Western Road Esso Station at nights

simu

Every night I've gone to this place I've seens gangs of people hanging around in their cars playing loud techno music in the carpark. Why on earth do they do this?

I mean, they're all old enough to go to the pub. Or is it that they're broke, living with Mammy and have nowhere else to go? (yet can afford petrol)

Femelade

i've seen them a few times...yes it certainly very strange
these people care more for their cars than they do about their families.

dahamsta

Yeah, I've seen this on a couple of occasions. What surprises me isn't that they hang out there - a few of us used to hang around Dunmahon Esso, truth be told, although nothing like the numbers that'd be on the Western Road - but that the owners let them. I certainly wouldn't go in there to buy petrol or groceries with that bunch of knackers hanging around outside.

adam

simu

Yeah - I heard it's closing down though so maybe the owners don't care.

nesf

It is closing down.

And , dahamsta, unfortunately it's the only 24 hour station in the area. Next closest is in Wilton. So it's not like I've much of a choice if I need coke, nicotine and chocolate at 4am in the morning.


They are quiet knackers though, I've never had any trouble there from my years of going there late at night. So it's not all bad really. Just annoying. Still, it could be worse.

Stark

dahamsta wrote:

Yeah, I've seen this on a couple of occasions. What surprises me isn't that they hang out there - a few of us used to hang around Dunmahon Esso, truth be told, although nothing like the numbers that'd be on the Western Road - but that the owners let them. I certainly wouldn't go in there to buy petrol or groceries with that bunch of knackers hanging around outside.

adam

I sometimes wonder if the owners are afraid to give out to them for fear of hassle and retaliation.

The station on the Western road isn't the only petrol station to have that problem.

And yeah I fail to see the logic of it. Surely the point of having a car is to drive it places, not to spend all night in a petrol station standing around it.

Nukem

Many a time that place has been graced by me in a bad state during a house party near by. Nearest from there is Wilton,Togher or Town:eek:
Why give out to them? who the hell other than them is gonna hang around and buy stuff all night,not just the drunk blow in. Well funny to see all those little cars done up.
Always baffles me why they buy small cars civics,fiestas,puntos....etc..... and try to do them up when for the price of the car+modding you could by something nice and insure it (ie) BMW or a Golf? Huh,maybe its just be and my small car syndrome.

Nukem

11811

Its the nations new sport!!!,buy a car(usually a civic),dump loadsa money into it for sounds system,body kit,loud exhaust etc.Pull into a petrol station late at night and look at car with boot open and volume up for hours on end!!great fun!!its called being a twat!seems to happen at 24hour petrol ststions all over the country.idiots!

Stark

You won't be happy to hear it's been accepted as an Olympic sport so then.

11811

Beats syncronised swimming I guess!

corblimey

Synchronised Scobing!

solice

corblimey wrote:

Synchronised Scobing!

oh that hurts, that hurts bad!

dudara

I've seen some beauts of cars there. I don't get it though. If you go to all that trouble to make your car cool, wouldn't you want to actually drive the damn thing?

parsi

probably no money left for petrol...

~Rebel~

it is weird alright, though i too have gone there manies the time the worse for wear and never had any hassle. They do have some sort of races or time trials or something starting there, see em tearing up western road off towards ballincollig at insane speeds, saw one of them very nearly kill woman, had to swerve around, little car nearly rolled over!

dahamsta

Stark wrote:

And yeah I fail to see the logic of it. Surely the point of having a car is to drive it places, not to spend all night in a petrol station standing around it.

To be fair, they don't, and when they do they're just hanging around same as we all did at the end of the road when we were younger. And this kind of thing has been going on for generations: Before the Corsas and Polos there were Civics and Pugs, before them XR3is and Golfs, before them MKII Escorts and MK1 Starlets. They all hung around in petrol stations; it is, after all, the watering hole of the automobile.

What bugs me, and I suppose there's a hint of jealousy involved, is the amount of money that's spent on cars these days. The first generation I mentioned above - and in reality that's far from the first generation of modders - spent little or nothing on their cars, they tuned them themselves and tacked on a couple of spotlights if they were lucky. As time went on modders spent more and more on their cars, but up until the last generation, they traditionally continued to do a lot of the work themselves.

That all seems to have changed now. These guys spend €10k - no kidding - on engine mods, not far off that on ICE, and probably not far off it again on body and interior work, and near as I can tell, they don't do an ounce of that work themselves. And the worst thing about it by far is that very, very few of the cars are in any way cool or brilliant. They're all the same, same stupid dump valves (often fake!), same stupid stickers down the side, same stupid graphics in the back window.

I reckon I've only seen two cars that made me stop and think: "That's a bloody good job that." They'd be the yellow SEAT with the dragon down the side (and it'd be a damn sight nicer without it) and the blue Civic coupé that used to have a dragon on the back (well done that man, who I actually used to work with). Nice clean cars, not overdone but still eyecatching.

Don't get me started on the fake F355 going around the place, with the rear wheels so far inboard they make it look like a deformed shopping trolley. How yerman can show his face after driving a hideous monstrosity like that is beyond me.

adam

nesf

It's the laziness of these guys that gets to me the most. I've no issues with someone who loves working on cars, and who enjoys modding his be hand. That's a good technical hands on hobby in my eyes and I can respect that.

I cannot respect someone buying a car for 5K and spending 10K on modding it. I'm sorry, that's just idiocy. Why mod an old small car when you could buy a newer more powerful and spacious car? It doesn't make any sense to me.

Maybe I'm missing something though.

dahamsta

Depends on the person and the car nesf. When it comes to these guys, sure, you're right for the most part, but then there's classic car nuts, and rodders. They spend tens, even hundreds of thousands on junked-out shells that most people thought were dead and gone. The finished product will invariably be "new" and more powerful. (I don't really see why size comes into it tbh. A Clio Williams is just as cool as an M5, in a different way.)

All that being said, as I was trying to say earlier (and you were slightly less earlier), most of these guys aren't the equivalent of the old skool rodder. There's still a few of them around though. I'd be one too if I had the time and a few quid. (Although truth be told, I wouldn't mind starting with a daily driver. If yerman wasn't looking for such a ridiculous price that is.)

Electrics was my thing. I'm too much of a perfectionist for bodywork - I'd never get it straight enough - and too OCD for engine work.

adam

Nukem

nesf wrote:

I cannot respect someone buying a car for 5K and spending 10K on modding it. I'm sorry, that's just idiocy. Why mod an old small car when you could buy a newer more powerful and spacious car? It doesn't make any sense to me.

No! Ya got it spot on - 10/10

Dimitri

imho most boy racer cars in cork are just expensive dick extensions. However it is an alternative to the pub scene. whenever i meet my friends its always in a pub. where else can we go at night? I1f we stand around chatting on street corners we get hassle from people living near by who feel intimidated!! At least the boy racers can go somewhere, meet there friends and talk about spoilers exhausts and crap like that

nesf

dahamsta wrote:

Depends on the person and the car nesf. When it comes to these guys, sure, you're right for the most part, but then there's classic car nuts, and rodders. They spend tens, even hundreds of thousands on junked-out shells that most people thought were dead and gone. The finished product will invariably be "new" and more powerful. (I don't really see why size comes into it tbh. A Clio Williams is just as cool as an M5, in a different way.)

See, I'd term that as restoring, rebuilding or refurbishing an old car. Not modding it. Totally different.

When I use the term modding, I refer to adding spoilers, putting in a large speaker system, fancy paintwork etc. I don't refer to people who take old cars and make them run perfectly. That's something that I can respect as a hobby. The former is just pointless imho.

dahamsta

It's not as simple as that nesf. For starters, I'm not just talking about old cars, I was just using them as an example. But let's stick with that for a minute, taking this as an example:



That's Billy Gibbons' CadZZilla, and although we could be pedantic about it and call it restored, rebuilt or refurbished, in reality it's customised. Modded. When it's finished it's like new, but not like a new Cadillac by any stretch of the imagination. It's more powerful, and it's incredibly cool. And before it was customised, it was probably just an old heap. Billy Gibbons could have bought a newer, more powerful and spacious car, like a Hummer. Aren't we glad he didn't?

But, as I said, it's not restricted to old cars. However cars these days can't be customised like they were in the old days. Cars back then were all steel, had very little inside, and had very simple engines under the bonnet. You chopped, channeled and frenched whatever could be chopped, channeled or frenched, plonked a supercharger onto the engine, gave it a flash paint job, and upgraded the sound system. (See, some things never change!)

Cars these days have plastic wraparound bumpers, incredible technology inside, and incredibly complex engines. You can't bend and shape existing plastic like you can steel; you can rarely upgrade the interior easily; you can rarely tune the engine bar chipping it. That's why these guys - who again, I'm not defending by any stretch of the imagination - tack on bodykits, tack in sports seats, tack in a chip and think they're done.

This is the problem these days imho. These guys have no creativity, when of course there's plenty that can still be done. They can still go to a drawing board and design a nice car from what they've got. They can take a tub of glassfibre - which you can bend and shape - and create their own bodykits (which are just bumpers and skirts when you get right down to it); they can do the same with the interior and create something amazing; they can modify the engine bay to take a different engine, or drop in something kooky. They could really have some fun. But they don't. They conform.

So I don't have a problem with them buying small or old cars when they could buy newer or bigger or more comfortable. The world would be a very boring place indeed if newness and comfort and size were the only parameters to be considered. Some might argue that it already is, precisely because of that; because of the current economy. What I do have a problem with is their incredible lack of originality, and their inability to see the almost embarassing irony of their conformity to, at this stage, another Hollywood stereotype.

You go ahead and buy something newer and more powerful and more spacious. Me, in the long term I've got my eye on a sweet big block Chrysler Hemi. I'm pretty sure it'll fit in the engine bay of my old 5 series with a little lovin'.

adam

nesf

I bow to your far superior knowledge on this topic.

So... Physics then....

dahamsta

Nah, can't do physics. Sounds too much like "physical".

adam

Blitzkrieger

Those lads are getting a reputation as scumbags. I know guys who used to hang around there but won't any more because there's too many scobes. Nobody in the 'modding commnunity' has any respect for them.

DawnMc

MC DONALDS IN DOUGLAS -> need I say more?

Drustan

If any of these guys are reading this, please find somewhere else to do 6,000 reving please. Maybe you guys dont realise that the Erinville hospital is directly across the road from the petrol station and for the last few weeks i've spent time there as my daughter was in the neo natal who was very sick.

bingo9999

When i was doing the share fast at christmas at the crib we saw the same cars drive past every 10 minutes all night, they were on a loop all night to look cool, it was the saddest thing i ever saw! They clearly have no friends to meet so for their night out they go for a 5 hour loop through town! Baffling! Waste of petrol too

Dimitri

If thery're happy let them off, i can understand how the serious car lovers can be pissed about the cock extensions, but for everyone else they're at most only causing minor annoyance, and at that its only insulting your sensibilities rather than actually interfering with your life.

Dizzyblabla

I went to a car show thing in Limerick last year, now I know nothing about cars, and I don't care how many horse power engine thynymajig whatchamacallit's it has, but I must say, I was impressed with all the shiny cars and the sparkling silver engines! Boy racers these guys may have been, but they show a respect for their property that puts most of us to shame /glances out the window at my car and wishes I got up earlier to wash it now...

so what if they drive around the block ten times? Of course they are showing off, but what's the point if you can't show it off??

Nukem

My girlfriend just passed he theory test (all happy for her) and i told her get a starlet or a civic. Reliable first car (well anything Japenese) and she refuses because if boyracer civics!
I have driven a civic and without been sexest they are honestly built for women. My mother loved her old one light easy to steer and mechanically bulletproof if treated nicely and i could barely get in and outta one:mad:.

Nukem

dahamsta

Starlets are awful cars, have been since the MK1. Civics are grand, if you don't mind driving a car that's common as muck, and nothing special. (Which suits some people fine, no problem here.)

adam

Nukem

Main thing i would like is just something for her thats goin to last a while once its given a good service (ie) civic. And by the way my last car was a MkII Starlet and loved her dearly, till some scum bag blew the engine outta her after reving the sh!te outta it:rolleyes:.

Nukem

dahamsta

I drove two MKII Starlets - my mothers - and they were the worst cars I ever drove. Dangerously underpowered, atrocious build quality, boring to look at, and just plain... just... awful!

See? They were so bad they make me speechless.

adam

Nukem

dahamsta wrote:

See? They were so bad they make me speechless.

Ha Ha you should drive a punto!

Angry_Man

DawnMc wrote:

MC DONALDS IN DOUGLAS -> need I say more?

Agreed.

Used the drive-thru half an hour ago, their were about ten scobes in the carpark gathered around a 49cc Aerox, attempting burnouts. Couldn't get annoyed as it's so damn funny...

macm

afraid the boy racers won t have a place to stay for very long , the esso station on the western road was sold the other day for 8 million euros. Muskerry Service Station (Esso) along the Western Road, and just across the river from the Jurys redevelopment was sold for a price tag in excess of €8m. The .6 acre site will continue operating as a service station until December 2005 (originally it was scheduled to close and be dismantled in October) - an application is currently being designed on the site.

forum discussing architecture & developmetn in cork:

http://www.archiseek.com/content/showthread.php?t=4127&page=13&pp=25

Atrocity

did anyone ever have a run in with the creepy guy who used to be in prison?

every so often he just refuses to serve and stares at you with those 'it happened in the shower' eyes

Dimitri

Atrocity wrote:

did anyone ever have a run in with the creepy guy who used to be in prison?

every so often he just refuses to serve and stares at you with those 'it happened in the shower' eyes

Ya one night there last may i was at a house party and at about 5 myself and a buddy decided we wanted fags and cookies, he gave me the fags but said he wasn't walking down that far when asked for the cookies, we argued for a while than just gave up, as we were walking away we saw him walk down as far as the door to bring in the papers not wouldn't you call that odd.

Atrocity

macm wrote:

Muskerry Service Station (Esso) along the Western Road, and just across the river from the Jurys redevelopment was sold for a price tag in excess of €8m

wow, €8 million big ones.. not surprising.. the situation is ideal, so close to town! I bet it's gonna be more apartments..The amount of student accomodation is ridiculous.. the UCC student accomodation buildings are all over the place. Bloody tax incentives.

nesf

8.5 or so I've heard. Not suprising though considering the size of the plot and it's location.