GavinJ
Club Retro Rides Member
MGB 3.9 v8 Sebring
Posts: 927
Club RR Member Number: 209
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Aug 11, 2006 17:54:51 GMT
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I've recently gave in and bought a newer car for work as my retro cars were not beng reliable enough After much thinking and looking at cars i decided upon this, It's an 02' plate Astra SRI Turbo and it's a limited edition to 500 and only 225 made in black so i'm hoping its going to a be quite a rare retro car for the future On the plus side its fantastically practical for work and fairly quick to, 190bhp and top speed of 149mph.
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GavinJ
Club Retro Rides Member
MGB 3.9 v8 Sebring
Posts: 927
Club RR Member Number: 209
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A good car day...GavinJ
@gavinj
Club Retro Rides Member 209
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Well it was a good day on my v8 coversion after several annoying problems along the way. Here's a vid, Well chuffed with how it sounds - really quiet on tickover but potent with revs
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GavinJ
Club Retro Rides Member
MGB 3.9 v8 Sebring
Posts: 927
Club RR Member Number: 209
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heartstopping non car incidentGavinJ
@gavinj
Club Retro Rides Member 209
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May 21, 2006 12:17:53 GMT
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Sounds like you did an excellent job of keeping the bike under control! i hope you bought a lottery ticket last night?! as your luck seems to be in... When i spun my e30 BMW on a very busy A-road island due to oil/deisel on the road, i did a full 180 spin at about 30 mph ended up slamming into the curb sideways facing the wrong way and came to stand still on the pavement just missing several lamp posts. Do you think anyone stopped to see if I was okay? nope everyone just carried on and it was obvious that i was in trouble, hazards were on, two flat tyres and facing the wrong way on a pavement
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GavinJ
Club Retro Rides Member
MGB 3.9 v8 Sebring
Posts: 927
Club RR Member Number: 209
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May 21, 2006 15:17:51 GMT
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Do you know if you'll be hit with a big tax bill for a company car? You may be better off going boring for the commute and having more cash for your fun car. Or maybe not... The way our car allowance works is a lump sum of around £90 month and then 45p per mile. So you usually get double you money back on petrol if you have fairly good economy so i get around £200 that i can spend on a loan for the new car. That nissan looks lovely but the fuel economy wouldn't be as good as an Elise.
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GavinJ
Club Retro Rides Member
MGB 3.9 v8 Sebring
Posts: 927
Club RR Member Number: 209
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May 21, 2006 12:49:28 GMT
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No probs, 2002gimp, i'd love an exige but have you seen the price of them still? not cheap at all. Plus i don't care whatt other people think to be honest as long as i enjoy it
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GavinJ
Club Retro Rides Member
MGB 3.9 v8 Sebring
Posts: 927
Club RR Member Number: 209
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May 21, 2006 11:48:03 GMT
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I knew i could rely on you guys to help me make the right decision ;D Tonycocacola - i've just read that post by 'celicav8' and my god it makes you think don't it? cheers for pointing that as i had missed that thread. The link for anyone who else who missed it, retrorides.proboards29.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=1147559034&page=1Just need to sort out the insurance but it shouldn't be to bad i hope. I'm going to a garage that i know has one for sale on the forecourt this afternoon to have a good look round it, i want to have look at what sort of ground clearance there is, as there is a fair few speed bumps round by me - but then again i see quite a few about where i live and i can only assume they have no porblems.
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GavinJ
Club Retro Rides Member
MGB 3.9 v8 Sebring
Posts: 927
Club RR Member Number: 209
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May 20, 2006 22:41:41 GMT
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Cheers Lewis, my dads keep telling me to go for one as he keeps saying that eventually i'll settle down and get married and then it will be too late to have an unpractical car! so go for it now.
Then theres my mom saying that it will be stupid and i should go for a normal car!! aahhhh the joys of still living at home...
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GavinJ
Club Retro Rides Member
MGB 3.9 v8 Sebring
Posts: 927
Club RR Member Number: 209
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May 20, 2006 22:34:03 GMT
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Well i have got a 1989 BMW e30 cabrio that is my sensible car but its curse word on fuel for work being a 320i auto, it seems to drink petrol so i've stopped using that recently as the headgasket has gone and along with that the backbox has started blowing ) I've got the mgb that is 95% through a v8 conversion so again this is going to be curse word on petrol so not ideal for work. In a bit of dilemma realy as i can't be doing with just a boring Audi, which is why i started looking at an Elise's as a fun car for work with the added bonus of fuel economy. The driving aspect of my job only requires me to take some paperwork and stuff out with me so storage space is not really an issue. Just trying to convince myself that its a go-er and not just a rediculous phase i'm going through!! I've tried looking for a decent elise forum but can't find one - one i have found you can't even look at without paying a years membership! so i'm hoping someone on here may have experienced one.
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Last Edit: May 20, 2006 22:42:44 GMT by GavinJ
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GavinJ
Club Retro Rides Member
MGB 3.9 v8 Sebring
Posts: 927
Club RR Member Number: 209
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May 20, 2006 22:25:11 GMT
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I 'think' the time has come where i need to look at buying a newer car for work, something that will prove reliable and will be also be fun to drive at the same time, as i average about 1200 miles a month. Now i've only ever had retro cars, nothing newer than '89 reg ;D But i'm looking at using my car allowance from work to cover a loan on a newer car, now i've been doing loads of thinking and i'm seriously considering a........................ Lotus Elise Now i know what your thinking, how on earth is a Lotus Elise a sensible car? - Well the way i see it is, you can pick them up for around 8k which is my budget and they should hold there value quite well.
- They are very basic inside so in theory there should be less to go wrong?
- The economy is pretty good as the 1.8 Rover K series engine can give upto 40mpg due to the weight an elise being only around 650kg's - which will be a bit better than my V8 MGB
Most importantly it could be useful as back up if my MG lets me down on a trackday and i could use the Elise instead Now am i going mad or do you think this is a fairly realistic choice of car to do 1200 miles a month, using daily for work whatever the weather? i do quite like the idea of tearing around in the elise during work hours and getting paid for Or shall i just give in and get some crappy diesel euro box thinking of an audi a4 or a3 diesel..... Anyone have any experience of a Lotus Elise? i've done some research and i think the only issue that seems to crop is the headgaskets going on the Rover Engine but this is something i could tackle myself if it did ever go....
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GavinJ
Club Retro Rides Member
MGB 3.9 v8 Sebring
Posts: 927
Club RR Member Number: 209
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not a good weekGavinJ
@gavinj
Club Retro Rides Member 209
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May 19, 2006 23:19:37 GMT
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My dads maxda 323 also needs a new rear wheel bearing and he has got to buy a complete hub to resolve the problem much to his disgust! where did you get the cheaper quote from? as the cheapest he can find for his mazda is £106 + vat......
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GavinJ
Club Retro Rides Member
MGB 3.9 v8 Sebring
Posts: 927
Club RR Member Number: 209
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A sobering dayGavinJ
@gavinj
Club Retro Rides Member 209
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May 21, 2006 11:58:23 GMT
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Condolences to all involved, it sure does make you think about life in a different way doesn't it?
Tonycocacola - pointed me in the direction of this thread as i missed it first time round, basically i started a post yesterday trying to convince myself that a Lotus Elise is a practical car for work. I knew i would love the car and it would make my 37 hour week at work far more enjoyable but my sensible/boring side of me was telling me/screaming at me 'no'!
But now i'm thinking sod it you only live once and i may aswell joy life now, rather than being sensible and quite frankly bored - if i wait until i'm older and more mature i'll probably bloody struggle to climb in and out of an Elise!
So lets just hope this thread has made everyone think and enjoy life a bit more? while you can?
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GavinJ
Club Retro Rides Member
MGB 3.9 v8 Sebring
Posts: 927
Club RR Member Number: 209
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Any help would be great, I'm currently having a nightmare trying to get a 'spark' on my v8 conversion the conversion is complete and ready to go once i can get the bloody thing running.. I'm using a 35DM8 distributor complete with the igntion module that sits under the coil and appropriate coil - its a brand new coil, a tested ignition module and the air gap on the distributor is set up correctly but still no spark... I'm geting power to the coil so i'm not quite sure whats going wrong, anyone know of any forums or other websites that may help me out? Only thing i've got left to try is to ensure that a pure 12 volts is reaching the coil which i'll check today using a mates volt meter..
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GavinJ
Club Retro Rides Member
MGB 3.9 v8 Sebring
Posts: 927
Club RR Member Number: 209
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What do you do?GavinJ
@gavinj
Club Retro Rides Member 209
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I'm currently a Housing Officer for a Housing Association and deal with rent arrears and anti social behaviour which can be really interesting and varied...... but there is only so many neighbour disputes you can deal with and its really dong my head in can't people just get on with each other But yesterday i had an interview for an Assistant Surveyor post and i got the job ;D so a complete career change and new challenge ahead so i'm well chuffed
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GavinJ
Club Retro Rides Member
MGB 3.9 v8 Sebring
Posts: 927
Club RR Member Number: 209
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Apr 19, 2006 22:48:04 GMT
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Does anyone else get mocked for there ride's? All my work colleague's drive round in new cars in finance deals as the job involves quite a bit of driving, so as a result car allowance is paid which virtually covers the finance payments on a new car. So people expect me to do the same.... For the last 3 months or so i've been using my £200 1986 Volvo 340 for work and apparently 'i need some guidance on car taste' and regularly get slated for my choice of transport.... But they soon shut up when i point out that there service costs will cost more than my car and so far in over 3000 miles of driving its cost me nothing more than petrol ;D And more importantly i would rather be seen in a 'shed' as it is known at work than a new depreciating, expensive to maintain euro box. But i must point out, its not just work colleagues as my mates seem embarrassed by it However, my MG seems to be acceptable but the poor old Volvo isn't...... Anyone else suffer similar issues?
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Last Edit: Apr 19, 2006 23:53:23 GMT by GavinJ
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GavinJ
Club Retro Rides Member
MGB 3.9 v8 Sebring
Posts: 927
Club RR Member Number: 209
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vroom vroom on skyGavinJ
@gavinj
Club Retro Rides Member 209
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Apr 11, 2006 23:29:32 GMT
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This was there top tip “When you see a car advertised saying ‘one careful lady owner’, sounds fantastic doesn’t it … but beware! That car has probably never been in fifth gear and the chances are she’s burnt the clutch out. My advice? Don’t buy it!”
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GavinJ
Club Retro Rides Member
MGB 3.9 v8 Sebring
Posts: 927
Club RR Member Number: 209
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vroom vroom on skyGavinJ
@gavinj
Club Retro Rides Member 209
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Apr 11, 2006 23:20:53 GMT
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GavinJ
Club Retro Rides Member
MGB 3.9 v8 Sebring
Posts: 927
Club RR Member Number: 209
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vroom vroom on skyGavinJ
@gavinj
Club Retro Rides Member 209
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Apr 11, 2006 22:03:14 GMT
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That poor Volvo and 2CV Alot of road tests were complete toss aswell! I think its going to be one of those programs that keep curse word me off when they keep trashing perfectly usable cars Oh and i thought they would of put some sort of cage in the 2cv before trying to roll it
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GavinJ
Club Retro Rides Member
MGB 3.9 v8 Sebring
Posts: 927
Club RR Member Number: 209
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A taster for what we can expect to see at Woerthersee Love the 'piston' stand in that pic much more attractive that the usual axle stand....
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