This site is owned, operated and managed by me, self-confessed petrol-head Barry Ross of Furlong St, Arnold, Nottingham NG5 7BP.
I decided to create this website when I realise what an absolute lemon the first car I ever bought was. This was a Vauxhall Victor 2000 that I bought about 45 years ago and which I have never ceased regretting ever since. When I bought it it was two years old; it was powerful enough but it had a front bench seat which could hardly be described as comfortable; the gearbox was had only three speeds plus a reverse that sometimes worked and sometimes didn't, controlled by a column mounted gearchange mechanism which managed to be both stiff, clunky and uncertain at the same time. The handbrake was a weird arrangement which disengaged completely if it was accidentally knocked; it with the car was left in gear, it would then start to roll if it was left on a hill.
The crowning obscenity of this car was, however, corrosion. When it was only five years old little rust perforations started to appear along the front wings. When I investigated this I found that there was an almost perfect trap all along the inside of each wing which held a huge quantity of mud! Needless to say there was no underbody protection in the vicinity so it was no surprise whatsoever to find that the combination of muck, road salt and water had substantially eaten its way through the very thin metal of the wings. Simply by filling this in would have made the car, in all likelihood, last for many more years but no one ever seemed to have thought of doing it. The cost of replacing the wings was more than the car was worth so off it had to go to the auction, where it joined a whole line of other victors with exactly the same fault. Was this problem created deliberately? Well this was the era of planned obsolescence so I wouldn't be too surprised if that was the case.
However, I digress. If you wish to get in touch with me and talk about cars - particularly any lemon you may have owned yourself - or suggest ways to improve my website then please e-mail me using the link below. I would be grateful however if you did not, under any circumstances, send me any spam whatsoever; I already have several tons of it to dispose of.