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

That is great, 40 years.

But if he uses it at least once a year it’s down to just £5k per trip.

That's nuts. Must be a serious amount of care!

I guess when it's a simple car like that as long as the rust is kept on top of maintenance should be easy.

I remember my dad saying his had the same size nuts for almost every part so you only needed one spanner to take it apart. idk if there's a bit of exaggeration there, but it struck me as a great idea.

The C55 coming apart, the floor and subframe both need some work, and it needs new brake lines.

Craig says that he's pleasantly surprised by the state of things, as he was expecting this to be much worse. I'm choosing to be happy about that.

Not sure about these.
Can it save Aston ?

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Yoikes. That looks pretty scabby/cracky.

^^ Nope.

The wheelbase on the Jaguar E Pace looks bizarre too.

Yoikes. That looks pretty scabby/cracky.

That was my thought, Craig seems very relaxed about it. I would expect every other C55 to have a similar (or, likely, worse) situation - and of course Mercedes don't make the subframe anymore, so I'd expect a lot of them to be scrapped as MOT failures shortly.

Lovely. An apple green Dyane was the only car my mum and dad bought new IIRC.

Apparently they're insanely good to drive considering how high / heavy they are.

Insanely good might be overstating it a touch

saw a 70 plate one of these the other day. fucking awful

Maybe - haven't driven one. Be clear I'm saying insanely good, compared to other luxury / non luxury SUVs. Not insanely good in comparison to a mclaren senna...

But reviews have been universally positive in that respect.

There's a 70 plate Taycan rolling around near me, now that sounds and looks good.

See these SUV's r ten a penny here in Surrey. *cough

The red GTA Junior however made me rubber neck.

I love the Taycan, I'd have a Turbo S in a heartbeat if I could afford such extravagance.

https://youtu.be/ON2_4b107xY

How do they fix this?

Magnets?

Subframe: take it apart, blast it, cut out any areas where the metal is too thin/perforated, weld in fresh steel, then get the whole thing powder coated, press in new bushings all round, put it back together.

Floor: grind back, then reseal with a suitably tough paint.

Brake pipes just get replaced.

There's nothing fashionable about a camper van.

In other not entirely unrelated news, Cycliste is thinking about getting a Caddy van to mimble around Switzerland in. Apparently out there they're cheaper than a Polo.

£50kish gets a 5 year old cayenne turbo s with a tow bar.

https://www.sandalauto.com/used-cars/11666995-porsche-cayenne-4.8-t-turbo-s-tiptronic-4-wd-s-s-5dr/

I suspect that that won't do any better than my C55 on fuel, and I will still be unable to get the bikes in there, or press it into service as a bedroom upon need.

Very willing to listen to other suggestions, however.

Surely just ebay search for MX van or Campervan garage, etc etc.