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Old 5th April 2018, 20:31   #1
Roker
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Smile Advice from Oz needed.

Hiya guys,

New nember here, recently took early retirement at a significant birthday last month. Done enough and 60 seems a nice round number to do not much more unless i want to and the chances of that any time soon are very slim.

As you will witness, i am very much in the "why use a few words when many will do" genre. Please forgive an old man his foibles.

Having owned numbers of vehicles way in excess of my 60 years and being some 43 of those summers since first sat in the driver's seat, i am now looking for something a little different, not everybody else has and that has a bit of a heritage, yet still modern enough to keep up with traffic and still be capable of giving a pride of ownership that makes you smile like a prize clown when you sit in it.

Originating from the NE of England and now having resided in Oz since 1982, my vehicles of choice have had distinct Pommie leanings for a very long time. Anything from a mini to an XJS and all points in between. Being 6'3 in stockinged feet saw the mini consigned to someone of a much more diminutive stature and the V12, well that was just one of those moments of madness when boy meets car and falls head over heels in love knowing full well that she will break his heart once she finds he does not have the funds to keep her happy. It was a stupid decision to purchase a tarty dogs appendage red Walkinshaw body kitted one anyway and especially a car that had been on UK roads for far too long, then imported into Oz by some migrant rat sporting a gold tooth in pursuit of a cashed up mug was just one of the daftest things i have ever done and there are plenty of not so smart things in the memory banks to choose from. Anyway, the planets aligned, the wife had her own moment of madness letting me buy it for my 40th birthday and I became that mug. The years were not kind and the iron oxide Gods took my fair maiden away to Jag Valhalla, but not before rendering me impecunious in the process. Not wishing to repeat that learning process again any time soon....

So. All this waffling is just to set the scene as background information to an obsessive mechanical nature that has no basis in either sense or practicality. I have always loved the Rover marque, regardless of model, but whilst the ones in Oz seldom succumb to metal rot ( as we prefer to put our salt on our chips and not on the roads) they do not, however, suit what I am now searching for. I am now needing something that at least purports to be reliable if you keep up the maintenance and are prepared to lob up some folding stuff and a bit of free time on a regular basis to make it so. The heart says P5B coupe, but even I know that my head tells me that scale of impracticality would not match the reality of owning one.

Long story short. I have been trawling the pages of Carsales and Gumtree in Perth and the 75 series Rovers caught my eye. I have done my research and, thanks to the treasure trove of knowledge and information on this site, now have half an idea what to look for and subsequently embarked on my quest to find "a good one" that has a decent log book history, with the right amount of fruit to keep me lustfully pressing buttons from tbe drivers seat. Unfortunately right now, most of the current crop appear to be on the Eastern seabord and whilst a flight to, followed by a road trip from, of some 2000km in a car that is perhaps upwards of 16 years old and questionable reliability smacks of an adventure, even I am not prepared to be that stupid.There is a vast area of stinking hot nothingness twixt Adelaide and Perth that we have traversed several times and have no intention of thrill seeking to that extent in a newly acquired old vehicle of unknown abilities to keep going for extended periods of time.

There are 4 presently for sale in Perth as contenders for driveway space, ranging from Club Spec to Connoisseur SE. One has only 78,000km, but is the lower spec model, but immaculate. The rest are all around 120-135K km with most of the desirable features, but a litle tatty here and there in places. Not a huge amount of mileage for cars that are 2001-2003 vintage. There is a very tarty looking 2005 ZT190 that I thought i might like, but discovered my boy racer tendencies of yore, have morphed into a propensity for armchair comfort with lashings of wood grain. It seems sportiness is no longer my thing and, sadly, after inspecting it the MG just didn't float my boat and i didnt even bother to drive it. Not flashy enough, or
Is it that I am just growing up/old? I do have a 2010 Alfa Spider as my daily driver, so maybe I can have both flashiness and old NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD- practicality by having my two totally opposing personal character types (in sort of a vehicular Dr Jekyll/ Mr Hyde kind of wsy) in the garage and render our much more staid by comparison, 4WD to caravan towing duties from here on in.

Having driven only one V6 car thus far and been smitten by the smoothness of ride, levels of opulence reserved for someone much less Chavvy than me and a sense of "where have these cars been all my life and why havent i succumbed to their siren-like charms until now" about me, i am forcing myself not to be impulsive and not just pay what the guy is asking. A far cry from the head strong young man that I used to be and am finding the process very cathartic, if interspersed with thoughts of suicide if i let this one go..

So, for now, the quest will continue, but I already believe that I have found my car, but for once will heed the sagely advice from these pages of much wiser, experienced heads and drive a number of them first. Wish me luck.........
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Old 5th April 2018, 20:37   #2
suzublu
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G'day mate, or night/morning as it will be for you & by your username, ex Sunderland by any chance Any way, plenty of Rover/MG life in Oz, look here https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/for...d.php?t=208808
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Old 5th April 2018, 20:52   #3
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Default Why Aye Man....

Yep, Sunderland born and bred and as the name suggests, a football tragic and times do not come much more tragic than right now ....

Get back to blighty quite often and only just returned from another trip there in recent days. got snowed in for 4 days in March through that hysteria ftom Siberia thing and still wonder how i ever survived living there for so long.

Dont think the link to Western Australian Club is alive anymore, which would be a bit of a shame having been a Jag and Triumph Club member in a former life. No doubt there will be others in the area on the site, which would be good.
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Old 5th April 2018, 20:57   #4
suzublu
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Used to go to Roker Park in the 60's/70's as a lad, sadly on a downward spiral Look for member Egremont, he's the go to chap in Oz & has the contacts for you Didn't realise some links were dead, sorry
Use this forum rather than the Chinese one https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/for...splay.php?f=16

Last edited by suzublu; 5th April 2018 at 21:02..
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Old 5th April 2018, 21:06   #5
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Default Why Aye Man....

Red and white stripes in the DNA. My folks now live in Roker, but from being 14 we lived only 2 streets away from the new ground- not that it was built then as it was Wearmouth pit back then. When SOL was built, the faithful would park outside my ma's door and eat their fish and Chips from the chippy in Crozier St. then chuck the wrappers out of tbe car window followed by the contents of the ash tray. My old man would do his narna.....

No matter now bad the lads do, or how much I whine on a Saturday night when they get beat, they are my team and you do not mess with nostalgia. Mind you- they would try the patience of a saint.
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Old 6th April 2018, 10:58   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Roker View Post
Yep, Sunderland born and bred and as the name suggests, a football tragic and times do not come much more tragic than right now ....

Get back to blighty quite often and only just returned from another trip there in recent days. got snowed in for 4 days in March through that hysteria ftom Siberia thing and still wonder how i ever survived living there for so long.

Dont think the link to Western Australian Club is alive anymore, which would be a bit of a shame having been a Jag and Triumph Club member in a former life. No doubt there will be others in the area on the site, which would be good.

On the subject of Sunderland FC

Having been born and bred in Swansea, may I thank Sunderland football club on making the ultimate sacrifice in taking on possibly the thickest manager in British football in order that those Swans fans deluded enough to advocate bringing him home to manage his home town club have been left disappointed ( hopefully for good). I salute you Sunderland FC for your continued services to Welsh football and would like to thank the 'manager spotting team' at the Stadium of Light for tying up Mr Coleman on what I would hope is a very long, cast iron, non sackable contract in order that he won't ever turn up to manage Swansea in the future.

Last edited by bendrick; 6th April 2018 at 11:07..
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Old 8th April 2018, 04:18   #7
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Default A contact for your Western Australian Rover Club.

Welcome to the club Alan,
I am in Melbourne, Victoria which as you will appreciate is further away from Perth than Moscow is to London, in fact 330 miles further.

The Western Australian Rover Owners' Club Inc. has a web site www.waroc,org.au

The club's Membership Secretary, Andrew Eggington is the man to contact. His contact phone number is given as 9275 2935.

You should not experience any difficulty. But if you wish to contact me, please send a PM to me. Later this month, the Victorian Club (Rover Car Club of Australia Inc) is hosting the biennial National Rove and some WA members will be attending. Whilst I am personally not able to attend, I would certainly arrange for our President to liaise on your behalf.

The 75 / MG ZT cars are great and if well maintained, will reward you with years of wonderful motoring. Additionally, members of this club have a wealth of knowledge that they impart freely to others - to guide one in maintaining their car in top condition.

I see that Sunderland is in the County of Durham. Being from the antipodes, I sometimes wish the county was included in ones address.

Having mentioned that I live in Melbourne, I should mention that my wife's relatives reside in W.A.- Perth and Albany areas. Having mentioned that, my late brother - in - law and his brother had an Englishman as their flight engineer on their Lanc. Had the highest regard for him, even if it took a while to understand the Gerodie accent. He probably had the same difficulty
understanding "these colonials".

Wishing you all the best, Bruce.
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Old 8th April 2018, 05:36   #8
Reebs
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Welcome to the club Alan, I've moved your thread to the Overseas Members section for better coverage. Happy car hunting.
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Old 8th April 2018, 07:42   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Roker View Post
Hiya guys,..............As you will witness, i am very much in the "why use a few words when many will do" genre. Please forgive an old man his foibles...................... Wish me luck.........
Alan, are you not really a re-incarnation of H.G. Wells? as your introduction and text was so well written, good on yer'.

Welcome and enjoy the discovery of the Rovers. Not Roy, but better than other Northern teams.
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