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

I might be able to store tyres (same external dia but you can fill the middles with stuff).

Marginal if you store the wheels face down.

Sounds great. get some pics up!

I must have missed this earlier in the thread. Whats the project?

It's a '91 Polo Coupe. I used it to do some club autotests and rallies years ago and started building it into a full rally car a while back.

Will now run a 1.6 16v on throttle bodies, straight cut close ratio box with LSD, bilstein coilovers and full weld in cage

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Excellent.

Going for max power points on my Abarth 500. Remap to 160bhp, Koni FSDs and springs, shortened gear throw, should hopefully make it the car it should have been, although lack of power is not really it's weak point, it's cheap and fun to do.

go for coilovers!

Probably would have got more cruize points, but slightly more expensive and I'll never need the adjustability. Is a daily driver for me and sometimes contains the family.

Just got one set of tyres, who can be arsed to change yr tyres! They're all the same

Au Contraire...always wandered how locals driving like maniacs in ski resorts without skidding off the mountain...

First job today, blank off the gear lever hole

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Luckily the worst I have to cope with in winter here is when the traffic loosens up on the way to Westfield

Going sequential?

Not quite, I have a straight cut synchro box which is super rare which i'm going to use, sequential will be on the cards at some point but not for a while yet.

I'm using one of the CAE shifters, it's really short throw, moves the linkage mostly inboard and has a lock out for reverse.

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I love CAE shifters. Set up a mate's one in his Mini and it was such a sexy shift.

Lovely!

I'm considering taking the landrover off the road for a while to repair the bulkhead, generally tighten everything up and replace all oils and filters and the exhaust. Hopefully a lick of paint too. Thinking this shade of olive drab.

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Thread just escalated.

Keep your paint! It's got character.

Anyone ever had a P38 Rangie?

I really dislike red and it's a bit conspicuous for parking up on forest roads to sleep/go ride bkes.

That's not Olive Drab, that's Pistachio.

Really? Always thought pistachio was brighter and had less grey in there.

Awesome! I feel like I've seen this car before. You didn't used to post on Retrorides did you?

What do you think of the Abarth? I keep having ideas of buying one as a fun daily that I could also use on track from time to time. Fun & affordable hot hatches aren't too plentiful here in Canada and used 500 1.4t's here (which seem to be a similar spec to standard UK Abarths) seem surprisingly cheap.

Fun but flawed, but that's what I'm trying to address. Main thing is that I always look forward to driving it. I wanted a car that was small and rareish [subjective on whether you see it as a Fiat or Abarth], 4 seats, could fit a bike inside, cheapish to buy/run and turbocharged. It's met that criteria. Was a logical step up from my Panda 100hp, the only issue with that was lack of power. Biggest issues is numb turn in and steering feel compared to my benchmark FWD cars - Panda, Ford Puma, Citroen AX GT. Crashy ride, replacing the rear bump stops is supposed to improve this but it's not been the change I hoped, hence I'm fitting the Koni shocks. Also gearchange is vague, again the quickshift should mostly sort this. I've also had quality issues, door handle fell off (common) and body to boot wire harness damage (also common!). However the power is always a hoot and cheap to increase (20% for £275 remap). Exhaust is fruity and you get the odd pop and bang.