camaroneil

looks like i've a few things in common with you guys,
i'm from the uk, cruise doesn't work, owned a cortina crusader estate (and thought it was great at the time),
but hey, allegros, what were they all about?????
neil

Skeets

well... i don't often admit it, but i guess my first car was actually a hand-me-down from my sister ... a trusty morris 1100..(also had the sick making hydro-elastic suspension!)... i grew to love it though!!

.... actually, my cruise control was dissconnected when i bought the car, and the vendor said it wasn't working... but i connected it and it seemed fine to me ...... before i trashed the transducer that id :lol:

theoUK

Hey, I've been lying in the sun all weekend, missing out on this hot topic of Cortinas and Granadas :cool:
Yep, Skeets the Crusader was a special last of line model, with, get this, "selected items of Ghia trim", (basically all the bits they had left to get rid of!) my mums had green metallic paint, special pinstriping, grey velour interior and fantastic wood door cappings. She used to let me drive it to college, and being an estate it was good for about seven people at a squeeze. It was one of these timewarp cortinas you somtimes see, that some old guys kept wrapped up in his garage for 20 years. Had a great laugh in that car, until some drunken swine wrote it off by trying to get his Golf to mount it from behind. Pretty heartbreaking to see it sitting in a scrap yard, bent like a banana. :cry
Although my actual first "own" car was a Mk1 Fiesta. Still got it, waiting under a tarpaulin in a field in Cornwall for me to straighten it out some day when i go back there.

theoUK

Oh, hell- I've just read the Allegro bits..
WTF were they thinking? Allegro means fast, doesn't it? Anyone see the irony there? Some of them had square steering wheels. (?) Almost cool, if not for the fact that you were in an Allegro. But you're right, no matter what car it is, you grow to love it. Well, perhaps "like it" in the case of the Allegro. Only kidding.
Somebody must luv 'em. That reminds me, whilst on the subject of modern classics of the heyday of British Leyland - my mum once had an Austin Maxi. Followed closely by a Morris Marina, and i remember she once test drove a metallic brown Vauxhall Viva. Her taste for a quality motor speaks for itself :D . (Its all ok now, 'cos she's got a jag)

Andrew CM

No - I really loved that allegro, or all-agro as it was more fondly known. Allegro means "brisk tempo" but I'd hardly have called it brisk. :sleep: Mind you helped with my first girl. Ahhh, she was a martini girl, if you know what I mean; anytime, anyplace,.... :reddevil
Unfortunately mine didnt have the quad-something steering wheel, neither was it a vanden plas, they were the allegros with rolls royce fronts - what were BL thinking? :confused: no wonder the british car industry did so well....
Whats really mad is it cost me more to insure that old banger than the vette now, if only I had known that a few years ago.
As a change of subject I got flashed at hanger lane the other night going through an orange light (I'm sure it was...). Is it worth contesting in the hopes they drop it or pay up and look big?

theoUK

Whoa, Bad luck mate. Although if you say it was orange, then are you sure it was you? I've never been flashed at a light before, once got caught on camera in my mums good old Cortina doing 47 in a thirty zone. Forty fecking seven - could have at least been doing a repsectable speed!
You may not even hear anything back about it, but if you do and they reckon it was red then I'd get bloody angry and tell them to do one. I guess it comes down to how sure you are that it was an orange light :confused:
I wonder how much they will try and sting you for?

tersian

You Brits sure are a strange lot! ...and you write funny too!

Sorry, couldn't resist. :lol: :crazy: :lol:

theoUK

Hey now come on - we invented the language :lol: , so we can do what we like with it.. (Not quite sure if you can invent a language, but it's a good enough word for now)
I'm told that people don't appreciate sarcasm so well in the US, so i'm hoping you guys can prove me wrong on that. Probably just another national stereotype - like cups of tea in England.
Actually, I'm quite partial to a nice cup of tea.... :yesnod:

Neo Fender

Salvage yard - $25.00 Worked for me.

Skeets

cups of tea?... allegros?.... austin maxis?.

..... i think i've completely forgotten about the damn transducer! :D

But it's been a jolly nice conversation anyway. :cheers:

Andrew CM

So this conversation started out as a plea for help with the tranducer, eh? Well I would be interested to know how/if you solve the problem.

Got the notice from the Met police today :nonod: Its 30 squids if I pay it staright out and 3 points or up to £1000 :eek: if I go to court and lose. The letter turned up in a brown envelope with "METROPOLITAN POLICE SERVICE - THIS ENVELOPE CONTAINS A LEGAL DOCUMENT" emblazoned right across the front of it :cry so now the postman and most of the neighbourhood know I'm not only the owner of a loud red car that is environmentally unfriendly but I also break the law AND SHOULD BE PUNISHED IN HELL :mad
All that for 34 mph in a 30 zone and, according to the data, 1 second into a red. I never had these problems in the all-agro. :blueangel: Well I did actually. I was caught doing 56 in a 30 going down a hill with a stiff tailwind. I think the copper was fair only giving me a fine, probably because he didnt believe the speed his camera said I was going in my bright green, vinyl roofed, BL monster. :lol:

Skeets

Aw.. bad luck Andrew :nonod: 34 in a 30 zone! that is SO ****!... SO WHAT if the road passed by an infant school, an old peoples home, and through a field where wild bunny wabbits roam free!!

I suggest you borrow a tank and knock down a few speed cameras.. it will make you feel a whole lot better :D

And yes.. i was originally talking about a transducer!
... perhaps you could use that as your plea for innocence in court..
"but my lord, i HAD to drive at over 30 mph or my cruise control wouldn't work!"

Andrew CM

What a great excuse that would be, do you reckon it would work? Talking of knocking down cameras, have you seen this site
http://www.speedcam.co.uk/gatso2.htm

Looks like you have given out advice before :lol:

It may have been near an underground station but being after 10pm it was probably shut anyway.... :D
I'd just left Wembley after seeing Lynyrd Skynyrd and Deep Purple. So there was hardly any traffic and I had a momentary lack of concentration :banghead: What a klutz.
Still, could've been worse I guess. I think I'll frame the letter as it states in BIG letters "1980 Chevrolet Corvette going through red light in excess of speed limit". :cool:

Andrew CM

Anyway - have you got a thing about "Wabbits" :confused: I see thats your e-mail address too :D
I work in Oxford Street, are you BBC wood green or something?

Skeets

i'm freelance (read: media horse) ... but i do sometimes work for the Beeb.. usually white city.

..though tonight in wardour street.. 'til GOD knows what time.. doing a Ch5 prog called 'at home with the Eubanks' ... coming to a TV near you in september!

where abouts in oxford street?

blimey.. this isn't very car orientated is it!! :D .... erm.. do you have an 85 mph speedo? :jester

theoUK

Andrew, just realised you have a red 1980. Congratulations :yesnod: Did you go to the Corvette Nationals at Knebworth?
I think 34 in a 30 zone is dredging the depths of wankerdom. Its painful to admit, but it looks like the "own up" option is the easiest way. Bastards.
I have quite a cool picture of myself caught on a speed camera - In australia. I spent about a year out there after college. In Tasmania they had these little white vans on the side of the road - mobile speed traps. They just parked em up and left them for the day. Anyway, I got snapped doing some small amount over the limit, in my good old 63 Holden EH. I had to go in to the city to "pay my dues" (read as "bend over and brace myself") whereupon i found out that i could buy a copy of the picture of my crime, if i wanted! Couldn't get my head round that!
"Right - you've done a very bad thing and we're going to punish you for it, but would you like a souvenir to take home with you - we've got this bonzer piccy of you for only ten bucks" Or words to that effect ;)
The guys at this place were so tickled that they'd caught a flaming pommie on their camera, that they let me have a free copy. It actually looks guite cool, just after having the car resprayed! I'm thinking it's in an album back at my home in Cornwall, otherwise i'd scan it off for amusement value.
By the way, Skeets, I still haven't forgotten to get some pictures of my cruise repair together - it's coming i promise!

Skeets

yes... sort those pics out! ... i hope they're lit well and attractively composed! :D

Andrew CM

Yeah i do have an 85mph speedo. Mind you the needle waves about so much I could be doing anything from 60 - 90. I really should get it recalibrated and go for a 140 dial at the same time. Not that my old weezer would get near 140 but it would look better. I understand its quite an easy fix - order a new one from the states, put it in and send your core back to them.

I work in John Lewis - not far from Wardour St. Was it in Mezzo's or some similar place? Dont get 5 in this part of Surrey for some reason.

Andrew CM

I was at the Nationals Theo - in the Surrey bit naturally. One of about 4 red vettes. Got a great pic last year on the way in, its further up this post as my sig.

Like the Oz story - I'm surprised our cash-stapped force hasnt thought of that yet :D

theoUK

Right, Skeets - pics were taken this weekend. So now all i have to do is put some words together and get them up on the information super highway. :lol:
I reckon you should be able to work out your cruise problems with that. You can always email me if you have any particular questions. There may be some bits of my old transducer that could help you - thats a big "may" though, as it was pretty rotten. I'll try and get it srted this week.

Andrew, i spent a while looking for other red 80's at the nationals, so theres a good chance i had a look at yours. What a cool day - first vette show i'd been to. I got mine about a year ago, and hadn't really bothered with a lot of the "ownership" things like shows and clubs.
I was in the Midlands section, as this was the closest to Nottingham i could get. I was hoping to meet a few people from around my area, but spent far to long just wandering about like a kid in a sweet shop.
I then got carried away and went to find a quiet spot to do a few donuts. Sorry couldn't resist - all that smooth grass! I was gonna have a go in the driving test, but one of my exhaust mounts broke, and i had to resort to the old coathanger trick. :rolleyes: