uk_senator

All I can tell you at this stage is that its been sitting in a garage since 2007 & was allegedly fine when he put it there. I think its an ELX.

Love the way Italian is now featuring in your wanted lists more often, the bug has been caught! 😁 I`ve potentially been offered an early (P) Marea estate, unfortunately for you, its of the 5 cylinder 2.0 petroleum distillate variety (& unfortunately for me, doesnt meet upcoming ULEZ emissions requirements).

No need to get offended Podsta, I meant it in an affectionate way... Its an 80`s Renault, its "shite" as are all mainstream 80`s cars, going by the Autoshite definition..

He just got out of the Previa on ITV news, looked like he was in London.. I wonder what his stance on the ULEZ is.. Although the charge can probably be put on their expenses, knowing that lot..

I knew it was something French, small & "shite" !

I`m fairy sure I`ve seen a white Renault 5 Mk2 on his drive, behind him, in recent (within 2 years) news interviews too.

There's also these (house also around £1.5 mill). The neighbours, all with immaculately manicured gardens, must love him!

There's plenty of shite outside million pound houses down here, obviously, but this one sprung to mind.. A £1000 Rover, wearing a £10k plate, outside a £1.5 mill house.

Well, despite being half Italian, I didn't know any of that, as I`ve never asked.. Sod that for a game of soldiers. One of my friends has moved from America to Italy recently, & now wants to buy a car there, she asked me if I knew anything about it, as she`d heard there was agro involved & was considering buying a stream of cars from neighbouring countries, leaving them on foreign plates, then getting another if/when she's told she cant use them any more.. I'm now seeing why that could be a good option..

The rear wiper does need doing, its one of the best features evah! The clutch sounds like it wasnt centred properly when it was last changed to me, it'd be worth checking, unfortunately the box has to come out to do it.. The header tank could mean it's gone for a period with no antifreeze, or, could be that someone's put some kind of sealer in to `fix` a leaking rad, (or HGF.. unlikely) IIRC, the steering adjust n them is just a long bolt with a nylock nut on the end rather than a collet system, so just needs nipping up. Defo worth wire brushing the previous repairs to check "quality", then etch prime, paint & waxoyl. Worth doing all the sill to floor joins in the same way too, & cavity waxing the lot. Once fully serviced, there's no reason it couldn't be a daily, there's loads of Fiat densels`s in Europe happily chugging round with 3-500,000 miles on them on all original running gear! The only electrical items my needed in 16 years were 2 drivers central locking motors (+ an earthing dizzy pickup wire, but that's not applicable here), so they are quite hardy, despite the perceived complexity & Ay-tai reputation.. Oh, & the headlights will be shite, you can sort them by fitting relays, if you can be arsed. BTW, if you need/want that OSR door, come get it, or I`ll be using it for repair sections!

Sounds like the ideal long termer with all that wax sloshing about underneath, & its probably lowered the centre of gravity! Re the Marea, not many cars like being changed down into first over a few mph, so its not a problem as such. Changing the oil may help a bit (& probably needs doing anyway), but it doesn't sound unusual to me.

When I worked at a Jaguar dealer there were a few customers like that. One that sticks out was an XJS Convertible, it was about 8 years old & came in with slightly rusty floorpans, in the end it had a full blown resto, including brand new engine (with all ancillaries), autobox, complete wiring loom, every piece of suspension etc. His final bill was around £40k, which he was fine with, despite it being about 3-4 times the value of the car at the time. I wish I could remember its reg, to see if its still around.

Bring back back-to-basic financing.