Swan Jnr

i have a pair of cobras without holes and guess what.... i intend to switch to four point harnesses and need a pair with holes in! i'll send you a pm Paul

can anyone recomend a good firkm to use to sell a plate? a car i bought last year has a private plate and i may as well list it now and then hopefully in another years time someone might want it? got to be worth a try Paul

left school went to uni, dropped out after a year, got a job doing fairly basic cad/cam stuff. stayed there for 13 years, moving up a bit through customer service and technical sales during which time i also did an Open University degree. Eventually left job to go back to University to do a Masters. Did that and got offered a new job back at my old place as a market analyst. stayed there a bit longer and become market and marketing manager. finally left and joined The University of Nottingham working in business Development. basically i try to put businesses toegther with academics have have skills/have inventned something that the business can use to make more money, then... i win them some money from the government (about 90k a pop to fund the work) and actually make the money! on average the firms make 200k per year as a result. good fun, very varied, get to work with all sorts of academics and businesses. everything from flavour companies to big aerospace right through to 10 man biotech start ups. feel free to drop me a line if your business ever needs any of the above! paul

it seems to me that the targets they get set are too low if they appear to get the bonus every single year. at our place bonus payments are made if you have signirficantly over achived, i got one last year for more than doubling my targets (we had the biggest year we've had in the last 7 years), but these guys appear to get a bonus for turning up. on the other hand if you bought a business that had been struggling and wanted to see sales rise to get your investment back you wouldnt tell all the sales guys overnight that you'd abolished bonuses, or if you did i suspect most would leave and any that didnt would be next to useless.

that v8 sound i amazing. or would be if i ever had the time to get out anymore!

i'm not too fussed about the sweary lyrics, i'm with steven fry in that words are only words, and are not of any real harm. what sets the RATM anti corporate control/establishment swearing lyrics apart from the rap music we get so much of is the degrading, misogenistic violence implicit within the rap culture that seems to get airtime quite happily then we have a fit if someone says a rude word on the radio or telly. i cant help feeling that the unpleasant nature of rap culture has a far more corrosive effect on our world. now its been shown that it is possible to beat the soppy xfactor bangwagon i cant help feeling that we'll see this happen again. if it happens again next year, i bet xfactor pops up at a different time of the year, since the only reason it was timed as it is, is so the climax feeds straight into the xmas number one. a small victory against the blandness of media driven popular culture. (aka cowell)

the other way is to insure it for about 2k miles and then if you go over just contact them and pay a small excess. last year i did about 500 miles! som glad i didnt pay for 6k

dad fitted one to his S7/ after the first year you figure out why lots of people flash theire lights at you!

congrats! the most tired i've ever been, most emotional, but the feel when you get a lovely cuddle or a silly chuckle its worth all the money in the world. paul

on the 75 owners club there was a recent thread concerning a 75 that had fly by wire technology. a guy had bought it from a dealership post rovers demise and all had been fine. Took in in for a service and the mechanic scratched his head and said "never seen one like this before guv!" he was than trying to sue the dealer for selling him an unrepairable motor. seems there was all sorts of odd stuff knocking around in development. the 75/mg coupe is a a cracker, pity that never made it, only about 5 years ahead of the audi a5 at the time! pity we dont just decide to screw european law like the french and heavily subisidise national companies from time to time!

hi gareth, speaking from my own experience it is possible to pick up a kit car, do some minor tarting up and sell at a profit. We've done minor cosmetic work to all the kit cars we've owned and have sold them on for the same or more than we paid for them. i bought a quantum that was tidy but had a green and red tartan interior, and nasty old wheels. we gradually replaced all the horrid bits with well chosen scrap yard parts and second hand wheels and sold on for more than i paid for it (including all the bits) after a years driving i would avoid like the plague anything that appears to need serious work, like this does. (engine swops, re sprays etc) there will be hidden costs that will add up relentlessly. At best this car will be worth 3k? i think for all the work and hassle it would be hard to make it worth it. at the very least it will need a whole new interior, and the GF will insist on a roll bar when she figures out what will happen to your head if it turns over! on ebay at present theres this: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DUTTON-PHAETON-S3_W0...=item4cebae60dc ok, so not to everyones taste but then neither are robin hoods. but it looks ok, fair bit of money spent and a few minor jobs to do. or this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/U-V-A-BLACK_W0QQitem...=item53ddb51186 this locost: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1980-LOCOST-SILVER_W...=item3ef9c3e88e on piston heads this was recently sold, and is an example of what can be had : http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1279040.htm it might take a while if you want a hood for a really low price, but now is a good time to be looking. dont mean to sound negative, but i have a project in my garage that has cost me a fair amount to date, and it still isnt finished! paul

congratulations barry. have fun being a grandad!

if you could get a few mates together the following extract from an email i just got might be interesting. We specialise in organising Circuit Driving Days at Le Mans for car clubs, track day organisers and groups of enthusiasts. If your enquiry concerns one of these please let me know the number of cars you expect and any dates which would be of particular interest. The cost will be of the order of 15,000€ for the day. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

its a bit pricey. the half day gt one looks ok though, i really fancy a go in that jaguar prototype thingy.

finish off the new carbs and manifold, re do plumbing, get cable linkages working, get it all set up properly, sort those two big holes in the bonnet where the SU's used to stick out (!) sort out tatty interior, respray tatty bodywork. no problem. on the plus side the wheels are now finished in gloss black.

one of our cats once managed to walk across the keyboard and turn the laptop screen upside down. trying to get onto google (mouse all backwards as well) was a nightmare until we found out what he'd done, and how to mend it. seems he managed to press three keys at at the same time to do it!

any news on whether the mansell family are going toi be racing? i see they're down to race in the le mans series/ quite fancied seeing nigel at le mans and that was making me re think my original classic plan

in a way rhocar is a victim of its own success or rather Robin Hoods success. Not many other makes will have 100 plus at most shows, and that many cars and people are a bit much to get to talk to everyone. (its different in the vinidcator owners club. If i parked on their pitch i'd double the attendance! thats why i'd rather park on rhocars) i think the local meets are vital to get to know people, as its in a manageable group. the Leeds/Bradford lot were really friendly when i found myself up in their neck of the woods for a year or so, and they are some of the first faces/cars that i look out for when i arrive at a show. more work, and a baby mean to i dont get to hardly any local meets or runs at the moment, but for me the local aspect of a national club is the best thing. again, in comparison to vindicator. I'm a regional co-ordinator there and my area stretches as far north as leeds, down to nearly brum, and over to stoke on one side and lincoln on the other! i dont imagine we'll be popping to the pub together on a week night! how about a newbie bit on the forum and a newbie prize at stoneligh every year for most active new member? paul

hi steve could try and meet up somewhere next friday? otherwise might have to drive over the lincoln and drop them off at ian and caroles. paul

hi, im in stamford on monday, then hemel on tuesday this week if thats any good. could do with getting rid asap as they are curently sitting on the decking. in hemel at 9-12 which is probably as near to you steve as i;ll be for a few weeks paul

hello all, i now have a spare set of sierra steel wheels and tyres free to a good home. rims are ok, and tyres are goodyear eagle nct's 195/60/r14 which dont seem to have much wear on them at all. they were kindly given to me by Ozz and so are free to a good home. i'm in the east midlands but do travel a bit so may be able to drop them off for you.let me know if would like pics etc regards Paul

apologies for sort of off topic reply, but any pics of the living van?

hello, just respraying some alloy wheels and wondering whether to use lacquer or not? The lacquer says that I should flat the paint back first but I'm not keen. Is it worth using lacquer at all? What will happen if I use the lacquer without rubbing paint down first? Cheers paul

i thought the same thing. 100 years worth of engineering brerakthroughs and they managed 10mph more than this.

if its no good i think i have a cd radio from an old car just sitting in the loft you can have. just let me know. paul