Conan

My Volvo listed 10 previous owners but I know at least 3 of those is the same guy moving registration to various businesses. Still it's pretty high number of keepers. My latest acquisition (which I haven't reveal to anyone yet) about also listed 10 previous owners although this time it's actual 10 different guys. It's still a decent car though. I also have had cars with lower amount. I had a late W124 with 2 previous keepers, one being the original owner and the other's his next of kin. 4-5 seems to be about the average for 20+ year old motor. I find it makes absolutely no difference to how good a car is or isn't. I should also note that in my location, not many would buy and sell cars within a year or less of ownership. If the guy's planning to do so they would not change the registration. So it is much more unusual for any car to have high number of keepers.

Disclaimer: I'm a number plate nerd and 100% a sucker for period and detail accurate plate. If Drosje plate is legal I'd totally put it on. It's not even like if you're putting something that does not belong. It actually once was a Taxi. I am of an opinion that detail like this can turn a great car into one that will make someone's day. Well, it'd certainly make my day at least.

This too is what I've found to be the best thing about driving any classic car, but especially ones which many people have fond memories of. I think it helps that most old cars are smol (well, more smol than modern equivalent) with simple, less aggressive styling (for example, big round headlamps) and thus feels less threatening to anyone that sees it. I've been following since the wanted thread. Seems you got a great car. 😃

Seems like a good challenge. I wonder if I can hunt down a reasonably priced one locally (Either Minichamps or Corgi would do) considering there's probably 3 people in this country who even got a clue what an SD1 is. 🤔 You never know though. Might get lucky.

Slowly, but surely. No part of the car is left in bare metal anymore, but still need some more filler. Soon enough primer will go on, then some colour, then assembly.

My Minichamps CX 1/43 was a bit lonely so I got it a companion. BMW M535i by Autoart. The box's not in great shape but the model itself is in excellent nick.

Smol update. A good haul of parts seems to always come near the finish line, or at least, if the repair's done anytime soon I'll be able to continue without pause. Quite pleased with everything that I've manage to sourced. New shock absorber cartridges, never had a car with serviceable struts before so I'm pretty intrigued as to how and why this came to be. If I were to guess when shocks technology got better, they can make them smaller, so instead of servicing the original components inside they just put a thinner unit in it's place. It was supposedly cheaper than replacing the whole unit like most modern cars, but I would not have guess that from the price I've to paid (exorbitant). A pair of top mounts to go with that. Left and right uses the same design, and yet I could only find each of a different brands, which should be an indicator of how much a pain in the arse finding parts for it is. I'll also replace most of the other front suspension components such as ball joints and bushings, luckily those are the same with the much more common E70 Corolla so not too difficult. Not pictured is a working front seatbelt. The one on the car just reels freely so I might as well go full 1980's and not wear them. A working belt would make me less anxious. Headlight bezels, the front offside bezel is broken at the top (I have not a clue when this happened, I went back and look at pictures and they weren't actually broken when I got the car). They need refinishing though and I have yet to find a solution. They're chrome-painted plastic. Another set of centre caps for the new wheels. The bottom row is what they came with and although I'd have been okay with them they're clearly not the best, and now I have spares if some goes missing as a bonus. A few other things I've also ordered but not arrived yet. A new antenna, maybe a bit pointless as the radio doesn't work, but half broken one on the car always irk me so... and a new interior ceiling light as that's always been missing from the car. They still make new ones of both, thankfully. Tomorrow I'll be checking up on the progress and will report again.

I went to see this car today so a smol update. The worst of the rots have been welded. The progress so far I'd say is very good, although the early December target still isn't a sure thing. The guy working on this told me very remarkable how little fabricating and welding it actually needed especially for a car this old.

That is something quite a lot of people have asked me. It came from the factory in Barney colour and it will stay that way for as long as it lives.

It's been months without an update. So here is one. These pictures are literally from today. I found the actual correct type original steel wheels (confirmed because it matches the spare) for £50. For such a hen's teeth object I consider this a huge score. Then, the actual reason why the updates has been very sparse. This car has not been driven since late August. For more than 2 months this car's been in the bodyshop. It's supposed to be stripped to bare metal, welded, and a repaint. Not great timing you see, because for the past 2 months it was a monsoon season which means bodywork like this cannot be done without it effecting the end result. The work you see above got started 4 days ago. There are signs somebody was here before. This has always been very obvious even without getting the paint off. This bit here was covered by a trim piece. The rust's there because water did collect here quite a bit under the trim. It didn't get inside the car however, and that is a very good thing. Everything considered this is still a very solid car. Incredible as it's turning 43 very soon. These are all surface rust which can be remedied relatively easily. Again, signs somebody was here before. I believe the black marks are from previous repair, possibly chemical ones and not actually electricity. This actually resulted in paint peeling off which led to more rust. Also why this needs redone eventually. The absolute worst bit of this car is the roof. This hole actually leaked water in as well. And the filler thickness is of comical level. One consolation is that it's only the roof that's like this, the rest of the car only got a light skimming before. It can be fixed. This car should be shining, shimmering and splendid again by early December. For those who might be wondering, I've been quoted about £1,400 for all this work. More than what I've paid for this car.

Today I went to look at this 1992 shape Honda Civic Saloon. These've been on my radar for a few months now. It's 1.5-litre VTEC Manual. The seller said £800 would buy it. Anything above 1/4 throttle the thing would hesitate and buck. Possible cause: bad distributor. Reason: rev counter also goes crazy when it goes nope. The rest of it is pretty wretched as well. Otherwise it runs and drive just fine. I'm pretty sure I could spend another £2-300 fixing the issue and other few things and have something to bomb around in for a few months, part it out when I'm done and not lose much. But the level of arsedness is at all time low at the moment. It's not an uncommon or unusual car.

My Toyota Corona Liftback got 260,000 odd miles on it in 43 years. Apparently it was previous owner's only car for 30+ years which got sold only because he stopped driving. I can understand why. It's dependable car. Perhaps not a surprise since it is a Toyota. I think currently is the longest it's been off the road (getting some major work done, it's been nearly 2 months) but hopefully it'll be back in regular use very soon. Most of it's brethrens are long dead due to rot.

The Will brand is pretty interesting. It was an attempt at creating a brand that catered specifically to the youths. A lot like what Toyota would later did with Scion or GM with Saturn. Except, this wasn't a brand started by Toyota, but a host of Japanese conglomerates. Panasonic was a participant with a massive array of electronic products, along with Asahi making Will beers, Glico making Will snacks, etc. one participant was a tour company name "Kinki". The Will Cypha isn't the only one Toyota made either. There was also the Will VS which basically was a weird Auris, and another Yaris-based Will Vi with it's absolutely bonkers styling, even more so than the Cypha. All of this ended in 2005 to the surprise of absolutely no one.

They're front heavy, quite susceptible to lift off oversteer, with vague, rubbery steering, and they struggle to put 225hp down the tarmac even with UUHP tyres in the dry. Driven at 8/10ths they are perfectly safe and quite stable. Once you go nearer the limit the shortcomings are becoming very clear very fast. It is just my 2 cents. I bought mine for many things but sharp handling. 😆 It could make sense for the police to use R ECU. But I don't think it makes that much of a difference considering it's about 15hp more with the automatic. My point is that even the normal T-5 225hp is quite fast already especially in period.