mx5cartalk.com

Bruce, I feel like I must have "taken my eye off the ball" as I don't think I knew you had acquired the Bullet.
(maybe I did and it is just old age affecting the memory)
I looked back under the various Sections to see if you had a thread but I couldn't find one.
As Maniac says, be good to see a few more photos and a bit of info (if this isn't already somewhere else).
When did you get it?

Bruce has been dropping hints here and there, but it wasn't until he mentioned in my thread a few weeks ago that I found out about it. If you weren't paying close attention it would have been easy to miss.

Inquiring minds want details, Bruce! (and pictures, lots of pictures!)

I will get around to posting further details.

I went for a drive along the coast in my little red NA and saw a red Lamborghini Countach coming the other way. I popped my headlights up and flashed him and to my joy he popped up his and flashed me back. It was like being high fived by automotive royalty!!

Always good to encounter someone who "gets it".
I've never seen a Countach in the flesh. Bet they look awesome coming down the highway.
They were "the Dream" for a lot of guys born in the '50s/'60s.
'E Types' were always my dream car so I never had the "Countach poster".

Rocky wrote:'E Types' were always my dream car so I never had the "Countach poster".

Father had a 1970 Series 2 FHC in Primrose in the 1980s - very similar to this:

Countachs are pretty rare so what was seen could have been a replica (if you've never seen a genuine one in the flesh, how do you know?). I saw a black one recently at a huge Cars & Coffee (over 500 cars, lotsa exotics).
Prior to that was back in the 1980s when I drove past the old Lamborghi Dealer in Oakleigh.

bruce wrote:Prior to that was back in the 1980s when I drove past the old Lamborghi Dealer in Oakleigh.

Brents - some interesting reading for anyone with the time & inclination - extract from the third link also follows:
https://www.smh.com.au/national/sent-wo ... dhuaa.html
https://www.theage.com.au/national/vict ... 38vsx.html
https://www.tradeuniquecars.com.au/feat ... dino-246gt
'Inside the mint leather factory document wallet, we find a copy of a letter from her father to the manager of Brents Motors, Oakleigh, dated June 25 1975.

"I wish to complain to your executives re: certain matters regarding Dino Ferrari Coupe purchased recently by me... the speedo reading when the car left my residence (for post-purchase service) was 2175 kilometres and the reading on delivery was 2413, a difference of 240 kilometres. As the distance between my residence and your car yard is hardly that distance, I think that some explanation is due to me.

"I realise that to tune the motor the car had to be dríven... but also as a matter of interest, the ashtray contained cigarette butts (some with lipstick) and as my wife and I are both non-smokers and none of your salesmen have been seen wearing lipstick, it appears that my car was used for other purposes whilst in the care of your company."

Veronica’s father goes on to list several areas where the service of Brents Motors has disappointed him and been deficient, advises that he will have the faults rectified at a mechanic of his choice and insists that the cost be deducted from the final payment due at the end of the month.

"A resolution which I am sure we will both be satisfied with". Sadly the reply from Brents is not in the file!'

That is a cool story.

Your Father must have been a cool dude. Did you have a few drives in it?
A (local) mate had a Series 2 FHC for a short time and I was lucky to have a drive in it. I was impressed by how 'modern' it felt. I compared it to the MX5. I would have liked to have bought it but I knew that I would have to plough more than the purchase price into it to get it up to a satisfactory standard.


A decade later, Wife's Father had a mint Ferrari 308 GTB that he wanted to sell. It was a bit more cash than I could scrape up at the time and my biggest "car regret" is that I didn't get a small loan and buy it. He would have given me a 'family discount' too.

A cheap Ferrari and u didn't buy it!

No such thing as a cheap Ferrari!

It may be cheap to buy, but what happens after that is almost always un-cheap!

That blue looks great on the E Type! Was your FIL's 308 GTB a GRP body or steel body? Sat in the driver's seat of a 308, but not been for a drive. Yes drove the E Type a few times - the independent rear suspension's response to throttle input could be a bit unnerving at times!

greenMachine wrote:No such thing as a cheap Ferrari!

It may be cheap to buy, but what happens after that is almost always un-cheap!

How true. Any old exotic would cost a lot to maintain.

Yeah, the blue looked nice - I think it was a Subaru colour - certainly not an original colour. Looked better from a distance.
The 308 was metal. Originally that lovely medium blue metallic that Ferrari used but Keith thought it should be red so had it stripped and repainted. He was very clever mechanically and I think he said he replaced the valves (something about sodium-filled valves?)
The expected maintenance costs was a factor in my decision not to try to acquire it. While I might have scraped up the purchase price the maintenance costs into the future (particularly in retirement) would have been a problem.