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Soundwave

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Everything posted by Soundwave

  1. Here's an interesting one. Needs welding for the MOT... but if you look at its fail sheet, sounds like it's about to disintegrate at any second. Year before? Absolutely nothing. So, dodgy MOT last year or overzealous tester this year? Still, £400 is pretty cheap. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1008666196926889
  2. Always liked this shape of Prelude. This one is VTEC, y0. Love the dash on these... https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/279717988006829
  3. Birmingham is my main NBZ. Every time I've arranged to look at a car in Brum, it's been a bomb-site driveway dealer in an area where a stab vest is required. Despite being advertised as private. Both times I turned around and left without knocking the door.
  4. There's a breaker in the right colour, which appears to still have the appropriate wing... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325282086933
  5. Commitment, or stupidity? The line isn't always a clear one... I'll admit, I'm probably going to completely ruin the "survivor" ethos of this car with what I've got planned for it. My excuse is that with the tinworm creeping in, it won't survive that many more years if action isn't taken. Plus, I genuinely like the car, it's unusual on multiple fronts (being an 80s Saab, and an 80s Saab that isn't turbocharged), and it gives me a nostalgic feeling for the late 80s/early 90s when I drive it. I'm very deliberately not keeping count of what I'm spending on it, because by the time I'm finished I dread to think what sort of actual, respectable classic I could have bought instead...
  6. So, the man from Parcel Farce bought something to my door today. The culmination of months of searching, and a moment of madness. The repairs I'd made to the Saab's rear decor panel were, even when they were initially carried out, 10-footers. And the intervening months have done nothing to improve them - the cracks have begun to reopen in places, and the whole thing doesn't fit properly due to warping. Ideally, it needs replacement. But as previous owners of the car will know, decor panels for CDs are ridiculously rare. And due to a slight revision in 1990, the decor panel for this one is a one-year-only part, for 88-89 CD models, making it rarer still. Saab 9000 decor panels for any year and model are expensive, but when early CD ones come up they typically cost £400-500. And they sell fast.. almost everything I could find on the Internet was either already long sold, or for the wrong model year. I did find a correct panel for sale in America... but with taxes and shipping added to the already eye-watering price it would have cost more than I paid for the car. I'm not that desperate for the back end to look decent... That was, until a couple of weeks ago. I stumbled upon another one for sale on the German website "Kleinanzeigen". Which, imaginatively enough, means "Classifieds". A few emails exchanged with the friendly English-speaking vendor, who runs a Saab parts business called Skanmobile Classics, and it was purchased and on its way to me. Today, this landed: Yes, that's right, it's an original, unused one still in its original Saab packaging! Which, admittedly, has tape stuck all over it now so it'll probably go in the bin. Bit of a shame, but never mind. The real treasure lies within... Look at that... and it's the black plastic version instead of the reflective 'backflash' version, which I prefer and helps emphasis the base-model nature of my particular car. With the added bonus that the black version is made of a far tougher plastic than the brittle reflective one. Also notice the natty little chrome trim up top... I didn't know they came with those. A quick Google reveals that is indeed the case. Also note the badge, which reads "16 valve" instead of "Turbo 16"... denoting this as a specific part for a non-turbo car like mine. The right year, the right colour, the right badge... everything is right with it! I'm chuffed with it. As tempted as I am though, I'm not fitting it yet. I'm instead using it as motivation for getting the Saab looking good... if I'm going to blow the wrong end of £250 on a plank of plastic, I want to make a car worthy of wearing it. Yeah, it was a lot to pay, even though it's less than they typically go for. But... can't take it with you, and all that.
  7. Actually, I've got a different solution for that currently on its way... I shall elaborate when it arrives.
  8. HGF (see the coolant below), plus it needs a clutch, and is overdue a cambelt. Even with all those done it's pretty scruffy body and interior wise - lacquer peel all over, disintegrating door cards, questionable central locking. I'm all for saving old cars, but sometimes it's just not worth it. There are still quite a few immaculate R8s, and this one will yield valuable parts to help keep them going. Can't save 'em all. So for now I'm just driving it until the MOT is up. ... all that being said though, I still remember how bad I felt about fragging that rotten Laguna. So I might end up being a soft-headed twat and actually doing something with it anyway. Whatever happens, I'm prioritising the Saab currently.
  9. Have we had this one yet? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115877446916
  10. With FOTU in the bag, the Saab is having a rest. It's got a few bits it needs underneath, and its MOT is up soon. So it's SORN and stored, and I'm making a shopping list of bits. So since that's not going to be costing me anything for now, I decided to dig the Rover out of storage, and use it for the remainder of its MOT. Though it's clearly poorly, it still runs and drives absolutely fine. Amid the clutter, where it's languished for the last few months... Needed a bit of electrical assistance from the MX-5 to get it going, but fired up and ran just fine after that. Hasn't lost any of its fluids, although the coolant is still a mess of course. Planning to use it for light duties and tip runs, here it is on a test drive to Sainsburys... Honestly, I do like driving this thing. Just a shame it needs too much to be economically viable.
  11. Soundwave

    FOTU 2023

    One very minor gripe if I may... actually it's not even really a gripe, more a query. Does anyone know why, when the first field is full, they fill the second field from the far end and work back towards the first one? All it seems to accomplish is leaving a massive gap in the show that takes until mid afternoon to mostly fill. Is it to help spread things out and avoid overcrowding with people or something?
  12. Soundwave

    FOTU 2023

    Sorry, crossed wires. Thought you were asking if my dad's one was on TV despite being scrapped over 30 years ago. My excuse is that I'm extremely tired after all that walking today. As for the green one, not sure as I don't really watch Bangers and Cash.
  13. Soundwave

    FOTU 2023

    No, wasn't my dad's on TV. As I say, it was scrapped in 1990 with terminal chassis rot, it started flexing in places it wasn't supposed to flex!
  14. Soundwave

    FOTU 2023

    No, my dad's old one was driven to the knacker's yard in 1990 after a... less than stellar MOT. Apparently the yard owner took one look at it and said he could probably just fold it into a cube by hand instead of crushing it...
  15. Soundwave

    FOTU 2023

    ... ending on a Triumph-ant note, hope you enjoyed the pics. I'm going for a lie down. Walked bloody miles today! Enjoyed it, caught the sun a bit on my head, but it was a good day as ever. Oh and a special mention to a lovely metallic red Renault 19 I had a good nose around but didn't photograph, which I believe is someone's on here. Would have photographed it, except my phone battery was on "pLeAse kiLl mE, eNd mY suFfEring" by this stage.
  16. Soundwave

    FOTU 2023

    I struck gold in this part of the field: Nothing to say here, I just really really like this. Genuinely didn't even know there was a 504 estate until today! I was Cordia-lly invited to take a photo of this. Actually I wasn't, I was just trying to shoehorn that shit pun in. Obligatory: Best(?) of British(?):
  17. Soundwave

    FOTU 2023

    One of two early Alpines in attendance: Soft spot for this as well, my mum had a 216GSi on a G plate. Tin worm ate it in the end. A not-so-teenaged Starlet: A very late Simca pickup, so late it's wearing Talbot badges: I'm always divided on two-tone cars made after the 1970s, but this special edition Fiesta rocks it. A not-so-musical Maestro, resplendent in zero cost option blue:
  18. Soundwave

    FOTU 2023

    R8s and 205s were both well represented as usual, although perhaps not quite as much as previous years. Volvo 900 estates and Citroen BXs seemed the most numerous this time around. Mad to think there's only a decade of difference between these two: Low mileage Laguna: I have a soft spot for Avenger estates, I was bought home from hospital in one of these, albeit an orange one. Explains a lot really. 2.3 Granada. All expenses spared! Cars in colour...
  19. Soundwave

    FOTU 2023

    Bit of Italian flair: Nineties shades of red: A Florino van which hasn't disintegrated? Blimey. Also that's an incredibly beige Rover. Off-white Metro, in ultra luxurious* City X spec. Luxurious onion-carrier. Which decade? All of them.
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