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

is that a hearse?

Car insurance

Last January I got my driving licence and have subsequently piggy backed on my wife's insurance. Should I continue to do this or is it better that I become the main driver of the Yeti?

What benefits are there - I see I could build up a no claim bonus, but what difference will no claims or anything else make to me?

Am a car noob.

Do you and your wife own one or two cars?

Two cars and given the other one is a discovery I will never be able to afford the insurance on that one.

https://youtu.be/LMNc7LBlWyw

If you can afford to I would bite the bullet on the Yeti.

I would build up your own no claims. And if you are the main driver of one of them then you must, as pretending to be an additional driver is called fronting, and is illegal. You can add your wife to (probably) make it a bit cheaper.

I got my licence in my 40s and discovered that every car, whether it was a 1 litre Skoda or a V12 Jaguar, cost 800-900 to insure. My age mattered more than when I passed my test. So you might surprise yourself.

As i'm almost done messing with bikes for a while it's time to turn my attention to this

Blue one is mine, convertible is my dads. This photo was taken just over 2 months ago but after a hard 4 weeks it's looking nothing like that now! Lots in the pipeline but first job is to get it up to Carlsson spec.

Great tip, adding Annie to the insurance drops the premium by nearly £200 from £630 to £450.

Yes!
Always fancied a red one with black or the very dark grey lower aero kit, and 2 tone grey 3 spokes.
Or a very early flat front car in like a light silver with the most ghastly red velour interior possible (even the roof and seatbelts are the same red).
There was a very good one that a local saab specialist used as a courtesy car, but it was destroyed in the floods a few years back.

Also thinking of selling the Massey Ferguson and buying one of these but with flotation tyres. It's an alpine tractor, articulates in the middle, low centre of gravity, low impact on ground and can climb and traverse steep slopes.

1 Attachment

Shows the articulation

1 Attachment

Y tho?

My dad had a red 900 Aero with tan leather which i think was one of the classiest options. I also had a gunmetal grey T16 with black leather which was pretty mean looking. Flat front in silver with blood red leather is still one of my favourites.

Unfortunately the black 99 turbo with red velour/vinyl everything is long since gone but i still remember becoming welded to the seats as a child anytime the sun came out!

Been watching the miniseries about the 9 Jaguar XK SS on All4. Would rather they'd just produced a single 70-80 minute documentary rather than 6 episodes between 10 and 15 minutes each including at least a 2 mins of intro, recap and outro each plus 4 minutes of advert each...

Reynolds 531 chassis and subframes, tubing which "has to be bronze welded". Pretty sure nobody calls brazing that, and that you can TIG 531, or at least 525 seeing that superseded 531 a while ago.

MX5 is a radiator fan, rear 4 point cage, and a mapping away from being finished.

The fan should have arrived today so hopefully it's fitted before the end of the week, along with the rear cage.

if Nick can map it on Saturday it's ready to pick up next week!! I am so excited about this.

I'll be at Llandow circuit next weekend with the car having a cheap trackday with MX5 friends and using it as a shakedown, so if you're in the area, feel free to pop by and grab a passenger lap.

@jambon I haven't forgotten about your gearknob, I've just had a hard couple of days at work. I was in the office for 19 hours yesterday.

912 outside the British museum this morning

912 on absurd tyres outside the British museum this morning

AIUI (silicon) bronze welding is another name for fillet brazing; you can do this with a TIG welder, but you're effectively using the welder as a brazing torch as the parent metal doesn't get hot enough to melt. I thought 531 didn't particularly lend itself to welding, which is why it's been superseded by 631 and 725 these days.

(I'm sure @mdcc_tester will be along in a minute to tell you if I'm talking bollocks...)

they do look weird. prob original spec though, we're all just too used to low profile

So having just stomached an engine rebuild for my Discovery 3 my torque converter has gone and shat itself.

They look too wide to be OG I'd say.

Wid the biggest curb protecting lips I ever seen.

Ha no problem, I'm at Secret Garden Party so no rush from me. Hearing yours come together makes me excited for a few track days next year possibly.