Triumphant Students
Posted By : James Carruthers, 30-Nov-2003, 10:14pm
I'm a student! I was quite amazed at how many of us there are!
I'm in my 4th and final year at Ravensbourne College of Design & Communication (supposedly a "university sector college - i.e. its a tiny uni) - it's in Chislehurst - which is in South London/Bromley...
I got my first Spitfire in my second year of uni... (the first being in halls) - and had her there ever since - can't understand this whole problem of bringing it to uni or not...! I couldn't live without mine (ok... I could...)
There aren't any other classics in our car park (it is only tiny though) - which is sad...
I'd say bring the damn thing and live with it... you only live once...
James
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : Chris Gray, 30-Nov-2003, 10:55pm
I'm a student too - in my second year of Computer Games Programming at
the University of Teesside.
I bought my '78 Spit 1500 about 2 years before I started uni, but I didn't bring it up here with me.
I'd love to have it here,
but Middlesbrough (at least, the centre of Middlesbrough) isn't the nicest of places, and without any kind of alarm on my car (not to mention the
doors that can be unlocked by thumping them ), I decided it was best to leave it at home.
Hopefully I'll get an placement in industry next year, so I'm planning to get my Spit back on the road over the summer.
I haven't seen any other classics around - but you'd be amazed at the number of Fiestas/Corsas/Novas with stupid-looking exhaust pipes and body kits.
Chris.
'78 Mimosa Yellow Spit-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Andrew Dawson, 30-Nov-2003, 11:08pm
Hi David,
Im about to voyage into driving my newly bought Spit to my Uni (Keele near Stoke-on-Trent) - have seen a maroon MGBGT on my local uni car park so Im glad i can now go and give it something to think about... I may even show off the Triumph superiority by parking mine right next to it I live about 1/2 an hour away from my campus so driving in is a
must, and as my 1st car happens to be a Spit i guess i don't have much choice in taking it in, but i think you should go for it and take your
Spit to uni all the same! As Chris says, u need to show these nasty Novas and Corsas that are everywhere on campus's that big exhausts and
stick on spoilers dont make your car any faster - they can still get thrashed by a good old fashioned British Sportscar
Andrew
'71 Russo Red (Ford colour... booo) Spit
http://mysite.freeserve.com/MethinksPerchance/inde...-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : David Balfour, 30-Nov-2003, 11:38pm
Yeez, I'm wondering about an alarm for mine, but then I'd have to do something about the bonnet (if you opened the bonnet and disconnected the battery you could break in without a problem). I suppose the cost of an alarm and bonnet locks is small compared to that of losing the car.
I really do want the car here at Uni, but there's just this little nagging voice that keeps telling me 'no no no you can walk to the shops noooooo' :S .
Of course you're all very right about the Corsa/Nova/Micrawave - Spitfire's are infinitely superior !
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : Chris Gray, 01-Dec-2003, 02:34am
Actually, the best ones around here are the ones that don't even bother with the large exhaust pipes - they just have a hole in the one they've got. They obviously think that if their car is louder, it must be faster . . . come to think of it, maybe that's why so many other people around here drive deisels.
And I would tell you a story about an evening a year or so ago, concering a bodykitted Fiesta and a set of traffic lights . . . but I won't, because there might be policemen readings this. (I'd just like to point out, I
didn't brake the speed limit, I just got to it quite fast)
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : John Davies, 01-Dec-2003, 07:57am
Hhhhhhhhhhhhrrrrmp!!!!
Cars for students?
When I was student, all I had was half a roller skate.
How do you afford them? OK, a classic car is a cheap car, some may get away without Road Tax, but the insurance must be &163;4-600 pa. That'sat least two weekends beer money.
John
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : Graham Reeks, 01-Dec-2003, 08:07am
I couldn't agree more John! They better not moan about tuition fees!
As for security, what's wrong with just taking the rotor arm out or something similar? That way you eliminate the chancers, and if someone really wants to pinch it then they'll get it anyway, regardless of alarms.-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Chris Gray, 01-Dec-2003, 11:11am
It's really cheap to run a Spitfire when you leave it at home:
Petrol costs - &163;0
Insurance - &163;0
Road tax - &163;0
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : Nigel Gibbins, 01-Dec-2003, 11:31am
Enjoyment of driving - 0
Joys of Ownership - 0
Blat down country lane - 0
Top down cruising - 0
Looks from other drivers - 0
Exhaust burble (sports) - 0
I could go on, and on, and on.
If you have a Triumph it is your duty to drive it and allow all those poor buggers out there to appreciate it when you offer them the privelidge of seeing you driving your car. It s a charitable thing
NiG
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : Chris Gray, 01-Dec-2003, 11:38am
Don't get me wrong - I do miss driving my Spitfire, but it's just not practical for me to have it at uni with me.
Although I did decide a while ago that whether I need it for next year or not, my car's getting back on the road for the summer.
It'll be my first chance to enjoy the sport exhaust burble too - I fitted it last summer, and haven't had the chance to take it anywhere yet.
Although fitting the sports exhaust was partly a practical thing too - I was going to wait until I was actually earning money before getting one, but then the original fell off . . .-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Chris Gray, 01-Dec-2003, 11:42am
By the way - I don't suppose the TSSC shop does a student discount on top of the members discount?
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : James Carruthers, 01-Dec-2003, 12:00pm
I certainly think the more mature members should subsidise the students & younger members!
What a great idea... Im sure DC will agree...
"We are the future and all that"
A Triumph is for winter, not just for summer... though my Mk3 does throw a tantrum in the wet...
James-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Chris Gray, 01-Dec-2003, 12:11pm
Mine leaks in the wet
I think water thrown into the battery box by the front-left wheel drains into the passenger footwell instead of onto road . . .
I've got dodgy wipers too - if my windscreen isn't wet enough, they get stuck.
(And yes, I do realise that everyone else's Triumphs leak too)
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : Alice Hickman, 01-Dec-2003, 01:36pm
Good idea..the older members should certainly help us students out. Your Triumph leaks in the wet....wish I even had one at all, it could gladly leak on me
So come on guys..anyone near Durham got a spare Spitty for a triumphless student?
Pleeease?
Ally-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Chris Gray, 01-Dec-2003, 03:35pm
Well I'm near Durham, but
my Spitty's at home . . . And I'M KEEPING IT!
MWAHAHAHAHAA!!!!
*ahem*
Sorry...
In fact, I've even got a mate that goes to Durham uni - I occasionally meet up with him at the new snowdome in Leeds.-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Daniel James, 26-May-2004, 03:48pm
me = student (part time) + spitfire
i was a proper student once as well but had to wait till i had a full time job to buy my car.-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Hugh Sturgis, 26-May-2004, 04:39pm
Okay, Having a spitfire at Uni is fun. Live here full time as well, so no real choice. But i've lernt one thng, cobbles are a knightmare, but so much fun in the rain!!! Hillstarts.......!
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : Don Cook, 01-Dec-2003, 12:43pm
Er, DC here young Carruthers. I've two of my own "We're the future" that I'm paying out for!
As for your Mk3 throwing a tantrum in the wet, I seem to recall it also throws a dynamo on the M25 as well! Ha ha, I've just remembered about the feeler gauges...
Don
(Manly Signal Red GT6)-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Michael Davis, 01-Dec-2003, 02:41pm
Hey, I see "moaning students" now have a category all of their own over on the right hand column
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : James Carruthers, 01-Dec-2003, 06:36pm
I thought we'd forgotten about that little incident...
James
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : Gavin McFarland, 02-Dec-2003, 08:02pm
Be happy if you've got a choice of whether you can have your Triumph at Uni or not. I'm at Cambridge Uni, and Cambridge has to be the least car-friendly city in the UK. If you're not a bike, taxi, bus or bin lorry, you haven't a chance of getting near the centre of town, and unless you park in the park and rides, there's nowhere to park for less than a tenner a day.
If for some reason I did want to put up with it, the University actually bans undergraduate students from having any motor vehicles at all! Kinda makes sense when there's nowhere to put one anyway I suppose. I had my Spitfire in Cambridge for 3 weeks, between buying her in London, and taking her home to Northern Ireland via the Liverpool ferry. And yes, even in that short space of time, I got nabbed to take people on joy-rides... A friend used it as a "going away" car for his wedding though, and that was fun. Nice to discover you can fit a standard Tesco trolley's worth of shopping into the car even when 2 people are on board.
She's at home now, tucked up in the garage, being polished occasionally by my dad. I'll be home in a week though... Can't wait. Just hope the roads aren't so icy that I'm afraid to take it out on the salt
Christmas holidays will be busy - MOT in January and she needs a set of shocks, seatbelts, brake hoses and a thorough service. On top of that, the Rover 100 I share with my sister is up for the MOT just before Christmas...
Goodness me that turned into a long post. Sorry if you fell asleep halfway through!
Gavin
73 French Blue MKIV
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : Peter Boltryk, 01-Dec-2003, 07:46pm
Jon,
At the moment I'm a phd student and I drive (sometimes, when it works) a lovely mk2 GT6. Every year I have to scrounge together &163;0 for road tax and the really challenging &194;&163;112 for insurance, fully comp plus unlimited miles.
It's just a bit of a b*gger that all the money I save on the insurance gets ploughed back into it in the form of petrol and spares
Peter
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : Jason Chinn, 01-Dec-2003, 08:17am
A decent alarm will have a battery back-up. If you disconnect the battery in our 13/60, the alarm goes off. Also, if you fit a courtesay light switch to the bonnet then the alarm will go off when you lift the bonnet.
Having said all that alarms are not really worth much in the way of protection - who really bothers when an alarm goes off?
Better and cheaper options exists - bonnet locks are good - &163;11 and fitted in a few hours, they also have the added benefit of compensating for worth bonnet catches and stop them coming undone over time. Just be careful to install them correctly though the proper factory instructions are in the manual I think or can be found here http://www.canleyclassics.com/infodatabase.asp?top...
Another easy way to immobile the car is to install a secret kill switch in the ignition circuit - that costs less than a pint to do!
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : Adrian Lee, 01-Dec-2003, 01:43am
Steady on chaps..........some of those Corsa's are pretty rapid!Especially those with the neon under car lights............seriously the 1.6i and 1.3sri's are quick and would show MOST,and I say most before the race people get upset,spitty's the way home. -
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Charles Lowe, 01-Dec-2003, 09:03am
Hi well i'm now in my final year of being a student and drive around in a nice red spitfire 1500.
The only problem with taking it to uni is that all my friends want to ride in it, so i seem to be forking out a fortune in petrol bills, and the nearest shell is a good 5 miles across town.
Also i go to a sensible uni in bristol, and while there is a fair bit of car crime around, the area i live is relatively safe, also there's no stupid corsa/novas with 4 inch exhausts and random body kits around my area.
Charlie-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Graham Reeks, 01-Dec-2003, 10:18am
Sensible uni? :-s-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Charles Lowe, 01-Dec-2003, 03:03pm
well Bristol university seems sensible enough compared to Ravensbourne College of Design & Communication, just wish i had decided to do a decent degree instead of Maths.
Charlie-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : James Carruthers, 01-Dec-2003, 05:39pm
There's nothing silly about the name of my university!
My course name is: "Design for the Moving Image"...
Now that is silly...
James-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Chris Gray, 01-Dec-2003, 06:12pm
I had a module last year called "Introduction to Games".
I'll give you 3 guesses as to what THAT was about.
All we had to do in the tutorials was sit there playing games!-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Alice Hickman, 01-Dec-2003, 06:28pm
Well I think you are all a load of slackers...not only did I do my degree in a PROPER subject (chemistry) I was intelligent (hmm..or maybe that should be stupid) enough to stay on and do a PhD in the same damned awful subject... I think that at least deserves a Spit
Ally (almost Ph.D)-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : David Balfour, 01-Dec-2003, 09:00pm
I know how you feel Ally, I'm doing a Masters in Electrical and Electronic Eng, which takes up a *lot* of time and effort! Although I'm currently on a high because my 'design your own electronic ignition system' finally worked today after ten weeks of grief... I'm can even manually adjust the timing whilst it's runnig and everything... oh I'm so happy!
David-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : James Carruthers, 02-Dec-2003, 02:28pm
Ermm... I don't understand... "effort"... what's that?
Your electronic ignition system sounds cool though...
James-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Chris Gray, 02-Dec-2003, 02:34pm
"Effort" is when you're trying to write a program to display graphics on the computer screen, and it keeps going wrong and you can't figure out why...
It's driving me mad.
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : Michael Davis, 02-Dec-2003, 03:25pm
Chocolate is the answer to all debugging problems
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : Chris Gray, 02-Dec-2003, 04:01pm
I find that Guinness works well too.
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : Michael Davis, 02-Dec-2003, 04:19pm
Yes, true. Chocolate has the advantage of frequently being available from vending machines local to the computer room though
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : Chris Gray, 02-Dec-2003, 04:30pm
Ah but, you see, Guinness has the advantage of being on special offer at the local supermarket.
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : James Carruthers, 02-Dec-2003, 04:44pm
Of course the chocolate being located below the crisps in the vending machine...
And we-all-know-why-that-is don't we...
James-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Nigel Gibbins, 02-Dec-2003, 04:58pm
So we do.... so that was a useful convesation after all...
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : Chris Gray, 02-Dec-2003, 05:01pm
Well I don't know why that is . . .
So that the short people can see it?-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : James Carruthers, 02-Dec-2003, 05:13pm
You're nowhere close Chris...
I'll let NiG explain... it was his "racer" brain that figured it out...
James-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Chris Gray, 02-Dec-2003, 05:24pm
So that drunk people can reach them without having to be able to stand up?-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Chris Gray, 02-Dec-2003, 05:31pm
I know!
It's so that the crisps have further to fall, and are therefore travelling faster when they hit, and so all you end up with is a bag of little crispy pieces!-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : James Carruthers, 02-Dec-2003, 05:36pm
Nope...
That is what I pondered - and it's what sparked the discussion - I was concerned about the quality of product I was getting - but we figured that they probably fall at about the same speed as chocolates - if not slower, due to having a larger surface area...
There is a much more practical reason for having the chocolates at the bottom...
James-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Chris Gray, 02-Dec-2003, 05:38pm
Because if you put the chocolates at the top, they'd all break on impact (kinda like Nig's spitfire, from what I hear).
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : James Carruthers, 02-Dec-2003, 06:02pm
Oh come on Chris...
For a start chocolate is far more robust - though we do have shortbread biscuits in our one - they're yet to be tested...
And we really can't *keep* on mention NiG's unfortunate obession with tyre walls...
James-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Chris Gray, 02-Dec-2003, 06:08pm
How about that if the vending machine is refridgerated (as most are), it'll be colder at the bottom so the chocolate will be least likely to melt there?-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : James Carruthers, 02-Dec-2003, 06:13pm
Impressive thought!
We never thought of that...
NiG's theory is to do with the weight of the various snack products...
James-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Chris Gray, 02-Dec-2003, 06:16pm
What, he thinks that chocolates are heavier, so if you put them at the top the vending machine'd be more likely to tip over?
Hmm...
Compare the weight of the chocolate to the weight of the vending machine...
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : James Carruthers, 02-Dec-2003, 06:41pm
You've never tried to tip a vending machine then
You do have a good point... but I think the chocolate weighs alot more than you would imagine...
If I was really bothered I'd walk the 30m to the machine and guestimate the weight...
James-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Nigel Gibbins, 02-Dec-2003, 08:02pm
But the real trick is to estimate the amount of punishment the vending machine mechanisms would take if the chocolates were bashing down from the top shelf...
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : Chris Gray, 02-Dec-2003, 09:00pm
You want to know the weight of all the chocolate, you just buy a bar, look at the weight on the back, and multiply it by the number of bars.
Of course, if there's more than one type, you'd have to buy one of each... (it's an evil job, but someone's got to do it)
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : Alice Hickman, 03-Dec-2003, 01:52pm
Can I volunteer for that job please? Need chocolate...bloody chemistry...is it home time yet?
Ally-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Tom Hall, 03-Dec-2003, 05:35pm
The reason the chocolate is on the bottom is in deed becaus it is heavier. The person who comes to fill the machine has less work to do by putting the lightest things on top, and the heavier things on the bottom.
Its not science, is idleness.
Oh- I know we lost the theme of students , but are there any students in London, namely at UCL, who have triumphs, or at least an interest in them?
Tom
'70 Mk3 (nice new shiney)Signal Red Spit.-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Graham Reeks, 04-Dec-2003, 07:41am
I was there 4 years ago ... but i was on a bike in those days (until
it got nicked from
outside the
Bloomsbury). Sounds
like you need a
TRi-Soc! Me and some
mates set up a bobleigh
soc. once!
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : David Balfour, 01-Dec-2003, 09:21pm
Surely it can't be that bad with the lifts? Spit's only have two seats!
I'm just a little concerned that I'll be using a classic British spotscar as a shopping trolley whilst I'm at Uni, but as James/Nigel etc said you only live once - why own it if you can't enjoy it!
David-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Christopher King, 02-Dec-2003, 10:42am
Spitfire make perfect cars for going shopping, but why do supermarket put speedbumps everywhere???!!!??? Argh... -
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Charles Lowe, 02-Dec-2003, 11:18am
Ahh but there in lies the problem, it's got two seats and if more than one other person wants to go somewhere, it involves a couple of round trips, which i enjoy it's just sometimes a hassle. i suppose it is my fault for having the coolest car among my frends.
I tried stuffing two people down the behind the seats once, and that works quite well, i just had a bit of a problem with the car grounding every time i went round a corner fast.
Charlie
1976 Spitfire-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Chris Gray, 02-Dec-2003, 12:04pm
I hope you're charging them petrol money.
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : David Balfour, 30-Nov-2003, 11:49pm
Hehe, well if all goes to plan with your sale, then we'll all see how true the 'I can live without my Spitfire' statement is
David
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Philip Wright, 19-Feb-2004, 10:40pm
I'm also a student at nottingham - i'm down at Sutton Bonington Campus - let me know your email address - we should meet up sometime and talk triumphs!!!
Phil - '74 Spitty
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : Adrian Lee, 19-Feb-2004, 11:23pm
Oh God............not again............
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : David Pearson, 20-Feb-2004, 06:59am
This sends a shudder down my spine (students and Triumphs in the same sentance!). Things have hopefully changed for the better these days, but 20 something years ago when a good proportion of my clientel were Spitfire owning students, I lost some serious sleep worrying whether I was going to get paid for the last sill job or something I was doing. It got to be that I would ask the occupation of anyone asking for a quote! I was a student myself once, running a TR5, or should I say running it 2/3 days a week and the rest of the week walking because I had spent all my money on petrol or beer!
David-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Graham Reeks, 20-Feb-2004, 07:14am
A student with a TR5! Dave, something makes me think you had a decent sized grant in those days!-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : David Pearson, 20-Feb-2004, 07:30am
Ah, but! We are talking quite some time ago, TR5 cost me 600 quid taxed and tested (looked at 7 others locally ranging from 350-1250 quid, before I bought mine). In a moment of madness I also went to look at a Healey 3000 MK111, a flat floor E type, a DB5!!!, and believe it or not a Ferrari 275GTB, none of which was over &163;2500! I only had upwards of &194;&163;2000 to spend which had to include insurance so there was an element of dreaming in there! Still not bad for a first car, but I still had to wait till my 17th birthday to get it on the road.
David-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Keith Dandridge, 20-Feb-2004, 10:53am
Surely the TR5 was introduced well after your 17th birthday Dave?-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Christopher King, 20-Feb-2004, 09:12pm
&163;2000 was an aweful lot of money in those days, or so I'm told.... I don't know but let's say 25 years ago, discounted at around an average of5% inflation per annum makes over &163;6,700 in current money... Now, if I had that kind of money to spend...
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : David Pearson, 21-Feb-2004, 07:35am
Yea, but it wouldn't get you a hub cap off a 275GTB!
David-
Triumphant Students
Posted By : Philip Wright, 21-Feb-2004, 11:30am
Hi Guys....
MMM - If I had that amount of money to spend on my Spitfire..... Surely
students arent all that bad,....... when sober of course!!!
I also don't have my spit at uni, but i'm tempted to bring it up for the summer when all the salt's cleared off the roads.
Students in the 80's must have been better off - I cant really afford to have work done on my car, which is fine by me as I
do it all myself anyway! The Spit certainly creates a bit of a stir around campus - i'm always promising lifts for people;
a french girl even asked me to take a photo of her in the car!!! Ahum
At least when I graduate i'll have more money to spend on the spit, although I've probably spent that money alreaady.... Mohair Hood, Electronic ignition, Koni Dampers..... Still Dreaming!!
Phil - BSc Hons Applied Biology.... Hopefully!
& '74 Spitty!
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Triumphant Students
Posted By : David Pearson, 21-Feb-2004, 07:39am
Thanks Keith! Yes and I took my test on a horse and cart, 50 bob would get you a bag of hay, a round of beers, and a taxi back from the clinic on Saturday morning!
David
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