Topic: AutoPuzzles - The Last Forum Of The Combustion Chamber Faithful

[Ultra]

Gentlemen,

Those of us still here are, as of today, the last folk from the group who existed at Autoweek's CC oh so long ago that are still together and active at an automobile forum. 

I'd like to raise a glass and toast to all of the folk from CC who carry on the foruming!!!

Lastly, I'd also like to encourage each and every one of you to try and recruit folk to this place. It's a really nice, secluded, fun corner of the automotive internet and I know there are a LOT of folk out there who would like this place and become contributors, if only they had the awareness we were here and the willingness to give us a try. Help us to make this place all it can be. You can do that by telling the world all about us.

Here's to AP and it's wonderful community of folk!!!

Please,

Charlie

[Carnut]

Cheers!

I try my best to get people involved but few (surprisingly) stick around.
Inevitably I know a lot of people who love cars, many of whom are very interested in rare cars, yet even they seem to come and then go.
Years ago my friend Oliver Edwards used to run an Identify the Car Picture Quiz at the TVR Car Club concours every year, and the same guy used to win it every year.  Then I joined, and put paid to that!  Eventually they stopped having it because no-one else could win.
Well, I got him to join the forum and he came on a few times, made a couple of posts, then disappeared for good.

Similarly Richard Heseltine, a motoring journalist, writer and complete car nut, joined here (hezza), identified one or two cars, then disappeared for good.  Yet I know he is still a fanatic, owns a Lamborghini Espada, and loves rarities, writing about them in some of our best-known car publications.

I think some people just aren't interested in forums and quizzes.
I'll keep on trying though!

[Djetset]

Similarly Richard Heseltine, a motoring journalist, writer and complete car nut, joined here (hezza), identified one or two cars, then disappeared for good.  Yet I know he is still a fanatic, owns a Lamborghini Espada, and loves rarities, writing about them in some of our best-known car publications.

I spoke to Richard (Hezza) about this some years ago, as he's a good friend of mine. His car knowledge is very good, but the reason he quickly quit AP was that he liked the subject matter (the cars) but was less keen on a few puzzlers being rather too pedantic and/or rude about their quiz car (year, builder, etc.), especially when he knew the correct answer, and the puzzler(s) was/were insistent that it was something else, only to be corrected later.

I have tried to tempt Hezza back to AP, but sadly it's unlikely to happen as he's not a great fan of forums either.

[fyreline]

I can understand Mr. Heseltine's reasons for deciding not to participate. It can get frustrating sometimes. I think the key to success is simplicity . . . when a respondent has correctly identified the car, endless "follow-up" questions that weren't originally asked tend to drive away participants. Another issue (thankfully, quite rare on this forum) is the case where the poster did not have his facts correct, and respondents are told they are wrong when in fact, they are right.

No one is perfect, and the small group that posts the vast majority of the puzzles here are to be highly commended for their efforts. Most of us find this site to be very enjoyable indeed, and I have always maintained that the search is more than half the fun. When it ceases to be fun, it will cease to exist. So cheers to all those who came before and established the basis for what we do now. Let's keep it light, fun and informative. It is not - and has never been - a contest to show how much more one person knows than another. I'm certain each of us could pose a puzzle car NO ONE could identify - but really, where's the fun in that?

Just my opinion, of course. And on we go.

[Carnut]

Similarly Richard Heseltine, a motoring journalist, writer and complete car nut, joined here (hezza), identified one or two cars, then disappeared for good.  Yet I know he is still a fanatic, owns a Lamborghini Espada, and loves rarities, writing about them in some of our best-known car publications.

I spoke to Richard (Hezza) about this some years ago, as he's a good friend of mine. His car knowledge is very good, but the reason he quickly quit AP was that he liked the subject matter (the cars) but was less keen on a few puzzlers being rather too pedantic and/or rude about their quiz car (year, builder, etc.), especially when he knew the correct answer, and the puzzler(s) was/were insistent that it was something else, only to be corrected later.

I have tried to tempt Hezza back to AP, but sadly it's unlikely to happen as he's not a great fan of forums either.

I just had a quick look at Hezza's posts to satisfy myself I wasn't the one being pedantic and putting him off, and I'm relieved to see it wasn't me at all!
He identified a number of my puzzles and was pretty-well right every time, as I would expect.  In fact he got 49 points, 7 of them in his first half-hour on AutoPuzzles!

[Djetset]

No, don't worry Carnut, I don't think it was you! 

[Otto Puzzell]

I don't post puzzles any more, so he or anyone else can come back.

[Carnut]

I don't post puzzles any more, so he or anyone else can come back.

We miss yours...

[Ultra]

Well, if any one care to inform Hezza, I'd welcome the opportunity to publish some of this writings. I'll publish some of you guys writings as well....

This thread turned into more than I bargained for....  In the most excellent of ways.

[Carnut]

Well, if any one care to inform Hezza, I'd welcome the opportunity to publish some of this writings. I'll publish some of you guys writings as well....

This thread turned into more than I bargained for....  In the most excellent of ways.

Although I am in touch with Hezza (on email; he was in touch just this week for some information on a subject he's writing an article about) I think it should be over to Djetset if he's a friend of his.

Hezza's an all-round good bloke and it would be good to have him back.

[Ultra]

Well, if any one care to inform Hezza, I'd welcome the opportunity to publish some of this writings. I'll publish some of you guys writings as well....

This thread turned into more than I bargained for....  In the most excellent of ways.

Although I am in touch with Hezza (on email; he was in touch just this week for some information on a subject he's writing an article about) I think it should be over to Djetset if he's a friend of his.

Hezza's an all-round good bloke and it would be good to have him back.

Let's find out what it would take to make him a regular and then make it so.

[Otto Puzzell]

I don't post puzzles any more, so he or anyone else can come back.

We miss yours...

That's kind of you - thank you.

[Djetset]

Although I am in touch with Hezza (on email; he was in touch just this week for some information on a subject he's writing an article about) I think it should be over to Djetset if he's a friend of his.

I'll speak to him and see if we can encourage with to come back, but don't held your breath, as forums aren't really his 'cup of tea.'  Fingers crossed though...

[richard cuyler]

I've never posted anything in this Section before, so I hope what I have to say is in the appropriate place.

Last night I was watching the first episode of the new series of 'Bates Motel'. The main female character drives a lustrous, beautifully maintained, light green Mercedes W108. As someone who grew up in the Fifties and Sixties and got married in 1968, I recall that this Mercedes model was at the time a much desired automobile and in my opinion, it still is. Paul Bracq managed to make something special out of an otherwise quite boxy design, the twin-stacked headlights on American  models giving the frontal aspect even more cachet. The chrome highlights were beautifully applied, with just the right amount of brightwork to enhance the obvious quality. At that time, parking one of these Mercedes' next virtually any other car would immediately make obvious the W109's superiority in terms of paintwork and of its structure.

My friend Derek, a legal eagle with money to burn told me he just had to have one and duly arrived at my house one day in, I think, 1970, driving his newest toy, a slightly used but pristine 300SEL 6.3 with just a few hundred miles on its odometer. It was black with a red interior and looked simply perfect. Why used? Because he was too impatient to wait the long time between placing his order and getting his car.

My first ride made an impression on me like no other. It rocketed away from a standstill, the passengers' heads slammed into the head rests and provoked lots of those joyous expletives which are well known to petrol-heads. The smiles didn't fade until well after we had arrived back at my home after about an hour of Clarkson-type hooning around. A  memory to treasure. I was bitten by the Mercedes bug, but it wasn't until 1977 that I could afford a very low-mileage 350SE(W116) . Sadly, I don't think it was a patch on Derek's 300SEL 6.3, in neither looks, nor in driving enjoyment.

In one respect, however, it was a much better car. The awful rear swing-axles of the 108/9 had at last been banished from MB cars. No longer did one have to worry about lifting-off in a fast corner and ending up becoming part of the scenery, as, indeed, did Derek. There was major damage to his lovely car, but none at all to the passengers. He sold the wreck as scrap.

I wondered whether anyone else on AP has had experiences of the beautiful 108/109 MB cars and whether they would like to tell us AP-ers about them?

[Carnut]

No personal experience but I remember the cars well, because at that time very high performance saloon cars were very unusual indeed.  The concept of a 4-door saloon which could out-perform many of the most expensive supercars was simply unknown, perhaps apart from the earlier Maserati Quattroporte or Lagonda Rapide.   And I always wanted the fastest car around so I lusted after just such a car; sadly though my budget restricted me to an Austin Allegro!  Not quite as interesting, although I'm pleased to say I have finally achieved a 4-door saloon which will outperform just about everything else on the road (an Audi though rather than a Mercedes).

[fyreline]

I had the extreme good fortune to work at a Mercedes-Benz dealership when I was in high school in the mid to late 1960s. Sure, I was just a lot boy and clean-up guy, moving vehicles around and getting them ready for delivery - but I would have done it for free. After a steady diet of Chevrolets, Plymouths and Fords, those Mercedes sedans were a revelation to say the least. The absolute quality of design and construction was readily apparent, and even just driving them around the block was like a magic carpet ride to a teenager. The bonus was when the Auto Show was held downtown every year, and drivers were needed to convoy the latest, nicest models from the dealership way down in the valley to the War Memorial Auditorium downtown. One year I got a 250SL, one year a 300SE. We never sold a 600, although we did service a couple of them. A great experience I will never forget.