Sera number two...

cool i like the sera, coolest small car ever IMO :)

saw one at JAE back in the summer with a startlet turbo conversion :)

In news:BD998E84.19413% snipped-for-privacy@NOSPAMbtconnect.com, Richard Kilpatrick decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

piece of piss if you're half minded with a welder.

I went down to Sussex to buy the cheapest Sapphire Cosworth ever yesterday.. your problems with the Sera are very minor..

Should have it on the road within a month or so.

Cheaper than a 2.0 Nova, and *much* quicker ;-)

I can't weld. However... that's just a shell! It looks like 99p of scrap iron to me :/

If I knew a mate who was handy with a welder I'd be into sticking new panels in, but if I can pull stuff sufficiently into shape...

Richard

Update your signature then ;-)

after hanging around with the boy racers too much I have started to hate sierra cosworths

Why not hire one for a day and give it a shot on some scrap steel. It's surprisingly not *that* difficult once you get going :)

If you decide you're up to it then weld in a new slam panel. If you don't, dont' but at least you'll know whether you can weld or not.

I actually owned a MIG welder, something called an 'otter'. I never used it :(

Richard

I saw one of these two weeks ago, and I thought, "woah that's one of those funky cars that Richard had, isn't that sexy..."

Charlie, of course, was her usual non-committal self... ;)

Heh. You know, I think it's a handy shopping car. The doors work even in tight spaces. Uninspiring to look at and saved only by the funky doors and 1990-interpretation of projector headlights (I think, if not the first production car with them, surely one of the first). It looks vaguely like a Tigra.

Having been brought up around real cars, I should damn well hope so. When we're in Utopia, sorry, Canada this winter, we will apparently have a full-size SUV to rattle around in. The rental place lists a Grand Cherokee, but last year (when I chose a Chrysler 300M, a fine and underrated car), they had a Lincoln Navigator. Bling ;)

Richard

Good point!

From some angles, but it's certainly unique enough to my eyes.

To a point, yes, but also many European vehicles - Contour, Beetle, Golf.

Mind you, the Cadalliac, Suburbans, F150s, F250s, and other assorted "proper" American vehicles make up for it!

The 300M is a nice piece of kit, my grandmother-in-law has one.

The Dodge Intrepid is considered a bit of a Mondeo-esque vehicle, but the base 2.7 V6 is just fine. It's smooth riding, handles reasonably well, has over 200 PS, decent auto, blah blah blah. Characterless I admit, but perfectly functional.

I made a Contour break once ;)

It's very 'golf, buffet and slippers'. Yet in Motor Trend, or one of the others, that lardy and expensive Intrepid-clone is faster through a slalom than an Audi (A4? Didn't specify) Quattro. It also has/had more power than the US market BMW M3 - 255bhp vs. 240bhp.

Fundamentally, they're derived from the Renault 25.

The 300M has the 3.5, 24v engine. I also think they have character from their utter pointlessness - the same passenger area as the Intrepid (a true six-seater barge), some more toys (but being a US spec car, the Intrepid already has the auto, air, cruise), and another $20,000 CDN over the Intrepid.

$20,000 for an electric seat, a smattering of chrome, and a fancy analogue clock in the dash.

Pure decadence. I loved that car ;)

I'm sure the 5.7 Hemi 300C will be much better, in every way, but to me it just doesn't have the same endearing 'Why?' factor.

Richard

Yup. I think the one exception is the Buick, which would squeal it's white-walled tyres at the heady speed of 40 mph, and had such an "elderly gentleman" feel about the transmission, you didn't feel any changes, probably because it started off in fourth and stayed there! :)

Now that I didn't know. That's quite scary, actually.

From memory, there's the smooth, quiet 2.7 with 204 hp, the smooth, quiet

3.2 with another 20 or so hp, and the smooth but noisier 3.5 with another 20 hp on top of that. I returned 30 mpUSg from the Intrepid, but then that was going to and from LA with the cruise control set at 70 for most of the way (it dropped to third for the Grapevine, heh).

Yes, they're huge, at least compared to many European cars. They don't feel that big to drive.

Ouch. Not worth it, really. Ours was a delightful golden / silver colour, looked very sleek, smart and... Well kinda cool. It's in my top four of vehicles to acquire when we emigrate (after MINI, S60 and PT Cruiser, heh).

Hmmmm.