Cars...

[Lucky Phil]

44 minutes ago, audiomick said:

Aston Martin? It's not only British, it is English! So, quirkiness is not a bug, it is a feature. And the right-hand side is the driver's side in England, as you very well know, so it makes perfect sense to put the bonnet release there.

Got news for you Mick my previous DD the Ford Kuga ( Escape to the US) the hood release was also on the pax side and so was the Focus RS. The Supra has the hood release on the drivers side but with the BMW specific double pull release. So you don't release the hood and then feel under it for the secondary safety latch to operate you pull the hood release and it pops up then you pull it again to release the secondary latch. Quirky. The Supra being a BMW mechanically has the indicator stork on the left side of the column which in an auto is no problem but a bit of a pain in a manual because your left hand is usually busy shifting gears to operate the indicators. So you need to hit the indicators very early. The Astons are a beautiful car and I considered buying a SH one but at the end of the day too much hassle on quite a few levels. An old Guzzi's enough hassle 

Edited August 21, 2024 by Lucky Phil

[guzzler]

My mate in WA has an XK8 Jag which whilst another great car...is giving him a few wee hassles.

He'll probably move it on soon as he's had his fun with it.

Cheers  

[Lucky Phil]

27 minutes ago, guzzler said:

My mate in WA has an XK8 Jag which whilst another great car...is giving him a few wee hassles.

He'll probably move it on soon as he's had his fun with it.

Cheers  

Yea I also like and looked at a Jag F series. Great looking car but it's a Jag, and well, it's a Jag. When I was researching a new DD 18 months ago I saw stats for the Range Rover Evoke with regards to reliability and the reviewer mentioned that they were considered to be quite problematic in that regard but people were still buying them

Phil

[LowRyter]

F type,  Corvette wannabe

[Lucky Phil]

2 hours ago, LowRyter said:

F type,  Corvette wannabe

There's 2 of the latest Corvettes in our area and we saw one driving around a few months ago and my wife asked me why we didn't buy one of those instead of the Supra. The black one looks good but the lime green one doesn't. Unusual car whos look changes dramatically depending on the colour which probably means it's fundamentally not that nice aesthetically. 

Phil 

[LowRyter]

12 hours ago, Lucky Phil said:

There's 2 of the latest Corvettes in our area and we saw one driving around a few months ago and my wife asked me why we didn't buy one of those instead of the Supra. The black one looks good but the lime green one doesn't. Unusual car whos look changes dramatically depending on the colour which probably means it's fundamentally not that nice aesthetically. 

Phil 

Actually I was comparing the F type to the legacy front engine Corvette.  OTOH, the Supra looks unlike any car on the road IMO very sci-fi.  I saw one tach-ing it up and boy that thing winds up and shifts gears like a race car.

I personally like the lime green C8, my favorite color but it only looks good with silver trim and wheels, rather than black.  I'm too cheap to consider one.  I have a C6 with 90k miles with a groaning throw out bearing and a new radiator that's my daily driver.   

[audiomick]

 

22 hours ago, Lucky Phil said:

... my previous DD the Ford Kuga ( Escape to the US) the hood release was also on the pax side and so was the Focus RS. ...

Phil, my rationale was that the car (Aston Martin) was originally designed for right hand drive, so that is where the bonnet release is. Too much trouble to move it across for the left hand drive models. The cars you mentioned:

Quote

The Ford Kuga is a compact crossover SUV (C-segment) manufactured by Ford since 2008 mainly for the European market,...

...The Kuga went on sale in the first half of 2008, and was built at Ford's plant in Saarlouis, Germany.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Kuga

 

Quote

The original Focus was primarily designed by Ford of Europe's German and British teams.^[1] Production of the fourth generation Focus began in 2018 in Germany

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Focus

 

Both primarily designed for the european market, and manufactured in Europe. I.e., left hand drive.

Same logic applies, I reckon: too much trouble to move the bonnet release to the driver's side.

The Supra is Japanese.  In Japan, they drive on the correct side of the road, i.e right hand drive. So the same logic applies: bonnet release on the driver's side in the country of origin.

Edited August 22, 2024 by audiomick

[Lucky Phil]

5 minutes ago, audiomick said:

Phil, my rationale was that the car (Aston Martin) was originally designed for right hand drive, so that is where the bonnet release is. Too much trouble to move it across for the left hand drive models.

The cars you mentioned:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Kuga

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Focus

 

Both primarily designed for the european market, and manufactured in Europe. I.e., left hand drive.

Same logic applies, I reckon: too much trouble to move the bonnet release to the driver's side.

The Supra is Japanese.  In Japan, they drive on the correct side of the road, i.e right hand drive. So the same logic applies: bonnet release on the driver's side in the country of origin.

Yep you're correct on all counts. CBF to move the bonnet release for the opposite drive countries. I'm always hitting the wipers to make turns in the Supra and just when I get used to it I start doing the same thing in the other two cars when I get back in them. I wonder aloud if there is any sort of advantage driving on the left or the right side of the road.

Phil

 

[audiomick]

19 minutes ago, Lucky Phil said:

... I wonder aloud if there is any sort of advantage driving on the left or the right side of the road.

 

There is, of course, a Wikipedia article to read, if you can be bothered.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-_and_right-hand_traffic#Steering_wheel_position

 

For me:

Driving on the left (right hand drive) seemed natural, because that is what I grew up with.

After nearly 30 years here, when I think back to my Monaro, I sometimes have to remind myself that the steering wheel was on the right. The picture that pops up in my mind is a left hand drive Monaro.

So you get used to whatever you are using.

 

For me personally, I never had trouble with changing gears with the left hand, but there is something kind of logical for me (right-handed..) to be changing gears with the right hand.

On the other hand, my left eye is close to blind. It is this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amblyopia

So left hand drive means that all the action is on my "blind side", and right hand drive means that my blind side is only dealing with the paddocks next to the road.

 

In answer to your question to yourself, no I don't think either side has inherent advantages. Which side is or would be better for any individual depends on factors like which hand is dominant, whether there are vision impairments, any number of thing. At the end of the day, you can't get it right for everyone. The main thing is, everyone agrees to all drive on the same side.

Edited August 22, 2024 by audiomick

[Lucky Phil]

The only issue I ever had riding on the right was when doing u turns. Always defaulted to a right U turn which was interesting. I've told the wife to act instantly and yell at me if I revert to left driving on our Italian trip. I had no issues driving in the States but that was 10 years ago now. 

Phil

[Lucky Phil]

I've done a few minor mods to the Supra of course and the latest is a new gear knob. I've never liked the std shift knob on the Supra with the leather shift boot fully integrated into the knob so I bought a heavier knob from the USA which is a nicer shape and 200gms heavier and it's also a threaded type as opposed to the std one which clips onto the shifter shaft so requires an adaptor.

Problem with that though was the boot retention system was a bit bulky (you cut the knob off the std boot assy and use that) and the required collar to hide the cable tie that clamped the boot to the adaptor added 1/4 inch to the total shifter height. I finally bit the bullet and machined up a redesigned threaded adaptor with a different boot retention system and a Titanium collar to hide all that. I think it looks better and the shift action is slightly improved as well and the total shifter height is 6mm or 1/4" lower than the std shifter.  

From this

To this

Adaptor

[Tomchri]

Petrolhead to the end. Woud I had a Guzzi with no sound, NO.
Latest edition dayly driver with good sound. Only 400hp, but a V8.
Cheers Tom.

Sent fra min SM-S906B via Tapatalk

[LowRyter]

In other news, my Corvette is in it's 3rd repair shop to fix the right rear corner.  Hopefully insurance and the body shop will agree to fix it.  They tell me it's a 4 week backlog to get started.  

[audiomick]

This was a fantastic car. A friend of mine had one. LH Torana with the L39 option.

The Toranas without the hot-rod option were mostly shitboxes. Reliable, but boring. Ask @Lucky Phil, I'm sure he has some stories to tell.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden_Torana

Don't ask me. I had one of these, Holden Monara GTS 186S, unfortunately the model with the 186 cu. inch 6-cylinder, not the one with the 327 Chevy V8.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden_Monaro#First_generation_(1968–1971)

Mine was white, with a black vinyl roof, but had the stripe like this one.

 

 

Edited January 11 by audiomick

[fotoguzzi]