Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

Well 2 grand isn't a lot of money but I like a good snoop around Car and Classic so let's see what shitters lovely cars I've found. Feel free to just ignore any of these.

First off there's this Volvo 760 auto in Scunthorpe. Looks clean, 100K+ because it stopped counting and I bet it drinks, but it has electric seats, headlamp wipers and it's an old Volvo.
1666034098467.png

https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1482170

A 1989 BX that's oddly clean but kind of worn for 1800 quid. I really like these, this one is a manual and comes with a free can of Lynx in the rear footwell. Engine was rebuilt 2 years ago and it doesn't look rotten, which is odd.
1666034264987.png

https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1501798

Here's a Volvo 340 GL, which is... er... definitely a Volvo 340 GL. It's definitely red too.
1666034409089.png

https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1403584

If you're feeling masochistic you could pay just £995 and get this painted shed of a 1986 Citroen Visa. Probably fine for a couple of weeks if you don't leave it outside or poke it.
1666034523939.png

https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1510117

There are also a few dodgy looking bread van Polos, a Mk4 Escort 3-door estate that looks like a hearse for very short people and has been to hell and back itself and a lot of other frilly shit that I wouldn't touch with a 100 foot pole.

On Autotrader there's this 205 that looks a bit like a narrow boat and some twat has put decals on the headlights, yours for £1750. It's "totally unique" - yeah no kidding mate. On the plus side it's a G-reg and the plate ends in ALF so the car is immediately called Gandalf (G and ALF).
1666034984773.png

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209019321821

No cheap car list would be complete without a totally shagged MX-5. This is definitely a rot box in disguise but probably the most fun thing to drive until it dissolves. Yours for a grand and a half.
1666035078205.png

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210060482295

This Rover is strange for £1990. Complete with wooden steering wheel and authentic timber gear stifter, paired with seat cloth that looks like a hoover bag your nan had and an oddly clean exterior. I would actually really like to see this in the metal. Sold by a company with a name that makes me want to blame @captain_70s . For everything.
1666035229483.png

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202205055367839

Maybe an SLK that totally won't go wrong and cost you a fortune, only £1995
1666035419154.png

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210050452706

OK last one. You can indeed get a Saab 900 in your budget, and this one is 'immaculate'. Hmm. It's a grand, which seems too little for a car that's made entirely of metal. It's an auto, so maybe that's why it's cheap.
1666035546905.png

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202207047437545

Of course there's a lot of mid-90s hatchback crap on there too but you didn't want to see that.
 
If only ocean shipping weren't catastrophically fucked expensive I'd take like... Half that list at those prices.
I'd have the BX in a heartbeat and maybe that first Volvo but the rest I'd steer well clear of. I just don't have space for another 'project' in the form of an old Citroen. :p

I only just realised that the Rover is covered with decals like the 205, I initially thought they were reflections on very glossy paint.
 
Well 2 grand isn't a lot of money but I like a good snoop around Car and Classic so let's see what shitters lovely cars I've found. Feel free to just ignore any of these.

First off there's this Volvo 760 auto in Scunthorpe. Looks clean, 100K+ because it stopped counting and I bet it drinks, but it has electric seats, headlamp wipers and it's an old Volvo.
View attachment 3567413
https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1482170

A 1989 BX that's oddly clean but kind of worn for 1800 quid. I really like these, this one is a manual and comes with a free can of Lynx in the rear footwell. Engine was rebuilt 2 years ago and it doesn't look rotten, which is odd.
View attachment 3567414
https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1501798

Here's a Volvo 340 GL, which is... er... definitely a Volvo 340 GL. It's definitely red too.
View attachment 3567415
https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1403584

If you're feeling masochistic you could pay just £995 and get this painted shed of a 1986 Citroen Visa. Probably fine for a couple of weeks if you don't leave it outside or poke it.
View attachment 3567416
https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1510117

There are also a few dodgy looking bread van Polos, a Mk4 Escort 3-door estate that looks like a hearse for very short people and has been to hell and back itself and a lot of other frilly shit that I wouldn't touch with a 100 foot pole.

On Autotrader there's this 205 that looks a bit like a narrow boat and some twat has put decals on the headlights, yours for £1750. It's "totally unique" - yeah no kidding mate. On the plus side it's a G-reg and the plate ends in ALF so the car is immediately called Gandalf (G and ALF).
View attachment 3567417
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209019321821

No cheap car list would be complete without a totally shagged MX-5. This is definitely a rot box in disguise but probably the most fun thing to drive until it dissolves. Yours for a grand and a half.
View attachment 3567418
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210060482295

This Rover is strange for £1990. Complete with wooden steering wheel and authentic timber gear stifter, paired with seat cloth that looks like a hoover bag your nan had and an oddly clean exterior. I would actually really like to see this in the metal. Sold by a company with a name that makes me want to blame @captain_70s . For everything.
View attachment 3567420
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202205055367839

Maybe an SLK that totally won't go wrong and cost you a fortune, only £1995
View attachment 3567421
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210050452706

OK last one. You can indeed get a Saab 900 in your budget, and this one is 'immaculate'. Hmm. It's a grand, which seems too little for a car that's made entirely of metal. It's an auto, so maybe that's why it's cheap.
View attachment 3567422
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202207047437545

Of course there's a lot of mid-90s hatchback crap on there too but you didn't want to see that.
volvo is actually rather compelling, might consider it even though the mileage is likely well beyond 100k
 
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If you're feeling masochistic you could pay just £995 and get this painted shed of a 1986 Citroen Visa. Probably fine for a couple of weeks if you don't leave it outside or poke it.
View attachment 3567416
https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1510117
I've driven that very car.

It's most distinct feature was the fact that some of the gears had the selector embedded a good few cm into the driver's seat cushion. Quite entertaining in an awful way.
 
I've driven that very car.

It's most distinct feature was the fact that some of the gears had the selector embedded a good few cm into the driver's seat cushion. Quite entertaining in an awful way.
I'm not sure I'm even surprised about any of that. 😀
 
^That's gorgeous.

License plate has been reserved for new car, just wish the DMV had earlier dates for me to register said car BEFORE THE 14TH.

that is all.
 
Borla has gotten into the EV "Exhaust" sound effect game.

Since it was bound to happen either way, does it make more sense for someone like Borla to do it, or would you have more faith in a sound/technology company doing it? Like if the brand behind it was Bose or Harman Kardon vs Borla or Magnaflow.
 
I've really been curious about how far you can go with making an EV converted car sound real. I've actually played around with some tubing and a Bluetooth speaker, unsurprisingly it doesn't sound right just playing the sound of a car without an exhaust down a tube.

My thought is less about fancy noises but more about creating a realistic experience for a classic. Let's say a wedding car. Let's say a Rolls-Royce Twenty from the 1920s. There's a certain sound that you associate with a car like that and having it replaced with silence or motor whine would be odd. If you can damp the motor noise down to a low level, can you make a convincing exhaust note using speakers and compressed air?

I'd quite like to work on that with a conversion company, all in the name of fooling people. A classic EV wedding car or hearse would be infinitely more reliable than its petrol equivalent but it's important that the experience is still convincing. I'm going to the classic NEC show this weekend, there are bound to be EV conversion companies there so maybe I'll get a chance to mention it and see what their reactions are.
 
I've really been curious about how far you can go with making an EV converted car sound real. I've actually played around with some tubing and a Bluetooth speaker, unsurprisingly it doesn't sound right just playing the sound of a car without an exhaust down a tube.

My thought is less about fancy noises but more about creating a realistic experience for a classic. Let's say a wedding car. Let's say a Rolls-Royce Twenty from the 1920s. There's a certain sound that you associate with a car like that and having it replaced with silence or motor whine would be odd. If you can damp the motor noise down to a low level, can you make a convincing exhaust note using speakers and compressed air?

I'd quite like to work on that with a conversion company, all in the name of fooling people. A classic EV wedding car or hearse would be infinitely more reliable than its petrol equivalent but it's important that the experience is still convincing. I'm going to the classic NEC show this weekend, there are bound to be EV conversion companies there so maybe I'll get a chance to mention it and see what their reactions are.
There's definitely some science there.

With guitars in recent years, there's been a sea change from guitarists using 100w tube/valve-driven amplifiers and speaker cabinets with four 12" speakers in them, to digital modelers (which use complex algorithms to replicate the amplifiers circuits and how they react to different settings and input to amazingly good results) and using "impulse responses" (again, more computational power to replicate specific speaker cabinets, speakers, and even microphone type and positioning), and playing that processed audio through an FRFR (Full-Range, Full-Response) speaker/monitor which is meant to be a very very clean, flat speaker, allowing your modelled sound to come through just as it would sound through headphones. You can plug in to the house's PA, and sound great no matter what volume you're turned to, while most old tube amps have to be pushed to sound their best.

The trouble is that these new systems lack what a lot of guitarists call the "amp-in-the-room feel". A guitar speaker cabinet simply moves much more air, and you feel the pressure waves on the back of your legs (if the amp's behind you). You feel it more in your chest, and there's a certain amount of emotion/inspiration that comes from that.

I feel like with these systems, even if their decibel output technically matches (or exceeds) that of an ICE's exhaust, it's not moving the air the same way. You won't feel the rumble in your chest the same way. At least, not with the Borla system which appears to just be a speaker. Dodge has been quiet about their system on that EV concept...is it just a speaker at the end of a horn, or is there an air blower component?

I'd be happily proven wrong, though.
 
Borla has gotten into the EV "Exhaust" sound effect game.

Since it was bound to happen either way, does it make more sense for someone like Borla to do it, or would you have more faith in a sound/technology company doing it? Like if the brand behind it was Bose or Harman Kardon vs Borla or Magnaflow.

I think the folks that recorded engine sounds for Forza 4 should be. Just don’t modify the sound for tv audio and make fake distortion.


View: https://youtu.be/I07SwrI89Hs
 
I really don't like what looks like the start of a new trend with a full width LED-strips on the front of a car like a Mercedes EQS, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and others. First of all I find it rather ugly secondly for some reason I find it really distracting when crossing one on the dark.
 
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