Machines and engines

Looking at the cars you've driven, I'm guessing you like something with a lot of back end, and RWD. Definitely a thrill seeker, but you have a great strategy for flipping a bad investment, so that levels it out a little!

Plastic said:

I'm really not a fan of Zondas - it's just another Ferrari that crashed into a Wurlitzer jukebox and they didn't separate the wreckage.

Lololololol, this was probably the funniest think I've heard all week. Thanks! Lol, yeah, that does make sense, I won't be able to look at one now without thinking the flywheel is an old Motown 45 logded inside it!

Triumph Herald's are real nice looking. I liked a lot of Triumph's cars. My dad owned a Dolomite. The 2CV was a Bond car, when Bond was good, that's enough for me.

I have two mkI Volvo v70’s, five cylinder one being 2.0 ten valve and the other 2.4 twenty valve. Smooth, powerful for non turbo. Lovely sound as you push the throttle enthusiastically Lol. 

What a truly terrible day that must have been for you. Being in a car accident, the Senator being so badly damaged and then the news about your mum's brain tumour to have to deal with as well. Life can be terribly tough when several things happen together. My daughter in law had a benign brain tumour 11 years ago and I am pleased to say she is doing fine now. 

I got into trouble as a child when I dropped a radio then decided to open it up and see if I could repair it. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I also got into trouble for playing my dad's saw by bending it then rubbing it with my violin bow. I had seen this done on a tv programme. It made a brilliant noise, but the saw was never quite straight after that! 

My dad was always careful not to let me have too powerful a car to begin with, while I was getting used to driving. In fact my mum and dad always used to have white knuckles when I first drove them because they were holding on so tight.

You have a real talent for descriptive writing by the way. Do you enjoy writing? 

Hi Sunflower,

Aw I know, it was such a terrible end for the Senator! It was my dad’s favourite car, his pride and joy, and I loved it too. It really was like a member of the family, we owned it for a long time.

It was an automatic, black leather seats and my favourite part was the orange LCD digital dashboard… It looked amazing watching the numbers change as you went along.

The day the Senator got hit was when my mum was told she had a brain tumour. We were on our way back from the hospital. We stopped at traffic lights and when they went green we set forward, heading for a junction. I was watching the orange dashboard as I usually did. We were midway across the junction and my dad saw something silver coming from the right, he hit the brakes and turned the wheel but sadly the lady who ran the red light didn’t see us and hit the Senators offside front wing. The first thing I knew about the crash was three things, two bangs which was the offside headlamp exploding and the Senators radiator that also exploded sending liquid all over the road. And as I was watching the dashboard at the time I also saw the MPH start to decrease, I remember it was like this…

18, 17, 16, 15, 14… and then the dashboard flickered, the stereo jumped and the Senator came to a stop. I was in tears after, it was horrible. Never want to experience anything like that again.

I miss the Senator, it was such a nice car, but I do like the Jag! It’s a beautiful car and the square headlamps really set it apart from the rest.

Aww cool a Mini Clubman Estate… I’ve seen plenty online but never one on the road. I love Mini’s, the classics are so nice looking. That must have been a great first car! Definitely not many of those around now! My dad wants to buy one to restore at some point.

Yeah I found 7mph really scary at first as well. It’s an odd feeling driving for the first time, too much pressure on the accelerator and you’ll shoot forward! Even when driving my own car on the drive I don’t do more than 10mph, always so afraid that I’ll go too fast and screw up. It is a 2.5 litre but it’s very gentle which I think is why my dad gave it to me.
It’s fun learning in it but I can’t wait for when I’m actually driving it fully on the road…

Yeah mechanics are fascinating! I love seeing how everything works, it’s crazy to see what powers a car and a ship!
 I even watched my dad uncase his HiFi and what makes it work is incredible!

It is lovely to hear about your cars! They definitely belong in this discussion.

What a terrible thing to happen to the Senator - it really upsets me when vehicles get damaged. To me they are like members of the family!

The first car I owned was a Mini Clubman Estate, but I learnt to drive in a driving school Metro. You are very lucky indeed to have first driven a Jaguar, and to have a Volvo as your own car. 

I found that 7mph felt very fast when I first took control of a car! I really enjoy going out in cars such as MGB roadsters where you feel like you are going faster than you are. 

Mechanics of ships are fascinating too. In fact I've never found anything mechanical that hasn't been interesting. I really like the smell of oil and grease and watching engines in motion. 

I love machines and engines as well!

By this I mostly mean cars… Does that count? I guess they are kind of a machine. I like how there are so many different cars and how different each one is, and how much they have changed.

My favourite car – machine – ever was my dad’s 1992 Vauxhall Senator. It had a really unique and powerful engine, a 3.0i litre 24 valve engine which allowed it to do more than 150mph. It was a really smooth engine and was really silent when it went along, I even helped my dad restore it to its former glory in 2015 – sadly, in 2016 when going across a junction a lady ran a red light and wrote it off when she collided with it. Such a shame as it was a really nice car. Ever since I have struggled to travel in cars, I can’t get used to travelling in anything other than the Senator.

 We now own a 1992 Jaguar XJR 4.0 litre – the car in my profile picture – it’s the Senators replacement, it’s a lovely car, fast and luxurious and as we live on private land believe it or not it’s the first car I ever drove. I was so proud when I drove it, even though I only did 7mph up our driveway ha ha.
 It’s engine is very big and whistles like the wind. My own car, a Volvo 850 SE 2.5 litre engine is quite small really and isn’t nearly as loud as the Jaguar’s or quiet as the Senators… But I love it all the same.

Other machines and engines I love is the RMS Titanic! This was my favourite topic at school. I’ve read about it hundreds of times and watched the movie loads and loads, especially the parts where the ship is sinking. I find it and its mechanics so fascinating.

I ended up with a TVR because I fancied building a kit car. I looked at the market and deduced that the minimum price for anything was about 7k by the time paint, wheels, instruments etc. were added up.

That discounts building anything difficult to sell to recover the money if I hate the end product.

I started looking at the Cobra replicas - they are all basically Ford/Jag suspension with a V8 - the same as a TVR - and I can test-drive a TVR - and the hood works, it has a windscreen wiper that works, doors that open & close, electric windows etc. and someone has already debugged (mostly) the build.

Logical Asperger choice.

Mine had a straight-through exhaust - it was so loud that it made my ears ring. The clutch, gearchange & steering were so heavy that anything more than 10 miles was like being beaten up. Way too tiring to drive long distance. 10mpg sucks too.

I'm really not a fan of Zondas - it's just another Ferrari that crashed into a Wurlitzer jukebox and they didn't separate the wreckage.

Yes - I'm a thrill seeker. I'm so Aspie that I crave data input all then time. I'm a roller coaster fan, I've done aerobatic flying lessons, dived with sharks (no cage) - if it's a huge data-rush, then I'm in.

For a forever car, I'm thinking a Triumph Herald or 2CV - practical, simple and maintainable.

Yeah, it did spring to mind. It could be a managable way of life. I gave up long ago about money, and I think that a modest living inside something I actually care about, plus can cope with is the way forward.

That would be ideal, I'd imagine fixing Railmasters all day woukdn't be too sloppy!

Plastic said:

I'm not impressed by most supercars - they all follow a simple formula. The only one that ticks my box is the Koenigsegg. Ferraris & Lambos are just fragile footballer's cars now.

Lol, yeah, they are pretty much awful. As I said I do like the Zonda, it's got it's own thing. Koenigseggs are a unique brand too, Christian von Koenigsegg seems like a guy who is really hands on. He actually cares about his product, every nut and bolt. There's a documentary on Netflix called Apex. It pretty much sums up the Hypercar market. It's an amazing documentary. It's all about a competition where they had a gentleman's agreement for a few track records. Koenigsegg show everything they can, and invite the documentary makers in. Koenigsegg is open about everything, you can really see his passion. Porsche are pretty open too. McClaren are friendly-ish. Pagani too. Ferrari on the other hand.......well they dive to lows I didn't expect. I actually hold a bit of contempt towards Ferrari. Tossers to be honest. I do like the Ferrari FF, it's more of a Grand Tourer. Weird blend of supercar, hatchback and estate "thing"!

Plastic said:

TVR & Lotus were just glorified kit cars. Shocking manufacturing design. Lots of washers to pack things out to get things straight. (I had a few).

I have the feeling you are quite the thrill seeker. You owned a TVR, which design faults or not, were real deathtraps in most cases (In a good way, lol), but a "drivers" car. Koenigseggs aren't the safest or easiest cars to drive!

Plastic said:

I like the stripped-down simplicity of rally cars - nothing on them that absolutely doesn't have to be there.

Rally was the testing ground for so much stuff too. I also liked the aspect of some of the "everyman" cars of those days being turned into absolute monsters.

Plastic said:

With all the up-coming hassle about emissions and hybrids/electrics, I'm looking at what classic I can use as a daily driver that is exempt from everything.

It's going to be a sad day. I'll miss seeing the odd classic on the road. It's wonderful to see one of those cars that made your jaw drop all those years ago, in perfect condition, and stiil being cared for lovingly. I'd imagine some hearts will be broken with all that.

For someone with ASD, I don't think it's not a bad choice of career if you can live on the money.  Much of the time will be spent at the bench working on your own.  The guys I spoke to at the BHI said it was something you did because you loved it rather than for the money per-se.

One of the guys at EFHC who had a few more years experience than me, plus he worked in the jewellery industry already IIRC, got sponsored by Omega I think to go to the British School of Watchmaking.

I'm not impressed by most supercars - they all follow a simple formula. The only one that ticks my box is the Koenigsegg. Ferraris & Lambos are just fragile footballer's cars now.

TVR & Lotus were just glorified kit cars. Shocking manufacturing design. Lots of washers to pack things out to get things straight. (I had a few).

I like the stripped-down simplicity of rally cars - nothing on them that absolutely doesn't have to be there.

With all the up-coming hassle about emissions and hybrids/electrics, I'm looking at what classic I can use as a daily driver that is exempt from everything.

Thanks for the links Windscale. When or if my situation improves, it's something I've considered persuing. I've still got time, and a bit of knowledge beforehand, so it's certainly an option. I'd like to do high-end repairs, more than anything. I like restoring stuff.

Looking at those Amazon links I see Breguet. Swatch swallowed that up too. I like pocket watches, but I'd only buy one as a collection piece. I'd like one of those really old Glashütte pocket watches. Germany had a pretty rich history of horology, predating the Swiss in a lot of aspects. The Nazi's and the Communists both destroyed Glashütte's industry, but since the wall fell, they have gone straight back to doing what they do best. It amazes me how what is essentially a village, has so many great watchmakers.

Yeah, I like the Series Two probably best out of the Roger Smith pieces. It's great that Smith has started using tourbillons too, but that makes them more unobtainable, we can still look and drool though. Breguet has a lot to answer for, the invention of the tourbillon, and it's current surge in popularity puts some models way out of reach!

I can't imagine they woukd have been Seagulls. Mind you I have seen a few nice models from Seagull. The 6497 was Unitas originally, but got sucked up into ETA. Nice movement to be looking at! Panerai have made some nice personal touches to the 6497, although it bumps up the price, and Panerai being on the dial does too! I find Panerai's designs a little brash and large. The largest watch I own is a 43mm case and that's because it's a shell case. I usually go around the 38mm to 40mm range. You've got me thinking about doing something like you did, it sounds pretty cool, and it could lead somewhere. 

Plastic said:

The manufacturers are trying to blame everyone and everything for their managerial incompetence but the public now see cars like a washing machine so it's getting more difficult to shift their overpriced products.

Living here I've seen pretty much abosolute stupidity concerning the manufacture, marketing, and design errors in cars. When my dad worked at Jaguar they sent something like 4000 cars to the US, this was in the late seventies. All XJ models. They all got sent back because they didn't fit the requirements for import. Jobs were lost. Dad swears it was all done for tax reasons, and as a ploy for lay offs. Car company *** ups are regular subjects of conversation here, well not that much nowadays, because they all self destructed. JLR will probably be gone too. They are all on a 3 day week already "until Chrismas". Looks pretty dooming.

Reading everything that's been said about cars here, I read the models people are mentioning (the older ones) and the comparison in design saddens me. Cars are so boring to look at now. I'm a big fan of old rally cars, Lancias, Audis, Volvos, Renault Alpines, Fords...well you get the idea. They didn't look too sleek, but the pure level of insanity that came with them was probably the most exctitng era in motorsport.

As for supercars, they are all as boring as hell now. The only one that has any allure is a Pagani Zonda, for me anyway. The supercars of the 60's, 70's, and 80's had a far more striking look. Look at the boring uniformal trash that Maserati sell now. The Gran Turismo in comparison to something like the Bora is pretty sad.

I do like what Singer are doing to the 911, it's really nice both on the engine front (air cooled, flat 6, 4.0L) conversion wise. They will only word with air cooled engines, and the interior is art. ECD are doing some interesting stuff with Series 3 Land Rovers, and Defenders. I love those cars. They will drop a massive Chevy Corvette engine into the Defender, and set it up right. There are some really good things going on in the restomod market.

The ironic thing is I will never be able to legally drive....lol. I can however still admire craftsmanship, and engineering. 

now we're getting on to toys, I have to mention my favourite, which I still have. It was a pull along dachshund, with a spring for a tail so it wagged from side to side, and eccentric axles that made each end of the dog go up and down in turn. As I say I have kept the toy all my life, and also have a love of daxies to this day (getting a puppy in the spring - yay)

wow that's a blast from the past!! I'd completely forgotten the jumping frog, but I did used to have one. not sure it came from the rag and bone man, but we did have a rag and bone man, so it could have done ...

We had one,,, strange question for anyone, did anyone ever happen to touch the metal of a tin toy on their tingue?

I found out by accident it tingles,,, It buzzes the tongue,,,, lovely feeling,,, the best ever were  tiny cheap tin pressed frogs,, with a strip of blue metal underneath,, you pressed down and slipped your finger off it’s back to get it to leap forwards and up...the rag and bone man would give them out in exchange for rags, if you had quality items you got a ceramic mug,,, if lots of clothing you got a gold fish,,, no one ever got a gold fish though,,,,many kids would pinch mums clothes to try and get a fish Lol. Often a clip around the ear ensued with mum running after him to get the things back, 

Light? The eagles are about 10lbs - same weight as a gallon of water - try having that on your arm for any time! 

Nice, we did a bird of prey thing at Centre Parks a few years ago which was really interesting.  Especially how light the birds were compared to what you'd think.  And the owl was almost all feathers!  We also saw a Harris Hawk recently when we went to see one of the Blue John mines in Castleton, Derbyshire.  The owner's daughter had here's there and I think she does similar to your daughter.

But on the other hand, they were also no-where near as efficient.