T255 JUG & It Looked Like A Little Jug Too!
June 30, 2008
Tucked away amongst the motorbikes this 1999 Pure was just asking to be mine. The usual trip to the bike store provided even greater interest this Saturday afternoon as I was given the opportunity to test ride it. The dealer did not really know the Smarts full potential, even unsure to its model. A deal was struck and unusually I with great assistance from husband, Kevin came away with four wheels instead of two.
Once home it was stripped clean, yellow body panels with a black tridion shell made it stand out well. However it had had a very hard life. 66,000miles on the clock following a quick mathematical conversion made me realise that this little one needed careful handling. The panels were a little tired and scuffed – but with some cleaning and polishing came up well. The tridion shell did not far so well after years of servicing Purston Car Centre it bore the imprint of advertising stickers. The back window also bore the signs of the Smarts early history. Prior to being imported into Britain by the owners of Purston Car Centre, the Smart had started life owned and registered by a Mr Wang in Germany who had used the little one as a taxi! The imprint of his advertising is still evident when the sun shines a certain way after a polish. [pay]
All of this adds to the little cars character a full service history – with the original documentation.
The blue interior was also a little shabby, but again with some tender loving care it has come up well. A blue neon light added under the dash originally some aluminium floor plates but these had to be changed to blue as I was being dazzled in the sun!
A trip to Smarts-R-Us and a purchase of some 2nd hand passion wheels (with tyres) gave the little one a new image and gave me a spare (and Kevin, peace of mind) the rear wheel hubs were painted yellow and I have yet to paint the brake callipers to match. Kevin made me a matching blue and yellow vinyl wheel cover so the spare does not look out of place behind the seat. With a promise to cover the seats with blue leather.
The exterior panels have seen quite a change, in honouring my biking days and young hero Valentino Rossi I decided to cover up some of the panel damage by treating the little one to some Rossi style graphics & renaming him “The Doctor” All thanks to Jamie & Sonia at Motografix Bikes in Doncaster In addition to this is a mini Rossi helmet which sits inside the car and which can be viewed through the windscreen.
Then something from my motorbike was also handed to “The Doctor” and that was my private registration plate R4 CYJ. This too had been on a Rossi Rep – a Honda 600cc Hornet although on selling it last year and settling for my old KR1S had put my plate on retention.
The Doctor has had a rev counter & clock fitted as these were not present on original Pure model Smarts. These needed connecting, Kevin connected the clock but a trip to Smart of Leeds was required to connect the rev counter. They were wonderful, only charged me 30-minute labour charges even though they checked out my speeding flashing indicators at the same time. I’m considering a remap but to be honest I am very happy with its performance it cruises at 80mph (oops) Allows me to overtake easily on motorways and even confuses the Nova boys at traffic light starts!
The smart community has been a great help, like those from the biking community, they are more than eager to help and to sit and chat about the fun of Smarts. Graham from www.smartcar-owner.co.uk provided me with initial advice with regard to the rev counter and indicators, and provided me with links to Dave & the gang at www.funkysmart.co.uk who have provided me with advice (subscription to Smartimes via this site). and regular local meets in Sheffield. And the www.smartclub.co.uk were I have gained further insight into all that is Smart.
Although Kevin laughs at the Smart he enjoys driving it (when I let him) and has enjoyed the company we have met at meets. Only three months into ownership and I can extol the virtue of the smart to anyone, my neighbour even bought one after a test-drive in mine! [/pay]
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Smartville: A Smart Place
June 30, 2008
Nestled in between an orchard and a cornfield on 168 acres, near the French town of Hambach, is an extraordinary factory known as ‘Smartville’. The full name for this particular factory is ‘Smartville Energy Centre’ and it is a very energy efficient car factory.
The Smart car was designed with the environment in mind and you can only make an environmentally friendly car from an environmentally friendly factory. Smartville is as globe friendly as a car factory can get- it even includes a nature reserve with rare species of plants and landscaping for hundreds of trees.[pay]
Whilst building Smartville, all materials used in its construction were checked to see if they could potentially harm the environment. As a result, none of Smartville’s buildings contain poisonous CFCs or formaldehyde.
Rainwater that is collected from the roof is retained for use in tempering steel. All other wastewater that drains off the roads and car parks is also retained for specific purposes. Waste water from the factory’s industrial processes and sanitary installations is recycled and purified in the factory’s very own biological cleansing facility for use in the gardens and as a coolant during the production process.
Smartville lets no materials go to waste- any surplus material such as excess powder gets collected and reused. Energy saving is extremely important to Smartville and insulating the buildings helps to retain heat from production, so that they can conserve it and use it later.
Smartville uses no poisonous metals such as lead and cadmium, throughout the entire process of producing a Smart car. Chromium and mercury are also excluded from the development process.
The paints used on a Smart car are solvent free-, which is the first time that any motorcar has been produced this way. If no solvents are used then there is no hazardous waste left over. Smart is also the first car manufacturer in the world to use only powder paints for the steel body. This is ecologically friendly because it means no wastewater. This is recognised as the most environmentally friendly painting technique in the car industry, in addition to which it achieves energy savings of 40%. Any paint that has not been used is collected for reuse.
When a Smart car reaches the end of its life, it can be 95% recycled. It gets returned, dismantled and sorted for recycling. The panels used on Smart cars are made of recyclable plastic and not only that, but are virtually dent resistant and rust free.
Smartville has several sections to it and they are all connected by a conveyor belt. It takes roughly 4 and a half hours to complete and finish a Smart car. Smartville don’t actually manufacture all of the car parts, as they have parts delivered to them by partner companies. It is Smartville’s job to put everything together. This is why it only takes 4 and a half hours to build a Smart car. Finished Smarts are stored in the famous glass towers that can be seen at the factory.
Submitted By:
Anna Sampson[/pay]
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Living With A Roadster
June 30, 2008
I collected our (mine & Tracy’s My wife) roadster from smart Coventry on the 25/06/2003. The colour was picked after much deliberation as I wanted yellow and Tracy wanted red so as we couldn’t talk the other one round we went for the black.
Upon collection I made a couple of mods, which consisted of the fitment of a JVC single C.D player in conjunction with a facia adaptor, which I purchased off Smarts r us along with a set of carbon fibre style mirror covers and a couple of the roadster key rings.[pay]
I also fitted a set of the wheel centre caps and a pair of black velour carpet mats these were supplied by smart of Coventry (a big thanks must go out to Suzanne and Nigel at this point for all their help) along with a pair of matching black roadster baseball caps.
One thing that struck me upon collection of the car was the very high quality finish of the paintwork something that is sadly lacking these days!
The first night we had the car we managed to clock up over 60 miles showing the car off to family and friends I’m afraid. (Well we were very pleased and excited about our new toy.)
The fist weekend we had the car was the weekend of the smart owners club meeting at Billing Aquadrome, we attended on the Sunday as I was working on the Saturday we very made really welcome and people said a lot of nice things about the car thank you all.
During the night before the car was mistaken for a T.V.R! by a guy working in a McDonalds we went to, needless to say I wasn’t that upset.
The car is a real joy to drive even making the Monday morning drag to work a pleasure and fuel economy is superb.
The handling of the car is excellent, this was something I had been a bit worried about as my last car was a focus, which are renowned for being a drivers car, but the roadster has surpassed this and we are revelling in the drive that the car produces.
When I took delivery of the car I noticed that the rear lamps fitted were incorrect for usage in this country, upon further investigation I discovered that the wiring was correct so when I select reverse I get a red light and the rear fog illuminates white (I’ve painted the bulb as a stop gap and smart Coventry are awaiting the release of two pairs of lamps (their demo has the same fault), they had noticed the fault on the P.D.I and ordered the lenses. They have been informed that the lenses should be here in early august and will be rectified under warranty.
At the time of writing this the car is three weeks old and has over 880 miles on it (all great fun especially the cat & fiddle run last Sunday) Thanks to all who were there it was a great day out, if you get a chance to do this run do it the roads are fantastic.
The next planed run is the L2B although I am toying with the idea of the Blackpool Run.
SUMMARY
The car is an absolute pleasure to own and drive, the two-piece roof is easy to use and nice and light, boot space is good up front and not as bad as Jeremy Clarkson said in the rear, the cabin is roomy although the passenger seat could do with a bit of under thigh support as long journeys cause leg ache! And getting in and out is an art form!
All I can really say is if your thinking about a roadster go ahead you won’t be disappointed. Anyway bye for now see you at L2B.
Submitted By:
Matthew Beaumont[/pay]
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What A Smart Idea, Smart People Hire Smart Cars
June 30, 2008
Hireasmart was born in October 2001 the brainchild of Gail Martin, one smart lady. The company opened with the first six right‑hand drive passion models to arrive in the UK and it wasn’t long before more cars were required ‑ the fleet, like Topsy, just grew and grew. There is now new excitement within the Hireasmart offices at the thought of its growing family when the new smart roadster becomes available followed by the smart forfour in 2004.
Submitted By:
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My Affair With A Topless Model
June 30, 2008
I bought LV51 YOY (Delilah - what else?) last autumn. After the sad demise of the previous love of my life, a yellow Pulse cabrio, it wasn’t long before I began to feel lonely so began to put out feelers for her replacement. I had been quoted ridiculously long delivery times for the spec I was after. What really annoyed me was that items like front fogs and speaker upgrade (both standard on the RHD model) would be extra on the LHD. Also, I wanted proper UK-spec front and rear lights this time so the cost began to mount. Nevertheless, I was all set to order a car when I happened to pass Smart East Anglia, a small (non-official) dealer in rural Framlingham, Suffolk. And there she was sitting demurely on the forecourt. It was love at first sight. Delilah was a near-new Passion and had all the extras I wanted including heated leather seats and electric mirrors. She didn’t have the paddle gearshift, which I rather fancied, but she did have side airbags. The price was extremely tempting so Delilah and I became an item.
Any regrets? Well, Delilah and I get on just fine but no relationship is perfect so if I had to name one, it would have to be, er, the position we adopt when we are close. Yes, I always seem to sit on the right. I am ashamed to say I cannot help compare Delilah with her predecessor. Having owned both LHD and RHD versions, I have to say I prefer LHD though I think some people exaggerate the differences. Yes, the seating position is a little higher but the Smart has so much headroom as standard it can afford to lose an inch or two. Other people (or maybe the same people!) have complained about the wiper pattern but, again, the difference is slight. No, what does annoy me is that the accelerator pedal on RHD Smarts is not floor-hinged. This would not be a problem if it wasn’t for the square electronic box of tricks it hangs from which, depending which shoes I wear, can catch my toe. I also miss the ease of parking LHD offered but apart from that, who cares? They are both smarts. One thing I have noticed is that one is more likely to get flashed/waved at by a LHD Smart driver! In the early pioneering days of LHD-only, pretty well all smarts in the UK were enthusiast-owned but obviously this has changed with the advent of RHD (present company excepted!)[pay]
So, what have I done to improve Delilah’s already attractive appearance? Well, nothing performance-wise (unless you count a smart club scoop and K&N air filter), most mods have been practical or aesthetic.
The first thing I had to do was to add a bit of sparkle to the interior. The grey plastic and seductive black leather may suit Delilah’s sophisticated up-market appearance but some would call her interior drab. Seriously drab. My previous cab also had grey interior plastic but at least it had blue seats. I re-sprayed the speedo, rev-counter and clock pods of that car yellow to match the panels. So, I decided Delilah’s pods needed a similar makeover but in silver. I wanted the pods to look like real metal though, not just silver paint (Delilah would find that just too degrading), so used Alclad lacquer. (I have a hobby of making model aircraft and this paint is used to obtain highly realistic bare-metal finishes of all types: aluminium, stainless steel, chrome, etc.) Sure enough, the result was just what I was after and, combined with a set of Michelak alloy heater and stalk knobs, Delilah seemed to appreciate her sparkly new jewellery.
Next was a set of tints. I had these on my first smart so again went to Autoshades of Sutton. £100 later (cabrios are cheap to tint as they have hardly any windows!) the car was transformed, Delilah now looked much more enigmatic and I loved the way her pods glinted seductively through her new shades. I would almost go as far as to say a Smart looks like something is missing without tints. Unlike some cars, where tints make them look like drug-dealers’ cars, I think darkened windows really suit the Smart as they clean up the styling and emphasize its attractive shape. Incidentally, I went for Autoshades’ ‘light smoke’, which is a 35% tint - any more is illegal and unnecessary in my opinion. With the 35% tint, the view out remains perfectly clear; also it is not glaringly obvious that the screen is un-tinted in comparison.
Some new shoes were next on the shopping list for Delilah. Yes, she was starting to exhibit expensive tastes but what the heck, she was worth it. My previous car had Sportivas which I still consider one of the nicest wheels for the car but I felt an all-silver smart of Delilah’s pedigree demanded a slightly ‘cleaner’-looking wheel, one where the front wheels did not particularly look narrower than the rears, so I went for Khans. Khan wheels will happily accept 195s all round but I opted to maintain the size difference recommended by Smart so run 175 front, 195 rear. Handling and looks are improved enormously and steering remains beautifully light. I hate brake dust on a nice set of wheels so set of the Smart Club’s Kevlar brake pads ensure Delilah’s shoes stay nice and shiny!
Being a RHD Passion cabrio, I already had the sound upgrade with tweeters and bass boxes as standard. These boxes really do improve things and should be standard on all Smarts (I may be right in thinking early cars had them?) but I still felt the sound was too much at the front of the car. So, I fitted a Kenwood single-CD head unit, and some rather nice Infinity 6×9s on a hard rear shelf (inexplicably discontinued by smart now) powered by a Sony amp under the passenger seat. I am not an ICE nut but for a relatively small outlay Delilah now sings beautifully. As I live very close to Top One in Kingston, I sometimes pop in on my way home from work to see if there is anything I can treat Delilah to, and recently noticed they had some Mk6 rear valences. Now, don’t get me wrong, Delilah’s rear end was perfectly lovely but, for £16, she now looks younger and even more beautiful.
And that’s about it, oh yes, apart from a wind net to keep Delilah’s hair in place. I conducted a test with the top down and side windows up. At 50 mph the difference is staggering; the turbulence around the back of the head and ears is reduced to almost none. At my age I cannot afford to lose any more hair!
What’s next? Well, a set of yellow panels may well be fitted by the time this is printed. Yellow is such a cheerful Smart colour and should never have been discontinued. And Delilah does keep asking me to treat her to some new clothes. Let’s just hope she does not suspect I may subconsciously be trying to make her look a little like her fun-loving predecessor!
Grahame Pearson
Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey[/pay]
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The Cat & Fiddle Run 26th January 2003
June 30, 2008
The day began at the Windmill Pub junction 19 of the M6 motorway, it was a day that was to start out wet and didn’t change much all day. Thankfully the weather conditions didn’t stop at least 17 Smart cars attending the event.
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Smart For Pizzas
June 30, 2008
Adrian and I moved to Torbay from Wilshire two and a half years ago and bought two pizza takeaway businesses, one in Torquay and one in Paignton. Both were up and running as mainly “take away” with a few deliveries being made in the owner’s car or when busy they employed a driver with his own car.
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The Bluecabby
June 30, 2008
My wife Sandra first mentioned about the Smart; she liked the look of it, well I have always been into performance cars and just said, “yes” in the right places, you know what I mean? One summer’s day Sandra found a dealer selling Smarts talked me into going and there they all were! Sandra had the first drive and came back all smiles. I had a go, just to show willing, and was impressed with the build and the way the little thing performed.
Steve and Sandra of Swindon Wiltshire
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I didn’t want a Smart
June 30, 2008
Unlike most people reading this I didn’t want a Smart. I thought they were weird, funky little cars but didn’t consider them to hold a candle to my motorbike. I mean look at it - you can’t take them seriously can you? Then I drove one. Okay, it wasn’t ‘quick’ but it was nippy, responsive and the engine feels un-burstable. Even in standard trim it’s faster 30-50mph than a BMW 323i - not a lot of people know that. That was two and a half years and 40 odd thousand kilometres ago now. I lived with it in standard trim just as a tool, something to use when it rained and I didn’t want to get the bike dirty. One day on the way home from work I caught site of Graham (I’m sorry I don’t know his surname) in his pre-B.I.G Performance days.
On the back burner: Fit MS Design Body-kit, drive to Sahara and back.
Submitted By:
Dan Lynch, Norwich[/pay]
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A Team of Highly Trained Creative Mercenaries
June 30, 2008
jgr22 are a team of highly trained creative mercenaries operating in the North West of England.
jgr22 approaches all its design briefs with the same youthful, fresh and fun loving enthusiasm. So it was decided that if we were going to purchase a company car to extend our corporate ideology out onto the streets, there was only one choice, the smart car.
[/pay]




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