Are chrome cars illegal?

All depends on what you define as mass production. Under the actual circumstances your last statement goes -sadly- for Jaguar also...

To me any car which leaves the factory at more than lets say 500 units is mass produced. My definition of small production run is 256 units.

As for the production method and engineering of the Jaguar "aluminium" car: with all due respect crude is the best word I can find for it. It's heavier than the steel-made XJ it replaces. I don't even speak about resale value because then it's even more shocking.

Tom De Moor

It's a lot bigger than an X300 / XJ40 though. The inside of the thing's bigger than the inside of an S-class now. Figures I've seen reckon that it's

40% lighter than it would be if it were made of steel. I've not looked at how they put the things together, but if you're comparing it with the construction of an NSX, I'm not suprised. The NSX is a supercar, even though it's not from Europe.

Yes I have seen those marketing figures and I stress the word marketing. Strange then that a previous XJ long wheel base (the steel version) weighs less than the normal wheel base new XJ. I am not exceptionnaly tall but the rear space of the old XJ LWB was noticily bigger than the new one.

The 40% gains were mentioned for the chassis , not for the complete car. I still haven't seen one explanation coming from a engineer to back up this claim. Aluminium weighs 1/3 of steel but the aluminium parts on the new XJ are a lot thicker than their steel counterparts.

Please do not talk about the S-class. In my humble opinion they are for Jaguar together with the X-class a big disaster. They were sold as Jaguars: classy, well build cars and their price tag reflects it. They turned out as being noisy, rattling things with a Jaguars bill of maintenance attached to it.

That's the big dilemma: step into a small BMW or Mercedes and it's still well screwed together. Step into a small Jaguar and you get a Ford Mondeo style of car with the faults one would forgive in a Ford but not in a Jaguar.

I don't compare build quality of the Jaguar XJ to the NSX. I was referring to the all aluminium construction.

The construction of the NSX is without compromise: it is welded, money no objection. Showcase car and a statement of what the Honda concern can achieve. I would add: build with pride. Sorry but it feels that way.

The XJ is compromised all over: what's keeping it together are a kind of big rivets. This in turn leads to the fact that forces are more concentrated and so a bigger thickness is needed, thickness which then leads to weight. If I would compare build quality of the NSX I would refer it to the Jaguar XK. And then -not strangly at all- you get into the same price regions for new cars. Resale values on both cars are something completly different.

Tom De Moor

I'm talking S-Class Merc, not S-type Jag. I'd not have one on the grounds that they look so bloody bad - much too tall looking for my liking. I'll reply to the rest of your post when I've been to sleep.

You tend to find paddle clutches are better for higher power figures on a track (for the reasons given by others). But on the road because they have no give in them, they are a real pig at the lights, or when manouvering, they have virtually no slip at all.

Even rally drivers tend to use standard type but uprated clutches.

"Depresion" wrote

WOW! Just like the Micro Machines of the 80s that changed colour! Great usage - getaway car. Police looking for a purple flipped out car... Park up, pour a bucket of cold water ovr it and it becomes a black car!

What the f*ck would you have Kylie do to you so you couldn't sit down for a week?

Sounds painful? Sounds disgusting actually, and maybe even illegal.

A friend of mine had an Alloy bodied Morgan a long time before Honda made the NSX. They were not to keen on doing it for a road car, as they told him the paint would craze.

-- Peter Hill Spamtrap reply domain as per NNTP-Posting-Host in header Can of worms - what every fisherman wants. Can of worms - what every PC owner gets!

Morgan are sure fine motorcars but does the your friends car has a structural aluminium chassis? Morgan claimed for a long time that their chassis was wood.

But I am sure that somewhere in history you will find a road car with alloy chassis and alloy bodied. The NSX only came out in the beginning of the 1990- ies.

As for alloy bodied cars: there were a lot of them but most were very small production runs or even but a few cars. I believe Aston Martin called their alloy bodied cars Ultra Leggera. Coming back to Jaguar I have seen a very succesfull racecar, a alloy bodied E-type with registration CUT7.

Land Rover (Defender) have -to my knowledge- always had an alloy body and if a car can claims a long production life / larger production numbers the Landie sure can.

Been in a brand new one last week: while they are great workhorses, you can't honestly defend it for normal roads. Paint craze or straight coatchwork is apparently not their first concern. The sales person actually was instructing my friend (the fool bought a LWB) that the kids should never be allowed to push a door in the middle as it would be dented.

I may be old fashioned but a radio with compact disk player and ABS on a Land Rover?

Tom De Moor

Morgan cars had, and still have, wooden chassis'

Mason

In article , depreso snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com spouted forth into uk.rec.cars.modifications...

Wow, I want my next pair of trainers to do that.

My WRX has a factory alloy bonnet and front guards. My GTR was all alloy except for the rear quarters and the roof turret.

Fraser

That is soooooooo nice.

Probably the ultimate bling would be a Bentley or Roller in chrome...

No they bloody don't. They have metal chassis. They have wooden framed bodies.

And allegedly wooden handling ;)

Richard

"Tom De Moor" wrote

ABS is the law now, like seatbelts and airbags.

Stuff that go for GOLD! There was a Damlier sometime long long ago.

Me, I'm not into cheap chrome or gaudy gold I prefer the understated class you get from the soft pale yellowish sheen of vintage nickel plate.

-- Peter Hill Spamtrap reply domain as per NNTP-Posting-Host in header Can of worms - what every fisherman wants. Can of worms - what every PC owner gets!

Time to change the law then. I would consider ABS and electronic gismos on a Land Rover stuff that renders the car at least unreliable and at worst unsafe.

Do I have to conclude, based on your statement, that kitcars and the like also have to come with ABS / airbags?

Tom De Moor

I suspect that cars with a limited production run or cars produced in low volumes per year are able to gain exemption from ABS/airbags.

I don't see Kit Car builders being able to comply easily with that sort of caper, although I'm fairly sure they have to have seatbelts.

Douglas

I have a switch on my Subaru that I can use to switch off the ABS. It's next to the switch for the high boost settings for the computer in the ashtray. ABS is useless on gravel.

Fraser