Niche car ownership forums are the best pages on the internet

Some automotive faults and quirks are so well known that they plague the legacy of the cars themselves. Broach the subject of apex seals with a Mazda RX-8 owner and you will get a filthy look.

Any mention of IMS bearings will get you struck off the 996 Porsche 911 Owners Club’s Christmas card list. And anyone with a P38 Range Rover visibly shivers when they hear ‘air suspension’.

But spare a thought for the poor Matra-Simca Bagheera owner who can’t fathom why their brake pads are rattling and has resorted to fabricating a wedge to keep them in place on the move.

A frustrating bodge, for sure, and it’s not like anyone on Twitter or Instagram would be much use if you put the call out for advice.

Step forward Matrasport.dk, your one-stop shop for all information on everything produced by one of France’s most-missed manufacturers.

Murena, 530, Bagheera, Rancho and even Djet: they’re all well represented and, as is often the way with communities built around obscenely niche automobiles, everyone here seems absolutely lovely.

Our fella with the jingling calipers, for example, now knows that he’s missing a set of ‘anti-rattle springs’, thanks to an oft-circulated document referred to by forum users in reverential tones as ‘Roy’s guide’. Panic over.

There are similar digital communities for owners of the Bond Bug, Triumph Acclaim and Datsun 120Y, and I even stumbled across a forum concerning Dutton kit cars. Good news if you have, erm… a dent in the hull of your Surf?

Of course, many of these websites have now spawned – and been superseded by – dedicated Facebook pages, providing owners with instant and unfettered access to an army of like-minded enthusiasts, hopefully with the knowledge they seek and definitely all holders of a common goal: to keep an endangered species alive.

One of the best embodiments of the benefits of digitisation in this sphere is also one of the least likely – and the newest.

With the manufacturer in question now effectively out of action, it seems unlikely that there will ever be more than around 1100 members of the Fisker Ocean Owners UK page on Facebook, but that’s probably good news for custodians of the ill-fated electric SUV, who all broadly seem to love their cars in spite of a wealth of near-crippling software issues and a dearth of official replacement parts and service support from the factory.

A recent exchange on the page brilliantly illustrates just how useful (or otherwise) it can be. “Has anyone had an issue with the interior light in the back coming on and off randomly?

We’ve just done a two-hour drive and it’s done it continuously on the way home,” laments a frustrated owner.

Fortunately, help is on hand and several comments quickly appear to tell them that “it’s a known fault that affects pretty much all Oceans” and a few firm taps should bring it to its senses. Won’t find that in the manual.