Best smoker barges 1-5 large [Vol 9]

[FredClogs]

My wife likes the idea of a Volvo XC90, this one seems cheap, it's manual and not particularly well spec'd but what could possibly go wrong?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

[V12 AMG]

r129sl said:

I see they did it again with three w211 v6 diesels in 2005, this time doing 100,000miles flat out:

http://www.gizmag.com/go/4003/

Edited by r129sl on Thursday 3rd September 09:26

Too much PR spin on that for me.

We all know an Italian tune up is good for cars!
Let them do 100,000 miles constantly around London and see if one car makes it.

[MJK 24]

W124 people,

Does anyone know how many bulbs are required for the illumination of the heater controls? The dealer tells me only two but I am not convinced!

[Usget]

dscam said:

Dear God, can someone on here please buy that 800 Vitesse!

It looks spectacularly better than I remember and just how little could you enjoy it if only spending the cost of ten tanks of unleaded.

I was delighted that SpeckledJim commented so favourably on it as for me he is the barometer of good taste most days. Plus, in my minds eye it is exactly the sort of whip I imagine he cuts about town in by choice.

I posted it on a mate's facebook page and I've never seen so much universal love for a car. I'd be very surprised if it hasn't already gone.

[RobinBanks]

I'm surprised the 800 has been so popular here. Even when they were nee they attracted vitriol!

I suppose the years and the fact that it has become very rare have helped it. Half the people on my street in 1995 had 800s but they've just disappeared over the years.

[harrykul]

MJK 24 said:

W124 people,

Does anyone know how many bulbs are required for the illumination of the heater controls? The dealer tells me only two but I am not convinced!

One in each knob, no?

Your pic has made me curious: what is the spec on your car as it seems unusual. No head rest switch, heated seats, no a/c. Interesting!

[0a]

"Mercedes-Benz 300TE Estate Auto, First registered in the UK 1987 and taken out to South Africa by its owners being re-imported to the UK in September 2001. Believed to be only 3 owners from new the car has covered only 75,500 miles. All original hand & service books are present along with a good history file."

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C654921



I don't think I've seen an early estate without the sacco panels. It looks lovely.

[harrykul]

McCracken had an Almandine red one, they do look good....


Sitting in Newcastle Airport departures having dropped my s124 to The Man. I'm quietly optimistic that its not rotten, but we'll see when he takes bits off. Noticed a certain cream 190 in the corner too... Never got a close look but if my car turns out half as good....

Edited by harrykul on Thursday 3rd September 14:22

[0a]

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C655002



What a lovely looking old barge!

[SpeckledJim]

dscam said:

I was delighted that SpeckledJim commented so favourably on it as for me he is the barometer of good taste most days.

You sweet, sweet boy. Patently a wind-up. Who are you really? Tony? Dave? Not Bob? Never you, Your Lordship?

dscam said:

Plus, in my minds eye it is exactly the sort of whip I imagine he cuts about town in by choice.

At present by choice is as simple as:

Does it have any fuel in it whatsoever?
Is it off the key?

Two thumbs up, and we are away.

In other news, SpeckledJimetta weighed-in heavily (no jokes please) last night with an impassioned plea for me to get another car.

What she meant was sell the XJS and get another car, but 50% is a passing mark in our house.

So I think I am shopping for an interesting saloon on LPG. I would very much like a Rover P6 like this:


http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C651842

[hornetrider]

0a said:

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C655002



What a lovely looking old barge!

An appealing old thing. Something tells me it would be worse in fuel than my V8 though...

[Strawman]

hornetrider said:

An appealing old thing. Something tells me it would be worse in fuel than my V8 though...

Diesel though, I think you can easily get 30mpg from one, sometimes even 32mpg 'on a run'.

[hornetrider]

Strawman said:

hornetrider said:

An appealing old thing. Something tells me it would be worse in fuel than my V8 though...

Diesel though, I think you can easily get 30mpg from one, sometimes even 32mpg 'on a run'.

Yeah I know, that was my point

[tog]

0a said:

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C655002



What a lovely looking old barge!

How slow are these?

SpeckledJim said:

So I think I am shopping for an interesting saloon on LPG. I would very much like a Rover P6 like this:


http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C651842

The boot of the P6 is adequate but not enormous - put LPG tanks in there and you'd lose a lot of space.

[W00DY]

0a said:

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C655002



What a lovely looking old barge!

Really yum.

Oddly saw a '123 estate for the first time in ages on Tuesday. Where did they all go?

[Strawman]

A lot went to North Africa or the Middle East. When they could be bought for banger money.

[FredClogs]

Strawman said:

A lot went to North Africa or the Middle East. When they could be bought for banger money.

I used to work with a chap from Ghana who had a sideline shipping old Mercs and Toyota/Isuzu pickups to Africa, this was years ago but I wonder when I see stuff on the news about Congolese bandits or ISIS and they're all hanging out the back of a pickup whether it was once rumbling around the Hampshire countryside.

[MJK 24]

harrykul said:

MJK 24 said:

W124 people,

Does anyone know how many bulbs are required for the illumination of the heater controls? The dealer tells me only two but I am not convinced!

One in each knob, no?

Your pic has made me curious: what is the spec on your car as it seems unusual. No head rest switch, heated seats, no a/c. Interesting!

It is a bit of an odd spec I guess but the car is from a time when you could pick individual options as opposed to now where you have to buy a package of 3 or 4 things of which you may only want 1 or 2!

Unfortunately, no aircon as spotted. But it does have:

15 hole Alloys
Cruise Control
Centre armrest front and rear
Illuminated vanity mirrors
Exterior temperature guage
Electric roof and windows
Heated seats
Metallic Anthracite paint

I suppose aircon and leather are the big omissions? I guess heated cloth seats are unusual!

[RobinBanks]

Back to the Rover 800, I think they would have been good on this thread had they survived and had there been an estate version (I hate estates)

[barchetta_boy]

Well I never, ever thought I would say this, but I think my S124 has become redundant and will have to be sold.

Tell me if I'm getting fleet strategy wrong please.

Golf Mk4 PD130: wife's daily. Interior like a tramp's pocket (2 small kids), but nice and poky, heated seats and returns 45mpg no matter how you drive it.

Elise S1 sport 160, Porsche 928 manual: weekend fun. "My cars". Live in the garage. The 928 is a keeper, the elise is new to me.

The fly in the ointment: 1992 VW T4 Transporter Camper van with pop roof and 4 berths. 1.9 petrol. Slow, uneconomical but no worse than the Merc for mpg.

My car: 1994 blue-black E280 7 seater with mushroom leather, AC, and £2k worth of stereo (installed by me) including a lovely Becker Traffic Pro head unit with working sat nav and iPhone integration.

Problem is, since buying the VW, we never go in the Merc any more. The only use it gets is me going to the station which is a complete waste. On long journeys, even though the van is a little slower (but will still cruise at 80) and a fair bit noisier, it's actually overall more relaxing because you can get up and walk around, see to the kids, get a can of coke from the fridge (!) etc, plus you can mount the bikes on the back and sleep in it when you get there.

The whole family loves the Merc to bits, but when it comes to driving from Kent to Manchester, if we're all together I would rather be in the van. I can't believe I'm saying this, but it seems my favourite car EVER, the car I grew up in when my dad had one, my late brother's favourite car of all time, and, as I never tire of reminding my wife, a turning circle not beaten by anything this side of a London taxi, the car that has possibly the best interior design of any car ever... has become, well, a bit redundant.

Would I be mad to get rid of it?

Joel