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A few years ago we bought a Merc W124 estate made in 1993, it came with the mother of all histories including the original invoice.
Basic car £31,000, the extras list was £19,000, making it exactly £50k new.
The most annoying extra was the steel sump guard which needed removing to change the engine oil, i left it off permanently, and the most expensive extra was the aircon which failed to the tune of some £4000 in repairs alone during its previous life and had failed once again in our ownership, it didn't get fixed, all in all the car was a big white elephant and made a mockery of their hewn from granite reputation., you would not believe the bills the first owner paid during its ten years with him, probably the cost of the vehicle again in servicing and repairs, wish i'd kept the history and listed it here, talk about rip offs, still those palaces don't buy themselves.
One of the best accessories i bought was a Harry Moss Carnegie 8 track stereo which i fitted to my Morris 1100 circa 1973, this locked the tapes in being equipped with a solenoid eject button, so where even mildly worn tapes wouldn't play in my mate's players (push in pull out jobbies) they would always play in mine, hence it was worth every penny of its purchase cost in that almost all of my tapes came free,
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One of the best accessories i bought was a Harry Moss Carnegie 8 track stereo which i fitted to my Morris 1100 circa 1973, this locked the tapes in being equipped with a solenoid eject button, so where even mildly worn tapes wouldn't play in my mate's players (push in pull out jobbies) they would always play in mine, hence it was worth every penny of its purchase cost in that almost all of my tapes came free,
As a Scotsman, the phrase used to describe your mate's player's mechanism, had me spluttering tea over my monitor!
I don't think you can beat sill guards, plastic, metal or whatever. Passengers can be really clumsy sods with their shoes (heels) getting in the car.
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.... their hewn from granite reputation.,
That explains everything - it costs a lot to fix granite :-)
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I really like this car accessories idea 72 dudes. I’m a big fan of chrome.
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The ultimate accessories round our way are on a Kia Sorento, the one made in the late 2000's. The owner has (I think) imported an American kit that makes the front look like a BMW X5 (well it does form the moon). Found what I think is the kit on E-bay absolute bargain.
If he wants a BMW buy one, if driving a Kia embarrasses him why not put a bag over his head.
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I had a look through the stuff on the OP's list and with very few exceptions, there is nothing there which would even vaguely interest me. Some, such as the car bra (who came up with that name?) i find uttterly baffling. You buy that (IMO ridiculous looking) thing to protect the front of your bonnet from stone chips (so you don't have to repaint the bonnet), but if you have one on for any length of time, when you remove it, the paint underneath will be a different shade. Now if you are selling the car, you can get busy with the T-Cut and polish and it will probably come up OK. But if you remove it and are keeping car, soon the difference in colour will be showing again. So, ultimately, you are going to have to repaint the bonnet!. Reminds me of those awful things folk would put on the door edge of their cars to 'protect' the paint from the damage incurred opening your door on to a wall. Trouble was, grit would get in the gap, the thing itself would rub against the paint and grit making a right old mess. As a car valeter, i spent hours trying to rectify, or at least reduce to what the salesman would consider acceptable, the damage caused by those things using T-Cut and polish. Otherwise, it would be off to the paint shop!.
I think car accessories are rather different these days than in past times, i remember my Dad's excitement when he recieved his RGA front spoiler to fit on the family wagon, a MK2 Escort estate. He also had these chrome trims to fit round the rim of the 'Rostyle' wheels he had on it. And i remember him cutting the the front bumpers (and painting them black) to look like the 'quarter bumpers' you got on sporty Escort's.
But as a car mad youth (living in the Shetland Islands) i was a serial brochure collecter, not just for cars, but also the aforementioned RGA (Richard Grant Accessories for the young 'uns amongst us!). I also had a Kamei brochure, they started off by making a front spoiler for the VW Beetle to (successfully) combat the Bug's rather wayward behaviour in crosswinds at speed. Not to mention brochure's for alloy wheel manufacturers such as Wolfrace and Revolution. Any of those little forms you could cut out of a car magazine and send away for something, i would duly send it away (along with a postal order to cover the postage). In the the late 80's i remember buying something called 'Carnosseur' (not sure if that was the correct spelling) which was kind of like a thick magazine in size, but absolutely full of stuff to buy for your car. This ranged from spoilers, wheel arch extensions, bonnet scoops, through alloy wheels, tyres, aftermarket seats, steering wheels, in car entertainment. Even cruise control kits!. Man, the amount of time i spent looking through it, thinking of all the stuff i'd put on my car if i had the money, or even a car!.
GB mentioned 8 track cassette players, well Dad had one in the truck he drove at the time (bonneted Magirus Deutz tipper with an aircooled V8 diesel if you are interested GB!), that was my first introduction to Billy Connelly. Listening to early stuff like 'Big bannana feet' and 'Atlantic Bridge'. I wouldn't swear to it, but i think it might have been a Moss he had too, seems to be triggering some long dormant memory.
Ahh, happy days!
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I paid £135 (if I recall correctly) for a dealer-fit cassette player when I bought my Mazda3 back in 2006. And I still use it, from time-to-time, especially when I go on holiday to the West Country. Paid a similar amount to get a matching tape deck for my current Denon Mini hifi too round about the same time.
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Dad had one in the truck he drove at the time (bonneted Magirus Deutz tipper with an aircooled V8 diesel
A Maggie, and bonneted too for extra kudos.
Didn't those V8's sound wondrous and how unusual air cooled, never got to drive a Maggie, never did too much on tippers and that was where they were most popular, like Hino.
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Dad had one in the truck he drove at the time (bonneted Magirus Deutz tipper with an aircooled V8 diesel
A Maggie, and bonneted too for extra kudos.
Didn't those V8's sound wondrous and how unusual air cooled, never got to drive a Maggie, never did too much on tippers and that was where they were most popular, like Hino.
Yeah GB, it had a great sound to it. Dad drove lots of different trucks over the years, but i know the Maggie was his favourite. Here is a pic, it is not his truck, but is the same model, with the same type of tipper box. If memory serves, his was an 'S' reg, so about the same age too.
farm8.staticflickr.com/7687/17250439226_3e81627960...g
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