Koni Street rebuilt.

[nta16]

I had to look up the Rover 25 as they are too new to me and that was a later look to them, there were MG versions of those too.  I took my wife and her female friend to a Rover Dealership back then so her friend could look at a Rover 200 or 25, I forget which, without the usual slimy, patronising and misogynist salesmen you almost always got at such Dealerships then, and still now, getting too much as she knew I would not allow it and take the mickey out of them and make them feel small instead.

 

I wasn't interested in going out on the test drive so I just looked around and saw a newish Rover Mini Cooper in the corner of the outside lot behind other cars and asked the salesman if I could have a drive of it, he replied it was so different from a 25/200 that I had come to look at, I soon put him right on his incorrect assumption and told him if he wasn't interested in selling the Cooper that was fine.  He had to admit he thought the battery was flat and he would have to move the other cars to get it out so I told him he should have been honest in the first place and if he sorted it I would arrange to come back another time to test drive the car.  Another impulse buy which I shouldn't have and went on to be another involved story of purchase from the UK motor trade .   .    . 

[D.FYLAKTOS]

One of the first post that i read about Koni Rebuild work at 2006, one of the most respected members in an auto-forum, more that 30+ years in repairs-modifications etc itself and knowledge of many brands-quality of parts etc.

 

 

 

 

"As the Judge (nickname) said, send them to KONI, we buy KONI for 2 reasons, they are very good and repairable, don't think about it at all, the cost is several times less than buying new ones."

 

[Paws4Thot]

@nta16 I've no interest in Spridgits beyond the aesthetics of chrome bumper cars, and that stems from June 1996. One cold, wet June Saturday I was on my way back from my "big shop" and overtook one in my Citroen ZX. I checked my mirrors before moving back in and a realisation hit me. Not only was I warmer, drier and going faster than the elderly couple in the Spridgit; based on their expressions I was also having more fun (and yes at a legal speed).

[nta16]

Yes, well, as I put a lot of "classic" owners were old farts (regardless of their chronological age) in old fart cars made that way their ownership.  But I'd certainly agree such cars are a lot less fun in heavier rain even with, or because of, having the roof down.

 

That was a point I made when taking passengers out, we might be behind say a Metro, to not upset anyone, and going roughly the same speed in something like a Spridget, the Metro driver is experiencing very little about the drive, it's nothing, whereas the Spridget driver has to be working at it a little, (hopefully) enjoying the sounds, smells, sights working the (15.5") steering wheel, clutch and gears - but going no faster.  You either enjoy it or you don't.  I had a mate who'd had a good few TVRs (and many, many other makes) and got into Porsches, after TVRs!, totally beyond me - but he was a a few years older.  😄  

 

I had to go to my ex-neighbours website to see what a ZX was, if it was more fun I can't dispute that, each to their own and circumstances of course.  I know DS19s, that those and the Rover P6 always featured in films about the future, even long after they were no longer available as they were such forward looking and interesting cars.  I had one ride in a DS19 long before they got fashionable again on a bumper road and it might not have been in the best condition as it seemed to go up and down and slightly side to side, started to make me feel seasick.

 

Back in the day a mate had his boss's almost new BX 16v (though it didn't have the badge) and he being a rep drove it like a rocket ship, he didn't pay for the petrol or upkeep, plastic dash and bonnet as I remember it which both shook at (very) high speed.  Going on an empty local dual-carriageway at a fast turn of knots I enquired about the brakes and my mate demonstrated by jumping on them and we rapidly slowed to what seemed like a crawl, and the speedo showed 90 (kph of course).  It was great on the back roads too.

 

I also like the 2CV from the one and only ride in the late 70s, when we only had pushbikes no car, and being taken to a village pub in the fog going around the roundabouts of Daventry in the fog, car four up leaning like mad, great fun at totally legal if not perhaps entirely sensible speeds but the driver knows his car, on the downside he was gagging for his first ale. (I hasten to add there was no drinking and driving, even then).

 

Edited 25 February by nta16

[nta16]

@D.FYLAKTOS I was going through the files from my wife's old phone and found a few for you.

 

This is in Wales, you can tell by the clouds, just off one of those roads, September 2017.

 

[nta16]

Two from a couple of gated field roads not far from where I live, second is just over the county border, quite a few similar roads in Northamptonshire plus other great country roads for Spridget driving.

 

September 2020 Northamptonshire

 

 

May 2020 just in Warwickshire

[D.FYLAKTOS]

One of the major problems in North Evia was this, in front of you a truck or a bus and all the other car behind it, no space for an overtake, here we call that as ''train line".

 

 

 

The latest years the situation improved.

 

 

 

 

Now a visitor can make an excursion without a ''traffic'' problem and a local guy can run a bit faster.

 

 

[nta16]

The modern version above is good for faster A to B driving in a modern car or perhaps cruising but far too wide for a Spridget and faster or more modern car would be at possibly illegal speeds.

 

In the mid-1980s I used to commute to the next town and it would be like your first photo only with some cars coming from the other way too, usually the line would run at 50 mph (80kph) and most day I would see exactly the same cars and know if were running a little later or earlier by where a certain car would pass-by from the opposite and at which tree on the side of the road.  I used to call the row of cars going in my direction a traffic-train and thought if we got a long rope the car at front could pull the rest of us.  Only one car, a couple of times that I saw, that ever bothered to overtake and that was probably a sales rep's car as it had the all important 'i' in the boot badge, he never got more than a few cars ahead by the time we got to the town.

 

The road isn't a lot better now, in fact worse as it often features on local radio traffic reports for delays at a small roundabout that wasn't there in the 80s and last time I travelled on it we all went at 40-45 mph (65-72 kph) and it was out of peak times, ah, progress.  😄

 

[Thefeliciahacker]

6 hours ago, D.FYLAKTOS said:

 

this was muuuuuuuuuuuch better

 

[D.FYLAKTOS]

28 minutes ago, Thefeliciahacker said:

this was muuuuuuuuuuuch better

 

 

A 3-3,5 hour trip this way could take 5 hours, i have seen in the past even 8-10 cars behind a truck-bus-tank truck.

Especially in summer was a nightmare, lots of accidents when drivers tried to make an overtake, now with the wider road NO accidents.

[Thefeliciahacker]

yes but in nature 
it reminded me of this, the most majestic road ive ever driven

[D.FYLAKTOS]

There is no "fun to drive" even when you are in a Mountain Route when the situation is like this.

 

 

 

Especially in summer the situation was awful, 8 cars at lest behind a heavy and slow vehicle, sweat, the car had high coolant temperature, slow speed and irritation to the maximum.

 

[nta16]

On 28/02/2024 at 22:06, Thefeliciahacker said:

it reminded me of this, the most majestic road ive ever driven

Based only on the stretch of road I can see in the photo [ETA: in the Uk] there would probably not be solid white line(s) centre lines - unless perhaps near a road hazard but then more likely just long white line as hazard waning.

 

Edited 1 March by nta16
ETA:

[Thefeliciahacker]

6 hours ago, nta16 said:

Based only on the stretch of road I can see in the photo there would probably not be solid white line(s) centre lines - unless perhaps near a road hazard but then more likely just long white line as hazard waning.

huh?

[nta16]

5 hours ago, Thefeliciahacker said:

huh?

Sorry I've edited to add the words that were in my head but didn't get typed in the post.

 

In the UK, as you may remember, a solid white centre line on your side of the road means do not cross/overtake (very few exceptions, and double solid white centre lines apply to both sides of the road).

   

[nta16]

@D.FYLAKTOS  thought of you today, I was driving on the road below, not one I have been more than a few times and it's within 10 miles of my home.

 

First photo shows something for you to worry about, a large van coming in from the opposite direction out of blind bend, luckily at one of the few  places with a bit wider tarmac (just before trees on right) so he pulled over and let us through, all four of our wheels just about on tarmac.

 

(Forgive quality of images, off Google Earth, as I am using using a very old, but sturdy computer as mine completely fouled itself up as I am sure they are designed to do.) 

 

 

 

That was the only vehicle we saw on the road but we parked up to look at the sheep in the fields both sides of the road, in the image below, as we waited for three horses and riders to pass coming from the other way.  We had left a single track open field road (no fences or hedges, no livestock) just before road above with parts you could fly along as the sight lines are so good but you must be aware of wildlife that might suddenly appear that you could injury or kill (most likely birds).

 

Edited 1 March by nta16
spelling

[D.FYLAKTOS]

@nta16 This (small village) road here in Greece is characterized as ''abandoned" from us, the white lines have been erased (from weather conditions, age, no maintenance), has not potholes but you can not drive fast except if you are a local guy.

The visitor must be careful and drive slowly although is enough space for 2 cars.

Even me that i know this road don't drive ''sport'' style, yes one click faster than a visitor but of course this road is not for testing tyres-suspension etc.

 

[Thefeliciahacker]

only if I was still racing the glxes