N19

An excellent fleet!
Your Capri heated rear window was standard equipment, but the original buyer must have paid the £35.25 extra for a "rear package tray".  Cassette player was also an optional extra.
The scans below are from the January 1980 brochure, the month that your car was registered.  The car shown is Corsican Blue, the same as yours, I think?


Full brochure

I figured that I have been filling News 24 with posts about my fleet of tat and should probably start my own thread to keep it all in one place. I'm N19 (Tom), a cynical shiter from north London (though originally of farther northern extraction).
 
So, fleet is as follows...
 
1979 Capri 1.6L
 

I've owned this for about 7 years now. It was always my ambition to own a Capri one day... and I haven't looked back! For a while, I lived in inner London (see username!) and used the tube or bus to get around most of the time - so it was my only car for the duration! It's had a fair few trips in my time (from London, to Aberdeen, Bristol, Norfolk, Brighton, and lots of places in-between), although the last year has been much quieter due to lockdown. Always garaged, but never a queen - it'll still go out in the wet, just looked after and dried.

It's a pretty original car; the first owner had it for 20 years, it then passed through a number of keepers until I bought it. Therefore it managed to avoid the abuse of boy racers in the 90s! It seems that the first owner was a giffer who, from the mid-80s, only did 2k miles a year. (Yes the paintwork is original - it's an unusual colour, only used on Capris for one year as far as I can tell).

In my ownership I've essentially been trying to keep it reasonably neat. Manual everything - steering, radio knobs, choke, windows... comes with the extra options of a heated rear window and a parcel shelf. Perish the thought! It's currently off the road having had welding repairs completed to various bits, mostly the A pillars and sills. 
 
2000 Ford Mondeo 2.0i Ghia X Estate
Purchased from this very forum, when I realised that I now relied on a car for commuting and putting the eggs in the basket of one car was tempting fate. Plus it came at a good time when I was post house-move and needing to sort out a heck of a lot of stuff, so the estate comes in very handy.
 

It had a few challenging times, especially with the cooling system. It took a few months to finally get to a stage where it wasn't an incontinent old thing, and I didn't need to carry a gallon of mixed antifreeze in the back. One memorable occasion saw it towed home by the Bluebird (which resulted in the battle scar covered over by gaffer tape on the bumper).
A high end executive car of its time, and it carries the 180,000 miles well. Most things still work - the central locking is a bit temperamental sometimes, but the other toys are all there - heated seats, heated windscreen, air con, cruise control, electric seats, etc. Very good over winter cos of the heated bits, and in the height of summer cos of the air con. You can fit loads of stuff in the back, it's very useful for lugging stuff around. Towbar fitted, although seldom used.
 
2003 Ford Focus 1.6

Purchased recently from this forum, a very competent (and ULEZ compliant) 1.6 Focus. It is very clean and very well looked after, and features AC and heated windscreens (extra features that actually matter to me!). I intend on keeping this clean and using it for trundling around town.
 
Former Vehicles
 
1980 Nissan Bluebird 1.8GS

I bought this as a result of a chance discussion with a guy from the motorfactors who was selling it. At the time I was feeling bad about using the Capri for mundane things, so when this was up for sale I gave into temptation and a low price, and picked it up.

Again, quite an original car. Would I call it dull... not quite, it's very good at being an car, it's not the most exciting thing you'll ever drive, but is pretty practical. It's also usually bombproof and reliable. Reasonably easy to work on, very comfortable and easy for the driver; you can understand why so many of these were minicabbed in the 90s! I sadly had to sell this car in June 2023 due to the impending expansion of the ULEZ into my area.
 
 
 
 
 
The Capri lives in a lockup garage where I do minor tinkering and spannering. I'll do most jobs on the Capri myself, except anything welding related or needing a ramp. I have a good local garage who are sympathetic to old stuff and don't charge much, especially as I'm never too pushy on timescales.
 
and, because I'm sad- err I mean pedantic, I keep notes in a book for each car...

... oh, and all three cars have cassette players - who says I'm stuck in the past?! I did for a while organise the collection into the era of each car, but that got too messy.
 
So, that's me, that's the fleet, now for updates...

I figured that I have been filling News 24 with posts about my fleet of tat and should probably start my own thread to keep it all in one place. I'm N19 (Tom), a cynical shiter from north London (though originally of farther northern extraction).
 
So, fleet is as follows...
 
1979 Capri 1.6L
 

I've owned this for about 7 years now. It was always my ambition to own a Capri one day... and I haven't looked back! For a while, I lived in inner London (see username!) and used the tube or bus to get around most of the time - so it was my only car for the duration! It's had a fair few trips in my time (from London, to Aberdeen, Bristol, Norfolk, Brighton, and lots of places in-between), although the last year has been much quieter due to lockdown. Always garaged, but never a queen - it'll still go out in the wet, just looked after and dried.

It's a pretty original car; the first owner had it for 20 years, it then passed through a number of keepers until I bought it. Therefore it managed to avoid the abuse of boy racers in the 90s! It seems that the first owner was a giffer who, from the mid-80s, only did 2k miles a year. (Yes the paintwork is original - it's an unusual colour, only used on Capris for one year as far as I can tell).

In my ownership I've essentially been trying to keep it reasonably neat. Manual everything - steering, radio knobs, choke, windows... comes with the extra options of a heated rear window and a parcel shelf. Perish the thought! It's currently off the road having had welding repairs completed to various bits, mostly the A pillars and sills. 
 
2000 Ford Mondeo 2.0i Ghia X Estate
Purchased from this very forum, when I realised that I now relied on a car for commuting and putting the eggs in the basket of one car was tempting fate. Plus it came at a good time when I was post house-move and needing to sort out a heck of a lot of stuff, so the estate comes in very handy.
 

It had a few challenging times, especially with the cooling system. It took a few months to finally get to a stage where it wasn't an incontinent old thing, and I didn't need to carry a gallon of mixed antifreeze in the back. One memorable occasion saw it towed home by the Bluebird (which resulted in the battle scar covered over by gaffer tape on the bumper).
A high end executive car of its time, and it carries the 180,000 miles well. Most things still work - the central locking is a bit temperamental sometimes, but the other toys are all there - heated seats, heated windscreen, air con, cruise control, electric seats, etc. Very good over winter cos of the heated bits, and in the height of summer cos of the air con. You can fit loads of stuff in the back, it's very useful for lugging stuff around. Towbar fitted, although seldom used.
 
2003 Ford Focus 1.6

Purchased recently from this forum, a very competent (and ULEZ compliant) 1.6 Focus. It is very clean and very well looked after, and features AC and heated windscreens (extra features that actually matter to me!). I intend on keeping this clean and using it for trundling around town.
 
Former Vehicles
 
1980 Nissan Bluebird 1.8GS

I bought this as a result of a chance discussion with a guy from the motorfactors who was selling it. At the time I was feeling bad about using the Capri for mundane things, so when this was up for sale I gave into temptation and a low price, and picked it up.

Again, quite an original car. Would I call it dull... not quite, it's very good at being an car, it's not the most exciting thing you'll ever drive, but is pretty practical. It's also usually bombproof and reliable. Reasonably easy to work on, very comfortable and easy for the driver; you can understand why so many of these were minicabbed in the 90s! I sadly had to sell this car in June 2023 due to the impending expansion of the ULEZ into my area.
 
 
 
 
 
The Capri lives in a lockup garage where I do minor tinkering and spannering. I'll do most jobs on the Capri myself, except anything welding related or needing a ramp. I have a good local garage who are sympathetic to old stuff and don't charge much, especially as I'm never too pushy on timescales.
 
and, because I'm sad- err I mean pedantic, I keep notes in a book for each car...

... oh, and all three cars have cassette players - who says I'm stuck in the past?! I did for a while organise the collection into the era of each car, but that got too messy.
 
So, that's me, that's the fleet, now for updates...

A productive few hours this weekend! The rear windscreen wiper hasn't been working on the Capri for ages - but with lockdown, house move, then other more important faults, it's taken a backseat. And another job that needed doing was the rocker cover - the old one was a bit past it and the lips not straight, hence leaky.  Again, a new one had been sitting on my windowsill since June... so last week got it out, picked up a gasket and fitted it...

Yesterday, I took it round to the local garage to borrow one of the ramps - they had a quiet Saturday and offered if I wanted to borrow one for the afternoon.

Given a good de-greasing and clean of the underside. A couple of bits need underseal replacing or tidying up, but bit cold for that today. And I want to replace the remainder of the fuel line, just because paranoid.
Rocker cover fitted, alternator adjusted, points done, all behaving beautifully.
Today time to look at the wiper down at the lockup. First things first, put 12v across the motor and it turned. Result!

But what's this? Tracing the cables I discovered an earth which was rather tarnished...
which earths via the tailgate switch

and when cleaned up seemed to be fine! Naturally I then discovered the switch wasn't properly home in the dash, so the dash had to come out to click it back in,

but then we finally had a working rear wiper!

VID_20210117_123225.mp4

ECP are the new MFI, they'd have a sale for the patron saint of fucking bus tickets.

Bad influence! I know someone who owns 5 Bluebirds... but is equally far away as I am!
I'd also be rubbish at projects. I become far too attached to anything to be able to work on it, improve it, then sell it on, so it'd be another permanent addition. Which the bank manager says no to.

Capri A pillar had a small bubble of rust coming up. Realistically, there's a bit of welding that'll need doing on it in the near future (sills, A pillars both sides, probably strut tops). I'm hoping that my tame garage will be able to tackle it during the autumn this year. Until then, at least try to stop it getting any worse. 

 

 
I truly am no good at the dark art of paint and filler, so this will purely be a stopgap. 

I figured that I have been filling News 24 with posts about my fleet of tat and should probably start my own thread to keep it all in one place. I'm N19 (Tom), a cynical shiter from north London (though originally of farther northern extraction).
 
So, fleet is as follows...
 
1979 Capri 1.6L
 

I've owned this for about 7 years now. It was always my ambition to own a Capri one day... and I haven't looked back! For a while, I lived in inner London (see username!) and used the tube or bus to get around most of the time - so it was my only car for the duration! It's had a fair few trips in my time (from London, to Aberdeen, Bristol, Norfolk, Brighton, and lots of places in-between), although the last year has been much quieter due to lockdown. Always garaged, but never a queen - it'll still go out in the wet, just looked after and dried.

It's a pretty original car; the first owner had it for 20 years, it then passed through a number of keepers until I bought it. Therefore it managed to avoid the abuse of boy racers in the 90s! It seems that the first owner was a giffer who, from the mid-80s, only did 2k miles a year. (Yes the paintwork is original - it's an unusual colour, only used on Capris for one year as far as I can tell).

In my ownership I've essentially been trying to keep it reasonably neat. Manual everything - steering, radio knobs, choke, windows... comes with the extra options of a heated rear window and a parcel shelf. Perish the thought! It's currently off the road having had welding repairs completed to various bits, mostly the A pillars and sills. 
 
2000 Ford Mondeo 2.0i Ghia X Estate
Purchased from this very forum, when I realised that I now relied on a car for commuting and putting the eggs in the basket of one car was tempting fate. Plus it came at a good time when I was post house-move and needing to sort out a heck of a lot of stuff, so the estate comes in very handy.
 

It had a few challenging times, especially with the cooling system. It took a few months to finally get to a stage where it wasn't an incontinent old thing, and I didn't need to carry a gallon of mixed antifreeze in the back. One memorable occasion saw it towed home by the Bluebird (which resulted in the battle scar covered over by gaffer tape on the bumper).
A high end executive car of its time, and it carries the 180,000 miles well. Most things still work - the central locking is a bit temperamental sometimes, but the other toys are all there - heated seats, heated windscreen, air con, cruise control, electric seats, etc. Very good over winter cos of the heated bits, and in the height of summer cos of the air con. You can fit loads of stuff in the back, it's very useful for lugging stuff around. Towbar fitted, although seldom used.
 
2003 Ford Focus 1.6

Purchased recently from this forum, a very competent (and ULEZ compliant) 1.6 Focus. It is very clean and very well looked after, and features AC and heated windscreens (extra features that actually matter to me!). I intend on keeping this clean and using it for trundling around town.
 
Former Vehicles
 
1980 Nissan Bluebird 1.8GS

I bought this as a result of a chance discussion with a guy from the motorfactors who was selling it. At the time I was feeling bad about using the Capri for mundane things, so when this was up for sale I gave into temptation and a low price, and picked it up.

Again, quite an original car. Would I call it dull... not quite, it's very good at being an car, it's not the most exciting thing you'll ever drive, but is pretty practical. It's also usually bombproof and reliable. Reasonably easy to work on, very comfortable and easy for the driver; you can understand why so many of these were minicabbed in the 90s! I sadly had to sell this car in June 2023 due to the impending expansion of the ULEZ into my area.
 
 
 
 
 
The Capri lives in a lockup garage where I do minor tinkering and spannering. I'll do most jobs on the Capri myself, except anything welding related or needing a ramp. I have a good local garage who are sympathetic to old stuff and don't charge much, especially as I'm never too pushy on timescales.
 
and, because I'm sad- err I mean pedantic, I keep notes in a book for each car...

... oh, and all three cars have cassette players - who says I'm stuck in the past?! I did for a while organise the collection into the era of each car, but that got too messy.
 
So, that's me, that's the fleet, now for updates...

This is local to me, but been parked on my street today. 

This is local to me, but been parked on my street today. 

Capri A pillar had a small bubble of rust coming up. Realistically, there's a bit of welding that'll need doing on it in the near future (sills, A pillars both sides, probably strut tops). I'm hoping that my tame garage will be able to tackle it during the autumn this year. Until then, at least try to stop it getting any worse. 

 

 
I truly am no good at the dark art of paint and filler, so this will purely be a stopgap. 

Bluebird back in daily service for the first time since before Christmas really - definitely glad to have a bit of a change of scene from the Mondeo.  There seems to be a loose connection on the crimptastic loom for the tape player as it cuts out on speedbumps.

I think I may have thrown the toys out of the pram somewhat, but you know, it's good to moan here and not to the family. 

Bluebird back in daily service for the first time since before Christmas really - definitely glad to have a bit of a change of scene from the Mondeo.  There seems to be a loose connection on the crimptastic loom for the tape player as it cuts out on speedbumps.

I figured that I have been filling News 24 with posts about my fleet of tat and should probably start my own thread to keep it all in one place. I'm N19 (Tom), a cynical shiter from north London (though originally of farther northern extraction).
 
So, fleet is as follows...
 
1979 Capri 1.6L
 

I've owned this for about 7 years now. It was always my ambition to own a Capri one day... and I haven't looked back! For a while, I lived in inner London (see username!) and used the tube or bus to get around most of the time - so it was my only car for the duration! It's had a fair few trips in my time (from London, to Aberdeen, Bristol, Norfolk, Brighton, and lots of places in-between), although the last year has been much quieter due to lockdown. Always garaged, but never a queen - it'll still go out in the wet, just looked after and dried.

It's a pretty original car; the first owner had it for 20 years, it then passed through a number of keepers until I bought it. Therefore it managed to avoid the abuse of boy racers in the 90s! It seems that the first owner was a giffer who, from the mid-80s, only did 2k miles a year. (Yes the paintwork is original - it's an unusual colour, only used on Capris for one year as far as I can tell).

In my ownership I've essentially been trying to keep it reasonably neat. Manual everything - steering, radio knobs, choke, windows... comes with the extra options of a heated rear window and a parcel shelf. Perish the thought! It's currently off the road having had welding repairs completed to various bits, mostly the A pillars and sills. 
 
2000 Ford Mondeo 2.0i Ghia X Estate
Purchased from this very forum, when I realised that I now relied on a car for commuting and putting the eggs in the basket of one car was tempting fate. Plus it came at a good time when I was post house-move and needing to sort out a heck of a lot of stuff, so the estate comes in very handy.
 

It had a few challenging times, especially with the cooling system. It took a few months to finally get to a stage where it wasn't an incontinent old thing, and I didn't need to carry a gallon of mixed antifreeze in the back. One memorable occasion saw it towed home by the Bluebird (which resulted in the battle scar covered over by gaffer tape on the bumper).
A high end executive car of its time, and it carries the 180,000 miles well. Most things still work - the central locking is a bit temperamental sometimes, but the other toys are all there - heated seats, heated windscreen, air con, cruise control, electric seats, etc. Very good over winter cos of the heated bits, and in the height of summer cos of the air con. You can fit loads of stuff in the back, it's very useful for lugging stuff around. Towbar fitted, although seldom used.
 
2003 Ford Focus 1.6

Purchased recently from this forum, a very competent (and ULEZ compliant) 1.6 Focus. It is very clean and very well looked after, and features AC and heated windscreens (extra features that actually matter to me!). I intend on keeping this clean and using it for trundling around town.
 
Former Vehicles
 
1980 Nissan Bluebird 1.8GS

I bought this as a result of a chance discussion with a guy from the motorfactors who was selling it. At the time I was feeling bad about using the Capri for mundane things, so when this was up for sale I gave into temptation and a low price, and picked it up.

Again, quite an original car. Would I call it dull... not quite, it's very good at being an car, it's not the most exciting thing you'll ever drive, but is pretty practical. It's also usually bombproof and reliable. Reasonably easy to work on, very comfortable and easy for the driver; you can understand why so many of these were minicabbed in the 90s! I sadly had to sell this car in June 2023 due to the impending expansion of the ULEZ into my area.
 
 
 
 
 
The Capri lives in a lockup garage where I do minor tinkering and spannering. I'll do most jobs on the Capri myself, except anything welding related or needing a ramp. I have a good local garage who are sympathetic to old stuff and don't charge much, especially as I'm never too pushy on timescales.
 
and, because I'm sad- err I mean pedantic, I keep notes in a book for each car...

... oh, and all three cars have cassette players - who says I'm stuck in the past?! I did for a while organise the collection into the era of each car, but that got too messy.
 
So, that's me, that's the fleet, now for updates...

Fire the bank manager.

The drivers window on the Bluebird gave up a little while ago. A new regulator was ordered up but supply of parts for these cars is really not easy - took a couple of weeks to come from a breaker. Anyhow, on fitting, the reason for the original one giving up became clear... the bottom of the guide was no longer attached to the bracket.

I'm pondering whether epoxy or similar will work. But that's a job for the weekend. In the meantime, I'm trying to not use the drivers window lest I cause it to fall apart again!

I figured that I have been filling News 24 with posts about my fleet of tat and should probably start my own thread to keep it all in one place. I'm N19 (Tom), a cynical shiter from north London (though originally of farther northern extraction).
 
So, fleet is as follows...
 
1979 Capri 1.6L
 

I've owned this for about 7 years now. It was always my ambition to own a Capri one day... and I haven't looked back! For a while, I lived in inner London (see username!) and used the tube or bus to get around most of the time - so it was my only car for the duration! It's had a fair few trips in my time (from London, to Aberdeen, Bristol, Norfolk, Brighton, and lots of places in-between), although the last year has been much quieter due to lockdown. Always garaged, but never a queen - it'll still go out in the wet, just looked after and dried.

It's a pretty original car; the first owner had it for 20 years, it then passed through a number of keepers until I bought it. Therefore it managed to avoid the abuse of boy racers in the 90s! It seems that the first owner was a giffer who, from the mid-80s, only did 2k miles a year. (Yes the paintwork is original - it's an unusual colour, only used on Capris for one year as far as I can tell).

In my ownership I've essentially been trying to keep it reasonably neat. Manual everything - steering, radio knobs, choke, windows... comes with the extra options of a heated rear window and a parcel shelf. Perish the thought! It's currently off the road having had welding repairs completed to various bits, mostly the A pillars and sills. 
 
2000 Ford Mondeo 2.0i Ghia X Estate
Purchased from this very forum, when I realised that I now relied on a car for commuting and putting the eggs in the basket of one car was tempting fate. Plus it came at a good time when I was post house-move and needing to sort out a heck of a lot of stuff, so the estate comes in very handy.
 

It had a few challenging times, especially with the cooling system. It took a few months to finally get to a stage where it wasn't an incontinent old thing, and I didn't need to carry a gallon of mixed antifreeze in the back. One memorable occasion saw it towed home by the Bluebird (which resulted in the battle scar covered over by gaffer tape on the bumper).
A high end executive car of its time, and it carries the 180,000 miles well. Most things still work - the central locking is a bit temperamental sometimes, but the other toys are all there - heated seats, heated windscreen, air con, cruise control, electric seats, etc. Very good over winter cos of the heated bits, and in the height of summer cos of the air con. You can fit loads of stuff in the back, it's very useful for lugging stuff around. Towbar fitted, although seldom used.
 
2003 Ford Focus 1.6

Purchased recently from this forum, a very competent (and ULEZ compliant) 1.6 Focus. It is very clean and very well looked after, and features AC and heated windscreens (extra features that actually matter to me!). I intend on keeping this clean and using it for trundling around town.
 
Former Vehicles
 
1980 Nissan Bluebird 1.8GS

I bought this as a result of a chance discussion with a guy from the motorfactors who was selling it. At the time I was feeling bad about using the Capri for mundane things, so when this was up for sale I gave into temptation and a low price, and picked it up.

Again, quite an original car. Would I call it dull... not quite, it's very good at being an car, it's not the most exciting thing you'll ever drive, but is pretty practical. It's also usually bombproof and reliable. Reasonably easy to work on, very comfortable and easy for the driver; you can understand why so many of these were minicabbed in the 90s! I sadly had to sell this car in June 2023 due to the impending expansion of the ULEZ into my area.
 
 
 
 
 
The Capri lives in a lockup garage where I do minor tinkering and spannering. I'll do most jobs on the Capri myself, except anything welding related or needing a ramp. I have a good local garage who are sympathetic to old stuff and don't charge much, especially as I'm never too pushy on timescales.
 
and, because I'm sad- err I mean pedantic, I keep notes in a book for each car...

... oh, and all three cars have cassette players - who says I'm stuck in the past?! I did for a while organise the collection into the era of each car, but that got too messy.
 
So, that's me, that's the fleet, now for updates...

After a few false starts I've bought my first car of 2021, a 1.3 mk4 Escort with a broken drivers side headlight lens...
It drives well enough for what it is...

I figured that I have been filling News 24 with posts about my fleet of tat and should probably start my own thread to keep it all in one place. I'm N19 (Tom), a cynical shiter from north London (though originally of farther northern extraction).
 
So, fleet is as follows...
 
1979 Capri 1.6L
 

I've owned this for about 7 years now. It was always my ambition to own a Capri one day... and I haven't looked back! For a while, I lived in inner London (see username!) and used the tube or bus to get around most of the time - so it was my only car for the duration! It's had a fair few trips in my time (from London, to Aberdeen, Bristol, Norfolk, Brighton, and lots of places in-between), although the last year has been much quieter due to lockdown. Always garaged, but never a queen - it'll still go out in the wet, just looked after and dried.

It's a pretty original car; the first owner had it for 20 years, it then passed through a number of keepers until I bought it. Therefore it managed to avoid the abuse of boy racers in the 90s! It seems that the first owner was a giffer who, from the mid-80s, only did 2k miles a year. (Yes the paintwork is original - it's an unusual colour, only used on Capris for one year as far as I can tell).

In my ownership I've essentially been trying to keep it reasonably neat. Manual everything - steering, radio knobs, choke, windows... comes with the extra options of a heated rear window and a parcel shelf. Perish the thought! It's currently off the road having had welding repairs completed to various bits, mostly the A pillars and sills. 
 
2000 Ford Mondeo 2.0i Ghia X Estate
Purchased from this very forum, when I realised that I now relied on a car for commuting and putting the eggs in the basket of one car was tempting fate. Plus it came at a good time when I was post house-move and needing to sort out a heck of a lot of stuff, so the estate comes in very handy.
 

It had a few challenging times, especially with the cooling system. It took a few months to finally get to a stage where it wasn't an incontinent old thing, and I didn't need to carry a gallon of mixed antifreeze in the back. One memorable occasion saw it towed home by the Bluebird (which resulted in the battle scar covered over by gaffer tape on the bumper).
A high end executive car of its time, and it carries the 180,000 miles well. Most things still work - the central locking is a bit temperamental sometimes, but the other toys are all there - heated seats, heated windscreen, air con, cruise control, electric seats, etc. Very good over winter cos of the heated bits, and in the height of summer cos of the air con. You can fit loads of stuff in the back, it's very useful for lugging stuff around. Towbar fitted, although seldom used.
 
2003 Ford Focus 1.6

Purchased recently from this forum, a very competent (and ULEZ compliant) 1.6 Focus. It is very clean and very well looked after, and features AC and heated windscreens (extra features that actually matter to me!). I intend on keeping this clean and using it for trundling around town.
 
Former Vehicles
 
1980 Nissan Bluebird 1.8GS

I bought this as a result of a chance discussion with a guy from the motorfactors who was selling it. At the time I was feeling bad about using the Capri for mundane things, so when this was up for sale I gave into temptation and a low price, and picked it up.

Again, quite an original car. Would I call it dull... not quite, it's very good at being an car, it's not the most exciting thing you'll ever drive, but is pretty practical. It's also usually bombproof and reliable. Reasonably easy to work on, very comfortable and easy for the driver; you can understand why so many of these were minicabbed in the 90s! I sadly had to sell this car in June 2023 due to the impending expansion of the ULEZ into my area.
 
 
 
 
 
The Capri lives in a lockup garage where I do minor tinkering and spannering. I'll do most jobs on the Capri myself, except anything welding related or needing a ramp. I have a good local garage who are sympathetic to old stuff and don't charge much, especially as I'm never too pushy on timescales.
 
and, because I'm sad- err I mean pedantic, I keep notes in a book for each car...

... oh, and all three cars have cassette players - who says I'm stuck in the past?! I did for a while organise the collection into the era of each car, but that got too messy.
 
So, that's me, that's the fleet, now for updates...

The drivers window on the Bluebird gave up a little while ago. A new regulator was ordered up but supply of parts for these cars is really not easy - took a couple of weeks to come from a breaker. Anyhow, on fitting, the reason for the original one giving up became clear... the bottom of the guide was no longer attached to the bracket.

I'm pondering whether epoxy or similar will work. But that's a job for the weekend. In the meantime, I'm trying to not use the drivers window lest I cause it to fall apart again!

Most things from the 80s are of interest to be honest. Anything you no longer need can of course be exchanged for beer tokens (parts tokens?).
 
Exactly, the spec is probably the reason it's still in good nick - it wasn't sexy!

Back then, infotainment systems (radio and cassette player if you were lucky) were usually put in by the dealer instead of the factory.
Cracking selection of cars!

I figured that I have been filling News 24 with posts about my fleet of tat and should probably start my own thread to keep it all in one place. I'm N19 (Tom), a cynical shiter from north London (though originally of farther northern extraction).
 
So, fleet is as follows...
 
1979 Capri 1.6L
 

I've owned this for about 7 years now. It was always my ambition to own a Capri one day... and I haven't looked back! For a while, I lived in inner London (see username!) and used the tube or bus to get around most of the time - so it was my only car for the duration! It's had a fair few trips in my time (from London, to Aberdeen, Bristol, Norfolk, Brighton, and lots of places in-between), although the last year has been much quieter due to lockdown. Always garaged, but never a queen - it'll still go out in the wet, just looked after and dried.

It's a pretty original car; the first owner had it for 20 years, it then passed through a number of keepers until I bought it. Therefore it managed to avoid the abuse of boy racers in the 90s! It seems that the first owner was a giffer who, from the mid-80s, only did 2k miles a year. (Yes the paintwork is original - it's an unusual colour, only used on Capris for one year as far as I can tell).

In my ownership I've essentially been trying to keep it reasonably neat. Manual everything - steering, radio knobs, choke, windows... comes with the extra options of a heated rear window and a parcel shelf. Perish the thought! It's currently off the road having had welding repairs completed to various bits, mostly the A pillars and sills. 
 
2000 Ford Mondeo 2.0i Ghia X Estate
Purchased from this very forum, when I realised that I now relied on a car for commuting and putting the eggs in the basket of one car was tempting fate. Plus it came at a good time when I was post house-move and needing to sort out a heck of a lot of stuff, so the estate comes in very handy.
 

It had a few challenging times, especially with the cooling system. It took a few months to finally get to a stage where it wasn't an incontinent old thing, and I didn't need to carry a gallon of mixed antifreeze in the back. One memorable occasion saw it towed home by the Bluebird (which resulted in the battle scar covered over by gaffer tape on the bumper).
A high end executive car of its time, and it carries the 180,000 miles well. Most things still work - the central locking is a bit temperamental sometimes, but the other toys are all there - heated seats, heated windscreen, air con, cruise control, electric seats, etc. Very good over winter cos of the heated bits, and in the height of summer cos of the air con. You can fit loads of stuff in the back, it's very useful for lugging stuff around. Towbar fitted, although seldom used.
 
2003 Ford Focus 1.6

Purchased recently from this forum, a very competent (and ULEZ compliant) 1.6 Focus. It is very clean and very well looked after, and features AC and heated windscreens (extra features that actually matter to me!). I intend on keeping this clean and using it for trundling around town.
 
Former Vehicles
 
1980 Nissan Bluebird 1.8GS

I bought this as a result of a chance discussion with a guy from the motorfactors who was selling it. At the time I was feeling bad about using the Capri for mundane things, so when this was up for sale I gave into temptation and a low price, and picked it up.

Again, quite an original car. Would I call it dull... not quite, it's very good at being an car, it's not the most exciting thing you'll ever drive, but is pretty practical. It's also usually bombproof and reliable. Reasonably easy to work on, very comfortable and easy for the driver; you can understand why so many of these were minicabbed in the 90s! I sadly had to sell this car in June 2023 due to the impending expansion of the ULEZ into my area.
 
 
 
 
 
The Capri lives in a lockup garage where I do minor tinkering and spannering. I'll do most jobs on the Capri myself, except anything welding related or needing a ramp. I have a good local garage who are sympathetic to old stuff and don't charge much, especially as I'm never too pushy on timescales.
 
and, because I'm sad- err I mean pedantic, I keep notes in a book for each car...

... oh, and all three cars have cassette players - who says I'm stuck in the past?! I did for a while organise the collection into the era of each car, but that got too messy.
 
So, that's me, that's the fleet, now for updates...

I figured that I have been filling News 24 with posts about my fleet of tat and should probably start my own thread to keep it all in one place. I'm N19 (Tom), a cynical shiter from north London (though originally of farther northern extraction).
 
So, fleet is as follows...
 
1979 Capri 1.6L
 

I've owned this for about 7 years now. It was always my ambition to own a Capri one day... and I haven't looked back! For a while, I lived in inner London (see username!) and used the tube or bus to get around most of the time - so it was my only car for the duration! It's had a fair few trips in my time (from London, to Aberdeen, Bristol, Norfolk, Brighton, and lots of places in-between), although the last year has been much quieter due to lockdown. Always garaged, but never a queen - it'll still go out in the wet, just looked after and dried.

It's a pretty original car; the first owner had it for 20 years, it then passed through a number of keepers until I bought it. Therefore it managed to avoid the abuse of boy racers in the 90s! It seems that the first owner was a giffer who, from the mid-80s, only did 2k miles a year. (Yes the paintwork is original - it's an unusual colour, only used on Capris for one year as far as I can tell).

In my ownership I've essentially been trying to keep it reasonably neat. Manual everything - steering, radio knobs, choke, windows... comes with the extra options of a heated rear window and a parcel shelf. Perish the thought! It's currently off the road having had welding repairs completed to various bits, mostly the A pillars and sills. 
 
2000 Ford Mondeo 2.0i Ghia X Estate
Purchased from this very forum, when I realised that I now relied on a car for commuting and putting the eggs in the basket of one car was tempting fate. Plus it came at a good time when I was post house-move and needing to sort out a heck of a lot of stuff, so the estate comes in very handy.
 

It had a few challenging times, especially with the cooling system. It took a few months to finally get to a stage where it wasn't an incontinent old thing, and I didn't need to carry a gallon of mixed antifreeze in the back. One memorable occasion saw it towed home by the Bluebird (which resulted in the battle scar covered over by gaffer tape on the bumper).
A high end executive car of its time, and it carries the 180,000 miles well. Most things still work - the central locking is a bit temperamental sometimes, but the other toys are all there - heated seats, heated windscreen, air con, cruise control, electric seats, etc. Very good over winter cos of the heated bits, and in the height of summer cos of the air con. You can fit loads of stuff in the back, it's very useful for lugging stuff around. Towbar fitted, although seldom used.
 
2003 Ford Focus 1.6

Purchased recently from this forum, a very competent (and ULEZ compliant) 1.6 Focus. It is very clean and very well looked after, and features AC and heated windscreens (extra features that actually matter to me!). I intend on keeping this clean and using it for trundling around town.
 
Former Vehicles
 
1980 Nissan Bluebird 1.8GS

I bought this as a result of a chance discussion with a guy from the motorfactors who was selling it. At the time I was feeling bad about using the Capri for mundane things, so when this was up for sale I gave into temptation and a low price, and picked it up.

Again, quite an original car. Would I call it dull... not quite, it's very good at being an car, it's not the most exciting thing you'll ever drive, but is pretty practical. It's also usually bombproof and reliable. Reasonably easy to work on, very comfortable and easy for the driver; you can understand why so many of these were minicabbed in the 90s! I sadly had to sell this car in June 2023 due to the impending expansion of the ULEZ into my area.
 
 
 
 
 
The Capri lives in a lockup garage where I do minor tinkering and spannering. I'll do most jobs on the Capri myself, except anything welding related or needing a ramp. I have a good local garage who are sympathetic to old stuff and don't charge much, especially as I'm never too pushy on timescales.
 
and, because I'm sad- err I mean pedantic, I keep notes in a book for each car...

... oh, and all three cars have cassette players - who says I'm stuck in the past?! I did for a while organise the collection into the era of each car, but that got too messy.
 
So, that's me, that's the fleet, now for updates...