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

I'd prefer it without the whale tail, but who am I kidding- there's no way I would want to afford that.

Spotted. 1800 saloon in a killer-looking grey. Just love these.

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Has a 72 2002 which in similar condition. Second favorite car I've owned. The first being a brown 69 mercedes 250 4 speed.

Finally in my own Garage!

Ah, they're not so bad. I got done for doing 15kph over the limit, and they gave me the first 9kph for free - then 10CHFs per kph over. The bill from Hertz for having them dob me in it was more than the fine...

Yes !

Hi car thread.

Sold my lovely 76 2.0l injection bay window today at VW Action at Santa Pod. It's gone to raise cash but it gives me £2k to buy a car.

How realistic is it to buy a 1990ish Merc estate (W124?) and use it every day as someone who is not inclined to do their own mechanical work? I know there are fans of these cars on here, something about their solidity and waftiness really appeals to me. I reckon 2k gets something nearer to 100,000 miles than 200,000, right?

Any wisdom would be much appreciated. Cheers.

More brightly, here's a Karmann Ghia's engine with a fully correct Judson supercharger conversion that I saw yesterday, and one of the bay.

.

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If your spending 2k on a W124 you might be able to get one in perfect condition.
But the service history on mine revealed that it had had a huge number of expensive things replaced around the 100k mark, so buy with caution.

They are bloody lovely when they work though.

Thanks for this, I guess like any car this age the mileage is irrelevant compared to maintenance and condition. Getting one with the big jobs done after 100k is good advice, cheers.

So....I can't take the lifters out with out removing the manifold and all the EFI plumbing. And the, after taking out the rocker arms and push rods, I unbolt the valley plate and start prying away only to discover it's fucking dovetailed under the cylinder heads and at least one will have to come off. All for a shitty failed lifter that died in less than 1500 miles. Urgh. Cylinder head removal tomorrow promises to be not much fun.

WHUT

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Ugh, clutch pedal fell through the floor in the middle of nowhere on the weekend, car currently on way to garage. Best case scenario: slave/master cylinder failure. Worst case: fucked clutch.

When a clutch goes, do it take the flywheel with it? Or anything else?

I wouldn't expect a clutch to fail suddenly like that. I'd be suspecting the cylinder.

There was no precursor either, so fingers X'd

Urgh. Good luck.

I'm hoping it will just be one - at least with pushrods there's nowt fancy like chains and cams to worry about. Got all the rocker arms and everything out yesterday so as long as the headers unbolt ok, should be relatively straightforward.

Having your own garage and not having to worry about when you have to finish, or when you can next get to it is awesome though!

Ha! I have to take all the bits out of mine first, wheel the rotisserie out then put it all back in at the end. It's a plum ache

I wouldn't expect a clutch to fail suddenly like that. I'd be suspecting the cylinder.

They can definitely fail catastrophically.

It's the clutch. I can live with that, fingers crossed it's not the flywheel too or Baby G can kiss goodbye to nursery

What on the clutch?

Yours sounds much more like a fluid leak from somewhere.

Russell Automotive have said clutch, not sure how to get them to prove it without narcing them off

That is ballache General! I'd forgotten how time consuming car work can be. Got the headers off, most of the head bolts then realized I can't get the last without jacking up the car to remove the headers from the collector and taking off the brake booster.

Couldn't face another trip to Harbor Freight to buy a new jack so packed up and am drinking beer and watching the Rockford Files instead.

Ah well...

If the car we drive is likened to a super model, how should we treat its exhaust pipe?
Like the slackened anus of a whore or the impenetrable portal which led to the digestive system of mother teresa?

lol

^My internal monologue just read that in the voice of Werner Herzog.
Except for the lol, obviously.