Jim

Cheers for letting me know about the bonnet Dave.. I was hoping it was minty so will pass :)

Mystic Blue VR6 Storm in the car park of the White Horse at Brancaster Staithe in Norfolk this evening.. had a look around the car when I arrived and when I left again and there was a CCGB sticker.. should have left a note under the windscreen I guess! :) Reg was N**6 VDB.

LOL! What was his response to that? :)

What's the bodywork like Dave..? E.g bonnet..

No.. I guess it's pretty accomplished on the twisties too :) Did you see the recent Chris Harris "Drive" article on Audi RS's? He was rather smitten with your generation RS4 :) Jim

I have the "poor mans" RS4 in the shape of an Octavia VRS Estate.. there's just something just so pleasing about a car which is quick, but also practical... I guess it's a sign of getting older. As you say the economy and running costs of keeping something like that around as a daily would be crippling but it must be so enjoyable gliding through traffic knowing you could demolish most things in a straight line!

Audi is absolutely glorious.. love it.

Are you planning on going to any shows or meets in the coming weeks / months Jay? Scirocco Register National Day? Would quite like these to use as spares for when I finally get around to sending my solitudes off for a refurb!

Sold :) Thanks guildmage.

I think being totally friendly and saying that you fully appreciate they're just kids and you honestly think they're nice, etc etc - but that you're an enthusiast for these cars, you're trying to keep yours in excellent condition and it would just mean a lot of they asked them to play away from your car!

I think was about £8 from the eBay seller watchgecko - very good guy to deal with. Have bought other straps from him since :)

I didn't wear a watch for years but just started to get a bit of interest a few years ago. I like to look at my wrist and see the time. That and it's more than just a timepiece for me.. I just enjoy them as objects or a hobby. It's like cars.. a £500 Fiesta would more than suffice for most of us but we choose to spend money on maintaining a Corrado :)

Think guildmage is going to take it.. so hopefully yes :)

I really need to merge most of the posts in this thread with the old watch discussion thread that came up a few months ago!!

Who's worried about spark plug holes? I mentioned it as an advantage over the Schrick.. nothing more.

Not sure - I never read it :) Should be pretty comprehensive though.. it's a full Haynes manual!

Yeah - as I say, not as much of a fan of the auto. The Professional (the bog standard, classic, moon watch chronograph) just is not ugly.. :)

In fact I have the Haynes manual for the same era Passat which covers the 9A engine so should detail the cam belt change process.. interested? :)

Omega price rise is about to happen.. the Speedmaster Professional will now RRP at over £3,000 which is insanity.. :|

I have to disagree (naturally!) :) Taste is a subjective thing. I think the amount of time that the Speedmaster has been made (late 50's to the present day) whilst remaining largely unchanged cosmetically, shows that it's an absolutely brilliant piece of design and styling which still looks good today and probably will for another 50 years! :) I think the reduced auto's and some of the models with additional complications such as moonphase and so forth are very busy but the original is a design classic.

Have you given The Phirm a ring? They're London way and have a good reputation..

Excellent :) Well no word from VR6 for a few days... I'll give him till later this evening and then drop you a PM with some payment details :) I'm not sure - some good deals do come up. A chap sold a very clean Speedmaster Automatic for £550 the other day which just needed a small repair job doing on it (which he'd been quoted for and wasn't very much) and other good deals do seem to come up a fair bit! There just seems to be a lot of people who get very excited over Rolex stuff on there and they don't do a great deal for me. Well.. I think they might, but not with what they cost these days!

600 quid for a headgasket job is a bit on the steep side!

I bought mine a few months ago after hankering after one for quite a few years. I ended up buying pre-owned and got an early 90's one in great overall condition on a bracelet, but after buying it found it was running too fast (45 seconds a day!) - sent it off to Genesis Watchmaking which proved to be an excellent decision. The level of customer service I received from the owner was like nothing I've ever experienced, with very prompt replies to emails and clear explanations about the work that needed to be undertaken, pictures of the movement, etc. The guy is an absolute legend and is very highly regarded on TZ-UK. Based on that experience, I then sent off to him a 100 year old Waltham pocket watch which was a gift from my grandad (who passed away around 10 years ago) - it's never worked in the time I owned it but he serviced it and returned to service.. it was quite special getting it back and hearing it running for the first time :)

A headgasket is in the region of 300 quid to get done assuming it didn't overheat.. if a £300 bill puts you off, then I don't think Corrado ownership is for you! There will be many more in that sort of price range in the future..