Bell's Banter 2022

[midgetman]

Gentlemen - the MGBGT. Ahead of its time.

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[Gerard C]

Very interesting here, again. OK for the MG B GT.

John, in Belgium they built a kit to transform a single R25/30 into a shooting brake.

Andy, thank you for mentioning the Eventer, what a nice car, love it! Much more mods than you can expect at first glance. I road tested one a while ago, the owner had an XJ station wagon too.

[Gerard C]

We have a monthly meeting at château de Vincennes, near Paris, dedicated to classics, cars and motorbikes, and other oddities. I used to go to when I owned several Yam RDLC's. There you can meet a guy collecting only prestigious ex hearses… He won the loto and now can afford a lot of Rolls, Bentleys and yank tanks too. His previous job? Undertaker!

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by andy97

I do wish more companies had built/ build Scimiter GTE type cars.

The last ones I can think of are the Alfa 156 estate and the BMW Z3 Coupe. I always thought Jaguar missed a trick by not put a “Lynx Eventer” type car into production, and Porsche built similar protypes of the 928 and 944 I think but never productionised them. Shame.

Yes, I agree with you, the Lancia HPE was another good-looker.

I've got an Alfa 156 Spoprtwagon which I bought largely because I thought it was even better-looking than the saloon. Ironically, if I needed to carry something large it was usually my Alfasud hatchback that got pressed into service as it acrually had a larger rear opening. How I miss that little car - I should never have sold it... It is still around, currently being restored in Bristol, i believe.

A friend of mine once created three Jaguar XJ40 estate cars. It was rather a good looking car & I have a model of one of them, a car that I actually delivered to its' first owner in Sheffield. Ironically I gather it now lives in France. (Max that's a bit of my 'career' I missed off my CV! Amongst other things we also re-created Radford Coachbuilders along with Harold Radford himself to build Minis. It was short-lived but at least it was the real thing, unlike the Button farago...).

Incidentally, Radford started out by doing a variety of 'Countryman' conversions on cars such as the Bentley MkVI. Oh, and he also trimmed the interior of at least some Ford GT40's.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Very interesting here, again. OK for the MG B GT.

John, in Belgium they built a kit to transform a single R25/30 into a shooting brake.
.

I used to have an MGC GT back in 1975. Does that count ?

You wanted a Renault 30 Shooting brake?

"Renault 30 TS Brake by Pichon Parat, 1977. An estate version of Renault large V6 hatchback by the French coachbuilders"

[Gerard C]

Like this, John? https://www.jaguarheritage.com/car/1...hooting-brake/

[Gerard C]

Chris, where on earth did you find this horrible thing? The transformation I had in mind was a single swap of the hatch, made of fiberglass. Easy. http://25txivan.canalblog.com/archiv.../20000842.html
https://www.facebook.com/Theautomobi...043755/?type=3

[Gerard C]

While we are here, after Lancia HPE, different Porsches, Jensen Interceptor, gentlemen please dont forget THE french masterpiece… Renault Fuego!What a piece of crap!

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Like this, John? https://www.jaguarheritage.com/car/1...hooting-brake/

No, that was a later prototype produced by Jaguar themselves.

[Peter Mallett]

Apparently my wife's Focus ST 2.3t Touring is due for collection next week, subject to final dealer checks. Its a pretty good looking vehicle and the dog will like it.

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Like this, John? https://www.jaguarheritage.com/car/1...hooting-brake/

Here you go - scroll down to the third picture on here & 'my' car is the blue one outside Oselli's. So far as I know it is now French-registered & lives over here somewhere.

https://poa.tv/jaguar-xj40-estate-br...ent-3-au-monde

The other two cars are red (not the one in the picture) & silver, one of them going to the US.

I have a rather lovely model of the blue one made by Neo.

[John Elwin]

Of course, for something completely different there was the Ferrari Daytona estate car that Panther built for a Swiss customer.

[Lancsbreaker]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

Here you go - scroll down to the third picture on here & 'my' car is the blue one outside Oselli's. So far as I know it is now French-registered & lives over here somewhere.

https://poa.tv/jaguar-xj40-estate-br...ent-3-au-monde

ERROR 404........

[morninggents]

[QUOTE=John Elwin;4131832
I've got an Alfa 156 Spoprtwagon which I bought largely because I thought it was even better-looking than the saloon. Ironically, if I needed to carry something large it was usually my Alfasud hatchback that got pressed into service as it acrually had a larger rear opening. How I miss that little car - I should never have sold it.[/QUOTE]


Agree with both these choices. Wife number1 had a 1.2 Alfasud for a couple of years - lovely car to drive with a fizzy little engine and great handling. Pity the bodywork didn't match up.
I ran an Alfa 156 Sportwagen 1.8 petrol as a company car and liked it so much I kept it for an extra year rather than change it after 3 years. Really sorry to see it go. I wish I had a fiver for every time folks wouldn't believe it was a four door owing to the hidden door handles. Changed it for a 2 litre diesel Jaguar X Type estate which I also enjoyed. People often derided it as only a Mondeo with fancy panels but it's Ford Mondeo heritage gave it great handling. I particularly remember a rapid dash over to Lancashire for my stepson to buy an Alfa 156 2.4 diesel saloon (quite a beast) and a more rapid nose to tail dash back to Yorkshire to find somewhere to eat before they all closed.

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

ERROR 404........

Oh... it worked for me!

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by morninggents

Agree with both these choices. Wife number1 had a 1.2 Alfasud for a couple of years - lovely car to drive with a fizzy little engine and great handling. Pity the bodywork didn't match up.
I ran an Alfa 156 Sportwagen 1.8 petrol as a company car and liked it so much I kept it for an extra year rather than change it after 3 years. Really sorry to see it go. I wish I had a fiver for every time folks wouldn't believe it was a four door owing to the hidden door handles. Changed it for a 2 litre diesel Jaguar X Type estate which I also enjoyed. People often derided it as only a Mondeo with fancy panels but it's Ford Mondeo heritage gave it great handling. I particularly remember a rapid dash over to Lancashire for my stepson to buy an Alfa 156 2.4 diesel saloon (quite a beast) and a more rapid nose to tail dash back to Yorkshire to find somewhere to eat before they all closed.

My Sportwagon is getting a bit tired now; it is a 3003 1.9 JTD & I've had it since 2005, now with almost 300,000 km on the clock. The engine is fine but the turbo is a weak link & only real source of trouble all the way along. It won't pass the emissions test next time - CT (MoT) is now very strict here - so I will have to make a decision.

In the meantime, I have bought a 2007 GT 2-litre BlackLine, which is a superb car.

[Gerard C]

May be you can do something to have your JTd MOted, John, its what we call le controle technique portugais… See what I mean?

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

May be you can do something to have your JTd MOted, John, its what we call le controle technique portugais… See what I mean?

What you mean sort of mail-order?

The last couple of times I've watched the CT man really struggle to get it through the emission test & each time he says it is the last. If I can afford it - I've got until next July to think about it - I might just spend a bit money to bring it up to scratch again. It'll never be a concours car but it is a shame to scrap an otherwise good car but.

Now thatAlfa have got Alfa Classiche up & running I might just send it down to them!!

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

Oh... it worked for me!

Maybe it's a geographical issue? (Either that or you can only see it in France...)

[Gerard C]

John, may be you can ask "someone" about systeme D, like débrouille. Sure she knows about that. Nothing to see with La Poste, just find a compliant man…

You can decrease the emissions using a dedicated product, Bardhal works fine for me, and last but not least drive it at night pedal to the metal several times. Buuut, if your turbo is not in great shape, this could lead to its destruction.Or you can ask a mechanic in your neighborhood if he knows someone who knows a man…

[grantp]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

Sort of like the Renault 25? Or even a Saab, the type number of which I forgot.

In a funny sort of way I've come to quite like the Mk4 Zephyr/Zodiac - the styling at least.

Saab 9000.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_9000

And some Fiats ....

[grantp]

Originally Posted by midgetman

Gentlemen - the MGBGT. Ahead of its time.

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Well, OK, then the E-Type? Kinda ...?

But I thought the size and scale of the Interceptor just set it apart.

[midgetman]

Originally Posted by grantp

Well, OK, then the E-Type? Kinda ...?



.

We won't let technicalities like facts get in the way of my declared truths, Grant.

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[grantp]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Apparently my wife's Focus ST 2.3t Touring is due for collection next week, subject to final dealer checks. Its a pretty good looking vehicle and the dog will like it.

We considered a Focus estate for Management when seeking to replace the Corolla. The one with the slightly raised ride height and stuff.

The trouble was that with the driver seat at the right position for her driving the top of the A-pillar occupied that space where her head needed to go when getting in and out.

That was pre-covid days iirc. Ended up with a Kia Niro. Don't have a dog to consider. Like the idea of the 7 year warranty. That will probably see us through to the end of our driving days/personal car bans/unavailability of petrol - whichever comes sooner.

[grantp]

Originally Posted by midgetman

We won't let technicalities like facts get in the way of my declared truths, Grant.

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Quite right, Max.