What would/did you buy your dad for his 80th birthday ?

[SimonTheSailor]

I'm stuck for ideas and the thought of buying more socks and blue shirts is a bit sad ! He is having a little gathering of family which is a surprise for him but I'd like to get him something else. Hes an old petrolhead BTW.

[tumble dryer]

SimonTheSailor said:

I'm stuck for ideas and the thought of buying more socks and blue shirts is a bit sad ! He is having a little gathering of family which is a surprise for him but I'd like to get him something else. Hes an old petrolhead BTW.

Are we allowed a laugh?

[timbo999]

There's 10% off Palmersport vouchers until Christmas...

[tumble dryer]

timbo999 said:

There's 10% off Palmersport vouchers until Christmas...

OK, I see we are!

[SimonTheSailor]

timbo999 said:

There's 10% off Palmersport vouchers until Christmas...

I'd like him to see his 81st !!

[tumble dryer]

SimonTheSailor said:

timbo999 said:

There's 10% off Palmersport vouchers until Christmas...

I'd like him to see his 81st !!

Seriously though, would a gentle(ish) drive/driven lap or two not awaken a whole new...

80 you say.

Yes, focusing on 81 is probably best.

[brrapp]

I'm taking my mother on a seaplane flight over the west coast of Scotland next week for her 80th birthday.

[glenrobbo]

Coke & hookers, obviously.

[fttm]

Sweet fk all , he died at 66 .

[feef]

A stirling engine? Plenty of miniature ones to be had for £not-a-lot and any old petrolhead or engineer will probably appreciate it

[brrapp]

feef said:

A stirling engine? Plenty of miniature ones to be had for £not-a-lot and any old petrolhead or engineer will probably appreciate it

I remember designing and building a stirling engine to run off a car's cooling system with my dad when I was a kid back in the 70s. It worked quite well but there was no simple way to use the extra power it produced back then. Maybe it could be incorporated into a hybrid system nowadays? If my dad was still alive today, I'm sure he'd love a stirling engine to play with but he'd have it in pieces by the end of the day.

[feef]

brrapp said:

feef said:

A stirling engine? Plenty of miniature ones to be had for £not-a-lot and any old petrolhead or engineer will probably appreciate it

I remember designing and building a stirling engine to run off a car's cooling system with my dad when I was a kid back in the 70s. It worked quite well but there was no simple way to use the extra power it produced back then. Maybe it could be incorporated into a hybrid system nowadays? If my dad was still alive today, I'm sure he'd love a stirling engine to play with but he'd have it in pieces by the end of the day.

I give you the Baxi Ecogen micro-CHP boiler

http://www.baxi.co.uk/documents/Baxi_Ecogen_Range_...

Unfortunately discontinued but shows that it can be used in commercial applications

Edited by feef on Thursday 10th November 12:48

[SimonTheSailor]

Had a thought - I'm going to take him to Mercedes Benz world for a look around and get him a 4x4 hour so he can muck around in the mud.

[tumble dryer]

SimonTheSailor said:

Had a thought - I'm going to take him to Mercedes Benz world for a look around and get him a 4x4 hour so he can muck around in the mud.

NOW you're talking! Bet he loves it.

[williamp]

presumaably he did national service. Maybe worth looking into what he did?

My Dad was in the TA as an armoured car (Ferret) driver in the early 70s. For his 60th we got him driving one round a field in Kent for the day. He loved it. For my Mums 60th, we gave he a Granchild...

[SimonTheSailor]

Hey, good call, hadn't thought of that. Might have left it too late but great thinking !!

That's what PH is for !!

N.B. He did national service in Germany and was a mechanic on catapillar vehicles.