The Best ///M/Barge/General Rant/Look at this/O/T(Vol XVIII)
Discussion
dumab said:
ferrisbueller said:
4941cc said:
ferrisbueller said:
It's not that long since a B8 could be had for about half of that. LHD put me off. I'm an idiot.
D'oh! I dunno, some cars you gel with and some you don't. I think my main gripe was that just wouldn't play. Any attempt at a bit of a chuck around on the winding, greasy lanes that mainly populate our manor saw it do very little aside from fizz up the inside rear wheel like a Morris Ital on a wet roundabout, to the point I thought the diff was broken (it wasn't). The gear shift was a bit slow and cumbersome, heel 'n toe was challenging, the steering lacked feel, and this sounds odd but the refinement was just a little bit too good. The engine was muted and distant (although it did go like hell) and all felt just that little bit too factory rather than the hand-built special, 911 rivalling driving experience that I thought it would be.
I could never really get comfortable in it, and never felt comfortable pressing on with it either. Overall, the car was a great example: tight, well maintained, all in order. But I just couldn't make it go in a manner that I could with other cars I'd owned. Some cars fit you like a glove and some don't. It remained neither fish nor foul: the Puma's keys were chosen for day to day stuff and entertainment down the lanes and the B10 always selected for the long motorway schleps when required. I had no use for it. The E46 M3 that came later was a much, much better car: it really was the Mk2 Escort with heated nappa that I expected the B8 to be. As for the 964, a car they made thousands of rather than dozens, well that really DID have the delicious, special car feel I craved from the B8.
I remember going to an informal but well populated classic car meet at a local country pub in it with a couple of pals. Not usually my thing, but we decided to park it amongst the assembled runners and riders rather than at the back of the car park, grabbed a pint and observed from a distance that absolutely not one person walked around it or even took a glance. I'd de-badged it and do love a sleeper so this satisfied me greatly, but for the hell of it we decided to flick the bonnet up and wait for the assembled beards to umm and ahh. Nothing. Not a peek, suck of teeth, or stroke of a chin. This sealed the deal: the car didn't feel special to drive and at that point didn't feel at all special to own either. A good Spanish 328i touring would have been the better car for a quarter of the cost. It had to go.
I paid £10500 for it, (the only B8 ever to be sold in the UK) and sold it for a mite more on Mobile.de to a German chap who paid in crisp 500 Euro notes, so even the thickness of the donkey choker was a let down. Doh indeed.
Still looks well though. It always did. https://www.alpina-archive.com/?p=3549&nmt=B8-...
jeremyc said:
Amazing really....to think that car will be going to a purpose built heated garage, to sit with other old 70s/80s performance cars, or other Fords, memorabilia on the walls and a big dealer Ford mat on the tiled floor. Every now and then the buyer will wander in of an evening, drink in hand........and just sit in the cars and remember times gone by.
My memories of RS2000s are very different - chasing your friends' RS2000s down dark slippy Welsh roads with a dab of oppo on the bends, late nights in the workshop fitting those latest secondhand Gp1 goodies out of the Motoring News ads or from EARS along with skinned knuckles, endless coffee and chocolate hobnobs....finally finishing at 2:30 a.m., seeing if you could hit 4th gear while still stationary at 6000 revs on that iced over airfield, snicking down to second to take that fast left fork junction on the way home, sleeping in the car near Kielder whilst it's snowing heavily wondering if the stage will be cancelled, envious gazing at your mates X-pack car.........
s m said:
My memories of RS2000s are very different - chasing your friends' RS2000s down dark slippy Welsh roads with a dab of oppo on the bends, late nights in the workshop fitting those latest secondhand Gp1 goodies out of the Motoring News ads or from EARS along with skinned knuckles, endless coffee and chocolate hobnobs....finally finishing at 2:30 a.m., seeing if you could hit 4th gear while still stationary at 6000 revs on that iced over airfield, snicking down to second to take that fast left fork junction on the way home, sleeping in the car near Kielder whilst it's snowing heavily wondering if the stage will be cancelled, envious gazing at your mates X-pack car.........
This. 
jeremyc said:
s m said:
My memories of RS2000s are very different - chasing your friends' RS2000s down dark slippy Welsh roads with a dab of oppo on the bends, late nights in the workshop fitting those latest secondhand Gp1 goodies out of the Motoring News ads or from EARS along with skinned knuckles, endless coffee and chocolate hobnobs....finally finishing at 2:30 a.m., seeing if you could hit 4th gear while still stationary at 6000 revs on that iced over airfield, snicking down to second to take that fast left fork junction on the way home, sleeping in the car near Kielder whilst it's snowing heavily wondering if the stage will be cancelled, envious gazing at your mates X-pack car.........
This. 
Leins said:
Diesel Meister said:
Was there ever a V12 with a spanish box? Thinking E31 / E32 / E38 - or were those only ever autos?
B12 5.7 E31 (based on 850CSi) came with either manual or ShifttronicThe vanilla 850i was also offered with a manual 'box initially, but very few people chose it.
Other than that, the only other BMW V12 plus manual 'box combination that I can think of is in the McLaren F1.
4941cc said:
Leins said:
Diesel Meister said:
Was there ever a V12 with a spanish box? Thinking E31 / E32 / E38 - or were those only ever autos?
B12 5.7 E31 (based on 850CSi) came with either manual or ShifttronicThe vanilla 850i was also offered with a manual 'box initially, but very few people chose it.
Other than that, the only other BMW V12 plus manual 'box combination that I can think of is in the McLaren F1.
It had the 850Ci's 5.4L installed (enlarged by 100cc) with the CSi's manual box
Period Fast Lane review of the Hartge H5 V12 on Birds' own site: http://www.birdsauto.com/editorial/editorial-e34-h...
ATM said:
Cat D with a weird service history.Leins said:
Period Fast Lane review of the Hartge H5 V12 on Birds' own site: http://www.birdsauto.com/editorial/editorial-e34-h...
The E34 Hartge H5 4.7 was more powerful, lighter and quicker....http://www.birdsauto.com/editorial/editorial-e34-h...
There was one made in rhd, a saloon with automatic gearbox. It's still out there somewhere...
ferrisbueller said:
ATM said:
Cat D with a weird service history.Then they started appreciating at a faster rate than I was earning!
I'm also always suspicious of cars with a missing cover for the toe hook!
zippyonline said:
ferrisbueller said:
ATM said:
Cat D with a weird service history.Then they started appreciating at a faster rate than I was earning!
I'm also always suspicious of cars with a missing cover for the toe hook!
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