For those interested in old cars.

[Prometheus]

The Gaz is interesting but the Alfa is magnificent. I know which I’d be keeping!

 

Tony

[Hobby]

The Gaz, obviously... 

[MrWolf]

I do like a Volga 21, it's like a good Soviet wearing a pair of Levi's.

 

I'd be keeping the Gaz too.

 

[steve1]

Lovely though the Alfa is, boot spoiler not withstanding, I too would go with the Volga as it's so different.

 

I once owned a FSO Polonez for about a year, when my Vittesse was being resprayed/restored. It was a cheap and practical tool, especially with the hatchback for carrying layouts. Easy to work on too, although it never needed more than servicing and a new radiator plug.

 

steve

[43179]

Ah that Gaz 21 is lovely - it’s got a bit more ‘Flair’ than mine and they carry a 2 tone paint job much better too.

To own and run the GAZ is

pure bliss, its tough and reliable and easy to work on , everything’s nice and accessible  it’s even got a starting handle and a lever to hand prime the carb on those cold Soviet mornings!  The Alfa is somewhat the Antithesis-  it’s all rather cramped , everything else is always in the way of whatever it is you’re trying to get a socket onto - there’s normally a nice sharp bit metal right where your hand wants to be as well! -  one can barely get to the dipstick without taking off the distributor cap - very Italian! Makes me wish I’d bought a Herald instead! 

jon

[MrWolf]

The Herald is still a fine piece of Italian design, but you can sit on the front wheel whilst doing pretty much any engine job.

I always thought that the Gaz 21 was like an iron curtain Borgward in looks.

[Enterprisingwestern]

11 hours ago, Prometheus said:

The Gaz is interesting but the Alfa is magnificent. I know which I’d be keeping!

 

Tony

 

11 hours ago, Hobby said:

The Gaz, obviously... 

 

As I'm not a hairdresser it would be the Gaz for me too!

 

Mike.

[Nick C]

13 hours ago, steve1 said:

Lovely though the Alfa is, boot spoiler not withstanding, I too would go with the Volga as it's so different.

 

I once owned a FSO Polonez for about a year, when my Vittesse was being resprayed/restored. It was a cheap and practical tool, especially with the hatchback for carrying layouts. Easy to work on too, although it never needed more than servicing and a new radiator plug.

 

steve

 

I'd quite like either a Polonez or a Polski Fiat 125p - or perhaps something really exotic like a Warszawa or Zuk...

[MrWolf]

I remember when I was still at school being given a lift by a friend's mother who had an FSO Polonez painted in what can only be described as lemon iced bun yellow. Five of us piled in the back onto the squashiest shiny black velour seat that you slid around on at every turn. Despite the supposedly bad reputation I saw that car knocking around for years. They were certainly no worse than the Talbot Alpine.

I remember someone in our village having a Moskvitch 1500 van. It looked like some poor man's Chevy Nomad, so of course I wanted it!

[Hobby]

Round here we've always had a decent sized Polish community and I remember one chap who had a Polonez to help his fellow countrymen back home! Quite a practical car from what I remember and at least looked a bit more up to date than the other east European imports even if it wasn't! 

[PhilJ W]

Apparently the Lada's are quite rare nowadays. Back when they were dirt cheap second hand Russian merchant seamen used to buy them up and on the voyage home used to strip them of usable spares and dump the carcase over the side. Once production had ceased in Russia spares became difficult to obtain. 

[PhilJ W]

Talking of Lada's, I wonder how many Riva 4X4's are left on British roads?

[MrWolf]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Apparently the Lada's are quite rare nowadays. Back when they were dirt cheap second hand Russian merchant seamen used to buy them up and on the voyage home used to strip them of usable spares and dump the carcase over the side. Once production had ceased in Russia spares became difficult to obtain. 

 

Very true. Eventually a lot of British breakers yards would strip Ladas en masse and pile everything into a container to send back to Russia. One of our local yards had a row of upturned Riva bodies.

Several of the Polish lads I worked with would buy an old Audi or BMW for under £1000, drive it back home, treble their money and get a last minute cheap flight back. It was the only real way to make money once they realised that the cost of living in the UK took the edge right off any financial enticement to come and work here. They would get together enough to buy and renovate a house back home and go back, especially as the Polish engineering industry was desperate for them. 

[big jim]

My fully working but hooky gearboxed VW Pheaton got bought by a polish buyer on eBay, he collected it next day with a car transporter and whizzed it off to Poland where he said it would be stripped for spares 

[MrWolf]

That's where the dodgy paddle gearbox Audi's went too. The Poles would strip the gearboxes and fix them. Something that is apparently not economically viable in the UK, despite the box being north of 3K plus fitting.

[MrWolf]

Oddly enough, another friend bought an elderly but mint condition BMW estate with a dodgy autobox. A lot of people had been turned off by the potential cost and the fact that it was too old to send to the Eastern Bloc. 

We had a look underneath and took a risk at £500.

When we finally prised off the inspection plate, we found that someone has replaced the filters and refitted the plate with enough silicone to bung up the gallery to reverse gear.

I think that we could all do with making £1000 for an hour's work every week! 

I'd doubtless spend most of it on trains and motorcycles, the rest I would just waste!

[big jim]

I paid £2k for the Pheaton knowing about the box, its one of those DSG boxes which are renown for failing, I got 12 months out of it without real issue, if you were gentle with it it was fine, foot hard down and it would drop out of gear

 

When I sold it I got £1700 back for it so £300 for 12 months motoring as I didn’t spend a penny on it (other than consumables) 

[PatB]

On 01/01/2021 at 21:29, MrWolf said:

 

The engine would probably run forever, the big worry would be whether the metal around the back axle has dissolved. I actually preferred the look of the saloon to the Stag. A car which when we were children, we derided as "An old man's Spitfire". My MK3 spitfire was another car I wish I could have kept!

For some reason I've never warmed to the Stag, even going through phases of active dislike, mostly in proportion to how much in fashion the thing is. However, I've long thought that the Triumph 2000 was probably Michelotti's (and Standard Triumph's, for that matter) finest effort. It is, in Mk1 form, at least, so elegant from pretty much every angle. That big, Italianate greenhouse, atop the perfect, uninterrupted sweep of waistline, and just the right amount of brightwork. Quick and comfortable too, with decent handling. Well, quite decent. ISTR that Which? Magazine succeeded in flipping a Mk2 during handling tests but we'll ignore that, on the basis of their utter brutality towards test cars.

 

Let's face it, if Alfa or Lancia had built it, you'd need a second mortgage to buy one now. As it came from stodgy old S-T, or, even worse, BL, they're still sort of affordable. Bargain, I reckon. 

[MrWolf]

 

2 minutes ago, big jim said:

I paid £2k for the Pheaton knowing about the box, its one of those DSG boxes which are renown for failing, I got 12 months out of it without real issue, if you were gentle with it it was fine, foot hard down and it would drop out of gear

 

When I sold it I got £1700 back for it so £300 for 12 months motoring as I didn’t spend a penny on it (other than consumables) 

That's a lot of car for not a lot of money and I bet the first owner took a way bigger hit on it than you did. 

Top job. That's coming from someone who doesn't even like modern cars.

[big jim]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Talking of Lada's, I wonder how many Riva 4X4's are left on British roads?

a work colleague has one of the Brazilian lada Niva 4x4 on a 60 plate 

 

I had one back in 95, terrible car at the time but looking back now I wish I still had it!

 

 

[big jim]

1 minute ago, MrWolf said:

 

That's a lot of car for not a lot of money and I bet the first owner took a way bigger hit on it than you did. 

Top job. That's coming from someone who doesn't even like modern cars.

the 2nd one I had was the 5l v10 that I paid £2500 for a 2006 motor, that was the LWB limo version that when knew with its options was a good £75k new! 

[MrWolf]

4 minutes ago, PatB said:

For some reason I've never warmed to the Stag, even going through phases of active dislike, mostly in proportion to how much in fashion the thing is. However, I've long thought that the Triumph 2000 was probably Michelotti's (and Standard Triumph's, for that matter) finest effort. It is, in Mk1 form, at least, so elegant from pretty much every angle. That big, Italianate greenhouse, atop the perfect, uninterrupted sweep of waistline, and just the right amount of brightwork. Quick and comfortable too, with decent handling. Well, quite decent. ISTR that Which? Magazine succeeded in flipping a Mk2 during handling tests but we'll ignore that, on the basis of their utter brutality towards test cars.

 

Let's face it, if Alfa or Lancia had built it, you'd need a second mortgage to buy one now. As it came from stodgy old S-T, or, even worse, BL, they're still sort of affordable. Bargain, I reckon. 

 

I always preferred the Mk1, even though they rusted out. They were very nicely put together. As was it's little brother, the 1300 FWD. I could ignore the fact it was wrong wheel drive, due to the engine pointing the right way. I could even forgive the dodgy quill shaft bearings that sounded like a diving Stuka on the overrun. It was stylish reasonably quick and comfortable and even at thirty years old, you could shut all of the doors with your little finger. 

Try doing that with any of its Leyland built / thrown together successors.

[MrWolf]

6 minutes ago, big jim said:

the 2nd one I had was the 5l v10 that I paid £2500 for a 2006 motor, that was the LWB limo version that when knew with its options was a good £75k new! 

 

V10? Where does that sit with the Maybach reincarnation that they did? 

Although IMHO if you're going to have a Maybach you might as well have a black convertible about a mile long with little flags atop the front wings that might offend the neighbours...

[big jim]

The v10 was used in the Touareg too, not sure about the maybach 

 

the top of the range petrol Pheaton is basically a Bentley flying spur with a W12 6L petrol engine, despite them coming up for sale now and again for 1/2 decent prices I’ve not been brave enough to take the plunge!

 

 

[boxbrownie]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Apparently the Lada's are quite rare nowadays. Back when they were dirt cheap second hand Russian merchant seamen used to buy them up and on the voyage home used to strip them of usable spares and dump the carcase over the side. Once production had ceased in Russia spares became difficult to obtain. 

So that’s where the Baltic Reef came from.....