HarmonicCheeseburger

The very same. I will probably be looking to sell it in a year or two, I imagine after a while the fuel bills will become impractical. I hope to be selling it in better condition than I got it.

Just seen this thread. Is this the S80 v8 that was for sale for ages?
 
If you ever come to sell this, please let me know. This kind of car is right up my street. Especially as I've never done the V8 thing.

This arrived today from the seller, which is great because I was beginning to think that the promise of "two keys" was salesmanspeak, but no, glory be, I don't have to pay Volvo eleventybillion pounds for a replacement.
 
Also I now get to see one of the "executive" features in action. Unlock the door with the new key and the seat slides into a new position. Unlock it with my key and it scoots back into my driving position. Very cool.

Saab 900 Safari prototypes, these 2 are the only remaining ones, the red one is owned by someone in the Netherlands and the blue one is in the Saab mus
 

 
https://www.saabplanet.com/saab-900-safari/
 

https://driventowrite.com/2016/11/06/saab-safari-estate-saab-museum/

Quite a few TR7/8 development cars have survived as they were kicking around at Solihull and Canley when the plug was pulled and sent to public auction. Many of the pre-production Sprint batch were also sold off engineless, often with a brand new crated V8 for the lucky buyer to fit. This one is a pre-prod RHD car later used as a Sprint development hack (the first production UK TR7s were P-reg).

1975 Triumph TR7 Sprint by Adam Floyd, on Flickr
 
There's also this automatic diesel Montego once owned by Captain Slow, a remarkable survivor and quite a Heath Robinson lash-up by all accounts.

1991 Rover Montego 2.0D SLX automatic estate by Adam Floyd, on Flickr
 
I'm sure I read on AROnline that one of the six-cylinder P7 prototypes still exists as Rover actually sold it into the public domain and it ended up with a journo.

so £55 then?

Oh & in other grin news, talking to my neighbour when I got back & he got a letter today saying his daughter has detention at school next week. Thing is they are on holiday in Spain so he's going to produce the letter & tell her she's not allowed in the pool that day

Bramz send every reply after putting it though a hairnet & too savvy translator.

I think you're missing the point that he's 'driving' up the middle of a canal.

Resurrecting this thread to post some of the photos I took of Bellatrix the FRV, my wife's car. She's needed a good clean for a couple of months really. However since arranging the time to have a professional do it is difficult, she's going to have to settle for my crap efforts.
 
Equipment: demon snowfoam (adequate but could be better IMO)
Some halfords-sold washwax which is neon yellow and leaves stains on your driveway. This went in the soap bucket.
Microfibre wash mitt (SO much easier with one of these than sponges. Definitely get one of these)
Demon alloy wheel spray. This seems decent.
Aldi power washer. Decent enough.
You should have a rubber blade to fling the water off the car with before it dries. I have one but had misplaced it. Of course I found it as soon as I'd finished.
Microfibre towels to dry.
A soft brush to remove lint left by above.
Optional: wet look tyre shine and a sponge.
 
I follow the ChrisFix method, broadly speaking, which goes like this:
 
First, wheels:
1. Spray with alloy wheel cleaner, and leave for a short while.
2. Agitate with an alloy brush.
3. Rinse with the power washer.
 
Second, car:
1. Touchless wash: spray with foam, let it soak for a short while, powerwash it off. Should get off the worst of the grit and help minimise paintwork scratches.
2. Two bucket wash. One bucket for rinsing with a grit guard in. Another bucket for the soapy water. Microfibre wash mitt. Spray with snow foam, then using the wash mitt, rub in forward back motions, splitting car into thirds. Start at the top with the roof and top of the windows. Then do the middle part of the car, then finally the bottom, stopping as necessary to rinse, rub the mitt against the grit guard and a dunk in the soapy bucket. Since most of the dirt and the grit will be on the bottom section doing it in this order helps prevent scratching.
3. Rinse with the power washer, then maddly run round trying to dry it with a microfibre cloth before it dries itself and leaves watermarks. Because you forgot your rubber blade.
4. Spray the tyre shine onto the tyres and buff with sponge.
5. Brush it gently down with the soft brush to remove accumulated dust and lint.
 
Stand back and admire handiwork. Be annoyed at all the bits you missed and the watermarks that have set too deeply to simply buff off. Shrug.
 
Before:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
After:
 

 

 

 

 
Hm, I took way more photos of "before" than I did of "after". This seems backwards. I think it's because I was hot, sweaty and knackered and just wanted a cup of tea!

I've just driven a mates Fiesta a couple of miles and really can't see why people think modern cars are so wonderful. The handling seemed very soggy and the steering less precise than my Morris.

Another thing that's made me grin this morning is Mrs D cooking me this massive Slimming World friendly fry up! Spent most of the morning packing boxes for the upcoming house move so it's well earned reward methinks.
 
Only naughty points are for the brown sauce I dolloped on it.
 

“Hi is that the doctor? Yeah, I’ve got too much time on my hands.”

Cars I didn't know existed until recently.
 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1993-fiat-panda-selecta-automatic-in-blue/323241619991

 
 
Yes, I know it, but look:
 

 
 
That I didn't know.

Every MG3.

Have a Fiesta

^Beat me to it.
 
....
 
So have the xj220

+ 200 years of DVLA processing time...
 
 
I've hidden it up a cul-de-sac in the hopes nobody notices it...
 
Also trying to spread the fleet over several streets to avoid enraging my immediate neighbours...

Thanks again to Foad for the use of his workshop. Mine had gone at the rear sills quite badly as the idiot previous owner had covered them with glass fibre including the drain holes so they sat filled with water.

It took 9.5 hours from Ullapool up to Durness, along the top to Thurso then back home via Inverness. The previous day we drove from Dunfermline to Ullapool in around 5 hours then stayed over at a motel in the middle of nowhere.
The whole journey could have been done in a day but was probably more enjoyable spreading it over the two days.
 
Applecross in a 305 by srblythe, on Flickr
 
I did Applecross a couple of years ago across a couple of days too, I'm not sure which trip I preferred to be honest. Single track roads are a novelty at first but having to stop every 5 minutes becomes a bit tedious...

Those new rims and tyres are so impressive the BINI turned around for a good look.

It makes me happy that there is somebody out there deranged enough to pay to have a Mk3 Cavalier fully professionally retrimmed in leather.

This.
 

 
By popular* demand* here is a thread about the least popular VW van around.
 
The photo is as bought, back in 2006. Purchased with a year's MOT, 6 months tax, and a caravan all for £600. To his credit, the seller had received many enquiries from people wanting to buy either the caravan or van, but not both although refused to end the auction early when there were bids already on it. So it failed to go anywhere near what I thought it would sell for.
 
The combination suited us well, as we could live in the caravan wile we carried out major house work, and use the van for carrying building materials. This we did, enduring a sometimes cosy but often cold winter in the caravan while I used the LT as my only road legal vehicle. It was already carpeted inside, with a simple electrical system as it had been previously used as a motorbike race van. It saw a little bit of use as a 'tent on wheels', seen here in Scotland in 2007:
 

 
I'd always wanted to build a campervan, although I kept this quiet when seeking domestic funding for buying it in the first place! So when the bulk of the work was done, I suggested using some fittings from the caravan to convert it. This was met with approval (to my surprise), and we planned to take it to a festival one August.
 
I waited for a forecast of dry weather, but none came and I was running out of time so ended up booking time off work a week before the festival. The reason for dry weather is that I wanted to tackle some welding...
 

 
As it turned out, I had one dry day to work on it! After much searching I'd bought some genuine VW panels (despite forum experts saying there were none remaining), which fitted very nicely
 

 

 

 
Managed to get that far on Monday, then it was time to tackle the floorpan but I'll leave that tale for another day...
 

 

'93 Honda Prelude IV.
 
This is the 'good' interior - cool non-airbag wheel with four(!) horn pushes, nice subtle charcoal velour seats (later cars had a weird black/grey diagonal stripe fabric), and no airbag pad on the passenger side of the dash to ruin the lines.
Between the rear seats is a huge armrest-type thing that Honda consider the 'centre console', and is basically a substitute for the glovebox - it locks with the key as a glovebox would, and the actual glovebox doesn't - in fact it doesn't even latch itself closed, it's manual. It's a really handy space, actually.
 
The wraparound dash is lovely - the side vents located in the doors are crap though.

I'll bite...Love a good interior photo I do.
 
First: My first car actually on the road.  An absolute SHED of a 1986 Austin Metro City-X.
 

 
The button that lives where the cigarette lighter would live (well, where the blanking plate where it would have live if it had been specified lived) was the starter button, because the ignition barrel was shot.  I got fed up of starting the car involving having to hold the key at the "start" position and smack the steering wheel so wired the button up.
 
The diff also made some really, really interesting noises that I've never heard before or since on any other vehicle.
 
This was replaced by...
 
1981 Austin MiniMetro HLE.
 
In Snapdragon Yellow - the best colour for a Metro.
 

 
This was an absolutely cracking little car which I really regret selling.
 
Concurrent with the yellow Metro was this.
 
1988 Renault 11TC.
 

 
Bloody quick for a 1.2, and really comfy.  It however hacked me off every single time I had to get parts for it because it was from either the very end of the Phase 1 or start of the Phase 2 cars, as such was a complete mishmash of parts, many of which didn't match up with either the Phase 1 *or* Phase 2 cars...
 
While on the subject of Renault...This has to get a mention, simply because it was THE most comfortable car I have ever sat in.
 

 
1988 Renault 25 2.2i Monaco.  Stupid, stupid, stuipid idiot I was to not repair that car.  Still would love another R25...
 
The yellow Metro was replaced by a 1997 Lada Samara 1.3S 4-door.  Actually not a bad car to drive, though build quality varied throughout, generally tending towards unacceptable.  The electrical system drove me to distraction and I seemed to spend nearly every weekend trying to track down the latest dodgy earth.
 

 
This gave way pretty quickly to the 1997 Lada Niva 1.7i Hussar.
 

 
Which I loved dearly, however sold in a fit of common sense while I was doing a daily commute of nearly 100 miles and was struggling to keep up with its thirst.
 
My first rear engined Skoda followed up (though I have a sneaking suspicion I'm missing a car in there...)

 
This one was sadly cut short when an idiot in a diesel tanker decided a give way sign didn't apply to him, and I rammed the Estelle into the side of his cab at about 60mph.
 
I needed a car to get to college though, so I went to my local "guy who always has a few cheap cars for sale" and £250 later had this.
 

 
1993 Ford Fiesta 1.1Ci Freestyle.
 
Actually a surprisingly comfy interior with lovely velour seats, a bloody good heater, a good stereo and despite the reputation I'd been lead to believe of fragility from Ford, it was astonishingly well screwed together.  Even at bargain basement prices the cabin was TOTALLY devoid of any squeaks or rattles.  This was the first car I really owned that I would have happily jumped into and driven the length of the country in without the slightest worry that it wouldn't get there.
 
I really didn't appreciate what a bloody good little car that was until after I sold it - sadly it was really unlikely to see another MOT as it was well rotten.
 
My first foray into Peugeots followed that with a 1994 Peugoet 306XNd.
 

 
Was a nice enough motor, though it was punted on when it burst its heater matrix on me (in the middle of December...in Northeast Scotland).
 
Another £250 special replaced it, in the form of a 1993 Vauxhall Corsa 1.5TD this time...which drove like a brand new car despite the 130+K on the clock.
 

 
A friend a while later made me an offer that was too good to refuse though on a lovely 1986 Saab 900 4-door.  The interior there was a textbook example of early 80s brown...
 

 
It was also painfully slow, being a single-carb normally aspirated version.  One on which I was fighting with the carb it seemed like every week.  It would always idle fine, drive fine on light throttle, or drive fine flat out - but never all three at the same time.
 
It was at this point in early 2009 that the first new car joined my fleet...A little Peugeot 107 Verve, on the end of having been massively impressed with the Citroen C1 pool cars we had at work.
 

 
This was actually still with me until a couple of weeks ago when I sold it.  Cracking little motors, a car I'd recommend to anyone who want a small economical runabout.
 
Concurrent with the 107 I had the following...I can't quite remember which order so you'll have to take them as they come!
 
A 1997 Peugeot 306 Sedan in 1.6LX form.
 

 
An absolute problem-child of a 1991 Skoda 135RiC.
 

 
1993 Suzuki Cappiccino.
 

 
Selling that was one of the hardest things I've ever done - however we discovered one year that the driver's seat was being held in purely by the fuel pipes running under it, the rust had spread that rapidly.  It really needed the entire floorpans, inner and most of the outer sills replaced.  The guy I sold it to did repair it though!
 
1980 VW Transporter Camper Van.  Never actually saw the road as it was in need of quite a bit of bodywork...it was free though so I wasn't about to refuse it.
 

 
1995 Lada Riva 1.5E Celebration.
 

 
Actually drove well enough once I sorted the carb, but it had major, major rust issues - I reckon the last three or four MOTs were distinctly dodgy!
 
1989 Saab 900i Automatic.
 

 
This is actually still on fleet, but off the road with a blown head gasket...If someone would like to give it a new home, please let me know...
 
1986 Skoda Estelle 120LX.
 

 
1998 Citroen Xantia 1.9TD Sensation.  Without doubt one of the best driving cars I've ever had, despite having north of 200K miles on the clock.
 

 
1993 Lada Riva 1.5E Estate.
 

 
1996 Citroen Xantia 2.0T Activa.  An extremely high velocity comfy squidgy leather sofa.
 

 
Aaaaaand rounding out with the most recent fleet addition, a 1975 AC Model 70.
 

 
I'm sure I've missed a few in there though!