Malton Gate, Thornton-le-Dale

AXOTA, on February 22, 2008, said:

One of my favourite N.Yorks villages with a superb Ice-cream shop.

Coal Miner's Boy, on February 22, 2008, said:

They also have a fairly nice British Car museum!

Paul (the connossieur of ice cream in any form - pity I'm diabetic!)

AXOTA, on February 22, 2008, said:

Yes they do Paul, and quite a few of them are for sale. I just happen to like old classics and I owned a rather nice Triumph Stag for 20 years. The only car I ever made a profit on. Bought it for £1500 in 82. Sold it for £10000 in 2002.--Wish I'd kept her.

Too old for posing Paul, I'm pushing 70.

Best wishes

Jim

Coal Miner's Boy, on February 22, 2008, said:

We still have my wife's very first car - a 1970 Mini we bought second hand from Bristol Street Motors in Birmingham. It's now heavily customized, because I just can't leave well enough alone!

One of the members of our local British Car Club has a Stag that's in pristine condition and gets driven regularly and hard.

I'm currently building myself a new hot rod. I've turned a 1972 Datsun 240Z coupe into a 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO convertible replica, complete with 355 HP 5.7 litre Chevrolet V8 (couldn't afford a V12) and a 6-speed gearbox.

Paul

AXOTA, on February 22, 2008, said:

Aye Paul, great fun and expensive too, but the end result has just got to be worth all the effort and busted knuckles,blood,sweat and tears.

I'm amazed you kept the Mini. There cant be many of them out there now. They have almost completly disappeared from the street scene here.

I actually thought that the Datsun 240Z was a pretty good classic in its own right. I'd like you to post me a photo of that when its ready please.

You are obviously not paying £1-10 per litre for gas.:):)

Jim

Coal Miner's Boy, on February 22, 2008, said:

When we lived in L.A we were members of the Mini Owners of America, Los Angeles chapter, and we had around 60 members with over 100 cars between them.

Here in the far north, there are (I think) 6 in our locale. There are far more of the new BMW Minis, but we don't count them as Minis!

Our gas is $3 per US gallon, which works out to about 40p per litre, and you should hear people whine!

Paul

AXOTA, on February 23, 2008, said:

I rember some years ago when the price of gas here was about £2-50 per gll the citizans of USA were getting quite shirty about the prospect of the $1 plus per gll fuel cost.

I'm surprised that it costs as much as that now (about 80 cents I think) I can understand the whining. However, SHELL Oil made seven and a half billion Pounds profit last year. Is there a con here???

Diesel fuel here is now £1-15 per litre and the Chancellor wants a tax hike on all fuel soon.

Best wishes

Jim

Coal Miner's Boy, on February 23, 2008, said:

Yeah, I think there's a con. Big oil talks about the increasing demand from the developing countries like India and China driving up the price, and of course the oil supplying nations keep on getting richer.

Exxon Mobil had pre-tax profits of $40 BILLION last year, and Chevron-Texaco weren't far behind. Meanwhile the cost of EVERYTHING continues to spiral upwards because of the cost of transporting product to market in such a huge country, while the independent truckers are bankrupted by the cost of operating their trucks.

Is there a solution? I can't come up with one. We can't boycott; we depend on our vehicles too much. I could cycle to work, but how would I transport my groceries, my footie gear, my wife (we work in the same office)?

Regards,

Paul

AXOTA, on February 23, 2008, said:

There is no solution Paul. Oil production will dry up in our life-time and in the mean-time we shall continue to get ripped off by the oil and supply industry at large. Some-one is sitting on the answer to this problem and you can bet your bottom dollar that the 'above' formentioned are preventing its introduction. When the day comes, it will be a big relief. Camels will no doubt make a come-back. Amen.

Jim

Coal Miner's Boy, on February 23, 2008, said:

I always did want to be a cowboy, and the area we live in now is horse country, so perhaps I'll replace my oil burners with hay burners!

Paul