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i remember my old volvo amazon automatic, big red leather seats, wood dash, and it felt like you were driving a tank, it was wonderful, but i sold it and got a austin maxi in 1975 (now that WAS a horrible car).
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I used to breed pre war Mg's,in various improbable states of tune.
You could really wind the old XPAG engine up without it breaking.
You certainly couldnt do that to the horrible MPJG in the TA.
The chassis were really rather badly executed though,and the bodywork plain crude.I never missed them much.
I used to co-own a shedful of xk120/140's too.they were never road legal,although we drove them on occasion.Another car I could never see what the fuss was all about.
Like E types,Alan Clarke was quite right.Cramped,heavy,evil handling at speed.
how could the makers of the immortal D type do it?
Accountants.
I never drove a good Aston either.
never put one on a ramp and look underneath,you may not beleive what you see!
I came to be quite cynical in the seventies about the vehicles the mags were raving about.
I was in the West -End carriage trade in those days and got to drive them......
We could have a basement full of Shadows,italian exotica,American flash.....and what did we drive?
minis,mostly,and for special occasions,XJ6's.
Did you know that the much reviled Austin 3litre outhandled anything else of the same size?
Shame about the rest of it!
And if all those people who raved about Mustangs,camaros etc had actually driven them for any distance they would be raving about Plymouth barracudas.
Even then,and for many years after ,we used to read road tests of new cars we knew well and positively wet ourselves,it was so blatantly obvious they had never driven the things.
You know,Kipling was right ,nothing much changes in the motor trade.
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I used to breed pre war Mg's,in various improbable states of tune.
You could really wind the old XPAG engine up without it breaking.
You certainly couldnt do that to the horrible MPJG in the TA.
The chassis were really rather badly executed though,and the bodywork plain crude.I never missed them much.
I used to co-own a shedful of xk120/140's too.they were never road legal,although we drove them on occasion.Another car I could never see what the fuss was all about.
Like E types,Alan Clarke was quite right.Cramped,heavy,evil handling at speed.
how could the makers of the immortal D type do it?
Accountants.
I never drove a good Aston either.
never put one on a ramp and look underneath,you may not beleive what you see!
I came to be quite cynical in the seventies about the vehicles the mags were raving about.
I was in the West -End carriage trade in those days and got to drive them......
We could have a basement full of Shadows,italian exotica,American flash.....and what did we drive?
minis,mostly,and for special occasions,XJ6's.
Did you know that the much reviled Austin 3litre outhandled anything else of the same size?
Shame about the rest of it!
And if all those people who raved about Mustangs,camaros etc had actually driven them for any distance they would be raving about Plymouth barracudas.
Even then,and for many years after ,we used to read road tests of new cars we knew well and positively wet ourselves,it was so blatantly obvious they had never driven the things.
You know,Kipling was right ,nothing much changes in the motor trade.
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Just to bring that into more recent times,about nine years ago I read nothing but praise for the Corrado G60.
Indeed I see that they still make premium money.
I read all the road tests,even drove one briefly,and spent nineteen grand of my employers money on the thing.
I really wanted a three series coupe,but dealing with BMW dealers was just as impossible then as now.
After a week I listed twenty two unecessary design faults.
I reported them ,as asked,to VW,their reply was condescending.
At the same time ,or thereabots,I bought a Clio diesel as a runabout,new and cheap.
It had 4 unecessary design faults.
To return to the Corrado,for that sort of money is it too much to ask for a sunroof that doesnt buffet violently at certain speeds?
And that closes on the key with the windows?
is remote central locking unreasonable?
Should the paint be so soft you cant risk the thing in a car wash?
Should the ABS have a noisy orgasm every time you start up from cold?
Is a second gear that engages smoothly,every time,rocket science?
Does the engine really need a total fuel cut off at 6000 rpm?
Is a supercharger that only produces power over 70mph of any use at all?
What happened to variable speed supercharger drives as fitted to Daimler -Benz aero engines in WW2?
What about the Perbury-Hayes drive?
And how come a MK2 Golf coupe weighs about four hundredweight more than the saloon?
The build quality was certainly no better than the Renault 21 that preceeded it.
That only had three major design faults,and for ten grand I forgave it.
The dreadful old pug 405 barge that I tend to inhabit lacked only electrically heated mirrors and a decent engine.
I remember when I bought it,it was so well recommended that I didnt bother to test drive it.
Was this not the much vaunted XUD turbo?
So how come we have this flat spot all the way to 2250 rpm?
I mean for Gods sake ,you dont have to know much about compressed air supply to solve that one,especially as the pressures are trivial.
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