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

^ NFU probably.

the mgb is in getting her bonnet polished!

Same chap who did my car?

I do like those early Civics. I almost bought one but found a 1980 Datsun Cherry instead - which handled even worse than the Morris Minor. It was only £150 though. I sold it for a tenner, which is amusing.

It was the absolute nuts. Handled like a dream even had pneumatically adjustable seats. Cute as a button. It was the last model before they reshaped it, squared the lights off and stuff. Mine had chrome bumpers too. It was a cool car even before Bruce Willis wrote one off by ploughing into Ving Rhames in Pulp Fiction. Once you owned one you realised that for much of the 90s it was the go to car in movies if the script called for a generic, mass produced, foreign banger.

Never fucking worked though. Had to reach out of the window to make the wipers work on the way back from buying it.

If I ever have a lotto win I'll find an old one and get someone who knows what they're doing to bring it up to scratch. Lot of love for those old cars.

after cadwell i will send the mini to him!

nah X6 for maximum cunt factor.

or Audi Q7 for the wife.

Dammit - are you N*** ***? If so I saw you by clapham common (with bikes in boot) last night. Very shiny, looked good.

Yep, that was me- coming back from seeing my parents.

The polishing chap has wrought an amazing change, I think the car looks better than it ever has (in the background):

yep, same dude

Bonza.

I've been reading this thread with interest: http://forum.club8090.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=18751

Where the chap talks about repainting his VW van with Rustoleum combi-colour and a roller for less than £100.

He maintains (and has the photographs to back this up) that the key is good prep, then flatting back between coats, and the final polish.

Seems like we've found the chap to do that final polish.

mint

Did some potato on Bluebird.

Spot the mistake. :oP

super cool, donald stevens gave me his business card :D
my pic

A few shots from the archives:
http://25.media.tumblr.com/e08a62add26d2618475e47f4fa71317d/tumblr_mm8zmp7DXw1qeadmro1_1280.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/f4b2d6bf7db761a74c6b6230f55baad3/tumblr_mmjcef4yse1qeadmro1_1280.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/67353f7494f7db8ba6aad3b3f2244c17/tumblr_mlajj2Dpau1qeadmro1_1280.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/fb4701408df9787d7730b3f44fe520ff/tumblr_mkqom3Q5et1qeadmro1_1280.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mawvr8LPvJ1qeadmro1_1280.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mawvh21J9C1qeadmro1_1280.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m927nfNWi71qeadmro1_1280.jpg

That 205 pic reminds me of this, full Dakar spec 405 which was in reception at PSA UK HQ Coventry last summer. Apologies for phone pics:

WANT this but the insurance quotes I'm getting are silly

The lesser spotted diable on here has one of those. He seemed to think that it was insureable for not-so-much.

Purely out of curiousity, as I was chatting to my dad at Goodwood about all the Minis he had as a kid: how hard are they to keep on the road? When you look at classifieds some relatively new ones from the 90s say they've had a "full rebuild". Surely that implies that they rot to bits every 15 years?

Did some potato on Bluebird.

Spot the mistake. :oP

Umbarella, ella ella...

maybe the colour temp of the sky too ;)

Surely that E30 is right in classic insurance territory?
You won't get quotes online for that. You'll have to phone people up

What? Actually talk to people?!

Wildman!

To get Classic insurance it has to be your second vehicle, and stored off the road.

In my experience of trying to get my 17 year old Volvo onto a classic policy, anyway.

CG has a Vespa. That was enough of a first vehicle for my Rover's insurers. The other stuff might be more difficult. I had to go for a normal policy on the Merc.

Modern classic policies are good value for money (15-20 years old).

Lancaster Insurance insured me on modern classic as I have "access to other vehicles", I don't necessarily have to own them, but it has to be parked off the road (mine is on a driveway) and I have got limited mileage.

Sparky, it's common knowledge the newer the Mini, the more likely it is to fall apart. The Sportspacks were the worst out of all of them! The good thing is when they've been refurbed, they've usually been rustproofed much better than when out of the factory. You will probably still need to do minor things every 15 years, but then that's classic cars...

TBF I've only looked at the major insurers via a comparison website and they're coming up with £1200 for the first year, you reckon a classic / limited mileage insurer might be the place to go?

Also, BQ, I've got 1 years no claims on my scooter, would that count towards motor insurance?