corozin

Although Andy was a genuine buyer he was told about the TV crew before he went to view the car, and obviously the filming was discussed with him before it the cameras went on. Frankly I think he was quite brave to point out the couple of things he wasn't happy about (and then subsequently walk away from the deal) considering the nature of the programme, as it did make him look picky - even though the faults were ones which most people would take issue with without cameras present. I think I'm correct in saying that at the time that was filmed, he was the first buyer to ever walk away from a deal on DoW. It was a shame as the seller spent a small fortune correcting the steering problem, but that's the way the world spins sometimes.

I can recommend the Brembo 323mm kit from Badger5 combined with Ferodo DS2500 pads from personal experience on road & track for almost three years now. I've recorded just over 1.3g under braking on track with this kit, which is enough to outbrake most things - even at trackdays. They also retain thier stopping power exceptionally well, even when they get (ahem) too hot. Totally recommended (the kit, not setting the pads on fire!)

Yeah he bought one in Portsmouth a couple of months later. It was actually the same colour as the one I had. Sold it 2 years later when he couldn't fit his new baby's pram into it !

That episode is something like 7 years old now. As a bit of trivia the buyer who walked away from the deal is actually a friend of mine.

The last car (Storm) 4043 is listed (in etka) as produced at the end of June '95. AFAIK there were no other Cs produced after this date. My Storm (3267) was built in 95 (between March and April) but wasn't registered until Jan '96. Where did you locate a build date of Feb '96 from? Hi Paul, I didn't check the VIN number at the time, but the engine had a Feb 96 build date on it's identification sticker. HTH John

+1

Hi ANdy, I think I must have missed a couple of threads or something as I wasn't aware you were even selling the nugget! It's a real shame to see the car move on, but I hope friendships will endure. Make sure you guys give me a call when you visit Dorset & we'll go for a pint or something. Cheers, John

With £400 road tax to come next year and with the MkV version looking more like a FIat Punto on steroids I think they'll still struggle to even move those 70 cars - even at those prices. Bizarrely lowering the price may only bring the car within the reach of people less likely to be able to part with the increased taxes.

Madonna is now back on the market, but somehow I think Massa's wife wouldn't be too impressed with that... I admire Hamilton but I must admit I did laugh a bit when it was reported in the press on Monday that he's utterly bowled over and in love with Nicole Sherzinger. I mean like "yeah, right" !! He's only 22 years old, and at that age he can't have gotton any further than obsessing over her tremendous norks yet! Good lad Lewis - fly the flag for Britain I say :D

My (briefly owned) Classic Green VR6 had a February 96 build date on it. Registered in June the same year. The build date is the important bit here; many cars were built in 1995 (including I believe all the Storms) but many were not actually registered until well over a year later. I believe physical production of the car at Karmann ended in March 1996.

I've never read such a load of old bollocks claimed for a device in my life. Ten years ago we had ecotek valves, and now we have this. Frankly you're more likely to get extra power by performing a rain dance around your car than fitting one of these magic magnets. What you need is The Power Resistor of Justice - worth a Google for the specs :)

What's gone on is that your assumption was incorrect. As part of the FIA's penalty against MacLaren in 2007 they reserved the right to 'vet' MacLaren's designs for it's 2008 car to ensure that no obvious Ferrari IP or designs found thier way onto the car. No infringments of that kind were found (despite Ferrari protesting the presence of "Ferrari" items like wheels, an engine and a wheel to steer it with) and that's why you heard nothing more about it. Ahhh.... its was 'vetting' not a total lock down on Mclaren developing. Cheers[/quote:1mgqy9hc] That all said you'd be surprised how poor the vetting for Ferrari IP actually was. I mean there was red paint on the MacLaren that they didn't even spot :D if they can't even catch MacLaren blatantly plagiarising like that then the sport has no hope at all! Don't even get me started on the copycat "Finnish driver" trick either - clearly a copy of the Ferrari strategy if you ask me, haha

What's gone on is that your assumption was incorrect. As part of the FIA's penalty against MacLaren in 2007 they reserved the right to 'vet' MacLaren's designs for it's 2008 car to ensure that no obvious Ferrari IP or designs found thier way onto the car. No infringments of that kind were found (despite Ferrari protesting the presence of "Ferrari" items like wheels, an engine and a wheel to steer it with) and that's why you heard nothing more about it.

To be honest Andy the appalling thing is that we had to to wait until 2007 to have a black F1 driver at all, let alone a series winner in 2008.

A disgracefully cheap shot, but I'm not above doing it anyway. About time this thread got bumped again :D

That battle between Vettel & Hamilton had my heart in my bloody mouth for 30 laps. Well done Lewis, unlucky for Massa, but given the excessive & frequently unusual interference by the stewards in the results this year it's hard to argue that the Hamilton didn't deserve it. p.s. do you think Lewis will lose his virginity to that woman tonight?

You are right but I might be tempted to push even harder than that. I posted a true story a few weeks ago on here about a guy who was offered only £1,000 p/x on a 30 month old ML450 at the local Mercedes Dealership near me. Apparently the trade can't give these things away at the moment. My neighbour also recently bought a 5 month old Vauxhall Signum TDi for only £5,650. It was mildly accident damaged (front panels only) but it's also fully loaded and with an Irmscher kit too. Original retail sale was £36k!

That SL55 AMG is almost touchable isn't it. Remember that was £96,000 when it was new... The E55 AMG is even better value. £15,500 for a 500bhp saloon car. Wow.

Considering that prior to the Americans going into Iraq in 2002 oil was a miserable $28/barrel I think OPEC has got a bloody cheek trying to rehike the price. They were doing pretty bloody nicely when the price was at that level.

It's pretty quick, but not as quick as it should be considering the scale of the work done. There are no exact power figures as it hasn't been on the rollers since the rebuild. I've stopped spending on this engine now as it's like peeing into a canyon. New plans are afoot for 2009, but that will involve a different engine. Watch out in the spring as I will have some very tasty engine parts to sell. I have a spare set of 284 race cams with solid lifters available now if anyone is interested in doing something radical? PM me to discuss. Will run to 8000rpm safely....

Oh God, now you've done it....... :nuts: LOL Whoops.... :grin: Ok ignore that last question. The engine spec was a dream. The engine costs were a nightmare. [strike:rj9pp0ql]That's as much as I'm saying.[/strike:rj9pp0ql]

The worst car I've ever actually driven was an Austin Allegro. You can complain all you like about ratty Sierras, Novas or Astras but trust me BL's finest are in a superleague of badness compared to anything produced since that time. That said, the worst car I've ever been in was a well-worn Suzuki SJ410. Genuinely scary, especially whenever the steering wheel was anywhere other that dead straight ahead. An absolute death-trap of a car in my opinion.

LOL I agree. His engine looks lovely. I didn't even get any polishing included for all that money! I also thoroughly approve of the CDA filter :wink:

The short version is that 4 weeks after the first build the engine suffered an oil leak (stone through the oil cooler) but then whilst that was being fixed the car was 'borrowed' and driven, suffering major internal damage. My costs were all non-rebuild related actually (new oil cooler, power steering pump + a bunch of other stuff) but it was easier to call it a rebuild. In fact I've just noticed I've missed the cost of the Schimmel cams it now has in it - add another £300 including fitting. Revision attached :( Admittedly the car is great now, aside from all the bodywork issues! What is almost as depressing as the costs is just the sheer regularity that it's had to have bits done. It's a shame you can't get clubcard points for these things really. And before you ask - yes if I'd known beforehand I would almost certainly have gone and bought something else...

Two. Don't go there... the second bill was significantly reduced following what I'll refer to as some "aggressive negotiation"