You can have both... modern and reliable plus fun. Always had MGB's up recently. Favourite was my MGBV8. Great fun in the snow, lots of character... but on a cold morning needed defrosting both inside and out, plus needed choke (at 10mpg) for about 15 miles.
Had a Mazda RX8 for a while. A lot of laughs but deadly thirsty and about as dependable as a Russian car dealer. In the snow it was alike a big sledge. Now I have a Toyota Celica and my other half an MR2. The Celica is a GT so it carries a double bed if need be, fun to drive, starts on the button each morning and looks gorgeous. Under 3000rpm the VVT engine is like driving Miss Daisy, after 4500rpm all hell beaks loose. The MR2 with the same engine in a much lighter chassis is just a hoot! Especially as it's rear-wheel drive like the MGB's.
Primare CD22. Primare DAB/FM radio. SSP to NVA AP70 and AP10H(JS) with Denon AH-D7100's. LS5 to Cube2's.
When I semi-retire/retire I'm going to get myself something a bit classic. Not the "real" classics like I've owned before, (TR4a etc), as I can't be arsed with the constant TLC required, but something like a Mk1 MR2 would fit the bill nicely.
Audio Grail "Sable" Garrard 401 with Cumbrian Green Slate plinth / Audiomods 6 / Soundsmith Zephyr MIMC, Parasound JC3+, NVA INT400sa. (Oh and a Copland CDA823 CD Player, for when I fancy a bit of the devil's spawn!)
People laugh at my Fiat Doblo - but it is actually a fun car to drive, feels quite small and sporty when you're inside.
Turns on a sixpence as well.
Before that I had a Mitsubishi Space Wagon, 2L turbo-diesel. Total road monster. Wonderful car.
Upstairs: VinylPro-Ject 1.2 + Grado Sig Jr + Cambridge Alva Duo DigiVolumio PC + Kiss DP-500 + Sabaj A20d NVA: Cube2 + LS6+ Sabaj A10a (2) + Little Bear MC2 Downstairs: VinylLogic DM101 + Syrinx LE1 + Grado Sig MCX DigiDenafrips Ares II + Volumio PC + Cambridge CXC NVA: P50 (phono)Aiyima A07 MAX (2) + Arcam One HP: Allo DigiOne + Sabaj A10d + AQ NightOwl Office: Allo DigiOne SIG + SMSL M300se + Douk G4 (x2)
Mission 760 + Monolith 887 + German Maestro GMP 450
Colin Wonfor wrote:All black ones are boring, Oh mines black under the dirt of London.
OK this car for ever,
I've got both of those,never at the same time thou'
My chum has just sold his Audi TT and got an AC Cobra,now that is fun,sounds like it's going 70 when it's ticking over...
As you lot can guess at my expense, I was never really into sporty cars, preferring a lolloping Rover P6 3500 manual which was far more comfortable with a very sweet engine which I think is still around in modern injected, emission controlled, freaked out and larger form.
I always wanted a Dolomite Sprint as my first car was my Dads old Triumph 1500. I eventually got one and was surprised that the performance didn't seem as good as the Rover, which was hardly blistering. Handling was more like the standard 1850 saloon (but worse in the wet) and I was very underwhelmed with it. I became annoyed with a differential 'whine' so took it to a Triumph expert dealer in Leighton Buzzard (SAH). The answer, which I couldn't afford, as a limited slip diff, which I think would have sorted the twitchy tail these cars suffered from (it cured a 3 Litre Capri for the same reason I remember). I was furious and thrashed the thing all the way home - it went like a bat out of hell!!! So, you needed to drive these in anger to get them to go. Not my scene.
A few years later, I had some fun with a Nova GTE (I think it was). No suspension and a bone jarring ride from Harpenden to Stevenage on the back lanes. Real fun though but the thing gave you a headache. A Renault 5 Turbo was nice though I recall.
Lastly, a colleague plus another acquaintance bought Peugeot 205 GTI 1.6's. Just about acceptable rides, safe in the wet and nippy too. He, and a few others including Alfafan here? ended up with the 1.9 version I remember and these were death traps in the wet as well as having no real suspension, noise, terrible low speed shunting on most examples and, a light dampening on the road and the things would spin out of control, even with an experienced driver behind the wheel. Put me off things like this for life I'm afraid...
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way...The time has gone, The song is over, Thought I'd something more to say...
