I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)

michaellno

...center manager...

Um, won't you get fired or flogged or something by not using the term centre manager?

At least, that's how it's referred to in all the LR advertising.

british_rover

I don't always hit on the british Spelling.

I also don't use Colour.

kyfdx

Don't forget the tyres..

michaellno

Sorry, that's what happens when you've been working for expat British citizens for the past 4 years.

I'm also noticing that the term 'bugger' appears in my speech much more regularly. And, I take 'holiday leave' rather than 'vacation time'.

explorerx4

a red sterling 827 S in excellent condition.

british_rover

I have a ton of british clients and find myself doing it aswell.

Hell I have said Spanner on more then one occasion lately.

Oh and the guy with the 110 TDi has five of them and is looking to sell them.

Hmhh how much is that worth??? :confuse:

The 1993 110 NAS Defender went for 88,000 dollars at BJ.

BJ Defender

Results

boomchek

My second car was an 86 Chevy Celebrity that I bought at an auction for $600.

It wasn't a car I wanted as I was 20 years old, but it did the job.

It was one of the easiest cars to drive. Comfy bench seat, steering wheel you could tunr with your pinky, and I left it open and unlocked all the time as I didn't care if anyone stole it or not.

fintail

Today I saw a pristine baby blue Datsun B210. Can't be many of those around.

bumpy

Pretty slim pickins' in the 80s. The cars were really very dull to look at, with a few notable exceptions.

The third-gen Prelude should make the cut. If you're willing to look outside North America there were some nice turbo Skylines, and the GT-R itself made the decade with about four months to spare.

explorerx4

shouldn't you say 'Bloody Hell'?

Mr_Shiftright

You think that Defender was a real bid? I don't. I'll check around on that one. I would think $40K would be more than enough. Maybe the seller had to buy it back.

fintail

This little gem of a film has a wealth of sightings for 20s car fans. Keys are a Bugatti, several Mercedes, a Hanomag 'Kommisbrot' and a Rumpler Tropfen-Auto in use as a taxi!

andre1969

a dirty word in English -er, I mean, British?

british_rover

Yes bugger is a fairly dirty word in british slang.

No clue if the 88,000 dollar bid was real or not be interesting to hear what you find out.

Clean low mileage 97 D90s go for low to mid 50's around here.

mazda6iguy

We had a Ciera when I was a kid. I am pretty sure it was just a 3.1. It was a 'Brougham' trim I believe, but it only had an AM radio..

Back in the day, I used to work for a company that gave out company cars. My company car was a '84 Buick Century. I remember I liked the interior dash of the Century vs. one of my co-workers company car which was a 84 Ciera.

andre1969

last nite I saw a Ciera wagon. Forget what vintage, but it looked to be in very good shape. Then a few moments later I saw a Buick Century sedan. It had the typical faded light silver paint, but looked solid otherwise. It was that style that still had the non-composite headlights, but had kind of a BMW/shark-like reverse slant to the front. I think that would peg it at '86-88?

Nothing else notable last nite, although I did see a Mercury Zephyr sedan that looked to be in good shape, and later on a '71-72 Buick LeSabre 4-door in a faded blue.

fintail

Uncommon

What a looker

Fixer-upper

And it returns

"very collectible"

Barrett Jackson has become a real cliche

Lots of low mileage examples of these seem to have survived

Now here's a '55 Buick

I believe this model was the first production car with independent suspension

Atrocious colors...criminal

I like the bit about the license plate

The nutjob is back

boomchek

I always liked the Iso Rivoltas (both the name itself and the cars).

That Renault 5 is collectible alright... for the scrapyard.

That Olds from Alberta looks like new. Wow. but the seller seems a bit irritable. :confuse:

Mr_Shiftright

'57 Desoto: The seller is turning down $23K??? That's all the money pardner, don't be a fool.

'81 Renault...shoot, I'd buy it for $500...no, wait....I wouldn't....

'55 Buick: nice, very nice (sigh).

Lancia Aurelia: Geez, Ghia designed some ugly cars....if only they had given it to Pinanfarina.

Iso Rivolta: they're coming up in value but for this tired example the buy it now price is retail.

Zagato Zele: no uglier than a Smart car and $20,000 less.

magnette

Ben away from the computer for a few days due to work. However, saw a real rarity in the street the other day - a Mitsuoka Viewt, which is a Nissan March based retro looking thing, styled like a tiny Jaguar Mk 11. Needless to say this was not offered in UK when new, and was a grey import JDM model, and I didn't get a photo.

P.s - Noted the various comments a few days back re British v US spellings - tyres, colour, centre, etc. Someone once said we are two peoples separated by a common language....

Actually I only find it irritating when just about every default setting on computers spellchecks in American - obviously you can set English English as the norm, but still....

british_rover

Actually I only find it irritating when just about every default setting on computers spellchecks in American - obviously you can set English English as the norm, but still....



That is an interesting comment. My junior year or college I was doing a paper on AIDS and how several different Asian countries were dealing with the problem of fighting the disease. Most of my research was from The Lancet which is a British medical journal. I spent so much time reading The Lancet that my brain kicked over to british spelling.

I was using online versions of journals so when I needed to quote something I would just copy and paste it. All that copy and paste somehow kicked my version of word over to English English... :confuse:

I was already in english english thinking so I never noticed what happened. I turned it in that way and my professor was really confused until we figured out what happened.

andys120

I like the Rivoltas too, hard to believe the guy also made refrigerators and invented the Isetta.

The Lancia Aurelia Ghia is a pretty rsre bird but whoever tries to restore it had better have a pile of dough.

magnette

I liked your comment about how your computer adopted English spellings from prolonged experience of British input....I am ok at home, my computer here (Mac) is set to British, but at work with PCs every upgrade seems to come with a reset that sends us into American. It hadn't really dawned on me how my posts on these forums look different from everybody else's as obviously you all use American spellings, and I don't, but what is probably more odd is when I talk about bonnet, boot, wing, etc, rather than hood, trunk, fender. Also sedan, which we call saloon (over there those come with double swing doors and a bar !). It wouId be a boring world if we were all the same, I suppose! ( I still think you guys drive on the wrong side of the road, though.)

Mr_Shiftright

Okay pop quiz (groan).

Sharpen your pencils:

http://www.motorcarsltd.com/speakenglish.htm

kyfdx

Got all 26!!

Woooo--hoooooo!!

Wow.. a lot of luck there... plus a pen-pal from London in the 3rd grade..

british_rover

Missed two.

Prise and Swarf...

kyfdx

I didn't really know those two, either... After I got the 15 that I was pretty sure about... just started using process of elimination..

Where I really got lucky was on the pins, screws, clips... I had no idea.. just what sounded reasonable..

british_rover

I knew everything but prise and swarf so I just guessed but I guessed wrong.

kyfdx

You realize what this means?

I've got to change my handle to brfdx..

And, you in turn, will have to be kentucky rover.. lol.

british_rover

ahahah

:sick:

magnette

Well, I didn't actually know a couple of those, so I only got them by a process of elimination. I liked the bit at the end where it said I must have a bit of English blood - being Welsh...
I assumed you would actually use torch, though - or is that statue in New York holding a flashlight ?
It's probably easier from this side, because Hollywood and loads of imported US TV has meant that we hear more of your terms than you probably do of ours.

Mr_Shiftright

yeah it's the Flashlight of Freedom...takes 3,000 AAA batteries. Quite a job changing them, too.

british_rover

Ehh budget cutbacks they are only running it at half power now.

magnette

I would have thought it was light work....

boomchek

New paint, new carpets, new top, but a salvage title due to crack in windshield? :confuse:
Suspicious Yellow Rolls

A well worn Rolls

Healthy bidding on this Camargue, owned by Mohammed Ali

For a car like this you'd think they would do a better job with the aftermarket Radio Shack stereo

Not until recently that I started liking these a lot

I always liked these, wouldn't mind one for my wedding for a day

fintail

Personally, I don't care for anything after the SC. The Camargue is interesting in a homely way though.

A Phantom V would be a good choice, some of those couldn't be more elegant.

Mr_Shiftright

Well a testament to "celebrity bidding". I could have bought a Corniche coupe with a bad trans and a soft brake pedal but otherwise quite lovely for $7,500 not too long ago. But oy, the hassles one might run into. I think I threw in my cards when a good friend offered to do the brakes in his shop (he's a Rolls expert) for a 'friend's price' of only $6,000---he'd "put something together that would work". The trans was I think another $5K because it "wasn't too bad".

If you buy an old Rolls, figure on spending the same amount again within a year, and about $1.50 a mile after that.

The older the Rolls you buy, the better in terms of quality and reliability---but they all cost a lot to fix. I like the Cloud and the Phantom V types and the Continental coupes from the 50s. But the V8 cars should be gutted and turned into kiddie rides. Total money pits. Newbie buyers are invariably stunned into disbelief, shock and horror at what they have done. A few escape by neglecting the cars and re-selling them on eBay!

boomchek

Yeah I suspect that maintenance is not cheap. $6k for a brake job? Wow. :sick:

It's funny cause these are much cheaper in the UK. I guess an old Rolls to them is like an old Cadillac to us.

Mr_Shiftright

Well they are cheap to BUY, that's not the problem. You can buy old Rolls here in the states for the price of a Hyundai...even a used Hyundai.

boomchek

That initial cheap price must tempt some though

Mr_Shiftright

Only the very ill-informed I'd guess who think they can fix them as if they were ordinary cars. First trip to the parts department should sober them up.

explorerx4

everyone needs to rent the original 'italian job' to brush up on their english. maybe 'ipcress file'.

boomchek

I have that movie. Another good one with lots of classics is the original Gone in 60 Seconds. One of my favourites.

seminole_kev

As a side note, you can tell you've been around old cars for awhile when multiple fluid leaks don't bother you, it is just how much it may be leaking that can cause you concern.

Sigh.....looks like I've got to tear apart my driver's side rear caliper and replace the seals.

andre1969

I think the only leak that really scares me is a coolant leak. Most other leaks, like oil, transmission fluid, power steering fluid, and even brake fluid can usually just be topped off and you're fine for awhile, but with coolant and the great pressure fluctuations, it seems like a little leak can turn into a big one alarmingly fast!

Although brakes can be scary if one moment you have them, and the next moment you don't! Every time I've had a brake failure though it's always been gradual. I'd notice the brakes getting mushier and the pedal slowly dropping to the floor long before it got dangerous. Either that, or one morning I'd just happen to walk out and find no brake pressure at all!

seminole_kev

Yeah, right now braking is a bit of a "plan ahead event" where she'll stop, but it takes longer than you'd like and the pedal feel is somewhere around "cereal that's sat in milk too long". A little oil eh, no big deal. Some power steering fluid, yeah I'll get around to getting that replaced (or upgraded) some day. Coolant....well I'll give that hose a little tightening to see if it stops.

Now if it starts gushing something....then I'll start to get concerned! :P

toomanyfumes

I'm seeing three Ford Tempo's on my morning commute that I don't remember seeing before. People must be using them as winter beaters. :sick:

fintail

I saw 5 MB W126s in the span of about 10 minutes on my evening commute. Great cars...

andys120

I don't recall the model year of your Mk II but if it predates dual braking circuits a sudden and complete failure of the brake system is possible. It happened to me driving my '66 TR-4A.

I was approaching the off-ramp for the 59th St (Queensboro Bridge in Manhattan, I tapped the brake to scrub off speed for the 90 degree turn and the pedal went right to the floor. :surprise: Luckily I had the presence of mind to use the handbrake and a judicious downshift to scrub off enough speed to make the turn and come to rest safely off the narrow ramp where I discovered that a burst brake line had left me with no brake fluid at all.

I believe Triumph went to redundant brake lines in '68.

seminole_kev

Yeah I'm in the same boat you were. Single circuit, so there's no failover capability in the system. Still though, from the initial look over, hopefully just a new seal kit will take care of the leaky corner.

Oh, didn't answer your question - 1967 Mk2. Last round before the switchover to the very similar 340 model.