Chris Skelton

Well, ask Tony Bones' opinion? (Wheels in motion. He may know someone in your area who'll do it.)

...and the 'Familiale' version had extra row of fold-up seats (like old taxis). Mine just had a huge space there. I built a platform, boot to (back of) front seats that was 6 feet long, so we could sleep in inclement weather, plus store camping stuff underneath. I can recall waking in the middle of Spanish-'nowhere', by a lake, to nuzzling, curious goats being herded past at dawn; plus, driving through villages, folk would stand up and clap! Mine was cream. I'd post a pic, but none on computer (no scanner)

Yes, it's strange, wondering where words originate. Wiki has it as a padded footstoll or backless couch. I guess it comes from furniture coming from Turkey, etc., being 'ottoman' in general. I just read a good book on the history of 'The silk road' where the premise is that , that area of the world has always been important...even now (Syria? Afghanistan...the other 'stans are now oil-rich, etc..

Takes me back to 1984. I'd just bought a renovated Citroen Traction Avant Commerciale (Hatchback! The hatch weighed about 60kg!). Immediately lent it to local Citroen dealer to celebrate '50 years of Front Wheel drive'. Then went off around Northern Iberia for 10 weeks in it! Big enough to sleep inside on occasion! Broke a driveshaft in Segovia, (I think the car sensed we were en route to Pyrenees!) so got a rental to get there, whilst local garage sourced driveshaft and fixed it (!!!) Only other trauma was petrol tank leak (Underneath it!) in Picos de Europa, temporarily fixed with chewing gum until local place fixed it -for £5!

'Otterman'? Is it fur-lined? . Ottoman, as in Turkish Ottoman empire, etc..

Gaudi? THAT good? Does it have four 'disciple' towers, plus a central '*****' one? WITH a searchlight? I first discovered Gaudi at Art College in 67. 18 years later I got to visit Sagrada Familia. Hoping to live long enough to visit it (in my Lexus wheelchair?) finished. Circa 2025. There's a Japanese connection; apparently a lot of the money to finish it is from Japan -they love the place, it seems.

'Tear-arsing around corners'? !!! This is an LS400! Have some decorum! (-:

Bended knee? PERLEASE>>>>?Pity as 'gas + go' had Lexus background I thought (unless personnel has changed?) Good luck.

The old concept of changing TV channels with the remote, and the garage doors across the road opens. friends who are Computer Safety engineers are VERY negative about all these 'Alexa' etc., gizmos and would never own them.

I need to Pedant myself here! It's 'reminiscences'!

Another M4 maniac?

What WAS the topic? Must be all the Xmas booze fuddling folk. I am even known to post Citroen reminicences......I claim age on my part! Seasoned greetings ...LEXUS!!....folk. (-: even though I no longer own one.......

Road noise higher on these? This IS the quietest car in the world! Costco won't fit a tyre if it is less in mph terms. Life was easier with old Citroen. You fitted Michelins, specially designed for the car! I recall the DS 23 handbook telling you that, if you fitted the lesser of the 2 choices, 'do not cruise (Cruise!) at speeds exceeding 100 mph'!!! Roads weren't so crowded. ds garden.bmp

Yes, 4X4s should look like ......Land Rovers? The infamous chelsea tractor' scenario means that a lot are just glorified people carriers (which is what I thought a car WAS!) One imagines that the current X-trail wouldn't last long in Saudi. But then, I recall being up a mountain track in Pyrenees, in my Cherokee, feeling slightly intrepid to have lurched up there. We heard an engine coming zooming up the track; then see a Citroen Dyane van flying up the track, delivering bread! Softee tourists!

Back to the 'more to go wrong' scenario' of course. No avoiding it, it seems. (Dacia?)

Interesting (the legislation bit) Brexit folk will use that as example of Euro-interfering....except that all cars we get will follow the rule! Imagine; there's (at least one) person/team who has worked out the cost in increased emissions caused by millions of cars with soft tyres. Not easy. First, you need to know how much % of cars suffer this.....etc.! Good to know our taxes aren't wasted. And that we have to have (expensive to replace!) sensor-valves.

Technology gone one step too far? Seems like 'mollycoddling' to me.

I'd be interested to hear too. Was thinking of one, having had a Cherokee in 94-00. Good basic vehicles that are USEFUL! The current X-trail looks a bit to Quash-however it's spelled!, but the boxy one looks right for a 4X4.

All that, a wife (with a big dvd habit?) AND you have to walk the dog! Kudos to you-I guess, like Maggie T -reputedly- you get by on 4 hours sleep a night? Those of us who just wash our cars each Spring are totally blown away.

Great freeze of 81! How well I recall. I got caught in Alton, Hants, having driven my Citroen Dyane there to deliver a hi-fi amp -Quad 405 -(stuck avidly behind a coach 'getting his wind'....). HEAVY snow and freeze overnight; on the way home to Bristol, the M4 was mainly one wavering lane through frozen snow, passing abandoned Saabs and Porsches etc.. on the way. Thin tyres, air-cooled 602cc engine.....no problem!. (Pic; I didn't ALWAYS deiver giant cinema horns!) Later, I used my Citroen DS Safari on high suspension to deliver goods over the frozen ruts that kept everyone else marooned! How DID I drive a Ford Galaxie in Canada in December snow I wonder now, in 92? At least the roads are wide and thinly populated there, not our jammed roads.

Neil; you should post a link to your string on your work on your car (if only because I've lost it.....) I was tempted by the thought of the 6 speed one in the (very short) low tax year, before it became £500, but decided that my head was still thinking I was 40.....not 70! Phil; was your 'fish or foul' a deliberate mis-spell? (Fowl, obviously..)

No, I'm dis-Lexus, as in....I don't have one anymore! (-: Seeing spelling/grammar errors is unfortunate - I seem to spot them on 'A' boards from 50 paces, somehow. But then, I have no sense of smell now....so even me ain't perfect!

About the only time I share a characteristic with a 9 yr old? (No comments about mental age please, though lots of 9 yr olds are pretty sharp!) Oh, and, Mike.....in my pedant mode; it's 'job's a good 'un'.

You have a ....phone......in your car? Can you tell I'm the last person alive without a Mobile? See the sky.......

Well, we can't have it both ways. We all know the quality of the car. 'Worth'? Of course it's 'worth' in what you get. It's only the UK and its -now set in stone? - serious depreciation culture. In europe, cars hold their value more. I've been saying for ages that LSs are serious bargains. Even at £8K. (Despite immaculate being mis-spelled in the ad! Here's me in my pedant alter ego?)