Purring along the Chester High Road at 70 mph on the Wirral last night in my 10 year old Volvo 740 SE, I wondered how a newer, more modern car would feel.
How could it be better? Bob Harris on the radio, memories of grilled mushrooms with Brie and bacon as a starter, rib-eye steak, perfectly cooked by the chef at the Clegg Arms, friendly, attractive waitresses, good company, fine wine (for the others, not me, I drank a jug of water).
Car was running very smoothly and sweetly - only slight annoyance was the the imposition of a new 40 mph limit where it was previously 60.
Dunno why folks buy brand new cars. Wheel in each corner and one to hold, what more is there? Spend it on the rib-eye.
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imho people buy new cars for following
1) keep up with Jones next door
2) are not using their own money to buy
3)scared of expensive repair work so need the mfrs guarantee as comfort blanket
4)more money than sense
btw always had new car for self when employer was picking up tab!!!
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Watch the blood pressure there. Reads like too much fat without the all-important ingesting of red wine to sort things out. I'd have taken a taxi.
HJ
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HJ.
The Clegg Arms is 30 miles from home. A tad far for a taxi? How does red wine help? I had half a bottle when I arrived home. Luverly.
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I have two 940 GLEs, not old clunker, both 1991.
Cost over £45k new, I paid less tha £6k for both, obe 2 1/2 years ago, the other a few weeks ago
Alex
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I paid around £4300 for my 740 at a fleet auction. It's actually a 1990 so it over 11 years old, not ten. Full history on a computer print out.
Only stopped once when the flywheel sensor lead became faulty. And it did that parked outside my house. Kind, huh?
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Dissolves the fat, or something. Red wine drinkers have a much lower incidence of heart disease. Can't tell you whether it's better to drink the stuff while you're eating or after. Brits tend to drink before or after eating. Southern Europeans drink in-between mouthfuls while they're eating.
HJ
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Yep I also noticed a new habit of drinking a glass of water with the glass of wine whilst in Puerto Banus last year.
I will never forget sitting in Eli's bar by the marina, watching a lady who must have been about 85 years old driving past in a beautiful dark blue Bentley with cream leather.
Wonder if she wants a companion?
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Alwyn,
how much were the marina passes for cars last year ?
My Little Nest of Vipers and I sometimes rent a villa there but haven't been for about 4 years. In early summer it's one of the best displays of exotic machinery in the world.
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Don't know the cost of passes but we were told it cost £1000 per month just for a parking space. Did you see those motor yacht's? Shaf was having a multi-million pound refit and Sean Connery also had a smaller boat there with the Scottish flag flying.
Agree about the cars. Never seen so many high speed cars travelling so slowly. "Look at me, peasants"
Did you dine in Los Bandidos? I kept wondering where all the criminals were!
I must go back. Loved it.
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imagine the look on peoples faces if i drove up in my lada ;-)
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As ever, HJ is on the ball.
My understanding is that wine, particularly *with* meals offers many benefits, including helping to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease byvirtue of containing a cholestero-reducing chemical, as well as antioxidants which help to mop up cancer-inducing free radicals.
Unless Mark's Chilean Senora/Senhora says different, I also believe that Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon is particularly rich in the chemicals concerned.
HJ - probably best to play safe and drink it before, during, and after meals - once the car keys are hung up for the day. BTW - £29-95 for that hat? They must have seen you coming!
Ronnie
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To Ronnie. I now have a new black hat. It's not as nice as the £90 brown Borsalio I got from Harrods two years ago. But it's a British Bates and cost all of £95. No one wears hats these days, so no one makes them. That's why they're dear.
HJ
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Alwyn
A 1990 Volvo 740, even a minter would could less than £1000, far less, around £500 in most cases. £4,300 is a bit steep !
Alex
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Alex,
I paid that 7 years ago. Mileage around 40,000. Now done 117,000.
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Whats this got to do with cars,
unless the fererence to a car was the marina ?
The Morris Marina, later dadged morris Ital - What a car !!!!!!!!!!!!
Followed by the Montego, then the Rover 75.
Perhaps the Marina was not too bad after all ?
Alex
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HJ Nearly a ton for a hat! There's posh for you - and smart. Sadly, I understand only too well what you mean about rising costs in diminishing market, but it's good that you are able to buy British.
Salaams
Ronnie
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All together now:
"Oh you can't go to Puerto Banus in a Lada car
Cos a Lada car won't go that far"
Only teasing LAS, and to save Mark the effort, "imagine the look on people's faces if you drove up in your Lada" *anywhere*, and not just Puerto Banus!
Ronnie
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Indiana Jones-type wide brim trilbys. Top quality, in tan or dark brown. (real) zebra or (fake) leopard skin bands.
To you, guvnor? ten quid...
and NO, I don't wear it while driving...(motoring link, martyn)
I keep mine in the boot of the car - keeps the specs rain free, and also keeps the sun off on the days when it isn't raining.
and NO, I don't wear it while driving...
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I don't know how to say this, but here goes:
I sometimes wear a baseball cap when driving (car, not motorbike).
In mitigation, I wear it the right way round, and only when it's sunny to keep the sun out of my eyes when driving into it.
There, I've done it!
Phew!!
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I often work with photographers, and have to look through their long lenses, to zero in on shots which I want, and to get an idea of what they are shooting from a distance.
As a result, the baseball hat get reversed, and sometimes it don't go back the right way...
Don't I feel a prat after driving home...
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I have noticed a clear correlation between baseball cap wearing and police pulling you over! (not that I wear one of course)
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Don't feel too bad about the cap, Ian, since I seem to recall that the original reason for wearing (flat) caps a*** about face, during the early years of open motoring, was to avoid them being blown off at speed. Living in the Scottish Borders as a small boy, I remember a very elderly farmer who would solemnly reverse his cap whenever he exceeded 30 mph - in a saloon car!
Best wishes.
Ronnie
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When I was a kid, farmer Bob Jones used to wear a fascinating cap.
I was later told by mother that I asked "Where can I get a cap with a peak at the back?"
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