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

So, I've managed to remove the lacquer in four places on the roof of my car because I was an idiot and tried to protect the roof from scratches from a roof rack.

Does anyone have a decent paint repair shop/mobile setup for South London who might be able to sort?

Car is a 2013 Red Alfa Giulietta

Fucking awful... People lose their minds with this parking business, it's contributed to me falling out with my neighbour opposite, I hate humans...

galleon

+1

Or Battlestar Gallactica theme. The OG one, not the remake. With that guy who later did the A-Team. Dirk Bendict.

Starbuck!!

Full golf club.

Yeah BBE!

Bit more polo neck and round glasses

Bit short on the bhp front, no? Learnt to drive in one, have had a soft spot for them ever since. They’ve aged incredibly well imo.

some sort of subaru impreza / mitsubishi evo

Not for 5k any more, all of those cars in STI / EVO trim are big money these days

(unless you want an bug eye impreza wagon, they are much, much cheaper)

I've started to be tempted by the idea of a motorbike, largely on the basis that I'm hopefully now of an age where discretion will indeed be the better part of valour. And so I won't end up being scraped off the tarmac within a week of getting one. Although I'm currently tempted by a pre-war girder fork bike like a Matchless Model X, so the chances are it wouldn't start most of the time anyway.

Is it still that the moded and stickered cars are worth more, or has sanity returned.

at the moment a bone stock pre-bug eye Impreza WRX STI is ~22k upwards, with 2 door type R cars being more like 45k

Evos are not quite as daft but they are getting there for V's and VI's

This is the way

£5k on a bike will get you something that’ll catapult you towards the horizon a lot fucking faster than anything on 4 wheels.

If you want to feel ‘connected’ to the driving experience, nothing else comes close.

A reliable 8-900BHP/ton is easily achieved!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154692123266?hash=item24045e7a82:g:O9MAAOSwNgZhinPx

Have you seen this from the same seller?

Edit: not quite hitting the £5k mark 😬

Think you’re going to struggle to get close to £5k without entering potential bork territory. This might be worth a look though:BMW 135 m sport coupe.

Entry point for M135i is still £12-13k

Do it.

This is my dad's Matchless just after it was rebuilt. This spring I have to go with him to where its stored and ride it. God knows what condition it's in now.

1 Attachment

There's also the access accessibility of working on it.

Obviously there are some complicated bits on modern bikes, but you can modify or maintain them in a way that just isn't practical with cars (for most people).

Like this
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1NE_MkjB9D8TAyDohGZ39lFTDdA3bKRG

Entry point for M135i is still £12-13k

If I had the cash/space for a fun weekend car a BMW 125se coupe would be top of my list. N52 engine, so with a flash map will take it to 280bhp.

6-yo me flexing in 1st Grade

fuck. did not realise that.... remember a (chav) friend of mine owning some stupid powerful evo a few years ago he got for £5-6k off pistonheads

I have a 130i E87 (same engine) which cost £3.5k and its bloody fantastic - I think 265bhp and I can't imagine needing anything faster... I have the Street Triple 765 if I want to go really fast!
The N52 is something else - not sure if I can put my finger on why its so good?