Simon M

I've still got a few toy 11s - two of the big Corgi ones (one beige, one blue - the boots came off both of them!), a couple of the Majorette versions, and a Matchbox 'A View To A Kill' taxi version - I really liked Renault 11s in those days, and this thread's brought it all back! I even taped the launch advert off the telly.....

I think we can all agree that lockdown was a difficult time for many. With less actual work to do I had more time to take stock off just how many projects I have ongoing, realistically i don't have time to progress all of them as much as is needed - Red Rebel, Scimitar SS1, Capri, Boat, etc etc.
 
Thinking about that was a bit depressing so instead I  bought a small aluminium bodied electric car with a rotten steel space frame chassis and £1200 of missing batteries to add to the project queue!
 
First three photos taken outside the previous owners house where its been sat since 2016 when he changed jobs and could no longer get to work on a single charge:



 
And arrived back on the isle of wight for probably the first time since it was built here 45 years ago:

 
Cheers,
Dave

It is done!  The front seats went in really easily which was very unusual, normally at least one bolt refuses to line up.  I'm very pleased with the end result.  Worth noting, I did actually do the piping on the seats where it wasn't dyed as well as I'd've liked by simple standing the seat up and spraying from the top with the fabric masked, which gave a really crisp finish.  If you get your face right up to it you can see its been dyed in places, if you know what to look for.  Overall, the casual observer won't notice and indeed there's nothing that bothers me about the interior redo.  I'm so much happier with it now than any other interior colour this car has had. I'm seriously considering using this dye to cover up the glue staining on the headlining too, a common Princess problem, something about the glue means it stains the vinyl this horrible yellowy colour and you can't clean it off.  That's something for another day.  For now, enjoy the maroon-and-black, Captain Picard's uniform, interior splendour.




Oh wait, one last thing...

Perfect.

Did it have Bak-Ones on the rear wheels?

I know exactly where that photo was taken! Time for a re-run? 

I’ve a few over the years but one that did stand out was when finishing a late shift at 9pm on a snowy evening.
At the time back in the early nineties I had a old very rusty red  (1986) XR2  and cleaned  enough snow off the windows and jiggled the keys in the locks as I thought they had frozen and up the road I went back home.
I got a couple of miles up the road and looked around my normally littered car for a pack of B&H and I noticed it was very clean inside and not littered with cigarettes and empty coke cans that I knew something was wrong and I had taken the wrong car.
So I took the car straight back to the work carpark and noticed mine had been parked next to the identical but more or less immaculate car  compared to my horrible rusty Spanish built example.
I did find the owner the following day however and told him and he thanked me for warming the car up for him as he finished an hour later than me  and wondered why his car had no snow on it and the heater came through nice and toasty.
 

That is indeed fucking weird:
 
 

Wondered how long it would be before there would be someone we actually knew! Hot Imp in blue and yellow is now in her late 60’s and is called Heather Mutton and lived at number 3 on our cul de sac. I remember being dragged around this store as a young child. She would have been walking back to an orange/red Renault 5.

All these Batman references and I have a very recent Batman story....
About six weeks ago I was at Ronnie Scotts in Soho watching Georgie Fame.
Between sets I was waiting at the bottom of the narrow stairs to the gents and was suddenly aware of Georgie Fame beside me.
'I've seen Batman fall all the way down those stairs in the 60s' he said..
'Adam West was so pissed he fell from top to bottom'
...and with that Georgie Fame was gone to get ready for the second half.

That Daimler 420's just been nicked from the car park. There's gonna be a blag later.

Crawley 1969 and a suited up “BW” cruises by in his Daimler 420 to take advantage of a multibuy offer on cigars and brylcream.

Today I got sent a scan of the Yugo owners club magazine from when my car was featured! 

Sadly the owners club seems to have dwindled, but the Facebook site is fairly active! 
I also got the V5 today! Whoop! 

Basically, I reckon manufacturers should just cut to the chase and put the Alvis Saracen and Humber Pig back into production - because that seems to be where car design is ultimately heading, with huge wheels, ugly angular styling, weighing umpteen tons, and the driver and passengers peering out through a slit with fuck all visibility...


Add some easily-dinged alloys, pearlescent white paint and a bit of carbon fibre-effect trim to the above, and I reckon we'd have the next-gen Range Rover Sport pretty much in the bag...

Seeing as I slightly let the cat out of the bag to a few people at Cannock yesterday... 
Remember the halcyon days of Autoshite. Where discussion revolved around Tagoras, Tatras and Talbot Sambas. Where dismal motoring caught the imagination and dreams of Allard Clippers, Rapport Ritzs and Sao Penzas we’re on everyone’s lips... 
No me neither. But the love for the unloved has always been strong here.
So ‘‘twas the night before Chumley, and all through the house... tea was being drunk at a rate of knots. During one boil of the kettle I idly flicked onto faceache marketplace. And there it was, listed two hours ago, in the next town over. A car from a country which no longer exists!! I showed it to mrs_brownnova and our pre-chumley houseguest Mr Dollywobbler. Excitement built as I tried to talk myself out if messaging the seller... I really don't need another car! 
The opportunity was too great, so messages were exchanged, and a viewing for Monday was arranged. It was both better and worse than in the pictures, we agreed a price but, I determined to sleep on it before committing fully. I awoke the following morning and it was almost the first thing on my mind when I awoke. A deposit was paid and now I am the owner of a Zastava Yugo 45A!! 

Glorious Yugoslavian motoring at its finest*
The lowdown.... 1 owner from new and less than 29,000 miles. Taken off the road 18 months ago after “the brakes failed-but I can’t remember what it needs” Facebook stalking of the Yugo group suggests the seller was after a calliper 18 months ago. So probably that then. Also according to the seller “it ran perfectly when it was parked in the garage but now refuses to start.” Thankfully on viewing the engine turns well and I am hopeful that it should start with a little TLC. Underneath looks ok, not perfect but sills seem fine and I think a good under seal is in order. Bodywork is tatty and covered in awful cottage cheese repairs such as this... 

Interior is spotless! And it still has its complete Yugo toolkit!! Under the bonnet is remarkably clean too. 
So the next challenge is getting it home. Non-runner with no brakes, so can’t tow it on the rope or drive it. Trailer or A-Frame it is then. Except I have neither. Hoping I don’t end up hiring one for the sake of 8 miles! 
Plan is to get cracking on it over winter and have it back up and on the road ahead of FOTU next year. 

More updates when I get it home!! 

Hi all,
Not been on for a while, my account had disappeared into the ether and it looks like my content isn’t coming back so I thought I’d start a new thread, I had tried some time to find a good rhd mark one polonez. I managed to rescue a couple from banger racers but they were both rather rough so the hunt went on. After trawling google it became clear that the uk wasn’t the only rhd market the polonez was exported. I knew of a rough one in Cyprus and heard of cars on Malta but I’d never seen any photos. I decided to cast the net further and look toward Asia, I knew approx 170 cars had made their way to Thailand, some in ckd kit form which were then put together locally and some that were built in Poland and then exported.
from hunting around on Facebook i became aware of a chap calling himself the Thai car hunter.  I messaged him and asked on the off chance he could find me a polonez. He said that he would try but that it would not be easy. I didn’t think there would be much hope but around a year later Chris got back to me and said he had found one for sale. He showed me some pictures, it looked pretty good, I’ve always liked yellow, the only down side was the car now had a Mitsubishi engine fitted. This wasn’t the end of the world a replacement  fiat 1500 engine could easily be sourced. This one wasn’t meant to be however and it slipped through Chris fingers. Alas they say good things come tho those who wait and he found another much better original one that arrived at the barn a couple of days ago. I’ve paid the dues and demands, it now has an mot thanks to uk fso guru Steve caz and I’ve sent the nova paperwork off to the hmrc. It’s had a new weber carb, some new headlights, steve had to do a fair bit of work on the electrics and it had a small patch of welding at the front where the radiator had leaked in the past.
 
heres a few photos of some polonez 

Evening all, I have been tasked with resurrecting my works Austin 7cwt van, (marina in other words!) I figured it would be of some interest on here it's even the same colour as the forum! 
I work at a Rolls Royce and Bentley specialist. My boss ran various marina vans over the years when they were still current. Most got scrapped when the body's gave out but he hung on to this van mostly due to it being a early one and good thing he did!
Last on the road in 2003, it's pretty solid bit will need welding. There are quite a few NOS parts in the back from various BL/rover dealers when they were offloading old stock. My boss used to buy job lots whilst they were cheap.
I've had it running already, although not from its own fuel surply. And we haven't found the keys yet so I've had to temporarily hot wire it!
 

No probs:
 

Well I picked up my R14 from Dublin yesterday and have been awake for 48hrs and am shattered. Had to drive it 7hrs/360 miles.
Yes I am MattJY and yes I got banned and no I don't know why. I contacted admin several times but nothing.
Here is a pic of my old girl, didn't miss a beat...I am sure I will get banned again. I have sources to 4 other R14's in various states of repair and the white one also in Ireland for £3k. PM me for details now I have my car.
The floor and chassis is very good, the bolt on panels are not so but lucily, included in the price was a boot full of spares:
OEM Renault new:
Tailgate
Both front wings
Drivers door
Wiper panel
Plus a load of other new stuff, wheel bearings, brakes, water pumps, CV joints...the list goes on.
1982 GTL 1.2 with 28k original miles on the clock, to say I'm smitten after 5 years of searching is an understatement!

 

Alencon is the twin town of Basingstoke - as you can see, the two towns are practically identical.

Alencon is the twin town of Basingstoke - as you can see, the two towns are practically identical.

Alencon is the twin town of Basingstoke - as you can see, the two towns are practically identical.

Alencon is the twin town of Basingstoke - as you can see, the two towns are practically identical.

Alencon is the twin town of Basingstoke - as you can see, the two towns are practically identical.

The Sao Penza acquired celeb status in the early 90's when Rotherham defender Billy Russell was given the keys to one by a Jack Boswell from Bread looky likey by Kimberworth Service Station.
Bet he was chuffed!!!