This weekend, probably Sunday we are going to Kew Gardens for the day, taking a picnic and if some A500 discs, pads and air filter I am bidding for on ebay are "won" then I shall detour to Twickenham on the way home to pick them up.

Next week we are decorating the bedroom and I have to regrout the bathroom tiles and next Friday we are going to Cardiff for a long weekend.

When I get back I shall be contacting the usual suspects (and some new ones) to see about arranging a get together somewhere in the New Forest. Hope to see lots of you then.

Won the pads and air filter. :slayer:

Front and Rear Pads taken from new A500 when esseessed £8.50 and a brand new BMC Filter for 99p.

grimwau said:

Won the pads and air filter. :slayer:

Front and Rear Pads taken from new A500 when esseessed £8.50 and a brand new BMC Filter for 99p.

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Brillant price grimwu - congratulations That's a brillant saving.

It wouldn't be long before all this bargains will dry up. My experience on ebay is that they view Ireland as a 'foreign' country - no objections to the €25 Courier delivery but for anyone out looking to sell bits on ebay there please think of me !

grimwau said:

This weekend, probably Sunday we are going to Kew Gardens for the day, taking a picnic and if some A500 discs, pads and air filter I am bidding for on ebay are "won" then I shall detour to Twickenham on the way home to pick them up.

Next week we are decorating the bedroom and I have to regrout the bathroom tiles and next Friday we are going to Cardiff for a long weekend.

When I get back I shall be contacting the usual suspects (and some new ones) to see about arranging a get together somewhere in the New Forest. Hope to see lots of you then.

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Have fun at Kew, great forecast tomorrow. We live not so far from there and have the annual membership, shame I am not in the area tom, otherwise would have got you in for free.

arorat said:

Have fun at Kew, great forecast tomorrow. We live not so far from there and have the annual membership, shame I am not in the area tom, otherwise would have got you in for free.

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That's a very generous thought, lol. Luckily the wife works for John Lewis so she gets in free and my son also has a John Lewis card so he'll get in free. Me, I'll get the concessionary fee as I will play the OAP card (show them my bus pass) but John Lewis will pay half of that anyway so all in all a cheap day out.

grimwau said:

That's a very generous thought, lol. Luckily the wife works for John Lewis so she gets in free and my son also has a John Lewis card so he'll get in free. Me, I'll get the concessionary fee as I will play the OAP card (show them my bus pass) but John Lewis will pay half of that anyway so all in all a cheap day out.

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If they see you in the A500 they'll take the bus pass off you !
They wouldn't believe your age - they'll think you faked it !

Summer... now, let me see.... Ah! I remember: kids, holidays, endles days of boredom (them) and desperation (me)... Really now: friend coming to stay for a couple of weeks, another friend emigrating (lots of farewell parties), a week in Eastbourne for the whole family, then the in laws stay for a month... Sometimes I wish it was winter

Well, a really hot day but not to crowded at Kew. Took a picnic and managed to feed some ducks, some big black birds (Ravens?) an ugly bird (not the missus, just kidding) and a squirrel and I'm sure it was the same heron that stole my ham roll last time I was there.

Glad we took our own food as a beefburger at the Pavillion BBQ was £9.50.

The noddy train ride was full each time we tried to get a ride but the extra walking did me good, the wife said so. :worship:

*FRA*

I went to a classic car show yesterday (Sunday) in Blackpool on the prom.It was great.MGBs, Triumph Herald, Rolls Royce Silver Shadow,Austin 1100, Austin Black Taxis, Loads of old buses,and hundreds of classic Minis.
There was even a Ford Pop,and loads of Mercedes sport cars.
They say we are having 2 days of summer this year yesterday and today,and then it's back to rain and cold. Turn the central heating on again in the house please.

I love classic car shows, not so much the veteran/vintage type cars but the ones with cars from the 50s 60s & 70s as those are the ones I grew up with and worked on when I had my garage..

I miss my MGB GT.

grimwau said:

I love classic car shows, not so much the veteran/vintage type cars but the ones with cars from the 50s 60s & 70s as those are the ones I grew up with and worked on when I had my garage..

I miss my MGB GT.

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Would you be into a gold leaf chariot from the 14th century ?

I was at an exhibition with the OH in the RDS in Dublin called Tutankhamun which is a re-creation of the originals from the 'find' in the 'Valley of the Kings' in Egypt. The treasures discovered back in 1907 by a Howard Carter was possible from a silent financial partner - Patron Lord Carmarvon - who was into racehorses and was also a car nut. He had seriously injured himself in a car crash (no airbags and crumble zones then) and joined Howard Carter as a form of rehabilitation in the hot climate of Egypt.

Some of the replics from the pharaonic tomb were truely amazing. I could see where the phase 'you cann't bring it with you' came from.

grimwau said:

I love classic car shows, not so much the veteran/vintage type cars but the ones with cars from the 50s 60s & 70s as those are the ones I grew up with and worked on when I had my garage..

I miss my MGB GT.

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Yes, me too the 50s 60s and 70s. I wish i had kept some of the classics i owned years ago. I had an MGB, Spitfire, TR6,and a V12 E.Type
Mind you with the price of fuel today,my Smart Diesel makes more sense. I drove to Blackpool at a steady 55 MPH with the engine turning over at only 2000 RPM,and it returned 70 MPG.

smart examiner said:

Yes, me too the 50s 60s and 70s. I wish i had kept some of the classics i owned years ago. I had an MGB, Spitfire, TR6,and a V12 E.Type
Mind you with the price of fuel today,my Smart Diesel makes more sense. I drove to Blackpool at a steady 55 MPH with the engine turning over at only 2000 RPM,and it returned 70 MPG.

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I reckon if you travelled at that speed in an A500 you would get about 50mpg. It will be able to carry 4 adults and you wouldn't have to worry about 'taking that gap'.
The A500 is reputed to be the modern day politically correct performance car for guys downsizing from scoobies, Z4s and the like.

loveshandbags said:

I reckon if you travelled at that speed in an A500 you would get about 50mpg. It will be able to carry 4 adults and you wouldn't have to worry about 'taking that gap'.
The A500 is reputed to be the modern day politically correct performance car for guys downsizing from scoobies, Z4s and the like.

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Yes 50 MPG would be good,but it does not end there.Road tax £165 compared to free.Higher insurance,higher service bills,etc. As for the 4 seats,i have one extra seat in my Smart which i never use,so i don't need 3 extra. Also my Smart is automatic,so i think the automatic A500 would probably get less than 50 MPG.
I am not saying i will never get the A500,but for now i am happy with the Smart.

smart examiner said:

Yes 50 MPG would be good,but it does not end there.Road tax £165 compared to free.Higher insurance,higher service bills,etc. As for the 4 seats,i have one extra seat in my Smart which i never use,so i don't need 3 extra. Also my Smart is automatic,so i think the automatic A500 would probably get less than 50 MPG.
I am not saying i will never get the A500,but for now i am happy with the Smart.

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What is kinda odd is the dualogic or I should say the Abarth Competizione MTA gearbox has lower grs/km emissions than the manual so in theory it should be more economical.
In the U.S. the 6 speed automatic gearbox on the multi-air (it is not a MTA) has a much higher ratio in 6th than the manual in the standard 1.4 but I would need to check the grs/km (although in their case it's probably in miles ). This particular engine is in the Abarth Punto Evo in turbo form and has a 6 speed gearbox. I would be amazed if any of the engines whether it be in Automatic, Manual, MTA or better still Multiair Turbo from with the 6 speed would not get 50mpg.

Just got back from long weekend in Cardiff including a trip into the valleys to put some flowers on my wife's relatives grave and a trip down memory lane for her revisiting where she used to live.

The good part is that the car averaged 44.1mpg and that is with the wife sharing the driving.

grimwau said:

I miss my MGB GT.

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Why?

grimwau said:

I love classic car shows, not so much the veteran/vintage type cars but the ones with cars from the 50s 60s & 70s as those are the ones I grew up with and worked on when I had my garage..

I miss my MGB GT.

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Saw a lot of MGB and MGB GTs at the weekend. It never got the hairdresser's image like the MX5. It seemed to keep its manliness for want of a better word. There is a nice burble of the back exhaust. I understand that it's not a car for 'pushing on in'. But it is a classic in every sense. There is sometime timeliness about the dash set-up with the clocks, etc - sense of occasion.

There was a good number of 500s and one in particular that caught my eye was a Grey one with a red vinyl interior - it looked immaculate. In the background you will see a Lancia Falvia and from talking to the owner (it was a HF) he said it was a boxer engine and the 'designer' of this went to Subaru so his car essentially had the 1st generation boxer engine. Now the Falvia is going through a revival as a Chrysler 200 which will end up in the Fiat showrooms.

grimwau said:

I miss my MGB GT.

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306maxi said:

Why?

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A picture is worth a thousand words.

grimwau said:

A picture is worth a thousand words.

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The wifes brother has a similar dog which seems to fit well enough into their Legacy Tourer. I still don't see why you miss the car though