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

Yeah, I think the purchase will be largely dictated by noise as much as fun should it ever happen.

Things I am entertaining:

Boxster- cheap and easily available
Maserati 4200 - potentially ruinous but sounds good.
AMG of some kind, as above although maybe less risky.
996 - getting a bit spendy, not the bargains they used to be....

Will probably end up with a boxster, although 4 seats would be useful for occasionally getting both kids in....

Both BBS and Compomotive have some really nice gold finishes that work well with certain classics.

But then again i also like Doughboy's Impala with gold Dayton's so maybe i should keep quiet.

Always said the Gamera was the ultimate Dad weapon. (Needs a roof box obvs)

Money aside. #natch

I’ll probably find a cheap but decent E500 with a horrifying interior/bland silver exterior and delete significant amounts of exhaust noise management to use for trips that the camper would be cumbersome for and the 996 a little too small. Plus, since the alcantara interior went into the 996 I’m a little less sanguine about wrapping an MTB in a moving blanket and ramming it in.

Here’s my mate Ian’s Austin 7, ready to race at Angouleme.

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Can you have a custom exhaust made with a cunty noise button like modern cars have? I guess the answer is yes, I’d like to have the 530i sound a bit more rewarding when I put the gearbox in sport mode and give it some welly.

This wid a roof box mind...

#RadDad

It started well…

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Didn’t end so great though

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I really love that Ferrari, one of my faves. Love that era of Pininfarina.

All this Maserati chat, according to Camissa, the sound is an actual aphrodisiac:
https://youtu.be/j1CWdvoevR0

It is. Kindig Customs sell them. I think it is called a Zoomie. I would expect there is a UK version somewhere.

https://www.kindigitapparel.com/products/exhaust-cutouts

https://www.kindigit.com/

While searching for that a few others appeared - Amazon do similar devices.

On the gold wheels chat

What about a mk5/6 gti? More practical for London / Edinburgh life as well as more fun.

Or do you just generally prefer bigger cars?

Nice one cheers, also occurred to me that you could use an OEM valve too.

Guessing you've seen the 6 second 240 thats doing Drag Week at the moment?

Yes- that’s very slightly past the point that I’d want a car to be in terms of modification. To run 10 seconds is ~700 bhp, to run 6.5 is ~2,500+.

Amazing thing though- they’re leaving the line at 2g, with a pushrod V8 and a four link.

I’ve never been a big fan of loud exhausts, as it’s a bane for everyone around you - but love the idea of a loud button. Would a cutout that big make a meaningful difference in performance?

Depends very much on where you put it - if you (say on a turbo charged car) put the valve pre-cat/post down-pipe then it’s going to be loud, and you’re rolling the dice on whether it’s nice loud or awful. But - most power.

My estate has four cats, two per side, and two sets of silencers - a valve that bypasses a cat/silencer per side would lift the volume a lot but likely leave the same tone.

Or you could put the cut-out post cat but pre-silencer (the Porsche Cup cars ran with just cats) which is emission friendly but still very noisy.

Turbo cars can sound quite good just with a high-flow cat, as the turbo itself takes a lot of noise energy out of the exhaust gas.

Breakdown not crash I hope

That is so awesome. I really need a long bonnet RWD V8 back in my life again.

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I have no idea. I’ve seen them on Kindigs tv programme and I like the idea of it. I would presume that removing the back boxes should increase power a bit as it could improve gas flow - it may depend on the location of the zoomie. No doubt others here will know more.

In sad car news, moving to Hoxton has made my car insurance prohibitively expensive and the Volvo is going to have to go early. I was hoping to hold onto it until March next year but needs must. If anyone is interested I'd be asking £2.5k for it. This includes over a grand of work and servicing done in the last year for some jobs that are generally needed around 100k. All the work was done by Amber Garage, a Volvo specialist in Shoreham. Its a C70 petrol, 2.4ltr and runs excellent including a fully working roof. If anyone is interested PM and I can provide some more details

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My neighbour's kid has picked up an Alfa 147 GTA. A combo of sensible small car outside and 3L v6 inside, and you see far fewer of them than the Abarth 595s.

Rarer still the Alfa GT with that 3.2 v6 in it.
And a Busso V6 through a Regazzon exhaust sounds way better than that Maser V8.