Looks lovely whatever colour it is!

Still collecting parts, these Alfa 156 handles came from the same scrappy, sorry, vehicle parts recycling centre, that I got the Rover seats from -

http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/...psnqvoybhk.jpg

Bargain at £35 for the full set including a key.

They really look the part, very retro with a lovely, quality feel to them. My intention is to use the Alfa ignition barrel so the same key opens the door and operates the ignition.

I really can't wait to get started on this project properly.

Thats my old 55 Chevy you are sat behind Towed . Small world !
Was 2 tone green when I had it and not as pretty as it is now !

What a coincidence. Never been a big fan of American cars, but in the 50's they definitely produced some awesome machines. That '55 Chevy sure is one great looking Classic. :)

Anyone see the Channel 4 infotainment show about supercar dealers last night?

One thing that struck me was how not one customer for the £1m+ classic supercars showed the slightest interest in them as cars, it was all about their investment potential.

One night-club owner splashed out £6.5m on a handful of the greatest classic cars on the planet (including £1m for a replica Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa) and signed the deal with a look of tiresome weariness on his orange, botoxed face.

What a sad, joyless world the super rich must inhabit. :(

I thought the same things when I saw the programme.

I also thought, looking inside the dealers' houses, that their is no connection between mega money and my idea of good taste.

I'll stick to the lower end of the scale, life's great down here.

Cheers, Bob.

Those so called"collectors"ruin our hobby by paying way to much money for old cars only to sell them with a profit.
I am not poor,but i have always some month left at the end of my money so sometimes i feel a bit envy when i see this kind of shows...........

When you look completely impartially at those kinds of cars, most o them are piles of unreliable, badly engineered junk. I once had a ride in a 250 GTO (a real, 4 million pound one) and whilst it is beautiful and sound wonderful, it is a pile of badly made, poorly fitted bits and pieces, as are Lamborghinis that people coo over. My son had to work on an early Countach LP400, his previously favourite car. Within a day he was describing it as "that bloody shed in the corner". Parts of the insides of the many body vents were made of Italian road signs, because they had no aluminium. You could clearly see part of a men at work sign!

Having said that, I'd still kill for an Alvis Speed 25!

Cheers,
Martin

I seem to remember that the chassis rails on the original Lancia Stratos were hammered flat where the steering rack bolted on.

The dealers driving the Fezzas around at the London Classic Car Show in January were particularly po-faced.
Come to think of it, I've never seen a Fezza driver smiling. Maybe they're scared of appearing smug?
Can't help grinning when I'm driving any of my toys.

Ditto. I've had many a cheerless scowl from Jag/Aston/AMG drivers when I'm out and about in my Spyder with a silly grin on my face.

Life's for enjoying, not just acquiring capital assets.

That reminds me of pulling up to the lights in my TVR 350 Wedge next to a Porsche 911 Turbo and a kid crossing the road asked me which was faster and I replied "His".

I was please when the kids dad said "Yeah, but I bet you smile more"

Porsches are like arseoles. Everybody's got one!

Martin

I heard a car salesman talking about the Range Rover Clitoris.

He meant the Evoque - Apparently every cunts got one

Oops!, I wouldn't have gone that far!

Martin

Anyone else notice that the pale blue Dino 246 bought by the Cheshire based supercar dealer (who once paid £1m more than a car was worth, btw) had 'Ferrari' and Cavallino Rampante stuck all over it?

Dino models never had those when they left the factory, they were just branded as 'Dino'. I'm beginning to wonder if the dealer's gauche, blingy Rolex was actually a $10 knock-off...

Ironic, on a Tribute forum :wink:

I worked on a friends Ferrari 308 GT4 . Similar thoughts , it sounded nice and looked good but the chassis was a cobbled together bodge in about half a dozen different sizes of random steel tube and box section.
I also live near Malvern , home of the Morgan. Morgan owners are a similar breed and often have lots of money but no brains. They get really funny when you ask them about their "kit car "which is all it is at the end of the day. Again , nicely finished but very crude and basic , available , biult partly by hand and yours from around £35k.

I've worked in product development at car manufacturers, and had a F car we were using for development (can't say any more :icon_lol:) Some of the welding we found was pretty poor to say the least - I'm not a pro welder, but if I was welding on a regular basis and couldn't do any better I'd take up cookery or something else....!

Sometimes welding can look a bit flimsy but is done as required.
In the 80s i did a bit of top-fuel motorbike racing and i had a frame made by a famous dutch framebuilder Nico Bakker http://www.bakker-framebouw.nl/who did build a lightweight frame made from chromoly.
All the tubes were different sizes and it looked as they were only tag-welded,when i asked if i had to finish the welds myself Nico laughed and told me this was stronger as a full weld mainley because there was less heatheffected zones in the metal.
The different sizes of the tubes were to reduce weight,only as strong as was needed on a particular place was used,not only the outside diameter but also wall thickness was different.
I used this frame for 8 years including 3 crashes and sold it when i stopped racing,after this it was used for 5 years more and still exists in a private collection..
Only telling this to show if you think it's bad it don't have to be bad:eusa_dance: