The Amazing Sony A1/A7/A9/APS-C & Anything else welcome Mega Thread!

RAID 10 was the best redundant option at the time, allowed for more disk failures and a faster disk rebuild, I have only had one drive fail, but they were all bought at the same time so Im expecting more in the future

Good point on the cost per GB, will take that into account.
 
MrMackyB said:
RAID 10 was the best redundant option at the time, allowed for more disk failures and a faster disk rebuild, I have only had one drive fail, but they were all bought at the same time so Im expecting more in the future

Good point on the cost per GB, will take that into account.
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I think even RAID 6 would be ample basically let's 2 drives fail at any one time only need 4+ drives. How much actual irreplaceable data do you have? Of mine is just my photos, so I back them up externally as well.
Small documents I backup to Amazon.
The rest is stuff like films for streaming.
 
Merlin5 said:
I'm with you on that, I love them too. I'm more of a Ferrari and Lambo fan but saw this Porsche and I think it's absolutely gorgeous.


Porsche 2 by Merlin 5, on Flickr


Porsche 1 by Merlin 5, on Flickr


Porsche 3 by Merlin 5, on Flickr


Porsche 4 by Merlin 5, on Flickr
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Lovely, I never used to be a Porsche fan (other than the odd special one) but they've certainly grown on me in the last 10 years (must be an age thing ;)). I'm definitely in the Ferrari camp, but appreciate most sports and supercars. I'm also a big fan of 50's American cars and muscle cars (y).
 
snerkler said:
Lovely, I never used to be a Porsche fan (other than the odd special one) but they've certainly grown on me in the last 10 years (must be an age thing ;)). I'm definitely in the Ferrari camp, but appreciate most sports and supercars. I'm also a big fan of 50's American cars and muscle cars (y).
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Same, they've grown on me too. I must admit, I always appreciated a black 911 Turbo back in the day, but the long sleek low down look of a red Ferrari F40 or Lamborghini Huracan or Aventador is in another class. :)
 
One of the cars I 'always' wanted was a chocolate brown Porsche 911 targa. It won't happen, but was a nice dream.
 
I find most Ferrari too much "look at me" for my taste, but that is still not on Lambo level though.

Porsche (911) is probably the most understated supercars out there, and they also make much affordable yet great driver's car such as the Cayman/Boxster. £10k can get a lovely one used. They are also useful as an everyday car as well. Usable boot, not enormous in size for UK roads.
 
ancient_mariner said:
One of the cars I 'always' wanted was a chocolate brown Porsche 911 targa. It won't happen, but was a nice dream.
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Was always the F40 and Testarossa for me growing up, but the Testarossa hasn't aged as well as the F40 imo. I think the 488 is stunning.
 
Dino or California for me but generally I like small open British type cars which have the advantage of usually being cheaper.

The only Porsche I've had was the 2.7 Boxster which I found disappointing as it really had to be pushed to get any enjoyment out of it, it felt a truck at lower speeds. I've known people with various 911's but I've never fancied a rear engined car. If money and practicalities weren't issues I'd rather look towards McLaren.

Best place I've been for car spotting was Knokke in Belgium. I don't know if there was an event of some sort on there at the time but the place seemed full of exotica.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I find most Ferrari too much "look at me" for my taste, but that is still not on Lambo level though.

Porsche (911) is probably the most understated supercars out there, and they also make much affordable yet great driver's car such as the Cayman/Boxster. £10k can get a lovely one used. They are also useful as an everyday car as well. Usable boot, not enormous in size for UK roads.
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Agh the girls Porsche.

My wee brother just bought a Lamborghini Gallardo the girls version of a Lambo picks it up next week.

Girls version or not still some car.

A746FC05-FA81-492C-8CAB-AA7240DEDF0B.jpeg
 
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MrMackyB said:
I did look at backblaze, but there were too many negative reviews.
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I'm happy with the service I get, though it's not perfect.
I actually had a 2Tb SSD (holding ~ 1Tb data) in my PC fail recently.
I was able to fully recover everything to a replacement drive from my Backblaze backup - however, it wasn't the simplest of processes, as the 'free' restore requires you to select a set of files which it then makes available as a zip file (with directories) to download.
There is a size limit of ~ 20Gb to these restore files, which means a lot of select, download, extract sequences for the volume of data I had.
You can create a whole set of restore sets, and give them meaningful names, but it's still a rather laborious process.
If you have less patience, you can order a USB stick or even a HD with a larger restore set on, but you have to pay more for those options.
 
f/2.8 said:
Agh the girls Porsche.

My wee brother just bought a Lamborghini Gallardo the girls version of a Lambo picks it up next week.

Girls version or not still some car.

View attachment 330911
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I really don’t understand this “girl’s” Porsche or some people call it “poor man’s Porsche” at the Boxster. Poor people don’t buy Porsches and there are girls drive Lambos too. It’s a weird train of thought. (Same thing is thrown at the MX5, they are great little sports cars)

I prefer something more understated, Lambos are great cars, very cool but not my taste, to me they are compensating too hard. Just my opinion, not a fact…in case you want to argue back.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
I really don’t understand this “girl’s” Porsche or some people call it “poor man’s Porsche” at the Boxster. Poor people don’t buy Porsches and there are girls drive Lambos too. It’s a weird train of thought. (Same thing is thrown at the MX5, they are great little sports cars)

I prefer something more understated, Lambos are great cars, very cool but not my taste, to me they are compensating too hard. Just my opinion, not a fact…in case you want to argue back.
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Usually from folks that have never driven one....
 
Raymond Lin said:
I really don’t understand this “girl’s” Porsche or some people call it “poor man’s Porsche” at the Boxster. Poor people don’t buy Porsches and there are girls drive Lambos too. It’s a weird train of thought. (Same thing is thrown at the MX5, they are great little sports cars)

I prefer something more understated, Lambos are great cars, very cool but not my taste, to me they are compensating too hard. Just my opinion, not a fact…in case you want to argue back.
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It's the hairdressers thing I guess.

I have had a few hairdressers cars myself. Donkey's years ago I had an MX5 which was a fun car little car to drive, My mates ripped the p*** out of me all the time about it though but I didn't care, back then the girls absolutely loved it. I met my missus when I had that little car. :ROFLMAO:

In the last year I have had 2 different Audi T.T's which are a much better car than the MX5, more powerful and much more fun to drive, proper little go karts but they are the quintessential hairdressers car, well those and the Boxster.

My wee brother just has more money than he knows what to do with, he has a 2 year old Audi TT RS he has had from new which is ridiculously quick, he got that after upgrading from another Audi TT. His mates slag him about it all the time so he got a Range Rover Sport but kept the TT. He then decided he wanted a more powerful car so got an Audi R8, it was an amazing car looked great and was an amazing drive. He kept the TT and the Range Rover, he likes both of those. The R8 didn't last long though, he kept it about 6 months and replaced it with a BMW i8, about 3 months ago. He hates the i8 so now he is getting the Lambo.

I tried to talk him out of the Lambo but he never listens to me. The R8 was a great car but he says they are too common, although I hardly ever see them on the roads here. He doesn't pick up the Lambo until next week but he has already said that he plans on only keeping it a little while before moving it on and getting a Ferrari 458.

If I was ever in a position to spend that sort of money on a car ( I won't ever be, unless my lottery numbers come up) I would get a V10 R8 or a Nissan GT-R. While neither are practical the Lambo sounds like a right pain in the arse, he will have to send it to England to be serviced for a start as nobody here will touch them, to be fair he probably won't keep it long enough to need having it serviced.. His mate has one and the running costs are eye watering even for the baby Gallardo..

My wee brother is in the lucky position that he has no reasonability's and his businesses are bringing him in crazy money. To be fair he works hard and he doesn't really have any other interests outside of work other than cars and being a fitness freak, even though I think he is nuts. Although I guess I just don't know what I would burn my cash on if I had that sort of money. I would imagine at his age, he is only 25 I would probably spent it chasing fast women and that stuff that smells nice from Columbia, that's what I spent most of my cash on when I was 25.
 
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Only people who know nothing would take the P out of an MX5. Anyone with even half a driving brain would know they're great fun. I don't care 0-xx times, the real fun for me is handling and maintaining speed.
 
woof woof said:
Only people who know nothing would take the P out of an MX5. Anyone with even half a driving brain would know they're great fun. I don't care 0-xx times, the real fun for me is handling and maintaining speed.
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Exactly which is why the Gt86 is such a great idea, also why I loved my Mazda RX8 not ridiculously fast but probably one of the best handling cars I have ever driven.
 
robj20 said:
Exactly which is why the Gt86 is such a great idea, also why I loved my Mazda RX8 not ridiculously fast but probably one of the best handling cars I have ever driven.
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I was close to buying an RX8 when I got my MX5, took one for a test drive and was very happy and loved the doors but the engine issues worried me so I ended up getting the MX5.
 
f/2.8 said:
It's the hairdressers thing I guess.

I have had a few hairdressers cars myself. Donkey's years ago I had an MX5 which was a fun car little car to drive, My mates ripped the p*** out of me all the time about it though but I didn't care, back then the girls absolutely loved it. I met my missus when I had that little car. :ROFLMAO:

In the last year I have had 2 different Audi T.T's which are a much better car than the MX5, more powerful and much more fun to drive, proper little go karts but they are the quintessential hairdressers car, well those and the Boxster.

My wee brother just has more money than he knows what to do with, he has a 2 year old Audi TT RS he has had from new which is ridiculously quick, he got that after upgrading from another Audi TT. His mates slag him about it all the time so he got a Range Rover Sport but kept the TT. He then decided he wanted a more powerful car so got an Audi R8, it was an amazing car looked great and was an amazing drive. He kept the TT and the Range Rover, he likes both of those. The R8 didn't last long though, he kept it about 6 months and replaced it with a BMW i8, about 3 months ago. He hates the i8 so now he is getting the Lambo.

I tried to talk him out of the Lambo but he never listens to me. The R8 was a great car but he says they are too common, although I hardly ever see them on the roads here. He doesn't pick up the Lambo until next week but he has already said that he plans on only keeping it a little while before moving it on and getting a Ferrari 458.

If I was ever in a position to spend that sort of money on a car ( I won't ever be, unless my lottery numbers come up) I would get a V10 R8 or a Nissan GT-R. While neither are practical the Lambo sounds like a right pain in the arse, he will have to send it to England to be serviced for a start as nobody here will touch them, to be fair he probably won't keep it long enough to need having it serviced.. His mate has one and the running costs are eye watering even for the baby Gallardo..

My wee brother is in the lucky position that he has no reasonability's and his businesses are bringing him in crazy money. To be fair he works hard and he doesn't really have any other interests outside of work other than cars and being a fitness freak, even though I think he is nuts. Although I guess I just don't know what I would burn my cash on if I had that sort of money. I would imagine at his age, he is only 25 I would probably spent it chasing fast women and that stuff that smells nice from Columbia, that's what I spent most of my cash on when I was 25.
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If I were to, I mean like if i had to, get a lambo, then I would forget the black. If I am going to scream out to the world, i am going to get it in neon green or gull wing doors. The doors have to go up.

Cars like that in a lot of ways is not about performance but a sense of drama when you get in, that's what you buy it for but most people don't realise that is the part of the psyche and so that's why they love it when they get it and 6 months later you get some weird excuse of "wanting more power"....which is mostly BS unless they track it, which most of them don't. The street won't let cars like that go within 50% of it's potential so there is no need for more power. What they have lost after a few months is that sense of drama because they are now used to it, so their brain wants a change and they think more power is the answer. It isn't.

A little bit of insight can save you a lot more money, it's fine if you don't mind constantly chasing that feeling and can afford it, all the power to you. But a little hot hatch is more power than anyone needs on the roads. You don't need more than 300bhp really, any more is just dinner table talk with other car enthusiasts. Just look at the old boy like Clarkson, who has driven every car under the sun. He doesn't choose these kinds of cars with enormous power. He chooses cars that speak to him on a different level. It is that sense of drama he is after, but not a feeling of getting into something expensive but a feeling of something he connects with, which is why he has that old Alfa GT6.

For a sense of drama, a Porsche is not it, that's not where my money would go. A Lambo screams I am compensating. McLaren just makes limited editions non-stop with names that is way too confusing. May be a classic, or may be something really exotic like a Pagani, but I do like a Merc SLS AMG with that gull wing door. It's like a 60's classic but modern tech.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
If I were to, I mean like if i had to, get a lambo, then I would forget the black. If I am going to scream out to the world, i am going to get it in neon green or gull wing doors. The doors have to go up.

Cars like that in a lot of ways is not about performance but a sense of drama when you get in, that's what you buy it for but most people don't realise that is the part of the psyche and so that's why they love it when they get it and 6 months later you get some weird excuse of "wanting more power"....which is mostly BS unless they track it, which most of them don't. The street won't let cars like that go within 50% of it's potential so there is no need for more power. What they have lost after a few months is that sense of drama because they are now used to it, so their brain wants a change and they think more power is the answer. It isn't.

A little bit of insight can save you a lot more money, it's fine if you don't mind constantly chasing that feeling and can afford it, all the power to you. But a little hot hatch is more power than anyone needs on the roads. You don't need more than 300bhp really, any more is just dinner table talk with other car enthusiasts. Just look at the old boy like Clarkson, who has driven every car under the son. He doesn't choose these kind of cars with enormous power. He chooses cars that speak to him on a different level. It is that sense of drama he is after, but not a feeling of getting into something expensive but a feeling of something he connects with, which is why he has that old Alfa GT6.

For a sense of drama, a Porsche is not it, that's not where my money would go. A Lambo screams I am compensating. McLaren just makes limited editions non-stop with names that is way too confusing. May be a classic, or may be something really exotic like a Pagani, but I do like a Merd SLS AMG with that gull wing door. It's like a 60's classic but modern tech.
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I am not a fan of black cars either although I have had a few, he usually gets his cars wrapped in his business colours anyway. The i8 he has at the moment was silver but he had it wrapped blue and black, his business colours, would imagine he will do the same with the Lambo. The gull wing doors are a nightmare, he has those on the i8 but it makes it a nightmare to park. At his main office there is an underground car park but he can't use it as the landlord won't allow him to have two spaces and if someone parks beside him he is screwed as he can't get the doors open. At the moment he has to park out on the street on double yellow's. He gets an £80 parking fine everyday, he just looks on it as another expense to pay for the car. He had a video on Instagram the other day of the traffic warden sticking the fine on his car, he shouted out the window to them and the traffic warden give him a thumbs up and shouted back "see you tomorrow." :ROFLMAO: Same thing applies when just going to the shop etc. if someone parks both sides of him he can't get in the car. Although isn't the reason he hates it.

When he had the R8 and because he has a big Instagram following he would get noticed everywhere. Everyone here knows who he is. I took the R8 one weekend and honestly it was like that bit in Rocky were all the kids follow him. I was driving through town and kids were pointing, racing there bikes following the car etc. was totally surreal. That night when I got home he sent me a screen grab of some messages complete strangers had sent him on Instagram saying they had seen him out in the car but it was actually me. Some of them even sent photos. :ROFLMAO: The i8 isn't attracting the same attention.

Like this one.

audi r8.jpg

To be honest I don't think it's all just about the power for him although that is part of it, he does a few track days but it's also about the image. A lambo etc. looks a lot better on Instagram. He views it as away of promoting the success of his business and I can't really argue with that, as its working for him. He also is on a bit of a mission to own every car he dreamed about having as a kid, hence the quick changes of cars. I don't get it but he is from a different generation, living a successful lifestyle and showing everyone the way he lives does help him get business. I think it's nuts but that's the way it is.

This is his i8.

i8.jpg

C0DD4D7E-020E-466C-808E-DD2FCA48E15F.jpeg
 
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Wouldn't use a supercar as a daily, I would get a Porsche for that balance of refinement, power and prestige. The Gull Wing door thing would come out on the weekend to drive to Coffee & Machine.

an i8, there is one around here, the guy who had one used to have the plate "1 TRY", but i notice yesterday he was driving a 840i instead now with that plate. There are a lot of other cars I would get for these money, BMW and Audi isn't what i would be going to. It's not the power, going 0-60 at 3.5s or 4.0s...irrelevant. When was the last time I put my foot down at the lights? never. So they are all fast enough.

Speaking of Lambo again....when i went to KFC a month ago, the car in front was a Lambo, an orange one. The people in the windows at KFC was very giddily at seeing one and asked the driver to rev it...which he happily obliged, but blasting exhausts right at my car! They get a lot of attention, that is without a doubt, but i wouldn't want to leave that parked anywhere in town. You will come back with a lot of butt prints on the car from people posing next to it for their 'gram'.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
Wouldn't use a supercar as a daily, I would get a Porsche for that balance of refinement, power and prestige. The Gull Wing door thing would come out on the weekend to drive to Coffee & Machine.

an i8, there is one around here, the guy who had one used to have the plate "1 TRY", but i notice yesterday he was driving a 840i instead now with that plate. There are a lot of other cars I would get for these money, BMW and Audi isn't what i would be going to. It's not the power, going 0-60 at 3.5s or 4.0s...irrelevant. When was the last time I put my full down at the lights? never. So they are all fast enough.

Speaking of Lambo again....when i went to KFC a month ago, the car in front was a Lambo, an orange one. The people in the windows at KFC was very giddily at seeing one and asked the driver to rev it...which he happily obliged, but blasting exhausts right at my car! They get a lot of attention, that is without a doubt, but i wouldn't want to leave that parked anywhere in town. You will come back with a lot of butt prints on the car from people posing next to it for their 'gram'.
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I have told him that it should be a weekend only car thing, he still has the Audi TTRS and the Range Rover but rarely drives them, Nuts as it sounds he only uses the Range Rover to transport his dog about.

I didn't like the i8 and told him that before he got it but like I said he never listens too me. I think he was swayed with all the tech inside the 360 degree cameras etc. I much preferred the R8.

The lambo will get him the attention he wants, no doubt.
 
Tell him he should get a Suzuki Jimny to transport his dog. He will get more attention in that car than his Range Rover! Guaranteed.
 
Prestige just interest me at all and attracting attention isn't a great thing either. And this isn't just because I'm tight. Even some of my reasonably modest cars have attracted way too much attention, the Boxester, Elan SE and Elise in particular. The Elan and the Boxster were both repeatedly vandalised and then there was the hassle and abuse and downright dangerous antics I was subjected to on the road and looking back I did some stupid things in response. The beauty of MX5's is that they're fun at reasonable speeds and don't attract too much attention with hair dresser comments just making me smile as those making them clearly don't know what they're talking about.

PS.
One car I regret not owning is the MGF/TF. I test drove several MGF's and when being a bit of a hooligan they all had handling issues I think due to issues with the hydrogas suspension. My mam had Metro's and they constantly needed the hydrogas fettling. Anyway. When I test drove a TF which had conventional suspension the handling issues were gone and I do wish I'd bought one.
 
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woof woof said:
PS.
One car I regret not owning is the MGF/TF. I test drove several MGF's and when being a bit of a hooligan they all had handling issues I think due to issues with the hydrogas suspension. My mam had Metro's and they constantly needed the hydrogas fettling. Anyway. When I test drove a TF which had conventional suspension the handling issues were gone and I do wish I'd bought one.
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You wouldn't have enjoyed the head gasket failures
 
f/2.8 said:
You wouldn't have enjoyed the head gasket failures
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IMO largely a non issue. My old mam had several Metro's and a Rover 100 with zero head gasket issues and an ex of mine had a Rover 200, again zero issues. It's not something I'd have worried about, but I look after my cars.

They did some penny pinching on later K series engines which exacerbated the problem but all could be reversed with a readily available kit and remember that many of the failures were often a result of some other issue. Have an issue which leads to a blown gasket and replace the gasket without fixing the underlying problem? Don't be surprised if it blows again. Another problem was that unscrupulous people latched onto the issue and "It needs a head gasket" became an almost standard reply with these cars. My own mam suffered this at a main Rover dealer when the car was leaking oil after a service and "it needs a head gasket" was the diagnosis. She would have paid up until I stopped her and traced the leak to a non existent oil filter gasket which had disappeared during the service, there was no trace of it at all. I can't say if this was criminal or carelessness but would they have charged her 17p for the filter gasket or £xxx for another known problem head gasket?
 
Do SONY make cars then ??? :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

anyway back to Photography- here an Egret catching fresh water shrimps


1fCtWl1.jpg


Les :)
 
No photography for me at the mo as Mrs WW needs taking to school and picking up three days a week and apart from that the light has been generally poor. I'd like a few hours out with a camera but life and the weather get in the way.
 
woof woof said:
IMO largely a non issue. My old mam had several Metro's and a Rover 100 with zero head gasket issues and an ex of mine had a Rover 200, again zero issues. It's not something I'd have worried about, but I look after my cars.

They did some penny pinching on later K series engines which exacerbated the problem but all could be reversed with a readily available kit and remember that many of the failures were often a result of some other issue. Have an issue which leads to a blown gasket and replace the gasket without fixing the underlying problem? Don't be surprised if it blows again. Another problem was that unscrupulous people latched onto the issue and "It needs a head gasket" became an almost standard reply with these cars. My own mam suffered this at a main Rover dealer when the car was leaking oil after a service and "it needs a head gasket" was the diagnosis. She would have paid up until I stopped her and traced the leak to a non existent oil filter gasket which had disappeared during the service, there was no trace of it at all. I can't say if this was criminal or carelessness but would they have charged her 17p for the filter gasket or £xxx for another known problem head gasket?
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I have a friend and colleague who has had a few TFs over several years and uses one as a daily driver. Head gasket stories are not exaggerated, and his have been in and out of the garage frequently, normally needing significant repairs every year. The last one before this wasn't getting sorted, hence replaced. They're probably fun, but potentially a money pit too.
 
ancient_mariner said:
I have a friend and colleague who has had a few TFs over several years and uses one as a daily driver. Head gasket stories are not exaggerated, and his have been in and out of the garage frequently, normally needing significant repairs every year. The last one before this wasn't getting sorted, hence replaced. They're probably fun, but potentially a money pit too.
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Exactly this I know a few people have them, my aunty is in the owners club. Head gasket is almost done as often as a service. Probably the worst car ever made for this well its a toss up between these and the petrol Rover 75.
 
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f/2.8 said:
Exactly this I know a few people have them, my aunty is in the owners club. Head gasket is almost done as often as a service. Probably the worst car ever made for this well its a toss up between these and the petrol Rover 75.
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It's a real shame - they should have been so much better.
 
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