Your Bangernomics successes

[Deleted User]

Don't see many old shape Ka's about these days. Last one I saw was a few weeks back on it's roof on the dual carriageway.

Arklight

Deleted_User wrote: »

Don't see many old shape Ka's about these days. Last one I saw was a few weeks back on it's roof on the dual carriageway.

Actually that reminds me that I once drove past one that had been in a pile up on the M25. Massive delays, then when I passed it I literally thought I was looking at a mangled motorbike. Then I realised that it was a Ford Ka that had been just completely crushed front and back.

The occupants would have stood no chance at all.

I'm really not a fan of small cars on the motorway.

Stoke

Arklight wrote: »

I remember those appearing in London almost overnight, They looked like you could open them with a can opener, or pick up the corner with one hand and flip them over.

I've genuinely been lucky enough to come across some terrible cars. It actually gives me a bit of perspective that people born a few years after don't get. Even cheap terrible cars are pretty good these days really. Reliable etc. Born in the dying days of the 80's, my generation was probably the last to experience all those wonderful BL marks, like my fathers Austin Maestro (complete with talking dash that used to tell you everything was wrong, broken, or faulty) and other genuinely bad cars. My grandmother drove an absolute lethal Austin Metro, with no seatbelts in the back, and those 'hold you in' belts in the front that don't actually give you any kind of protection.

Yup, I experienced a few shockers as a kid. The Citroen AX was particularly nasty. Fiat Uno wasn't too bad (imo) but blew it's headgasket and lost water for fun. The MK1 Punto was damned good, but once the electric window refused to roll back up and my old man drove it 300 miles with a bin bag over the window.

Genuinely though, none of them come close to that KA for just generally being terrible. That KA was ugly, slow, unreliable, uncomfortable, not very economical, expensive to tax, surprisingly expensive to insure, made really weird noises when going round corners, was the most flobbery car I've ever driven on a motorway, failed every MOT on something, rusted like it was being stored in the middle of the !!!!ing sea, had actual air conditioning that never worked; would either blow very hot or arctic cold, regardless of what you set the temperature knob too and was prone to coilpack failure, except the coilpack was located underneath the engine and wasn't easy to replace like in other similar hatchbacks.

The only good thing about that car, was it probably had the best oil filter location I've ever seen on a small car, positioned just behind the front crash member. Topside oil changes took 15 minutes. No need to get the car in the air.

System

I know what you mean. As a new 17 year old driver in the mid 80s my first car was a 9 year old Triumph Dolomite I bought from a scrapyard. That thing had plates welded everywhere and filler in wings etc. Compare that to a 9 year old car today and other than from accident damage you'll not find rust.

Stoke

Oh, and the Passenger door handle broke on that Ka (another terrible Ford design), so you could only get in from the drivers side. Happens on the drivers side too, which means some of them, you can only get in via the boot.... oh and they used studs to hold the mechanism in, instead of screws so if you do decide to replace the mech, you have to drill through your actual car door

Ford..... just Ford

silverwhistle

Stoke wrote: »

I've genuinely been lucky enough to come across some terrible cars. It actually gives me a bit of perspective that people born a few years after don't get. Even cheap terrible cars are pretty good these days really. Reliable etc..

Indeed! I learned to drive really late, bought a house before a car in the 80s when you could, and my first car was a rust coloured Marina. Bought for £100 from a friend and sold to next door after 10 months for £70. Repairs were new alternator brushes (75p rings a bell..), new wiper motor and indicator steering loom (both from the scrappy) which caused my nose a bit of damage getting it off when it suddenly decided to yield. I did the grunt work and my friend did anything "technical"..



I don't think it had a radio, or at least not a working FM radio so when I hear "hmm, the infotainment system is not very good on that model".. I tend to switch off.


Talking of info and mapping, Aldi have a 2019 GB road atlas on sale at the moment for £1.99.



Incidentally, did we ever hear if Arklight replaced the oil filter?? :-)

GunJack

"from the scrappy".......

...a phrase not heard often enough these days

Arklight

silverwhistle wrote: »

Indeed! I learned to drive really late, bought a house before a car in the 80s when you could, and my first car was a rust coloured Marina. Bought for £100 from a friend and sold to next door after 10 months for £70. Repairs were new alternator brushes (75p rings a bell..), new wiper motor and indicator steering loom (both from the scrappy) which caused my nose a bit of damage getting it off when it suddenly decided to yield. I did the grunt work and my friend did anything "technical"..



I don't think it had a radio, or at least not a working FM radio so when I hear "hmm, the infotainment system is not very good on that model".. I tend to switch off.


Talking of info and mapping, Aldi have a 2019 GB road atlas on sale at the moment for £1.99.



Incidentally, did we ever hear if Arklight replaced the oil filter?? :-)

Not since about 2014.

consumers_revenge

Hey once you drove a 2 tone brown and tan princess in the 80's...


You were a hit with the ladies :-)

Stoke

consumers_revenge wrote: »

Hey once you drove a 2 tone brown and tan princess in the 80's...


You were a hit with the ladies :-)

I can't imagine anything worse than a brown Austin Princess, with brown interior, brown steering wheel, brown bodywork, brown sunvisors, brown roof lining...... everything just...... brown.

Then again, a brown Allegro? With it's brown 'square' (for some reason) steering wheel.

Was it the Marina, Allegro or the Princess that had a habit of popping the rear glass out when jacked up incorrectly?