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

Really incredible

Forum visit to @croft 's dad's(?) house

Beautiful machine. Guess its better than new now?
Have to admit that the ratty yellow stage also had its charm.

That Lotus is too much... Wonderful...

Petrol question, E10 or 91? My Mazda is only ten years old so it can run on it... I've been buying 91 but E10 is quite a bit cheaper and a tiny bit less bad for the planet than 91... Thoughts?

Amazing. Fantastic job.

Dat engine bay 😍

Seen at the supermarket today...

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I feel weird that the engine is cleaner than anything I own. Unreal restoration !

Looks like someone stole the wheels.

Good to see the variety of cray cray spats cars in the neighbourhood.

Out for my Sunday ride this am.

Blitzed by a 348 Testarossa at full Chorus.

Amen.

I wouldn't bother with E10. You're not going to notice any real cost difference as you'll be using more E10 than 91. If it was me I'd still be running a minimum of 95 for a little knock resistance. The car would be much happier.

Ah that's an acquaintance of mine. He had quite the fleet, but sadly his business tanked a little (a lot) and he had to sell most of it.

https://instagram.com/4mse?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=1trd2gtt3wrzt

If you go back through his history he's had some nice Porsches and an F355

Next for restoration. Something more obscure.

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I remember seeing them do one of these on Wheeler Dealers where Ed China went to trim the £900 one piece Polycarbonate canopy with an air saw, putting a crack in it, rendering it scrap and having to buy a new one

My S5 goes back in a couple months and given (1) the lease market is pretty terrible right now and (2) I'm struggling to justify having an (expensive) second car in the family I'm thinking about getting a clio 182 as a cheap fun runabout.

Discuss.

Does anyone have one? I've read all the normal buyers guides etc. but interested to hear owners experiences living with one. I live in surrey so it would mainly be driven on country A and B roads.

That was stomach churning.

In times of misspent youth me and a few others picked one of these up and moved it down the road.

Mad lads.

I filled it with E10 today, let's see how we go!

Oof - there's some serious eye candy in there. The Porsche is stunning. Caught it out of the very corner of my eye right over the other side of the car park and left the wife and child to go ogle.

That Lotus, congratulations, looks fantastic. Always think if your going to restore something, do it properly and go the whole way otherwise theres that niggling feeling of wishing you had gone the whole way.

Going to be on the street or track with it?

Great cars. Sold loads of 172s and 182s when I was in the trade and would thoroughly recommend one. My dad also got my mum a 182 Trophy when they first came out so I use that a fair bit and and I can say that it is one of the best hot hatches I've ever driven. Felt really special, was quick and capable but could be used daily by my mum. Clean 172/182s are getting a bit harder to find. Trophys are starting to go up in value. Coincidentally, my dad just sold a really tidy 182 Trophy that was sub 100k miles for £6,995.

Try and look at a few and you'll start to see the difference between good ones and bad ones. Time hasn't been too kind to the build quality of them and the interiors were a bit plastic-y from new but it was part of their charm. I'd probably go for a 'full fat' 182 for daily use but having seen how Clio 197s and 200's have come down in price, I'd also be tempted to try one of those too to see the difference.

Gorgeous!

Day off from work so spent the day just driving around the Cotswolds in the GTV. First proper day since the boys at L&M Italian went through it did about 130 miles just driving with no real destination. It’s just such a special place to sit and drive a real sense of occasion . And so pretty. I have had 6 previous Alfa’s but nothing handles like this it’s so well balanced and is actually pretty quick now it’s been fettled. I fucking love it.

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Makes most current cars look shit. Absolute classic in my eyes. Jelly.

Cheers, as you can guess am very pleased.

Jelly.

Bit harsh. I think the styling's pretty sharp.

Glad you're enjoying it. Theres something about an Alfa on teledial wheels. I still want to own a 145 at some point but I've got a feeling that once the time is right there will be none left.