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Six Cylinders Motoring Notes - Well that didn’t go well!


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Driving for 9 year and 17 cars

 

 

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Now driving a 1976 Citroen GS Pallas bought from my father that had been his work car, it was 7 years old and as the average life of a GS was 8 years, it was good I now lived a mile from work and although I did go back to working in London it was by train.

 

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My driving was now leisure and the initial shock of paying a mortgage after living with my parents for a nominal amount was lessening so it was time to upgrade the GS for a 1972 Reliant Scimitar 5a manual in Highland Purple. It was a great looking car that had only done 60k in spite of being 12 years old and I bought it with a knock from the engine. A friend rebuilt the engine and says he never altered it, but it went like a scalded cat and wore the brand new rear Avon tyres out in 4500 miles.

 

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The problem with the Scimitar was it gave me backache and when a work college said I could buy his dark blue 1978 Granada 2.8 GL with a bad Auto gearbox oil leak for half price if I could come up with the money today I phoned my dad who had to drive to his bank. I had a recon Autobox fitted and it was a good car even if I was now driving a 6 year old Granada when I had had a 3 year old, the difference now was I had a project E-Type under way and a house as well!

 

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A friend handed me a 1979 Opel Kadett C Caravan that he had been hit up the back in while the insurance was settled, he had previously demolished a road sign with the front and while it looked tatty it drove very nicely, I drove it for nearly a year while the insurance was sorted out and in the end I bought it, took the worst dents out of it and sold it on. If you notice the X reg it was because my friend’s brother had bought it new in Germany as an Armed Forces purchase, RHD KM speedo and when the car came to the UK it was given a plate that dated the UK entry not build.   

 

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A hiccup as I was made redundant when the company I worked for went under made me sell the Granada and buy another end of life GS from my father, The GS was a 1978 X2 my father had from 18 months old and 10k miles. Now although 7 years old, it was in good shape as it had always been garaged and well looked after. With the concern of being out of work I never really worked out how much I liked that X2 at the time.

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16 years old when I got it registered March 1966 in Belfast and I bought it May 1982. It had been off the road rotted out since 1977 11 years old, the inner sills and other placed had already been plated up by then.

 

This is how it looked in 1977, when I got it the bonnet had been replaced with a reasonable second-hand one, but I managed to buy one of the last factory bonnets that arrived in a wooden create at my work.

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A few more

 

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Late 1985 and I went to work for a Volvo dealer and my company car was a 340GL 1.7 5door in Ocean blue Met so I sold the GS X2 a decision I regret to this day. I will cover my 11 years of motor trade company cars in a separate post later, lots of repeats!

 

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With my transport needs met and the project E-Type still ongoing I kept seeing a Triumph Herald 13/60 convertible parked outside a house not far from me and put a note though the door to say if it ever comes up for sale I was interested. A few weeks later I got a call and a deal was struck for the Herald with rusty holes in the bonnet, doors and boot. I went to collect it and the lady said I had another note put though my door, my heart sunk waiting for “so I sold it for more”, but no this one was offering panels and did I want the note. I called and sure enough he had a rust free bonnet, boot and doors but in green. I hesitated and he said my mate will spray the whole car for you for £100. I ended up with a smart looking good running Herald for a very good price.

 

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The Herald had woken the Vitesse desire in me and it was not long before I bought a Damson Vitesse Mk2 convertible that had been off the road a while but was basically a good car that needed recommissioning with flat paint and a green bonnet. Working for a garage my boss let me drive it 50 miles home on trade plates and then I had it repainted and did the mech work myself in the bodyshop premises. When the car was nearly finished I got a call to say could I come and remove my car as the end gable of the workshop was rocking in the wind. Half an hour after I had removed it and helped removed other cars the wall came down!

 

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The madness had started to bite hard and I bought a car just because I wanted it for a show. My plan was to take my damson Vitesse convertible to a Triumph show but the week before it had slit its head between valves. It was a strange day, I had resigned at work and Saturday afternoon still at work was looking at the Thames Valley Trader I saw a white 1965 Vitesse 1600 saloon with a sunroof and wire wheels for sale, I could still go to the ball if I bought this! So after I closed the garage I drove the 30 miles to find the car was not as good as described, the desire to own it was still there in spite of knowing it was not that great I offered money and to my surprise it was accepted. Now to find a friend who would take me to collect it at 9 pm on a Saturday evening so I could take it the show Sunday morning. Everything went to plan and it even passed its next MOT without too much welding!

 

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In June 1988 I found the damson Vitesse convertible was not really very good as a family classic and bought a 1975 dark blue Jaguar XJ6C to replace it. What a lovely car and I had it for 12 years.

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Last few before my car history gets more complicated!

 

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I drove a Mini for a year! Well I raced one, a full race Mini Miglia, what a wake up call that was as no ARDS, just pay your entry, medical, scrutineer the car and race! At the time I regularly drove all sorts of GTi, XR, and 16v cars. I had only got 2 laps on test day before the car broke so the fact that this Mini on sticky slicks that only started getting heat into the tyres at speeds that the hot hatches would be falling off the road was a learning curve in itself. Strapped into a 550kg car with 100bhp from its 998cc engine that could lap Castle Coombe faster than a road going 911 turbo of its day was a very alien environment.

 

My first race was at Thruxton, both mini classes practised together so 41 Minis came past me including most of the 850cc ones as well. The result was as the Mini grid was over subscribed I was bumped out of the Mini race. To give all enterers a race the bumped Minis were put in to race with Special saloons, things like a piece of fibreglass shaped like a Skoda Rapide with a space frame and 911 engine. The result was predictable and I was nearly lapped twice in 10 laps! However as there was only 2 Mini Miglias in the race I got second in class and that is printed in Autosport!

 

I was used to seeing blue flags waved to indicate I was being passed and as usual I saw one being waved at Cadwell Park, where is that car passing me, light bulb moment its being waved because I am overtaking for a place. I was just beginning to get a feel for it after a year, but the friend I was doing it with run out of money and the car was sold.

 

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1990 after a long gap from my MGC GT I bought a 1972 MGB GT, it was a PX at work and my boss showed me how much better it would look with the black part of the rostyle wheels painted in on one wheel, by the end of the day he had painted them all! A tired old car but I enjoyed it never the less.

 

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Another Herald 13/60 saloon came to me from a friend who didn’t want it any more! It had a name Boris, that was because it was made up of several Heralds. The holes in the footwells scooped up water in very wet conditions but it was fun. When asked for a name in pub or café for my order I sometimes use Boris instead of my own boring name, which was great until some noisy politician called Boris popped up!

 

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A friend said he had met a lady at a car boot selling a Triumph GT6 and Bond Equipe convertible and did I want the Bond! We collected it from Slough and met the lady who told us they were her son’s, but he was in prison! We did always wonder for how long and would he come looking for his cars. The cars were wrecks but I just had to get mine back on the road and did. 

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After what? Oh sorry - northern mode on - later

 

Mrs6C says your JW concert is on Classic FM live broadcast tonight at 7pm... not sure what that is...

For this piece of information

 

I owe you a pint - originally down here for that but then couldn't get a ticket unless I bought the 3 grand box that was left :lol:

 

Going to iwm instead

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I think we must be related as I have had many of the same cars as you! My first car was going to be an Imp but then I drove it above 50mph and bought a Mini Cooper 'S' instead as the Imp scared me so much, it really didn't know what side of the road it wanted to be on! I nearly bought a Vitesse 1600 but I believed the horror stories of unreliability so didn't as I am boring :)

 

I would love to have kept most of the old heaps  I have had over the years, but being a serial divorcee gets both expensive and depressing and you tend to lose lots of stuff in the ensuing farce. I tuned down an 'E' type once, probably about the time you were buying yours as it was rustier than the Titanic and I didn't want to spend £600 on it. Rather wish I had now... Declined a Jensen Interceptor as well, as someone had pinched the engine, the rest of the car was mint but I couldn't find the enthusiasm for a £600 Jensen with no engine.

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Yes my world was complicated by another car enthusiast in the house!

 

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The first car Mrs6C and I bought together was a 1972 Daimler Sovereign in sable, she went to see it and instead of reporting back, she just bought it!

 

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It got hit on the very first night of our new home together when Mrs6C was returning from Wales by a young girl pulling out of a side road. Both cars damaged but nobody hurt, Mrs6C had agreed with the father of the girl he could repair the car rather than going via insurance. I was thinking this is not going to work but came home one evening to find Mrs6C and the father of the girl working on the car together. He had got a second hand wing and had it sprayed sable, only thing was he had not got the huge amount of orange peel the car had so I had to 1200 the whole car and polish it to match the wing. Well it needed doing anyway.

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Yes my world was complicated by another car enthusiast in the house!

 

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The first car Mrs6C and I bought together was a 1972 Daimler Sovereign in sable, she went to see it and instead of reporting back, she just bought it!

 

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It got hit on the very first night of our new home together when Mrs6C was returning from Wales by a young girl pulling out of a side road. Both cars damaged but nobody hurt, Mrs6C had agreed with the father of the girl he could repair the car rather than going via insurance. I was thinking this is not going to work but came home one evening to find Mrs6C and the father of the girl working on the car together. He had got a second hand wing and had it sprayed sable, only thing was he had not got the huge amount of orange peel the car had so I had to 1200 the whole car and polish it to match the wing. Well it needed doing anyway.

 

I was thinking you’d changed a lot before I read the text!

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Now together, Mrs6C came with cars but no camels! 1969 Triumph Herald Convertible, 1961 Herald 1200 coupe on the road and in daily use and Jaguar MK10, 1970 Herald 13/60 saloon and a Spitfire MK2 project cars.

 

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We still have the white Herald 13/60 Convertible, but it is dismantled at the moment.

 

 

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The Herald 1200 Coupe  requires some recommissioning but is basically a good running car.

 

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The MK10 is with us but requires a lot of work to return to the road.

 

 

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The Spitfire MK2 also requires a lot of work but we have most of the parts. The Spitfire was Mrs6C first car.

 

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The brown Herald 13/60 saloon was always a big project but as Heralds are basically a big Meccano set it would have still been viable if her fathers blockwork garage wall had not fallen on it!

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Now together, Mrs6C came with cars but no camels! 1969 Triumph Herald Convertible, 1961 Herald 1200 coupe on the road and in daily use and Jaguar MK10, 1970 Herald 13/60 saloon and a Spitfire MK2 project cars.

 

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We still have the white Herald 13/60 Convertible, but it is dismantled at the moment.

 

 

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The Herald 1200 Coupe  requires some recommissioning but is basically a good running car.

 

hnnng want mx5 norty thoughts

 

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The MK10 is with us but requires a lot of work to return to the road.

 

anthonyg needs to sack off one and aquire one :lol: JAAAAAAAG DING DOOONG

 

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The Spitfire MK2 also requires a lot of work but we have most of the parts. The Spitfire was Mrs6C first car.

 

 not in 1965 tho eh chris :P
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Something I have been meaning to get off my chest for some time.

 

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I have had my CX vandalized, no nothing to do with the bonnet, look at the front wheel who would do this to another mans car!

 

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Yesterday I managed to get it under cover, it was a tough job getting it out of a dip over a wooden sill but thanks to a winch given to me by alf892 a couple of years ago when I had no idea what I was going to use it for we got there. 

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