07 Nissan Skyline 350GT - old car Nazi buys MODERN motor
Discussion
GravelBen said:
vsonix said:
I know there have been 4D Skylines in previous generations but they were rawer and more sporty to my eyes.
Just like a 3-series, there have always been both sporty and sedate Skylines.Presenting the R32 Skyline GXi, with its 90bhp 1.8 4-pot:
Or the earlier R30 Skyline sedan, not exactly sporty either.
I think the perception of sportiness is mostly because a lot of people in the USA and Europe were first introduced to Skylines via Gran Turismo etc, and people didn't bother importing the less interesting ones there.
No, I am not in Bermuda. I am in the BVI. I am awaiting shipment of a 1983 Land Rover, but the Nissan is a stop gap until that arrives. The roads here are mostly appalling. They were not great before the 2017 Hurricanes, but the storms made them worse. Some Royal Marines stopped by on RFA Mounts Bay yesterday and did some clean up. I wish they had stayed longer, but the ship moved on this morning. There are some Mitsubishi and Subaru high performance 4WD estate cars here (JDM RHD), but I could not find one of those on sale and so bought the Nissan.
It is a good car but sometimes a bit too low for the roads, which have badly designed and randomly distributed speed bumps as well as pot holes, loose bits, cracks, and changes of surface. People drive on their brakes and strain their transmissions by not using low gears on the very steep hills, and so the roads are covered with brake and clutch dust and general dust and become slippery when it rains. The Nissan has good traction control and good tyres. These help. What you need here are hill climbing power and traction, and sometimes ground clearance.
Riding my motorbike here feels a bit sketchy sometimes, especially down the steeps. It is a small sports bike (big bikes are not allowed here). I should have bought an off road type, but I like sporty bikes. I would happily ski down these steeps way faster than I ride down them - it's all in the mind. But it would take some kind of climate apocalypse to get snow here!
It is a good car but sometimes a bit too low for the roads, which have badly designed and randomly distributed speed bumps as well as pot holes, loose bits, cracks, and changes of surface. People drive on their brakes and strain their transmissions by not using low gears on the very steep hills, and so the roads are covered with brake and clutch dust and general dust and become slippery when it rains. The Nissan has good traction control and good tyres. These help. What you need here are hill climbing power and traction, and sometimes ground clearance.
Riding my motorbike here feels a bit sketchy sometimes, especially down the steeps. It is a small sports bike (big bikes are not allowed here). I should have bought an off road type, but I like sporty bikes. I would happily ski down these steeps way faster than I ride down them - it's all in the mind. But it would take some kind of climate apocalypse to get snow here!
Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 3rd July 16:51
Strela said:
Breadvan72 said:
I confess that I never know or notice how much petrol, milk, or electricity bills are anywhere. Because fortunate. I have never once in my life looked at the petrol prices at a single garage, and I really could never tell you how much a litre of milk costs anywhere. My political hopes are for a world where this applies to everyone.
Are we to glean from this, that you are a thief? Or that you, quite rightly, adhere to the philosophy, "Never pay tradesmen?" Surely, you're not a commie. I eat them for breakfast.If not, I will pass it on to some newly arriving ex pat later this year; someone who shares my unwillingness to drive LHD on the left as a permanent thing. OK, I did that when I had a Matra Murena in the UK, but not on these roads!
Breadvan72 said:
What you need here are hull climbing power and traction, and sometimes ground clearance.
Sounds like ideal Subaru territory then.I was in New Zealand a while ago, which as you probably know is mountainous with a lot of gravel roads. I had use of a 1995 2.0 Legacy. Only about 150hp but the addition of a dual range transmission and AWD made it run rings around more powerful vehicles even on the steepest unsealed roads. Sometimes it felt more like riding a mountain goat than a car!
ReaperCushions said:
Sold as an Infiniti in the US to rival the 3 series (Well done to the poster who mentioned that).
Coupe in sport trim is a nice thing to look at and decent steer.
Indeed. G37. And previously G35. Came close to buying one, but went for audi instead. I drove the same (3.7 v6) engine in the 370Z and wasn't a fan of the manual gearbox at all, so talked myself out of if. Coupe in sport trim is a nice thing to look at and decent steer.
I sat in the G37 a few times and thought it felt cramped, though comfortable.
vsonix said:
Breadvan72 said:
What you need here are hull climbing power and traction, and sometimes ground clearance.
Sounds like ideal Subaru territory then.I was in New Zealand a while ago, which as you probably know is mountainous with a lot of gravel roads. I had use of a 1995 2.0 Legacy. Only about 150hp but the addition of a dual range transmission and AWD made it run rings around more powerful vehicles even on the steepest unsealed roads. Sometimes it felt more like riding a mountain goat than a car!
There were TWO robo ladies. One was the toll card lady. I killed her by ripping out the toll card machine. The other one lives in the entertainment and satnav system, and has a louder and more commanding voice than the toll lady had. The surviving one is the Manga Battlecruiser planetary bombardment artillery forward observation officer as mentioned above.
She is also in charge of the aircon, and she went on strike just as this year turned out to be insanely hotter than last year, which was insanely hot (also a very active hurricane season this year, but of course AGW is a big old myth, right, Donald?). I had to send to Japan for a widget to get the aircon fixed, and had some right sweaty times until it finally arrived by rowing boat. Now the aircon is ICEEEEEE.
Two of the Yokohamas have died the death that the incredibly stty roads here deliver to all tyres quite quickly, so and the car now has two Ho Flung Dung Wan Hang Lo Ditchfinder Specials.
The interior is full of beach. There are dents on all four corners (one put there by me, the others by persons unknown). The car needs two new doors (reasons explained in the thread linked to above). The car uses no oil or coolant, and pulls like a train.
I have not figured out the bluetooth, and the radio only picks up a truly dire American Christian Rock channel (occasionally interrupted by a French news and sports channel from somewhere down the Antilles). There is one CD stuck in the changer, so I listen to Diana Damrau singing Salieri show stoppers on an endless loop. She is the greatest living coloratura soprano, and old Salieri was way better than people give him credit for, so this is not a hardship.
She is also in charge of the aircon, and she went on strike just as this year turned out to be insanely hotter than last year, which was insanely hot (also a very active hurricane season this year, but of course AGW is a big old myth, right, Donald?). I had to send to Japan for a widget to get the aircon fixed, and had some right sweaty times until it finally arrived by rowing boat. Now the aircon is ICEEEEEE.
Two of the Yokohamas have died the death that the incredibly stty roads here deliver to all tyres quite quickly, so and the car now has two Ho Flung Dung Wan Hang Lo Ditchfinder Specials.
The interior is full of beach. There are dents on all four corners (one put there by me, the others by persons unknown). The car needs two new doors (reasons explained in the thread linked to above). The car uses no oil or coolant, and pulls like a train.
I have not figured out the bluetooth, and the radio only picks up a truly dire American Christian Rock channel (occasionally interrupted by a French news and sports channel from somewhere down the Antilles). There is one CD stuck in the changer, so I listen to Diana Damrau singing Salieri show stoppers on an endless loop. She is the greatest living coloratura soprano, and old Salieri was way better than people give him credit for, so this is not a hardship.
Cheers, but there is nothing to be in awe of, I assure you.
Everyone here is either an adventurer or a runaway. I am the latter. This is a very difficult and not at all fun place to live, and about as far from an idyll as you can imagine, but I am here for a good work gig. For how long yet I am not sure.
Everyone here is either an adventurer or a runaway. I am the latter. This is a very difficult and not at all fun place to live, and about as far from an idyll as you can imagine, but I am here for a good work gig. For how long yet I am not sure.
You have suggested that I am a solicitor, and now I am going to have to have you killed. I am sorry. You seem like a decent bloke. It is nothing personal. I am a lawyer, but not a solicitor.
The BVI are full of lawyers. The islands house an international dispute resolution centre with a very busy Commercial Court handling mega ginormous cases about zillions of dollars. This is because all sorts of people and enterprises, some legit, some crooked, use BVI holding companies as part of their business structures. It is very weird doing sophisticated, megabucks litigation in a place that is otherwise a faraway backwater where the Government is, erm.... not very efficient, and nothing works. I am posting this using a copy of the internet dated 1837, powered by a couple of rather shagged out donkeys.
The BVI are full of lawyers. The islands house an international dispute resolution centre with a very busy Commercial Court handling mega ginormous cases about zillions of dollars. This is because all sorts of people and enterprises, some legit, some crooked, use BVI holding companies as part of their business structures. It is very weird doing sophisticated, megabucks litigation in a place that is otherwise a faraway backwater where the Government is, erm.... not very efficient, and nothing works. I am posting this using a copy of the internet dated 1837, powered by a couple of rather shagged out donkeys.
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 13th October 21:52
I have resumed posting from a secure location under heavily armed guard, lest the hitman you've hired through one of your less legitimate holdings companies come a calling!!!!
It all sounds a bit like one of those John Grisham books!! I have a mental image of you having conversations with a nice chap dealing with his business, followed by some sort of Idi Amin or Robert Mugabe character discussing how to move many gazillions without detection, followed by a very liquid lunch and then a quick hostile takeover of a medium sized pharmaceutical company!!!!
It all sounds a bit like one of those John Grisham books!! I have a mental image of you having conversations with a nice chap dealing with his business, followed by some sort of Idi Amin or Robert Mugabe character discussing how to move many gazillions without detection, followed by a very liquid lunch and then a quick hostile takeover of a medium sized pharmaceutical company!!!!
That is pretty much it. Things have moved a long way since "The Firm", and nowadays there is a lot more regulation and transparency, but we still encourage new hires to watch "McMafia", and "Succession". Our compliance and AML teams are kept very busy, and they audit us constantly. We are dealing with early stage Capitalism. The companies and trusts and funds are mostly owned not by institutions dating back a century or more but by people who have become very, very, very rich in the last twenty to thirty years, sometimes by fair means, sometimes by foul. Some of those people are now dying, because old, and their enormously rich children are squabbling about the money.
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