warch

Japanese cars aren’t maintenance free !

EFA

Issigonis wasn’t a very good designer. 

Buying a sports/performance car with an automatic transmission is like marrying a supermodel and cutting your dick off.

I have been compared to Jesus, it's true.  If he let himself go and enjoyed crisps a bit too much.

The Chinese can make high quality parts, the problem is that Western consumers won't pay proper money for them.

Ive got to say i just dismissed the p38 as junk but basically its nicer to drive, less rot prone and WAY cheaper than a classic, and also more unusual than an L322. As those age they are throwing up their own issues (weirdly they seem more rot prone than a p38)

P38 now has full oem rear underlay/ carpeting fitted . The underlay is rubber/ foam backed and has made quite a difference to the interior noise levels. 
I went for a walk along a disused railway with a misbehaving beagle and got a picture of the p38, and its reputation.

Which on the basis of my experience so far, is unfounded.

Rightio, the nagging has paid off and I've got it booked.  Location is my mates field/woods/campsite near Bridgnorth in Shropshire.  Should be quite reasonably priced so long as we tidy up afterwards.






https://www.powkesmoreholding.co.uk/

Edit #1
Lets make the location easy to find.
What3 words to the entrance.  ///bungalows.next.windmills
Which looks like this

The open one on the left.
From above.

Access is from Ashfield Road, the track marked on Google heading South East doesn't exist as far as I know.
Further out.

That’s fantastic! I’m surprised, as you say, Vanguards didn’t do a battered Escort.
Funnily enough Ive just filled and sanded the roof on this one today. 
It’ll not be in banger condition though.

 
I dug a few partwork Sierra’s out today. All from the Argentina collection.

Mk1 Ghia estate with South American spec front end/US spec big front bumper. 
Mk1 Ghia hatchback. 
Mk1 L hatchback.
You can see that big horrible US spec bumper here!

  
So the yellow L spec car is actually a damaged one. The screen pillar has been hit by something and bent it in forcing the glazing to pop out. 
Since I’ve got a few of these Sierra’s I’m going to use the damaged yellow car as a donor. I’ll chop off the nasty US front end from the estate then chop off the L front end from the yellow car in the same place. Fill the bumper top so it’s flush as per euro Sierra’s then attach the two together, to give me a European spec Sierra estate in a low trim level. 
The roof bars will be removed too. Then a repaint into Ford ceramic blue.

 
That’s the plan anyway!

Ratty MK1s unite
 

Wish I still had my first car (mk2 Astra 1.3).
As others have said though, get one back on the road.  Strip the gold one as a parts car, keep something as a souvenir and get the blue one running.

Hi,
I’ve been aware of the brown forum for many years, but generally hung around on another well known blue hued forum, sort of on and off anyway. Most of my ‘fleet’ (if you can call a collection of long term broken cars that) is probably more at home on here but my most recent car tinkering finally pushed me over the line to sign up on here.
Ya see I’ve been spending a bit of time recently poking and tinkering with the longest standing, many years abandoned, heaps in my collection and I suspect this is the only place I might scrape some interest in what is basically a hopeless cause. Said heaps have been abandoned rotting on my drive for 17 and 19yrs respectively, but the house where they languish is going on the market soon so their existence hangs precariously in the ballence. Friends and family have been telling me to scrap them for about a decade now so their calls are almost deafeningly loud now. It would certainly be the sensible thing to do.
For reasons beyond common sense I want to move them to my current house which means making them mobile again. I mean ‘mobile’ as in I can load them onto a trailer and preferably drive them up my short but annoyingly steep driveway, not as in make them ready for the road. 
Anyway, so what do you make of these two beauties?



Artefact 1 - The gold one - 1989 1.3 XL special equipment
This was my first car, bought by a much younger self circa 1999. I saved up the £600 by working weekends in Burger King while doing my A levels. It was well used and abused until 2005, but it’s been parked up ever since. It was retired as a fully functional car on 109k miles, I just replaced it (with a 34k miles 1.3 mk6 Escort I bought as Cat D salvage and returned to the roads). It donated its windscreen to the blue one around 2009 after vandalism so it’s been open to the elements for a while too, it’s become home to some ferns growing in the carpet.
Artefact 2 - The blue one - 1987 1.3 GR Profile
This was my mates car for a year but he donated it to me when the MOT ran out, in 2007 according to the MOT history. The original idea was to fix this one up using the gold one for spares. After a couple of years ignoring it I did drag it to an MOT test in 2010 which it failed due to much more rampant rust than I had given it credit for, it’s sat ever since.
So what ya thinking of doing with them I hear you say! Well, the gold one has probably (though not certainly) had it’s day as a regular 309, but I’m sentimental about it and have a very harebrained idea for it in the back of my mind. It might never happen but I want to hold on to the possibility, so the goal is to just move it and sling a car cover over it. The blue one however is calling out to live once more, I want to get it back on the road. I’m better skilled to weld it back up now than I was back then, and once the old house is gone I should be blessed with more time and lower outgoings which should help. I just kinda fancy fixing it up a bit, I want to feel the mighty power of the Simca rattle box engine and savour the rolly polly handling on skinny tyres once more. But firstly I just need to move it so I can achieve priority no1 which is to get the old house up for sale.
There you go lots of waffle, I’ll post about where I’m up to and what I’ve got stuck on soon, if anyone cares.
-Steve-

My old line manager when I worked at Somerfield had his SRi pinched as well (c. 1995). I'm hoping my rural location, the lack of keyless ignition/obd port and the extreme shiteness of my new purchase will deter any potential interest from subhuman scum. 

Update
Brakes; got one of the new calipers in the post, test fitted it so that should be ok, ordered some new banjo bolts for the hose connectors. Total spend 21 quid on fitting kit, 6 quid on banjo bolts and 90 quid on calipers. 
Also got a much heavier box in the post which turned out to be the new starter motor (the car came without starter or battery). Having improvised a 'ghetto' battery solution (nicked the battery out of my Landrover) and plumbed in the new starter it fired up almost instantaneously and settled down to a smooth idle. Result! 
All I'm waiting for now is the other caliper then it'll be mobile and ready to take for a little remedial welding.   

Hurrah, managed to acquire the correct caliper bolts, came as part of a kit. 
 
As a bonus (using my special skill, which is identifying bolts or socket sizes by eye I managed to obtain the correct thread flange head M8 bolts for the starter motor from my local factor.
 
Ordered some new unions and washers for the brake hoses as well. Parts availability is superb for such an old car.

Well done ETCHY. It’s a funny one this, someone has clearly looked after it and it’s actually in good condition but some of the bodywork finishing is hilarious. 

I feel like I'm properly joining in now.
The problem is that I only own two vehicles, a Land Rover (which everyone on Autoshite hates) and a Nissan Qashqai which is commonly regarded as the precursor of the automotive apocalypse. 
So I went ebay shopping and discovered a car that I reckon will improve my standing in the shiter community. It's a bit of project but it has potential and it's coming on Tuesday. It's 950 quid which is a lot for a car which needs work/has parts missing but it's only 1 year away from the magic big four oh, and free tax and mot exemption. It's also in much better condition than any mass market car built in the mid-80s has any right to be. Surprisingly parts availability seems pretty good.
It's also the base model.