Mr Sands

Oh boy oh boy oh boy. I really should've known better than to tempt fate, shouldn't I? Left the house at seven ten this morning, arrived at school at half ten. Mahoosive queue after a sadly fatal accident on the M5 at 4A. In all the time teaching at my current school, I've had no problems at all, despite the rather accident-heavy nature of this section of motorway. Then I shoot my mouth off on here about it and BLAM! Still, my long commute is nothing compared with the people who died and were injured. Sad stuff.

Oh mate, Harsh! You're right, you just couldn't make that up. Hope you get it sorted soon.

You know you'll only regret it!

Dave, I remain eternally grateful that I am positioned for handy access to junction 7. Whenever people wince at the distance of my commute, I cheerily inform them that if I actually had to get into the middle of Worcester at each end, that would probably double the time. Without problems, door to door takes me half an hour, and that's to do twenty five miles on the nose. There's actually a considerable number of staff living here in Worcester who commute up. It's the perfect balance of being near enough to make it up to work easily but just far enough away never to see any of the kids when out shopping or on the lash, which unless you've taught is not a thought that would ever occur. However, trust me: the last thing you want is to see any of the little darlings out and about!

Bang on twenty five miles from my door to school, so it's a fifty mile round trip every day from Worcester to the southwestern tip of Brum. However, most of it's the M5 so low impact on the VR.

Quality chuftie there: sod women's magazines and their guides for pleasure, I think it should be all about multiple chufties!

Like Rob I'm running a late model VR with the 70 litre tank. Admittedly about half my motoring is motorway, but my commute contains a mixture of that and B road blasting, and the weekends are more of the latter. Some town motoring gets thrown in too and yet I still get 390 miles between each fill-up and that's with a fill up costing me about fifty five to sixty quid absolute max. I'm certainly not sparing the horses but then the VR just loves to cruise.

Looking good, flying the local Vdub flag well there.

Soooo... you have a problem rising to the occasion? :-P I'll have you know I'm taking pills for it.

I'd have to say the same. I've thought long and hard lately about wheels, in that my speedies also need a refurb, they're all beginning to show discolouration, blistering and have kerbing etc. I love the alloys which are on NickVR6's supercharged beaut, but I often think the same, that putting on aftermarkets without lowering would look odd. Bottom line for me is that I've never been one for mods particularly. I think there are so many truly awesome looking mods on this forum, some gorgeous cars, but the problem for me is that once you make one mod, you're pretty much obliged to make others to fit with it and I've always loved keeping things standard. In that respect I'm bang alongside the idea of keeping the speedies: those people saying they're the best standard wheel ever are bang on with me. The only thing that I do think long and hard about is lowering it by just a little at the rear. I think the standard ride does just make it a tiny little bit too much like she's sticking her arse up, and lowered rides at the back look more natural. But then my point stands; once doing that, the temptation has to be change the wheels to make them look less dwarfed under dropped arches and we're away down that road. The only other thing I've ever thought about is all red rear clusters, but then I'm not sure that looks right on a classic green 'rado. And the bottom line is that I love it being totally standard. I know all these kinds of mods could be reversed, but I like the idea of it being totally standard for the future. Plus all the money I'd spend on this kind of shit would be better off stuck in a maintenance fund for when something next goes wrong!

Furthermore, as an injoke for those living in Worcester, we can only dream of that, can't we? (Our rising bollards still don't work four years after installation!)

That is absolutely priceless! Darwinism in action anyone? What I love most of all is the way that this dove-tails so beautifully with the "Cars which annoy you thread"; all three of those vehicles feature surely? Little Japanese piece of crap, town driven pseudo 4x4 driven by a psychotic child endangering ringpiece and white van man. Hilarious. Even so, I couldn't help but wince at the coolant pissing out of the front of the first victim's car. That just looks so bad.

Certainly looks well shined! Are there actually any tires on that thing?

Here, Here !!!! :lol: I've still got 2 cars at my Old mans... Yellow M3 and Audi Cab :oops: I just can't seem to part with them :) Ed.. you still got the golf too ???[/quote:f9330] No, I sold her on. Still miss her though. Not when I'm out in the VR so much mind! I wouldn't bet against owning another Mk II or a Mk III at some point as a daily driver, once I start getting antsy about piling miles on the C. Thing is, it's so much fun to drive that it makes the commute something I look forward to. Plus I hate being out driving anything but the 'rado, especially when I see another like I did this morning. Being in a Fix Or Repair Daily and spotting one is a bit like spotting the supermodel who's just moved in next door over the back fence while you're hanging out your "emergency pants". Don't pretend y'all don't know what I mean by that.

All looking shiny there Marcus; that's nice work! And as for the madness at the front of your house and getting nagged to get rid of some of the motors, isn't it always thus? You're just a man who loves his motors!

Welcome indeed.

Dave, having gone away from the lights on Bridge St against one once, he did get away from me until we were onto the bridge itself. At that point the VR began to roar and I swept past him like he wasn't there. By New Road he was a distant memory.

Sounds like classic wheel bearing issues.

25 and always been a dubber. Mk II 1.3, four speed box, old thrashed lady inherited from my brother! Mk II 1.6, five speed box, paradise by comparison, lovely bodywork Corrado VR6, dream car, everything I thought and more, love it.

Dave, that's looking minty! Can't wait to see this in the metal. Only downside is, I'm obviously going to have to get shining my own, else I'm going to be totally outdone by this!

My best car, my only car, my daily driver!

What sad news, but what lovely things you and other people were able to do for him at the end. These things will never be easy, but you made sure that neither he nor you could have anything but good memories of his last weeks. That's down to you as being a good bloke and not everyone gets the chance to reconcile things before the end, so you'll always have that. I am so sorry for your loss, my thoughts are with you. R.I.P.

Sorry, only just caught up with this thread. As you all know from the homage I paid to it in the spotting thread, I had the enormous pleasure of seeing this car in Salisbury one morning last week. Spotting it when I least expected it, coming into a car park, it was one of the highlights of the holiday (something which disgusts the missus, bless her). Such a beautiful motor, and I echo all the comments about the wheels, gorgeous. If ever I decided to take the speedlines off mine and go non-standard, I would have these, and seeing them on Nick's beast seriously made me think hard about that! Great car mate.

Mate, gutted for you. Hope you do get it back on the road. Don't let this move you out of the 'rado fraternity!

Thanks for all the responses chaps. I thought it was about the money, perhaps a little over the odds but not by much. Goldie, I always forget something! It's on a P plate. davidwort, take the point about it being good to find one which has been used rather than mollycoddled. I think this one should be about right, based on what he's told me about it! Think he might go for it: it's all about finding something good to drive which isn't at a ridiculous risk of being nicked in Hackney! After all, it's now officially the worst place to live in the country! Will keep you posted on how it turns out.