The Car Thread

[EpsomWolf]

I'll take you word on that one. All I know is I'm not allowed to drive it

(Nerd alert). Pretty sure that is a Mk2, the horizontal slats on the grille give it away. The Vitesse was the sporty version based on the Herald - most obvious aesthetic difference the twin headlight front end on the Vitesse. The later 2L MK11 with O/D being the daddy.

The one in Leeds’ picture has the original rostyle wheels which are nice, but I always liked the white body with coloured stripe combo sitting on aftermarket minilite alloys which a lot of owners opted for:



There’s a guy locally who I see running about in a standard Herald convertible on most sunny days. A very pretty appreciating car, mot and road tax exempt, classic insurance for no doubt peanuts, bar a bit of tinkering it must be cheap as chips to own.

Last bit of nerdy fun fact - ask your partner’s grandad to do a U turn in the car - they’ve got a freakish turning circle and spin round on a sixpence which is quite amusing to see - you often get little quirks like that with older motors but that one always raises a chuckle.

 

[pagey]

Always wanted to buy and restore a frog eyed sprite, got more time now so actively looking, just not sure I'd have the patience.

 

[sycophantia]

Always wanted to buy and restore a frog eyed sprite, got more time now so actively looking, just not sure I'd have the patience.

Depends how much space you have in my experience. I was doing a resto on a Suzuki bike but ran out of patience cos of lack of space, had to dig it out and put away every time I wanted to work on it, ended up selling it part restored, made a few quid on it though.

 

[Alan]

(Nerd alert). Pretty sure that is a Mk2, the horizontal slats on the grille give it away. The Vitesse was the sporty version based on the Herald - most obvious aesthetic difference the twin headlight front end on the Vitesse. The later 2L MK11 with O/D being the daddy.

The one in Leeds’ picture has the original rostyle wheels which are nice, but I always liked the white body with coloured stripe combo sitting on aftermarket minilite alloys which a lot of owners opted for:

View attachment 7463

There’s a guy locally who I see running about in a standard Herald convertible on most sunny days. A very pretty appreciating car, mot and road tax exempt, classic insurance for no doubt peanuts, bar a bit of tinkering it must be cheap as chips to own.

Last bit of nerdy fun fact - ask your partner’s grandad to do a U turn in the car - they’ve got a freakish turning circle and spin round on a sixpence which is quite amusing to see - you often get little quirks like that with older motors but that one always raises a chuckle.

Bloody lovely little thing, that is.

 

[EpsomWolf]

Bloody lovely little thing, that is.

Funnily enough there’s another guy locally who I see a bit less frequently who drives a red 1968 Mustang convertible - that really is a thing of beauty. It’s more or less the same age as the Herald I see about and the difference in size is incredible. U.K./European cars have got much, much bigger in recent years and (unless I’m mistaken) U.S. cars smaller/much the same to the point there’s not a huge difference nowadays.

Both of them capture the era and essence of their respective nations at that time. There’s a charm about that.

 

[Alan]

Unfortunately we still love to drive buses here... Although thankfully the heyday of the Hummer H2 and the Chevy Escalade have come and gone.

 

[Parkins left foot]

My son is currently completely rebui;ding a Ford Fiesta XR2 that he owns - space & equipment not an issue as he owns a car body shop.

Recently did a full body refurb of a Capri 3Litre for a client & also owns an Escort Mk2 with full race lowering & brakes & an american 2 litre Pinto engine in, though that's an investment as bought it for £6K and worth approx £10K now.

There are a number of cars I have owned & wish I still had - the most iconic was the Sunbeam Rapier Mk 4

 

[Keef]

Wish I’d kept

 

[Keef]

What I want,
Skoda favourite,
Tatra 403 mid engined air cooled 4L V8 saloon,
UAZ Bukhara 452 van

 

[Parkins left foot]

Wish I’d keptView attachment 7471View attachment 7472

My son's also got a fully refurbed Mini body in his garage at home (plus all the engineering to get it back on the road)

Mind you it's taken 8 yrs to get to this point so no idea when it will become roadworthy again - I have lost track of how many cars he has really.

 

[EpsomWolf]

Wish I’d keptView attachment 7471View attachment 7472

Did you have a 1275GT and a s110r Keef?

Both very cool in very different ways. The 1275 was always going to be a nailed on classic but the Skoda had a long way to come to be appreciated as it is. The one in that pic has a nice wheels/tyre and suspension tweak giving it a nice stance. Like the chin spoiler and colour choice too.

Was lucky enough to see the legend Nick Swift in his 1275 on the hill at Goodwood FOS last year. Awesome sight mastering the art of oversteer on a fwd car:

 

[Keef]

Yea both, had mostly GTs, I was one of the founding members of the 1275GT section of the mini owners club, cars on show stands that sort of thing, was never a concours freak though, couldn’t be arsed with polishing inside exhausts, and having the correct tread tyres for the year of the car, was a daily driver at the time.
I loved the Skoda, was different and plenty quick enough on back roads, parts were the problem then, main dealers weren’t interested, Czechoslovak suppliers were hit and miss both on quality, delivery and customer service, sold it after a minor breakdown meant it was sitting around for a couple of months, went back to minis and bought a clubman estate

 

[leedswolf]

Did you have a 1275GT and a s110r Keef?

Both very cool in very different ways. The 1275 was always going to be a nailed on classic but the Skoda had a long way to come to be appreciated as it is. The one in that pic has a nice wheels/tyre and suspension tweak giving it a nice stance. Like the chin spoiler and colour choice too.

Was lucky enough to see the legend Nick Swift in his 1275 on the hill at Goodwood FOS last year. Awesome sight mastering the art of oversteer on a fwd car:

Was never a lover of the later minis, especially the 1275GT which wasn't as iconic as the Cooper or Cooper S.

 

[b3h]

You nerds have sent me down a rabbithole now. I had this toy car as a kid that I used to daydream of having. I've found 1991 rally Renault Clio, white and all done up, and it was like that but don't think it was that. Heading over my grandmas later so might actually find the toya car ha

 

[Paul]

You nerds have sent me down a rabbithole now. I had this toy car as a kid that I used to daydream of having. I've found 1991 rally Renault Clio, white and all done up, and it was like that but don't think it was that. Heading over my grandmas later so might actually find the toya car ha

Obviously just a tad older I was obsessed as a child by the De Tomaso Pantera, the thing is I didn't actually know what one looked like but just the name sounded so exotic

 

[Keef]

If you want classics and modern tests,
Harry’s garage,
Hubnut

If you want classics getting fixed and getting nerdy about clutches and interior stitching
Tyrell’s classics workshop.

If you want random American cars you know nothing about getting fixed
South main auto

If you want random stuff like monkey bikes, mowers, compressors getting fixed
Mustie1
All on YouTube.

 

[EpsomWolf]

Obviously just a tad older I was obsessed as a child by the De Tomaso Pantera, the thing is I didn't actually know what one looked like but just the name sounded so exotic

When I was 10 and living in Germany I used to pass this nice house on the way to school. One day the electric doors of the double garage went up and inside was a De Tomaso Pantera and a Maserati Bora.

Both of those would be in my lottery winning dream garage for that memory alone.

 

[EpsomWolf]

Yea both, had mostly GTs, I was one of the founding members of the 1275GT section of the mini owners club, cars on show stands that sort of thing, was never a concours freak though, couldn’t be arsed with polishing inside exhausts, and having the correct tread tyres for the year of the car, was a daily driver at the time.
I loved the Skoda, was different and plenty quick enough on back roads, parts were the problem then, main dealers weren’t interested, Czechoslovak suppliers were hit and miss both on quality, delivery and customer service, sold it after a minor breakdown meant it was sitting around for a couple of months, went back to minis and bought a clubman estate

Good man, nice to hear stories like that.

Funny you should say about concours and clubs. My next door but 2 neighbour has one of the last Alfa Romeo 115 Spiders which is beautiful. The local Alfa Romeo owners club often call by at his place to pick him up en route to Rykas Cafe at Box Hill will is a well known meeting point for cars and bikers round here.

Instead of being proud the guy is slightly apologetic and you sense he’s a bit shamed by not having one of the more desirable early ‘Graduate’ series 1’s. Starts to get a bit out of hand if you’re feeling like that I reckon.

The Box Hill meet is nice though to be fair as it’s a general mix for appreciators of cars with a welcome for everybody. Seems a bit of a shame when it tips over to obsession but there’s a bit of OCD in a lot of us which is easily triggered with things like classic cars I guess.

 

[EpsomWolf]

If you want classics and modern tests,
Harry’s garage,
Hubnut

If you want classics getting fixed and getting nerdy about clutches and interior stitching
Tyrell’s classics workshop.

If you want random American cars you know nothing about getting fixed
South main auto

If you want random stuff like monkey bikes, mowers, compressors getting fixed
Mustie1
All on YouTube.

Harry’s and Iain .

Harry though, my god what a guy. Living the dream.

 

[Keef]

Thing with concours cars is they end up being better than the factory ever made them, perfect paint, ridiculously chromed bumpers, date matching glass, yes that’s a thing, you used to be able to date glass by the digits and markings on the bottom of it, same with tyres so you know how old they are, only ever trailered to and from events, and then only if the weathers good.
Mine were daily drivers, scrapes, rust, dirty, never bothered me I was having fun driving them not polishing them