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

Just buy a new grill? £350-400 to fix the scrape is stupid if that gouge remains.

maybe i should stealth polish it out while he isnt looking

Hmm it seems like the oft-abused phrase "that'll buff out" could actually apply here. T-cut then wax? Good luck - if it was my van I don't think I'd be getting my knickers in a twist so hopefully the owner/driver of this one won't...

Some more mx5 spam in case anyone isn't bored of it yet

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and some low quality whatsapp vids

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• VID-20220702-WA0029.mp4
• VID-20220706-WA0149.mp4
• VID-20220706-WA0151.mp4

Do not ever say that, nor follow that train of thought.

Any complaints need to be banned from this thread.

Very nice by the way.

Is there any damage behind?

But to get someone to come out to a scrape is going to be around that. Does the guy need the van every day? So can't drop it off somewhere, so it is a dent guy coming out to him at a guess and maybe a van for the day?

That is the decision made.

Don't over think it, once you learn to that show me how. ;)

Having had a set of wheels 'made' for the fulvia the saving grace is the wheel PCD is skoda estelle, type 1 beetle and porsche 914 so getting wheels machined was quite esay just had to hit the minimum order.

It was upthread.

Is that red hose for the coolant re-route? IIRC that is a standard for track MX-5s but never seen one in the flesh.

That will mostly polish out. You could do it by hand with a microfiber and polish compounds. There's enough stone chips in that bumper anyway, I can't believe the van owner would bother with a repair. But props for owning up to it and not just driving away.

I want a car with itb's before internal combustion is banned. Track rat mx-5 is the best.

kicked off at my local last night. Apparently the local Austin 7 gang meet there monthly and hit the flaming sambucas. Centenary year for the 7s. Best in show last night was a 1925 chummy. They all sounded ace as they rolled off.

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I don't have a coolant re-route. It's a myth that you need one in the UK, it comes from the USA forums and people over here buy into it. It's not hot enough unless you are turbo charged.

On the right they're heater hoses, the front red one is the bypass hose, and the one on the left is the brake booster vacuum hose with check valve.

James Herriot (and my Dad) had one 👍🏼

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This is the reality.

In the 00's, you could get a 90's renault clio or astra for a grand and run it probably a few years on just tyres, brake pads and oil.

Now for same price point your getting a 2014 peugeot blob with every single bearing and bush hanging out of it, yet only 85k miles on it, and the interior looks like it had some wild animals tear it up.

Well that was quick. Ordered yday (custom spacer at that) at 14:00 or so and today at 12:00 i can pick it up! Amazing really. Now lets hope it fits..

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I think this is an interesting question. I'm not sure if I answered it already.

I did that with the Superb and I think the answer depends on what your definition of "better" is.

Before the 850R I had an E39 estate (another forum car) and they both were very highly specced so had a lot of features some cheap brand-new cars today don't even have. So in terms of some features, I don't think my 2016 Skoda is miles better than a car from 1997.

However stuff I didn't have, like Android Auto built into the infotainment system, radar cruise control, electronically adjustable suspension from the screen, high performing but robust automatic transmission (6sp DSG), they all make my life easier, and therefore better (imo).

On top of that, all of those features cost less (when factoring in inflation) than they did when the cars were new.

I think the sale price of my 2016 Superb when new was slightly less than the 850R, not factoring in inflation. Just think about that. Nearly 20 years difference and the £ cost is about the same. What you can get in terms of performance and features while also maintaining reliability is multiple times "better" than you could get 20+ years ago.

If you're looking for charm, charisma, and to a lesser extent looks (which is subjective) then older cars are "better".

If you read car reviews of years ago of hot versions of luxury cars, they use words like cosseted, comfortable, quiet, powerful, creamy, and adjustable. These are all things you can get in abundance for a much lower relative cost then you could in years gone by.

I'm not sure what my conclusion is but I like both, old shit cars and new cars.

Either of those will look terrific if you can reduce the gap between tyre and wheelarch. You'll probably wonder why you ever found the choice so hard!

Thats the thing tho. U cant reduce it without making the car unusable on normal roads. It allrdy scratch the pavement even when going over normal curbs from time to time.

But i think my car below is a litte lower than the pic i posted first with futuras. Will c how it looks once fitted

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That looks nice. Visually balanced

We finally have cams.

Why are Porsche cayennes so cheap. They seem to be getting cheaper and cheaper. £2.5k on eBay. Either it’s a dog or it’s a genuine bargain

I guess cost of upkeep is unspeakably huge and most elderly examples will need ridiculously large amounts of cash spent on them.