WillCarter

Made it onto the official FOTU report.

Just the standard Hyundai tape deck I think, in good working order though. The spoiler alone makes it a Hot Hatch. This one is the 1300 of Hyundai's own design, as alluded to elsewhere there was a 1500 available too on higher spec cars. In terms of driving, perhaps unsurprisingly much like a small eighties or lesser nineties Japan Hatchback. If you've ever been in something like a K10 Micra or a Suzuki Swift that's pretty much the level. It's not going to win any races, but it pootles along nicely and you don't ever seem to need to slow down for corners once you've got some momentum going. I will say that at 6'3 I couldn't live with the driving position if it was a daily driver, but that's as much to do with my dodgy knees as much as the car so a minor gripe really.

Long story short, I work for BCA appraising cars and in our particular branch we deal with a lot of We Buy Any Car detritus which usually means an endless line of Qashqais, Jukes and Picassos in various stages of knackered day in day out. The upside to this being that we also get some incredible high end stuff in, and more interestingly to people like us, very low end stuff too. One such car was this 1995 Hyundai Accent which rolled into the hangar to a series of jeers back in February. From a distance it looked bloody awful, the paint was flaking off in chunks and it was about 10 different shades of pink, however upon closer inspection I realised that it was possibly a bit of a rough diamond. A look inside revealed that it had done 26k from new, everything worked fine and upon appraisal other than the obvious paint damage there wasn't much to report beyond a couple of parking dings. Needless to say, I was smitten and knew I would have to be the one to save it. For those who don't know, BCA sell exclusively to the trade and unfortunately stuff like this which has little to no market value usually becomes landfill which was something I couldn't let happen. As I say, BCA is strictly trade, which means purchasing as an employee isn't as easy as you might think, various hoops have to be jumped through but after a number of interactions with confused higher ups the red tape was cleared and my bid was submitted. A day later I got news that unsurprisingly my bid had been the only one and that once I'd paid up I was free to take it when I was ready. Brilliant news. I knew as soon as I saw it this car that it needed saving and that's just what I'd done. A few days later I took it home, parked it up... and then promptly did nothing with it for months. This was the issue, now I'd saved it, what do I do with it? I have a perfectly good daily driver and realistically it didn't make financial sense to spend any money on restoring it. So that was it really, that is until May came around. I'd got a few days off for my birthday and wrangled a ticket to the Retro Rides Weekender. The plan was to drive down in my Rover 75 Tourer, sleep in that and enjoy a no fuss weekend. But then the cheeky little Accent started winking at me. Could I really trust a car I'd basically never driven to do a 400 mile round trip and get me there and back safely? Well, the answer was a resounding yes. It didn't really like doing more than 60 but for a car that had seemingly rarely left London, that wasn't too surprising and if you let it set its own pace it bundled along quite happily. Surprisingly it got a great response at Retro Rides too, getting lots of smiles and comments and confirmed to me that I'd made a good decision, even if I still wasn't quite sure why I owned it. After that it went back and forth to work a couple of times when the 75 was out of duty and I found myself beginning to enjoy its simplicity and cheerful manner and I slowly began to realise that not only was I going to be the one who saved it, but also the one that was going to preserve it, regardless of any sense it made financially. This was confirmed when we took it to Festival of the Unexceptional a couple of weeks ago where again it got an amazing response and more than one offer to buy it which were promptly but politely knocked back. So, what's the plan? Well essentially get it painted really. It honestly doesn't really need much else, but the paint is totally beyond repair and being such a great colour it seems a shame to not get it back to its former glory. Other than that the only other problem areas are the plastics which are unfortunately beginning to perish and crumble meaning things like inner door handles all need sourcing and replacing. As for historical significance, I'm not sure these cars will ever have much to a wider audience, however to a niche audience such as ours its worth noting that this is a launch year car since the Coupe didn't arrive until 1995 making this one of, if not the oldest remaining survivor in the UK. It is also as far as I know a one owner car and seemingly didn't venture far from where it was sold in Muswell Hill, though unfortunately I stupidly forgot to take note of the previous owners address on the old V5 as it would have been nice to let them know it had been saved. So yeah, that's it really. Work on the paint should hopefully begin in the winter ready to get it back out for shows and events in the spring and I hold out hopes that it will be deemed good enough once finished to enter into the FOTU concourse which is really my big aim for the car. Here's to my impending financial ruin. As it appeared in the hangar. The one good bit of paint and closest to the actual colour. The evening I received the keys. Retro Rides prep. Made it there and back with no drama. Enjoying Festival of the Unexceptional.

So this came into work today, and caught me totally off guard. Either I've completely erased any knowledge of the Almera Saloon from my mind, or this is the first time I've ever seen one.

They do indeed. Hasegawa seemed to do a few Ski Editions, all with the same figures but cool nonetheless.

It's been ages since I built a kit, and will probably be ages until I get the chance to build one again, but this came up for a good price the other week and I couldn't resist.

Been slowly moving into and renovating a new house over the past couple of weeks, which means bags and boxes which have been sealed for a while are gradually being opened. Thought this scruffy, but appealing little oddity which unexpectedly fell out of a bag might appeal to a few of you. 1/64-ish Seat 1200 by Mira. I think this is the only Mira model I own, and I'm honestly not sure where I found it, but once I've got a bit of a display set up again I'll make sure it gets a good spot.

Priorities. Modelmatic's business is Diecast Models, Tesco is groceries.

'If' you should ever wish to part with these there's a couple there that I'd like to replace some of mine thar unfortunately didn't fare well living in the loft. I don't think there's ever been a more appealing packaging for any toy car than the Superfast boxes.

Old Boy at work runs this as one of his dailies, the other two being an original Range Rover and a Honda C90. Got a Land Rover 200 TDi under the bonnet and seems to chug along nicely.

I find it incredible that their second option was to simply scrap it. Even if you're not a car person, 30 seconds on eBay would tell you it's worth the minimum of effort to sell it on.

Fantastic, that looks an absolute peach all things considered too.

Some amazing purchases here! Really giving me the itch to get back out there looking. My house move is now imminent so I'll be delving back into my boxes of cars at some point and getting some back out in the fresh air. Any of you care to show off some of your displays?

Said I was probably going to fall off the wagon soon but didn't expect it to be in the shape of these. Guy at the car boot this morning had a stall full of Tomica and I couldn't resist grabbing a couple of their Premium line. Have to say I'm more impressed with the Skyline than I am the Civic but they're both incredibly detailed for a Matchbox sized car. Was also tempted by a couple of Polistil models, but at £30 a pop I kept my wallet in my pocket.

I've only seen one Cult model in the metal (resin?) which was the Land Rover Discovery and I have to say that they're absolutely spot on. But then they should be for £200.

Found who owns the P4, had it years apparently and it runs a Discovery 200 TDi engine. I'm a big fan.

Well spotted on the wheels.

Went to Peterborough Festival of Antiques this weekend and talked myself out or a load of 50p Matchbox Superfast. The regret has crept in now, can see me falling off the wagon again once I've moved.

Rover only parking at work this morning. No idea who the P4 belongs to but it looks like a bit of a workhorse.

That's a new one on me, might be one I have to keep an eye out for.

Thanks for that mate, I had read that it was likely the connectors under the seat but had yet to have a rummage. I'll give your video a watch after work and then go and investigate. Cheers mate, as @wuvvumsays below, it's a Club SE which if my admittedly limited knowledge on these is right basically makes it a Connoisseur minus the the electric leather. Like everyone else I was after a Connoisseur really, but I'm getting to quite like the cloth interior now and the main requirement was that it was a CDTi Auto, which this one is, so I can live with out a bit of cow skin. Seems that way, or at least in terms of the ones that have survived. Did think about retrofitting a Connoisseur interior but I think it'll be staying as it is.

Some of you may remember that I was on a somewhat unsuccessful hunt for a 75 Tourer recently. Well, good things come to those who wait and after viewing some rough and badly described ones I managed to drop on this beauty a couple of weekends ago. Took a chance on a terrible Facebook ad, which had basically no information and some interesting photographs but which turned out to be something of a gem. Owned by a retired couple since 2014, it has only done the mildest of pottering in their ownership and was apparently mainly used to cart the dogs and Grandkids around. Seemed to be well looked after in their ownership, with plenty of service and maintenance receipts and on the test drive it pulled like a train and was absent of the creaks and squeaks the others I'd driven had. It's not perfect, and if it ends up staying with me (which if I continue to be this smitten it definitely will be) it'll need a fair amount of paint here and there. It's also got an intermittent airbag light which I'll need to get to the bottom of before MOT time as well as a rear wiper which may well be haunted but all in all, it's a lovely bus. Was up for £995, but when I turned up and wasn't looking to scrap it or break it for parts the old boy was happy to do a deal and we settled at £825, which with the way prices seem to be going on these, seemed like an excellent deal. Let's see if I still think that after a few months of ownership.

Volvo 940 Turbo. Was told about by someone I know, ended up striking up a deal and my ex-father in law drove me to get it. What should have been an hour and half journey ended up being over three and by the time we got there and were faced with one of the most down at heel 940's I've ever witnessed I felt too bad about the inconvenience of it all that I just bought it. I ended up owning it for about eight or nine months and think I ended up driving it about about eight or nine times, which wasn't the best hit rate when you consider it was bought as a daily. Never worked properly, needed an endless succession of parts and when I chucked in the towel and took a loss on it to a friend of a friend I was happy to see the back of it. Typically he owns it until this very day and has had nothing but pleasure from it. Funny how these things work.

Having a bit of a saga when it comes to buying a Rover 75. Know exactly what I want, but the universe seems to be fighting me all the way. All started a few weeks ago, found myself heading towards Wolverhampton to go and view a 75 that was (and still is actually) on eBay. Old boy was apparently giving up driving, had owned it since new, been a bit of a workhorse but in generally good shape. Got there and it had been fairly described cosmetically, nothing special, but a good spec and nothing that couldn't be freshened up. Agreed a price of £950 which would give me just over a grand left in the kitty to clean it up and was happy with the deal. That is until I took it around the block for a quick drive prior to handing over the readies. Absolutely no boost from the Turbo and the time it took the Autobox to downshift could be counted in minutes. Thanks, but no thanks and off back down the M6 we went. A few days later on a Sunday evening another one appears on eBay, again Birmingham-ish based, this time a facelift model, but in my favoured Racing Green and in apparently immaculate condition. Quickly contact the seller, he suggests doing a video call viewing to save me a trip if it's not what I'm after which we arrange for the next day after work. Few messages go back and forth and it sounds like exactly what I'm after. Belongs to his father as a second car, but he's scaling back to just a daily at this point, but the Rover has wanted for nothing. We agree a price in principle and I head to bed looking forward to the video call the next day. Up early the next day for work, have an eBay notification. 'Sorry, car is sold, someone paid without even seeing it.' I'm fuming, but what can you do? It's gone and let's face it, he'd have been an idiot to turn it down. Another week or two passes and another suitable candidate appears on my radar. Another eBay find, again in Birmingham (there's a theme here), this time at what appears to be a dealership. Make contact, the dealer calls me up and we have a good chat. I ask him for any faults or issues, he assures me that it's a fantastic example, that I won't be disappointed, drives like a dream, unmarked interior, all the stuff you want to hear. I tell him I won't be able to view it until the end of the week, not a problem as he won't be available until then anyway, so a viewing on Friday is arranged. Another call on the Friday to make sure I'm coming, again I'm assured that I won't be disappointed, he sells a lot of these and this is one of the best he's seen in a while. We get to the address and I'm surprised to find the car parked on the kerb outside a house rather than dealership, not the end of the world though. Knock the door, an old man staggers up, thrusts the keys through the gap says 'it's got trade plates, take it for a drive' and shuts the door again. I'm somewhat confused but I'm here now so I go for a look round. First impressions are important when you're buying a car, and let's just say that this one wasn't really giving a great one. Every panel was marked or dented and the rear bumper had been stoved in at some point, sending the parking sensors haywire in the process. I'd pretty much already made up my mind at this point, but I thought I'd at least find out what a supposedly good one was like to drive. Get in and the unmarked interior was well, not unmarked. It was just an interior in average condition for its age, and certainly not deserving of the adulation it had been given over the phone. Started it up took it for a drive. Admittedly it pulled well, but it was joined by a symphony of clunks and knocks from the suspension when tackling even the tamest of undulations. If this is the best one he's driven in a while is like then I dread to think what the worst is. Get back to the house feeling a little insulted by the fact I'd committed four hours of mine and my partners Friday evening to it, so decide that I'll try an equally insulting offer of a grand (it's up for £2300) just to make myself feel better. Knock the door, same old man, start my spiel... 'nothing to do with me mate, I've never driven the thing, he just left it here'. And with that, the door was closed and that was the last I heard from either of them. Spend the weekend feeling pissed off and thinking I might as well just go and get myself a 3-Series or an A4 like everyone else. Get back to my Mums this afternoon who I'm staying with while our house purchase completes and her husband excitedly tells me that he's seen a 75 turning into the next street, it was CDTi Tourer just like I want, go and see if it's still there. I'm out of the door like a flash and around the corner, I walk up the street and there it is, the PERFECT 75! CDTi Auto, Connoisseur, Aquamarine, Meteor alloys, pre-facelift, it's basically the car I would have ordered had I stepped into the dealership in 2003. This is destiny surely? I've never knocked on anyone's door to ask about a car before but I'm not letting this one go. The owner answers, I make the enquiry. He's never selling it. Can I leave my number just in case? No point. Why would he? It's absolutely perfect, I wouldn't sell it either. I thank him for his time and take one last forlorn look at the car. Back to the drawing board.

Is it not because they're meant to look like Turbo Fans, in a Group A/DTM style?