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Never sure if our Mazda is a modern car or an old car. An old modern car or a modern old car. Anyway I digress. The old beasty has a blowing exhaust I misdiagnosed as being the centre section from listening from the outside, so took it into Big City Tyres down the Broadmarsh this morning (I really rate this place, truely) and its only the back box on it thats gone. So I said "might as well do the middle section anyway as its bound to be rotten by now as I'm 99% sure its the original exhaist on there.
Anyway Big City fella invites me under the car and I can see why he sais not to bother. The whole exhaust (except the seam on the back box) is still shiny and silver! Looks like its about 1 year old not 15 years old! You can still sead the Mazda logos and part tags and stuff on it.
I was astounded.
I've put worse looking exhausts ON my cars as NOS in the past.
And they were proper honest with me too.
I like them (both)
And £35.80 fitted I really can't complain.
OK watch as I go back and find they've burt the car out or something in a welding accident, but hey, feeling good about it all so far.
Moral of the story:
Mazdas are good. Big City Tyres is a great place for tyres and exhausts.
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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I've given the missus my Mazda 323 for the week, as I've stripped most of the engine out of her Mondeo... started off with replacing the thermostat, and now only the bottom end of the engine is actually still in place. Ooops. First day - she hated it. Primitive, slow, horrible. Now, 5th day, she's loving it and wants to drive it all the time. Mazda's are tough old motors I've managed to get my entire car off the ground, in a slight 'oh, that appears to be a rather large speedbump' error, and it didnt seem to mind.
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Its nice to hear a positive expirience from a garage, good honest people who would rather help you out than help themselfes to your money can be hard to come by IMO.
What Mazda is it?
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Sierra - here we go again! He has an illness, it's not his fault.
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Nice to see a good honest garage to rival all the horror stories
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'tis a 1992 Mazda 626 1.8 GLXi "wifemobile" or as she calls it the "old lady special" or "pensioner express" I started using Big City Tyres years ago on the basis that thats where all the cab drivers go. Some mornings theres more black cabs there than on the market square rank... Its a proper old tatty place where they look like they wolf-whistle lady passers by, and it proper smells of grease. Sadly the building is due to be demolished for an extension to the Broadmarsh shopping centre in the next year or two. We need a larger House of Frazer more than we need a grime pit garage in the town. Posh people like planners probably use main stealers anyway. That will be an end of an era As the ads on the radio used to go... If your car's not running like it should battery flat and exhayust no good If your tyres are a frightening sight Big City Tyres will put it right! As I have not listened to Trent FM since like 1985 I have no idea if they still run an ad like that LOL.
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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I'm working out how to label mine at the mo (the van i'm talking about) old modern, or modern old, or just old with a modernish look about it? < this one i'll go for, its old, and they do have some rust traps, and cheap produced bits but its still light, quite well designed (bearing in mind its an economical littlebasic car/van), and bits are cheap and easy to get. However going by the title, I think I prefer cars before the 70's for the sake of thicker metal, and build etc, modern practices seem a little souless and cheap. might be a bit general there, guess i'm just yearning for some old tank!
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it doesn't matter if it's a Morris Marina or a Toyota Celica - it's what you do with it that counts
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filmidget
East Midlands
Mostly Lurking
Posts: 1,652
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I found them great for tyres (before I gained a relative in the trade) & my F-in-L bought very bargainous MR2 from the owner, that has turned out to be a real good 'un Only slightly alarming thing is they used to do tracking by driving one wheel of the car over a sliding plate, and adjust depending on which way said plate slid... EDIT: Didn't realise they were being affected by this ludicrous Broad March extension... though it was only the 'Hanson' side. Have they learned nothing from the 1960's?
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Last Edit: Jul 20, 2007 8:46:08 GMT by filmidget
'79 MG Midget 1500 - Still patiently awaiting attention '02 Vauxhall Astra 1.8 Elegance(!) - Better than you might think '03 Mazda MX5 - All new and shiny looking (thanks to Antony at Rust Republic) '09 Renault Clio - Needs to go.
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I thought they were going too. I can't imagine the prissy city regeneration types wanting something greasy like that next to their lovely new shopping centre. Still mourning the old Midland Magneto building...
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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street
Posted a lot
6.2 ft/lbs of talk
Posts: 4,662
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Jul 20, 2007 11:04:41 GMT
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Yeah i've had good experiences with them too.... managed to get some 185/60/14 Dunlop Sports for £24 from there! I went there after bieng told they had budget 14's in stock when they didn't, so they did me some Dunlops for the same price Do they still keep an aluminium baseball bat on full view near the door?!? Always found that quite unnerving!
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Jul 20, 2007 11:05:48 GMT
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well, it is Nottingham.
Pickjed the car up earlier and even got a cheery "thanks please call again" from the lads outside on fag break.
Top place.
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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Jul 20, 2007 11:13:49 GMT
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A-bit-old Japanese cars are ace for owning for years without problems. We have a 1999 Mitsubishi Galant 2.5 V6 with electric everything, climate control etc. 110,000 miles and it just keeps on going, doesn't do annoying "old car" things like: leak; mist up; stop working whenever it feels like it; use oil; need much servicing; worry about long journeys; rust.....
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filmidget
East Midlands
Mostly Lurking
Posts: 1,652
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Jul 20, 2007 11:20:30 GMT
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I'll see you a Magneto building, and raise you the old Police/Council workshops on Trinity Square (just down from the YMCA) - Ever see that? Innocent looking single car size opening leading to a corkscrew ramp up to 2 floors and parking, and a top floor workshop under a glass factory roof - stuff of dreams Sold for 'execuative apartments' when maintenance went to a private company in a PFI'ed building. Genuis...
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'79 MG Midget 1500 - Still patiently awaiting attention '02 Vauxhall Astra 1.8 Elegance(!) - Better than you might think '03 Mazda MX5 - All new and shiny looking (thanks to Antony at Rust Republic) '09 Renault Clio - Needs to go.
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Jul 20, 2007 11:29:08 GMT
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Yeah, I used to walk past that every day - I remember when it was full of Carltons and SD1s
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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Jul 20, 2007 20:30:37 GMT
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A-bit-old Japanese cars are ace for owning for years without problems. We have a 1999 Mitsubishi Galant 2.5 V6 with electric everything, climate control etc. 110,000 miles and it just keeps on going, doesn't do annoying "old car" things like: leak; mist up; stop working whenever it feels like it; use oil; need much servicing; worry about long journeys; rust..... That's almost brand new in Japanese terms ;D
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Tell it like it is.... NOT how it should be
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Jul 20, 2007 22:02:21 GMT
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Wasn't there a stupidly small-but-tall Sytner BMW garage down towards where the ice arena is now, remember some kind of twisty-turny corkscrew to get up to the top where the 'forecourt' was! Think they flattened it to build an Aldi supermarket for the students down there.
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Never trust a man Who names himself Trevor. Or one day you might find He's not a real drug dealer.
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Jul 21, 2007 12:25:49 GMT
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Mazdas rule. Period. Although I cant speak for the post 2000 stuff. Quality level rivals old Mercs easily. Same with all the J stuff really, you only ever seem to get one fault at a time, cure that and the car is right as rain, even if the things 15 years old. The thickness of the metal in the rear arches of the 1988-92 Colt has to be felt to be believed, I once rubbed down some disatrous looking wheelarches on one expecting them to crumble to dust, they looked terrible, but I was down to shiny inch-thick fresh metal in no time. Unreal.
I got a proper look at a 626 your shape last week when it was waiting to turn right, and I think they are starting to look a bit retro now, very pleasing slippery shape with none of the geometric oddities and triangle bits of a modern.
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Jul 21, 2007 16:25:25 GMT
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Personally i think those 626`s are the study book example of "boring soap shaped car" But they are not ugly, nor bad Should have been a V6 tho, fabulous sound! And there are too few of the good old grimy garages left.. I`m glad to have 3 of them left in my general area, and neither will be going soon i believe Paid eff all for having a set of 165\60-13`s fitted to some 7x13" Allycats at one place yesterday Pictures of said wheels on the Kadett will come soon ;D
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Jul 21, 2007 17:10:25 GMT
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yeah but the boring soap shaped car is on its way out, once the last of the Cavaliers and Mk2 Mondeos are gone, that will be the end of the road for what will then be "the classic soap shaped car!" I bet people with Minors and Ford pops 30 years ago were calling Cortinas and Mk1 Golfs boring box shaped cars!
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Colonelk
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,742
Club RR Member Number: 83
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Jul 21, 2007 18:41:34 GMT
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Yeah its nice to hear good stories about garages. Theres a fast-fit place near me thats similar. Ok they look like a ropey set up, but again, always great service and always tell me if work doesnt need to be done. Forget the name of it now though.
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Jul 22, 2007 15:48:06 GMT
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A word of warning to many though with regards late 80's/early 90's J cars and that is the area of the rear shock absorber mounts up in the rear inner wings, they can rot out just like front mcphersion struts did on many a 60's/70's Ford. What looks to be a good Toyota or Mazda has been sent to the scraper because of this rust/rot trap area and the outside of the car looks great. I suppose thats how people can be misled - years ago if a car was rotten underneath it looked rusty 'on top' as well; these days they can look tidy on-the-surface but still the tin worm monster is at work underneath!
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