Schaefft

2002 Ford ford for sale. These are 3 of the 4 pictures in the ad: While pretty obvious, at no point is there any mention that this is actually a '95-97 Lincoln Towncar STRETCH LIMO. But: Good luck mate...

Some more progress on the S8 has been made! It now has a new(er) shiny front fender with much improved paint, and its headlights are looking much clearer again. I've also found out that the car must have been in a minor collision bsometime around 2010/2011 as the passenger side headlight and all foglights are much newer than the rest of the car. I think that might explain the bad clearcoat issues this car had on its front bumper, fender and hood (and trunk lid for some reason), some of these panels might have had a respray in the past which simply didnt hold up as well as the rest of the car. I've also used the chance to check the timing belt, which is very conveniently located behind two easily removable panels, and from what I can tell, things look pretty good there and dont need any urgent attention: Most of the front end had to come off to remove the fender. Interestingly enough, Audi made it very easy to remove the front bumper which is only held in by two easily accessible bolts. Remove those and it slides out. The problem is that the bolts are steel, the threaded blocks they thread into seem to be aluminium. Two different metals and enough time will cause issues as you can see below. Yes, the bolts was seized enough to strip part of the thread. I honestly expected it to snap any moment while undoing it, and only did so because I had no alternative, unlike on the other side where nothing blocked the impact absorber of the bumper from sliding out. The headlights would normally come out very easily too. But once again rusty bolts meant that removing them took absolute ages, partially due to accessibility issues. The drill bits I bought to drill out problematic screws were borderline useless. I was about to just rip the headlights out when I realized that they too are attached via some kind of rail, and the bolts didnt necessarily had to come off in this particular case. Once the headlights were out I was able to access another set of bolts to remove the bumper completely. The fender removal did require some further disassembly but there wasn't really anything too tricky there. The replacement fender went on without too many issues although the old washer marks do not line up with where the fender needs to sit now, Im not sure whats up with that. The bumper doesn't quite want to line up with it either (fender lines up with everything else despite the washer marks), something that wasnt the case before, but that issues can be dealt with at another time when it needs to be painted or replaced. I used the chance to clean, polish and reseal the headlights, although the newer one of the two didnt require much polishing action at all, so I left it. I'll put them back in the car tomorrow after work, hopefully thatll be the last time for a little while I'll have to deal with things up front. Here's a comparison between the two after the polish. Still not quite perfect but much better than before. I've also ordered new spark plugs, oil and filters. Both the plugs and filter were OEM items and needed replacing. I can't imagine these being original so someone must have spent some money at the dealer in the past to have the car serviced. Also, have some better Senator shots, I really need to clean up these side skirts now that I'm looking at these photos. Also I still need new rear doors...

Man, how have I not seen this thread before? '91 Fleetwoods are almost peak Malaise, they are still based on Cadillac's downsized models of the early 80s but had just enough styling changes over the years to become somewhat respectable again. At least until they got replaced by the '93 Fleetwood which was the last proper Cadillac landyacht before they canceled that because SUVs... Hopefully this one will be back in the road again, just order anything you need on Rockauto, afaik shipping doesnt take much longer than usual and their prices are still some of the best.

Very tatty C4 A6 with the 2.6 V6 and a manual, currently sitting at 99p: Drab yet nice velour seats: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184344318514?ul_noapp=true

Very clean and beige S500, a rare color around here! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224059834727?ul_noapp=true

Thanks guys, wish the weather was nicer, progress would be a little quicker. Its just too windy today to work on the cars. I did however spend a bit of time after work recently to clean up the Senator before swapping its space with the Audi. And boy did it make a difference! I've never really went as far as detailing a car properly although I had most products here. As I don't have a polisher I did stick to the products that can be applied by hand, and if the results of those efforts are any indication, I can really make most of the paint on my cars look like new again. I only took shitty pictures but I can honestly say that a proper wash, claybar and polish/wax made a different like night and day. I think I might need to get a proper polisher now. Some before and after shots: Its amazing what a bit of time and effort can do. The results arent perfect, especially with some of the clearcoat issues the car has, but its a huge improvement and will protect the paint for a little while. Link to the stuff I've used. I've chosen it because it was well reviewed, and it really is good stuff. Just make sure your paint is properly cleaned before applying it. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Meguiars-G191016EU-3in1-Wax-473ml/dp/B07N9FD88N/ref=asc_df_B07N9FD88N/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=404356773027&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13825260766483437742&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006948&hvtargid=pla-899477943072&psc=1&th=1&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=86859211820&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=404356773027&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13825260766483437742&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006948&hvtargid=pla-899477943072

The key for the Merc finally arrived this week. Turns out it had been on the dealers desk for what must have been weeks, as I called them up a week ago only to hear that someone wanted to call me when it arrived, but didn't. We then scheduled a call for Monday, which also didnt happen, until I called them on Tuesday for someone to finally come around and take a photo of the VIN to make sure Im not actually stealing someone else's car. At least the guy was impressed by seeing a Senator B AND Toyota Celsior on one and the same driveway.😂 Anyway, with the key here (its actually just a key blade oddly enough, I guess the price was too good to be true...) I managed to open the car and retrieve the actual key, and maneuver the 2 ton paper weight out of the way to move the Audi onto the drive. As you can see, the drive is just wide enough to fit a big body S-Class and move a bin past it. Perfect! I did replace the S8's fuel door last week as you can see below, I didn't want to do major work on the street though so I could only start doing bigger jobs on it now. The trunk lid was first, and what a difference it makes! I've transferred every component from my old lid to the new one and with so much electronics going on in it, there were quite a few things to disassemble. Wanting to do the job properly, I chose hard mode and even kept the factory clip in zip-ties intact... Corrosion and FILTH: Things used to change that. No sponsors I promise. Done and so much better: Work was commencing on Thursday to rectify the trunk issue: That sure is a lot of stuff to move over to the new lid... The first casualty. This bulb holder was so corroded that the wiring loom just took the contacts with it. Need to order one from a breaker. Trunk lid off. The S8 is now a Ute! With the new trunk lid on comes the challenge of putting everything back together properly. The wiring loom was the biggest issue as it was routed through a fairly small hole through a very narrow section of reinforcement structure. In the end I decided to use the sunroof drain cleaning tool I remembered I had which was made to get through narrow passages. I attached one end of the wiring loom to it and just pulled it back through the internals of the lid, it really worked perfectly for that job. And voila, the fruits of my labor, with the previous paint situation on the left. The terrible paint on the back was the biggest letdown of the car's appearance, and for just 45 quid (before selling the old trunk lid, someones might buy it for 20 quid, who knows) and a few hours of work, you really couldn't ask for more. Perfect paint match, perfect fit (although I spent at least an hour trying to match the shutlines on each side, and its still not 100% there). The rest did fit perfectly though... The next big job will be replacing one of the front wings which suffers from the same clearcoat issues, I believe most of the frontend needs to come off for that. I'll use the chance and polish the headlights at the same time. Once thats done the car should only be a wash away from being very much presentable. I'll also start ordering all service items once I have confirmed that they havent been done by the previous owner.

That 164 really looks like a good deal. So might be this clean euro spec Cadillac Eldorado, nice color and just 100kish miles: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/392849495733?ul_noapp=true

That is just strange, why use a blue basemodel Crown Vic as base for a stretch limousine? Was a Towncar too expensive?

A little more progress on the S8. I've noticed with the recent rain that the passenger side foot well got a bit wet, something I knew was an issue on this car before and is generally a thing in A8s (and probably most other Audis of this era) due to blocked rain water scuttle/sunroof drains. I initially thought that something might be wrong with the sunroof drain on that side as the water was running down the side of the body, as if it was coming from the A-pillar trim. Well, all the drains were fine, I've checked every single one of them. What was the problem however is a facepalm moment where you really need to wonder how a manufacturer as reputable as Audi could get away with such a dumb mistake in the first place. Turns out the body of the A8 has a hole located just underneath the windshield, an area that is constantly exposed to water whenever it rains. The hole is normally covered by a piece of tape (German engineering right there) which obviously wont last much longer than until the first rainfall, from which point on water can freely poor inside the vehicle's cabin and start to collect at the bottom of the floor. Now the hole is so well known in the A8 community that it was named after the user who must have identified it first, "Botang's hole". Uhm... It didnt take long to find it, however not before I tried to take the entire ECU/Transmission control module box apart that was sitting right next to it... There it is, there was still some tape loosely in place but a bit of screwdriver action got it out of there with ease. Now as you can see below, accessibility wasn't great at all. Fortunately I just happened to have a can of silicone sealer for a DIY job around today, so off I went and sealed the shit of that hole. I totally forgot to take a photo of the aftermath but it was a mess... Before calling it a day I've also checked the AC condenser/scuttle drains which were hiding behind some interior trim, as most of the disassembly work had been done before: In the process of doing so, I've found this: Its a nectar card from one of the previous owners! I'll be rich! Or not as its already gone into the bin. The rubbery orange pipe basically directs the water underneath the car into the transmission tunnel. Apparently they like to clog up, I wonder why... Mine were fine, I cleaned them out anyway and stuck them back into the floor and connected them with the drain pipe coming from above. I'm not sure what this connector was for but it was sitting in a pool of water that was collecting in the foam pad of the floor. Should you consider owning one of these cars, make sure to check your drains! Fortunately it wasn't completely corroded yet, bit of contact cleaner was enough. I slapped it all together and sorted out the lose b-pillar trim on the driver side before I called it a day. For some reason the buttons of the trunk release and interior alarm deactivation are know to come lose. I've bought two of them for 15ish quid on Ebay (previous price I got somewhere else was 40...) and stuck them back in, the little vent was still in the glove box and popped right in. Unfortunately the screw that properly attached the pillar trim is just spinning in its thread so I couldnt glue the attachment point back together (otherwise Id have to break it again the next time it need to come out) but it was all firmly held together without it. Before and after. No clue what the previous owner attempted to do there, he certainly didnt succeed. Bonus fancy aluminium piece that is completely out of sight with all the trim in place... Thats it for now. I've ordered a few other small bits that are still on their way. I can't do much more than small jobs at this point as the Mercedes is still blocking the drive, I cannot wait to rip off those body panels and replace them with the new ones, and give the car a proper clean, it would make a huge difference to the car's appearance. I think a proper service will be next on the list, the car really does need it, too.

Not surprised it sold this quickly, where can you find an unusual enthusiast car in great condition for that little money!

Holy crap, there is another one around after all! How much was it advertised for? The interior is just as brown as in mine, lovely!

Wow, different wheel trims and this would look exactly like the Vectra my parents owned for 15 years!

Yeah, Ive seen this one a while ago and while I love the interior, the green exterior just doesnt do it for me. Its a rare occasion that two of these are for sale at the same time, this green one was the only one for a quite a while now.

It was although it was rather rare, even more so with a manual gearbox. The 2.8 V6, 3.0 V6 (in the facelift) and the 2.7 Biturbo would be my way to go if you want to avoid automatics, at this point I feel like I rather give up 40 horses and go with the less troublesome engine. I love the rear end styling on them, this gen A6 was really the beginning for modern Audi design, before even the TT came out. The C6 A6 then showed how bland it could be made to look like...