mrbenn

Did I see this parked up in Wilmslow yesterday? Ironically, outside a fuel station 😁 Looked great!

@N19 Thanks so much for buying this, Tom! You were the absolute perfect buyer and made the whole thing very easy - much appreciated. I was indeed sad to see the car go but am so pleased it has clearly gone to a good home. I'm glad it made the trip south without issue though I didn't expect anything else. The car has been brilliant during my ownership and I hope it continues to behave for you. Thanks again!

I'm chuffed to see you're taking on the Focus. I've only seen one S plate estate and that was a 1999, never actually seen another 1998 registered. Re the seats, the Zetec seats have bigger bolsters than the Ghia so while they may be a bit less soft/comfortable they'll be more supportive if you're the sort to "press on" a bit. I'm hoping to get my own mk1 Focus back on the road shortly (been hiding from the salt). Looking forward to the progress on this one.

Not at all. My reply wasn't intended as a rebuke and apologies if it came across that way. Just wanted to add a bit more info.

An acquaintance of mine had been in contact with Rein and had bought, and collected, the BMW E30. Its not beyond the realms of possiblity that negotiations are/were underway with unknown parties re any of the other cars. The state of the house and cars is a shame but life can be extremely challenging sometimes and I think many of us could sympathise with being unable to deal with certain issues at one time or another.

Agreed. TBH I tend to think that £54 for a trained professional to go over the whole car and check its safe is an absolute bargain.

£45 is still a decent price. The place I use charges £54, but don't go looking for extra work and have helped me out in the past so I'm happy to cough up. If I wasn't then I'd like to think I'd simply piss off elsewhere without a commentary about it, as seems to be the norm these days.

Irwin extractor set - plus expansion pack. Never worked for me but probably operator error as I know they get excellent reviews.

What a great little car. I'd be interested to know a price if/when you offer it up here.

We've had ours for about 20 years now. We don't use it as a daily car but every one of the previous owners did. The last of those used it as her only car for 5 years and she was not mechanically minded in the least. It did very well though did need a fair bit of work when it came to us. Despite not getting as much use nowadays as it perhaps used to it has done all sorts of journeys from a short local trip to 100 miles on the motorway. It doesn't complain and is actually very competent. Light controls, good visibility and a willing drivetrain all help here. Though we don't use it in winter it has previously been out in all conditions. The narrow tyres are actually quite good in the snow and the heater is fierce so demisting was not an issue. The front quarterlights can be opened slightly to assist with air flow. The engine in our car is a 1275cc. I understand the 1098cc is perfectly fine for daily use, and due to the longer stroke (?) actually turns over slightly slower at speed. We've never done anything to the valves in our engine. It used to run on standard unleaded with a shot of Castrol Valvemaster. We now run it on E5 "super" unleaded, still with Valvemaster added. The parts supply is brilliant as you know. If we need anything we use ESM as it tends to land on the door mat next day. In our limited experience (sample size of one) they're very cheap to run, assuming you can do the majority of the work yourself. Mechanically speaking, they're simple. I've done the clutch in ours, had the engine out, head off, refurbed the suspension all round plus back axle, brake rebuild etc... if I can do it then you certainly can. Interior wise I've put Ford Ka seats in ours. The standard items were ok but tended to cause back ache on anything over 40 miles. Personal preference, of course. Rust is the main issue, as you know. Ours has had a few bits of welding done in our ownership, mainly in the early days, but living in a garage and keeping out of bad weather means it stays in good shape. As others have said, pay particular attention to the spring hangers - front and rear, cross member and chassis legs. Be wary of anything covered in underseal. They're brilliant cars!