Shortly after I'd bought the Ibiza - 3 cylinder - I had this strange feeling I'd heard something like it before. Then it dawned on me, when pulling hard, it sounds almost exactly like the V6 Dodge people carrier my daughter used to run around in when they lived in the States.
Neighbour across the road has an aging twin air 500. flat grey with black alloy wheels - looks quite "mean". however it sounds like an absolute bag of old nails when started from cold. Not nearly so noisy when she returns home with it hot though.
During my Firtestone years I did tyres for Derek on the likes of the John Wyre Porsche 917. What a nice chap he was, a real gentleman.
Aye Mike. After Firestone closed down the European Racing Operation they were very good to us lads in the racing division and offered us all jobs elsewhere in the setup. I could have gone to Firestone Europa but that meant a move to Luxembourg and both our parents were seriously ill at that time so we needed to stay close by. In fact they all four died over the space of the next two years, probably the saddest time in our married life. I joined the Tyre and Auto operation as workshop manager of one of the branches. Boy was that a rude awakening to the motor trade. I never settled to the aggressive, bonus driven, financial aspect of it all. Of course this was still in the west London area so not that near to both our families who were in Edinburgh and the Scottish borders. Then one day, when we were up on one of our numerous visits home, The local DAF dealer, Niddrie Mill garage Co, offered me the position of car salesman. This meant we could move back to Scotland and be near our failing parents so I jumped at it. I've always been quite a "chatty" person and with my knowledge of cars I was soon in charge of doing the part ex valuations as well as selling. In fact, apart from Ronnie, the bosses son, I was the only salesman they had. If you walked into our showroom chances were it'd be me who would greet you. I actually did quite well financially at it but my heart wasn't in it. I really loved the DAFs but some of the trade ins I had to sell bothered me as they were cars I wouldn't buy under almost any circumstances - I'm not saying they were rubbish cars, I prided myself that all our used cars were in as good condition as they could be and I tended not to argue too much if a customer returned with a complaint, I've replaced tyres etc when I really didn't legally need to, and it payed off because I had a strong return customer record - In fact, when I moved on back into a workshop job (at the BL dealer in Musselburgh) a few of "my customers" from the DAF garage turned up in reception wanting to talk to me about buying a car! Anyway, I really missed the whole workshop "thing" not just the technical aspect of being on the tools but also the never ending "Manly Craic" and leg pulls of workshop life. The sales environment was all a bit too "gentile" for me.I was once told a good mechanic makes a poor car salesman, the reason being they see all the faults on a vehicle and fix them, whereas the salesman does the minimum of cosmetic work and sells for max. profit and when subsequently faults are noticed denies they were there when purchased, and when looking at vehicles on behalf of my customers I have found that ethos from "private" sellers all the way up to and including Main Dealers.
This included offers rejected by me, that if my customer bought the vehicle the salesman would see me alright for a "drink".
My best man bought a Dino: https://www.ferrari.com/en-EN/auto/dino-246-gt way back in the late 60's/early 70's. I never did get a ride in it but I remember being absolutely shocked when he told me how much it cost for just a simple service, and he had to take it to a dealer up on the other side of the Forth.I liked the Dino, technically not a Ferrari and the GT4, which used to be despised by the Ferrari purests…but I’m Firmly in the Panda and 128 camp despite having loads of Fiats from 127 to 131 and unos to puntos and Tipo. I’ve also had a prisma ‘symbol’, Nivas, LR’s, pickups, Skoda Rapide, Cherokee XJ, Astra estate van and a fiesta (for two weeks) but almost always with a panda tucked away
Was looking around online at various cars for sale the other day. Found a 2016 golf with the same 2.0 litre Diesel as mine with only 109hp, mine is 150hp and you can open it up to 200hp with no ill effects with the right software and a engine management software flash.
I brought one from our Bradford dealer to the Leeds and back again after I’d done some electrical work on it, would you believe it, standard earth faults everywhere! Not super fast, even by contemporary standards, but it handled far better than the mondial did.
Probably explains why many of our kid's friends don't drive. I bought ours a cheapish car each, about £1000, and reasoning going out with them 25 or so times instead of driving instructor pays for the car.
My renewal invitation just dropped through the letter box today £360 as against 280 last year. This is fully comp, living in a big city and with nationwide recovery green flag breakdown insurance included. A big jump up but maybe not too bad when I look at what some of my kids are paying? It's a couple of weeks to renewal date so I'll do a quick comparison site search just to be happy.
Needs to get the right oil and I hazard it would sound better. Both our 1.2s were appalling with the main recommended oil. Both are thankfully undamaged by that and now running reasonably on Castrol Edge. Or maybe it is just screaming for an oil change.
I have all thtree Pandas with Cornhill Insurance this year. £250 a car but no breakdown as I use GEM. Insurance was available for less but with companies I know to be difficult and slow paying, My sister used to work for Budget Insurance for example. She did not get a good deal and did not recomend them either, I think 33% rise is stoking inflation I shoiuld seek an alternative and tell the straight that its an iunacceptable level of increase. What possible justification can there be for such a ridiculous rise. We could have easily got insurance under £200 per car through Meerkat Insurance.. Always challengthem, I am sure you do I think I saved around £300 by challenging the rise this year. So about £100 per car. I dont mind them having a ridse as inlation is a reality but 33% is a straight p*** take by an inflation stoker!
Probably should have said that's for the Ibiza. Mrs J drives the Panda more than me so she insures it. Also the breakdown cover is pretty much all singing all dancing so I feel less anxious about our trips down south. When we get too infirm to take on the long trips any more I'll cancel the breakdown insurance and rely on a trusted local 24 hour call out company who come out on call for £75 a time and will trailer the car home if needed.
Same here…but, like most farmers, it’s a team thing with a few farmers that do the cutting/turning/baling for everyone in the area!
That immediately brought to mind the farmer next door to us when we were kids. He used a big Nuffield - seemed big back in those days, quite small compared ot the monsters of today - to haul the harvester/bailer (no combines then) and a Field Marshal with a big trailer to take the bales back up the valley to the farm. The noise the single cylinder Field Marshal made was absolutely unique and you could hear it for miles as it pulled the heavily laden trailer up the hill. The most amazing thing about it was that it was started with a blank 12 bore cartridge!
