What shape will the car industry be in after all this?

alfatwo

Member
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5,517
Food banks in Murica anyone?

View attachment 70323
Too true Wattie, could be London in a few months time!

Dave
Is that an ie Turbo? Death trap, remember them back in the day. Made of wafer thin metal, lightweight and pretty quick.
That's the very reason I liked them Richard.. being an ex hooligan an all that ;)
Bit like a old 3200 GT really, totally manic!

Dave
 

highlander

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5,214
This was one of my favorites an 82 4 speed box sold in the mid 90s for £650 no one wanted them then :(
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God, had forgot about these! Had a bright orange 2.8 with a black vinyl roof.......thought I was the dogs, of course I had the mandatory bakers tray of bricks in the boot to keep it straight on the road ;) was a gorgeous car looking back but usual ford problems, could open the door with a 2p coin lol
 

alfatwo

Member
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5,517
God, had forgot about these! Had a bright orange 2.8 with a black vinyl roof.......thought I was the dogs, of course I had the mandatory bakers tray of bricks in the boot to keep it straight on the road ;) was a gorgeous car looking back but usual ford problems, could open the door with a 2p coin lol
Those old Ford clunkers were actually ok, I had dog sh*t brown 2 liter GXL with a black vinyl roof
You always went into the hedge backwards, happy days!
Dave
 

Felonious Crud

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Those old Ford clunkers were actually ok, I had dog sh*t brown 2 liter GXL with a black vinyl roof
You always went into the hedge backwards, happy days!
Dave

I had a 1.6 with sills so rusty and bendy that the doors opened if you cornered too quick. Hummed along well enough in a straight line, and never let me down. Had a 2l after that, Cracking car, really, but it definitely needed that bag of cement in the boot.
 

philw696

Member
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25,113
I had a 1.6 with sills so rusty and bendy that the doors opened if you cornered too quick. Hummed along well enough in a straight line, and never let me down. Had a 2l after that, Cracking car, really, but it definitely needed that bag of cement in the boot.
Real men had a V6 but you have since made up for it ;)
 

GeoffCapes

Member
Messages
14,000
I happened to come across a very nicely restored 1985 Mk1 Uno Turbo the other day.
It was absolutely mint, totally original.. everything made from unobtainium!
I'm still tempted.

Dave

A mate of mine had one of those. His dad was a tech on a rally team or something so it had uprated brakes, shocks, intercooler, exhaust, a MUCH larger turbo on it and was lowered.
And was resprayed a lovely metallic green.
Went with him to a rolling road and it was pushing out 232bhp!

Which was absolutely mental for a car with body panels like tissue paper! Nothing could stay with it when the boost kicked in!
But the lag was shocking, foot on the floor count, 1......2......3 whoooooooshhhhhhhhhhhh!

Went through a set of front tyres every 2-3000 miles. :rofl5::rofl5::rofl5:

Wonder if it still exists?
 

empzb

Member
Messages
229
A mate of mine had one of those. His dad was a tech on a rally team or something so it had uprated brakes, shocks, intercooler, exhaust, a MUCH larger turbo on it and was lowered.
And was resprayed a lovely metallic green.
Went with him to a rolling road and it was pushing out 232bhp!

Which was absolutely mental for a car with body panels like tissue paper! Nothing could stay with it when the boost kicked in!
But the lag was shocking, foot on the floor count, 1......2......3 whoooooooshhhhhhhhhhhh!

Went through a set of front tyres every 2-3000 miles. :rofl5::rofl5::rofl5:

Wonder if it still exists?
I know people slated turbo lag back in the day and modern ones are so much more linear, but I loved those turbo kics on older cars.
 

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
Yup, crazy isn't it.


This is the fallout we are going to start seeing due to CV issues I guess. Many business can't withstand zero to low revenues for very long the way they are geared up these days.
 

safrane

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16,746
I worked PT for Europe car back in the later 90s and we would regularly dispose of hundreds of cars prior to certain periods of the year for a number of reasons.
  1. most of our larger automatic fleet after the US holidays in the UK
  2. late spring for small cars, we held on to the new ones over the winter as they were used to cover contracts for car crash insurance.
  3. when ever Ford Vauxhall etc had a glut of new stock and wanted to sell 2/3k cars ASAP.

We often found that we could keep a car for six months and sell them for more that they cost us... why so you think depreciation is so bad on most cars in the first year.
 

lozcb

Member
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12,292
I worked PT for Europe car back in the later 90s and we would regularly dispose of hundreds of cars prior to certain periods of the year for a number of reasons.
  1. most of our larger automatic fleet after the US holidays in the UK
  2. late spring for small cars, we held on to the new ones over the winter as they were used to cover contracts for car crash insurance.
  3. when ever Ford Vauxhall etc had a glut of new stock and wanted to sell 2/3k cars ASAP.
We often found that we could keep a car for six months and sell them for more that they cost us... why so you think depreciation is so bad on most cars in the first year.

Car hire companies actually make vast profits from buying in bulk, they get such huge discounts, hire them out for 6 months or x amount of miles then unleash them on the used market and still manage to make a good profit , quite a few companies used to make more money out of sales than actually hiring them out
 

rockits

Member
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9,167
Agreed. My brother is in the car trade and told me this a few years back. They make more money from buying and selling cars than renting them.

They can buy a car at 40-50% discount off list, rent it for 3-12 months then sell it for a profit.

Regardless of this though they are massively exposed at the current time.

Any large business with lots of offices and employees are going to struggle to survive unless they are lucky enough to be in and industry that is benefiting or unaffected by CV.

It has only just begun.......
 

Phil H

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4,107
Back in the 90's a bank employee told me how his bank used financial leverage to obtain huge discounts for their fleet cars, then sell them a few months later. He said the bank regarded it as a significant revenue stream.

PH
 

lozcb

Member
Messages
12,292
Back in the 90's a bank employee told me how his bank used financial leverage to obtain huge discounts for their fleet cars, then sell them a few months later. He said the bank regarded it as a significant revenue stream.

PH
Yeah back in the day Phil , they were all at it , british gas , post office, seeboard electicity, water boards, used to see huge car parks full of brand new vans , all sold off after shortish periods of use , more so when palstic wrap signage came into effect
 

Wattie

Member
Messages
8,640
Yup, crazy isn't it.


This is the fallout we are going to start seeing due to CV issues I guess. Many business can't withstand zero to low revenues for very long the way they are geared up these days.