Besides a Volvo

[37 RUBY]

Come on. Show me your motors. Stories and pictures, you know you want to.

[reggit]

Pre-kids I had a triumph spitfire, unfortunately had to move that on as not enough seats. Now I just seem to be fiddling with a fleet of motorbikes (ok 3 of them) and never riding them 😢

[37 RUBY]

Originally Posted by reggit

Pre-kids I had a triumph spitfire, unfortunately had to move that on as not enough seats. Now I just seem to be fiddling with a fleet of motorbikes (ok 3 of them) and never riding them 😢

I did have bikes but gave them up 8yrs ago having been wiped off one by an elderly lady stealing my patch of tarmac. Priest at the head of my bed and many months in hospital following bowel surgery. Promised Mrs 37 Ruby I'd quit them and turned back to cars.

Ah a Spitfire. I have never driven a Spitfire.
I've seen many descriptions of the handling...how would you describe it?

Surely you can dig out a picture?

[37 RUBY]

Originally Posted by RollingThunder

My daily driver prior to getting the S70 was an S40 D5 - but I disliked it so much that I drove my standby car as often as I could - its a Japanese import (so totally mint and rust free) Discovery 4.0 V8,

I've not driven a Disco since taking my then bosses 1990 2.5TDI.

I surmise the burble of the V8 soundtrack was one factor that overrode the fuel consumption?

Originally Posted by RollingThunder

I have almost zero interest in modern cars, I'd even choose an 850R over a Bugatti Veyron or Tesla. Seriously, I would

I agree, modern cars are mostly soulless A to B machines. Older/Retro modern classic is the way to go. The quirkier the better, hence the Roadster as my current weapon of choice.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by 37 RUBY

I've not driven a Disco since taking my then bosses 1990 2.5TDI.

I surmise the burble of the V8 soundtrack was one factor that overrode the fuel consumption?

The V8 and the diseasel Discos are chalk and cheese, the V8 is nearly as economical and much nicer to drive!

[andy_d]

my "fun" car used to be a Triumph TR7, FHC with the full length roll back sunroof. White and the 2l 4pot lump.
going back 25 years now, i paid a whole £100 for it as a "wont start/run" toy.
about 3hours work cleaning out the carbs, setting them up correctly new plugs/leads/points and a battery i had a running Tr7


was Very shortly after that i taught myself how to weld,

Replaced both door skins, flitch plate passenger side, both front wheel arch flares , floor pan passenger side due to a prior owner getting friendly with something stronger and rock shaped with that side the floor pan , wasnt holed, rather bent and while under it "i dont like the look of that"
(rimmer bros almost put me on the xmas card list),
not sure how many gallons of wax oil into the chassis ,
Clutch, and all the usual service items, light seals , stripped and rebuilt the headlight lift motors with new bushes,

sent it off for a full respray in the correct white,

few years later the sunroof got slashed by some scrote, so a Heap of "fun" replacing that,

used to carry the Spare starter motor + tools in the boot which i swear you could put 4 bodys in,, (or more if you had a chainsaw..)


drove it for "fun" as had company cars, great motor, the live rear axel made it a Total blast in the damp, never mind the snow.

moved to a dif country for 8 months ,work related, parked the car up @ dads, when i came back i didnt have the £ or the time to get it back to working condition so had to sell it,

[37 RUBY]

Originally Posted by andy_d

my "fun" car used to be a Triumph TR7, FHC with the full length roll back sunroof. White and the 2l 4pot lump.
going back 25 years now, i paid a whole £100 for it as a "wont start/run" toy.
about 3hours work cleaning out the carbs, setting them up correctly new plugs/leads/points and a battery i had a running Tr7


was Very shortly after that i taught myself how to weld,

Replaced both door skins, flitch plate passenger side, both front wheel arch flares , floor pan passenger side due to a prior owner getting friendly with something stronger and rock shaped with that side the floor pan , wasnt holed, rather bent and while under it "i dont like the look of that"
(rimmer bros almost put me on the xmas card list),
not sure how many gallons of wax oil into the chassis ,
Clutch, and all the usual service items, light seals , stripped and rebuilt the headlight lift motors with new bushes,

sent it off for a full respray in the correct white,

few years later the sunroof got slashed by some scrote, so a Heap of "fun" replacing that,

used to carry the Spare starter motor + tools in the boot which i swear you could put 4 bodys in,, (or more if you had a chainsaw..)


drove it for "fun" as had company cars, great motor, the live rear axel made it a Total blast in the damp, never mind the snow.

TR7!...You forget all sorts of cars along the way. When I was a spotty YTS in 1987 working at GKN motorfactors I remember a customer who's wife would be sent to collect his parts in her black "John Player " edition.

I note you mentioned the word "fun" twice when you wrote that and that's why we do what we do.

're the chainsaw, large boot and 4 bodies , is there anything one wishes to get off ones chest?

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by 37 RUBY

TR7!...You forget all sorts of cars along the way. When I was a spotty YTS in 1987 working at GKN motorfactors I remember a customer who's wife would be sent to collect his parts in her black "John Player " edition.

I note you mentioned the word "fun" twice when you wrote that and that's why we do what we do.

're the chainsaw, large boot and 4 bodies , is there anything one wishes to get off ones chest?

Wasn't that the Capri that had a JPS Special Edition? I remember a workmate respraying his canary yellow Mk2 Escrot black and then adding the gold pinstripes and JPS logo - called it his mobile JPS fag-packet.
All done legal and above board, brought the letter in to work from John Player giving permission for him to use the trademarks etc. I believe he was inspired by the Mk2 Capri JPS.





I can't remember the whole deal but somewhere along the line JPS were sponsoring Lotus i think it was and so were Ford in the Forumal One.

I also have vague memories of a Triumph Dolomite LE, black with silver pinstripes and "LE" on the rear flank - i think a similar black TR7 was around the same time with gold pinstripes, could be something that lead to confusion?

[c1800]

Ahh, the Capri. They were branded Mercury here (another marque of Ford in NA). Bought a ‘72, 2.0 L, OHC, 4 speed, in ‘78. $1500. That school bus yellow colour. Oil change, new tires and a 3500 mile round trip to California and back, nary a hiccup, hummed along nicely the whole journey, on US interstates at 75+ mph. A few life bumps and I sold it for $2000 in ‘81. The only one I regret.....

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by c1800

Ahh, the Capri. They were branded Mercury here (another marque of Ford in NA). Bought a ‘72, 2.0 L, OHC, 4 speed, in ‘78. $1500. That school bus yellow colour. Oil change, new tires and a 3500 mile round trip to California and back, nary a hiccup, hummed along nicely the whole journey, on US interstates at 75+ mph. A few life bumps and I sold it for $2000 in ‘81. The only one I regret.....

I think they called that colour Signal Yellow here - there was also Signal Red and Signal Orange, a trio of similarly bright colours in striking shades. A couple of price comparisons for you, first :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-CAPR...T/233757406273

A current listing on ebay UK, nearest i could find to a 1972 car, this one is a 1971 3.0 V6 from Australia - look at the price though!

That's not uncommon for most Fords from the early 70s now. Here we call it the "Blue Oval Tax" - a premium applied to old Fords that people happily pay.

Back in 1972 my dad bought his first brand new car, a Capri 1600XL with 3 optional extras (metallic paint, black vinyl roof and a heated rear window) and put it on the road for £1276. In the early 70s, the exchange rate was something like US$4 to £1 so that puts your secondhand Capri for $1500 in some sort of perspective.

Insteresting to hear it was rebranded Mercury stateside, that said a lot of cars were rebranded for the NA market. For example, you got the Austin Marina which we knew as a Morris Marina, Chevrolet Cavalier which we knew as the Vauxhall Cavalier and there are several others which i can't bring to mind just now.