What kind of car do you drive?

**touringlegend** · 26 May 2001, 20:29 (Ref:96987)

I'm not age to drive yet, but what does everybody else here drive?

elephino · 27 May 2001, 07:09 (Ref:97131)

I drive a Nissan Pulsar SSS. A great little car with a sweet 2.0L engine.

As well as any car I can get my hands on to have a drive of. For instance a BMW 330Ci yesterday. I want one of them now

Valve Bounce · 27 May 2001, 10:06 (Ref:97173)

I drive a Volvo V70AWD. (Not the Cross Country).
I bought it because I was living near hte snow and wanted to go ski-ing without worrying about fitting chains. This car also handles quite well on slippery roads.

Wrex · 27 May 2001, 12:50 (Ref:97240)

A Subaru WRX of course

Ray Bell · 27 May 2001, 13:18 (Ref:97246)

Today... a fairly chatty Peugeot 504 station wagon... next week, the nicer one will be back on the road.

Sharky · 28 May 2001, 17:25 (Ref:97906)

Well, my car is a Peugeot 205 GRi. Certainly not a "performance" vehicle but it get's the job done and it's very VERY cheap to run. Since over here theres a restriction for certain cars to drive at certain hours during certain days to avoid traffic jams at rush hour (for instance cars with licence plates finishing in 1,2,3 or 4 can't circulate mondays and wendsdays between 7am and 9am and 5:30 pm and 7:30 pm) I trade cars with my dad on fridays (he has restriction and I don't). He has a Renault 19 RSi (1.8L) which is a very nice car to drive. Has a lot of power and the A/C makes life much nicer.

**bella** · 28 May 2001, 17:55 (Ref:97920)

bmw 316i 1990 left hooker little sweetheart of a car.
pants acceleration, but v. happy when it gets up to 80mph.
my bestest friend.

i could go pick a ferrari, or a lotus or something like that, because my dad runs a car storage firm, and i'm on the insurance. wheeee!!
it's a terrible life....

paul c · 28 May 2001, 18:30 (Ref:97938)

1986 Volvo 740 Estate. It's a bit of a tank but has the advantage of being the carburettor model (with a Weber Twin Choke - nice!!) so there's no computer to go wrong. (It's not that I'm a technophobe, I just tend to keep cars a long while so it's nice to minimise the number of things that can go wrong.) Surprisingly quick too for something so big. Sparky's comment to me was that the only load-lugger that's any bigger has 'Scania' plastered across the grill.

Sparky · 28 May 2001, 21:28 (Ref:98034)

Quote:

Originally posted by paul c
Sparky's comment to me was that the only load-lugger that's any bigger has 'Scania' plastered across the grill.

Well, I meant it in a nice way!!

I have three chariots of choice at the moment. A 1990 Vauxhall Carlton with 160,000 miles on it that goes round bends like a Chieftan Tank on rails (It's as big as Paulc's Volvo!)

My second car is Mark 1 Escort shaped. It's bright yellow, with a 2 litre Pinto engine and five-speed box, lower than a very low thing and recently rebuilt around a fully-space framed tubular chassis. Once it's finished, it will handle like nothing else I've ever driven... hopefully! I could post some pics if anyone's interested!

My last is a Mini! (...Of course!

) Masquerading as a 1971 Mini Cooper S, with all the shiny bits and badges, but without any of the worries about theft or running costs, it's just the thing to blatt round the lanes and lose some aggression of an evening! Ask ChrisY!

I have a number of other er... projects dotted around, but these are the main culprits.

Diabando · 28 May 2001, 23:07 (Ref:98081)

Up until a month ago, my main car was the HQ (see pics in the "store a car?" thread), and now I just drive it very occasionally.

Right now, we are just using Kieron's XF Falcon - Its a wagon, with all the good things like air con, power steering etc.

paul c · 29 May 2001, 08:24 (Ref:98220)

Sparky, please post some piccies of the Escort so we can get an update on the work you've been doing.

mtpanorama · 29 May 2001, 11:51 (Ref:98292)

I currenly have two modes of transport at the moment. The first being a 1993 Ford Falcon XR6 5 speed manual and the second being a 1985 Kawasaki Z250 motorbike.

Truckosaurus · 29 May 2001, 12:36 (Ref:98314)

Quote:

the only load-lugger that's any bigger has 'Scania' plastered across the grill.

Well, my car does say 'Scania' on the grille. It's a Saab 9000 Carlsson.

Hans.ca · 29 May 2001, 17:47 (Ref:98421)

I drive a 4x4 1992 Ford F150 truck with extended cab when I can afford it. It drinks gas at a rate of up to 20 liters per 100km on the hwy. If I'm really good my wife lets me borrow the 1992 VW Jetta with automatic and AC. It uses about 7 or 8 liters of gas per 100 km, that's on the hwy. In the city it is closer to 10 liters.

Sparky · 29 May 2001, 19:48 (Ref:98472)

Ok PaulC! You asked for it!!

This shot shows the cage extensions that run from inside the car through the bulkhead to take up the strut mounts and carry on forward to support the entirely new box section chassis. This comprises main rails of 50mm box section, and smaller intermediate tubing for the tunnel and floor bracing.
This should make the car infinitely stronger, and should allow the suspension modifications to work properly. I can't be sure that the overall weight hasn't gone up significantly, but I was quite surprised at the large amount of heavily corroded original structure that I cut out when I did the change over. Mind you, I think the new materials will have only added 25 to 30kgs.

Diabando · 29 May 2001, 23:31 (Ref:98569)

Wow!

Sparkster...we need to start a thread

"Sparky's Escort Re-build" or some such.

That way, you can take photos and update us all the time on the work you are doing. It would be great - people could ask questions along the way etc.

Ray Bell · 30 May 2001, 02:16 (Ref:98607)

I'm with you on that, and when you post this photo in that thread, how about you explain about your strut changes?

Looks to me like you've changed this substantially.

Vandas · 30 May 2001, 15:40 (Ref:98897)

Currently I have a couple of Road Cars and 1 Race car, plus two race car shells.

My Road Cars are a 1983 Mazda RX7 Series 2, fully standard and I am doing a bit of work on the areas that need touch ups. Believe me there are quite a few.

I have a 1981 Nissan-Datsun Bluebird which is in very good condition, despite the fact that it is a buebird. However this will slowly be torn apart, or dumped or something. No use for it anymore.

I share a 1998 (or something like that) Toyota Hiace Commuter Van with my father. He uses it as one of his local delivery vans during the week, and I take it when I go camping or to places like Bathurst.

My Racing Car is a Mazda RX7 Series 2 with what you would call major work done to it.

The two shells are both RX7's, but I have already stripped them ready to be dipped and caged and put together. If the right funding comes in. Or we find a lease drive racer in the next year or so.

Hans.ca · 30 May 2001, 20:06 (Ref:99001)

Sparky, what a beautiful job, I like the colour also as I used to own a BMW 2002 that was there orange but it looked almost the same as yours.
I just have one concerne, you now have a frame similar to NASCAR and you have eliminated the crush zone. Please no head on collisions.

Sparky · 31 May 2001, 00:02 (Ref:99111)

Thanks for the compliments, guys. I love the colour too! It happens to be Caterpillar Yellow, my new employers as of today!!

(But that's a different story!

)

Ray, I have completely removed the inner wings, along with the entire floor and tunnel from front bulkhead to rear suspension mounts, as they were both heavily corroded, and covered in patches of questionable quality. (Not mine!

) The suspension pick-ups are unchanged, the castor, camber and other geometry are all as original. The main improvement is in the rigidity. As Hans.ca suggests, the crumple zone is no longer as effective, but I'd question the effectiveness of the rusted original steel to save me anyway!

As for the "Sparky's progress" thread, good idea although work has ground to a halt at the moment, as a result of some unfortunate circumstances but I will endeavour to post advances as and when available!

This shot shows the rollcage triangulation I've built in to support the strut mountings. I can post a schematic I produced to illustrate the cage, strut, tunnel and floor builds... As long as you're not all bored yet!

Ray Bell · 31 May 2001, 00:10 (Ref:99114)

Seems to me that the engine will be installed from below, set up on the crossmember and the body lowered onto it... right?

in that case, why not triangulate the top to resist twisting sideways?

Sparky · 31 May 2001, 00:18 (Ref:99115)

Engine installation will be conventional; from above. Although, I suppose I could have lowered the whole sha-bang over it all...

Would make a decoke a little tricky though!

I really think the upper bulkhead triangulation to be far superior than original. As it was, if the car was parked in a 'one wheel up on the kerb' style, the doors would snag on the frame as they were opened...

A little weak...

Sodemo2 · 31 May 2001, 10:08 (Ref:99225)

I drive a crappy Golf MK III
and occasionally my Dad's Impreza Turbo

Dan Friel · 3 Jun 2001, 12:03 (Ref:100448)

My motor: MG Midget 1500. Nasty colour and rubber bumpers. But other than that, just about ok (apart from the gearbox that is..)

Buckshot · 3 Jun 2001, 12:49 (Ref:100481)

2000 model Holden VX "S" Commodore.

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