Real World Reviews: Audi 80 1.8S
Darren has been a good friend of mine for as long as I can remember and I’ve been on at him for some time to pen a review of his wonderful old Audi 80. I’m pleased to say he has finally caved in and written the following article for PetrolBlog. It really is a peach of a car and a credit to Darren and his father. If he ever contemplates the ridiculous and puts it up for sale, I’ll be at the front of the queue.
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Car magazines: Olden but golden?
Being of a certain age, I’ve built up quite a list of things that I like to be ‘just so’. For example, I happen to think that Coke tastes best when chilled and poured into a long glass with ice. It just doesn’t taste as good straight out of a bottle, or worse still, straight from a can. I also like a glass of fresh orange juice with my weekend breakfast. Let it be said that I will also choose a BBC radio station over a commercial equivalent as I cannot stand advertisements interrupting my music. Not to mention the drone and forced jollity of a commercial radio DJ. All insignificant things to the majority of people, but to me they represent a small selection of factors that go towards making the world a happier place.
Whatever happened to…Top Gear challenge cars?
Love it or hate it, Top Gear is a great British success story. Messrs Clarkson, Hammond and May, along with the production team, have taken a little motoring show and turned it into a global brand. If I owned a hat, I’d doff it to them. But I don’t, so I won’t.
For me, Top Gear can blow hot and cold. The show is capable of moments of pure brilliance, but can also deliver periods of decidedly lukewarm output. For example, the ‘Star in a reasonably priced car’ feature is my cue to go and make a cup of tea and grab a Hobnob. Read more
In pictures: FailCar’s Peugeot 205 GTi
The 5th of November 2010. A date I shall always remember. Maybe. Sending e-mails back and forth to someone on eBay while my girlfriend suggested I might want to be looking at the bloody fireworks display we had gone to see.
The next morning at the crack of dawn I was out the door to go and see it. That night a very original but a bit tatty Peugeot 205 GTi (57,000 miles) with one owner from new was in my mate’s storage barn. Read more
Rust in pieces: Austin Minivan
Ever wondered what would happen if you leave an Austin Minivan exposed to the elements on Dartmoor for the best part of 25 years? Well wonder no more as I’ve recently discovered this circa 1970 Minivan near my home. Surrounding evidence suggests that it has been laid up since 1986 and it is in such a bad way that pretty much every single part is unsalvageable. Read more
Real World Reviews: Jaguar XJ-S V12
I’m delighted to say that the latest Real World Review has been penned by none other than ‘Sir’ Ralph Hosier. Some say that Ralph’s heart is shaped like a V12 engine and that he has engine oil pumping through his veins. All we know is that he’s evo magazine’s resident tuning and engineering expert and that he also appears in Practical Performance Car, Practical Classics and Classics Monthly. Read more
FailCar’s Peugeot 205 GTi: An update
The car that twitter helped build, is nearly finished…
I thought I should do an update on where I have got to on the 205 since it was introduced to PetrolBlog. Read more
FailCar’s Peugeot 205 GTi
PetrolBlog is delighted to reveal @FailCar‘s new arrival, the much admired and 80s legend, the Peugeot 205 GTi. Read more
FailCar does the Classic Motor Show and MPH
Mr @FailCar has been busy attending events on behalf of PetrolBlog. Here are his pick of the halls… Read more
Honda’s Jazzy Type-R
The Type-R badge is held in high esteem by petrolheads. Any Honda adorned with the simple five letters is guaranteed to set the pulse racing and provide a suitable amount of B-road thrills. A Type-R badge can indeed turn a humble and worthy Accord saloon into something of a road racer. There’s the Integra, which for many people is the ultimate FWD drivers’ car. The supercar Type-R comes in the form of the NSX and let’s not forget the most popular model, the Civic. Read more
Barn Find! Jaguar XJ-S V12
The Dingles Fairground Heritage Centre in Devon is a real treat for those wanting to take a step back in time. From the wonderfully restored ghost train to my personal favourite, the bumper cars, Dingles is well worth a visit. Read more
Citroën AX GT: La boîte de grenouilles
The Box of Frogs is dead. Long live La Boîte de Grenouilles. The manic and crazy Avanazto has only been gone two weeks and already a new toy has springed into the vacant space left in the garage. With the cash made from the sale of the Avanazto, the brief was simple. Maximum budget would be £2k, ideally the car should be German and rear wheel drive would be a bonus. It will therefore come as no surprise that the car now occupying space in the garage cost less than half the available budget, is as French as the Eiffel Tower and is very much front wheel drive. But hey, when you’re a petrolhead any sense of rationalism goes out of the window. Read more
Perfect Dub: VW MK1 Scirocco
Has there ever been a Volkwagen that can rival the beautiful simplicity of the MK1 Scirocco? I think not. We we ever see anything like it again? Again, I think not. Read more
Triumph TR7 – the real thing?
It is a quote that has passed into popular motoring folklore. Legendary car designer and PetrolBlog regular, Giorgetto Giugiaro was said to be slightly unimpressed with the Triumph TR7. Upon seeing the car for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show in 1975, he looked at one side and said nothing. Then he went around to the other side and allegedly said;
Oh my God! They’ve done it to the other side as well Read more
Whatever happened to…the Hyundai Stellar
For many years, a Stella has been the central factor to a Friday or Saturday night out on town. A few too many and then it is off for a kebab before stumbling into a taxi to be sick. Classy. Before the advent of Skoda cabs in the 90s, there was a fair chance that the car to be sick in was the Hyundai Stellar. So for a few lucky fellows, a good night started with a Stella and ended in a Stellar. Excellent naming strategy by the boys in Korea there. Read more
80s Cars Around The World
The inspiration…
It only took five minutes to come up with the idea, inspired by watching Top Gear’s brilliant Vietnam special, which I finally got around to watching in June 2010. In doing so, I finally caught up with the rest of civilisation. When you combine the likes of the Vietnamese, American, Romanian and Bolivian specials you discover the blatantly obvious – there are some epic opportunities for a bloody good drive. Life’s too short to confine yourself to the B3081 or Snake Pass. Life’s equally as short to do the driving in just a handful of cars. Read more
The Ferrari you always promised yourself?
The Ford Capri was launched in 1969 with one of the most famous advertising straplines in automotive history. Yep, the Ford Capri was ‘the car you always promised yourself‘.
It is fair to say that the Capri has divided opinion over the past four decades. In the years following launch it held a vast degree of coolness, earning the tag of the ‘European Mustang’. By the mid 80s, it was growing old disgracefully, failing to keep up with the new hatchbacks on the block. The late 80s and 90s saw it pass into a period of parody, not helped by Del Boy’s ‘Capri Ghia‘ tag. But the new Millennium’s obsession with retro-cool helped the Capri to become acceptable and somewhat collectable. Read more
Whatever happened to…the Renault Fuego
As is becoming the trend for PetrolBlog, my earliest memories of this week’s forgotten hero stem from my childhood. Back in 1980, I believed that the world ended on the south coast of England and that English was the only language spoken. As such, I wrongly referred to the Renault Fuego as the Renault ‘Few-Go’. For years I lived in blissful ignorance of my mispronunciation whilst the motoring world pointed at me and mocked me for my foolishness. How was I to know that there was a land called Spain and in this land, the word Fuego translated to fire? But in a sad twist of irony for the Fuego, while I’m now old enough to pronounce the name, there are only a ‘few’ left in the UK today. So less ‘Few-Go’ and more ‘Few-Gone’ then? Read more
Whatever happened to…the Isuzu Piazza
Over the course of time, the name of Lotus has become synonymous with many things that appeal to Joe Petrolhead. An evocative range of cars, with just a mention of the names Elan, Espirt, Elise, Evora and Exige bringing to mind images of lightness, delicacy, thrills and fun. Then there’s the rich motorsport heritage to add to the mix, culminating what is arguably the greatest sports car brand in the world. OK, so our friends in Maralleno and Stuttgart might wish to engage in a battle of fisticuffs over this claim, but when the carbon fibre dust has settled, Colin Chapman’s legacy would still carry a lot of weight in the argument. Which, based on Chapman’s vision, may not necessarily be a good thing… Read more
Whatever happened to…the Renault 12
I’d clean forgotten about the Renault 12 until approximately 8.57pm on Saturday 10th April 2010. A Twitter-based discussion over the Triumph Dolomite veered off in the direction of old Renaults. Then, a small debate over the existence of the Renault 13 led me into the virtual path of the Renault 12, a car that has long since left the filing cabinet in my head. But now it is back. Read more
