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Dec 23, 2013 16:08:55 GMT
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The celica is a good car which has never let me down, its that I use it so little its hard to justify having it there. The celica makes it on the drive ok, just needs to be put on carefully, I could get my old jag on too, just had to go in dead straight, then at the exact time, full lock and it would just make it. I really fancy something that will do 50 mpg, like one of the newer 1.4 diesels that has £30 road tax, or maybe a micra k11, which would be be in the under lower old group tax of under 1.5 litre.
I have 2 bandit 1200s, ones for the street, ones for drag, but both are road legal, only prob with those is my insurance says they have to be in a brick built garage for theft cover. It not worth the risk, I would rather play musical vans than risk one of my bikes outside.
Yes I have seen those electric bikes, very clever. My garage has a side door, I can wheel a small bike out of there, through the house back door, and out through the front door. Away down the road without moving anything. I have done it once with a Yamaha XT350 and it was a nightmare, I had to move loads of stuff in the house and my lass wasn't happy. With a small monkey bike, that could go straight out without causing problems.
The insurance policy for my bikes is great, any 5 bikes can on the policy as long as they are over 10 years old, its cheap as chips to ad an extra bike.
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Dec 23, 2013 15:26:27 GMT
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Paul, we do not have a works premises, I am field based, I leave home on a morning, drive straight to customers houses and work there, then come home again. We are allowed to bring the van home and pay zero tax as long as it goes straight home after work and its not used for personal use. I worked in the exact same job at another company for a decade and had the same thing there. We had to sign a tax declaration stating we would drive the van home immediately after work, and if we got caught using the van out of hours it would be classed as a company car and we would have to pay tax on it.
For the last few years I have never minded bringing the works van home. I have nearly always had a pickup or a van of my own at the back of the house which was blocked in, and a car out front. Its only lately its causing a problem as work is quiet, which means less bonus so its getting hard to run a car and van of my own. So when my car goes, thats when my own van getting blocked in becomes a problem.
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Dec 23, 2013 13:31:39 GMT
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Battles, I have the day off any nothing to do, so I have drawn a picture on paint My 2 real choices are Sell the Celica, and just struggle with the vans Sell the Celica, and replace it with something thats silly cheap to run The Celica, just swings past the front my house and the work van and out through the drive, neither of the vans will fit where the car is, and there is no scope to change the drive, once the work van is parked, I can't acutally walk down the side and get to the back garden.
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Dec 23, 2013 13:10:58 GMT
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Battles, my own van, the relay is indeed working and all legal, its a medium wheelbase panel van but fits in most parking spaces so its ok to use for nipping to the shops etc. I bought it for moving my bikes to drag racing events. You are correct, I can't use my work van for personal use. I work for British Gas, so there is no chance of them letting me use it for personal driving, its a long wheel base luton style 3.5 ton van which is why I struggle to park it near my house. It has to go on the drive, I live on a busy main road so its not suitable for leaving the van for more than a few minutes. There is off street parking across the road, sometimes theres room to park the works van, a lot of the time its solid with cars, but I have had complaints from neighbours when I leave the van there, as it leaves them no room to park there own cars after work.
What I should have mentioned is that I run a car too, I have a 1992 Celica. My house is a semi, the 2 vans sit down the side of my house, and my Celica sits in front of the bay window at the front. With both vans on the drive, I have just enough room to get the car in and out past the front of the house. My long term plan is to sell the Celica, and replace it with something that is very cheap to run.
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Dec 22, 2013 20:53:53 GMT
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Great thread this, I used to work for Nissan distribution putting all the cars on the ships to go abroad, I drove all the models but these were my favourite to race around all the levels in the ship, they were like a giant floating multi storey car park, used to have loads of fun going up and down the ramps. A couple of my mates had the super s versions. thank you bud! I would have loved that job! Many cars would have been smashed to pieces if I was driving them! Haha I'd love a super S! I thought it was going to be the best job ever, it turned out to be not so nice. I never had any set hours, they just called up day or night whenever a ship was due to dock, and with the weather and seas the times were never that accurate. They had some cars which they called dock taxis. 1 person would drive and 4 of us would jump in. The taxi driver had a massive sheet with the locations of all the cars in the outside car parks, we would each get a car number and get dropped off at a car. That was where the fun started, they wanted you to load the cars quickly but not in a dangerous way. We would drive the cars quickly round the car park, down to the dock and onto the ship. Then it was up or down the levels on the ship till you found where the last cars had been parked. We had to park within a foot or 2 then stop and look at a banksman. The fella would do a series of hand signals, we had to watch them and follow the instructions for left, right, back, forward, stop etc, and never once look down at the wheel, just constantly looking at the fella giving the signals. When you got the thumbs up, the car was parked within 2 inch of the one behind and 2 inch to the one at the side. It was so stressfull. They banksmen were really angry and aggressive. If you made a mistake you had to pull forward and start again. You then waited for a taxi car to take you back to the carpark to pick up another car. That pressure to get them parked 100% first time was so high, I only stuck it out for a few weeks. The best part was racing around the ship decks, it was so much fun, with them going abroad, most of the cars were left hand drive and a high number were autos too.
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Dec 22, 2013 20:05:42 GMT
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Great thread this, I used to work for Nissan distribution putting all the cars on the ships to go abroad, I drove all the models but these were my favourite to race around all the levels in the ship, they were like a giant floating multi storey car park, used to have loads of fun going up and down the ramps.
A couple of my mates had the super s versions.
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Dec 22, 2013 19:40:52 GMT
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One of the best pop ups in my opinion, the bmw 8 series
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Dec 22, 2013 17:40:18 GMT
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I love cars with pop up lights. I have owned 4 so far. Here's a couple. My old mk3 supra, and my current gen 5 celica.
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Dec 22, 2013 16:43:24 GMT
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Road tax is one of the things I want to save money on. I don't mind paying a couple of hundred quid insurance, but I hate paying road tax when I use the car so little. Thats why I want something with either low, or free tax.
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Dec 22, 2013 16:27:01 GMT
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I used to put those K11 micras onto freight ships for Nissan. They are so much fun to drive.
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Dec 22, 2013 15:46:53 GMT
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Bicycle... or motorbike if you have a license. Yep I have a motorbike license and a few motorbikes in the garage. The problem is I would have to move both vans onto the main road to get a motorbike out, then put them back again. Another option I have considered, is getting a monkey bike, £16 a year road tax and 90mpg, that would be small enough to wheel out of my garage side door and throught the house and out of the front door.
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Dec 22, 2013 14:49:26 GMT
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Has anyone got any thoughts on whats the cheapest possible car to own and run? Once my Celica is gone, I am thinking of getting something else next year. Here is my situation, I have a 04 plate relay van, its a modern hdi so drives like car, but its against my garage at the end of the drive, and when I bring my company van home I have to park it on the drive and block my van in. If I need to pop out its a real pain, I have to move my works van, get my own van out, then put the works van onto the drive again. Then when I get back, its the same, pull the work van out, put my own van in, then put the work van back. Now if I am going out for the day, I don't mind doing that, but if I am nipping up the shop for a loaf of bread its an utter pain swapping back and forth for a 5 minute run out. I am having a little while out away from decent cars while I get myself out of some financial issues. But the only way I will get a car is if I can get something that very cheap to run. Working on a budget of £1000 to pay for a tax and tested car, I am trying to work out the cheapest possible car to run. I am thinking do I either, 1 try and find an old tax exempt car for that budget, so zero tax, and classic insurance. Or 2 do I go modern and get something like peugoet 206 1.4hdi which has £30 a year road tax and should do 60mpg. I am not bothered about power or speed as it will just be used for local runs as I have the van and the missus bmw for any big runs out. Anyone got any thoughts on the subject? Cheers
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Hi mate, I am after something of similar age or from the 80s, but to be honest I could do with a cash sale rather than a swap.
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Dec 20, 2013 21:58:18 GMT
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Right I hope this is allowed. I don't use retro rides that much so I don't understand whats allowed and whats not in this room and my last post got locked. If this is not allowed, can a mod pm and let me know the score so I don't do it again.
Anyways, this is a video of Paul Walker and Roger Rodas' car collection. Some amazing machines here.
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Dec 20, 2013 15:37:08 GMT
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hmmm Baggers I'll have a think.....
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Dec 19, 2013 14:06:55 GMT
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Bump, anyone want to buy this so I can get some cash and go out and buy my christmas presents?
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Dec 11, 2013 16:36:34 GMT
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My celica is ok, quick enough for the road, but what I find is that its too easy to drive. There is no challenge. At the most it'll understeer wheelspinning and pushing the front out in the wet. I am used to rwd having had capris, supras, bmws etc. I right fancy one of these for a bit of fun, it may be a while though as I can't get any interest in my celica.
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Dec 11, 2013 14:46:01 GMT
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Hey mate, hope you don't mind me jumping into your thread, but what are these like to drive? I quite fancy something like this next year once my celica is sold.
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Its got a fully stamped history from a mix of Toyota and independant garages, but it doesn't like individual things like the cam belt.
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I wish they would scrap the tax altogether and put a penny or 2 per litre on the price of fuel, it would make things so much better for those of us with lots of vehicles.
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