h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

hallo there rains! stumbled across your PS while looking at the cavemen peer-review......

good to meet another petrol head and glad to find out about the hootoo car club

i agree about V8s totally... my dad brought us up on a healthy diet of V* madness..... now hes on his second V8 powered CF Bedford (although its a camper this time..) the first one was a van, we took it to the runwhatyabrung at the dragstrip in Crail (i'm in Scotland)...it was a right laugh to demolish all the boy racers in their cossies etc in an old atchwork primer van with the doors flying open halfway up the strip.....


anyway...... i had a nice wee 1957 MGA util recently (i live in the middle of Glasgow now.... no garage....and didnt like traffic what-so-ever, and mibbie 16-18 mpg on a good day.... not a city friendly car, and i couldnt sleep at night with it out on the street, so she had to go...... not sure what to go for next, i dont NEED a car in the city these days, but i suspect you know what its like... you need something to tinker with don'tcha?

anyhoo..... nuff nattering, please drop by and say hello if you like,... i'm off to check out the carclb

id

oh. it's dead as the proverbial door-nail....

Hiya

Yeah, most of the members of the car club don't seem to be on hootoo much these days . Oh well, maybe we should restart it!

I love the V8 powered CF, I bet it was brilliant . My hubby used to have a V8 Land Rover 90 and that used to fly *and* sound nicer than the Max Power cars . But yes, that was 15mpg on a good day... just costs too much these days.

An MGA's a nice car, not surprised you couldn't sleep with it out on the street . I'd probably sleep *in* it just to make sure it was safe.

At the mo we keep looking at getting a Land Rover, either a diesel so we can try and run it on veg oil, or a V8, but that would have to be LPG'd. But we just haven't got the money these days . Houses cost too much money!

My first car was a Mk2 Golf GTI, and I loved it - went like stink and it really handled brilliantly. But it got written off after someone smashed into the back of me - I got really bad whiplash so I had to go for something comfy, and I ended up with a Saab 900. Then I had to move, and the insurance and petrol bill was bankrupting me, hence the small cheap diesel car.

I know what you mean... you don't need it like you need to breathe, but still... it makes life that bit more fun, doesn't it?

heh! i started off on a couple of Mk1 fiestas... geez, that was a long time ago....

i've had a saab900 in my time too..... sat outside with a blown head gasket and warped head from the second day i had it... learned a valuable lesson there, namely, if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is... although i have picked up a few decent bargains in my time... an old audi coupe Y reg (with the twin lights in metallic green) for £80 needing a new radiator and still with tax & mot was a memorable bargain.... and i had a mk2 golf GTi in my younger days too..... fun car, but it was a bucket.... you couldnt shut the bonnet properly with out the osf light falling out.. hehehe.....

So do you live somewhere where you'd need a landy, or is it a style choice? i do love the really old un's, i like old cars in general though, used to have an old 1965 Ford Zeypher a few years back... big bench seats and column gear change.... like driving a boat, but a time warp thing too.... old cars just make me smile, ya'know?

anyhoo, take care....

id

Cor, my dad used to have a Zephyr like that! I like old cars, too - they're simpler to work on for a start, and they just have something that modern cars don't . Character, probably.

We want a Landy mostly because we want to play off-road . There's some cracking green laning near us, and a few clubs, and it seems like a fun thing to do. I do like the look of the Series ones - they just look right anywhere, really. We live in the suburbs, so the only time one would actually be *useful* everyday would be if we suddenly had a few foot of snow and the grit wagons hadn't been around, or if it floods (mind you, it does do that a fair bit in town... we live on a hill!). I definitely don't want to become a "school run mum" with a shiny 4x4.... nope, it would be extremely muddy and dented, and the kid (should one ever arrive) can walk to school!

See you around

glad to hear it! i do get a bit annoyed by these wee wimmen with headscarves hunched up over the wheel, driving big huge monster off roaders, scary enough in a micra...... and theres no need!!
grrrr.... the arguement is that its safer..... but have you ever seen the simulations of what happens when one of these things goes into the side of a 'normal' car????

...and when youre driving a wee mg about yay-high off the ground, you get to thinking about these things.....

anyway, rant-rant..... yip..... i can imagine abit of off-roading would be a bit of a larf..... i can see it now: v8, quad carbed, big tyred, rollcaged, series 1 landy.... go-on!!

take care.....

I've seen crash test videos of modern Range Rovers and stuff, and it's amazing, really - I'd hate to be in whatever they hit . You can see why people buy them though - they see the tests and think they'd rather be in the bigger car... and by the way some of them drive, they obviously think this means they own the road .

Trouble is, unless you drive a monster artic lorry there's always someone bigger than you on the roads!

Driving standards in this country seem to be getting worse, too - but I can't decide if they really are going downhill, or if I'm just getting old.

interesting point..... i think that because modern cars do so much work now, people might be getting more complacent.....i dont know if i've noticed a slip in standards......i've remembered my dads advice the day i passed my test and drove off proudly on my own for the first time (does anyone ever forget that??).... he said it's not about how good a driver you are Tom, its the other bloody idiots ouyt there you've got to worry about.... and i think thats a lot to do with the 'skill' in driving.... being able to read the body language of other cars on the road, and being able to second guess what the idiot with out the indicators sitting in the middle of the road is going to do....

I remember my dad saying to me when I was learning that I should learn how to drive defensively, and that the best form of defense was attack . He did say that half of driving was being prepared for the most stupid thing the people around you could do, and it's advice that's been useful.

Me and Dave were talking about road safety and all the airbags and things they put on cars these days, and he said the best way to improve driving standards would be to put a big spike sticking out of the middle of the steering wheel . Would make people think twice about driving!

hehe! he's right though.... i think thats kinda what i was saying before as well..... when youre driving about in something engineered 50 odd yeas ago, no seatbelts, no disc-brakes etc... you tend to be just a wee bitty more mindful of whats going on around you.

yes. spikes.

hows things going anyway?

i've been all work, and not much play lately...

I'm good, seem to be mostly playing at the moment though .

Things are about to get a bit busier, though - we're about to have a new conservatory put up, or at least, I hope so. The old one leaks; it's really badly built but I'll believe the new one when I see it! Dave is taking some time off so we can sort the house out before Monday when they're supposed to start. Also on Thursday my volunteering work kicks off again - I spend a morning a week for 6 weeks helping to run a Victim Awareness course in a local prison , which is challenging but more fun than I'd expected. I left full time 'proper' work 10 months ago (I took redundancy) and no matter how bored I get some days, I don't want to go back!

And in between all that I try to write some car-related Guide Entries . It's taking *ages*.

Oops, I've written an essay . How's things with you, anyway?

pretty good really, ,like i say, mostly working at the moment...my dad is getting married next month, day before i turn 32, and my 'real' dad got married last year too..... seems to be some sort of bug going around so that'll be fun.....

really not been doing too much apart from keeping my little lady happy with going out for dinners(the single most important thing in her mind sometimes).....