Soundwave

I think that was the old Ford favourite Imperial Blue.

Isn't it just Melina Blue? It's a weird colour which looks more bluish or purplish depending on the light, but it's a standard colour I believe.

Win on toast. Do love a good Type Four.

The price is apparently 'negotiable' according to the ad. I should fucking well hope it is...!

What sort of wording did you use on your Mondeo info request?

Honda Concerto... giffermatic. Comes with ABS issues, saggy headliner, b0rked bumper... FIVE BUGGERING GRAND. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/941654857196206 I can only assume the rare spec includes "is possibly the last 80s/90s Honda that hasn't been owned by @Ghosty at some point".

Manually checking them all. I'd seen on howmanyleft that there was a SORN one, and has been for some time. So the only way to find out which one was to check any and all registrations I could find! However, @LightBulbFun has since highlighted an issue with SORN which could mean the SORN is down to a glitch rather than genuinely being SORNed. Need to investigate further, although I'm not entirely sure what investigation I can do beyond what I've done already.

Good plan - already got those two, but please do keep an eye out for more! Ooh, haven't got that one - it is going on ZE LIST. Listed as "beige" rather than "white"... haven't come across a beige one before!

Yeah, I've seen that... I think Hagerty didn't really examine the data very well TBH - I think they're errors or referring to something else. As you correctly point out, the dates are all over the place - none of the "licensed" ones have a registration date that lines up with the production run. Also if you look at the engines of the licensed ones... two diesels (never an option), a pair of sub-1.2 petrols (1.6 was the smallest) and most oddly of all, a 4.3 petrol. Definitely don't think that was on the options list. Of all the data on there, there's only one example from 1983 showing as a SORN, which I think refers to the one in my previous post. Long story short, DVLA data is a complete clusterfuck.

I wonder if that includes all the ones rebadged as Colts/Mitsubishis when the whole Lonsdale brand went tits up?

I figured there'd be the possibility of DVLA data incompetence, the information on their systems always needs to be taken with a wheelbarrow of salt. I thought it was interesting anyway, even if I know deep down 565 is quite likely toast along with the rest of them. Although it doesn't have a scrapped marker against it, neither do several of the others... and as we all know, until relatively recently scrapping records were sloppy at the very best of times. Still, looking at the data a bit more, some little tidbits to note. Seems the least popular colour was red (at least among the registrations corralled here), and all of the A-reg cars were blue. Speaking of the A-reg cars, I checked a few numbers either side of them and no other Lonsdales, so it seems they were registered in isolation rather than in bulk. So I'd guess that the DDF cars were ordered at the start of sales to prepare for a surge in demand that never materialised... and then the A-plate cars were sparse individual orders after the initial lot had been moved on, probably at a loss. I wonder how many were actually sold? I mean I know they weren't strong sellers but I'd assume they shifted more than the 17 here before switching back over to Mitsubishi badging!

Been thinking about these again the last few days... saw some of the press photographs and realised they were all in the DDF5**Y range. Being a bit depressed and needing something suitably mind-numbing to take my mind off it, I decided to do a bit of sleuthing and manually search all numbers in that range to see what info I could dig up. Was actually quite enjoyable in a tedious sort of way... ...only to open this thread and discover I'm a decade late to the party! Still, I don't mind... managed to find another A-plate straggler which wasn't on the previous list, plus I've added the one @richbraith mentioned way earlier in the thread. Besides the occasional Fiat or Ford, most of the DDF5**Y registration block was taken up with Lonsdales, Colts and Mitsubishis. Can only assume the importer registered them en masse. My findings are below - I've added notes from the previous list if that's OK with people. And there's quite an interesting anomaly: My main purpose for finding as many Lonsdale registrations as possible was to see if I could find the reg of the mythical SORNed one which appears on howmanyleft. And lo and behold, there it is! 565, a white 2.0 saloon... that's our unicorn right there. If there are any Lonsdales still extant, it's likely to be that one. Not that knowing the reg is going to be especially helpful for finding it of course, since the DVLA can't give out owner information any more. What's really interesting is if you look at the previous list from 2013, 565 shows as having a liability date of May 2000. But now it doesn't show a date, only that it's SORNed... so does that mean someone's put it on SORN in the intervening decade? Or is it just another of the DVLA's many data anomalies? If it's the former, it could mean someone is at least semi-actively taking care of it. If it's the latter.... could mean anything. Of course, even if it is still around, there's no guarantee it hasn't been left in a bush somewhere to return to earth, or has been on a date with a dirt oval and not scrapped correctly, or any other number of scenarios. But, I'd like to think it's still out there in a lockup somewhere, waiting...

I'm the 13th registered keeper of the Saab of many shiters. Although it's been owned twice by one of its previous owners, so I guess I'm technically the 12th.

I like this. I mean proper like it, although I have far too many projects already. Five cylinders, proper gearbox, and it's fucking purple. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202301223503237

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/716516626668332 I mean yes, the interior "upgrades" require destruction in a controlled explosion, and the wheeltrims need frisbeeing into the burning remains... but it seems a nice enough little car for less than a grand. Just check the MOT history and.... ah. Seems like the questionable accessories might actually be what's holding the car together...