The topic came up today as we were taking our routine Sunday stroll through the park and to the pizza joint. "Why did you buy that Skoda?" she said.

 

My first car was a 1955 Buick Special, blue and white, V8, auto. It was offered by the guy I used to babysit for at the price his dealer was offering in part exchange: $250. I had my first accident in that car, a rear-ender, not looking where I was driving. I also had my first sex in that car, it had a really nice red and white leather bench-style front seat.

 

My second car was a hand-me-down from my father, a 1963 Plymouth Valiant, turquoise, inline-6, push-button auto. It was damn boring, but I drove it until the transmission packed up. Then I had a bike for a couple years, until I got married:

 

My third car was my first new car, a 1968 Datsun 510 station wagon, mustard coloured, inline-4, manual. That was a GREAT car. The first thing I did to my brand new car was take off the chrome grill and paint it flat black. Cool. Then, I removed the hubcaps and put fatter tyres on the rear end. Stupid, maybe, but it sure looked good. I used to race Porsche's down the Saratoga canyon road and they couldn't keep up. Amazing what a little local knowledge can do. I gave the car back to the credit union when my marriage failed.

 

My fourth car was a 1960 Pontiac Catalina, pale blue, V8, auto. I bought this for a bargain price from Lou, my boss at the Richfield filling station on Route 28, Woodstock, NY. It absolutely drank petrol, but I pumped the gas. It was reliable and it came with me to Boston, MA, when I decided it was time to stop being a hippie and get a proper job.

 

My fifth (and absolutely favourite) car was a 1969 Camaro, silver w/ black vinyl roof, 283 V8, manual. I loved that car. I did all the work on it myself. Rebuilt the carb; fixed the front bumper when my girlfriend slid into a pole during a blizzard. The timing went off and my local mechanic said the distributor was rusted to the block. It would cost more than I paid for the car to fix it.

 

My sixth car was a 1972 Dodge Dart, mustard w/olive green vinyl roof, inline-6, auto. It looked better than it sounds. But, it was a dog. The transmission leaked like a sieve. I used to drive with a case of transmission fluid in the boot. I bought my first real motorcycle to do my commuting on and just used the car for trips to the beach. I sold it to my neighbour when my new bride and I left the country. (Turns out the car, which was sold to me by the mechanic that bought my Camaro, was a chop job and literally fell in half when the new owner was driving down the expressway. Jeeze, Louise. Her father was a Boston police detective and came looking for me, or so I hear.)

 

My seventh car (my second new car) was a 1987 Renault 19, electric blue, inline-4, manual. I bought it for the colour. I had to buy a Renault, because my company had a contract with them. It drove like ****. Then, I found out the dealer hadn't put any air in the tyres. It was better after that, but it was always a company car. We used it for shopping, mainly. It went after I was made redundant in '90.

 

My eighth car was a hand-me-down 1995 Renault Laguna, violet, inline-4, manual. The employer that made me redundant offered it to me for the cost of scrappage. Again, we mostly just used it for shopping runs until it failed its MOT after the first year. But, after a dozen years of riding nothing but motorcycles, I found I rather liked driving a car, so:

 

My ninth car was a 2008 Alfa Romeo Brera, Carbonio Black, inline-4, manual. I truly believe that this is the most beautiful car you can buy for £9K. I loved looking at it. After a wash, clay, polish, wax it looked gorgeous. I drove it proudly and problem-free for three years. Then, I got dissatisfied with my local mechanic after he solved a problem with £700 of new brakes and the problem was still there, and I knew I had a valve chain job on the horizon, plus it never could take a speed bump without rattling your fillings.

 

(Finally, what we all came here for...)

 

My current and third new car is a 2016 Skoda Superb Sportline, Corrida Red, inline-4, auto. Today, my wife asked me why I bought it. She said, "People used to turn and look at us when we were in the Brera." And, it's true. It was an eye magnet, that car. And the truth is, I really wanted to buy a new Alfa Romeo Giulia. After much (too much) reading and deliberating, I narrowed it down to the Giulia and the Sportline. I drove both cars twice. The Alfa handled great and I prefer a rear wheel drive. But the boot was small and the stop/start was really quite crude. And the Sportline is a really nice ride.

 

I bought the Sportline. It was a classic case of the head overruling the heart. Plus, buying the sales manager's demo saved me £9K. It was all specced up with extras and I could take it home today. I couldn't say no.

 

So, my wife and I were coming home from our walk and we passed by the Sportline in the twilight. "That is a nice-looking car," she said.

 

I think, yes, I am a Skoda guy. I don't miss the Brera at all.

Is there a gallery of you're awesome car back-history on here?

No. I've searched out some pix to remind myself, and most of them are close approximations. The Brera and Sportline are here:

http://www.jerrydavis.co.uk/Pages/Jerry/AF/Skoda.html

 

This is a dead ringer for my first car, except mine didn't have the continental kit on the back.

Mine was more of a turquoise green than this grey model, but right year.

Imagine this Datsun 510 (now Nissan) with a matt black grill and steel wheels.

This could actually be my car, it's so close. Mine had full hubcaps.

This is the super sport model. Mine didn't have the spoiler or mags, but right colour.

Olive drab vinyl roof on mine.

I don't remember the Renault 19 being so ugly!

Edited 27 February, 20179 yr by freelunch

Some sweet motors there.

 

 

And a Renault.

 

TBh I recall the 19 being quite a pretty car, was there not a fast one that was a nice blue a bit like the Williams clios?

Yeah there was a quick 16v one. Someone at work had one with a plate that said K1 OOH AH... but I don't think the car was quite that good.

 

Loving the Catalina at pic #4 and the '55 Buick

 

 

 

I guess some cars age better than others. I wish I still had the '55 Buick and the '69 Camaro. If I had owned the Misano Blue version of the Brera, I might be running two cars now...

 

I can't believe the advance in technology from 2008 to 2016. The ACC and DCC are quite wonderful, not to mention having my entire music collection at my fingertips.

Now that's an interesting selection of cars

I don't expect them to feature on Top Gear any time soon, but they do create a bit of a sentimental journey. For instance, I met my wife (a Yorkshire lass) while driving the Camaro. She loved that car and our collie/lab/alsatian-mix bitch used to love riding in the back seat. In fact, after I sold the car, Bess recognised the car as we walked past, even though it had been repainted black. I didn't know cars had a smell! She sniffed the running board and wanted to get in!

My dad had a Datsun 1600 (IRS and OHC was the big deal), a sweet light car with a Mercedes copied chopped down 6 (2.2) which many rallied. He replaced it with a Datsun 180B which invented NVH......horrendous!

What makes one a Škoda Guy, though...? Simply having one? Am I one?

Do you want to be?

(And where do you find that "S" character with the caron?)

On 28/02/2017 at 14:49, freelunch said:

Do you want to be?

(And where do you find that "S" character with the caron?)

 

Well I have a Škoda and I really really like it... I'd settled on the mkIV Golf, but upon being 'gifted' this Octavia and finding it to be basically everything the Golf was, but to a higher spec and standard, I fell doubly in love!!! That and the Golfs within my price range are typically ragged, abused and or kevved, so the Škoda was simply the choice I'd have taken if I'd known about it before.

I guess that makes me a Škoda guy!!

 

 

As for the Š character - Assuming you have a full-size keyboard, hold down the left ALT key and, on the number pad to the right, type 0138. Then release the ALT key. Job done!

If you're using a touchscreen mobile phone, hit the shift key to bring up the capital letters, then hold down the S. After a moment, it should bring up the range of accented letter S's (as in Ś Ŝ Ş Š) and you just slide your finger to the Š one.

 

If you want to know more:

In Windows Start menu, under All Programs/Accessories, there's usually something called Character Map. You can do a search for it, too. This is a little app that opens up a display of every single character available and you can show them in different fonts (some fonts have characters unique to them, like Symbol, Wingdings or even Elvish and Klingon). Selecting a special character, you can copy it and paste it in a document, and stuff. But in the bottom right of the window is often a Keystroke description, which tells you how to just type it in. Usually it's holding ALT and typing a 4-digit number.

 

Characters I fnd useful enough to learn are things like:

• ü in German (ALT+0252)
• ™ for jokes about trademarked things (ALT+0153)
• º for saying 26ºC and 82ºF, or turning something 120º (ALT+0186)
• fractions for ½" ¼" ¾" and so on (ALT+0189, 0188 and 0190 respectively)
• ² and ³ used in 15m² and 45cl³ (ALT+0178 and 0179)

There's a whole bunch of them, including all the accented letters from other languages, but NOT all of these things have a Keystroke. Things like the Greek letters don't, so if something has 1.52Ω resistance I have to just copy & paste the character.

Have a play, though, see what you can get out of it. It's one of my most used apps on the PC!!

 

 

 

@Ttaskmaster 

 

Škoda: I made a very studied decision to trade charisma for practicality with I chose my new car. I chose the Sportline over an Alfa Romeo Giulia. And, like you, I love my Škoda. The only thing I find tedious is having to explain myself to all my friends who can't seem to get past the škip joke. Well, the joke's on them...

 

I also like the fact that you don't see a Sportline on every street corner. Well, unless you start looking at the similarities between the Audi's, Seat's, VW's... they must all have the same metal creasing machinery and headlight stylist. I admire BMW's, but every other car in my neighbourhood is a diesel Beemer. I am actually feeling quite smug about my choice. And apparently, Corrida Red will just add to its rarity as you can't buy one now.

 

Typography: My compliments on your knowledge of a PC keyboard! Unfortunately, I'm on a Mac. When I hold the alt key down and type 0138, I get 0138. My problem is I spent money on an app that is supposed to show all possible characters and drop them into your text for you. It won't show me a Š. Then, I discovered (after only 30 years) that my Mac has an inbuilt Character Viewer that will do the same thing for free. And copy/paste works, too. Unlike the PC, which has a keystroke you can use, the Character Viewer is a bit of a multi-stroke palaver, so I have a file in my tool bar now that I can use for a quick copy/paste. Or, copy/paste from your posts!  Cheers!

Edited 3 March, 20179 yr by freelunch

Ah... yes... Macs.... Apple and I have a hate/hate relationship, heh heh!!

Glad I could help, at least in finding your way to a workable solution, though!

 

TBH, I kinda gave up finding a car based on external looks. So many these days just look like Sierras/Modeos anyway. I'd probably have had a mkII or mkIII Supra if I could, but they're just not viable every day drivers now, even with a friend who specialises in them. Instead I just went with what worked for me when in the driving seat, in terms of handling, features, aesthetics and general ownership/maintenance experience.

 

 

Ha! I am all about appearance! I bought my Brera simply because it looked good. If I'd driving it for a day, instead of around the block, I might not have bought it...

 

I think the Sportline is a very nice looking car.

 

I did a double-take the other day: a new Corrida Red Octavia estate backed up to my car and it was like the Red Sea parting. I never have a camera with me when I need one.

 

On 03/03/2017 at 13:31, freelunch said:

@Ttaskmaster 

Typography: My compliments on your knowledge of a PC keyboard! Unfortunately, I'm on a Mac. When I hold the alt key down and type 0138, I get 0138. My problem is I spent money on an app that is supposed to show all possible characters and drop them into your text for you. It won't show me a Š. Then, I discovered (after only 30 years) that my Mac has an inbuilt Character Viewer that will do the same thing for free. And copy/paste works, too. Unlike the PC, which has a keystroke you can use, the Character Viewer is a bit of a multi-stroke palaver, so I have a file in my tool bar now that I can use for a quick copy/paste. Or, copy/paste from your posts!  Cheers!

Try:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201236

and

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201586

and you could also add an auto correct to change skoda to Škoda

Edited 4 March, 20179 yr by Bud

The auto correct trick is a good one, but it doesn't work for me in a browser window, only word processing apps. I've made the modification in the Keyboard preference pane. Cheers!