Cars, Cars and Cars. Expensive or not so expensive !

I suspect most of us are just happy to have a car that will get us from Point A to Point B. Yes, we probably do have our favourites ... but reading this today, there appears to be gold in some cars !


A Danish motor enthusiast who claims to have never sold a car in his life is set to strike gold after his extensive fleet of pre-war vehicles was valued at £20 million.

Henrik Frederiksen amassed the impressive collection together with his late wife Vivi, with whom he shared a passion for classic cars, in particular those dating from before WWII.

After the death of his wife, Frederiksen has decided to put all of the vehicles up for sale, at an auction from his own home, the picturesque Lyngsbækgård Manor in Denmark.

The 48-strong collection includes 13 Rolls-Royces, alongside Bentleys, Lincolns, Maybachs and Mercedes. Also hiding amongst the classics is a Woods Electric Motor Vehicle dating back to 1905.

In an interview with CNN, Fredericksen explained that his penchant for the pre-1939 vehicles was due to their uniqueness.

Continue to read the story here

http://cars.aol.co.uk/2015/07/03/classic-car-collection-expected-to-fetch-20-million/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cuk%7Cdl20%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D362903

So would you like a classic car ...

Have you a story to share about cars ?

All the best Jan

Well if you are a 007 fan ... you may be interested in the cars that will be seen in the new 'Spectre' film released in the UK on Oct 26th.

Drum roll please ..................


More on this story here - I believe the Williams Racing Team have also been involved.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/on-film/new-james-bond-cars-from-land-rover-and-jaguar/

Well what do you think?

Would you be more comfortable in another car?

All the best Jan

Jaguar Land Rover INDIAN!

Good grief, these things have more power and torque than some of the TRUCKS I used to drive!

I've reached the age where mpg is more important than mph. My diesel Renault (Modus) averaged over 60 mpg with more than adequate performance and was ideal for old folks like my mother, and increasingly me.

My current Nissan Quashquai has essentially the same engine only tuned for more power and a LOT more torque at lower revs, despite being bigger and heavier it still does 57 - 59 mpg and has even more grunt. It'll do me.

A neighbour has a Dacia which is essentially built from the same Renault/Nissan parts in India, he has 4wd but lacks some of the electronic gadgetry I never use anyway and still does much the same mpg. His new cost about the same as mine secondhand but I suspect mine will depreciate less.

A couple of decades back one of the small Mercedes was reputed to be one of the most cost effective cars because the depreciation was minimal.

Some of the smaller farmers I know buy elderly secondhand kit because it is cheap enough they can buy two and cannibalise one for parts to keep the other going, and then after several years use sell them for more than they paid in the first place.

I've heard much the same for a secondhand Rolls, the consumption and insurance (and probably servicing) costs are dire but they actually *appreciate* in value like these vintage motors in the first post.

Cars I wish I'd owned and never did: the original Subaru Turbo Forester. Looked like a rather nondescript estate/4x4 but underneath its clothes was a bona fide rally car, the performance was blistering, the handling exceptional, build quality and reliability excellent. However the fuel consumption and especially insurance was in the "if you have to ask you can't afford it" bracket.

Cars I drove and wish I never had: Rover SD1 (company cars), one was I think 2.6 with an auto box, the other had the lovely Buick V8 with a five speed, but all the handling of a fat man riding a blancmonge, and blind spots big enough to hide a truck.

Austin Maxi (ditto): plagued with strange pings and clunks and the gearbox balked a lot of the time.

Austin Metro (anyone starting to see a pattern here?) couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding and some of the switches were broken. This was a DEMONSTRATOR!

Leyland FG, only a 3.5 tonnes wagon but had a vintage crash box. OK if you knew what you were doing, less OK was the incredibly heavy steering - I've driven 16 tonners that were lighter - and handling like a  tea tray on castors. Some of the bigger Leylands, from Boxers and Clydesdales upwards, were surprisingly good though.

Oh Chris c now you're talking. Just moved on to 2nd generation forrestor from jap inport twin turbo legacy estate. Previoud was greatest fun ever but bowing to sensibility bought the non turbo 2007 classic
C version.

chris c wrote:Cars I wish I'd owned and never did: the original Subaru Turbo Forester. Looked like a rather nondescript estate/4x4 but underneath its clothes was a bona fide rally car, the performance was blistering, the handling exceptional, build quality and reliability excellent. However the fuel consumption and especially insurance was in the "if you have to ask you can't afford it" bracket.

Cars I drove and wish I never had: Rover SD1 (company cars), one was I think 2.6 with an auto box, the other had the lovely Buick V8 with a five speed, but all the handling of a fat man riding a blancmonge, and blind spots big enough to hide a truck.

Austin Maxi (ditto): plagued with strange pings and clunks and the gearbox balked a lot of the time.

Austin Metro (anyone starting to see a pattern here?) couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding and some of the switches were broken. This was a DEMONSTRATOR!

Leyland FG, only a 3.5 tonnes wagon but had a vintage crash box. OK if you knew what you were doing, less OK was the incredibly heavy steering - I've driven 16 tonners that were lighter - and handling like a  tea tray on castors. Some of the bigger Leylands, from Boxers and Clydesdales upwards, were surprisingly good though.

I remember in the sixties our breakdown truck having crash box took me a while to get the hang of it but eventually I got used to it, can't say I missed driving it when I left the garage though

graham64 wrote:

chris c wrote:Cars I wish I'd owned and never did: the original Subaru Turbo Forester. Looked like a rather nondescript estate/4x4 but underneath its clothes was a bona fide rally car, the performance was blistering, the handling exceptional, build quality and reliability excellent. However the fuel consumption and especially insurance was in the "if you have to ask you can't afford it" bracket.

Cars I drove and wish I never had: Rover SD1 (company cars), one was I think 2.6 with an auto box, the other had the lovely Buick V8 with a five speed, but all the handling of a fat man riding a blancmonge, and blind spots big enough to hide a truck.

Austin Maxi (ditto): plagued with strange pings and clunks and the gearbox balked a lot of the time.

Austin Metro (anyone starting to see a pattern here?) couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding and some of the switches were broken. This was a DEMONSTRATOR!

Leyland FG, only a 3.5 tonnes wagon but had a vintage crash box. OK if you knew what you were doing, less OK was the incredibly heavy steering - I've driven 16 tonners that were lighter - and handling like a  tea tray on castors. Some of the bigger Leylands, from Boxers and Clydesdales upwards, were surprisingly good though.

I remember in the sixties our breakdown truck having crash box took me a while to get the hang of it but eventually I got used to it, can't say I missed driving it when I left the garage though

I don't. DoB. 1970!

Baruney wrote:

graham64 wrote:

chris c wrote:Cars I wish I'd owned and never did: the original Subaru Turbo Forester. Looked like a rather nondescript estate/4x4 but underneath its clothes was a bona fide rally car, the performance was blistering, the handling exceptional, build quality and reliability excellent. However the fuel consumption and especially insurance was in the "if you have to ask you can't afford it" bracket.

Cars I drove and wish I never had: Rover SD1 (company cars), one was I think 2.6 with an auto box, the other had the lovely Buick V8 with a five speed, but all the handling of a fat man riding a blancmonge, and blind spots big enough to hide a truck.

Austin Maxi (ditto): plagued with strange pings and clunks and the gearbox balked a lot of the time.

Austin Metro (anyone starting to see a pattern here?) couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding and some of the switches were broken. This was a DEMONSTRATOR!

Leyland FG, only a 3.5 tonnes wagon but had a vintage crash box. OK if you knew what you were doing, less OK was the incredibly heavy steering - I've driven 16 tonners that were lighter - and handling like a  tea tray on castors. Some of the bigger Leylands, from Boxers and Clydesdales upwards, were surprisingly good though.

I remember in the sixties our breakdown truck having crash box took me a while to get the hang of it but eventually I got used to it, can't say I missed driving it when I left the garage though

I don't. DoB. 1970!

You youngsters have it easy 

Baruney wrote:Oh Chris c now you're talking. Just moved on to 2nd generation forrestor from jap inport twin turbo legacy estate. Previoud was greatest fun ever but bowing to sensibility bought the non turbo 2007 classic
C version.

There's a diesel version now too.

graham64 wrote:
I remember in the sixties our breakdown truck having crash box took me a while to get the hang of it but eventually I got used to it, can't say I missed driving it when I left the garage though

Eaton Fuller Roadranger 9 and 13 speed and Twin Splitter 12 speed were IMO better than most synchro boxes, you could shift purely on the throttle without the clutch. The Yanks also had an 18 speed but I never saw that over here.

I toyed with the idea of using some of my mother's legacy to collect some vintage vehicles, Scammell Crusader, Volvo F88/89, ERF B Series, Bristol RE bus, early Fendt tractor which had aircon, radio cassette, ashtray and a soft rubber floor years before anyone else caught up, and some combine harvesters. But then you have to find somewhere to keep them, and spend your time blowing up tyres and chasing out mice.

Some of these things go for silly prices now, you really had to buy them a few decades back when they were still cheap.

It's good to see so much preservation of our industrial heritage though.

... seen on twitter, Clarkson, Hammond and May

" With a skeleton crew, filming for Amazon Prime's new motoring programme has begun."

Nice cars - I think you could say

All the best Jan

Oh, I was looking at the trucks!

Back when C4 used to show oddball sports, like Women's Volleyball (one of the Cubans could standing jump higher than her own head!) I used to watch the truck racing. Quite incredible! They look rather ponderous because they are top heavy and all the weight is at the front without a trailer but had so much torque they could out-accelerate an F1 car at lower speeds. Cornering is done a bit like Motocross, or rallying, by throwing the back end out and putting your foot down.

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has become the proud owner of a super-exclusive LaFerrari Aperta.

It's the convertible version of the LaFerrari – 'aperta' means open in Italian – and has been made in very low numbers. The open-top hypercar is so exclusive that only Ferrari's best customers were contacted about buying one, with all of them selling out before it was even revealed to the public in July.

There's no official word on how much these customers had to pay for the privilege of owning such an incredible machine, but private brokers were reportedly touting cars in the region of £3m.

You can read more here
http://cars.aol.co.uk/2016/11/21/gordon-ramsay-takes-delivery-of-laferrari-aperta/


I wonder if he may let his wife drive it ?

All the best Jan