This afternoon I've been mainly.............

[F Body]

Cleaning the Camaro wheels, plenty of brake dust after some racing spirited driving on July 4th



Not only did I get my fingers in the shot again, I didn't even hold the camera straight



Now all I have to do is clean the Honda before tomorrows ride out

[Roadkill]

There's that finger again, Martyn.

[Fieldy]

Quoting: F Body

This afternoon I've been mainly.............

Working

Both cars are filthy, but screw it, cider is more important at present....


what is with the cable?

[philoldsmobile]

fitting my new Alfa Romeo boot badge ( a mission in itself) then giving the bella a good coat of autoglym

[Fieldy]

Quoting: philoldsmobile

Alfa Romeo

sorry, going to go O.Topic here. Phil, I like you, I think of you as A good mate, this is not A personal attack at all.....

But I simply don't see the appeal at all, I am trying to, but I just can't.

Go buy A cutlass again dude

[philoldsmobile]

you gotta drive one dude, its 1000000% better in every respect than the mustang, faster, smoother, quieter, better built, more comfortable, handles infinitely better, stops better, more economical, and more practical.

its subtle, tactile, classy and quality, its a little black dress on a cute girl in a world of denim jeans and t shirts, its also bloody fast for a 2.5 saloon

i went through a tunnel the other day, with the window down changing gear  at just under 7000 rpm. the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and i came out in goosebumps..this car touches your soul.

yanks are fun, and ironically i'd love another cutlass, but be under no illusions, this is quite a lot of leagues ahead for almost everything.

its all personal preferance, to some people 50's yanks have the same effect, to me they leave me completely cold in every way.. just the variety of life i guess..

[Fieldy]

you'll have to let me test drive it then

[philoldsmobile]

as Jeremy Clarkson said in 'i know you got soul'

"you have style, you have taste... you have and alfa 166"

[ianjpage]

mmmm shiny things!!!

[nick69]

Phil you dont buy American Classics because they are good on fuel, comfy, fast, or any of the other reason as they are obviously not. You buy them because you either like them or you dont.
New American cars are made by mexicans with the cheapest plastic they cant get there blanket making hands on.

Its as simple as that.

That Alfa has a face only a mother could love

[Flip Martian]

Quoting: F Body

Cleaning the Camaro wheels, plenty of brake dust after some racing spirited driving on July 4th

Ummm...looking at those pictures of the Z28 up on the jack...I have to ask...

Do you clean and polish the jack as well?! Or is it just that its still new?

[art b]

im sure the stands and the jack wouldnt be ignored.....
[the jack is near new]

[Rob]

Quoting: philoldsmobile

fitting my new Alfa Romeo boot badge

That won't be there in the morning.....

[CJ-IROCZ]

Quoting: philoldsmobile

this car touches your soul.

I like alfa's but that comment is just plain gay

[Titsy]

Quoting: Flip Martian

Do you clean and polish the jack as well?! Or is it just that its still new?

I'm sure Martyn will be breaking out the autosol for the jack and making it shiney shiney...

Quoting: Fieldy

what is with the cable?

It's one thing to drive a 4th gen into a standard size garage, it's completely another to clime out of the sucker once you're parked.... Hance F-Body's F-Body get's winched in...

[FUBAR]

Quoting: CJ-IROCZ

Quoting: philoldsmobile
this car touches your soul.


I like alfa's but that comment is just plain gay

[HardRockCamaro]

I like the Alfa.
I wouldn't have one (I don't like the front of it) and I'd be too concerned about stuff going wrong (then again I bought an STS which has so many computers it's practically alive and should one of them get the a**hole...)

The interior on the Alfa is a step above the yanks for sure.  But it is still just plastic, just a more solid plastic.  Personally I think the British make the best interiors, Jags being a find case in point.  I'd much rather drop 3.5k on a Jag than an Alfa.  But that's just my preference.  The pre-Ford Jags aren't the most reliable either to be fair...

The engine in the Alfa does sound nice, I prefer the deeper V8 burble than the whir from a 6, but it does sound good (a zillion times nicer than 6cyl yanks which do nothing for me).  I also prefer a larger engine that will pul from lower revs than zinging the tacho needle around in a european 6, but again, each to their own.

Neither is "better" then the other, they're just different.

[Gator]

Quoting: philoldsmobile

its subtle, tactile, classy and quality, its a little black dress on a cute girl in a world of denim jeans and t shirts, its also bloody fast for a 2.5 saloon

thats a Philo classic statement right there one for the archives me thinks

seriously dude your car is a dress ?

my car is a rancid piss stained pair of y fronts in a world of laura ashley cotton panties and thats how i like it

[CJ-IROCZ]

Quoting: Gator

my car is a rancid piss stained pair of y fronts in a world of laura ashley cotton panties and thats how i like it

Amen mines got a sh!t stain too

[philoldsmobile]

Quoting: Gator

my car is a rancid piss stained pair of y fronts in a world of laura ashley cotton panties and thats how i like it

awesome!!!

i think we have a consensus.... different strokes for different folks.

[HardRockCamaro]

Well today I have been mostly unlocking my old iPhone so I can put it on eBay:




That'll be the best part of £300 back (probably)

Cha ching!

[philoldsmobile]

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

The interior on the Alfa is a step above the yanks for sure. But it is still just plastic, just a more solid plastic. Personally I think the British make the best interiors, Jags being a find case in point.

I'd agree with that. the best interior i have experienced to date was in my dads 1990 Jaguar XJ6 - even back in those days they were making absolutely fantastic interiors.

an honorable mention must go to the current crop of late model maseratis though, just pure class (remember the gran tursmo at the NEC last year?)

mind you, if you're spending 80k on a car you have a right to demand perfection, yanks dont cost 80k

[philoldsmobile]

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

I also prefer a larger engine that will pul from lower revs than zinging the tacho needle around in a european 6, but again, each to their own.

again, granted, a redline at 7000 rpm and a rev limiter at 7800 aint everyones cup of earl grey, nothing below 2000, 3000 for anything respectable, but the party only really starts at 5000, by 7000 its boogy city.

its only just light enough to get away with an  engine that top endy.. 300kg more and it would just be hard work. dont think the auto suits it either, i'm actually glad i got the manual.

the replacement for the 166 (the 169) will have the maserati V8 and rear wheel drive. that is going to be a hell of a weapon, a true trans continental express..

[HardRockCamaro]

Absolutely, the thing is, while some (ok a lot) of modern yanks have a build quality that isn't up to euro standards, they don't cost anything like as much and on top of that you get way more stuff too.

For example, my STS was £40k when it was new (way more than they are in the USA btw) and came fully loaded.
To get the same size car, power and equipment from a Merc or BMW meant spending about £55k - £60k.  Now, while the build quality was better on the euro cars and they were rwd not fwd, that extra 50%, or £20,000, or whole new 3 series BMW on top of the Caddy pricing puts it into perspective.

Of course, you could have bought a slightly smaller BMW 5-series with the smallest engine and almost no equipment for the same money as the Caddy.  So there's the trade-off.

Personally I'll have the big powerful engine and equipment over better plastics.

Thing is, Caddy could spend an extra £5,000 per car making it better and charge an extra £10,000 for it, meaning they're still slightly cheaper than the competition, as well made and make an extra $5,000 in profit per car...



Still, at least they're getting better.  Reviews say the current CTS is just as well made as its competitors...

[F Body]

This afternoon I have been cleaning the Honda and then went back into work for two hours