What's made you smile today?

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What's made you smile today?

in other news.

Topgear while not on TV is still doing something and they recently droped this.



The McMurtry Sperling making F1 cars look like toys, as it blitzes the test track destroying all previous records.

and just in case you wondered how it manages this feet, it has massive high speed fans that produce 2000KG of down force which they demonstrate here by driving it upside down

 
Today I went on tour for work, visiting multiple sites I over see, and while I probably didn't get anywhere near as much done as I had wanted, I managed to make some good contacts and in-between sites meant I got to take in the glorious sunshine and stunning Norfolk/Suffolk Countryside.

With the roof down of course.
 
The Pope Cracks.jpg
 
Saw this, poor bloke in some ways...but in others how could you not recognise your own car? I'd get it if it was brand new but that car is at least 7 years old.


Even if they've changed the plates and chucked the paperwork and rolled the mileage.

Either of ours I could pick them out after about 20 seconds, anything over 3 years old will have "character" in some way shape or form. Not necessarily massive damage but little bits here and there that you know the back story of or imperfections that no other one has exactly there. Or the tyres you put on..a stone chip, a door crease from a car park etc etc.

I suppose it comes down to buyer beware but the mind boggles slightly at not knowing your own car if someone took the plates..
 
Saw this, poor bloke in some ways...but in others how could you not recognise your own car? I'd get it if it was brand new but that car is at least 7 years old.


Even if they've changed the plates and chucked the paperwork and rolled the mileage.

Either of ours I could pick them out after about 20 seconds, anything over 3 years old will have "character" in some way shape or form. Not necessarily massive damage but little bits here and there that you know the back story of or imperfections that no other one has exactly there. Or the tyres you put on..a stone chip, a door crease from a car park etc etc.

I suppose it comes down to buyer beware but the mind boggles slightly at not knowing your own car if someone took the plates..
Cool story.

There are some cars from my past I'd like back. A Capri maybe. No Fiat cars though, I didn't own any in the distant past.
 
Cool story.

There are some cars from my past I'd like back. A Capri maybe. No Fiat cars though, I didn't own any in the distant past.
If they were not all rusted out by now my list would include :- 1960s Fiat 500,1971 Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV, 1965 Chrysler Valiant,1971 Series 3 SWB Land Rover,1971 London Taxi, 1971? Mini Pick Up,1967 Ford Zephyr V6, in fact there are many more including a whole range of motorbikes out of the 2-300 vehicles that I can recall owning and that is without the ones I should have bought but didn't , 1960s Amphicar for £65,1960s Renault Carvelle for £150 (though in fairness it was very rusty), a friends 1950s Cadillac Deville (reputedly previously owned by Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, I wasn't offered but really loved it), Russian Volga estate ( worked on it in the early 70s and if not the one then very similar to in a early James Bond film), the same customer offered me a Studebaker Lark for nothing (in fairness after viewing I decided the ability to open the door and walk as far as the propshaft due to rust was not a selling point!) , thinking on again there was a 2.8 jtd SWB Iveco Daily van I should have kept instead of being "stiffed" by a daughters partner. The ability to turn on a sixpence with a 3.5 tonne capacity plus the towing capacity of another 3.5 tonne all utterly reliable, at the same time as mid 20s mpg is not something equaled by many vehicles around today for what I paid for it.
None of these were immaculate show vehicles as bought mostly on apprentice mechanic wage in the beginning, but they all gave pleasure and that is what I think motoring is about.:)
 
If they were not all rusted out by now my list would include :- 1960s Fiat 500,1971 Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV, 1965 Chrysler Valiant,1971 Series 3 SWB Land Rover,1971 London Taxi, 1971? Mini Pick Up,1967 Ford Zephyr V6, in fact there are many more including a whole range of motorbikes out of the 2-300 vehicles that I can recall owning and that is without the ones I should have bought but didn't , 1960s Amphicar for £65,1960s Renault Carvelle for £150 (though in fairness it was very rusty), a friends 1950s Cadillac Deville (reputedly previously owned by Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, I wasn't offered but really loved it), Russian Volga estate ( worked on it in the early 70s and if not the one then very similar to in a early James Bond film), the same customer offered me a Studebaker Lark for nothing (in fairness after viewing I decided the ability to open the door and walk as far as the propshaft due to rust was not a selling point!) , thinking on again there was a 2.8 jtd SWB Iveco Daily van I should have kept instead of being "stiffed" by a daughters partner. The ability to turn on a sixpence with a 3.5 tonne capacity plus the towing capacity of another 3.5 tonne all utterly reliable, at the same time as mid 20s mpg is not something equaled by many vehicles around today for what I paid for it.
None of these were immaculate show vehicles as bought mostly on apprentice mechanic wage in the beginning, but they all gave pleasure and that is what I think motoring is about.:)
The one i googled to look up out of your selection was the Studebaker Lark, the open top looks great!

Screenshot 2025-04-25 095707.png


I didn't think about cars when I was younger and can barely remember what I had. I do remember a school friend and his mechanic worked on his first car, which was renovating an MG Midgit, it looked good and seemed to drive well. He talked about the car for months and i helped him learn to drive. But then suddenly he sold the car for not that much money, and didn't seem to care it had gone! He sold it to another friend of the same age who not long after decided the car should drive on its roof. He was fine after the crash, and went on to become a car salesman...

Its sunny here and going to be sunny all next week, so i'm thinking open tops :)
 
The one i googled to look up out of your selection was the Studebaker Lark, the open top looks great!

View attachment 465485

I didn't think about cars when I was younger and can barely remember what I had. I do remember a school friend and his mechanic worked on his first car, which was renovating an MG Midgit, it looked good and seemed to drive well. He talked about the car for months and i helped him learn to drive. But then suddenly he sold the car for not that much money, and didn't seem to care it had gone! He sold it to another friend of the same age who not long after decided the car should drive on its roof. He was fine after the crash, and went on to become a car salesman...

Its sunny here and going to be sunny all next week, so i'm thinking open tops :)
The Studebaker was a hard top, given the amount of rust it would have folded in half if a convertible.;)
I did have an 1964 MGB Roadster, a bit of a shed I paid £90 for, great fun with the roof down that Summer, but when the rains came I sold it for £50 with a long Mot! It had been resprayed Glacia White and had the latest Rostyle wheels on so had "fellow MG owners" happily waving to me on approach until they realised the condition of it, when the hand wave changed to what appeared to be some one shaking something off their hand.;););) It was a toss up whether to buy the MGB or a Mk 10 Jag 4.2 (the widest Jag they made at the time) for £80, I figured the MGB would be more economical, however as my driving was fairly "exuberant" the best I got on average was 18mpg.
A Citroen Pluriel was a quirky different fun car, but after the time it took me to fix the computer controlled roof, I decided again not for the long term.:(
More recently I had a Mercedes SLK 320 (two seater with metal retractable hardtop) great fun, went well , handled well, stopped well. However purely 2 seats so not even good enough for the weeks shopping. I decided not a car for the long term.:)
 

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The Studebaker was a hard top, given the amount of rust it would have folded in half if a convertible.;)
I did have an 1964 MGB Roadster, a bit of a shed I paid £90 for, great fun with the roof down that Summer, but when the rains came I sold it for £50 with a long Mot! It had been resprayed Glacia White and had the latest Rostyle wheels on so had "fellow MG owners" happily waving to me on approach until they realised the condition of it, when the hand wave changed to what appeared to be some one shaking something off their hand.;););) It was a toss up whether to buy the MGB or a Mk 10 Jag 4.2 (the widest Jag they made at the time) for £80, I figured the MGB would be more economical, however as my driving was fairly "exuberant" the best I got on average was 18mpg.:)
I had a look at the MG Midget, the red ones do look quite fetching, they haven't had much/any nostalgia that I know of. The Roadster looks very similar to the Midget, i suppose you know the difference!
 
Saw this, poor bloke in some ways...but in others how could you not recognise your own car? I'd get it if it was brand new but that car is at least 7 years old.


Even if they've changed the plates and chucked the paperwork and rolled the mileage.

Either of ours I could pick them out after about 20 seconds, anything over 3 years old will have "character" in some way shape or form. Not necessarily massive damage but little bits here and there that you know the back story of or imperfections that no other one has exactly there. Or the tyres you put on..a stone chip, a door crease from a car park etc etc.

I suppose it comes down to buyer beware but the mind boggles slightly at not knowing your own car if someone took the plates..
I could pick mine out just off body work scratches or even the fact it’s the only golf cab I’ve ever seen with factory fit car play, and there are very few with white leather.

There are so many things that would differentiate my car from others but I guess some people don’t ever look at their own car which is why people get confused if someone parks an even remotely similar car in the local area.
 
I could pick mine out just off body work scratches or even the fact it’s the only golf cab I’ve ever seen with factory fit car play, and there are very few with white leather.

There are so many things that would differentiate my car from others but I guess some people don’t ever look at their own car which is why people get confused if someone parks an even remotely similar car in the local area.
My cars have unmistakeable wear patterns. I could spot them from pictures, let alone seeing it in person. Thieves are probably not going to try to steal and sell my old cars though! lol. I could lose them for a joyless drive, but thats about it.

When buying cars at auction scratched bodywork reduces the sale value a lot because the buyer has to fix that before it can be sold. The buyers would much prefer unnoticeable mechanical faults.
 
I could pick mine out just off body work scratches or even the fact it’s the only golf cab I’ve ever seen with factory fit car play, and there are very few with white leather.

There are so many things that would differentiate my car from others but I guess some people don’t ever look at their own car which is why people get confused if someone parks an even remotely similar car in the local area.

One of my favourite moments may be a lady freaking out that my wife was in her car when we were parked in Amble next to one of very few other green and white C3s.

"What is she doing in our car Harold????"

Amusingly she was breastfeeding at the time...but obviously not in Harold's car.

But yeah, not being able to pick your own car out speaks of two things.
1. You didn't pay much attention to it when you had it.
2. you didn't look it over properly when buying it for a second time either.

Of course it may be it's the only entirely unmarked 7 year old car in existence...

I can understand at first glance not getting it but surely once you've gone through it to buy you'd know.
 
One of my favourite moments may be a lady freaking out that my wife was in her car when we were parked in Amble next to one of very few other green and white C3s.

"What is she doing in our car Harold????"

Amusingly she was breastfeeding at the time...but obviously not in Harold's car.

But yeah, not being able to pick your own car out speaks of two things.
1. You didn't pay much attention to it when you had it.
2. you didn't look it over properly when buying it for a second time either.

Of course it may be it's the only entirely unmarked 7 year old car in existence...

I can understand at first glance not getting it but surely once you've gone through it to buy you'd know.
I must admit I've walked up to someone elses similar car in the past, parked near mine, and wondered why the remote wasn't working! It was a carbon copy, so at least i remember what the cars look like!

There's always a lot of personal stuff in my car, and litter, that's another point of difference.
 
There's always a lot of personal stuff in my car, and litter, that's another point of difference.

For me it's not really the bits and bobs they'd go.

More stuff like, I know what tyres I've got on, how much tread they have on them. One of the front wings on the Toyota was repainted at some point and the clearcoat isn't as good as the rest of the car. Rear of the car someone reversed it into a bollard and it's been heat gunned back into shape. Above one headlamp a stone chip has left a pin dent. This is not an exhaustive list...but it's stuff you could pick up easily on a quick walk round.

On photos it doesn't show up at all but if you were looking over it in person you'd never find 2 cars with it's exact collection of minor imperfections, added to the tyres...added to other things in the interior in terms of wear and tear. Yes, you could park it next to an identical car, valet it to death and take the plates off but it wouldn't take long to identify.
 
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