Brodders

Laugh at those A-series peasants in your 2-litre luxury sport brake (longroof) version of Britain's favourite* middleweight, the Montego.
On the plus side it's £350 and has a ticket.
On the minus side? Factory standard surprise and delight features:
Sagging but secure headlining.
Tailgate is currently opened from the inside but have replacement key and barrel ready to go on, I have preferred to not change it for the added security.
Periodic water ingress to front footwells.
https://maestro.org.uk/forums/forum/general-forums/cars-parts-for-sale-wanted/337360-montego-clubman-estate-2ltr-diesel-l849-vuy

I saw this last week at Kings Cross, must be the last Metrocab in London. 

This looks a decent old bus for the money - near that London, so guessing possible ULEZ refugee. Nothing too horrific on recent MOTs, either. Could have run a sponge over it before taking the pics mind you...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202304066023976

So, its mine. I had a long chat over the phone. Its been used regularly, the base unit is apparnelty good, hes spent a grand on the brakes, but its cosmetically dreadful. The opposite of many p6s then, i hope.

'92 Caprice 9c1 copcar, very cool as well:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/195691662393?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l3160&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=08df8460db8144e5b068c5a66be8164a&bu=43272004167&ut=RU&exe=0&ext=0&osub=-1~1&crd=20230402035306&segname=11021

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155473580672?hash=item2432f29280:g:EdYAAOSwY0VkIVOb

This was from last year selling a Renault 19 on Facebook. 

ULEZ victim
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165968397833?hash=item26a47cc609:g:WsgAAOSw6oFkBJrK

Edit: that's got a remarkably good MOT history. No mentions of body rot, and not a single fail or even advisory in the last ten years!

I was feeling quite settled with the three car fleet.  After all...surely a BEV, Sierra and broken Mini is the panacea when it comes to automotive fleets for today's eligible bachelor?
However, regular readers will remember my growing appetite for a lifestyle vehicle.  My thinking is this will hopefully unlock many horsey women, or even those who like to wear lycra for their sporting activities.  A faultless logic I think you'll agree.
Nobody:
Me: (3 weeks time)

 
Not a pinin because this is me, but I'm picking up the car that arguably started the compact crossover SUV craze.





Collection on Sunday followed by many afternoons on my back.  Not with lifestyle girls, but undersealing the life out of it.  I'm very excited.

Just agreed to get it, Collecting it on Sunday! Thanks

Fleet news- Abarth 595 was bought by @Wack, and another forum member is due to collect the Boxster tomorrow. 
 
So currently the only car I have use of is the Austin 7…..

 


Although I have another vehicle on the way. I decided to use the Abarth money to get another silly car, and have less tied up in the token modern. I’m yet to buy the token modern (will be a sub 1k buy) but the other silly car is a 1997 Ford crown Victoria p71 police interceptor. Part of the us government fleet, specific use unknown……


 

 


Should be with me by the weekend.

https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1552274

Yay! Good to know it's still around. Whenever I saw it around Attleborough it always looked tidy. This is from nearly 10 years ago:
 

On the subject of self loathing, the majority shareholder of my stocks of it is this fine slice

1971 2000L Cortina estate
Off the road for several years due to a bit of rot and a shortage of workshop facilities, the panels are assembled, the guys, the guns, the limepit’s already dug. If only it was a solitary button push away from resurrection.

 I don’t doubt it will be back on the road at some point but I can’t see it being this year.

In happier, less rotten times.

This looks like a fun way to die.  An actual helicopter for a thousand quid.

£350, MOT till October.
https://www.gumtree.com/p/volkswagen/vw-passat-1998-/1451922669

Whilst my Escort went through a huge saga with the insurance company one of the guys in the garage next door who did banger racing said i could have a old Sierra he was going to race for £100, it even had a long mot on it for me so i bought it.

I fitted the original alloys off my Escort on it and the stereo and 6x9s from it and smoked it, now this car is were my love for cheap old cars comes from, it was bloody fantastic, It started life as a 1.6 GL but I'm convinced it had a 2.0 fitted as it flew and skidded everywhere!, I had some great laughs with it, the 6x9s were held in with 6" screws and i went clubbing in it 7 up with a mate in the boot who got stabbed by the screws, oh how we laughed, him not so much!
I can't remember why but my dad bought it off me and i bought this really tidy Fiesta 1.1 L for £150 instead


this was a fab little car and i had it for months until a boy racer ploughed into the back of it writing it off, by this point my insurance money had come through from the Escort so i this 1996 Escort 1.6 LX instead.

Those are the alloys of the green one, it was ok but it wasn't the same as the last one, it was a bit disappointing really so that got sold, I can't remember what i had after it but cars got a bit boring for a while and there aren't many photos.
I bought a brand new Renault Clio 1,2 Dynamique in 2004 on finance that i sold a year later to buy a house, i had my first ebay car purchase a 1993 Peugeot 306 XLD for £800, there was a K reg Astra 1.4 Si for £350,  a mint H reg Fiesta 1.0 Bonus for £400, this Mondeo 1.8 Verona for £250 which had been of the road for two years that i done up.
 
This Corsa 1.2 Arizona that was about £500

and this 306 1.8 Meridian that was as quick a hell, incredibly good looking i thought but a the build quality was a bit shit.

A year after buying the Nova i decided it was time to upgrade and buy a real pussymagnet as the Nova wasn't working for me so i spend £2500 on this 1990 Escort 1.3 Eclipse


I already had the clear indicators in preparation for it so fitted them, as i was working at the bodyshop i also primed and painted the bumpers, took the Eclipse badges off and fitted a set of Orion Ghia alloys i bought of a friend as well as fitting some 6x9s in the parcel shelf. 


I loved that car, i was going around town every night in it, picking up girls, doing loads of finger blasting, good times.
We then had this late Nova 1.2 SX come into work for some paint as a trade in and for some god unknown reason that even to this day i can't explain i sold the Escort and bought it...


The only reasoning i can give is that i was desperate for a Nova 1.4 SRi at the time and the insurance was too much and i got offered it at a good trade in cash price so i thought this would be the best second option, i was wrong.
I soon sold that back on again and bought myself a L reg Fiesta 1.3 Ghia, sadly no photos but whilst that was a improvement on the Nova it was still no Escort so a year or so later that got sold and io bought this 1994 Escort 1.6 Si for £2500, around 2001 time.

Again i loved this car, i went to Halfords and spent £500 on a set of alloys and tyres for it and bought a nice new stereo for it too.


I met the now Mrs Trigger whilst had it and really had fond memories with the car until one shit day, By this point i had just got a job working for a motor factors and the manager told me to do a delivery in the car as the vans were all out, i said no, he then threatened me with the sack if i didn't do it so i did it and inviable happened...

bollocks! someone pulled out in front of me and hit them, all shit went off at work, the manager and deputy manager had a scrap, 3 computers ended up on the office floor, the area manager had to come down from Ipswich to split them up and i got given one of the works vans to use as a private car instead, with free fuel for a while.

Now i know this is a little bit self indulgent of me but i thought it be interesting (and hopefully not too boring) to share as i haven't posted much in recent times and newer shitters would have missed my project threads in the past.
I've been into cars as long as i can remember, my childhood mostly involved me playing with my matchbox cars on floor mats (as I'm sure many of you also did) and collecting old car magazines, my dad and his brothers were also into cars so weekends were spent fixing old Cortinas or Maxis on the drive, this is me in 1983 helping dad fit some Rostyles to his VX2300


The Marina van was his works van at the time, the back axle fell of that apparently in 1985 when it got stuck in some mud and promptly got chopped in for a B reg Transit, and here's one of my uncles old Cortina, god knows what year it was though but you can see the Transit in front of it.

The years went by and i got a job at a local bodyshop when i left school in 1996 which is were my love for cars got even better, there was only me and my boss there and we covered several garages in Colchester so i was incredibly lucky to be able to collect the cars to work on them giving me the opportunity to drive many 100's of different cars, brand new Subaru Impreza Turbos, Mitsubishi 3000 GT's Honda NSX's and Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbos being a few that stick in mind at the age of 17-21! although most the stuff really was just mundane stuff like Montegos and Honda Civics.
It was in 1997 that i passed my test first time and bought my first car, a 1984 Vauxhall Nova 1.2 Swing is shit brown, affectionally known as the flying turd.


Notice had the reg plates were different, i didn't even notice until after i sold it and was looking at these photos! I paid £500 for it off a family friend and absolutely ragged the arse out of it, the wheel arch got pulled off at college so i replaced that but at 120000 miles the valve stem seals were knackered and the car was on it's last legs, i still miss it!

I'm not very good at keeping up to date on this but there's not much to say really, I've done about 250 miles now and apart from that condenser FTP incident back in December it's been perfect, today a garage i use set the tracking up for me and it was miles out, both front wheels were massively towing out which would explain why it felt shite to drive
 
the transformation is unbelievable, the wheel is now straight and it just feels so much more planted.
Anyway i haven't took any nice photos since i finished it so it felt a good opportunity to take some as the sun was out.
  

Boom

Bemoaning the end of cheap cars? 
 
Get this bought. 
 

 
MoT til October… what’s not to like. 

But still, pre-Covid that would have been a £350 motor.