What have you done today

[antijam]

The Mustang has been a huge success. One year at Stars & Stripes there were hundreds of the bloody things all pretty much identical. They implemented limits the following year

A couple of ladies I know got them last year as company cars, they love them. They would never have considered them if LHD.

When American manufacturers started seriously addressing the RHD market I was easily persuaded to buy firstly a Chrysler 300C Touring.......

...and subsequently an S550 Mustang Convertible.....

Without RHD I wouldn't have considered either. Both were intended to be daily drivers for both me and my wife and the needs they satisfied could equally have been met by european or asian alternatives. When RHD put the americans on equal footing it was design and price that were deciding factors. I've always thought American design had flair and when they carried that beyond the excesses of earlier years into the modern era they were not only attractive but well suited to UK roads. Both cars were very cost effective, even after import, provided you were prepared to accept the typical american production quality and inefficiency of design. The Chrysler was actually 'europeanised' to a considerable extent being a 'hybrid' Dodge Magnum with a Chrysler 300C front end, powered by a Mercedes V6 Diesel and actually built in Austria. It wasn't sold in that form in the States. It was a great cruiser but it's Estate space was very compromised.
The Mustang represented a great return to form after the lacklustre models of recent years and in 5 litre form was the cheapest production 400+ horsepower available at the time, the quad ohc modular 'Coyote' motor perfoming quite differently to earlier pushrod designs and it has IRS keeping things on the road at last. They could have tried harder on the soft top stowage though.
I'm quite surprised at how many C8's I see on UK roads these days and I'm sure RHD is major contributing factor to their popularity.
When I came to buy My C3, LHD was irrelevant. The car isn't a daily driver and its main purpose is not to get from A to B efficiently but to do so with max driving enjoyment.

 

[Mr. Cricket]

A couple of ladies I know got them last year as company cars, they love them. They would never have considered them if LHD.

I don't mind them at all just not 1,000's of them. I did come close to buying one but the over-enthusiastic salesman when asked about MPG as it would be a daily driver said 20 if you 'use' it and oil changes every 10k ruled it out for me. Since then speaking to current owners who all said that's bollox. I was looking forward to putting V8 VET reg on it to mess with peoples heads

 

[Mr. Cricket]

When American manufacturers started seriously addressing the RHD market I was easily persuaded to buy firstly a Chrysler 300C Touring.......

When mum was diagnosed with tummy Cancer and survived a major operation she was faced with a trip from Heath & Reach to Oxford 4 days every week and her poor VW Polo was donkeys years old. I challenged my sisters to find what was mum's dream car if she won the lotto for example. Couldn't believe it when the girls reported back with a Chrysler Cruiser. Found a tricked out demo model outside of London, dark metallic red, chrome grille, chrome wheels all sorts. She absolutely cherished it and developed a 'Cruiser wave' to other Cruisers and made the long trips daily more palatable for near on five years. Gone now 17 years so that would have been 22 years ago. Malcom her 2nd Husband is still driving it. Amazing what cars can do

 

[Chuffer]

Yes and yes to both . A RHD Mustang is my wife`s dream car but she will have to carry on dreaming .
As for me , I loved the Chrysler 300C as soon as it appeared in the UK with its chunky powerful looks . It had to be the rarer 5.7 Hemi though . When the Touring version came out I really fancied one for the looks and practicality but the wife said it looked like a hurse ( but she says that about all estates ) . Having had various SUV 4 x4 `s in the past that really suited my everyday needs I went for the Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi instead . Just love the `American ness` of it and that lusty V8 is a variable displacement twin spark joy . Disco`s and Range Rovers et al were never even considered , or the many and varied Japanese / Korean etc models despite their legendary reliability .
As you say antijam , the Chryslers were built in Austria with the 300C and Grand Cherokee sharing the same diesel and Hemi V8 engines although the Hemi was dropped early on for the UK market due to low demand for a gas guzzler . Mine will be 19 years old in April this year and has been totally reliable and never misses a beat . It cruises beautifully at barely above tick over revs and so relaxing to drive over long distances having toured down to Brittany twice and the Italian Lakes . Plus it goes like s**t off a shovel when you get `on it` with a lovely bellow from the K&N cold feed induction I fitted that adds a few more BHP and Lbs / feet torque .
It actually puts a smile on my face after a few days of driving around in the C3 .

 

[antijam]

........ I challenged my sisters to find what was mum's dream car if she won the lotto for example. Couldn't believe it when the girls reported back with a Chrysler Cruiser......... Amazing what cars can do

My elder daughter, sadly now deceased, shared my appreciation of american styling and she set her heart on - and ultimately acquired - a Chrysler PT Cruiser convertible. I could appreciate the retro styling but in honesty, it wasn't a very good car. My poor daughter was unfortunately a reactive rather than proactive driver and the Cruiser, like most of her cars, didn't survive very long.

 

[CaptainK]

Recent things done:
Weekend before last I took a whole morning to fit a new bracket for a switch to my C3.
Weekend just gone, I took almost a whole morning to fit the switch to the bracket.

Man I am good at this tinkering malarky

 

[Chuffer]

Recent things done:
Weekend before last I took a whole morning to fit a new bracket for a switch to my C3.
Weekend just gone, I took almost a whole morning to fit the switch to the bracket.

Man I am good at this tinkering malarky

Can`t beat a good leisurely tinker .

 

[Chuffer]

Took advantage of a cold ( - 4 Deg. C ) early morning with blue skies and a hard frost to go on one of my favourite local walks along the Grand Junction Canal and took my camera hoping for some ` atmospheric ` shots . Wasn`t disappointed as there was a lovely pair traditional working narrow boats ` breasted up` together at the bottom of Stoke Bruerne flight of locks . With smoke wafting up in the still air from the stoves in the Boatman`s Cabins of the `Motor ` & ` Butty ` and a thin film of ice on the water it looked a magical and timeless scene.
Having followed the route of the old horse drawn trackway down from the top of the 1.75 mile long Blisworth Tunnel down to the Tow Path at the south portal of the tunnel with long icicles hanging from the tunnel roof it was very peaceful having it all to myself as I passed through the historic canal side village of Stoke Bruerne . I prefer it at this time of year as in spring and summer it`s a tourist ` hot spot ` full of ` Gongoozlers ` as boaty people call them crowding around the locks and tunnel mouth and the two historic canal side pubs . It was also nice to see the historic narrow boat ` Sculpter ` back at her home mooring after a refurb funded by the Canal & Rivers Trust up in Nantwich , Cheshire . She is moored on the old wharf outside the Inland Waterways Museum that was originally a mill . A few years ago I was part of a small group of volunteers who maintained and operated ` Sculptor ` up and down the canal network in my area .
There seems to be a common thread that many railway enthusiasts love canals too . It must be a nostalgia thing !!

 

[Chuffer]

Just heard on the 9 am news that my C3`s original stomping ground of Pacific Palisades has been evacuated due to raging wild fires . I found a Belle Air Bay Beach Club , Pacific Palisades Membership Pass Number 1111 lost down the front scuttle a few years ago when having the windshield replaced . A very glamorous club in a very dez rez area !!

 

[CaptainK]

There seems to be a common thread that many railway enthusiasts love canals too . It must be a nostalgia thing !!

Same here - love railways, and love canals too. Really good photos, thanks for sharing.

 

[Chuffer]

Thanks Captain , as a fellow matelot ( if only by name ) you might enjoy these photos from my days involved with Sculptor . I had my official Boatmans Certificate that was a requirement of the Canal & Rivers Trust who own her to be in charge of the boat and crew . On the occasion of these photos we were taking a load of display equipment from Stoke Bruerne on the Grand Union Canal to the centre of Northampton on the river Nene for a big Inland Waterways Festival . That involved travelling north up the Grand Union and navigating the 1.75 mile long Blisworth Tunnel to join the Northampton Arm of the canal which is very narrow and has 17 single width locks in only 4.7 miles before joining the navigable River Nene in the heart of Northampton . It `s a bit of a squeeze steering a 72 long x 6ft 9ins beam boat into a 75 foot x 7 foot lock , some of which have rickety draw bridges to pass under !! On another occasion we had 20 tons of bagged coal onboard destined for a local dealer that supplied duel for the narrow boating community . That was real fun as she sat so low in the water and handled like a Super Tanker ! It really felt like a step back in time when the canals were the arteries of the countries transport of goods before the coming of the railways .
Sculptor has an interesting history and was built in 1935 which is very late in the history of canals .She is a `Star` class `Small Northwich ` type 72 foot narrow boat built for the Grand Junction Canal Carrying Company and takes it`s name from a distant constellation of stars . The term `small ` refers to the depth of the hold and not its length as 72 foot is the longest length of boat that UK canal locks can handle. `Large ` Northwich`s stand much higher above the waterline when not loaded with a deeper hold . She is powered by a Lister twin cylinder air cooled engine that makes that classic `chug chug ` noise .
Her claim to fame was during the London Blitz on WW2 when she any many other narrow boats were requisitioned as Fire Boats and was based in Paddington Basin. Fire Boats were fitted with suction pumps in the hold and fire hoses to tackle the blazing city by drawing water straight from the canal . This was a very successful tactic as the Thames very nearly dried out at low tide and the cities water mains were mostly out of action due to bomb damage . Sculptor was again pressed into service during the V1 and V2 rocket attacks in 1944 - 1945 .