Last time you were in America? / General chat thread🤣
- Thread starter Corvette
- Start date
CaptainK
CCCUK Member
On a coincidental note, wife and I just started booking our holiday to Wales in June next year. I've not been for a while, but I do look over the sea from the north coast of Somerset to Wales oftenFingers crossed things keep on improving , but the doomsters are prophesying things getting worse in UK too . I will be well pee`d off if our Christmas vacation to Wales get cancelled again .
Chuffer
CCCUK regional rep
Were abouts are you planning to go ? Wales really does it for me and always has done since I was a lad , especially the Cambrian Mountains of Mid Wales and the more rugged mountains of Snowdonia . Cymru is God`s own country IMOOn a coincidental note, wife and I just started booking our holiday to Wales in June next year. I've not been for a while, but I do look over the sea from the north coast of Somerset to Wales often
Chuffer
CCCUK regional rep
Back on thread , another thing I like about travelling around the USA is the amount of interestesting classic American cars and trucks seemingly abandoned in yards and fields along the highways . I spotted these in Whitefish Northern Montana but if I had stopped to photograph the countless others spotted on the drive down from Montana and
through Wyoming and Utah States we would never have completed the trip .
through Wyoming and Utah States we would never have completed the trip . 
James Vette
CCCUK Member
What the hell were they thinking with half vinyl tops?
Chuffer
CCCUK regional rep
It was considered cool and trendy in the 70`s like flaired trowsers , wide lapels and plantform soled shoes , and that was just the guys !
Roscobbc
Moderator
And 'todays' fads - like complicated shaped combined front and rear lighting 'clusters' - combining main/dip/side/indicator lamps in a ridiculously over engineered and grossly oversized multi-part moulding........for what? styling? - ally wheels have been with us since they were considered a nice aftermarket accessory - but why now still use them? The good old fashioned steel wheels with dog dish hubcaps or all enveloping wheel covers were great - kerb 'em and just replaced the trim at worst. Todays ally wheels are stupidly made with no protection - the wheel centre generally protudes out past the rim so you don't just scratch the rim - you severley gouge-out the centre. Where are the tyres now with 'kerbing' strips? (not that they are much good with some of the wheels) and the worse 'fad' of all - permanently illuminated dashboards..........so every forgets to turn their lights on at night - and the daytime running lights give enough forward light to 'fool'the driver that they have the lights switched on........
Chuffer
CCCUK regional rep
Totally with you there Ross . My BIG hate on modern cars is the daytime driving lights so the plebs don`t see the need to turn headlights on when conditions dictate , and the piddly litle indicator lights that manufacturers think is a real `cool` design in their front and rear clusters . Even allowing for the few drivers these days that know how to use indicators , these pin pricks of flashing yellow light are F`in useless .
Oneball
CCCUK Member
Can’t stand the indicators you can’t see either.
You might not know straight off who Afzal Kahn is but if you google Kahn Designs you’ll know. He actually made his money by coming up with a way to make an alloy wheel where the spoke goes all the way to the edge with no “rim”. His stuff might not be to everyone’s taste but not bad for a bloke from Branford to influence world wide car design.
You might not know straight off who Afzal Kahn is but if you google Kahn Designs you’ll know. He actually made his money by coming up with a way to make an alloy wheel where the spoke goes all the way to the edge with no “rim”. His stuff might not be to everyone’s taste but not bad for a bloke from Branford to influence world wide car design.
antijam
CCCUK Member
...and I'm with you on alloys Ross - particularly the ludicrously large ones shod with 'rubber bands'. They're expensive and they ruin the ride. When I bought a Mercedes SLK320 some years ago the po had fitted oversize 18" wheels with 40 section tyres. It tramlined diabolically and the ride was dire. Reverting to the standard 16" with 55 section tyres transformed it. It became a totally different car and a joy to drive - to the point where I still have it 13 years later.
It's not just aftermarket wheels either. My 2016 Mustang wears 40 section tyres on 19" wheels. Compared with the 'Vette wearing stock F70 x 15's the ride on anything other than a billiard table is unbelievably jiggly, and with the pox of potholes around these days, genuinely uncomfortable.
For track use I can understand the benefit of stiffer tyre sidewalls, but for daily road use big alloy wheels with low profile tyres are a styling conceit foisted on us by the manufacturers and fuelled by irresponsible car pundits extolling their non-existant virtues.
Oh for the good old days - a Mini with 10" wheels and 80 section tyres!
It's not just aftermarket wheels either. My 2016 Mustang wears 40 section tyres on 19" wheels. Compared with the 'Vette wearing stock F70 x 15's the ride on anything other than a billiard table is unbelievably jiggly, and with the pox of potholes around these days, genuinely uncomfortable.
For track use I can understand the benefit of stiffer tyre sidewalls, but for daily road use big alloy wheels with low profile tyres are a styling conceit foisted on us by the manufacturers and fuelled by irresponsible car pundits extolling their non-existant virtues.
Oh for the good old days - a Mini with 10" wheels and 80 section tyres!
Nassau65
CCCUK Member
Driving in those platforms must have been a bitch.It was considered cool and trendy in the 70`s like flaired trowsers , wide lapels and plantform soled shoes , and that was just the guys !
Walking in them was bad enough.
Chuffer
CCCUK regional rep
The extra bulk of platforms added aditional pressure on the accelerator to wring a bit more speed out of my 1200cc Vauxhaul Viva HB Estate !
My first three cars were all GM products so at least I started on the right note .
Forrest Gump
CCCUK regional rep
Is that why I sometimes see cars [at night] with no rear lights, but when you pass them, their headlights are on? Always newish cars. Why can’t they have have an audible alarm that tells you when you’re lights aren’t on and it’s dark?…there are warnings for just about everything else in a modern car and this is a fairly important safety matter!
I think most people have driven off at some time and forgotten to put the lights on, usually when there is such strong street lighting that your headlights don’t actually make any difference to seeing where you’re going. I recently saw a police car driving along in the dark with no lights on.
Chuffer
CCCUK regional rep
They are a rare sight these days , like when did you last see one at a classic car gathering ? Rampant tin worm ate most them , mine was about 10 years old when one day I opened the bonnet and the hinges collapsed through the inner wings .
At that point I thought it was due for the scrap yard !