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Detroit, 4:24 AM
Wed Nov 25
23 posts in the last 24 hours
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07/13/09
07/13/09
07/13/09
07/13/09
07/13/09
07/13/09
RIP, Evo, you have had a real heroic last hurrah.
07/13/09
07/13/09
07/13/09
The British Bulldog segment was indicative of that. I know everything's faked, but trying to convince us that they were really using live rounds, or ripping the roof off the car, when Clarkson was anywhere nearby is really pushing the limit.
I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.
07/13/09
07/13/09
I understand that Top Gear is just as much about entertainment as it is about cars, but with every season, it seems to be moving further and further away from serious automotive content. The show may not have jumped the shark *quite* yet, but I fear it's not a long way off.
07/13/09
I think over the years, they've done a fantastic job of this, but every now and then, they push it a little too far.
07/13/09
06/16/09
I still say Nice Price (almost typed Brick somehow) because of its attractiveness compared to most kit cars, as well as its embodiment of English motoring Hell. NP is now one vote shy of CP.
06/16/09
Actually, the Vauxhall Victor was sold in the US through Pontiac dealers in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It didn't sell well and by all accounts it was a nasty, rusty, unreliable little car:
Of course, this ugly thing wouldn't help you with your Lima. Restoring a Victor in the US would have to be an ultimate Project Car Hell.
06/16/09
Also, a Victor FB wagon with Solstice GXP innards is in my Fantasy Garage.
06/16/09
06/16/09
CAR IZ EMMAKALUTE!
06/16/09
06/16/09
06/16/09
On the other hand, to a young Jamesface brought up in a country where the Austin Ambassador counted as aspirational, Panthers were the business. Remember that when the MGB and Capri died, these were just about the only proper sports cars you could get on these backward shores. The dream was always the Panther Six with its alluring combination of futurism and unobtainability, but the Lima was the inteeligent Brit's way of saying "I like fast cars but I don't display my hairy chest in public, attend key-swapping parties or think You're So Vain is about me, so I'll pass on the XJS V12."
On the other other hand, Vauxhall Magnum spares usually require a weekend or two of well-researched junkyard diving even in the UK, so rarity notwithstanding in the US it's crackity crack crack with frosted crack topping and a side order of cracksickles.
But I have to vote Nice Price for sake of the ten year old Jamesface staring up at the Panther Six on his wall and desperate to drive anything, even if it was an Austin Ambassador.
06/16/09
06/16/09
06/16/09
06/16/09
As rare as it is, as nicely sculpted a physique as it wears, as orphaned as the marque became, it's worth preserving. The 15 grand is a bit on the heavy side, but starting from that number, I'd meet with the guy to dicker him down a few.
06/16/09
06/16/09
But you have to be prepared for the waves of ignorance that go with it. People will not stop and stare and say "OMG, it's a Panther Lima!"
They will stop and stare and say, "OMG, look at the crappy kit car!"
06/16/09
06/16/09
04/20/09
Panthers were pretty well built, and these were based on warmed-over Vauxhall running gear, so were relatively reliable.
That's relative to Phil Spector, in a sentence that includes '...as a loving husband'.
04/19/09
04/19/09
Yeah, the rare Flockhart edition. All was well until Ford came along and fucked it all up...