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History repeating itself. Mr Sinclair new what was coming he was too advanced for his own good Just to add, I live nowhere near the place, so it means very little to me atm. No doubt it will roll out to other cities, however. What's lesser known is Sinclair dipped his toe in the electric bicycle market after, but I think the "failure" of the C5 probably put a damper on any interest in the idea. It's a shame as these would have made more sense, and he'd have gotten a big head start on the growing e-bike market, or maybe he'd have still been way ahead of his time. He kinda had the right idea though, most peoples journeys are short hop in urban areas and something between proper motorized vehicles and walking/cycling is a gap that needs filling, though it now seems to be by electric kick scooters.
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May 21, 2018 17:21:21 GMT
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Jealous of that Rex. And the 787B, for that matter Cheers, I've got a thing for Mazdas alright, both my real cars are Mazdas, so been trying to collect as many models as I can. 1/64 Eunos Roadster 1/64 R360 1/64 Luce 1/64 Cosmo Hot Wheels RX7
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May 21, 2018 17:14:50 GMT
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Nice models, great detail at that scale (and you can fit more, models, in). Thanks, fitting more models in is one of the reasons I like this scale ..easy to display, and you can mix them in with some Hot Wheels too. Shame it's just not a scale that's easy to find stuff in on this side of the pond. 1/64 is much more popular in the US and Japan.
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May 21, 2018 16:11:42 GMT
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Just found this section and thought I'd share. Collect 1/64 and 3inch (i.e. similar size but non-scaled Hot Wheels/matchbox) stuff, you can see the rest of my collection here: www.instagram.com/diecast_1_64/..but some retro-ish highlights: 1/64 Alfa 155 DTM 1/64 Toyota CROWN Wagon 1/64 SA22C RX7 1/64 Lincoln Continental 1/64 Mazda 787B
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Last Edit: May 21, 2018 16:13:53 GMT by crankcase
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Quite a mix of stuff there alright - I collect 1/64 scale and similar size 3inch (Hot Wheels/Matchbox type cars) Check this out my collection here: www.instagram.com/diecast_1_64/
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Unfortunately as it's a delicate situation (his mum has the documentation and surviving pictures), info won't be fast in coming, it may be months.
I did ask him for permission to give the surname, but didn't get a straight answer, I'll ask him again when the time is right. I do know he's still very keen to track this, or at least a similar car down.
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^ seems more of a Shelbyville idea..
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Nov 22, 2017 13:39:36 GMT
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Yep, the pre-ignition setup you mention is HCCI (or at least that's my understanding), but we're finally seeing systems that are simple and robust enough to work in production cars. Mercedes and others having being experimenting with trying to make it work in a production engine for ages, but Mazda seems to have finally cracked it, and the Koenigsegg has pneumatic operation on its latest car now and has sold the tech to Qoros - which is one of those massive chinese companies that makes loads of cars, but unheard of in the west.
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Nov 22, 2017 12:49:44 GMT
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Surprised no-ones mentioned Mazdas Skyactiv-X HCCI (homogenous charge compression ignition) or Koenigseggs freevalve camless pneumatic valve actuation tech yet. Both would seem to point to the post-diesel future for the combustion engine.
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They're separate things, but they are related, low grip at the front = understeer, not fun. Folks think that if they put an MX5 on cheap tires that it'll be more fun because skids, but in reality, it's better with a little more grip so you can lean on the front end and shift the balance in a predictable manner. The cinq I mentioned was fun at very low speeds, but on a decent bit of road, corner entry speed was very restricted, even under the limit - a Ka or Fiesta would be more fun.
Feedback and weighting have more to do with steering feel, you can have a car that handles great but has numb steering and a car with some handling quirks, but gives great steering feedback. There is the seat of the pants factor of course that comes with a nicely balanced car of course. In a sense, you could define fun handling as the ability to move the grip around front to rear on demand to adjust the cars attitude in a corner.
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Lovely, best of luck with it.
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Aug 10, 2017 20:02:56 GMT
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Service history would be irrelevant at this stage, like you say, its been DIY maintained. If it looks any way decent, it's hard to go wrong. Main thing would be that the bodywork is in good condition.
It's a mechanically simple car, and old Peugeots are surprisingly mechanically tough.
Electrics can be niggly, but that's it, there's not a hell of a lot of electrics to sort.
Use your common sense really, there's not much to check apart from the basics. Bodywork, check the oil filler cap for signs of head gasket failure (white "mayonnaise"), etc. Take a friend to look at it for a second opinion.
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Aug 10, 2017 14:27:26 GMT
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I can't say for sure, long time since I've even sat in one! Definitely wider wings on both GTI variants (1.6 and 1.9) to other 205s. The interwebs tell me there's a 20mm difference in front track.
I agree they can only go up in value, this ones a no-brainer.
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Aug 10, 2017 13:05:57 GMT
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If it was in decent nick, I would absolutely snap it up for the price, I wouldn't even haggle! I know someone who had both an XS and a 205 GTi and the main difference between the XS and the GTi aside from the engine is the bodyshell if I remember correctly. The XS uses a standard 205 shell, where the GTi has a wider track.
He reckoned in its own way, with its simplicity and lighter nose, the XS could be more fun at times.
Just buy it, I doubt you'd have much issue moving it on if you didn't like it.
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Thanks Ikos, we're still trying to dig up details/photos.
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Jul 31, 2017 13:20:45 GMT
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Apologies if this isn't the correct forum for this, but a friend of mines Dad passed away this year and he's been thinking about tracking down his old Kit Car/Special. It's an Ashley 1172, originally registered in Belfast, reg 342 PZ. DVLA online search doesn't throw up anything. It was built on a Ford 10 chassis and used a sidevalve ford engine. It was a fixed head model, which looked like this: If anyone has any info on its whereabouts or history, it'd be greatly appreciated.
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Jun 15, 2017 11:29:22 GMT
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I like both but it depends on the car it's in. I hate manuals with horrible notchy vague shifts. Best one I've driven in a the Caterham 6 speed manual, short but heavy shift action takes some getting used to but so satisfying to get a change spot on. Although the ratios are all so short and the car so light it doesn't really seem to matter what gear you're in! Daily barges work best with autos. Especially when connected to a decently torquey engine, they're naff with anything under about 2 litres, although modern ones with loads of gear ratios are ok. Hate old ones with 4 ratios on a small engine where youre constantly swapping between revving the nuts of it and dropping to the bottom of the power curve as the ratios are too far apart. This would be my school of thought. It really depends on the car. A car designed to be fun like a Caterham or an MX5 with an auto would just be wrong, but barges are often nicer with an auto. Big, luxury cars often feel rubbish if you drive them at ten tenths, even supposedly supporty ones have a lot of weight that really comes into play if you try to adopt a full on attach style braking late into corners and just feel un-composed. Most of these cars cars are better just driven in a "relaxed progress" sort of way, where you drive quickly enough, but smoothly, driving off the mid range torque, which a decent auto works fine for. Autos are so much better now too than they used to be, even on slightly older cars. I tried a 1st gen Audi A8 and I can honestly say there us no way I'd miss a manual in that car as the auto worked so well both left in auto and semi auto mode, even if you hustled it. A good torque converter gives a big car a smoothness thats easier to achieve than even a skilled manual drive operating clutch, especially in traffic. It suits the character of luxury cars.
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Perhaps a bit of a left field one this but if you like generally mundane cars and slightly abstract humour, Regular Car Reviews is worth checking out Came here to mention that, probably my fave youtube channel, always entertaining. It's only got 4 vids, but An Italian Garage is wonderful. Harrys Garage - likeable jammy git who used to run Evo Best Motoring - they have a playlist with English subbed videos as well as lots of content in Japanese
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Mar 27, 2017 13:33:59 GMT
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Slow and fun in the twisties to me means something that doesn't handle well. A well handling car at low speeds is going to be dull. There's some truth to this, which is why the Fiat Cinquecento suggestion may be a good one. I'd disagree to an extent with the poster that said they handle well, you can carry a lot of momentum into a corner because there is so little weight, but that doesn't mean they handle well in terms of the real depth of talent of the chassis. I reckon a cooking Ford KA is probably a more balanced, adjustable and fluid handling car than even a Sporting. I had an even lower grip limit 899cc SX version, which I'd argue in some ways is the best version as long as you don't go near motorways. It's got almost 2CV soft ride and a MK1 Panda like honesty to it that make if very charming. It's not sporty and doesn't put up a pretence of being so, but is still a hoot at low speeds, even in urban areas. However I did find that when you did get a decent stretch of clear road, you could be into no fun understeer central, especially in the wet, in other words, it's more fun at very low speeds and on roads that would otherwise not be so fun, but less fun when you really got that nice stretch of road. The sporting has a wider contact patch of course so less of an issue, but then I think you sacrifice the low grip/low speed aspect and the ride is less compliant to soak up uneven surfaces. The cooking versions softer suspension and higher ride height also means that you get more of a sense of the weight shifting round at very low speeds (and I mean really low, like urban legal), so it's sort of a double edged sword, fun to tootle, occasionally frustrating to really hoon, when you'd wish for something like a 205, Fiesta MK4/Puma, 106 etc. I've also had three MX5s now, two MK2s (one was a Eunos 1.8 RS model which I still miss, probably would never find as good an example again) and currently a MK1 1.8 and to be honest, I've yet to find anything else that offers as much fun as much of the time and I've had a few cars well regarded for handling, which might give some perspective: MK3 Toyota MR2 - The obvious straight MX5 MK2 rival, it's a brilliant chassis, it's lighter, and I think more competent - i.e. capable of being a quicker car, but it's that very competence that makes it feel underpowered where the MX5 doesn't so much. Not because it lacks get up and go, but because you feel the 1zz engine barely bothers the limits of the chassis and it'd shrug off another 100bhp where the MX5 due to layout, less rear traction/grip would feel nuts. I've sampled a 2ZZ version and it was incredible, but it was on track where I had room to really rev it out. Nissan 180sx - probably badly setup, but not the most informative steering, and you get understeer before oversteer. Peugeot 205GTi - great fun, world+dog wants one, but I still reckon an MX5 is more fun. Fiesta MK4 1.2 Zetec - hidden gem here, 80bhp 1.2 Yamaha engine is gruff but willing. I reckon a better choice than the CVH Ka but probably not as good as a Puma. Alfa Romeo 75 - really nice balanced chassis, light for its size, very well balanced (transaxle gearbox), really sweet engine, gearchanges cannot be rushed (propshaft spins at engine speed = big momentum), but like the MR2 its neutral balance has you wishing for another 50bhp or so.
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Sept 16, 2016 15:56:45 GMT
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I doubt the roadster will ever be seen in a similar light to Caterham or MR2, at least standard-ish. The steerings not the best and the gearbox is slow (but not the nightmare some would have you believe). It can be good fun on track sure, but not that sort of level. It is a lot of fun on road for sure, and surprisingly refined. It's going to continue to have a following for sure, however, I think there's already a few people dealing in parts for them already. Not to mention, being M-B related, probably well supported OEM too.
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