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

Stayed in Birmingham last night and dropped the C55 off this morning:

1 Attachment

so good!

Cheers I’m rather pleased with myself, I can’t stop smiling.

Love a panda , they all seem to stay in good shape and superficially at least , not much rust

First fancy car I’ve seen in Rome in 3 days

1 Attachment

He/she must have cried at the dent in the bonnet

1 Attachment

so you should be!

my plans are continually being scupperred. I bought all of the epoxy/thinners/jitler to sort my garage floor our, and it appears the cavity/whetever is failing in the garage.

not sure what to do, but i may need to return the paint and live with a wet garage for the meantime.

2 Attachments

Bummer! No damp proof membrane under floor?

Landy has some tinworm issues in the bulkhead, was inevitable I would find some... this is underneath windscreen.

2 Attachments

Ooh I feel for you, that looks pretty tricky to fix. Or is it new bulkhead time which I imagine is borderline full strip and rebuild?

For now I think it’s probably kurust and denso tape while I think things over. The bulkhead can probably (need to check again thoroughly) be repaired in situ as panels are available - but not by me.

I like it but it’s got no real sentimental value so I need to consider whether it might be less painful to sell it as is and buy a better one.

i assume there is! the ground level behing those two walls is at eaves height, so i am suspeting a cavity issue as well.

it is shit.

Oh man that TT is tempting. Proper golf club points. I started out looking at TTs but I stopped after a while because I didn't think I was that kind of prick, but I am big enough to admit that I am 100% that prick. And good shout on the ULEZ filter - I've been using the date filter but I'm sure I'm missing out on some good ones by doing that. Will refresh search.

@grams that's a good point. I did see a 1.8t petrol Saab so that's much more doable. I've always had such a soft spot for them, proper crumpled linen architect hip.

@christianSpaceman that's exactly what I felt when I drove the Focus - much more distanced from the road. Which I think would be very reassuring on the motorway, but it felt like being a bit blind in the city compared to the Polo / Golf, especially when parking.

anyone got any freelander 2 experience?

My Citroen has probably cost three times what I naively thought to repair it would cost, plus it’s not finished and I have largely done the work myself with huge help from my brother and other friends. so make do and mend or sell are probably the sensible options.

Yeah my eyes are pretty open. I tried to restore a P1800 twenty years ago, got way out of my depth and abandoned it. Painful memory.

I will have a good root around when I’ve got time. If the rot is confined to the visible part of the bulkhead, it’s not big doom. Just need to find the right place to do it.

My dad's one set itself on fire and burnt out.
Loads of problems. All ford related. I heard the freelander 1 was a better bet.

Yup, running a 63 plate sd4 Xs currently

The one I am looking at is an earlier (08) td4 HSE. One owner, 80k miles etc. Sarah likes it and it can double as the tow car.

Ah shit. Though cool not emotionally invested. But practical head on this could still work out. Fingers crossed

Thought the vanden plas, even the efi had different wheels , can't remember if the vitesse were wider or not.

MOT stations can make mistakes, my scooter has MOT's for 3,800 then 39,000 the 3,950 odd.

Only if I can modify Jonnys car with the go faster head and carb...a whole extra 5hp from 25hp to 30....

Take the meccano car apart and replace bulkhead. Do able in a weekend.

EDIT Don't use krust is is utter shite nower days, this is the stuff I have used and test back up my opinion https://www.bilthamber.com/paints-and-coatings/hydrate-80

And not forgetting any real labour cost too.

Skipped on buying a fiat 850 spider that looked good but after a soda blast needed more than 800 hours of labour welding/fabrication to just sort the body out. So that car cost way more than it will be worth.