Reply to "Living with a Longchamp?"

Hi Finlandese,

When I first purchased my car in Belgium and drove back home to the UK my first job was to replace the bald tyres on the car.
I was told by it seems a not very knowledgable person to order 285/40/15's for the rear.

As you may already know these cars were originally fitted with 50 series. Suffice to say my fuel economy has gone AWOL.

However, the 40 series tyres work out around 1cm taller than the 225/50/15 fronts and make the car look dead right.

My car is an auto and I am at present looking around for a 2.73 or 2.88 differential to get back my economy and reduce the rev's. this weekend I will get the car up in the air and work out what gears I have on the car.

Maintainence is no problem. You're dealing with a prehistoric engine design and any American parts store can supply the run of the mill service parts while dealers such as Summit in the US can mail order your bank account dry.

My personal opinion of my car is that the old Jag steering rack is crap. It's OK at speed but around town it's far worse than my 200K mile Volvo 850. I'd be interested to know what other Longchamp owners think of the steering and if there's a more modern replacement we can switchover to.

The colour of my car is Aston Martin gunmetal grey. The colour is the bizz and indeed suits the car.

The electrics are not perfect. de Tomaso undoubtedly employed a school leaver to design them. I'm sorting these little problems out one by one.

Plenty of plans - no enough money.

I love this car but it is far from perfect.

Phil
London, UK