Variety?

[taipan]

When I joined the forum in 2009 there was hustle and bustle surrounding those reworking and personalising their cars. By this I don’t mean this OEM+ malarkey banded about, I mean the “summer of the colour change”, the FI and n/a builds, the trophy replicas, the genuine trophies etc etc.

I find myself wondering where it’s all gone?! Now I must admit I don’t frequent these parts as much as I used to, so perhaps I’ve not looked thoroughly enough recently, but these sorts of things seem to have dwindled to an absolute trickle. Variety is the spice of life and I for one, miss reading (and learning from) the build threads.

I suppose as the cars age and thoughts begin to turn to appreciation and future value, it’s inevitable that people become more aware of what they’re doing to their cars. I’ve always thought of this approach as ever so slightly dry and calculated though, so I hope it’s not a sign of things to come or else I fear it’s going to become a very one dimensional little world! Hope not.

 

[Redsalive]

I think youre right. you only have to read my recent thread about re spraying my car. I think like you said because they are getting rarer the general consensus is to keep them oem due to prices, collectability etc..

but if youre never going to sell who cares?

 

[ColinG]

In my own opinion the Vee doesn't need any extra power, my daily car would pulverise it anyways.

As for paint and styling.. I love the Hong Kong vee in Lamborghini Matt grey but I would never do this to my own! My idea of perfection is a clean original ph2. Lowered on KW's, cromadora's or oem wheels, nice seats and an exhaust.

 

[Brett]

You need to take a trip over to France Jon. There are a fair few fiddled with cars giving it the full beans. Thing is many owners hang on to them so not many new adventurous ones take the plung in resprays, engine tuning, conversions etc etc.
Im not sure if Ben will post about it, but he has transformed the front end of his car. The turn in feels beautiful and completly different to any vee ive been out in or drove. He has fully rebuilt the car along with engine upgrades. Its a stunning car and definatly one of my favorites.

 

[Duncan]

Possibly also linked to the current financial situation. These days, not many people can justify sinking thousands into a car that they will never see back...... when they dont really need to.

I know i was alot more cash rich in 2009 than i am now!

There are also those who do these mods, but dont really/dont at all post on here.


The idea of a project v6 crosses my mind all the time. Id pick a high mileage non crashed car as base and go nuts on it.... Maybe one day.

 

[taipan]

Fair points being made gents. Especially about the lurkers out there or those that simply aren't club members. I'm aware that things over the stream are a little different, though it seems strange as their cars are worth so much more than ours. If it's a value driven thing surely they should be far less adventurous than us rather than more! Perhaps it's due to the different mindset of the French used car buyer to modifications.

I do think that there's not just one single driver that's changed things, more a combination of what's been voiced above. Still a shame to see the noticeable drop in build threads though, as they provided a different allure.

 

[Kett]

Hi Jon,

When I acquired TimV6's 'pretty damn finished' Vee 2 years ago - I was hoping to carry on with the development.
Life seems to throw various curve-balls at you - and that Vee will remain stored in dehumidified surrounds until at least next spring. All I have done so far is refurbed some 18th wheels in gloss black and refurbed the CF rear spoiler. Now I want a ducktail trophy jobby though - as it'll look exactly as Patchall's RC car. It needs a full belts and fluids service before it gets used - hopefully for hill climbing school at Prescott.

What I didn't 'figure on' was my normal 255 needing more TLC as it gracefully aged. The split driveshaft gaiter (£30 rubber component) gave me a right run-around...
Rescued from Swindon by AA, towed from my house to Main Dealer with hired trailer by my LR Discovery, weeks on a ramp to find a suitable part, back to paint shop where effing AA scratched rear bumper, back to main dealer where handbrake was adjusted too tight... I had a call today to say it's ready!!!
I still have designs on sorting the BMC connections, Spike exhaust and having trophy coils installed. At that point (after 8 years of ownership) I'll have my perfect OEM Vee! Lol!!!

I think that OEM Vees are becoming harder than one thinks!

 

[Lankan]

IMO a different perspective on "Variety" is that of experiencing different makes and models of cars, and being able to compare and contrast their characteristics and idiosyncrasies side-by-side, which is a school of thought I subscribe to, rather than spend a whole lot of cash on a single motor to only get bored with (or tired of) it after a while. I guess it depends on what exactly takes one's fancy, and how far one is prepared to go.

Having said that I do enjoy reading through the project threads, and would have embarked on one myself if I had the know-how and time to do a large part of the work myself. That certainly would have been very satisfying..........

 

[Jamesv6]

We should all chip in and buy an old shitter, leave it with Scott, then find sponsor to pay for some variety mods.

 

[Lankan]

We should all chip in and buy an old shitter, leave it with Scott, then find sponsor to pay for some variety mods.

Now that is an idea James.............

Once complete, it can be used as a prop to raise the Vee's profile, and that of v6Clio.net :approve:

 

[taipan]

Nice to see that Tims car stayed in the club Kett, that had slipped me by! Sounds like it's in good hands as well

Interesting angle Dulan. Hadn't thought of it like that, though purely from a Vee viewpoint I think people see the cars differently these days, with less inclination to stray too far from the 'safe' mods e.g easily reversible.

Sure somene will roll along and show off their twin engined, quad turbo build and prove me wrong though. Perhaps the loonies are still out there somewhere!

 

[Cold fusion]

Agree with you Jon 100%, cannot understand people who can agonise about what colour their tax disc holder should be or figure out why people abandon their beautiful machines for 6 months in case they discover that they do not melt when it rains
only enjoyment for me on this forum is reading what Brett has done to his machine.

Nigel.

 

[Matt]

Bit like the gt turbo circles. Everyone went mad modding them in the 90s and now people are putting them back to standard...but finding oem parts is becoming difficult and very expensive. Things like oem gear knobs cost a fortune but people didn't think then about changing it and binning the old one. I'm one for subtle personalisation.

 

[Hampy]

Everyone is different, variety is the spice of life, etc.
I think it is great to have modified, original and everything in-between. If you believe they are meant to be driven or stored for future generations then that's all fine with me, as we have the full spectrum to enjoy and admire. :race:

 

[taipan]

I've always been firmly in the camp that cars should be driven and enjoyed; that's what they were designed and built for after all. Driving vs storing is another discussion entirely though I think...

I spose it really comes down to different strokes for different folks. Though with the loss of the loonies (I say that with admiration by the way) imo I think the club has also lost one of it's core attractions and the knowledge base and know-how that went with it.

 

[Matt]

Got to ask yourself why have we "lost the loonies".. The core dedicated followers of any marque not just the v6 will stay the course. Surely those that buy a new car when it's comes out, modify it then get bored and move on to something else because they have taken the car to the point where it cannot be developed anymore.. In regards to the v6 it was developed, obviously with the enthusiast in mind, but as with all production cars there is still some degree of conservatism that needs to come in to play (to appeal to the masses and make money for the company) but there only so many beans you can squeeze out of a tin!

I wouldn't say the club has lost a core attraction by the loss of the loonies but instead potentially moved on to its next stage of evolution towards classic status.

 

[Brett]

I think the club has also lost one of it's core attractions and the knowledge base and know-how that went with it.

Really? I bet if you asked a complete random question about a v6 you will have an answer within a few hours. To my knowledge not many rebuilds were undertaken by the owner themselves. Mr Mulgari is probably the most recent who has done it himself.

 

[taipan]

I probably am not best qualified to comment on the actual level of technical experience lost (and remaining) as what I know mechanically could be written on a mouse dropping, but it certainly felt like there was a lot of knowledge floating about in the project threads back then. For instance I always read v6max's update in awe (and confusion) at the technical detail!

As for a shift in the club, I think it has you know. Some will say it's changed for the better, some for the worse, but I think all would accept that it has changed. I don't think it's because the cars are heading towards classic status, certainly not just yet anyway. Just seems to be a bit less adventure these days.

 

[Matt]

Been a member since 2007 and honestly don't think the clubs changed very much. Good thing with our car club is that variety only comes in the form of modifications on other clubs where the club name is just 'turbo' or 'sport' there's loads of variety of makes and more often this makes for a disjointed club. Least we all have the same car in common. There's always going to be threads about modifications and tbh if the v6 allowed big gains I think more people would try it, but I'm glad it doesn't. It's never going to be quick so I personally wouldn't bother trying to make it but its a unique car anyway so who needs more variety... It's got bags of character all by its self!
Meets are still fab and interesting (i think from looking at recent feedback), friendly people on here and lots of info as and when you need it.

Not sure about the odd bloke who started it all though :rofl: :bow:

 

[Lankan]

Interesting to hear everyone's opinions. Cars are meant to be driven, no question about that.

Reading through the various threads, it seems like the early pioneers took a punt at stamping their mark by taking various routes to extract more power from the engine, but it seems, for all intents and purposes, that that approach was a) very costly and b) not very reliable, since all projects seemed to have either ground to a halt, delayed or abandoned. The end result is that one doesn't get to enjoy the car (i.e. drive it) as much as they intended. As such, once that experience has been made public I doubt there would be many more who would follow suit by trying to trod the same path. I suppose that is why there aren't many who would be willing to go all out, except for somebody like Brett and Ben (Mulgari) who have the know-how and/or can do a large part of the work themselves.

Personally I am not bothered whether the car has XXX BHP, but it needs to handle well, so major engine surgery is not something I am likely to put down as a priority, but if it improves driveability then that is something I will explore, as I have done/doing with #002.

Now then Ben, do spill the beans about what you have done to the front end of your Vee......would love to know.