For those interested in old cars.

[MrWolf]

4 hours ago, RANGERS said:

I take it the electric aerial the GTE had as standard from 88 onward didn't work?  

 

It didn't have one. It was a1985 Mk2 with the 8 valve engine, factory radio and tape player. Steel wheels with white plastic GTE only hubcaps, £23 each from Vauxhall dealers, regularly stolen by oiks, held on with clear cable ties. Strange tilt column released by small lever near dashboard so you could play formula one driver (can't think of any sensible reason for it?) Registration B155HRB. Ex wife ended up with it and it's probably dead now. The only problem I ever had with it was the fuel pump falling off the boot floor and I bodged it back home with some of my spare hubcap ties. Three tiny little bobbins (a smaller version of a Mini exhaust mount) cost £20. I think that my take-home pay was about £60 a day at that time. I also replaced the fuel injector return hoses. 

I did a preemptive clean and grease of the front caliper slides and blasted wayoyl behind the front indicators.

ISTR that the insurance companies were very fussy about the right tyres being fitted, Pirelli P600 I think, 225/60R14s, seems tiny now! It handled like it was on rails but was absolutely useless in snow.

I traded a Metro City X against it and got a good deal because the gearbox was acting up. The main dealer who serviced it had filled the box with hypoid, as if it was a 4 speed. The 5 speed used 2.5 or so litres synthetic. Another ouch at £18 when a gallon of hypoid was about £5. But it was still a very cheap GTE with just 33000 on the clock. 

My only real gripe was the insurance, £613, fully comp only, because I was under 25 and mostly because of the number that got stolen by scrotes. It was £450 to insure the previous year. But I was fresh out of university and doing okay, so why not? 

[45568]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Road-rail Mini Moke. I know no other details.

Western Australia most likely given the locomotive. WAGR Comeng-built B class 0.6.0 shunter. Looks to be in the original larch green livery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAGR_B_class_(diesel)

Cheers from WestOz,

Peter C.

[MrWolf]

3'6" gauge, that makes sense with the Moke. It would be a sight more useful than your regular inspection trolley.

[PhilJ W]

Just now, MrWolf said:

3'6" gauge, that makes sense with the Moke. It would be a sight more useful than your regular inspection trolley.

New Zealand used Suzuki SJ10 jeeps fitted for road-rail.

 

[MrWolf]

That choice of vehicle would make sense. I've seen a few that had thrown a rod, but they're tough little things and would be less likely to dissolve in the Antipodes.

I don't imagine they used the Barbie pink one with white trim that in the UK was so beloved of women who were a decade or two older than they'd like you to think? 

[Enterprisingwestern]

12 hours ago, Northmoor said:

The BX may have been boxy and normal compared to previous Citroens, but it still looked like nothing else on the road at the time.  And what happened when Citroen went "normal"?  Sales absolutely sky-rocketed.

 

Trading in a Rover 2600 SD1 and buying a brand new 1.7RD BX in 1987 (E983 OFU) was what started me on my Citroen adventure, and I've never owned a non fluid suspended vehicle ever since, although I've had cart sprung company cars which only makes one yearn for a car with proper suspension! I imported a C5 Exclusive a couple of years ago, and this will see out my motoring days, comfortably!

 

Mike.

[doilum]

6 hours ago, MrWolf said:

That choice of vehicle would make sense. I've seen a few that had thrown a rod, but they're tough little things and would be less likely to dissolve in the Antipodes.

I don't imagine they used the Barbie pink one with white trim that in the UK was so beloved of women who were a decade or two older than they'd like you to think? 

We had the barbie model for a year or so around the millennium. Gospel truth, it came with the tape by Aqua jammed in the cassette player. Great fun until the head gasket finally failed!

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Trading in a Rover 2600 SD1 and buying a brand new 1.7RD BX in 1987 (E983 OFU) was what started me on my Citroen adventure, and I've never owned a non fluid suspended vehicle ever since, although I've had cart sprung company cars which only makes one yearn for a car with proper suspension! I imported a C5 Exclusive a couple of years ago, and this will see out my motoring days, comfortably!

 

Mike.

Did you ever own (or drive) the Xantia Activa?

 

Absolutely amazing around the corners, I had to make a demo video presentation of it around our track when it first came out, we “borrowed” one from a dealer in Paris (I don’t think they ever knew it travelled all the way to England in those three days), needless to say we never took up the challenge.

Edited April 7, 2021 by boxbrownie

[boxbrownie]

15 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Can't beat a good old stereotype!!

(Ignoring the pedantry that newer Citroens don't have green fluid, it's orange nowadays, but I didn't mention the age so I'll let you off!)

 

Mike.

Yes, I know....we’ve had enough Citroen’s over the years to open a garage.....we loved’em.....best bit was you could fine tune the spring rates by opening or reducing the fluid orifice in the spheres, I had a mate in dynos who was an enthusiast as well (although he had a few Light 15s) and we used to play around with nitrogen amounts also, I could get a BX to ride like a DS or handle like a go cart.....but never at the same time 

 

The XM was a bit of a pig though, much harder to get to the front centre sphere but judicious tuning could make it nicer to drive.

 

All time favourite was our CX Pallas C-Matic.......had some great tours of France in that.

[PhilJ W]

8 hours ago, MrWolf said:

That choice of vehicle would make sense. I've seen a few that had thrown a rod, but they're tough little things and would be less likely to dissolve in the Antipodes.

I don't imagine they used the Barbie pink one with white trim that in the UK was so beloved of women who were a decade or two older than they'd like you to think? 

I had one of the early models about 25 years ago. Plain panel van version not a Barbie version. Tough little machine but over 40 mph the noise and vibration was something else. Great fun to drive though despite that. According to the DLVA there are none left on UK roads but they are still being made in India by Mahindra as the Thule. 

PS its just been replaced by a copy of the Jimney.

Edited April 7, 2021 by PhilJ W

[Enterprisingwestern]

15 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Did you ever own (or drive) the Xantia Activa?

 

No, just the standard Xantia, the Activa's penchant for bits sticking put me off it, but I was offered one once without working suspension, a potential money pit if ever there was one!

Never had a problem with my XM estates, keeping on top of the spheres was crucial, although the centre rear was a bit of a as the exhaust had to come out to do it properly, it could out handle most other cars on twisty bits, once had a BMW M5 give up on trying to lose me on a back road in the Peak District, especially as I was trying to overtake him!

 

Mike.

[boxbrownie]

32 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

No, just the standard Xantia, the Activa's penchant for bits sticking put me off it, but I was offered one once without working suspension, a potential money pit if ever there was one!

Never had a problem with my XM estates, keeping on top of the spheres was crucial, although the centre rear was a bit of a as the exhaust had to come out to do it properly, it could out handle most other cars on twisty bits, once had a BMW M5 give up on trying to lose me on a back road in the Peak District, especially as I was trying to overtake him!

 

Mike.

That must have been different on the wagon to the Saloon, we only ever had Saloon XMs and found the rear sphere quite easy, our best XM was the low pressure 2L turbo petrol, nice flexible engine and quiet also.

 

Pretty sure the lower series XM didn’t have the “adaptive” suspension though, just normal (if you can call it that) Citroen hydraulics.

[MJI]

2 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

Did you ever own (or drive) the Xantia Activa?

 

Absolutely amazing around the corners, I had to make a demo video presentation of it around our track when it first came out, we “borrowed” one from a dealer in Paris (I don’t think they ever knew it travelled all the way to England in those three days), needless to say we never took up the challenge.

 

I have active anti roll bars on my 4x4. Great fun on twisty roads and very useful on axle twisters.

[APOLLO]

I had a bog standard Xantia diesel company car for a year. An excellent car, good on fuel, fantastic suspension and never missed a beat.

 

I've never seen one on the road for ages.

 

Brit15

[Hobby]

Xantia?

 

Modern Classic thread?

 

XM as well... Would make a good addition to that thread, far too much on MINIs at the moment!

[MrWolf]

Xantias were thrashed as repmobiles then driven into the ground as taxis.

 

A fate also suffered by one of my favourite cars, the Vauxhall 101, a car they stopped making in 1967. 

 

That also isn't a Mini. 

 

Though how they can call the modern ones "mini" is beyond me, they're only a couple of inches smaller than a Maxi.

[alastairq]

7 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

Though how they can call the modern ones "mini" is beyond me,

 Perhaps we should start  a new trend? maybe call them BiMinis?

[MrWolf]

19 minutes ago, alastairq said:

 Perhaps we should start  a new trend? maybe call them BiMinis?

 

Absolutely not. It's bad enough having to deal with the aesthetically displeasing results of mini skirts being made in any size above a UK size 12...

[PhilJ W]

33 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

Absolutely not. It's bad enough having to deal with the aesthetically displeasing results of mini skirts being made in any size above a UK size 12...

That brings back memories but not pleasant ones. 

[alastairq]

40 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

Absolutely not. It's bad enough having to deal with the aesthetically displeasing results of mini skirts being made in any size above a UK size 12...

 Surely not referring to the things one saw when one didn't have one's shotgun handy??       

[steve1]

42 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

Absolutely not. It's bad enough having to deal with the aesthetically displeasing results of mini skirts being made in any size above a UK size 12...

 

And people wonder why young women and girls have body image anxieties...

 

steve

[MrWolf]

Encouraging people to be unhealthy for the last 20 or 30 years has resulted in an explosion of obesity and related life altering conditions.

 

Plus if someone doesn't give a monkeys about themselves and their well-being other than how much junk food and alcohol they can shove down their necks then it doesn't say much about them.

 

 

[Oldddudders]

52 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

Absolutely not. It's bad enough having to deal with the aesthetically displeasing results of mini skirts being made in any size above a UK size 12...

That rather depends upon one's partiality or otherwise to meaty thighs....

[MrWolf]

18 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

That rather depends upon one's partiality or otherwise to meaty thighs....

 

Quite, everyone has their sexual / aesthetic preferences and is quite entitled to them.

 

But what does wind me up is people living on junk food sat in front of the TV then getting all offended and whining about body shaming when someone tells them that it might kill them.

 

When I was a teenager in the late 80s, the whole fast food thing barely existed. There was the chippy or cafes. Other than that there was Wimpy burger, Chinese and Indian takeaways, but you couldn't afford them. My taste for cooking Indian food was a result of growing up with several mate's whose families hailed from India. It's mostly wholesome ingredients too.

 

Trouble is, "the man" has foisted upon us the ability to order at the touch of a screen, more unhealthy food than we should every eat, in both quantity and quality. Too easy for lazy people who have been told all their lives that learning to cook for themselves and what to cook is merely reinforcing outdated gender stereotypes.

 

Now that we have reached crisis point, "the man" has taken the opportunity to blame us for everything, then hard sell us vegetarianism (fine if you know what you are doing, see previous point.) and internet linked home gymnasiums.

 

I smell a rat, it's probably a big un, gorged on dropped kebabs....

 

 

[steve1]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

Encouraging people to be unhealthy for the last 20 or 30 years has resulted in an explosion of obesity and related life altering conditions.

 

Plus if someone doesn't give a monkeys about themselves and their well-being other than how much junk food and alcohol they can shove down their necks then it doesn't say much about them.

 

 

 

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/fat-shaming-makes-things-worse

 

steve