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

Tow bars, I'd say get a decent branded one (am a fan of witter as a mate used to be a fitter, but that was two decades ago.)and suspect the X3 will need some sort of ECU modification for the tow wiring.

My Dad had one of them, it was his last car before he died, he had some cool cars Austin Healey 2000, Mk11 Jags two of which had D-Type raced up engines, then the kiddy years, A Morris Oxford estate, Mk1 Cortina, Vauxhal Cresta 2.3 lost his licence in that hence why I have his Holdsworth Typhoon in the shed then it was Austin 1300 for several years until the Opel Manta :)

That’s the one. Lovely car. Haven’t seen one in 30 years.

I think the main thing is that the wiring is complicated, which might rule out getting a 3rd party to do the installation.

Think they’re going to speak to BMW and find out how much they charge as a starting point.

There’s even an automatic pop out one that costs about a grand all in, lol.

Not sure the wiring is that complicated, well you aren't cutting in to wires with scotchlocks, as that would upset the ECU bulb out warnings as well as alot of the canbus stuff. Also the towbar electrics are part of the MOT which they weren't before.

Often thought it was odd that the manta was the only opel in the UK.

Funny that I like the fiat 850 for the round rear lights.

Looking at the prices of MK1 and MK2 in the late 80's and 90s they weren't sought after. You'd see them in scrap yards quite complete. Remember going to buy complete interiors to replace interiors that had been eaten by mice. Then I remember buying E type triple carb heads to replace MK1 and MK2 as the etype heads were easier/cheaper to find than MK1 or MK2 heads. Then again I remember replacing wire wheel splined hubs to bolt on wheels as the splined wheels were rusted solid to the hubs.

Monza and Senator were both Opels.

Holdsworth Typhoon

Nice! Get it outta the shed - says the man with 3 non-runners in sheds...

Don't remember either being Opels, and wandering to google the monza was a vauxhall royale coupe and the senator was a vauxhall as I had a few late 90s as they were around for scrap money as the depreciation was horrific.

No one else seen the '58 unimog for 3k?

I always quite liked the G32. They were a bit like a mini-Esprit in looks. My dad sold G33's when they were new.
@Brommers oooh a G20. I've had a lot of fun in them. At one of our track days at croft, the factory brought a couple down and I spent most of the afternoon playing around with it. Is Cycliste's car a race car or one that was converted to road use?

Is Cycliste's car a race car or one that was converted to road use?

We built it from scratch from a kit. It's road-registered, after the fourth attempt to get it through an IVA test. AFAIK it's the only G20 with a bike engine - a CBR1000F. Although the engine is not at present in the car, as Cycliste cooked it, driving very slowly with minimal airflow through the rad. I bought a replacement engine (2, in fact) but it's never been rebuilt. Cycliste bought her first road bike shortly after blowing up the engine...

So she has a bike engined Ginetta and you have a bike engined Fisher? I see a pattern emerging...

I have two bike-engined Furies. And a bike-engined Sylva Striker. Cycliste has a bike-engined G20. My brother has a bike-engined Stuart Taylor Locost. You know what, you might be right about that pattern hypothesis.

This is the tits....awesome noises. Proper cars.

https://youtu.be/-y8G9t0aJ60

https://youtu.be/kuY3KVPZ4uY

Could you share some info about how the drive train is setup on your cars?

Any idea on how to fix this bit of weatherstrip?

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Are we still doing #dadcar?

My ex-Soviet, single parent mum used to chauffeur me to school in a MK2 Celica Supra, 2.8 straight-6.

Pop up headlights, hand pump to inflate lumbar supports, and a digital LED dashboard, so frikkin cool.

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I had my G32 engine (Ford escort CVH 1.6) bored out to 1.9 and had diff cam put in so it was quite quick.
It swapped ends on me a couple of times!
I think they were originally designed for the Zetecs but there was a supply issue or something.
Some owners retro fitted Zetecs - but that was beyond my skills.
Gearbox was always a weak point though.

That bike-engined G20 sounds great!

Pop up headlights

That would be an absolute winner in the school drop off - bet you looked forward to the winter to have them up :)

Wicked

Buy a replacement I think, any shoegoo type bodge is going to a) leak and b) confront you every time you get in the car.

Indeed, got a Mk2 MX-5 and quite jealous of the Mk1 owners being able to do this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8lY1De7ZNM

confront you every time you get in the car.

This is the kind of thing I’m starting to realise. When you have a car you actually like to be in, you pay a lot more attention!

Am I wrong to be quite smitten with this

Go for it if you like it. I know you said 70s robot, but I don't think this looks very 70s...