October 2001
Dear Mr Audi S3 Driver,
I am so sorry for delaying your Friday evening rush hour journey west bound on Birmingham Broad Street. I do understand that by waiting a short time to let those two vehicles turn right I imposed an insufferable delay on your busy schedule. I realise that perhaps you had not noticed the queue 30 yds ahead at the red traffic lights, but once we both joined said queue some 10 seconds later than we otherwise would have done was it necessary to carry on so alarmingly. You know one day you will do yourself an injury.
Oh, and another thing, once we got to the two lane bit on the approach to the lights by the Novotel another 100 yds up the road, they were red again by the way. Mind you don?t think you noticed that as you were too busy putting in that overtaking manoeuvre with that burst of acceleration you no doubt thought was so impressive. Well not that impressive actually. Probably you did not see the alarmed expressions on those pedestrians who had to get out of your way pretty damn quickly. No I think not because you were too busy ranting and raging and NOT LOOKING WHERE YOU WERE GOING. Don?t think the guy at the back of the queue you just avoided hitting was too impressed either by the way.
However you did give us two laughs.
Laugh one? Well I assume you did intend to turn right, did not see it myself, too busy observing the traffic, pedestrains and other hazards, plus picking the line of least resistance you see, but I am told your face was a picture as you sat in the right turning lane and we sailed past with merry bye bye waves from us all.
Laugh two? Due to my explanation why I was sure you would be a ponytail wearer. You know what I mean, lift any ponytail and you always find an @!#$ underneath.
Yours faithfully,
Nomal.bloke@patiencewearingthin.com Read more
There I was, two weeks ago today,washing and waxing my humble Mondeo when this "nice" person doubling as a boy racer in a G reg Escort decided to hit my parked car and smash the door mirror. I was standing beside the car at the time and once I had come down from 90000 feet and realised that this person hadn't stopped, I clocked his full index and went off down to the Police Station and filled out an accident report at the counter. Ha!! You'll see matey! I thought.
That evening I noticed the offending car parked outside an address 10 doors up from mine,so,being very clever (so I thought) I called at mateys door and showed him the broken mirror and the bill. (£15 but its the principle-he didnt stop). He said he would pay for it but he wouldnt have the money till the 25th-ie yesterday-ok I said,I will tell the Police what happened and cancel the report,which I duly did.
Yesterday matey said he would come round with my £15,surprise surprise he didnt,and I called him to ask him what had happened-he said his bank had messed up and he would bring round the money today-he didnt-hmmmmm.
His mobile now goes straight to answerphone too-not that he is screening his calls (yeah right).Of course now if I do anything he will probably arrange for my paintwork to be remodelled with a key or something like that.
Hmmm moral of the story is dont take the law into your own hands,let the police deal with scum like this and let them get the 5 - 10 points for failing to stop and the 5 - 10 points for failing to report/exchange details.
Thats what I get for giving him the benefit of the doubt-all I can say is if it happens again I will report it and leave it at that and not do anyone any favours.
Thanks for reading :0)
John Read more
October's Cycling Plus magazine reports that an 82 year-old man, suffering from "confusion" killed a cyclist in Kent with his car. He didn't stop and was finally flagged down by a witness. The verdict? Accidental Death, and no charge. Another example is of a cyclist killed by the uninsured driver of a stolen car. The charge? Vehicle Theft. The same article tells the story of a cyclist in a 40mph limit being clocked at 23mph and stopped for a warning by the local road safety officer. And drivers think they have problems.
Chris
Has anybody heard of Kuhmo Tyres. I pal told me about them today. Seem very "low cost", but are not remoulds. Seem to be about 50% of the cost of normal branded tyres - like for like.
In anticipation ....... Read more
I have experience with these tyres. I borrowed a pair when my front tyres became illegal, and i was looking for a new set of wheels. In comparison with the Goodyear Eagle (argh, cant remember the name of them, they are the ones with the tred pattern made up of loads of rectangles) they replaced they were poor, particularly when driven near the limit. The best cheap tyres i found in the 185/60 14H size were the Falcon tyres sold by euro car parts. I thought these tyres were excellent for the money. ECP do them in a large range of sizes. I suggest anyone who wants a "preformance" tyre for sensible money check them out. However, they are still not as good as my S0-2's, but at the price you cant complain.
Ben
Last year I paid £190.99 for Comprehensive any driver over 25 protected no claims discount with legal cover included. This year it is £185.47 but with the addition of DAS Breakdown cover which includes Home start.
The insurance is from Fortis and sold through Budget who I originally tried on the internet despite their dreadful adverts!
Regretfully for those looking for a bargain I am over 50 and the car is a 1.3litre auto metro....... Read more
the sort of people who get two days insurance probably havent registed the cars in their name.
Took my Merc 190E to Halfords/AA today for a "Premier" (12k annual) service and was very pleased with both the price and service (especially the very comprehensive vehicle condition report checklist provided afterwards) I noticed that several other contributors had praised Halfords on their service and it was on this basis that I tried them out. It's important I think to give feedback on the good experiences as well as the bad. Read more
Marc,
Sounds very very good. I've just done a similar service on a 1991 190E, but for various reasons we didn't need the air filter or plugs. Charged £54.94 so with the extra parts I'd have been up to about £80.
For Halfords to get within £15 of this with their overheads is good. My worry with such "set" services is they often ignore the maker schedule and go for a set of easy checks. As a bonus they gave good advice on the brake fluid/coolant issues.
***** rating I'd say.
David
check out the telegraph today for yet another police driver in court for killing someone
page 5 ish i think
let off with 500 quid fine
no endorsements
no ban
this is not justice at all Read more
No further witnessess, M'lud:
I rest my case.
:-)
Alfa GTV 2.0 TS (maybe Lusso) - any comments/suggestions about purchasing secondhand for about 10K?
Is it going to be an build quality nightmare or are these better than Fiats/Alfas of old?
Are these best bought privately or from a dealer?
cheers Read more
Thanks for this thread. It got me back into the car by car breakdown where I thought I had mentioned the rear suspension problem, but had only done so for 156s. All fixed now.
HJ
Mk I Escort 1298cc X-Flow engine (GT spec)
Engine misfires badly throughout the rev range - badly enough to stall if left idling for 20 - 30 seconds.
It's across all cylinders and from checking there is no output from the coils HT lead.
The dizzy shaft has a bit of wobble (side to side).
Timing is OK.
Any suggestions of a possible solution would be welcome...
So far my plan is to work from cheapest up, so having checked timing, connections, gaps etc I suppose condenser then coil HT lead then coil.
Piers Read more
Totally agree John in 99% of cases. AC Delco dizzies on Chevettes was another one where I wouldn't use dwell meter for the same reason.
I wrote a letter to my MP asking why, when the wonderful Gatso trial had been shown to be based on statistical chicanery, it was still being spread across UK.
He tells me he has passed my thoughts on to the governments John Spellar for a response on the study. He also enclosed a copy of the DETR document "The effects of speed cameras: how drivers respond" It seems they categorise us into four types : conformers; the deterred; manipulators and defiers. Mmmmm. I found the full document here;
www.roads.dtlr.gov.uk/roadsafety/research11/
If you lok at Chapter 3 under The 4 types of driver, you will see in which category they (you know who "they" are) have lumped you.
Me? I hate being lied to and have never known a time when so many people are trying to mislead us. Read more
It is time for action, there are various other forums on this subject, with many ideas. I understand the "covering" aspect, but find myself leaning towards something far easier, and to be honest, longer lasting and a far more difficult thing to remove. I feel Car Body Underseal, available in aerosol, reasonable range, so it can reach the lens and flash light glass, and I feel might be a pain to remove after it has dried nicley. If enough people have a go the government just might think again. 555
I need a bit of advice. We need to buy a 2nd car sharpish in order for my wife to get to work. We are prepared to pay about 5 or 6,000 for it. Our requirements are that it should be reliable, have power steering and be big enough for a car seat in the back for our pride and joy. My wife would also like ABS (safer?). We are thinking about a VW Polo since VW have a good rep. for safety.
Any one got any advice.Cheers Read more
OK until you can only find small parking spaces.
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>>set humour/irony = on
a VMS user ??? Didn't know there were any these days.