Leaderboard

Hello to All. I first heard of this forum a few years ago when I was selling a beautifully knackered 1.4L Renault 5. A prospective buyer contacted me and entreated me “not to take it the wrong way” but I would probably like the Autoshite community. Naturally I took it the wrong way thinking it to be a site shaming such cars. They didn’t even make and offer on the R5… Luckily, a second encounter came when I was Google-ing my car registrations past and present (we all do it right?) and my 240 DL RHM 999Y appeared in a Flickr album entitle Autoshite. The photo was from a car show I’d visited, and it had been commented on to the effect that sometimes the cars in the public carpark are better than the cars on show. Well, this was a compliment, pitting a crusty beige 240 against show standard minties. My levels of intrigue had been thoroughly piqued, so I joined the forum, experiencing a cornucopia of likeminded folk validating my approach of trying to run multiple older or interesting cars. I don’t have particular aspirations, but I intend to use this thread to encourage me to take more worthwhile photos of what I’m running, rather than just for when I’m selling(!), because for me, I really enjoy browsing all the photographs in this forum. Somewhat a personal endeavor, but if anyone in the world would enjoy these pictures other than me, I'm sure it'd be you lot! Hopefully it’ll also encourage me to progress through car work while I try to self-validate in front of my brethren. So, with that, my current collection: Mercedes 300TD Mini City XJS MX-5 Volvo 440 (Ford Focus) – 2008 “Vision Blue" Estate. Not sure if this has ripened into a photo worthy status yet. Maybe once it’s over 150,000 miles.

way back in 2004, I proudly brought home my first, a 1997 1.8 mazda mx5 which gave me my first taste of track day driving - I was well and truly bitten by the bug for some crazy reason, I sold the silver one and bought a Porsche 944 I missed it so much after a couple of months, I picked up this to use as a daily driver 1994 1.6 eunos roadster v-spec we went on the track in typical knockhill weather did some diy and generally had a lot of fun - the Porsche was fast but ultimately I didn't love it as much so it had to go. sadly, so did the v-spec as the sills were crumbling. it was replaced, on a dark and rainy night, by this 1995 1.8 eunos roadster G-limited which only lasted six months as the sills were worse than its predecessor time to buy a good one one then ? I spend proper money on this 1989 1.6 eunos roadster - what a beauty we hooned round Knockhill we hooned round Croft then I broke it the early "short nose crank" engine has a weak spot on the crank pulley and this one succumbed - sold on as spears / reapers good news was that an emigrating friend had this one up for sale 1990 1.6 eunos roadster AVO so much fun was had with this car, definitely my favourite - as I now had a sensible daily driver, this one got quite a bit of work done : roll bar, bucket seats, harnesses, suspension, brakes, exhaust etc. and plenty of laps of knockhill. sometimes getting a little carried away this was a great day - loads of fun on the track and some hilarious* top gear style formation driving on the way home annoying commuters on the forth bridge sadly, AVO was starting to need attention to the sills so @Tickman took her on and I brought home this 1993 1.8 eunos roadster v-spec type II all of the good bits were nicked off AVO and swapped into the new car which did itself proud on trackdays, sprints and hillclimbs. so it's fair to say, I like these little cars. a lot.

Some of you may recognise the car, and its up for sale again. https://www.gumtree.com/p/renault/1994-renault-safrane/1373082712 Throwback to simpler times in 2014, no Trump, no Borris, no corona. I had the car as a daily, was a great car, efficient and reliable, but it just wasn't me, and I decided to sell the car. It took the longest time ever to sell, maybe I paid more then I should've, maybe it was at an awkward stage, when it was just an old car, but not yet a classic. That said, first person to come and view, brought it. He then kept it around 4 years, and it resurfaced for sale on retro rides, sadly it had been in a bump, he had managed to loose the thick pile of service history, and it had been used daily, parked on the street etc, short MOT and was a little worse for wear. It then paased few a few owners since, at one point it was off the road while the owner sourced an exhaust for it I believe. https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/206298/1994-renault-safrane-manual-sold Interestingly despite having been passed through hands for under a monkey each time, each owner seems to have treated it fairly well , even the current one looks to be in a posher part of town, nice flagstone driveway etc, but recon it could easily fall into the hands of someone wanting to run it to the ground, and at this age, it could easily be written off as scrap to an over zealous MOT tester. Can I buy it now? No, no space. Would I like it in the future? Maybe. Would I like it to go to a shitter and find a bit more of a forever home? Yes The car was registered to Renault UK who owned it a year, during this time was when it featured on TV. The Safrane features as the police drive it up to The Swan hotel in Lavenham to arrest Lovejoy After that it was picked up, presumably with a generous discount, from a Renault dealer in London, it went on to lead an easy life with the same owner for just under 20 years. It lived on Prothero road and for a while showed up on streetview being washed by the chap who owned it, since then the cameras been through leaving no trace of the Safrane, just swanky 4x4s and beemers. If no one wants it at least I can say I (sort of) tried, Iliked it but having an old car back might never be the same, and even if nothing comes of it, was satisfying to write its history down, since if I dont no one else will. Pictures are from the road it lived on in London, and my time, the seats were as comfy as they look!