The Autoshizzle bASe roll call

[25v6turbo]

My Safrane RN is the lowest spec Safrane released in the UK.

So no A/C,manual,windup rear windows,steels,no front fogs,cassette only,no alarm,no puddle lights and according to the sales invoices not a single option selected and it shows,its great! I have the complete bottom of the range and top of the range every option Safranes both on an L reg,both red....

[Skizzer]

Technically this is a base model, as there weren’t any others in the range.

 

 

Incidentally, I insured it yesterday - £20 for the year to add it to my FJ policy, including commuting. Flippin bargain motoring these V12 Jags.

[eifion]

The Peugeot 205 van at STD level:

 

 

Radio - no

Temperature gauge - no

Rear wash/wipe - no

5-speed box - no

Cigarette lighter - no

Cloth seats - no, vinyl.

Proper interior door handles - no, tiny roof grab handles reused instead.

 

But do I love it? Oh yes.

 

[Crispian_J_Hotson]

 

 

Is that a 316i? Has it got rear wind down windows or were they all electric? Got a shot of the dash? Sooo many questions, all in the name of research! Whilst I don't think my touring is bASe I have passed one with wheel trims and it was super clean!

[AlabamaShrimp]

I'm afraid you miss out on base-ness because there was a Popular trim level (with vinyl seats) right up to the end of the Mark 1:

This is the September 1983 brochure:

031.jpg

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/61090099@N04/albums/72157627540792013/with/6144965283/

Ta! That's a bit poo though, £40 for reclining seats and the twat didn't get them so now you have to sit at a stupid angle, tight fucker

 

No mention (or I've missed it) of why it doesn't have a heated rear screen but does have a wiper.

 

Hang on I think the Frontera is base spec as as far as I know there's only one. It's a 1994 2.4 lwb.

[vulgalour]

 

1985 VW Polo Mk2.  Not a Polo C, just a Polo. Before it was mine it was a family stop gap car and one of the first things Dad did was upgrade the interior with bits from a C.  Knowing what I do now, and how solid a car it was bar the blown head gasket, I do wish it had been preserved in all its basey glory because I can't imagine there being more than single digit survivors of them now.

 

What's missing?

passenger door mirror

passenger sun visor - it didn't have one when we got it, maybe it was broken?  Maybe it was miser spec.

carpet - just rubber mats, from memory

boot carpet

rear wash/wipe

radio (it had one fitted when we got it, that wasn't original)

front wing side repeaters

head restraints

hubcaps - it just had separate black plastic covers for each wheel nut and a centre cap that covered the hole.  It didn't even have the centre cap that was wide enough for the wheel nuts to poke through

Side rubbing strips  - previous owner had screwed wooden strips to the body down both sides anyway.

Parcel shelf - missing, or just never supplied?

Cigarette lighter

Brake servo - discs up front, drums out back, but no assist.

[Lacquer Peel]

Even my sporty* Mk2 Coupé S did without brake servo assistance, because VW couldn't be arsed with the RHD conversion.

[Supernaut]

Is that a 316i? Has it got rear wind down windows or were they all electric? Got a shot of the dash? Sooo many questions, all in the name of research! Whilst I don't think my touring is bASe I have passed one with wheel trims and it was super clean!

'Tis indeed a 316i. Manual rear windows, 15" steel wheels on 185-section tyres. The dash just looks like any other E36, it even has a rev counter!

 

It's not too bad performance-wise. Gets out of its own way quite happily, and I've driven it 4-up to Errol before at A90 speeds. Coped fine.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Base 316i 2 door, but loaded* with extras; automatic transmission and metallic paint. From new it didn't have a radio, but the second owner had a Philips stereo radio/ cassette and an aerial fitted- I've got the receipt. The radio blanking plate is in the glovebox.

It's the most rust free e30 I've ever seen , which I put down to its basic spec and lack of performance. No sunroof or spoilers to let water in, no stonechips because it's so slow etc. Of course it could be the 2 giffer lady owners that kept it garaged for the first 20 odd years.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Does this count, cloth seats, manual, 17" wheels, no Nav, no xenons, not even got Bluetooth. Although it has got a basic stereo and no extraneous holes.

The fact it's a 530d is some compensation.

This, we think, is it in its previous life. According to a Policecar fanboy site it was a Driving school car for Sussex plod for 3 years then was seconded to the Courts and Probation service in Sussex. That would explain its immaculate condition and long service- it was only demobbed last summer and came via Witney auction into my family( 2 different brothers so far ) Massive service history including brake fluid changes annually , but had only done about 100k, presumably it was getting serviced like a frontline traffic car- our tax money at work.

[bub2006]

That is real base for a 5 series. Surprisingly has the larger oil drinker though.

[Datsuncog]

06.jpg

 

1985 VW Polo Mk2.  Not a Polo C, just a Polo. Before it was mine it was a family stop gap car and one of the first things Dad did was upgrade the interior with bits from a C.  Knowing what I do now, and how solid a car it was bar the blown head gasket, I do wish it had been preserved in all its basey glory because I can't imagine there being more than single digit survivors of them now.

 

What's missing?

passenger door mirror

passenger sun visor - it didn't have one when we got it, maybe it was broken?  Maybe it was miser spec.

carpet - just rubber mats, from memory

boot carpet

rear wash/wipe

radio (it had one fitted when we got it, that wasn't original)

front wing side repeaters

head restraints

hubcaps - it just had separate black plastic covers for each wheel nut and a centre cap that covered the hole.  It didn't even have the centre cap that was wide enough for the wheel nuts to poke through

Side rubbing strips  - previous owner had screwed wooden strips to the body down both sides anyway.

Parcel shelf - missing, or just never supplied?

Cigarette lighter

Brake servo - discs up front, drums out back, but no assist.

 

Wow - that sounds like some pretty harsh cost-cutting from the Wolfsburg bean-counters there... I thought my Mk2F Polo Fox was punishingly downmarket, but this goes a notch or two further. Though interestingly my Fox had no parcel shelf either and, perhaps like you, I simply assumed it had gone missing - but maybe the pov-spec Polos were always denied this frippery.  (I made a replacement out of an old dining room table covered with spray adhesive and black felt - job jobbed.)

[jamesC.]

What is it with bASe models having metallic paint? Deal done on purchase to help move it along?

My gran bought a bASe Audi A1 with metallic silver paint. This was only because apparently it was “easier to clean” I highly doubt if this is why most people do it though

[sierraman]

I like her thinking

[davehedgehog31]

On the subject of central locking. My brother has a modern, circa 15 plate Skoda Citigo in poverty spec. He took it into the garage because the central locking was goosed, turns out it just doesn't have it.

 

I think it might have electric windows.

[Austin-Rover]

1991 Rover 820i. One of the first of the Mk2s, and the lowliest specification;

 

Manual sunroof rather than electric, windy rear windows, no wood in the doors, no alloys and no fog lamps amongst the obvious missing items. Being an ex-Rover management car, someone ticked the box for the megabucks Caribbean Blue pearlescent paintwork and £700 quids-worth of stereo CD changer from the Sterling!

 

I find base model executives are a bit harder to spot, I suppose they didn't want to tarnish the whole model. However, this does not explain the unpainted bumpers on the Rover 620i though; unforgivable, but strangely desirable these days.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Are there any unpainted bumper 620s still in existence? They were a very short lived model and rare even when new, presumably a lot would have been painted when new by dealers and then as young used cars, they'd have been unsaleable so the remaining ones would've been blown over. Any that survived into middle age probably ended up with some shiny bumpers off a scrapper..

[Pillock]

06.jpg

 

1985 VW Polo Mk2.  Not a Polo C, just a Polo. Before it was mine it was a family stop gap car and one of the first things Dad did was upgrade the interior with bits from a C.  Knowing what I do now, and how solid a car it was bar the blown head gasket, I do wish it had been preserved in all its basey glory because I can't imagine there being more than single digit survivors of them now.

 

 

 

My mum had a 1985 Polo C - although a later one which must have been the 1986 model year as it had the larger reversing light. Geek? Moi? Anyway, I remember she had that as it was the cheapest Polo she could get - a C in a solid colour, no extras. I'm sure she would have gone for the basic one if it was there, so it was really short lived! The spec you describe was definitely below hers though, it had two sunvisors and everything.

 

In 1983, there wasn't a model below C either so that base spec was only around for a year or so.