Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Saw a mint condition Fiat 130 coupe in Camberwell earlier. Never heard of one before, very cool looking motor.

Ah, great looking car them. Cool is definitely the right word. Reasonable value nowadays for what they are. I was joking with a 130 owner from a similar year to my 500L, they were top/bottom of the range respectively but his probably would fetch less than mine nowadays. #csb

That ebay M5 touring is amazing. I'd buy that in an instant (with my fictional cash).
I still get blown away by the kind of cars you can get in the UK for reasonable money - back in aus that would be at least $70,000 and probably have 150,000klms on it. And you couldn't get the touring.

@Olly

I especially liked this bit from wiki "it featured a button-operated mechanism allowing the driver to open the passenger-side door" Haha, in your face Merc S-class, trust the Italians to come up with a letchy kerb crawlers feature #rascist

I was amazed at how good the bodywork was on it considering other Fiats from the era. My Dad had a couple of 124 Special T's back in the day, and they basically dissolved in the rain.

trust the Italians to come up with a letchy kerb crawlers feature

It was also useful if you decided your passenger should leave without the courtesy of stopping for them. #mobsters

Not sure why I'm obsessed with finding a good estate now...

I'd get this, pocket the rest for a holiday and future upkeep - manual too:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201310199363636/sort/default/make/audi/advert-type/Classified/usedcars/postcode/n14au/radius/100/page/1/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/model/rs4/body-type/estate?logcode=p

Why are you taking away the MAF?

Depends where ;)

130 was never a big seller in Italy with the engine size 'super tax'. The engine is a Lampredi masterpiece.

Speed density mapping

We could get in to a long discussion about which is betterer, (is there a roll eyes smilie) but am sure it has been done a brazillian times before on the internet. When the answer is 6 of one and half a dozen of the other as both have pros and cons. Just wondering the difference it made on a blown MX5 as I have no idea.

MAF's (especially those designed for NA use) become saturated very rapidly when you get into decent levels of boost.

This can be tuned for, my car goes into true closed loop and adjusts fuelling based on the wideband in the exhaust, as an e.g. but a MAP sensor doesn't suffer from this.

If I were to pull my engine and put it in something else I'd probably go to Megasquirt at the same time, which is MAP based, as I believe are the vast majority of aftermarket ECU's.

The highly tuned NA engines I've seen on aftermarket ECUs all used TPS rather than MAP - apparently MAP sensors don't like funky cams, particularly on manifolds rather than ITBs. Megasquirt is designed to use a MAP sensor as standard, but it can be setup to use rpm/TPS instead.

I don't know a great deal about NA, with forced induction MAP seems the most common choice.

Yep, with forced induction MAP has obvious benefits since it automatically takes into account boost pressure. And you're unlikely to be running wild cams with forced induction, as the overlap would just result in the charge exiting out of the exhaust ports.

Yep, with forced induction MAP has obvious benefits since it automatically takes into account boost pressure. And you're unlikely to be running wild cams with forced induction, as the overlap would just result in the charge exiting out of the exhaust ports.

Some of the higher rev engines do that, lumpy cams so when the engine idles (or low revs) occasional fires up the inlet tract.

The only supercharged system I have worked with has had both, so the best of both.

Better than an MX5?

M5 Touring

Rare as hens teeth - I'm trying to get one.

Better than an MX5?

No. It's pretending to be something it's not. And the proportions are all wrong. Too much front overhang, too much featureless bodywork aft of the side windows.
There's a lot of scope with the MX5 for improving the looks, but pretending to be a Ferrari GTO is not the answer.

Contrast with:

If I could be bothered, I think I would prefer this RetroForza kit.

Bit more contemporary and would not run fake badge obvs.

@Dammit can you even get in that without putting dents in that rear wing?

If you're going to make replicas then a bit of imagination would be nice. It's always a GTO, a Countach, an e-type, a Diablo, a 355 or 458.

If I found a well-built example of the original DinoGT with an Alfa V6 then I'd be tempted, cos I like Dinos, but the current MR2-based kit is all wrong.

I'd love to see replicas of things like the original Stratos show-car or Pininfarina's XJ-S concept.
Or maybe some pre-war stuff other than Bugatti's - A Delahaye 135 with Figoni and Falaschi bodywork, an Invicta S-Type or the Daimler Double-Six Corsica.
I'd also like a perfect copy of Jaguar's XJ40 estate. With the v12. If you're doing Ferraris then a 275 GTB would be my choice, but I'd rather they made a replica Iso Grifo or Gordon Keeble that used a Corvette as its base car.
Talking of base cars I reckon there's a market for something which breathes new life into the mechanical bits of terminally rusty Merc W202s and W210s. There's some seriously decent engineering under that piss-poor quality control. How about an more modern Isadora Imperator?

That Merc is genuine- 1949. I would think that I could get into it, yes.

You need to go to Retromobile - last time I was there a number of coach builders were showing Delahayes and Talbot Lagos with new replica Fakey and Flashy bodies. Not rally kit cars as the running gear was all authentic and the bodies were coach built in traditional materials just like the original ones.

One of the guys who works with me on my Delage is doing a tear drop coupe on a Talbot Lago and an airline coupe is being built on another Delage 3 litre chassis.

Reminds me more of a gt6, especially the rear quarters.

Is it sad that I know those are fiat 850 rear lights?

Think the MK1 opel manta rear lights would suit it better or bmw 2002 circular rears or my favs mk1 cortina.