JakeT

Sad end for this one.

I did the same. Came out of the golf, Into a stopgap fiesta, and then into this. Agreed, been a great unit. I have a remote for it too. Children I’d imagine. Great tune, and reminds me of playing the original Ridge Racer game.

Funnily enough, so do I. A Kenwood one I had a few years ago for a Golf GTi. Pulled it out before sale as the car was ruined. Even matches the interior illumination nicely and dims when the lights go on.

I agree. Fortunately this wasn’t subject to some of the truly insane pricing that’s happened recently. Love a ti, too. Fun little cars and were very cheap for a long time. Bought a high mileage one from a colleague a few years ago for £100. It was quite tidy, and with a new rear exhaust section and handbrake adjusted went through the test nicely and sold for £850.

New brake hoses on ‘the old bus’ as it’s know today. It’s 30 years old in a few weeks, and the hoses weren’t looking too great. I dropped a caliper and a hose caught it last year, which damaged one. Having been laid up over winter I thought I should do them, and have got a weekend without distraction. The boss has gone skiing for a week, and due to work commitments I couldn’t make it. I’d been putting this job off for a while as usually for me brake hose replacements end in tears (and snapped hard line). Weirdly there’s six hoses on these. The rear have two each. Unless it’s a late car then it has one long hose. Anywho: Up on stands at the rear and a quick look over the undercarriage. I’m still very pleased with how rot-free this car is. Garaged and not been a daily driver all it’s life. This jacking point is the nearside rear. Usually they get grotty easily now due to salt and rubbish in the gutter. Trailing arm pockets are good too, which cause issues on these cars (and E46s). Rear short line done, usually these can be a real pig but everything came apart brilliantly. … And the line to the caliper from a funny S-piece of hard line. Bled up with a cheap pressure bleeder from eBay. I have an Eezibleed but messing around with a spare tyre can be a pain. Pumping this up is nice and easy, and means I can do this job without a helper. Being in such a good mood as the job had gone so easily, I also remembered I have a steam cleaner. So I cleaned the rear Inner arches. The steam loosened the dirt nice and easily without putting any muddy water on the garage floor. I’m sure a few pounds of Berkshire has been liberated from the arches. Unsurprisingly what was left in my bucket can only be described as… Before After Then I had lunch. And did the fronts. But I forgot to take any pictures. The fronts were easy though, and bled up nicely too. Finally, the test drive. We’ve had some good rains this week, which have taken the salt off of the roads. They also dried up nicely in time for a drive. Didn’t roll into anything, so good news. Pedal feels less ‘wooden’ now, too which is nice. Next job will be fuel hoses, but they looked in a better state than the brake hoses. Final pic, to prove I did drive it, and didn’t restyle the front bodywork.

Strangely selling the really cheap stuff I’ve been good with. I sold a BMW 328ci where the subframe mounts had failed, it needed a service, MOT and back tyres. £500 on Facebook marketplace. Chap sent me a non refundable £100 deposit within 15 mins of the ad going live, and collected it and paid the balance a few days later. Other stuff goes up for bidding on eBay with no reserve. I describe how it’s fucked and take pictures. Person bids, comes and pays, and takes it away. I’ve always had positive feedback, and never had the house burnt down thankfully. A chap loved a fiesta I sold him even though it failed an MOT on extensive rot two weeks later. It was £200, though. The worst one I had was selling a BMW 330d. It was a 2004 ‘sport’ model with a manual gearbox, with some choice extras. I bought it as I thought it would be good for my usage. Then realised I hated it, so tried to sell it. So many chancers they wanted a ‘well fast’ car were all over it. All sorts of stupid questions, and nobody could understand that I just didn’t like it. In the month I’d fitted two new thermostats, wiper blades and fixed the non functioning stability control, and added some mats out of a scrapper I’d sent off. A group came to buy it, joy of joys. Fortunately they were decent enough ‘enthusiasts’. That said, it never made it through another MOT… After that I decided I will run what I have until it’s fucked and send it over the bridge. I think someone here said it best. It’s like the old family dog, when it’s getting on a bit. Yes, you could sell it to someone on the local sink estate and it’s not your problem, or do the decent thing and let it die gracefully.

Phwoar bloody fantastic, well done. looks a great colour. The mk1 RAV4 is my favourite of them, and make a great poor-weather car. My mum had a red 3dr manual GX from new in 1996 to 2003. She loved it, and it was supremely reliable. She was also super pleased as it was her first car with air conditioning.

Ah, makes sense. Thank you. I suppose turning the museum into a charity stops any VC types liberating some of the valuable stuff for the bottom line, too. I did Gift-Aid my entry fee, which I hope helps them too. Good to know. Thank you.

Ooo, Trabi World! I was in Berlin just before Christmas, and visited too. I also saw this sad looking Sierra, In very AS fashion. My weekend has started in a different manner to usual. My mum rang me to say she’s hit a pothole and it’s punctured her tyre. Off to rescue from me as she’d still be waiting for the fourth emergency service now. In a double annoyance, it’s dented the wheel, and in spite of it going to the supplying fiat dealership every year since new, the sodding spare tyre had 7PSI in it. Better than flat, but not much better. Four miles back to home before it looked quite poorly. The correct 41 PSI are now in it. Finally, she nipped off to a local tyre fitters for a pair of new front tyres. The saving grace is that both fronts were quite worn. She requested Michelins, and they said they had Continentals and Fulda all seasons. She for some reason agreed to the Fulda tyres, so has Fulda all seasons on the front and Michelins on the back. I am not super pleased with that, as the cost isn’t an issue, and it’s done well on Michelins from new. I suppose we’ll see how they go, though. Finally to top it all off, one of my friends wife had gone to visit family, and my good lady was out watching the netball, so we were both at a loose end. Visited the Haynes Motor Museum. On the whole, enjoyable. But why no manuals!? My thoughts was that they should have some reprints of some old ones in the shop to buy, but alas. Nice day out though.

Usually I get introduced as someone that likes cars, and people will ask me: ‘Whats your favourite car?’ ‘Depends on the day. It’s usually old and rubbish, though.’ ‘What car should I buy?’ ‘You don’t care what I think, but get a Honda, or Toyota. Oh, you want an Audi Sports? Get that then.’ ‘Can you look at why my 1.6 TDi Polo needs an EGR valve? And the garage says the turbo is on the way out too.’ ‘Sorry, but no. I only work on my own cars or friends that have an interest too.’ The latter being after lots of examples of ‘ever since you…’ I ask not to be introduced as someone that likes cars, now. Unless they own something like a Senator 24v.

I’m also not a big cover fan. A light one if the car goes in the garage. I also feel guilty leaving something that isn’t used a lot outdoors all winter. My old bus (A 1993 320i) has been garaged from new, and not used as a daily. Fortunately there’s no corrosion underneath, and I plan to keep it that way. Means it stays in the garage all winter usually. That’s also when I can get jobs done as I don’t need to use it, and can deal with it being in bits for some time.

My grandfather bought a 1.2 Mk7 Golf a few years ago after writing his Volvo V50 off. He got it ex-demo. He has it serviced regularly and nothing has gone wrong. It’s 50 shades of silver now, due to his bodywork repairs, mind.

This one’s a manual, when I bought it I was doing 25,000 miles a year and I get scared of high mileage autos breaking.

Did a trip to Belgium over the weekend, for Spa activities and to start off the (enjoyable) process of stocking up on goodies for Christmas. We took my 2005 330i. On 188,000 miles now It’s definitely in shite territory on mileage. Final scores. Fuel economy is Impressive from a ~260HP, 24 valve six that’s not in the first flush of youth. One fuel stop was needed, 508 miles covered and 59.7 litres added. Funicular from the hotel to thermal spa. Very novel, even if the hotel is a little costly. Most of the spots were while on the move, including an Opel Ascona. Did see the real hallmark of a French speaking region, though. Finally, the current Bavarian MoronWagen outside Franchimont castle. The old one, in 2019. still missed. It has a couple more trips to do, and then it’s service time. If the ports hold up, we’re also off to Berlin in it before Christmas too.

My neck of the woods. It’s a pain to cross sometimes and causes a good bit of traffic. If you pay by card they charge £1 and give you 40p change back! It’s also the smoothest bit of road locally, just the bridge. At the top of the hill is where Castrol have their R&D facility. Lots of test mules seen entering and leaving , often at night when putting miles on oils.

Had to go to London yesterday as the good lady forgot her passport was about to expire. Parked in the usual (very expensive) Q-Park on Park Lane. Did see something far better than the usual rubbish Lamborghinis and wrapped Teslas. Emma needed a little help it seems.

Good going, and a good job to GingerNuttz on the welding. My E36 has always been a garaged ‘cherished’ car by the elderly, and is fortunately rot-free. Either way, I love an E36. I think they’re a perfect size and the compact cabin of the coupe is great. Fingers crossed for a year of trouble free motoring. Beige interior looks great, too.

I haven’t visited Boston in a few years, but it’s great. Legal Seafoods does a fantastic Clam Chowder. Faneuil Hall is great. Visiting the bar from Cheers was a real highlight, too.

After replacing a headlight washer on the daily, the good lady being away at a wedding, and a very early rise to watch the F1, I took my mum out for lunch. Dad went to watch the football with my brother, which doesn’t appeal. One old BMW looking resplendent in the sun Cheeky Capri injection spot on the way out, too.

My daily rattler (2005 330i touring) went for test this morning. Fortunately… Winter tyres are going on in a few weeks, so these ones will go come spring time. Looks like I need to get the wire wheel and Vactan out, though. 13,000 miles this year is okay considering I’ve not been commuting this year either. Hopefully 200,000 next year.

For me: 1. Reviews 2. Collection capers/tinkering (I like to live vicariously, and knowing what living with a Diesel Vauxhall Omega without buying one is just right) 3. Vlogs That said, I still watch just about everything. I enjoy the content and it still has the not overly produced 😮 face rubbish that so many put on thumbnails with I BOUGHT THE CHEAPEST DE TOMASO PANTERA title. I also think thinning the herd is a good plan. I found keeping three cars taxed, insured and in okay fettle enough. Then driving them even more. When I had to rent a lockup garage in addition to my garage I thought I was going too far. Not very AS, I admit.

My old 530d business mileage cheater. Would do a comfortable 750 miles to a tank, even 800 if you were in lorry drafting mode. Manual gearbox and fifth was a truly intergalactic gear. lowering the tone outside a posh hotel in Newcastle. Before they asked me to move it.

This document is quite good. Written by an old copper about various Police Shite. From the start of motorway patrols up to around 2004/5 I think.

Should you wish to purchase a car, make sure the seller writes out a full receipt with as much legal language as possible. This makes you know he’s a well educated chap and really wants to give the best experience selling as possible.Such as: I one John Tiddlywinks, of 52 Swallowbottom Road, Do here declare that I sell my motor vehicle, one Ford Fusion 1.4 Style, marked BJ08 SUX for the sum of £500 of the kings finest currency to a Mr. Anthony Stillwater, Esq. of 21a Stabbing Heights. This motor vehicle is sold as seen, and the buyer has satisfied themselves as to its mechanical, and cosmetic conditions. I consent to its sale at 17:55 on the 12th of June 2020.

One of my pals has been dealing with this. He’s selling a 2008 BMW 630i, had it since 2019 I think. I’ve helped him out, and we’ve done the big jobs on it. All suspension is new, brake are good, we put six injectors in it, and he had the gearbox reconditioned in it early on in his ownership. It’s as good as it’s been during his ownership. He’s had it listed for a while, and hasn’t seen a lot of interest. One interested party has been asking every “I’m fucking clueless” question under the sun, including the standard comments of ‘I really wish it had main dealer history’. This is on a £4,500, 14 year old BMW. This reminds me how much I hate selling cars. I usually run them until they’re totally done and sell for a tiny amount. Usually a nice Polish chap that gives me an agreed amount, loads it on a trailer and exports it to Holland or somewhere similar. No kesh price bollocks or asking if the first owner preferred bitter or lager.