 8" square


you could see the road through it!
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