stanski

Yes free entry to all the museum's up there. Its worth a visit. Howard's way!! Good grief thats a blast from the past! I didn't watch it but remember it. Funny when you see that or Bergerac or Lovejoy all those kinds of programmes on rerun freeview with the cars looking really weedy by todays standards. I do miss the Jam Sandwich cop cars rather than the Amercianized current ones. I.e in case you are really thick, we put a strap line on the side to tell you what we do! Even the CSI vans, ffs all because of a TV series.....

Apparently it was Scotch tapes.

For no other reason than to say I started this thread 10 years ago!! Wow has that flown! Nice to see people continued with it. Funny how our old cars seemed to bring us a lot of happiness even if they might have been less than perfect in some cases. I still miss my Zed and the great times we had in the club outings etc. Made lifelong friends based on a niche jap car!

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Haha nice write up. If you ever go the national museum of Scotland in Edinburgh and they have a tech section in the too floor. Just looking at phones and mobiles, I point out to my daughter (9) all the phones I have owned!! Then the computer section too, I feel really bleeding old. Massive texh expansion from the 80s/90s. Vhs might have gone but cassette tapes are back . Obviously hipster kids keeping them going. I still have all of my mix tapes etc and of course if you have a 350z you can still play them haha! I got my mate into old school film cameras now he doesn't bother with digital! Analogue is still better in some ways its just got soul.

Well this subject took an unexpected turn haha!! One of my videos just sold (Saving Private Ryan special collectors edition) not quite the Private videos you guys were on about! Hmm porn on Betamax? Betamax was supposed to be better quality too wasnt it!!! The mind boggles

Ok good luck but for the small outlay in soap and hide food, its worth half an hours work, just clean it up and soak it. You would be surprised how well leather comes back to life. Our old Wolseley 1500 had bone dry seats, Connolly hide food rejuvenated them. Worth a go.

They are all the same. For some reason the social media generation appears to consider personality and public image more than content! I still think Brexit was an experiment (or bet in a pub) to see if you fed the public enough rubbish they would believe anything! Well it worked! Now you have all these idiots fighting for power but when it comes, god help us all! Trump is the classic example. Did you ever watch this x files episode. Very funny and very relevant!

For £5 its worth a try. I used to swear by Blackfire Midnight Sun wax and it was ace but not cheap. Now I like the Bilt Hamber stuff, tech has moved on. As they research nano tech and know more about surface porosity etc these things eventually will be more common and cheaply produced. I am sure like many people I have sod all time to spend hours 'detailing' my cars anymore, family, job ,life now its get something on that does a good job lasts for a while and does not cost a tank of fuel to buy.

Also consider BMW M2 my wife has one. Surprisingly good as a practical family car. Decent seats in back and largish boot and goes like poop off a shovel.

I agree with you they have a good rep on reliability but still exotic expensive new, might be cheap to buy second hand but its still expensive car with expensive parts to run daily. If you can afford it go for it. I still love the way the look but glad I didnt get one now.

I got the run out mk1 Shadow edition 5.0 litre, basically loaded with all the toys and since they were under £40k new (mines a year old ) you only pay £145 roadtax. The first owner would have paid the £2k tax! Mad I know.

Hi Martin. A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away I used to be a trimmer so that guy charging you £200-300 is for his skill rather than materials etc. All the time is spent stripping the seat down. The actual repair will be fairly easy. Either 3 ways to go at it. 1 -Fix what you have its not a common colour so difficult to match and 350z leather is frankly toilet paper thin. You can glue a backing underneath, use leather filler and a colouring kit. But its not the best long term option. 2-Unpick that whole worn side panel and replace with new matching leather. 3-As above but unpick both sides and sew in new material (contrasting colour both sides) repeat for passenger seat so it matches. Expensive. One other thing to consider is get a set of seats off fleabay in same colour and use the good side off say the passenger side seat to sew onto the worn bit you have. You end up stripping 2 sets of seats but the way the seats are sewn you have natural seam joins to work towards. First thing to do , buy saddle soap and clean the seats well. Then Buy a small tub of Connolly Hide food , others available but this one the best. It will revitalise your seat plus it will move colour from the good leather over the not so good. Smooth it on , leave over night repeat. You are trying to feed the leather and give its spring back. Its a cheap first step. Hope it helps? Stan

All the German stuff if great but there is so much of it on the roads you just dont notice anymore. I still look at GTs when I see one but its £35k for a decent one thats not been chaved up or 80000 miles on the clock and 15 owners. But they are about 8 years old at that price. Go for the automatic which seem to go the distance. But you need to get full 4 wheel tracking every year and its £250 per corner on tyres. I think even the oil filter is £80!!! Honestly try a Mustang, yes its not a BMW but its just so much fun. Even a trip to the shops is an event. Great GT car and family friendly. Either way good luck with your search. The new Alfieri is the car to wait for see how that works out.

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That was going to be the car I wanted (been waiting 10 years!). Look at my mid life crisis thread! They look fab, they sound fab, they go like stink and yes proper 4 adult seats but in the end, I got a Ford Mustang and no regrets. Rear seat for my daughter plenty of space. The Masser has ended production now , the interior is looking very dated especially the earlier models. They hold their value but eat brakes, suspension springs, clutches for the MC versions, tyres every year and everything will cost a fortune even usual services items. Even if you use an Indie its still going to take all your wages. I know the Mustang isnt exactly a cheap runner (mines the 5 litre) but £145 roadtax , servicing is supposed to be in the £200-300 mark rather than the £1100 for the Masser. Go and drive one but as much as I really wanted to own one , I am so glad I didn't. You cant get anything for them from say Euro Carparts not even wiper blades for goodness sakes, its all bespoke stuff. Sorry to put a dampener on it, I had justified everything in my mind but long term I said no its just too high maintenance. Still think they look the dogs though. Stan

They look nice in all colours even that sort of washed out orange. Thats 2 pack for you, orange isn't proper orange anymore is it?

I had a 100a does that count?!!

Nice one keep us posted. My cheap Bilt Hamber double speed wax is going strong after 2 weeks. Been on crappy torrential rain downpours and usual Manchester polution and so its almost self cleaning. Damn thing beads like beading thing! Even the wheels are staying clean, tricky as they are black!

So basically you push a rubber type plug in the tyre from the outside? I have seen these at tyre places but generally from inside the tyre? Usually though they are patches like on a bike? Of course you cant fix stuff near the side of the tyre wall. Ironically I have never used the foam in a can until I thought to try it to fix a slow leak in my old Rover. Damn thing actually works? Been 6 months now. I recon its just minor wisp on the rim , it is from 1965 after all So impressed with Holts tyre weld and its water based so doesn't trash your tyre like the early goop used to.

looks great enjoy it

Well there you go! Haha I loved the 38 degrees dry sunny heat, absolutely the best food I have ever had! Bleeding watermelons size of small pigs, people I met were all really nice. Only thing that was a big culture shock to me the gated communities everywhere, effectively self imprisonment! Iunderstand why but still not something I expected to see. A lot of people wanting to leave for USA or Aus such a shame. You can see the nerves on people's faces. Yet having a nice chat about VWs with the taxi driver on way back to the airport (I am a lifelong aircooled VW petrolhead, as was the taxi driver haha). Anyway what camera do you have I am hippy Pentax man!

I wish I was in a position to do what you are , I absolutely love travelling but going back to your question. The world has changed a lot even just the past few years but some things remain the same. Plan your trip, be sensible, dont take a fancy expensive watch or mobile phone/ camera etc, ensure you have suitable medical cover and all that kind of stuff. I recently changed jobs and my company is based in South Africa. I have never been to the other side of the world let alone on a long haul flight. Well they wanted me to fly over meet the team etc, since I would be their UK representative. To say I was apprehensive was an understatement!! SA doesnt have the best reputation but inspite of my worries , I was sensible where I went and what I did. They did look after me very well, honestly the most lovely people I have met and a very humbling trip, makes you realise how much we take for granted over here. One thing I have found the poorer the country the most welcoming they are and yes there is always danger everywhere (Salford on a Saturday night!) Just go for it and trust your gut feel, if it doesnt feel right dont go there.

It did cross my mind, you can buy the kit cheap enough. I still have a video recorder and kept 2 blank tapes back just in case (why no idea!) Still I am mister retro but videos are maybe even too cool for me.

Probably a good idea, sort of thing I would do haha. I still have a portable typewriter maybe I should go to the park and start typing! Hypsteronic eh.