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

That's the one. I kept saying I didn't want it, so he did it for free. Imagine they had already done it and we're trying to get me to pay for it....

i don't think the AMGs are type approved for towing - i googled it when i had your car airborne over hammersmith flyover

that is everything i want in a wagon apart from the towing issue, though.

The E-class is type-approved, as a platform, the AMG variant I suspect is not - although when I looked at the M5 estate it wasn't type-approved for the UK, but some UK cars came with a tow-hook fitted as you could request it at build. Much confusion as to whether that was legal or not.

Anyway! I suspect you'd be able to bolt a factory tow hook on the AMG with minimal issues, but the question is if your insurance would be valid.

I reckon ~500 bhp and a mountain of super-charged torque would handle the tow ok.

only 700 a year to insure

@BRM - check the front and rear arches, very very very carefully. :-(

I had mine fixed (every arch had rust) and the bonnet resprayed, plus the paintless dent guy went over the whole car, for £1,250 IIRC.

This is a good price, I should take the Volvo there.

Tony Payne, he's in Iver: https://www.thomsonlocal.com/search/car-body-repairs/slough-bracknell-maidenhead/tony-payne/411314/01753653424

I'm very happy with his work.

In Volvo news, following the clutch slave cylinder, the greenish tint to the carpet under the passenger mat suddenly became obvious when I noticed the coolant was going down, so it is booked in for a suspected heater matrix. Along with paying for insurance and new tyres this month, it's been pretty expensive.

Full boost in 3rd stops the honeymoon period ever ending though.

Wish i had found similar with mine - 2 front arches resprayed by Merc pre pickup, then resprayed by specialist 12 months later, and i went to see it again after 2 years and rust appearing again................

If rust comes back on mine then I'll replace the front wings and have new metal put in at the back.

Fingers crossed that I don't need to go to those lengths!

What car is wearing the Craven Mild livery?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_48hqkDH96A

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Holden_Torana_SS_A9X_Craven_Mild.JPG

This?

It’s a Holden HJ Monaro?

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Nice! The wedding venue turned out to be about 14k further up a gravel mountain track from the satnav destination and we had great fun sliding the big Holden around. Mrs Hammer managed to almost beach it on a couple of crests so I’m quite glad we paid for zero excess - the underneath was not pretty!

That sounds like a lot of fun! You back in Blighty now?

Everything got changed on the sad dad car, next jobs are new engine mounts and front rotors and pads... That can wait til the next service but one tyre is dead so new set of boots going on this week... We might even do the other jobs now as well, just so they're out of the way... Car feels very throaty now, it really purrs when I put my foot down... I guess it's only a small car with a 2 litre engine so it will have a bit of oomph... Need to get it on the highway, downloaded Waze yesterday so might be able to see how fast it can go... 😉

HQ Munro. The most heroic car of my teenage years

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I’m guessing a majestic supercharger assembly like that would be somewhat challenging to get through an MOT?

No MOT in Straya. Well, there wasn’t in Perth 18 years ago. You’d get a yellow sticker on your windscreen if the fuzz thought your car was illegal, then you’d have a certain amount of time to get it checked by them

I think technically, you are MOT proof as long as the belt / pulley is covered.

I read a bit about out of bonnet chargers on a building retro rides once, they mentioned that if you were to be involved in a road accident, and it was found that your view was impaired, you could be prosecuted for the offence of dangerous driving, as the state of the vehicle is taken into account under that law.

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Judging by MCM and The Skid Factory YouTube videos, it sounds like it's really tightened up over there. Sounds stricter than here.

Ah, is the HQ the later car? I found a build thread of them restoring the HJ version which I guess is an earlier car

yellow canary

Don't drive my car enough to keep battery charged. No power near car park to run trickle charger in place.

Would you

• Disconnect battery (no alarm, ECU reset, etc) to save juice
  
• Buy another battery to keep charged and use it to jump start car
  
• Sell car, move to Spain, buy cargo bike
  
• Other?