colino

So he has a repair centre to call his own, a team to fix things when he breaks things and can't be bothered, generates income by selling a series, and just a reminder, you pay tax on profits, not turnover. What a terrible situation to be in.

Other than a mk3 cavalier, when would the cost of the part influence you to waste your time on a second hand clutch?

That 2cv reminds me, did Hubnut sell his softtop to Bigclive who's now wearing it as a hat?

I'm going to hazard a guess that everyone on here has an acute degree of mechanical sympathy:. However everything from lazy/cheap previous owners to fastidious, service book full stampers (the easiest to cheat, because they look after their cars so they'll, if too busy, just put white grease on the door hinges and do it "next time") really make all service histories a fable for the uninitiated. The real reason allegedly good cars go pop unexpectedly, or no amount of catch up work goes unrewarded, the damage has already been done.

I think these are the same as the e39 and have the flow and return doing a quick 90 degree bend from the floor and go up the front face of the tank. Then. If they've sat in mud for a few years, the pipes rot out. A bit of DIY with 8mm hose, pipe and jubilees and your good.

Tired of, "Brake lines covered in grease so cannot be inspected" lies or, "Underside fitted with undertrays so cannot fully inspect", or "coil springs/underside/subframe corrosion, although no weakness detected" from my most used MOT station to, "cover our backs". Newbie tester.

Incidentally, if you're having problems getting a smaller fwd up a slippy hill, try backing it up. Last resort, but it sometimes does the trick.

Not uncommon if you are trading a handful of cars to have cheap mobiles with the name of the car taped to the different phones. It really does work with buyers working through the buying tips from the AA book of the road.

I appreciate there is not overwhelming sympathy with the trade, but in my area now with the WBA/BCA/Cinch cabal and Arnold Clark swallowing up Central Car Auctions (with plans to expand massively down south) even the, "normal" supply has disappeared. (I'm told BCA sell over half of all auctioned cars in Britain - that's a hell of a monopoly). This contributes both to overheating in Gumtree/ebay/faceache where local traders are now fishing and to the demise of some well respected traders. A friend who weathered the covid storm (no grants and no reduction in rent) had a plot for 40 cars. He now has 6 trendy shopping trolleys prepped to the heavens and no older than 8 years old at retail +. He's now less stressed but spends even more time each week locating stock that when he was turning over a car a day.

As Eddie Hawthorne of Arnold Clark is currently smacking his chops as last year being their most profitable ever (high demand/low supply) those 3 year finance deals mean the bar has been set and the market has moved on as people expect to pay these crazy prices for new cars. Even if some can't afford the finance due to the state of the economy, there will be plenty other eager buyers waiting to scoop them up. Bangers are gone and I'm going to scrap anything under £1000 just for my good health and sanity.

I've never known an S Type where the drivers side wiper arm didn't hit the bonnet; probably why there is a brisk trade in second hand linkages and motors.

There was/is a scrappy in Lanarkshire who would occasionally sell a car like this, giving full disclosure about how awful it was and the many, many failings. I think he stopped simply because of punters reading the ad., viewing the cars and then complaining the £399 turd wasn't a new car.

The arb mounting appears to have been ripped out by a cack-handed recovery instead of succumbing to rust. A survivor.

Was that red R75 a Peter Simpson one, thought he'd given up trading?

Say what you like about Brian Souter, and many do, but he actually liked his buses. An old acquaintance had taken a cracking shot of an early, ancient Stagecoach double decker grinding up a snow covered hill in Easterhouse and showed it to the newly rich Brian. He was tickled pink and even claimed to be at the wheel. All done now as I hear Brian and Ann have harvested their investment and retired.

There's a lot of them around. Just wait for the second he knows it's gone and he'll be back to you moaning he was just about to,,,,

Yep, that is rare. Not often you can catch the plague just by touching a car number plate.

Bending doors on Corsas and walking into Cavaliers (once the most stolen car in Europe) certainly made Vauxhall change their ways, but if they want it, they'll have it. Back in the day I had my first 944 and because I didn't have the proof a CAT 1 alarm was in it, had to fit another one to satisfy my insurers. I didn't have anything taken out so it had the Porsche alarm immobiliser activated by the key, one (working) alarm plus my newly installed one. When it went missing sitting in a residential street one night, I couldn't believe it, but the fact it had just been in a nearby garage to replace the transaxle was a hint and a certain breakers in Motherwell suddenly having lots of porky parts suggested to me they had just copied the keychain and stolen to order.

My wife has suggested I better be at the front of the queue when you tire of that beemer!

The Easdale brothers will have them all shortly in traditional blue and white.

For an 800 that has allegedly been kept in the dark for 14 years that is some impressive dash lift: It's probably more to do with the need for a new windscreen so that one needs a good sniff test and the floor panels checked out. Not really credible the engine is torn apart and then, for the price of a waterpump, the jobs halted. Would love to believe it is kosher, but I think not.

Sounds like they bought it in, lost the wheel nut key, removed them thinking, all it needs are discs and pads, but wait a minute, that tub rust looks ominous, let's see if blind Geoff is testing today before we even replace a bulb. Recoverable, but why bother, there's loads around.

The flip side of this were the, "undercover" cars they used to use around Paisley. Maroon Peugeot 309s with the hubcaps taken off. They were about as distinctive as the full-blown panda cars.

The Xs, XFs and S Types certainly know how to rust, even the door trim succumbs to dissimilar metal corrosion. Plenty of good ones around and they are worth the effort.

Zastava Yugo 511, I think about 5 years old. Bought as Fiat 128s were very profitable sellers at the time. I soon realised they were mere imitations, made of fag paper and made Polski Fiats and Hillman Hunters look well made and of high quality. Good thing I could weld a bit then and knew how to take out the outrageously bright old pressure warning bulb.