rich. wrote: Mon Oct 01, 2018 5:19 am
not sure what to make of this...
Fridges perhaps? Maybe these massive "American style" ones?
I like the idea of a Proton, not least because Tim wossisface (he of Car SOS) owned one and ran it for a week instead of his BMW as a daily car. He grew rather fond of the thing. Sadly, the episode of 5th gear that featured that car appears not to be available from Quest for download as they only have the current series of the show. I wonder whether any other make of car apart from Honda and Proton use engines that rotate in the wrong direction? Note that that one does, unless of course it's an Italian market special with five reverse gears and one forward, or maybe a mirrored photo, but no, the writing on things under the bonnet is the right way on so it has an anticlockwise engine and that, Ladies & Gents, is where the resemblance between Hondas (OK, and the Triumph Acclaim and various Rovers) and Protons ends. Shame Proton didn't do automatics back then, they could have sold me a car otherwise. Oh wait; that's not exactly a reason
for, is it..
Liking the Sherpa, not so often you see a straight looking one of these nowadays but seems it could be difficult to repatriate without a log book. The A60 looks a lot like one that was seen occasionally on the pages of the long forgotten site that catered for rides with a retro flavour. Can't remember what that place was called, but it doesn't matter as long as we still have this place and Autoshite.
Meanwhile, seeing as the very tiny Mitsubishi is far too good to use for its intended purpose
(perfect factory epoxy primer underneath, no corrosion nor any signs of any starting, even on the brake pipes and axles, no faults and that incredibly low mileage), I shall be buying another old 4x4 to use as a winter car. Both the Mitsubishi and Toyota Diesels can crack their heads if they overheat and aren't that much cheaper to fuel than the petrols in any case. GDi petrols need high octane fuel, currently fine for the 660cc one but at £1.28 per litre a little extravagant for the bigger V6s in the full sized Pajeros, so that leaves - and bear in mind that this wouldn't be a full time car either, rather another 4x4 to preserve the mini - only one of these:
https://youtu.be/PeV3bLs3xA8 as a viable option. The 3.5 litre MIVEC engine is strong, should get high teens per gallon if I can exercise some self discipline and best of all; apparently won't need to have its inlet manifold media blasted frequently to avoid the breathing troubles that can come with "lesser" GDi petrols from Mitsubishi.
I was wanting to go back to Toyota for the next 4x4, but the idea of owning an Evo has its appeal though, like the mini, they apparently can't touch an X5 or a Range Rover for handling on the road. Nae bother, that's what the bB does so well. Cost of adding an Evo to my key policy would be around an extra £90, fuel costs would be barely noticeable since nobody can actually drive three cars at once and as an import of over ten years of age, the VED for an Evo would cost the same as a pre-2001 UK car as no UK emission figures are available for the model, only ever available in its native Japan when new.
The mini's future? Well, like the similarly short & narrow BMC product of similar dimensions (apart from its height of course), Mitsubishi's uniquely Japanese Kei class heavy quad is, perversely, a superb car for use in city streets. Seriously, it has a lock like a Reliant kitten (maybe slightly bigger but still only as large as an old black cab), is narrow enough to squeeze into pretty much any space and consumes petrol at a steady 31mpg no matter what I do with it: Long dual carriageway run at its realistic 56mph cruising pace - 31mpg, stop/start day in Edinburgh, Newcastle or Glasgow - 31mpg, driving up a muddy hill with a stupidly steep gradient - 31mpg also. Only the newest cars have stop/start technology so only they would be significantly less thirsty in heavy traffic and besides; there's the ignition key, which can be turned to stop any car when the junction has only then stopped and a long wait is imminent..
Have I done enough to justify a purchase of yet another weird car that's not really essential?
The big Toyota is impressive but why doesn't the bloke just fix its faults and sell as all good, rather than making vague promises about "possibly" finding the time to attend to the jobs before sale. Some people should either sh*t or get off the pot! 
Rich, I can just imagine you darting about the French countryside in that, so how about you buy it and - when you find it nigh on impossible to register in that France, sell it cheaply to me and have it posted - it's light enough! 