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I'm not so sure about this. For a long time I thought the XK8 had a tough crowd when up against the DB7. But when I see one now, it has an air of elegance and timelessness that the Aston seems to lack.
As for Clarkson. The man should be listed under 'bounder' and 'cad' in the Oxford English.
A few years back, I owned a DB7, manual coupe, and an XKR auto convertible.
The Jag was technically a far better car. But the build quality was poor. Switch gear would fall inside the dash etc. The Aston was more primitive, but a far better drivers car. Very predictable when getting the tail out. I found the Jaguar awesome, but boring. But I loved the Aston.
I am told the DB7 has serious structural issues, with rust, these days. Even low mileage ones. The engine mounts are all corroding badly. They are attached to the inner wing. Its potentially a terminal issue, given the costs involved. This is from the guy who services my Porsches, who prepares racing cars. He says he wouldn't touch one now.
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Only any good if it's a Dolly Sprint.
The box that time forgot.
A few years back, I owned a DB7, manual coupe, and an XKR auto convertible.
The Jag was technically a far better car. But the build quality was poor. Switch gear would fall inside the dash etc. The Aston was more primitive, but a far better drivers car. Very predictable when getting the tail out. I found the Jaguar awesome, but boring. But I loved the Aston.
I am told the DB7 has serious structural issues, with rust, these days. Even low mileage ones. The engine mounts are all corroding badly. They are attached to the inner wing. Its potentially a terminal issue, given the costs involved. This is from the guy who services my Porsches, who prepares racing cars. He says he wouldn't touch one now.
Oh hello...
Dibs.
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Shocking build quality.
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My pal's old man had a TR7 - what a fucking stinker!
The bodywork of an Alfasud was more sound.
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My pal's old man had a TR7 - what a fucking stinker!
The bodywork of an Alfasud was more sound.
This is all that matters.
Thought about making it a tr8 tr7v8, bought an SD1 to do the transplant ended up keeping the SD1 after patching up the tr7.
The SD1 was interesting, black jack headers (exhaust manifolds) and had a hotter cam. Had a holley four barrel carbs. Was quite powerful. Scary as the rear diff had a stabilising bar spot welded with 4 spot welds in to the upright of the boot floor. Thought the clunk was a drive shaft but was wrong.
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I bought a book all about the TR7, if only to scratch the itch and try and stop me from wanting one. It didn't work. I thought they were great when I was a kid. As Merak says, popup lights were all that mattered.
Anyway, I digress. In that book the claim was made, several times in fact by ex employees, that the TR7 Sprints were far more fun to drive than the TR8s. Maybe less powerful, but more revvy and sporty. Given the choice of which to take home, most chose the Sprints. So if I was going to get a TR I'd be looking to put a Sprint motor in it.
And then that got me thinking. The Triumph slant 4 engine is also the basis for Saab's motors, albeit much modified when they went to turbocharging.
- Look - it's even got Stanpart on the head.
And they had a 16 valve that actually worked. I bet you could swap one straight in. Maybe a turbo version.And then that got me thinking more. The Stag V8 was a pair of Dolly cylinders (or the slat 4 was half a Stag V8), so maybe you could have a 4 litre 48 valve Stag, using Sprint engines.
And then I found out that Saab had a similar idea when developing the 9000:
300bhp apparently. They only made 5.
That would be nice in a TR7. -
I bought a book all about the TR7, if only to scratch the itch and try and stop me from wanting one. It didn't work. I thought they were great when I was a kid. As Merak says, popup lights were all that mattered.
Anyway, I digress. In that book the claim was made, several times in fact by ex employees, that the TR7 Sprints were far more fun to drive than the TR8s. Maybe less powerful, but more revvy and sporty. Given the choice of which to take home, most chose the Sprints. So if I was going to get a TR I'd be looking to put a Sprint motor in it.
And then that got me thinking. The Triumph slant 4 engine is also the basis for Saab's motors, albeit much modified when they went to turbocharging.
- Look - it's even got Stanpart on the head.
And they had a 16 valve that actually worked. I bet you could swap one straight in. Maybe a turbo version.And then that got me thinking more. The Stag V8 was a pair of Dolly cylinders (or the slat 4 was half a Stag V8), so maybe you could have a 4 litre 48 valve Stag, using Sprint engines.
And then I found out that Saab had a similar idea when developing the 9000:
300bhp apparently. They only made 5.
That would be nice in a TR7.The v8 was lighter than the sprint, also there were a few conversion such as grinnal that improved things.
Its a car that best bit was the pop up lights. Seats were unconfortable and wore out quickly..
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http://i.ebayimg.com/t/2005-MERCEDES-CLS-55-AMG-AUTO-BLACK-/00/s/MTA3MVgxNjAw/$T2eC16RHJGYE9nooh7slBQUgjToRKw~~60_12.JPGhttp://rover.ebay.com/roverimp/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?pub=5574889051&toolid=10001&campid=5336525415&mpt=[CACHEBUSTER]http://rover.ebay.com/roverimp/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?ff3=2&pub=5574889051&toolid=10001&campid=5336525415&item=180973307203&mpt=9226779
approx £15k for a '05 CLS 55 AMG, reasonable?
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they always seem to be driven by people on the edge of financial ruin, cads and bounders.
This made me lol.
Nothing says ex-2nd division footballer turned pub landlord more than an XJS or a XK8 with an awful irish plate on it.
Merak
FreeBornAde
handtightenonly
lynx
bq
Dammit
furious_tiles
rive_gauche
ricky2slicky
DFP
V-L-
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Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc
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Jag styling got seriously dreadful when they went into pastiche mode (x-type and s-type), I think the vents are there to emphasise their separation from the older cars- deliberate modern/race car aping styling cues.