My friend managed to reverse her car into the front of her house. Yes she put it in reverse instead of first! No, it wasn't an automatic!!

However, the (even) crazier thing is when she did this, she went to get out the car and the door swung back on her. She kicked it so hard that, that it broke the hinge straps and bent the edge of the door!

Result - insurance company is logging it as 2 different claims!

Ouch!

Also reminds me of the time I saw a minor bump where an old gentleman had failed to do a hill start properly and rolled into the car behind him, bumper to bumper. Both drivers got out, checked that there was no damage. Car behind then reversed back a bit to give the old gentleman chance to do his hil start. But he hadn't put his hand brake on and this time rolled back again but managed to smash the headlights!

Any other examples of accidents made worse? Read more

Did anyone watch it? Two questions on the big muscle car - "900bhp of Detroit muscle".

1. Could it do a quarter mile in 9 seconds? That's an average of 100mph from standing, which probably meant it needs to hit about 170mph in 9 seconds at a guess.

2. When it went for its final drag, the front wheels lifted right off the ground as though it was a motorbike doing a wheelie. Is 900bhp enough for this - given how heavy the big American brute probably was?
--
Mattster
Boycott shoddy build and reliability. Read more

Especially with ultra low profile tyres.
It is very difficult, by using the normal visual check, to spot a tyre that has started to loose pressure.

1.With more and more vehicles equipped with such tyres should remote tyre pressure monitors adopted as a standard fitment?
2.IIRC some Renaults have them but are they reliable?.
3.Are any clever enough to cope with one adjusting pressures to suit load and speed?
4.What other considerations are involved?

I was reading a fatal RTA report where a slow puncture, due to a screw, in an almost new tyre was cited as the reason for loss of control of the vehicle.
Having recently acquired a Mondeo with low profile tyres I am certainly much more conscious that a visual check leaves me uncertain so I use the pressure gauge much more often.
5. The only product I am aware of has the indicators that fit on the valves but are they worth fitting? Read more

Hi all,

I have a 1996 Escort 1.8 TD LX Endura engine. It is for the scrap heap.

I have a brand new mondeo 1.8 TD endura engine.

Put them together and away we go, well almost, the turbo inlet is slightly different (used old turbo) the fuel pump is different (so used old one), engine fitted, everything is bolted on but...
It will not start, it is though the fuel is not getting to the pump or from pump to engine, forgotten which.

All obvious connections, pipes, lines etc, have been connected.

I thought these engines were the same, how come this engine will not start, any ideas please.

Jason Read more

Seeing HJ's photo in the News section about a Ro80 sold at auction reminded me of my holiday at Port St Charles in Barbados earlier this year where I saw a tidy Ro80 sitting under a car port, I guess waiting for its owner to arrive on their next holiday.

The last time I saw one of these cars was at RAF Greenwood back in 1975 or 1976, and the last place I expected to see one next, if at all, was Barbados! I can but imagine the climate to be kind.

Writing of cars and Barbados, I was also amazed at just how many ?koda Fabias abound on the island, too, given zip colonial or other connections with either Germany (VAG) or the Czech Republic. Read more