Car nostalgia

James,

   In my youthful courting days, one of my girlfriends fathers used to own an HPE, great car in its day. I seem to recall that it had a cruise control system that was essentially a level you pulled that was cable attached to the carb (like a hand throttle)

kevin,

   nice memories. do i take it that that is you in the picture in the front of the car?

nice new avatar BTW

used to own one of these many years ago.

unfortunately it turned into one of these

the good old days eh!

Hi Paul, no it is a random pic I stole off the interweb

Re the avatar: thanks. It's a glam shot of the fabulous Sidse Babett Knudsen, lead actress of the brilliant Danish TV drama "Borgen".

Me too -

Ha!  Adam that is definitely something I'd love to have.  Many happy memories of bombing about in Mokes while on holiday in various places.  A friend used to have one in London but it was difficult to keep secure and the hood was like a poorly erected marquee that leaked profusely in even the lightest drizzle. Any speed over 10mph and it was in danger of tearing itself apart at the seams.  Definitely a summer-only kind of vehicle.

My 12 year old daughter rather fancies one - a first step towards her ultimate desire for a monster truck - but they're a bit pricey these days, sad to say.

Hell-raiser

Blast! Managed to delete the words that were supposed to go with the above photo (the joys of the iPad...)

Anyway Paul, T'was a Ford 1600 something-or-other. Twin 40 DCOE Webers, four-branch etc. Didn't have much in the way of top-end but it was very quick off the line & round the bendy bits.

My first steed was an Isetta 300+ bubble car (a BMW!) followed fairly smartly by a Triumph Herald convertible, which was a tadge rotten. The car above, a 1956 1500cc MGA, was my next car & the first of many sports cars. Bought for £150, sold to a mate in favour of a TR4A a couple of years later for £200. My pride and joy!

Tony,

   cant believe you were prepared to share that photo.

The hair cut is bad enough, but look at those flairs !!

Fabulous Tony, I also had the hair and flairs flares. I had a mini van in those days, but luckily don't have a snap of it. 

Ah the MGA one of my most missed "never bought" cars. 

I was offered a 1600 Twin Cam, but couldn't afford the insurance.

Same thing happened when I looked at a '56 T-Bird not dissimilar to this one:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGt8rkkRB-g

Hi Paul - I must confess that this isn't my garage. This one belongs to the specialist dealer from whom I got the SL.  My garage is clean but not that clean, and it's pretty narrow which makes getting in and out of the SL as real challenge so it's just as well I'm a slim fella. SL's still as clean as in the photo though. 

MDS  

Still a nice car MDS. Does this model have the warm air neck curtain?

No, Paul.  You only get the 'airscarf' option as it's called on the current SLK and SL models. Mine is R129 from 1998. But heated seats and an effective heater still means the missus and I can go out in the SL on a sunny winter's day with the top down and enjoy the experience.

MDS 

The only reliant you should ever look at.

The scimitar. One of my friends moved from bikes to cars and bought one of these. Great beast in It's time until he went "off road" and hit a gause bush. Destroyed all the fibreglass bodywork

Heated seats are the single most ridiculous accessory with cloth seats, your bum will warm them in seconds, hardly any longer with leather.

Do you have a heated loo seat too?

As MDS says though, coat, hat, gloves and turn the heater and enjoy those lovely  bright winter days. 

Ah that's why I don't need them, I don't surf. 

Had heated cloth seats on my '83 Saab 900 turbo and now on my '98 A4.  When it's -20 deg C and the car's been in the company parking lot all day, I'm glad I have heated leather seats ...

Hey! We love our heated seats. Would always get the option on any new car.

Heated seats are pretty vital when you have leather seats, and even with cloth seats when you are in and out of the car on a cold day and it never gets a chance to warm up. love 'em.

My new Volvo has an electically heated front screen. What a joy that is these icy mornings!

I have horrendously cold hands (Raynauds syndrome). I want a heated steering wheel!

Bruce

The old Saabs really make sense when the temperature drops.  Heated seats and a heater that quickly comes on line and can do a good impression of a blast furnace are really appreciated in the cold.  I used to drive mine to Switzerland most winters before the birth of my daughter, for skiiing and it was fab.  Only thing missing was 4wd but M+S tyres and chains were just about enough.  Of course there was that time when I overcooked it and managed to pirouette down a frozen section of a mountain pass.  Luckily it was deserted and I hit a snow bank with the rear bumper which brought us to an abrupt halt.  Once the snow chains were fitted, I managed to drive away without so much as a scratch - excellent energy absorbing bumpers!  It did wake up my wife though...

Bruce, my audi quattro A8 has a heated steering wheel.

Never mind heated seats, what about the trend of having massaging seats?

Richard,

   i seem to recall that the Saab's used to use a themos tank system for the heater circuits, that pumped the hot water into then tank and retained it. So on cold start up days, the water was already hot and available for use?