Toyota RAV 4

[John Landon]

I was JUST wondering what people think about these Chelsea tractors cars ?

This one specifically may be of interest to a former ex, ex Pat ?







Lovely colour by the way......

[Major Thom]

I was gobsmacked, at how did you get these pictures, now I know. I copied these to family and struck the wrong D....... Never mind, I would maybe of done it myself later. But what efficiency, ordered and delivered in two weeks, even I will have to get used to this.

[BBLUX]

When we get to France we will get a car. The dealer says we can have it within a week of ordering. It will take that long to do the paperwork.

[John Landon]

I have never been burdened with the problem of owning a brand new car....

A week to do the paperwork though ? Wow !


I guess it will be nice for MT getting back to a more modern civilisation, although I myself do prefer the simple life.....

Ironically, Australia was home to all the convicts from the UK, and now it has a lower crime rate than the UK, so your new motor and home should be safe.

[HEPZIBAH]

There is no secret to the speed that you get a new car from a dealer. If they, or a local branch, have the model and colour you want it is possible, (but I appreciate not normal), to complete the transaction in a day.

Equally, even for a fairly basic 'normal' car, you may have to wait for weeks until one can either be delivered to your area or shipped to your country.

[Major Thom]

The car had to come from Perth and that is 4.5 hours flying time, imagine it coming by road. Sorry about the e-mail JL I must check in future the participants. I was knocked down when I saw if appear on here, and wondered what the hell had happened.

[Who2]

The first car I ever bought brand new from a showroom was this little ol Alpine.

£1300 quid ex tax & import duties..
A110 1300 reached 0 to 60 mph (96.6 kph) in 9.1 seconds and could cover a 1/4 mile in an estimated 14.49 seconds....
I raced it until I killed it.
1 month being wined, dined & entertained by the Alpine salesman, one Monsieur Boulangère, in their showrooms on the Champs-Elysees, which included a restaurant and Renault Museum upstairs, by an ex racing driver who drove us
around Paris's La Périphérique at break-neck speeds in the latest Renault GTA..just for fun!
.
Having had many types of car this was my all-time favourite...
"je suis moi wee ol Alpeeni"


Ps: Iv'e had three Toyotas loved everyone, especially my 89 GT 2dr Red Convertible at £17k....

[Horus]

The car had to come from Perth and that is 4.5 hours flying time, imagine it coming by road

When I lived in Africa your new car would come by road usually several hundreds of miles, in a big crate on the back of a lorry ............ and you had to un-crate it yourself when they dropped it off

[Major Thom]

You should have kept it Dr under wraps in a garage, they are worth a fortune now, and you could be sat on a beach on a beautiful paradise island, with a Cuban Havana Cigar and a gallon size bottle of Stella in one hand and a bacon and sausage bap, smothered in HP Saurce in the other, think of the bliss.

[John Landon]

The only new cars in my old family was my Dad's 1966 Royal Blue VW Beetle 1200, and my mum getting an off white Renault 12 TL.
I was an avid fan of Renaults back in the 70's and knew all about the engines and cars, makes and models and all the possible variants.
Information I have long since forgotten the vast majority of.
Plus they had a great car in the Formula 1 season of 1978 /79 when their turbo charged F! car was winning everything.

I was tasked with keeping my Mums car on the road after my dad left us, which was a challenge in itself, random parts failing, and fitted many a set of new front wings to the car, as it rusted
Faster than a fat kid chasing an ice cream van....

Always been a keen mechanic and car electrician, and was going to make a career out of it, but in the end, decided against it and opted for the "come what may" approach for my meal ticket .....

[Dusak]

I was lucky, from the age of nineteen, just after the big strike at Pilks I was on so much money that I changed my car every 1.5-2 years for new ones.

[John Landon]

Cars are so good these days, that you probably do not need to change that often now Dusak..
My Jag on a good day gives me 66 MPG, looks as good as new, has almost 150,000 miles on the clock, drives like a dream and is 11 years old this year.
I have modified the engine to give more power and torque, which is why I get more MPG than standard.
.
.
As much as I liked the 60's and 70's, the cars were pretty crap and didnt last very long.
Engines usually stuffed by 60,000 miles, and the old tin worm was merciless, and no cars got any more than 30MPG consistently due to inefficient fuelling and ignition systems.

A classic Orange VW camper van next, then spend some time doing it up, and the world is our Oyster...

[Major Thom]

In 60's I used to love the Triumph 1300 I had 3 of them, also liked my old Sunbeam Stilleto.

[John Landon]

I had the Triumph 2.5 Pi which had the 150BHP engine so was pre 1973, before they dropped the BHP to 136.
I Loved that car, it was British racing green, and drove great.
The only issue I experienced was the electronic overdrive, which had a powerful solenoid to activate the overdrive unit, and if I disengaged the overdrive
via a switch on top of the gearknob, I would get an electric shock if my hand was also touching the metal spokes on the steering wheel.

The Triumph 1300 was Triumphs first venture into Front Wheel drive if I recall correctly. Followed by the Dolomite.

Prior to the Renault 12, my mum had a 1963 duck egg blue Triumph Herald convertible, which replaced the black Austin A35 that I managed to damage when I was about 6 or 7..
I drove it into a rock, apparently it was all my fault, because my dad left me in the car on my own on top of our driveway, and told me not to touch anything......
At least I did not hit my brother who was standing on the gate...

[Mad Dilys]

Well, I loved my Toyota van. I bought it for £1,000 on the road, I would guess it was mid 1970s Not completely sure of it's mark but I think it was a T11 later called an Acti -I've been trying to find a record of it on Google, but it seems to have totally disappeared. Not surprising since there was obvious rust in the guttering 3 weeks after delivery.

What a fantastic vehicle, though it only had a 350cc motor bike engine, it carried 11 bales of straw or hay, or half a ton of potatoes, sometimes 7 children on cushions in the back and an extra 2 plus driver in front. I took big pigs to the abattoir and sheep to be dipped. Once we had two big rams with huge horns that we couldn't get into a conventional lorry, so I enticed them into the van and backed the van into the lorry before closing the tail gate and releasing them into a stall at the front.

This vehicle would go anywhere a Landrover would go and many places that a Landrover would not go. It only let me down once, when I was going up a very steep hill with some pig carcasses for delivery and the accelerator cable broke. Quite near a garage fortunately.

It died of rust, the floor simply rusted through, it was just a rust bucket - but what a work horse.

[Mad Dilys]

My favourite car was a wolf in sheep's clothing - a 1990 Toyota Corolla GTi. 0 to 60 in 8,0 seconds (frequently )
Black inside and out with smoked glass windows. Because of taxes at the time, if I had taken it to Egypt in 1992 it would have cost me £36,000 in tax and duty. I sold it for £4,000 because it was a Hot Hatch and insurance was very high, no one wanted them at that time.

[John Landon]

The Corolla engine was great, I did quite a bit of work on those in the past, as my mate Gendalf had an MR-2 which had the same engine.
I have always enjoyed the benefit of cheap insurance, because of where I live, and being clever and always protecting my no claims bonus, which means I can have the occassional claim and not suffer a financial penalty.

My Wolf in Sheeps clothing was a 1995 SAAB 9-3, which I took up to stage 2 tuning, just by uploading a new map into the ECU.
265 BHP, 400 Nm of Torque, from the standard 150 BHP 260NM Torque. You really had to hang onto the steering wheel when flooring that baby.!
I got into a race once down the A55 with a Subaru, after I overtook it at 145 MPH down Rhuallt Hill, it turned out to be an undercover police car, with the chief of police as a passenger inside it.
Luckily I managed to wangle my way out of that situation, after a short chat with the very charming WPC who was driving......

Good job they didnt see me 2 weeks earlier, when I blew off an AMG Merc' which could only do 155 MPH flat out, and my car was worth about 2% of his.....

My mate Gendalf ended up with that car.....

[Mad Dilys]

I'd like to add that as my van was Sit up an Beg, it was easy for the kids to drive from about the age of ten. At first on drives and tracks and then round the orchard. I acquired a very old mini and they chased each other over the fields with very few and minor incidents. It did teach them to have pretty quick reactions as they avoided old tree stumps and the like.

Apparently those vans were very popular in South America.. I'd buy one tomorrow if they were still made.

[John Landon]

I learned to drive on a Nuffield universal tractor during bailing season, I then progressed to doing Mole draining the fields and general farm duties on said tractor.
I never had any driving lessons and passed my test first time thank to the driving experiences on tractors.

The car I passed my test in was a Toyota Starlet. I could not use my MK3 Cortina for my driving test, because the handbrake didn't work. it made hill starts very interesting.....

My Uncle Pat Buckingham, up in t' Dales had a mini moke in green. He used to ferry my dad around on his rounds in that when he injured his back. It was a great little run around in the fields.

[Brian Yare]

I have modified the engine to give more power and torque, which is why I get more MPG than standard.

I bet your Insurance company liked that!