Best smoker barges 1-5 large [Vol 22]

[anotherswifty]

Fast Bug said:

My friends dad had one of these back in the day. He kept a copy of Flesh Gordon on VHS hidden in the boot

Similar here my mate s Dad had a 20 then 2 25s which seemed light years ahead inside (I found the shape a bit too curvy), as company cars until they discovered MB leasing. No idea what he kept in the boot but gave my mate The Story of O and Emmanuelle as a kind of dad to lad chat among his old books

Edited by anotherswifty on Tuesday 15th September 20:14

[Mr Tidy]

W00DY said:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202609125...

Nice spec and not a lot of money.

That does looks a lovely place to be for not much more than Shed money. Shame about the Road Tax though.

[Swervin_Mervin]

QBee said:

KadettE said:

Between ebay, car & classic, smaller auction sites and live auctions it certainly seems a pretty popular way to sell older cars at the moment. You'd think there is enough competition to not let fees get out of hand in that space but 18% on sale value for ACA or even more online certainly seems high. At least for the auction houses there's a more clear cost of business but these online auction fees seem wild to me.

Feel like we had this one before, looks super comfy https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C2191125

Hanker hanker hanker....

I had three of these, but just the standard version, not the Monaco, back between 1984 and 1993.
All company cars and all a delight to drive.

When I ordered the last one in 1987 (new list price about £9,000) I specified aircon as an optional extra.
The Renault dealer salesman, with a straight face, asked me why I wanted aircon, as it was November.
I don't think he was called Homer Simpson, but it was definitely a "DOH" moment.

The car died at 180,000 miles when I drove it through a flood on a country road.
I had not realised that the air intake hose had holes in it created by stones on surface dressed roads.
The hose went right down to the bottom of the engine bay.....

Top speed was 125 mph from the 2 litre engine, and the suspension gave superb road holding.
I would snap that up in an instant if I didn't already have too many cars

My Dad had a late one - a TXE Executive on a K plate, with the 2l engine. He ran his up to 275,000mi before chopping it in for a Megane - he'd had some fun and games keeping it going that long! He absolutely loved that car, despite it following a decent run of BXs. He'd had a R30 for a few years though so was a bit of a Renault fanboy.

[Fast Bug]

Mum had a Renault 30 TS. Possibly the most comfortable seats I've ever sat in.

[QBee]

Fast Bug said:

Mum had a Renault 30 TS. Possibly the most comfortable seats I've ever sat in.

I was intro to large Renaults in 1982, when I was sent to Paris stocktaking at Clive Sinclair's Paris office at the time of the ZX80/81.
Monsieur Bompard, who manged the office, drove me around Paris in his and it was sooooooo comfortable.
When we went back to stock take the next year, I hired a Renault 20 at the airport and the seats were the same.

I was determined, when I got job with a company car in 1984, to have one, but the R25 had just come out and it made the R20 and R30 look so 1970s.
I had one of the first R25s in the country and loved it. Very comfortable seats, I did about 250,000 miles in them over the next 10 years.

I am still hankering after that R25 Monaco, but Erin Dawes, to whom I am related by marriage, has said "NON!, you need to shift some cars off the drive first".

[Mark-C]

QBee said:

Fast Bug said:

Mum had a Renault 30 TS. Possibly the most comfortable seats I've ever sat in.

I was intro to large Renaults in 1982, when I was sent to Paris stocktaking at Clive Sinclair's Paris office at the time of the ZX80/81.
Monsieur Bompard, who manged the office, drove me around Paris in his and it was sooooooo comfortable.
When we went back to stock take the next year, I hired a Renault 20 at the airport and the seats were the same.

I was determined, when I got job with a company car in 1984, to have one, but the R25 had just come out and it made the R20 and R30 look so 1970s.
I had one of the first R25s in the country and loved it. Very comfortable seats, I did about 250,000 miles in them over the next 10 years.

I am still hankering after that R25 Monaco, but Erin Dawes, to whom I am related by marriage, has said "NON!, you need to shift some cars off the drive first".

I worked at a Renault Garage when the R25 Monaco was a thing and had one in the showroom. It was one of those middle of nowhere ones - we didn't sell one but we did shift a few R5 Monacos off the back of it.

I also wondered why you named your wife in your response until I reread it a third time

[anotherswifty]

@QBee you know you need to. A cheeky offer as it s been for sale for a while, have a word with a mate or park it round the corner and that will give you the incentive to get one of your other motors shifted
You can always present it as a gift to swmbo to remember those days gone by fondly.
ETA - it might not have been up for a while. Is previously looked at two other C&C E reg ones.

Edited by anotherswifty on Wednesday 16th September 15:11

[macron]

Cadillac STS, 4.6l, never knew they did that. Import, but still.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202604241...

[TVR Sagaris]

macron said:

Cadillac STS, 4.6l, never knew they did that. Import, but still.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202604241...

That actually looks ... great? Right hand drive, V8, rear wheel drive, ULEZ compliant, 6.5k surely a reasonable price versus anything similar, all the right ingredients. I have in my head that these got decent reviews at the time as well, although I could be confusing it with one of the various other oddball late 2000s Cadillac saloons.

[dscam]

Mark-C said:

I also wondered why you named your wife in your response until I reread it a third time

Took me a couple of goes too!

[macron]

QuartzDad said:

Not Friday but it finishes before then, 6 seats, 6.3 litres and you can imagine what it's like to be inside a hearing aid.

https://collectingcars.com/for-sale/2007-mercedes-...

Edited by QuartzDad on Tuesday 15th September 16:59

View all photos (233). No, thanks.

[KadettE]

macron said:

Cadillac STS, 4.6l, never knew they did that. Import, but still.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202604241...

What makes you think it's an import? Looks like UK car to me.

ETA: While we're posting leftfield barges: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202609156...

Edited by KadettE on Wednesday 16th September 23:19

[Venisonpie]

Skoda looks superb..

[W00DY]

KadettE said:

What makes you think it's an import? Looks like UK car to me.

ETA: While we're posting leftfield barges: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202609156...

Edited by KadettE on Wednesday 16th September 23:19

Nice spot. There must be tiny numbers of facelift 3.6s in the UK. Great colours too.

[john_1983]

The driver's seat on the Superb looks amazing for the mileage

[_Rodders_]

macron said:

QuartzDad said:

Not Friday but it finishes before then, 6 seats, 6.3 litres and you can imagine what it's like to be inside a hearing aid.

https://collectingcars.com/for-sale/2007-mercedes-...

Edited by QuartzDad on Tuesday 15th September 16:59

View all photos (233). No, thanks.

Clicked expecting it to be in the £5-6k range.

£22k! just for your MPV to make a nice noise.

I'm sure we had R63 years ago on here that was sub £5k. Maybe it was an R500.

[dscam]

john_1983 said:

The driver's seat on the Superb looks amazing for the mileage

A lot of these were used by the police or other agencies; the seat being in good condition potentially refutes that in this case but equally they can often be fitted with very heavy duty covers to ensure better resale.

Either way, nice car and if you can live with the MPG then a very nice stealth smoker.

ETA - I see they specifically mention private owner and full main dealer history.

[anotherswifty]

Superb indeed.
Early Friday alternative to purchase, lottery comp type thing. X308 entry for 3 quid ends Mon. One of the more obscure sites I guess so not many tickets sold.
Honest enough description but the interior described doesn t match the pics. Hmm
https://www.chapsmotors.com/competitions/p/1998-ja...

[KadettE]

For a raffle I think I'd like something a bit more aspirational than an old smoker that you might pick up for a grand on gumtree. Also X308 come in so many fantastic colours it'd be a shame to get a black one! How about this instead: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202608225...



There's less cheap X308 about than I thought tbh and the cheap ones seem all a bit rubbish

[QBee]

dscam said:

Mark-C said:

I also wondered why you named your wife in your response until I reread it a third time

Took me a couple of goes too!

Both Erin Dawes, which I admit you have to say out loud (Minder), and SWMBO (Rumpole) come from a time when there was some superbly funny TV to watch. Rather dates me too.

What also dates me happened on day I started my only ever job in central London (in 1984) at a company off Oxford Street.
I looked out of the window of my office into the mews below and spotted the wonky street lamp that they used in the closing credits of Minder.
We were just round the corner from Charlotte Street, where the TV production company were based. Sadly it has gone now.