drifters: you begin to make me sick!

[Duvel78]

Since the Volvo 300 series was used as "perfect, cheap drift car" (totaly unknown concept when V3M was born) I had some worries about that emerging title. Now it seems that I was right.

Let's be clear, I have nothing against drift in general or drifters using cars ready to be scrapped or wrecks.

But I really have a problem with some mentally retarded people (sorry if I offense people here) destroying good cars just for some drifting fun.

This evening I saw a good example of it, after all the boring "welded diff" stories, what do I have to think when I read this on Ebay:

ALL THE CAR NEEDS TO BE DRIFT READY IS:

STRIPPED OUT (TAKES ABOUT 10 MINS YOU CAN USE FORCE AND ITS QUITE FUNNY)

Honnestly, what do I have to think???

I have major problems to find parts since last year, I try to collect them preciously when I find it because they become rare. And on the other hand I see such behavior? I can't accept this, it's not the spirit that I wanted to promote on the website, I'm sorry!

Link of the stupid ad on Ebay:

http://cgi.befr.ebay.be/1990-VOLVO-340- ... dZViewItem

As I said in the subjects, drifters really begin to make me sick!

[Fuse]

Very true! It's pissing me off when I spend time to find and pay usually a lot of money to get parts with the quality which I want and at the same time someone is destroying perfectly good ones "for fun." OEM parts availability isn't getting any better..

I'm a Volvo fan, especially 300-series fan, a true one. I don't have a 300-series car for the reason that most of them are cheap etc... I drive one because I like the car and the fact that it's easy to improve engine and handling with common tools is something I like.. I've probably spent the amount which the car would sell (if I'd got some mental sickness and would want to sell it) maany times on the car so it's quite annoying (mild term) when someone comes to me and is like "so what it's just a 300-series" when someone scraps a 300-series in a good shape in drifting etc...

Some of us are not driving 300-series because we couldn't afford to drive anything else. 300-series for me isn't something forced, I choose to drive it because I like the car.

[trabitom99]

I think I remember that guy "Stuntgod" buying a 300 last year for 25 quid, and MJ commenting "I wonder what will happen to it ".

There are some people on V3M who've spent a lot of time and effort on their cars, before drifting / rallying / racing them. But I can't help getting that sinking feeling, when yet another guy with no avatar and one post turns up with a 3 door MkII GLT or a 1.7 and writes "how do I weld the diff so I can impress my m8s, innit".

"Cheap as chips" 300, welded diff, lowering blocks, lack of talent and ... CRASH ... never to be seen again on V3M.

Tom

[meintag]

Well... I found my 360 searching for a car with a FR setup, cheap of collect and mantein and strong to abuse it in a track after messing some years with VWs. At the beginning I though ' It's a cheap base, I don't care about break or crash it ' but driving it, the car grows on me, and I discover that the driving feel is superb !

Now I decided to build up a decent car for trackdays, eventual rallying and errr, drift events ! Why not ?

I understand your feeling Duvel reading people like that, and I understand you piss over all the drift movement, but that is only the bad side. Always happen when something is spot on, a bunch of retarded people want to make the same... Is the moment to change their attention to buy sierras and carltons for cheap drift !!

Seriously, I had never been a 300 fan if the car don't reach all that characteristics... Not focus only in the bad side

Greetings from Spain !

[griffo20022]

I apologise

[Jason B]

it really pisses me off too! I admittedly give my car a lot of abuse, but I am constantly improving it and trying to find new directions etc for 300's as I really like the car and want to keep making it better for rallying. I really dislike people who rip them apart get the diff poorly welded and reduce them to scrap value. It certainly doesn't help with keeping them in scrapyards if every 300 they get is only good for crushing! Notable exceptions are drifters like frits who actually keep pushing the 300's forward and not using them as a "tramp" drift car.

[kaos]

i was effectively forced in to my 300 ownership.

my father wanted me to stop using his 2l turbo rover diesel. so brought it.

I thought crap, then found out it was RWD and started attempting to drift corners almost lost it a few times but late nigths and qiuet roads saw my skills improve and handling the car much better, then the power(surprising for a 1.4) got to me the ability to just leave it in second and be able to pull strongly to just shy of 70MPH grew on me. and then the rest of the car just grew on me. its not a cool car i admit but when im driving it music pumping and just cruising i feel enjoyment.


sure end of the day i started thinking tramp drifting. and i supose that is still it at the end of the day. but the 340 i have is crazy. no welding, FSH up to 2002, 3 owners inc me! good engine, and its fairly straight- few dents up one side form the previous owner. And now im doing the 16v swap the plan is to tidy her back up. show car cruise monster but with the abiltiy to go sideways when i damn well please

[Frits]

I think as far as cars exist, people destroy them for fun. Especially when they are cheap. What do you think about cross or scrapyard? There probably goes hundred times more GOOD 300's to dead. Actually, I don't care. Why should I? I think I would be a very busy men that way. But those people don't write about it. Drifters write about it, and get the blame offcourse.

Griffo, please don't appologise

Sorry, I just don't understand. Write a letter to all scrapyards, especially those in the netherlands. They get good 300's for free and scrap them because the get a lot of money for it from the goverment.

Love your car Duval

Frits

[Jason B]

I admit, a lot of scrapyards do scrap good 300's, but if you ask them then a lot of reasonable scrap yards (though they are dying out) over here will keep them back if they know that there are people who need parts. I'm not saying its limited to 300's, many cars get abused by people without thinking about their rarity. I have no problem with people using them for motorsport but tbh it is a little annoying when a car gets ripped apart and all the un-needed parts get destroyed rather than offered to the relevant enthusiasts.

[retrocool73]

It gets on my wick too.
Trouble is, they're so cheap and (apart from us nutters) unappreciated that the cars that go the Junior Drifters would probably otherwise end up getting scrapped one way or another - many main-dealer trade-ins get scrapped whether or not they're in good nick, or they would end up getting run into the ground til the MOT ran out by some penniless inadequate
I've got 6 and the dearest one was still under £500! The black 360 GLT is a good example, a well maintained and looked after car that will last many more years and yet was up for sale for just £150 with t&t - if it hadn't been advertised on here it would probably have bitten the dust somehwere within a year or so. My 2 blue 340's I got for £100 each with t&t, both very serviceable cars with lowish mileage but if I'm honest I only bought them to save 'em from getting scrapped or ran into the ground

[SteveP]

True, it is very tiresome to answer the same old questions about welding the diff, what swaps can you do for a 1.7 etc etc....

The thing that most annoys me is the lack of originality - most of the cars out there are clones, even down to the wheels they wear. To be fair, alot of the cars are past their best and would've ended up as scrap anyway... it's just the odd few that end up being mint and getting trashed that its a shame

My car most certainly wouldn't still be around if I didn't buy it back in 2005... there are more people out there with sense

[Chris_C]

Sorry Aymat, Fuse, I don't agree guys.

Granted, there are the buy it to smash it crew about, but they seriously arn't limited to drifters. There are enough idiots in all kinds of motorsport about that, and what about banger racing?

In the same light, what do you think of me taking what is (even though it was a spare parts car that I bought as a non runner) an incredibly clean shelled 1.7, that has a LOT of rare accessories on it, and week in week out taking it to some kind of motorsport event. I know in the back of my mind it's likely I'm going to smash Fake up one day, and I have a big issue with that tbh, but I can't help but drive it hard when I'm in a competition, and she's so good at it. There are more people in the "drift" corner (I want to say Ali here, but he was converted to 300s before drifting, so lets say off the top of my head Meintag and Nikdev, Frits I *think* was the same as Ali, and into 300's before being into drifting) that have done something to progress the entire 300 scene in 18months than ANYone before that, good on them, it's starting to lead to more competition parts availibility.

Seriously, have an issue with idiots. DON'T alienate what has become a set of guys who have become part of our community. They are not all the same thing.

[Jason B]

Exactly, basically what I tried to say but in typically more succinct chris style. It is not drifters who are a problem it is people who just buy it to kill it. Like chris said (and I mentioned earlier) it is people like frits etc who are driving the need and hence availability of performance and upgraded replacement parts for 300's. Without their use of the 300 series less options and information would exist for 300 enthusiasts to improve their car. I am aware that I risk destroying my car everytime I compete but its the chance I take. It should definitely not be a general dig at what is a fast rising form of motorsport! You ought to take a look at driftworks forum as it totally changed my opinion, they really don't tolerate any kind of idiot on there.

[retrocool73]

The problem, as I said, is rock-bottom values. This is why pillocks who don't know a great about drifting and assume by bodging (that's what welding up a diff is!) a few 'modifications' and stripping an interior out equates to creating a 'drift' car are targetting the V300, it's little more than banger racing as once you screw with a car like that, short of pouring in infinite resources, regardless of crashing it is mechanically on borrowed time.
It is solely down to value, cos otherwise they would go more far less 'engineered for safety' cars that are naturally more tail-happy such as E30 BMW's - the problem there being on mid-sized cars post-1980 RWD became a rare set-up, and now most of the RWD Ford's have gone passed the 'cheap as chips' stage there is very little choice, and we have this absurd situation of V300's - once the most staid choice of car and a must for every senior citizen, roundly criticized for relatively poor performance, numb handling and being over-weight - being snapped up by nutters to drift when those 'who were there' know these albeit RWD cars were designed for utterly predictable handling there were cars like the 3-series BM's, original Escorts and Ford Capri that would 'drift' without any welding of diffs etc
I've no problem with properly built modified drift cars, or cars properly done for any other motorsport - the problem is imbeciles such the guy trying to sell that tidy grey 5-door on eBay as a 'drift' car, and immaculate 360 GLT's with full fsh (practically show cars) being touted on drift forums as if this is the only purpose they can possibly serve....

[Frits]

Actually, in my eyes, this is the wrong place to put up this thread. What would be done? Me, Nikdev and meintag sell our cars becouse we are the only drifters here? The people Duval is talking to, are not on this forum.

And you guys are all right, I've got the car since my drivinglicence, and I dind't even knew what drifting was. It's the fault of the 340, he made me love the 300 and drifting.