Mazda 1500 Estate

Mazda 1500 Estate

Jupiter spied this on his travels, in Central America, and had to check the badges to see what it was. A Mazda 1500 estate, apparently, also know as a first generation Mazda Luce. Here is the wikipedia article. First thoughts were, 'what a lot of glass', and then the second thought was how flat the windows are. It looks all complete, and in reasonable condition, especially for this area. Unusually for a car in this locale it doesn't have window tints, which when combined with such a big glass area must make it pretty warm inside (presumably there would be no air-con). They were styled by Bertone, and certainly look good.

Buying Used Cars: 13 Top Tips

Used cars in South Africa

Jupiter has plenty of experience buying used cars, and this is what he has learned from years of practice:

1.  Check a private seller really is a private seller. When you call them, simple say you are ringing about the car. If they are actually a trader, they will have to ask which car.

2. Do your research. There is an online forum for almost every car ever made. Google ‘[name of car] forum’ and ‘common problems [name of car] forum’, without quotes. Have a really good read through to see what the recurring problems are, then find out how much it could cost to fix them. Not only is it good for knowing what are the problems that you might find, it’s also great for talking to the seller. Saying things like, “oh, this model had problems with the front lower wishbones” puts the seller on the defensive, even if you don’t actually know what that means.

Ford Focus ZX3

Jupiter likes the first generation Ford Focus. The design is attractive and innovative, and the driver’s seat is a nice place to be.

It looks like the designers liked their job, this isn’t some boring and bland consumer item. Ford introduced it in 1998 for Europe, and in 1999 for North America.  The ZX3 was a North American market model, the closest model in spec for other markets was the Zetec. Ford’s intention was that the Focus would be a ‘World Car’, available in most markets globally. The ZX3 was created as sporty trim level, with a 130 bhp Zetec engine, but not as full-on, or expensive, as the SVT. Wikipedia have a complete history of the Focus model.

Magazine roadtests of the Ford Focus, and the ZX3 in particular, were complimentary about the car’s handling:

The New Future of Speed

In the future, daring couriers resurrect battered and discarded status symbols of the past. They modify old Lamborghinis and Ferraris, or other high powered old cars or ‘bikes, and then set off in search of thrills and fortune. They become despised by society, hounded by the law, and barely tolerated by the corporations that begrudgingly come to depend on them.

Jupiter has this recurring dream, a story, something that could become a book, a film, a game, all of those things, or just a blip on this blog.

The story is set in an imminent future, a flawed utopia some twenty or thirty years out from now. Most people are getting around by shared and driverless electric vehicles. These ‘cars’ pick up power from the road surface, which is controlled by the government, who can then ensure that speed limits and traffic laws are rigidly enforced. 

Old internal combustion driven cars still exist, but even though they are not illegal, they are socially despised. They are usually driven by eccentric throwbacks, and those too poor to afford the latest whirring blobs. The World is clean, safe, connected, and anodyne. However, there is a new problem in this paradise, and it’s huge. The World’s online data is no longer secure. Cryptography has been irrevocably hacked, and electronic connections are no longer discrete ways to transmit information. Anyone needing to move data around securely now has to revert to the crude methods of the past; they have to put it onto physical media, and physically carry it to where it needs to be. This spawns a new, dangerous, and exciting industry; high speed transit by road.

So this is the scene, and the story starts like this:

What ever Happened to Street Machines?

When Jupiter was a boy, every last Saturday of the month, he used to jump on the number 188 London Bus to go see the Chelsea Cruise. This happening was a vibrant collection of modified cars (customized was the word used back then), classic American cars (Yanks), and ‘bikes. During the seventies and eighties, the US car scene was particularly appealing to a certain kind of Brit. Many lower middle class, or skilled working class, people embraced the culture, because it seemed more fun and egalitarian compared to the effete and snobby World of hillclimbs and sports-car clubs. The products of this enthusiasm had a particularly local twist. The resulting ‘Street Machines’ were a kind of pastiche of custom, street rod and local styles, and they even had a magazine more or less devoted to them.

7 Best Car Nations

Finland

Really, snow bound Finland, with no car manufacturers and a tiny population, they make this list? Of course, because what they don’t have in machinery, they make up for in meat. Even if some of the names sound like the product of speech impediments, per head of population, Finland has produced some of the greatest drivers ever. In F1, Finland has given us World Champions Keke Rosberg, Mika Häkkinen, and Kimi Räikkönen, and when it comes to the pantheon of rally stars, it seems more the case who isn’t Finnish. Maybe not surprising when you consider that sliding a car around is all part of daily Finnish driving, and ‘folk racing’ is part of many people’s weekend there. But don’t take just my word for it, let Top Gear tell you all about it:

Range Rover Evoque vs. Landwind X7

Jupiter's personal opinion is that regular Range Rover's are bought by footballer's wives*, and Range Rover Evoques are bought by footballers wives' hairdressers. So that's OK, not target markets that include Jupiter, but I'm sure highly lucrative markets for Jaguar-Land Rover. So I'm sure it does immensely peeve them that someone has decided to run their sexy best seller through a Xerox machine.

Which is what has happened in China. The Wall Street Journal tell us that J-LR's ire has been raised by the 'Landwind X7', which, as well as having a vaguely fart-like name, is the spitting image of it's distant British non-relative. Let's crudely Paint Shop off the name badges and see if we can tell the difference, huh?