whisky-dave wrote
Rod Speed wrote
whisky-dave wrote

When I took the engine out of a Fiat 850 at 15 years old
it was just more of the basic things I had learned from
cycles and other machines and the good old HBOL. ;-)

We never had a car,

We always did and I am a lot older than you.

my dad had a bike.

Neither of my parents did.

he had a moped and later 3 mobility scooters

We've never had anything like any of those.
No motorbikes either.

The closest is a big ride on lawn mower that
my grand nephew who has just started high
school this year loves to hoon around on on
their 10 acre or something holiday place.

I rember thje days when kit cars were really popular,
yuo could even build a boat via the daily mirror.

So why don't people do this sort of thing anymore,

Very viable used cars are much cheaper now in real terms

next year my borough are becoming one of those
low emmision zones so yuo won;t be able to drive
most old cars, and if you do you'll get fined.

I'm not actually stupid enough to live in London.
20 mph speed limit that isnt even necessary
because the traffic is always slower than that.

**** that.

and some do still build and refurbish boats including
my next door neighbour who is now on his third, a
****ing great thing that is moored in sydney harbour.

even a canal boat mooring fees can be £100s a month.

Dunno what the sydney harbour mooring fees are, they
wouldnt be cheap.

Another mate of mine has another which is as big as
is towable on the roads and thats his third now too.

There are rich peole in London that can
afford to spend £50k on a dolls house.

He's not rich, used to work for our equivalent of your BT
installing and maintaining sub telephone exchanges etc.

purhaps there;s just too many retrictions.

No one really triesd to build their own computer even from a kit.

Some did initially.

I added the stuff for a disc drive and 16K extra RAM.

Whilst I find that sort of diagnostics quite interesting (as I'm into
electronics and 'computers' as well etc), it's not quite the same as
getting your hands dirty, especially a successful engine related job.

Could you fix a modern car engine like you could have 40 years ago ?

Much easier now given the OBD2 thing that usually
tells you what sensor has died and costs not even $5.
And much easier to get the replacement part from
ebay or gumtree from those who have ended up
with a write off due to an accident or when the car
no longer makes any sense to keep repairing.

Really thats not what I've heard,

Then you need a hearing aid.

it;s been years since I've seen people
repairing their cars on the road side,

Yeah, most have enough of a clue to use
the driveway or even get real radical and
do it in the garage or carport.

A mate of mine has sold all the bits of any value from
a Hyundai Grandeur, one of three that he bought used
off ebay and produced 2 viable cars from which he has
now sold because he has moved on to Merc 180s etc.

OK if you have the space and time.

Doesnt take long when the OBD2 tells
you which sensor needs replacing.

Be difficult if you lived in one of the blocks near me as
they have NO parking for even one car let alone 2 or 3.

We arent actually stupid enough to allow any to be built
like that. They have to car parking available, even with
retirement villages where some done drive anymore.

Mate of mine has a flat in a decent sized building of
about 60 flats and each one has 2 car parking spaces.

His #1 son is a very decent mechanic and makes a decent
living buying Mercs which have a fault on ebay etc, fixing
the fault and flogging them for twice what he paid for
them using new parts bought for peanuts from china etc.

Well there;s always a few but it's not mainstream

Never said it was.

That is why most of the latest developments are furnished 1 2 &
3 bed flats and offered for as 'little as £150k part ownership.
You aren't really allowed to knock down a dividing wall in a block of
flats
or do much DIY to the property without breaking the T&Cs and you have
to
pay
around £50 pcm or more for someone to change the lightbulbs in the
corridors

Bull**** you do.

It's true look it up, under maintenance, cleaning and
other services that are supplied and yuo have to pay for.

Doesnt mean that you ARENT ALLOWED to change a dead bulb.

and look after the comunial garden.

All this started long Coronavirus, Brexit or the discovery
of global warming so no of those can be blamed.
But some of us should have seen it coming.

But nothing could have been done about it
while ever huge numbers of immigrants
were allowed to pour into the country,

from the EU, due to free movement of people.

And from the ex colonys as well because so many
of you lot prefer to put your hands out for benefits
instead of getting off your lard arses and working.

So you get stuck with the windrusher brats stabbing
each other to death at one hell if a rate,