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It’s been a while.. but, a new addition to the fleet has been achieved. It’s bordering on shite as people do point and laugh when driving by but I absolutely love it. It’s a 2003 1.4i petrol Audi A2 75bhp. Remarkably tidy following a good clean but more is needed. Small miles, 45k but failed emissions test on NCT here. Service kit has been ordered, throttle body was removed and cleaned. Like the rest of the car, it was rather dirty. These have a cool back story and I’ve wanted one for years. This particular car I’ve hoped would come my way and it finally did recently. Passenger door strap was broken, rear boot lid wouldn’t lock and sunroof was sticking. All sorted now. Still to do is sort glovebox door, missusfandango managed to break handle off that so now permanently locked. Deep scratch on rear passenger door, beyond my skilz so may have to spend to sort that. Wheels also need a refurb but I’ll have a go at them before making a bollix of that and sending them out too. Overall a wonderful / oddball piece of 20 year old shite that will hopefully stick around for a while. Who likes these? Any on here? CFD

So I've been on the lookout for something cheap to run for a couple of months now, but struggled to find something that ticks all the boxes. Most recently I thought I was sorted with a Golf estate locally, but sadly there were a few issues and I chose not to go ahead. Thankfully AutoShite came to the rescue in the form of a cute little 169 Panda. I've always rated these cars as we've had one in the household from new which has been a fantastic and dependable thing that's taken us all over the place, including several trips to the Highlands. Last night I went down the A50 to pick up a blue '06 plate from member Ian and what a pleasant experience it was. Ian was an absolute gent and the car was immaculately clean when I arrived. Half an hour later me and my brother-in-law Al were on our way back to Staffordshire, choosing to take the scenic and twisty series of roads through Newborough and Abbots Bromley. If you can avoid the farm traffic, there are some great twisty and fun stretches of road perfect around there to test the poise of an Italian supermini. I'll attach a few snaps from the collection shortly. Ian was interested to know my thoughts on how the earlier Euro 4 engined Panda compared to our later Euro 5 with VVT, which I'll share here in case it is of interest. With the Euro 4 I think power and torque are more evenly spread across the rev band. The Euro 5 is ultimately a little quicker, however they feel hesitant and somewhat strangled at lower revs. The Euro 4 in contrast is more fun to drive and feels like it has more 'get up and go', despite being 7 bhp shy. I definitely prefer it. I'm not sure if the gearing changed between model years, but the Euro 5 feels taller geared? Handling-wise, the blue example outshines our yellow car. It could be it's a little lighter without air con and things, and the wheels are smaller for more engaging handling. More likely though is Ian had got it in very fine fettle with excellent tyres fitted. A big thanks to Ian for fixing me up with a happy little car that's a hoot to drive. Steve

About 15 years ago I bought this from a man in Cheshire Despite my best intentions, and a fair amount of money, it never reached the top of the pile. Eventually it went to a specialist who declared it beyond his means (it looks very much better than it was). Last year, someone expressed interest in buying it, and today that deal was concluded so it will not be coming back but heading on to pastures new. Shame, but hey ho. About 2 years after buying the 92b, I bought a 1966 longnose stroker 95 from the same guy in Cheshire. That I got back on the road but it was troublesome, and when the head gasket failed I was getting fed up with it. I was offered a handsome profit for it, so it was sold, something I have regretted every day since! Three years after that, I bought this from the same man in Cheshire Always troublesome and highly strung, I have enjoyed it for over 12 years. Unfortunately advancing years coupled with being a fat bastard, my knees are getting painful making entry and exit no fun. It had to go. Today, I dropped it off with my friend in Perth to make it easier for a courier to collect it as it is likely I will be away when it is required in Southampton, on its way to its new home back in the states, this time North Carolina. It has been great fun and it will be missed, and strange that both cars were bought from a mon 300 miles away and both departed my ownership on the same day. Here it is awaiting collection

Bloody glad I got the belts done timing belt was really worn, cracked and actually had missing teeth!! water pump was leaking big aux belt was cracked, had chunks missing from it small belt was cracked all brand new belts now thankfully, seems I did it just in the nick of time

Vauxhall Vectra 1.9 CDTi 150 SRI Nav | eBay '...from an elderly couple who used it to go to their static caravan at the coast for the past half a dozen years' 'Mileage: 184,000'

For some long forgotten reason, I was hijaked last Sunday and taken in a lous and reasonably rapid car to a cricket club that had been opened by John Major. Oh, and there were some old cars there. Some sort of 'do' apparently. I thought it rude of me not to take any pictures as they'd gone to all that trouble. Here are some of them. Well that wasted a bit of your time, didn't it?

Don't let anyone tell you running American cars in the UK is impractical. Both fit a standard drive fine Now the Roadmaster has a full MOT I've been using it as a daily in preference to the X3. i brimmed the tank, did 100 miles and then brimmed it again. The result was just over 14mpg which I thought was a bit low but I'm pretty sure the driver's side rear brakes are dragging as the wheel gets hot. It doesn't help that the loon in me likes to bury the throttle to hear the V8. The exhaust is far too quiet for my liking so it'll be getting a new system soon.

i dare say it's ready, new belts and water pump fitted today got the blower working unless it goes wrong tomorrow i'm coming in this

Car is now home Id not realised he’d replaced both drive belts too! showed me photos of the job and I must say I’m rather impressed! runs and drives fine

Parting wishes from Mrs Grogee: "Have fun on your stupid journey to get your stupid old car" Love you too honeybunch

Fleet news. Kept filling the Volvo with sealant, it kept leaking. I have now found a solution though. With that problem permanently* solved** I put the interior back in. This means the girlfriend will go in it, which makes it AN FUNCTIONAL CAR. I also fitted a less fucked rear light. Threw the Dolomite's door cards in and affixed the dash correctly. Fitting the fresh air vents makes it quite a bit less horrible on warm days I also managed to wrestle the rear bumper on having acquired some lengthy bolts. Also gave the chrome and stainless a go over with some Autosol. I think it's done about 300 miles since going back together. Mostly around town and local A roads. It pulls well once warmed up properly, it'll actually gain speed on the flat from 20mph in top. At 55mph it's doing 3,500rpm, which is really as fast as you want to go for any sustained period of time. It seems quite happy to sit on the motorway but it feels too mechanically "busy" for my tastes. As of the the 24th it'll be taking me and Girlfriend_70s to Derbyshire (avoiding motorways) on holiday for a week before I drop by FotU and then shoot back up the road. I'm only mildly bricking it.

PC: 1 Breakfast: as pictured Mode of transport 1: @Cluffy's BMW coop

@sutty2006 and @bunglebus +1 on the Molotow pen. You may remember my recent purchase of a Corgi 'Golden Jacks' P6. I felt that the wheels, although in original paint were rather dull, I got pics of real P6 2000 TCs and many had chrome wheel trims. Plus the bumpers on mine were flaky. So I got myself a Molotow chrome pen and I don't regret it at all! The wheels look right now and the car is actually starting to resemble a real P6 2000. The bumpers aren't perfect but they are at least the right colour. I've done various similarly aged Corgis and some other models with it and it is amazing stuff. It generally dries within a few hours to a day. Be careful though, make sure the surface is clean and the pen is fully loaded, often it can pick up residue and end up looking like matted grey paint rather than chrome, if any paint surfaces have been treated with other pen/paints before, ensure they are cleaned off as it can also pick up other pen marks and mix into the chrome.

While the weather is good and the wife is out I have it it’s first bath. Only a quick one mind, it’s too hot out here! It appears to be missing the chin spoiler off the front end. And the tape holder from the centre console. Hopefully I can locate replacements.

Be quick folks, this garage only has 1 Granada left in stock! 😂 https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202206277210280?colour=White%2CYellow&advertising-location=at_cars&year-from=1930&postcode=TQ3 2qf&page=18&year-to=2005&include-delivery-option=on&sort=relevance

My brother in law is a photographer, mainly for cycling magazines but he took a lot of great family photos over the weekend down in Stockton. I didn't realise he'd snapped the Saab. I wish I'd kept the mirrors out though! A handsome beast for what I still think of as quite a modern car. I had a shot of a Hyundai Kona EV and a BMW 6 series twin turbo diesel, both of which were achingly fast but I'm not kidding myself when I say I prefer this to both of them. I suppose I 'get' the Saab thing after 8 months and 2 of the things!

Go outside at lunch. Decide to clean the bugs off the front of the wife's daily. Bottle of Simple Green, cloth. Halfway through it starts to rain so I decide to finish up and let the rain rinse it down. Finish, now wet from the rain and the rain stops and the sun comes out bright. Le sigh. Go get a bucket of water, to rinse. Being as I have to do that, I decide I should put some spray wax on then dry the car off because the sun came out. Halfway through, it starts to rain. Now, unable to fully dry, the wax leaves streaks. A few minutes later the sun comes out, so I decide to wipe it down with a damp cloth and try dry it again. So it then pisses down with rain. That's the story of the last fifteen minutes. I give up. It can stay dirty.

https://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=348394887&damageUnrepaired=NO_DAMAGE_UNREPAIRED&isSearchRequest=true&makeModelVariant1.makeId=3500&makeModelVariant1.modelDescription=individual&maxFirstRegistrationDate=2004-12-31&pageNumber=2&scopeId=C&sortOption.sortBy=relevance&ref=srp&searchId=8ac1635d-652c-7ce9-8a44-37e89882d48e

Bloody foreigners, coming over here taking our tractors, etc.

Rear bearing still howling, still no time. In other news, the last two tanks have been pretty good!

I’ve had a small amount of time to look into why stuff doesn’t work. Today I’ve pulled the Sharp radio out. Fuse is blown. Takes some tiny glass fuse, so I’ve ordered a box of 5. It works if I connect the power direct, the radio aerial goes up and down accordingly. It even picks up a local MW radio channel. Shame it doesn’t have FM….. will have to dig out some 80s tapes.

Portland Street Southampton

This piss yellow 106 I bought it via scaryoldcortina, without having much use for it. Two days later I was asked if I would sell it to a local chap whose C Max had died. It needed a wheelbearing so he haggled £50 to do it. Nine months later he's moving away and needed to move the car on, so I went back and haggled the wheelbearing he still hadn't had done off again 😂 Seems ideal as a run around and we do technically all fit.

This appeared this morning. The fart can really has to go. I spent the day giving it a vacuum out and reassembling the interior - everything was in place but the screws had been taken out (?!) as someone had planned on breaking it. Steering wheel is being replaced with a Personal leather one - that's not the original wheel, it's from a Civic or low spec CRX. The brake lights are stuck on, due to what I think is a fault with the brake light switch. Passenger window doesn't work. Otherwise, it's alright. Rust needs looking at - taking the sill trims off tomorrow.

Yesterday I welded up the arch. Welding upside down isn't pleasant at the best of times. I wear a head cover, goggles and visor. Then you get spatter falling onto you, with the head cover preventing that particular smell of burning hair. Then add in 26c heat, it's quite an ordeal. But needs must. Also I probably didn't need to run a bead on that edge - just if I see something I can run a welding bead along, I can't help myself 😂 This evening has been a busy one now the weather is a less barmy 23c in the garage. Ground back the arch. Then spent absolutely ages grinding back along the main panel. Started with a 40 grit flap disc to get most off and then moved to a 60grit to finish. I'd have preferred an 80grit but I have run out of stock of those. I found a particular technique of going at one angle to grind the bottom edge and then rotating it 120 degrees to grind the top edge. Still will need some more work as there are a few holes that need filing. I'll turn the welder right down, tack them and then run the grinder back over. There is also a slight ridge where I welded along. It's tempting to go over the grinder some more but I fear that I'll just end up thinning it too much. What do the bodywork experts reckon on here? I think a skim of filler should suffice? Or bash it in gently with a hammer? Welded up the door area and ground back too. The bottom hole I need to weld a piece in. This I didn't cut out, apart from the repair piece in there but I presume it was done last time to provide access at the bottom. I used it as a place to weld the bottom corner of the wing in to prevent it flexing. Also welded the rear end. Ran out of noisy time to grind it back. Next I need to figure out how to sculpt this backend. I've bent it into place and ran a few tacks to get a rough shape. There is also a bit missing from the rear valance. This was covered by a patch that I ripped off. Crap welds again. Might get some thin metal and smash it into place to shape. This is how the other side looks. I think it'll be a case of smashing it mostly into shape with a hammer. Welding and grinding to sculpt it. Finally filler to get a smooth finish. This gas bottle is starting to get low now again. I found I had to turn the gas up when welding upside down. Plus helps extinguish when the underseal catches fire.

£360pa tax compensated for by 5 cylinder soundtrack and blue interior! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325266169546

Safely back, no dramas. The window got a workout: too hot/too noisy/too hot/too noisy etc. But it behaved impeccably and @filthyjohn is a true gentleman. I think he was still explaining reasons to not buy it as I drove off. I tried to do a self-Woollard on the drive but it wasn't very successful.

He’s put it on the old Facebook with a load of photos here you go timing belt doesn’t look too bad here but it was cracked and teeth missing

Last but not least, an Audi 100 in peak late 70s/early 80s mustard yellow next to a Yugo and the mandatory W201 Merc.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115456586800 fao @Cavcraft

Never in doubt. (narrators voice) reader, it definitely was in doubt, purchased blind from a lad who wasn't quite sure what his own name was who insisted it was ready for a test. Not even an advisory although I'm told a verbal advisory that the rear caliper sliders need cleaning up.

Here's an odd inner scale. And in French...

this is the correct way to test the blower fan of a citroen XM

I keep reading in the news about people being pissed off about diesel at £2/litre. Yet they can't get enough of caffeinated warm milk at £15.50/litre. (Estimated 200ml @ £3.10)

Found a couple of pictures from the aftermath of the above incedent. It was the blue one. This is the good side. Mine was the white one and the engine was shagged so we decided to swap them over. The chap in the middle is the guy who crashed it. We'd never done anything like this before but the entry in the Haynes manual on engine removal was only about six paragraphs so we thought how hard can it be. And this all in a council car park, I think such things would be frowned upon now. Weirdly this isn't too different to the job I'm doing now. This was 1990. Some things never change. Now, the front panel on the blue car was perfect which was rare on a 1300. The white one looks okay from here but it was stuffed full of filler. So we decided to keep it, so a friend came round with his big angle grinder. This involved moving the car to a different car park that was reachable with an extention lead from our house (still living at home then). This shows the bent side well. Unfortunately you can't see the dent itself. It really was a good sharp imprint of the hexagonal lamp post.

Got a film back from a MK Classic Car Club meet back on May 6th. Irked I didn't drop myself down a bit lower to hide the car in the background for this one. Likewise...fouled up the focus on this one. Got pretty much exactly the same shot on my phone - this was done using an actual wide aperture!

Well, it’s running again. I got the mystery relay back from the electrician this morning, fitted it, checked for spark again and this time spark was there. But it didn’t fire. Odd. Next i pulled a fuel pipe off and turned it over, no fuel. Got the wife to crank it while I lay under the back end and the pump would clunk when initially firing just once. Then once again when it stopped. So I nipped up to my unit where I have had a spare fuel pump used for getting fuel out of scrap cars. Got home, tested it (works thankfully) and loosely plonked it in place and now she runs again!

1994 Fiat Tipo 1.4ie. From my diary: 1st February 2013 (My son) decided that he had had enough of his Peugeot 205's knocking front end and dashboard rattles. Its front suspension has recently been rebuilt with new parts at some cost and, although the car feels better, it still knocks slightly on sharp edged ridges and holes. He also needs a slightly larger car to carry work parts. Various Hyundai Elantras caught his attention until I casually mentioned a 24000 miles from new Fiat Tipo 1.4 advertised in Classic Car Weekly. A phonecall later and we were set to drive up to Sandbach to view the car on 3rd Feb. 3rd February Drove up to Sandbach in the Peugeot. Pleasantly surprised by the Tipo. Its condition mechanically and bodily (inside and outside) all tended to confirm its very low mileage from new. Documents added verification. At £795, it seemed worth the risk. A deal was struck, deposit and 6 months tax funding paid and we arranged to collect next weekend. The car has 11 months MOT and no obvious faults. A new exhaust had been fitted for the MOT. The Tipo was duly collected and put into regular use. June 2018: I parted with my 1988 Stellar, meaning there was room on the driveway again. 30th August 2018: My son's friend was having car trouble and needed a car to tide him over for a few months. The Tipo was offered to him for a reasonable sum (£600, I think). 3rd January 2019: The Tipo's MOT was due towards the end of the month. My son arranged for it to be tested to see what needed doing. The friend was not willing to pour money into a temporary car, so the Tipo's future was uncertain, as was the certainty of it needing a fair bit of work. This was confirmed by the MOT failure list. 4th January 2019: I liked the Tipo enough to save it from being scrapped, so bought it for a nominal sum (£200), then paid a little over £400 to get all the MOT failure points attended to. It proved more cost effective, insurance wise, for ownership to be transferred to me but my son actually had ownership for a few days before we got the V5 changed to me. (We both live at the same address). 11th July 2022: I've still got it. It gets regular use and is running fine. It recently passed 60K miles and I would not hesitate to drive it anywhere that I would take my modern car (2017 Mitsubishi Mirage Juro CVT). Photo: In the Derbyshire hills whilst my son took part in a cycling event a few years ago. The Tipo has a tow bar which is handy for his two bike cycle rack. It may be used to transport my 1967 Peugeot BBCT moped to my brother's place in Cornwall in a month or two if the moped seems secure enough on the very sturdy rack.

Just a pic update really... Spent a bit of time converting the 323 to MTB spec today... This will be its life from now on, both boys are pretty into hitting the trails at Glenlivet etc... Was good fun attending the Cars and Coffee meet in Inverness yesterday too, made a wee Autoshite corner at Maccies on the way out... Audi Coupe booked in for test tomorrow, first go at the emissions with the new cat 🤞

Shitefest is this coming weekend! Details are: The Snowdon Inn Llanberis Road (A4086) Cwm Y Glo LL55 4EE Camping is £10 per person per night - payable on arrival. Sunny Jim will be on site from 2pm on Friday, 16th July so arrivals after that time. Meals - Kebab van outside campsite 4-9pm Fri & Sat - Pizza from Bakehouse 5-8pm Fri & Sat - Saturday Breakfast available from our Scottish brethren - Sunday Breakfast, 9am Bakehouse, £2 roll, £1 brew - Lunches, bring your own or cafes in Llanberis or Brynrefail Activities - Llanberis Lake Train (narrow gauge along the lake) leaving site 12pm Saturday let Six-Cylinder know numbers - Quarry Walk leave site Saturday morning, approx 6 miles Any further details please ask on the main thread or contact @Sunny Jim

That's a really nice new patio you're planning there.

Plenty of ex Yugoslavia chod as well. I didn't even know a Yugo Tempo existed, I thought it was a Metro at first! Also Zastavas.

Unfortunately a lot of old people get like that

I find that's the best way to test most french electrics of most ages to be honest. If you squint it's less scary too.

That's a brave thing to say about a 30-year-old Citroën...

Clearly not; I'm travelling halfway across the kingdom to collect a 34-year old rustbucket.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/354160555210