Those of you who have been around awhile will know that my dream car was the GM Holden Monaro in hothouse green (luckily I have been able to drive one for a few months whilst it was at work)....

BUT!! Anybody wanna help me bid on this sucker???
>>Click It!!<<



Those of you in the US probably dont know that this car is marketted over there as the Pontiac GT and exported from Australia

Lexie,

Are you purposing joint custody, or would I only have one weekend a month, supervised visitations with this baby?

Why is it going for so much??

Try this one:

it's cheaper!

And this one is still available having failed to make its reserve of £25K

Can't bring it up, Camera

Rick - Supervised visitations only!! In fact, they would be passenger seat visitations only.

Mrs M - Its the last ever one being produced. Monaro (like the old GT over there) is something of an Aussie legend and the newer models are $60k+, this one is just super special.

Camera - LOL with our currency conversion, the reserve is $60k anyways...so I could get a new one for that!!

Lexie - Happy Birthday Robbie!!!!

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Lexie - Happy Birthday Robbie!!!!

A few more hours to go for us Yanks.

Maximillion? Parents with big expectations.

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In fact, they would be passenger seat visitations only.

Seats with Rick restraints?

OIC, Lexie..Wow! One would really have to want it

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Originally posted by Camera:
Try this one:

it's cheaper!

And this one is still available having failed to make its reserve of £25K

Sheesh! Twenty grand for a secondhand Vauxhall! Short of a couple of doors, as well. Not to mention the ABS, whoopee cushions and other hindrances.
Suppose I would sell it to Lexie and spend the proceeds on ten other cars........

There you go Mike..you could even run it through the car wash for her.

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Originally posted by Bartelby:
(luckily I have been able to drive one for a few months whilst it was at work)....

Lexie, looks like the car hauls ass, or incase you get a partner (me) to help finance this venture, asses. How was the few-month-test-drive? Was it as good for you as it was for the car? Did you get a lot more attention from guys?

I think I’d be pissing my pants if I placed an AU $187,000 (US $138,000) bid.

Too bad so many people are putting in bogus bids on a charity auction.

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Originally posted by Mike from West Yorkshire:
Not to mention the ABS, whoopee cushions and other hindrances.

Sorry, Mike, but in this part of the planet whoopee cushions are something that sound like farts when one sits on them:
http://events.clowningaround.com/images/Carnival%20Stor...oopee%20cushion.jpeg
Obviously, another indication of my Yankee isolationism, unless in England cars come equipped with fart-sounding seats.

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Originally posted by Mike from West

Suppose I would sell it to Lexie and spend the proceeds on ten other cars........

Will mine have whoopee cushions in it????

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Originally posted by Rick:

I think I’d be pissing my pants if I placed an AU $187,000 (US $138,000) bid.

I would not have any pants left, Rick!

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Originally posted by Mike from West Yorkshire:
Not to mention the ABS, whoopee cushions and other hindrances.

Sorry, Mike, but in this part of the planet whoopee cushions are something that sound like farts when one sits on them:
Obviously, another indication of my Yankee isolationism, unless in England cars come equipped with fart-sounding seats.

They are the same here as well, Rick. Sold in joke shops

What I was talking about was a Mikeism - air-bags - I call them whoopee cushions, although if you got injured by one, there would not be much to celebrate.

Sadly, my everyday car has one - nowt I can do about it, as if I removed it the insurance would be invalidated. Thankfully it is sans ABS, or as the tautological marketroids would have it, ABS brakes.

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Originally posted by Bartelby:

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Originally posted by Mike from West

Suppose I would sell it to Lexie and spend the proceeds on ten other cars........

Will mine have whoopee cushions in it????

Probably dozens of the buggers, Lexie - see above

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Originally posted by Mrs.M.:
There you go Mike..you could even run it through the car wash for her.

At this price, Lexie may object to me covering it in lots of tiny scratches, Shirl.

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Originally posted by Mike from West Yorkshire:
Sadly, my everyday car has one - nowt I can do about it, as if I removed it the insurance would be invalidated.

Mike, have you had a bad experience with air-bags (aka whoopee cushions), or do you have a general distrust of something waiting to blow up in your face?

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Originally posted by Mike from West Yorkshire:
Thankfully it is sans ABS

What do you have against ABS?

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Originally posted by Mike from West Yorkshire:
tautological

Great word!

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Originally posted by Rick:
Mike, have you had a bad experience with air-bags (aka whoopee cushions), or do you have a general distrust of something waiting to blow up in your face?

The latter, Rick! I cannot see what use they are, as if you are using your safety belts (a legal requirement here) air-bags are not needed.

Maybe the cynic in me says that one of the design team meetings went something like:

DT wallah 1 "What can we persuade the public tha they must have on our cars - we have exhausted most of the safety stuff now?"

DT wallah 2 "It will have to be something that is a legal requirement, as well"

DT wallah 3 "Also, it must be unavailable in the aftermarket, and expensive"

DT director "Hmmm....we've already done catastrophic converters - how about air bags?"

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What do you have against ABS?

A few things - generally, like other gizmos, they lull the user into a false security so they are not as attentive as they should be.

They reduce braking power.

Any extra complications in a braking system with potential failures are a bad thing

The wheel sensors are in prone to failure and are unnecessarily expensive (a coil with a bit of cable on it)

Primary safety - prevention, not cure - would save more lives.

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Originally posted by Mike from West Yorkshire:
A few things - generally, like other gizmos, they lull the user into a false security so they are not as attentive as they should be.

Mike, I have a hard time blaming gizmos for drivers’ lack of attentiveness. I doubt drivers are less attentive today then they were before some of today’s gizmos. I know there’s some research(es) floating around that says ABS and 4/all-wheel drive causes drivers to be cockier, but I’m not sure how one can measure cockiness (Lexie, I know you’re tempted by that last statement). And, things like ABS probably helps someone that panics. One gizmo that definitely gives drivers a false security are brakes. I believe that if breaks were removed from all cars, that people would drive a heck of a lot slower (after the initial carnage) and be a lot more cautious, and perhaps stop driving entirely.

Traffic lights are another one of those gizmos, at least here in the round-about-less States. A better safety solution would be stop signs at all intercessions, thus it would take two inattentive drivers to cause an accident, versus only one being necessary with traffic lights.

And talk about faith in ones fellow-mankind, those little painted lines between oncoming traffic turn driving into a cult experience. On a road with a 55 MPH speed limit, the head-on impact speed of two cars would be 110 MPH, and that’s assuming both drivers aren’t doing 70. Compare to airbags, those little painted lines don’t do a lot for my safety concerns, although an impact at those speeds, I doubt the airbags would make any difference.

In fact, one could make the argument that seat belts “lull the user into a false security”. And they may add “extra complications” in the passenger removal system.

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Originally posted by Mike from West Yorkshire:
Primary safety - prevention, not cure - would save more lives.

RIGHT ON, and by prevention I understand you to mean awareness. I’m of the opinion that all (or damn near all) traffic accidents are avoidable (including rear-end collisions) if at least one of the drivers doesn’t have the misguided belief that other drivers will do what they are suppose to do, or should do.

Rick
I can understand what you are saying - some things are probably different in different countries, anyhow.

The growing trend here is definitely inattentiveness; many drivers are two busy swapping CDs, making mobile calls, eating their breakfast, reading a paper or map. All of these are of course illegal.

One result of more powerful brakes is that tailgating is rife - no-one looks far enough in front to see what is happening, so we get these multiple pile-ups on motorways.
They have no concept of stopping distances at all.
Some of the HGVs are the worst offenders and can wreak much more havoc and kill more people.

Difficult to police, whereas speeding is a no-brainer and gets revenue!

The other growing problem is aggressiveness - no-one with a short fuse should be allowed to drive a vehicle at all, IMHO. The worst ones are in the 17-25 range, who throw their toys out of the pram at any opportunity.


Jumping red traffic lights is on the increase here as well - even buses do it! Some intersections have cameras on them, but people still get killed or injured this way.

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The growing trend here is definitely inattentiveness; many drivers are two busy swapping CDs, making mobile calls, eating their breakfast, reading a paper or map. <snip> ...tailgating is rife - no-one looks far enough in front to see what is happening, so we get these multiple pile-ups on motorways.
They have no concept of stopping distances at all.

One of my pet-peeves -- I like to leave space between me and the car in front so I have more reaction time, because I'm, well..you know...eating lunch and steering with my knees! Anyway, inevitably someone will pass me and slide into the space in front of me. So then I need to back off again to create my buffer zone, and somebody else pulls in the space in front of me! It seems like I'm backing up all the time -- it's a wonder I ever get to where I'm going! Where was I going anyway???