New Car Snobs.
You know the type, they've just got rid of the 57-plate anonymous Eurobox to replace it with an 08-plate anonymous Eurobox which they spend all day washing.

This annoys me all the more, because I drive a rather nice old 1981 Citroen CX Break which everyone calls "the Ghostbusters car". Being a fairly old car, it uses fairly old technology, and being fairly old technology it needs a certain amount of care and attention. So once a week I pop the bonnet, check all the various oils (engine, auto gearbox, diff and hydraulics), water (7 litres, 50/50 antifreeze even in hot weather), belt tensions (four of 'em) and generally give it a good check over. If I'm really enthusiastic I'll give the suspension pivots a squirt of grease for good measure. This helps keep my car in fairly good condition for its age, and means that if I see any impending problems I've got plenty warning and I can fix them before it becomes a funny noise, a little red light and a loud sucking sound from my wallet.

New Car Snob Neighbour *always* comes across and says "Oh, broken down again has it?"

No, it hasn't broken down. It has never broken down, because I spend about as long as it takes to drink a cup of tea checking and sorting the things that are likely to break. Fuck off.

Last weekend I had the front wheels off so I could adjust the handbrake (yes, front. It's French).

"What's broken on it today then?", says NCSN.
"Nothing, I'm just tightening up the handbrake"
"Oh you can't work on brakes yourself, what if you make a mistake?"
"Well since I've been fixing cars for 20-odd years, I hardly think that's a problem. I'm less likely to make a mistake than the spoddy git at Kwik-Fsck, am I?"
At this he launched into his tale of garage woe - apparently he'd just had the front brake pads and discs replaced on his car at *enormous* expense (can't remember exactly, but around 1500 quid).
"WTF, I've never paid that much for a whole car, shouldn't that be under warranty?"
No, apparently it's not warranty because it's wear and tear. So there you go - a month's wages blown on something that is an afternoon's job at most. So much for snobbery.

Sorry about the length, but if I had the Loadrunner version the second rear axle would make it three feet longer.
(gordonjcp, Tue 6 May 2008, 13:07, 2 replies)

New Car Snobs
Yes!

I'm the proud owner of a 1989 Peugeot 205 and it's the tops. I know people who pay more each month on car loan repayments than they do on their mortgage. Why? I thought I was alone in seeing the sense of running an old car... It can't depreciate any further and you feel like you REALLY own the car when you have to occasionally hit it with a hammer to make it work.

Mine's a GTi and I'm a rubbish driver, so it occasionally swaps ends during cornering with no warning but that's all part of the fun.

One last thing. I've calculated that the amount of money I'll save over the next 20 years by running a depreciation-free car will allow me to retire about 7 years earlier (oh, how I LOVE this bit) with a nice big lump of cash to buy pretty much any car I please! I will of course be buying vintage but by then the NCSN will have paid the depreciation for me.

I've put some thought into this, as you can probably see. And yes, I should be doing something else.

I too apologise for the length, but you've hit the nail on the head.
(yearsofpractice, Tue 6 May 2008, 16:35, closed)

cx
ooooh, Id seriously consider giving my left nut to own a 6-wheel CX. Awesome cars.
(dave likes cheese, Tue 6 May 2008, 20:10, closed)