Xtrail t31 aventura explorer extreme I think it is
2006 ford fiesta 1.25, slower than a sloth!
2006 transit, my work van. Slowly falling apart around me
2006 transit, the camper, currently half built
Past cars, it's quite a long list and I'll try to put them in order from most recent
I've only got the X Trail at the moment, and I have had far too many to list them all. It would take several pages!
My previous one was a Hyundai Tucson, and before that I had a;
Volvo V70
Mazda Bongo 8 seater
Smart car and Toyota Space Cruiser, both at the same time
Mercedes 230 saloon
Triumph Dolomite 1850
Triumph 2000 saloon
Triumph 2500 estate.
My very first car, in 1965, was a Reliant Regal Mk2 from 1954, purely because you could drive a 3 wheeler at 16 then, and that's all I was. After that came a Ford 100E Anglia, a Consul, and a Zodiac. Getting bigger with each model. Then came dozens of others, with the weirdest probably being a pair of bubble-cars! I had those at the same time as the Zodiac, and I used to alternate them going to work as a bus driver. It must have looked strange to see someone climb out of a big double-decker and get in a bubble car! The bubble car wasn't much bigger than the cab of the bus.
Nice few cars there bus man, always wanted a Volvo 850r or v70 t5 myself I would say no to a ford consul either, I'm a bit of a sucker for an old ford.
My uncle had one of those bubble cars that the whole front opened up to get out of it, it was quite a sight seeing a 6'3" guy emerge from such a small car :lol:
Nice few cars there bus man, always wanted a Volvo 850r or v70 t5 myself I would say no to a ford consul either, I'm a bit of a sucker for an old ford.
My uncle had one of those bubble cars that the whole front opened up to get out of it, it was quite a sight seeing a 6'3" guy emerge from such a small car :lol:
My Volvo V70 was a 5 cylinder diesel automatic, it was a great car and I see it is still taxed and MOTd to this day. It is now 21 years old and the current owner did over 30,000 miles with it last year, according to the MOT reports.
The Consul was a great car too, but the Zodiac I had was even better. First car with big leather individual reclining front seats I ever owned. There are many more cars I owned between the ones I listed. One of my favourites being a Mk2 Cortina which I had for 10 years along with several other vehicles.
The bubble cars I had were a Heinkel and an Isetta, both of which had opening fronts. The most visible difference between the two was that with the Isetta the steering column came out with the front door, but the one in the Heinkel didn't.
I've had loads of cars in the past including Lotus Cortina lol
We had Volvos for years ranging from 340GL, 360GLTi, 440GLTi, V40 1.8 and then first diesel as wifes car being excellent V50 2.0D - really like that car which then changed to current Golf 1.6 TDi. I had a Volvo V70 D5 which was lovely smooth ride but then I jumped back to the other Swedish mark Saab owning a 9000iCS, then 9000CS Turbo, 9000 2.3 Aero (Tuned), 9-5 2.3 SE Estate (tuned to 265), black 9-5 Aero auto Est (tuned to 350hp), then new shape 9-5 Aero Est (tuned to 340hp) and finally 9-3 Sportwagon TTiD 180 (twin turbo then tuned to 238hp) and now my 2011 T31 Facelift X Trail (tuned to 221hp)
As you can see most of my cars have been tuned and to date only one had an issue and that was my silver 9-5 Aero which blew a turbo while overtaking at 70mph!
My favourite being my black 9-5 Aero monster. Abbott tuned with Hirsch suspension and exhaust system. I did however like the look of my silver Aero. Huge boot I miss. With seats down you could fit a standard 6'-6" door with room to spare with no need to move front passenger seat. You could carry a single bed mattress in the back!!!! Sadly X Trail a little too short but then again Saab was a long car at 4.83m long compared to X Trail 4.63
I often fancied a Saab. One of my friends drove one of the old ones with a 3 cylinder 2 stroke engine back in the late 70s. A neighbour had a later one, and the engine in that looked remarkably like the one in my 1850 Dolomite. Did they ever use Triumph engines in Saabs? These were both in Norfolk.
Colin
That would certainly explain it Jim. It also explains and confirms something that I thought I remembered, but wasn't sure about. The engine was reversed in the Saab engine bay.
The Triumph 1850 Dolomite was quite a quick little car in its day, and the Sprint was even quicker with its increased capacity and 16 valve head. The Sprint could be a little temperamental though. Insurance companies were not too keen on insuring under 25s on either the 1850 or the Sprint, fortunately though I was about 40 when I had mine.
Colin
I had an 1850 Dolly but it was a money pit!!!! I drove from Bury St Eds to Norwich to see my girlfriend (now wife) and a spark plug came out the head!! Cost a fortune to have it helicoiled. I tried a Sprint but in the end bought a race tuned Cooper S 1360 (was 1275) which made Dolly Sprint look like a Toledo! It had 200 hp with twin, twin choke webers etc.......................
I had an 1850 Dolly but it was a money pit!!!! I drove from Bury St Eds to Norwich to see my girlfriend (now wife) and a spark plug came out the head!! Cost a fortune to have it helicoiled. I tried a Sprint but in the end bought a race tuned Cooper S 1360 (was 1275) which made Dolly Sprint look like a Toledo! It had 200 hp with twin, twin choke webers etc.......................
My Dolomite was no problem at all apart from the time the timing chain tensioner broke at 80 MPH on the M25! Timing chain came off dumping all the valves into the pistons. I can still remember changing the engine on the driveway outside my house, an exercise I wouldn't even attempt today. It was easy back then though with no complicated electronics to worry about, just a few bolts, some wires, and a few pipes. I did once have a Morris 1100 which had been fitted with a race-tuned Cooper S engine. Went like a rocket, but it was a pig to drive in traffic. I used to have to carry several sets of plugs everywhere with me as I knew that if I got stuck in traffic it would foul its plugs up and drop cylinders. It would do that constantly unless you drove it hard. Virtually no tickover, no power below 4,000 revs, close-ratio gearbox, and to keep to 30 MPH you had to keep it in first gear and keep slipping the clutch or the engine would stall or foul the plugs. Not really a road car at all.
My Cooper was fine in any traffic as you could pull in or out the second carb when ever you wanted. Single carb was used for economy and around town but if you felt happy you pulled what used to be the heater knob this via a vacuum brought in second of the big webers. You then had around 125 miles with 2 full tanks lol!!! Engine would happily spin round to near 9000 rpm and from 6000 you got this deep growl from the racing cam. Only needed clutch around town as it had Jack Knight racing box so quick shift. Had an exhaust you could put your arm in! Wolfrace super slot wheels, twin Cibies to light up everywhere, Wood & PIckett interior, webasto roof, Corbeau race seats and harness and neat roll cage. Went like stink. It would do 60 in second gear with ease and 100 would come up stupidly quick in 3rd gear with engine screaming!!! Never did 0-60 but reckon around 4 secs. Never took it over 100 as rather scary in such small space. Sold to American off Mildenhall base (we lived in Newmarket in late 70's) who sadly killed himself in it 2 months later - hit a tree!!!!! Poor devil. There was an old chap who lived in Bury who serviced it for me every 3 months. I supplied stuff and he simply tinkered to keep it running perfect - he refused to drive it..................sold it for twice what I paid for it; wish I still had it.
My Cooper was fine in any traffic as you could pull in or out the second carb when ever you wanted. Single carb was used for economy and around town but if you felt happy you pulled what used to be the heater knob this via a vacuum brought in second of the big webers. You then had around 125 miles with 2 full tanks lol!!! Engine would happily spin round to near 9000 rpm and from 6000 you got this deep growl from the racing cam. Only needed clutch around town as it had Jack Knight racing box so quick shift. Had an exhaust you could put your arm in! Wolfrace super slot wheels, twin Cibies to light up everywhere, Wood & PIckett interior, webasto roof, Corbeau race seats and harness and neat roll cage. Went like stink. It would do 60 in second gear with ease and 100 would come up stupidly quick in 3rd gear with engine screaming!!! Never did 0-60 but reckon around 4 secs. Never took it over 100 as rather scary in such small space. Sold to American off Mildenhall base (we lived in Newmarket in late 70's) who sadly killed himself in it 2 months later - hit a tree!!!!! Poor devil. There was an old chap who lived in Bury who serviced it for me every 3 months. I supplied stuff and he simply tinkered to keep it running perfect - he refused to drive it..................sold it for twice what I paid for it; wish I still had it.
What I liked about my "1100" was that it was didn't look anything but a bog-standard Morris 1100, apart from wider wheels and twin tail-pipes. Not that most people saw much of it after the lights changed anyway, just a white dot in the distance. It had twin huge SUs, but what else had been done to it I don't know. Very high lift cam I do know, and I think it had been bored out. It didn't like going much below 3,000 RPM, but when it hit 4,500 it just launched! The guy I sold it to didn't use it on the road at all, he put it on the track and apparently did quite well with it.
I used to do all my own work in those days, and it needed constant fettling to keep it on-song.
Mine didn't look that fast as only obvious thing was exhaust size (which is what most people saw) and slightly extended wheel arches to cover the Wolfrace wheels.
Yeh the high lift cam lifted a long way and sometimes sounded like coming through bonnet at 9000 rpm, but mine would drive around town fine; you simply kept in a low gear if you wanted to move quick. From what I recall the engine was a 1275 from an Austin 1275 and was bored out by specialists to 1360 with the racing gas flowed head and race cam. Must admit it was great fun to drive round the small Suffolk roads where we lived. Exhaust was pretty quiet but then under power gave that deep Cooper growl and then howl. Nearest I've come to the noise was in sons JDM Honda Civic EK9 which revved freely to 7500 rpm - that had amazing sensation at 5500rpm when VTEC cut in of gaining a second power surge - wow.
Mine didn't look that fast as only obvious thing was exhaust size (which is what most people saw) and slightly extended wheel arches to cover the Wolfrace wheels.
Yeh the high lift cam lifted a long way and sometimes sounded like coming through bonnet at 9000 rpm, but mine would drive around town fine; you simply kept in a low gear if you wanted to move quick. From what I recall the engine was a 1275 from an Austin 1275 and was bored out by specialists to 1360 with the racing gas flowed head and race cam. Must admit it was great fun to drive round the small Suffolk roads where we lived. Exhaust was pretty quiet but then under power gave that deep Cooper growl and then howl. Nearest I've come to the noise was in sons JDM Honda Civic EK9 which revved freely to 7500 rpm - that had amazing sensation at 5500rpm when VTEC cut in of gaining a second power surge - wow.
When I bought that 1100 the guy who sold it to me told me that it had a 1300GT engine in it. I only found out what I really had when I tried to get spares for it. It wasn't running well when I bought it, but I thought it was basically sound. It was giving symptoms of fuel starvation and someone suggested I try new needles in the carbs, so I went and bought a pair of 1300GT carb needles and fitted them. That made it 10 times worse! So I spoke to a friend who I knew was an expert on those engines and he told me what I really had. Between us we got it running, but it was only really happy blasting along a motorway, where it would easily leave virtually anything. I came to the conclusion that it had such a wild tune that it would only be good on a track, so I sold it. It wasn't really a road car, and I couldn't enjoy driving it to work and back which was its main use at the time. On the 15 mile journey to work I rarely got the chance to get it beyond 2nd gear. It would go right off the clock in 3rd and 4th wasn't much use below 70. It was a beast! Yours sounds much more driveable.
Oh wow. Yes mine was driveable on whatever roads. I used to drive from Gazeley to Bury and back daily which meant A45 dual which was great. Likewise mine would go off the clock in 3rd in a cough and sneeze - scary but at least driveable as a proper Cooper. The guy I bought it off spent hundreds on it having seems flat welded and the lovely Wood & Pickett interior. The seats were incredibly good and being able to use either one or both carbs was great. It was ****** quick on one carb and that's how I normally drove it but I remember one day my dad having a brown trouser day when he collected it for me from a service. He was a little cold so pulled what he thought was the heater lever and went off like a projectile................I got a slight telling off until I showed him how to drive it. The chap was very sad selling it but he had developed epilepsy so was no longer able to drive. He lived fairly close so every so often I'd take him for a blast - he was also very upset when the yank killed himself in it. Like yours I don't think anything on the roads then would catch it.
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