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

What would I need to be aware of if I bought an imported car?

Specifically an LHD 126 originally Polish registered, to use as a runabout?

Has VAT (and duty?) been paid.
If it is British registered you should be good to go.
Insurance will be higher than a RHD UK market car.

If it is a 126BIS, which is water-cooled then it has lower value, as you cannot use the parts to soup up a Nuova 500 or build a Gordon Murray Barchetta kit.

Rear engined, RWD, air-cooled- just like the one I had when I was 19.

22 mighty horsepower.

Put another way, 6% of the power of the Volvo.

As long as the headlights dip the right way, why not?
LHD won't matter apart from higher premiums because you don't have any power to overtake anyway.

They were mostly polish made anyway. Polish build quality is very poor, but so was Italian. Polish cars rust less.

This was my first car. I wonder how many people started driving life with a Toyota?

http://www.pakwheels.com/forums/attachments/spotted-crashed-wheels/284413d1313227927-spotted-kalarkahar-rest-area-1986-1989_toyota_corolla_-ae82-_csx_seca_liftback_02.jpg

Dammit: If the rust is too bad,
http://www.mixe.demon.nl/simpatico/index.htm

This was my first car. I wonder how many people started driving life with a Toyota?

http://www.pakwheels.com/forums/attachments/spotted-crashed-wheels/284413d1313227927-spotted-kalarkahar-rest-area-1986-1989_toyota_corolla_-ae82-_csx_seca_liftback_02.jpg

My father had one of those. What a hateful car it was. Ugly, dog slow, badly equipped and soul-less. It was white goods, and nothing more.

He replaced it with a Citroen BX 19 GTi, which was a fucking brilliant vehicle.

Totally agree. Was shit. But as a first car I loved it and kept it spotless. Soon after it got replaced by this:
http://www.aussiefrogs.com/forum/attachments/peugeot-forum/7330d1136525962-peugeot-branded-rims-speedy_wheels.jpg

A BX GTi... awesome car. Although I always wanted the CX as a cruiser

First car was a crashed Mini Flame that I got to try and restore before I was 17th. That never happened.
First Car pre-test was a Renault 5 1.1. Great car that, when lent to someone had the engine blown up. We got it back and stuffed a mighty 1.4 in it. It then ended up on it's roof.
First car after passing my test was one of these...

Would love another!

My first car was a 205 GTi 1.6. I miss that car.

Oooops...

Was the slight off ^ you? Any damage or did you get away with it?

Yep. No damage - I finished the race. I stopped counting the spins after I got to 4. Looking at the data logs, I reckon I was doing between 105-110mph when I lost it.

Trying to take some decent pics of the Avant...

WIP

fuuuuck yeah.

126, riiiiiight?

Yep, Polski version- they look like fun little rally cars

ha, great, a pal of mine had a rather ridiculous looking one.

or, for all your rover 80 needs, heres a much-less-shiney-with-a-crappy-paint-job favourite of mine that me and some buddies took around the alps last year.

as a first car I loved it and kept it spotless

This exactly. I learnt in a Yaris, but my first was a dark green hand-me-down 20 year old Audi 80. I didn't technically own it, but was the sole user.

(^that's not it)

It was a really bombproof car, slow, stable at speed, boring. So naturally I had dreams of turning it into a lowriding beast with a batshitcrazy stereo that Snoop Dogg would be envious of, but then I moved to London and gave up on driving.

What car alarm - keyless entry should I buy? Want to get one today as more and more minis keep getting stolen! Quick replies appreciated!!

Just pop the bonnet and pull the coil when leaving the car somewhere?

Bonnet pins - hassle
I'm going to fit a hidden battery kill switch as well but I want an alarm such that if someone tries to trailer it, I get woken up/they get spooked

No one takes any notice of alarms any more.

Cross post from memes thread