Luke Posted March 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Wow, love it TDK! Proper car stuff. God, those Fronteras were sh1te. My brother had one (wife's choice) and the wheels all rusted very quickly, to a dangerous level. He took it back and the dealer said it was wear and tear! I then overtook him in an Astra van and he could take it no more. Sold! Porsche engineering sounds amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theduisbergkid Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 There was the funniest bit of vandalism I ever saw at IBC who were making the Frontera, a sign reading "WARNING, VEHICLES EMERGING FROM LEFT" had been changed to "WARNING, VEHICLES EMERGING FROM CLEFT", very appropriate ! The Production Manager was a chain smoker, and when the line stopped (which it frequently did) he would clamber into whatever car was in front of him and sit with his feet up on the dash smoking, eating a sarnie messily, and have a moan about something. The recification area always seemed to have more cars in it than the 'cars for shipping' area. They were supposed to have tickets on them describing the faults but often it was just marker-pen on the glass saying things like "F*CKED BREAKS" [sic], I recall having a safety lecture where I was sat next to a new QA guy there, we had to complete a questionnaire about safety, this guy leaned over to me and asked - in in a Slavic accent - "what does 'vehicle' mean ?". I'm not going to hijack a thread here, I'll write this down and share if it anyone is interested. I could write an essay on what happened at Dagenham engine plant alone, Canadian trannies, union nutters, racist canteen women, alcoholic supervisors who lives on vodka and mars bars. Great days. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Posted March 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Hysterical Start a new thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patently Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 I'll write this down and share if it anyone is interested. Yes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 (edited) Yes! I'll second that motion. I've no idea what got me into cars to be honest, my dad had some interesting stuff over the years (including Alfa GTV6, Mk2 Golf GTi 16v with Zender kit, RS Cosworth) but he wasn't really in to cars, and tried in vain to get me in to football, I was never really interested though. I've been lucky enough to spend a lot of time in my best mates dad's garage when I was growing up, meaning I got to play in or around most Italian exotica and loads of normal Italian stuff too, eventually working on them, then occasionally driving them once i'd passed my test, which is where my love of Italian cars comes from. Driven loads of Ferraris and other stuff over the years, rebuilt the engine on a 328 etc etc, spent all my spare time in that garage, after school, holidays, when I wasn't at work etc, gladly helping out for nothing, even just making tea or sweeping up, I felt lucky just to be there. Some amusing characters used to come in, some with with dubious links to 'organisations' that shall remain nameless. I'll never forget the time a black Merc on Italian plates with tinted windows screeched up outside and four balaclava and suited blokes got out with baseball bats and pinned us all against the wall, then they all started laughing and threw some huge steaks on top of the old oil burner, removed the balaclavas and revealed it was just a few of the local Italian mates of the owner, we were all sh1tting ourselves. After we'd all calmed down we cooked up the steak on top of the rusty old burner, got some baguettes and had the most amazing steak baguettes I have ever tasted. Also remember when he was applying rust protector to the bits of Alfa he'd welded out of a mug with a small brush, someone would always swap the mugs over, meaning he'd paint the cars with coffee and take a slurp of rust protector, that one never got old! Nor did slowly adding more and more sugar to another chaps coffee, week by week, we'd sneak another teaspoon of sugar into his coffee, and he never noticed, eventually we were putting about 15 teaspoons of sugar in every coffee he drank, until one day he came in looking awful, and declared he hadn't slept for over a week! Edited March 31, 2013 by Tipex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Posted March 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 I would have loved to have been brought up in and around cars. Back street garage or in some pits somewhere. When I get the van serviced I take it to a customer of mine who has a little garage tucked away round a side street. He's been there for 50 years. Could spend all day in there. I usually pick it up at the end of the day so we can have a cup of tea, chat about motors, what he's been doing work on. Bloody bliss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patently Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Bet his carpets are a pig to clean. Surely he'd be better with a concrete floor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Posted March 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Its a very homely garage! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser647 Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Where's that recommended thread stars thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Posted March 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 I feel humbled. Genuinely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimdiesel Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 My dad dragged my heavily pregnant mum along to the cinema to watch John Frankenhimeirs film Grand Prix. This is often cited as the reason for my obsession. My early school books make regular references to Grand Prix results in my daily news, and contain lots of pictures of Ronnie in his Lotus 72. I never had a pair of trousers that lasted longer than 3 weeks as I wore holes in them pushing toy cars round the house. Brum brum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Does anyone else still have their school projects and stuff from primary school? I do, my mum kept most of it, and anything where we were allowed to choose our own subject invariably ended up being about cars. Might be worth a thread of it's own actually if I drag them out the loft and scan them, some of the pictures and scenes are hilarious, i've a drawing of a Ford Sierra I did that in my mind, was so good it might as well have been an original technical drawing, of course, looking at it today, it's erm, slightly miss proportioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Posted March 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Go do it Tipex. Would be great to see how close you got in design terms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopsta Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Brought up about 2 miles from Brands Hatch and used to go at least 3 times a year including F1. Hearing the racing going on when not there i guess gave the interest at least. Im by no means as much as a car nut as most of you but still like to watch it when I can on the TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Posted March 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 When was the last F1 race at Brands? '85? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopsta Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Google says '86, think my last race was 85 as we moved later in that year, all of 5 miles but that was hours to me as a kid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Posted March 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Can remember Mansell winning the last two at Brands if my memory serves me right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theduisbergkid Posted April 1, 2013 Report Share Posted April 1, 2013 Does anyone else still have their school projects and stuff from primary school?I do, my mum kept most of it, and anything where we were allowed to choose our own subject invariably ended up being about cars. Might be worth a thread of it's own actually if I drag them out the loft and scan them, some of the pictures and scenes are hilarious, i've a drawing of a Ford Sierra I did that in my mind, was so good it might as well have been an original technical drawing, of course, looking at it today, it's erm, slightly miss proportioned. I'd love to see that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shao_khan Posted April 1, 2013 Report Share Posted April 1, 2013 I love reading your childhood memories, SK. Probably at the time it seemed like a normal thing to do, but reading it for me it sounds a brilliant experience of motor racing and the characters and the life they lived. Strange how you live so close to Silverstone but aren't that worried about going. I'd be over there every weekend in the summer! I will probably start going again now my son is a bit older and likes cars, I didn't want to take him too early and put him off, but that's a bit of a funny attitude because I'm sure I was probably in a buggy when I first went. Another strange thing is that I had most of my family persuading me to go into something other than motorsport / motor industry and I went into construction hated it with a passion!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted April 1, 2013 Report Share Posted April 1, 2013 I'd love to see that I'll dig it out of the loft next time i'm in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M8CKN Posted April 1, 2013 Report Share Posted April 1, 2013 I'll dig it out of the loft next time i'm in there. Surely they'll be of this nature? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted April 1, 2013 Report Share Posted April 1, 2013 Almost identical, one would almost think Ford had employed a 6 yr old to design the Sierra for them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted April 1, 2013 Report Share Posted April 1, 2013 Mine was fuelled by my old man. A chauffeur with nice cars kicking about with the added bonus of looking after the Omani royal family who had some cracking motors. So from as long as I can remember we ponced about in Rolls Royce Corniche's, AM Vantages and all sorts of Bentleys. Then came the SL, 355, 456 and 911, by which time I was utterly hooked. In fact one of the first cars I can recall was a white Merc - no idea of the model (was 4 door - an SEC maybe?) but had TV, cocktail cabinet, video player etc in the back. I recall watching Rocky IV in that car - at the time it was pretty cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted April 2, 2013 Report Share Posted April 2, 2013 We didn't have any glamorous cars in the family but my father always knew how to get the best out of them. His company cars were always faster than his colleagues as they got loosened up. He taught me to "make progress" on the roads and always had a passion for driving. I was taken to race meets in a pram etc and nearly got squashed by a wheel coming off a Mini at Druids and bouncing between my parents and the pram. Apparently at age 5 or 6 I was helping my mum drive. She'd recently passed her test and with the car kangarooing down the road I suggested she put the choke in .... which was indeed the issue. I still don't think she's forgiven me! Around the age of 12/13 I could tell every car on the road simply from it's tail lights in the dark which a skill I've long lost. I used to also flick through my Dad's glossy mags .... no!!! .... I'm referring to "Car" and of course like most on here I'm sure, I had a load of Trump Cards which meant you go very into the facts and figures on what was out there. In fact when any of my mates gets a new car we always play Trumps. Winners have included most power, most windows, most wipers, biggest mirrors, most cup holders, most speakers, most seats, etc. The more trivial the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Posted April 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2013 Like many others on here, at 8-12 years of age I knew every car on the road. Maybe there are many more models now but I don't know half anymore. My first form of transport was a 3rd hand (two brothers) Yamaha FS1E DX. Boy did they go, unrestricted, yellow and black on the tank. Kenny Roberts special! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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