Search the Community

This will be a short term project so going to start a thread rather than cluttering up my ‘Current long term car’ diary thread. So, after the shit storm of Corsa B to roffle ownership it got me in the mood for another project after the bargain Volvo last year. Had a look on FB marketplace and stumbled across a 2010 new* shape Seat Ibiza. Pretty poor photos, unwashed, unhoovered, just a lazy effort but I could see potential. So what do we have on offer here? 2010 ‘60 plate Seat Ibiza ‘Sport’ 1.6 Pez, N/A, chain driven. 7 speed DSG ULEZ friendly 134k with full stamped history from new, only missing this year as it’s due now. MOT’d last month, runs until 19/03/2025 2 keys Whats wrong with it? The main thing is NSR quarter, they scraped a post in a car park. Unrecorded. Air con isn’t very cold. It was up for £750, I threw a cheeky £500 offer and they replied £600, we met at £550. Here are the advert photos:

Collected on Page 2 here: https://autoshite.com/topic/57354-2006-golf-20tfsi-gti-bargain-basement-high-miler-tfsi-club/?do=findComment&comment=2940644 Mrs SiC is deeply unhappy with me. Apparently I should at least let her know that I'm buying something. However I did show her the advert the other day when she asked what I was doing. Turned her nose up by saying it's old looking and thought I was buying something decent next. Well I thought it was decent ... In truth I was intending to spend a good few grand on something far more modern. Except I was thinking about it while on the long walk to the garage to pick up the TT from it's MOT. Decided to message the chap to have at least a gander. Problem is that I tend to just buy if I see a car. So I tend not to see cars otherwise I'd be in even deeper multi-car doodoo. Seller took it in as a part ex. Got his dad to weld the sills up and then listed it. No interest at the original price. So knocked £195 off his asking price and offered it to me at a price with £500 off since Xmas. I'm a cheeky sod at times and knocked another hundred quid off despite being no offers. 😇 So it's cheap. It's done 197k. Zero history with the car. There is a massive hole where there should be a stereo. It runs, it drives and no warning lights. As there was no tax or insurance, I got the seller to do the test drive. Seemed to drive okay with no untoward noises and no apparent clutch slip. There was a weird grinding type noise when turning sharp out of a corner but I pretended I didn't hear that. While it's cheap, that doesn't mean it is a bargain. So it could be an absolute bargain or just as much an absolute turd that someone has used up all it's life. I'm catching the bus into work as handily there is a direct bus to his. Collection will be tomorrow afternoon/evening after work. Or probably today by the time you are reading this. P.s. someone buy my TT as I have too many cars again.

Right then, this is the ex @SmokinWaffle and @StinkwheelBX that was free in the summer but I paid £250 for last month. Im not too much of a story teller but want to show what's been done and any updates etc for those interested. I've not owned a Citroen for 15 years and that was a *normal one so jumped at the chance to save this beauty. She was rough, slammed to the ground and left everywhere covered in LHM piss. When @SmokinWaffle messaged to say he was struggling to get it off his drive I honestly thought what the f*@k have I let myself in for 😆 @worldofceri delivered her on time and was very helpful throughout, almost like hes done it before. And a huge relief when it fit into the garage fine I'd been briefed the leaks were likely plastic return pipes which they were but also weren't. First tackled the "small octopus" which handles all the return lines and literally disintegrated on contact. Managed to bodge improvise a repair until a more permanent solution be found. Not pretty but it's done the job. The next leak was found to be the NSR brake pipe which was sourced for about £40 from ebay and got this fitted. Surprisingly straight forward to do! All fitted along with a few return pipes I thought I was home and dry, filled her with LHM and up went the front end shortly followed by the back. Brilliant until......another pipe burst. This was a long front to back line and covered a load of the cars underside aswell as the garage floor. Was a bit disheartened as the price of this pipe seemed to be anything from £65 up to £138 which had me questioning if it was worth doing. I managed to find a local Citroen specialist near me and asked if he could help. He made up a pipe for me while I waited with right flares and connectors for £15, absolute hero. I fitted it back home no problem and was certainly a lot easier than taking it off. She's now able to rise and fall and without drenching everything in LHM....yessssss Next up was the nicer to do bits, x2 tyres which were included were fitted Door lock and card replaced easily enough and inside looking much nicer now although the ICE probably isn't up to much - a job for another day Did a mini service on here, probably at least 8/9 years since she's had new oil and filters so had to be done. Definately looked ready. Sounds like she's running alright tho.... https://youtu.be/NEQMb4BUzv4?si=AGBXNIWV9FZuz6zd Had an interesting time sorting out some bodgery in the rear light clusters mainly due to when the towbar was fitted. Dad thankfully helped fix a couple of connections I couldn't manage to trace the fault. Changed a few bulbs, cleaned up connections etc and a bulb board. Here is the donor car at the specialists (new best friend) I mentioned earlier...🤣 I was warned about a bad clutch cable/clutch but adjusted the bite point and seems to be holding up at the moment. After sorting out a washer jet for her I booked an MOT and packed a few breakdown essentials. Only a short distance to the garage but noticed a blow from the exhaust unfortunately en route. We stopped for fuel and love the way she looks back out in the wild again I've never seen the boys show so much interest in a car going for an MOT....😬 All was going well until we found a bearing/Bush loose but not the end of the world so.... After 8/9 years in a barn to only need a bush, exhaust patch and brakes adjusting I'll take it. Absolutely buzzing 🥲 Booked in with my Citroen guy on Wednesday so should have some news by end of week fingers crossed 🤞

What have I found? Busy day at the SiC household. With the Rover gone, it was time to pick up it's replacement. Due to an insurance timing fuck up on my part, @N Dentressangle kindly delivered this for me. Just done four hours of driving going back and forth so I'm now a bit knackered. I'd usually sit in it and have a fiddle but I might end up falling asleep in there.

Decided to stop being a lurker and start being a poster. So in 2020 I bought this, a Citroen AX GT. Why? Why not. I've wanted one forever. Unfortunately I'm terminally poor so I've had to buy a rusty project car. It used to be a Targa rally car. Mechanically it's spot on (except the hilariously unbalanced carb) - Sporting Bilstein B6's all round, polybushed... Bushes, group N gear linkages and engine mounts, and a high lift cam to top it off. With 13(!) previous owners and no service history I'm sure I'll find something scary mind. But that didn't interest me so I decided to do something insane and turn it back into a road car. I'm a bit limited with file sizes here so I'll upload a few from purchase and a few now. Currently it's awaiting welding which I'm trying to raise funds for as I can't weld or do much practical really... So far I've managed to source everything required to actually get it onto the road, sans front seats. As I mentioned though it is really, really in dire need of welding. It's rotten in places I've never seen these rot before. The easy solution would be a reshell but no, I'm a sadist and I hate myself so I'm going to see this through to the end. And then I'm going to enjoy it until it breaks.

I've been on my eye out for one of these for a while. Not in a rush, just waiting for the right one at the right price. I was close to buying @Minimad5/ @Inspector Morose Rover 60. While it was a readily do-able project, I simply couldn't have a third big bodywork project in addition to the two I have already. Would have loved to save it but I'd just snow myself under even more. This came up on the P4 Drivers Guild Facebook page at a good price and looked in good (patina) condition. So despite saying I'd never buy a car sight unseen after the midget debacle, I did just that! As a turn of fate, it was Inspector Morose who delivered it just recently today. The previous owner lives in the Windsor area and drove it on the M4 through Central London. Always a good sign a car is a good runner if it can do that. First impressions of it are very good! No visible filler nor metal patch work.Yes there is patina (rust) but it's a very honest car from what I can tell. There are a few bits and pieces to do however I intend to keep bodywork jobs to an absolute minimum. Maybe patch that hole by the filler cap. The front wing is not attached along the door length and stops the door opening properly. That I think is fixable with a couple of tack welds to hold it back in place. If I go poking I will find stuff, so that will be kept to an absolute minimum... Interior leather seems to be in very good condition. Patch missing on the rear that I'm hoping I can get a patch repair sown in. At least to prevent further damage. The leather needs a good clean and feed. Carpets are wafer thin and grubby. Not sure they'll last any form of cleaning. Tyres are ancient and on the high priority list of things to be sorted. Avon safety speed tyres that are cracked and rock solid. Other bits and pieces are old car stuff. Headlights seem to be MIA after the journey over here. Coolant hoses are heavily cracked (but holding). Starter seems to stick occasionally - I don't know where the crank handle is. Clutch feels high but I'll leave that till it's a problem. Brakes are soft but it's a servo car, so maybe okay - I'll try with the engine off. The old valve radio doesn't work. Gear linkage feels more vague than I expect and perhaps has bushes that need some love. Anyway here are a few photos of it now cluttering my driveway. Quick startup video and walk around. I've done a longer one but I need to do some more work work right now. More later!

Skip to this post for the purchase: I've been keeping an eye out for a cheap runaround recently. Our Civic has been doing the brunt of our journeys and in 7months of ownership we've covered nearly 10k miles. Also where Mrs SiC works has lost its car park and it's been left on main roads. As we don't really want it damaged, it's not ideal. So I've been keeping an eye out for something essentially to replace the Fabia I had. Small, easy to park and cheap to buy+run. Second gen (2008 on) Seat Ibiza 1.4 is on the cards and can be had for under 2k Anyway yesterday we were out and about. I was doing a browse of Autotrader and found a really cheap A3 2.0 TFSi. Basically a Golf GTi in an Audi suit but much cheaper. This in particular was half many go for retail. As we passed, I went to see it. TL;DR Unfortunately the dealer had morals. Someone else was travelling from Bournemouth and he gave them first refusal. Shame as it drove well, had an inch stack of history and even Mrs SiC gave her (rare) thumbs up for it. Did have rusty front wings and duct tape over it, but that's fine for what it'll be used for. After this, it got me thinking that while I like the idea of a cheap to run car, I'll get bored of it. Even though a grand or two is not a lot nowadays, it's still enough. I've now got it in my head I want something decently fast. But there isn't a lot around for that sort of money. Basically the criteria is: - small and thus easy to park (i.e. when I'm late to the train) - sub 2k and ideally less is better - CAZ exempt so basically petrol euro 4 on - not too ridiculous on fuel - 30+ and really 35+ mpg - light steering as Mrs SiC gets annoyed with heavy to drive cars - bodywork condition unimportant but not to the degree of just come out of a banger race There isn't a lot that meet those requirements. Putting a search into Autotrader of sub 8sec 0-60 and sub 2k brings back a lot of one car model. Despite their age now, Mrs SiC gives the nod and like them. That vehicle (if you can't read titles) is the TT mk1. (Bonnet up picture deliberate as many have this as their default position) I used to hate these. I keep saying I hate VAG. I also hate my job but I keep going back to every day. I mean it could be that I'm just a grumpy fucker that says he hates everything but doesn't actually. Anyway like I say I hate work when I'm not at it, I enjoy it immensely when I'm there. Likewise when I'm sat in a VAG product, I do enjoy the experience. Every VAG vehicle Mrs SiC has driven she's liked a lot. Even reluctantly at first (because they are so butt ugly) she actually quite liked the Fabia MK1. So I know something like this is a safe bet that she'll drive it. The looks have soften off in my eyes and I do quite fancy a TT Mk1. Or maybe I just enjoy inflicting pain on myself too much. Gives me something to be grumpy and moan about. There are a few contenders out there that I want to take a look at, any tips on what I should look out for? I'm after critical problems here. Door locks/regulators, dodgy switchgear and such are par for course on this age VAG. That I'm expecting to be broken. Thinking probably 1.8t with the 180bhp engine. Ideally no Quattro Haldex that undoubtedly has been neglected. Or any other similar suggestions that meet the above criteria!

Introduction: I am an idiot. I buy lots of crap. Keep it for about 6 months and then sell it for another project that most people would consider scrap. Join me on my ramblings as I keep old cars going that most people would sooner turn into washing machines or bean tins. Index: Page 1 - Austin Montego Estate 1.3L Base Initial Assessment. Many years of slumber and many rusts Page 12 - Lands End to John O Groats in a Montego. What could possibly go wrong...? Spoiler alert: It went wrong Page 17-18 - Bonus Mini content x2 Page 19 - LEJOG part Deux. The return of the Montenogo Page 24 - Goodbye to the Montego/Mini engine build/Arrival of an Impreza/Departure of my daily/Collection caper of a Volvo 240 - Busy page that one! Page 26 - Scooby departure & Arrival of a new modern-ish daily/track car Page 27 - NC500 2022/Headgasket on the roadside Page 28-30 - A wild Cavalier mk1 appears! A wild MGF appears! Plus bonus Montego content! Departure of the Cavalier. Acquisition of a Rover 414 and a 1979 Mini. I need to stop buying cars... Page 30 - Mexican Beetle Page 34 - Rover 25 GTI arrives Thread: What do you get after 16 hours and 800 miles of driving on a Sunday to collect two cars? Well @sharley17194 picks up a 1997 Citreon AX from the depths of the Lakes on the North West coast past Keswick. However, we actually started the day by driving to just near Cromer on the East coast to pick up this! An Austin Montego poverty spec estate with a 1.3L A-series engine! Yes you did read that bit right! Yes I know the DVLA lists the model as 1.6... Yes its correctly registered as 1.3L. No I dont know if its a factory 1.3L! 😂 My favourite part of all this??? (Apart from the doom blue colour and the absolutely terrible interior!) 281,000 miles on the clock! Collection went really well and the below posts follows my initial assessment of what is quite frankly the best car I have ever purchased.

Hello and welcome to my first proper thread here. Purchased in August 2019 my lovely Rover 3500. I'd gone to look at it and made the brilliant mistake of taking my 8 year old son with me and while I had my doubts when the (pre warmed!) V8 coughed into life and we trundled it round the industrial estate the seller was based on my son was smitten and let's be honest my arm didn't need that much twisting. (I ignored the well patina interior and musty small ) A bit of a poke and and inspection (possibly a little less through than it should have been - it did have an MOT after all) and it was ours and delivery arranged - out of laziness and the fact I did t wan tto do an 80 mile return trip in an unknownor arrange lifts and logistics. Anyway in all its glory, random tyres and mismatched mirrors. Fetching no? The following Sunday morning arrived and so did the Rover and without the pre warmed engine it was a bit more interesting to shuffle it off the train,er and mou t the dropped kerb into my cul desac TADTS. Tho with swearing and a fair amount of choke it was managed and with her V5 it was taxed and ready for a quick spin. When warmed up it would move reasonably well and bar some hansel and gretel style oil trail behind it and a crumbly water pump was pretty pleased. A list of things needed doing. A good service and oil change. New non leaking non grumbling water pump. Some new tyres and the 3 different brands across the 4 on the road were pretty past it. clean the interior and find some new doorcards as well they were a bit warped and past it. Just a bit. No problem. Oil change and service first.. well th oil was nasty, I ended up flushing it with cheap oil and a new filter twice as I couldn't find oil with ZDDP ina bricks and mortar shop. However in the end it was no longer coming out after 50 miles black and opaque. New door cards were ordered in non matching black but tbh I was just glad to loose the completely knackered sandalwood ones. My choice was made food when I managed to snag a set of black leather front and rear seats for 30 quid on gumtree 2 weeks later. Driving was still a bit of a mixed bag even after new tyres, oil, filters and new waterpump as it didn't want to change down the 3 speed box. Ah.. that will be the broken kickdown cable then. No problem what was a bit of a pisser was poking round and finding less than stellar repair in the passenger footwell My own fault for mot poking deeper when I checked it out, I knew it had been plated and repaired but as my son would be sitting there I felt it needed fixing. And tbh he loves it and weighed up selling it and getting another, fixing it myself (🤣😂) or getting it done professionally and went for the latter. I can weld but only just and this was a bigger job than I was comfortable with by some massive margin - that and I wanted to drive it not have it in bits in the garage for 9 months! So it went away for a few weeks, rot was cut out and One side at a time tidied And new metal put in A few rattle cans and structurally made sound again. Since then it has been 3 thousand miles of pretty hassle free motoring. I managed to buy a donor car and steal the rest of the black interior out of it and some sundym tinted glass too as well as a few other odd and sods - including g a working clock But it was all delayed due to the wonderful year that is 2020. The plans for the future as soon as I've sorted a house (and garage!) are to finish replacing the std door glass with sundym, fit a new steering wheel new to me anyway perspex P4 sun visors and get the speedo calibrated and enjoy it as is. There are a few rust bubbles and scabby patches in the paint which has a mass of microblisters in it too but I quite like the look and patina on it as is for now, it's a decent 10- 15 foot paint job. I know the structure is solid and safe and the oil leaks have been cured after a damn good servicing and cleaning out the rocker cover breather tubes and fire traps.

Fackin oops. My goal was not to buy any more cars but with the Lanchester out of action while we work through it and make it safe to use, and the Princess out of action and needing the engine to be removed (a job I am procrastinating about, and when I'm motivated am thwarted by schedule and weather conflicts) it was getting more obvious that I needed some personal transport. Something basic and reliable that I know my way around, that's going to be cheap to buy and run. This is an ideal candidate, on paper. Whether I really can just use it as An Car or will end up getting all finicky about making it nice remains to be seen. I just want some hasslefree pootling for a few months and normally Maestros are just that.

Well... that escalated quickly. Thank you to Autoshite for once again being the enablers that you are. Now, which one of you horrible lot wants to buy my BX to make up for what you made me do?

I've seen a few people do this here, so I thought I would jump on the band wagon and talk about one of my cars. Which just so happens to be a Commie Red 1976 Lada 2101 from Lithuania. Here's the obligatory photo: I've also written about it here on my website: https://www.mywifehatesthiscar.com/the-fleet-avtovaz-lada-2101-nikita/ For those who won't click on it, let me tell you the story about this car. I bought this over a year ago, and it's sat under a tarpaulin on my mom's drive way ever since. She doesn't mind, because she's an Irish mammy and doesn't drive. I bought the car as I liked it's classic design and the fact the wife absolutely hated it. I also sought out something over 40 years old, as Birmingham was/is introducing that daft ULEZ thing and at the time I worked in the city centre. Since then though I'm starting a new job so the whole ULEZ thing doesn't matter now, especially as they haven't bothered to bring it in yet. The Lada itself is from Lithuania, has been in the UK since 1997. I didn't buy it from the original owner, it's been through two owners before it got to me. Neither of which did what the original owner should've done and register it, so that's currently with the DVLA at the moment. What started as me buying a classic Lada to stick two fingers up to Birmingham City Council and my wife has now turned in to a longer term project. I have a Rover 25/MG ZR that I'm taking the engine from, along with an MX5 gearbox, and I'm putting that in to the Lada along with the half leather seats from the Rover. It's going to be a daily, and I want a daily that looks a bit crap and old that will surprise those clowns in their PCP BMW's. At the moment nothing's been done to the car as I haven't the space. Currently in the process of cleaning a garage that hasn't been cleared since I bought the house 5 years ago, and I've a Peugeot 107 and Toyota Corolla that need attention in there before the Lada even gets moved in there. So I'll update this post as well as the website and YouToob with the work on the car as and when, but I just wanted to say how bloody happy I am to be part of the forum with like minded people who won't give me the agro I get from the wife about these cars. Also, FYI about the site, the name doesn't come from the wife's reaction to the Lada. It comes from her reaction to my Corolla!

Been a serial lurker and occasional poster of nonsense, but have never quite got round to posting some pictures and the ongoing tribulations of being a serial VW licker. First a disclaimer - I like old VWs, partly as I grew up with them and partly because I understand how the work and I can fix* them. I do not like the 'scene' attached to them, it seems to attract too many of a certain type of person I am often allergic to - they bring me out in a shouty rage. First car was a'69 beetle in red, driven flat out everywhere until the rust took it. This was followed by a succession of Mk2 golf , vauxhall omega (vauxhall being close to VW in the sales ads) a free Mk3 golf which was dire and tried to kill me multiple times. I have no photos of any of these as they were pre-camera phone and mostly awful. Then came a T25 camper bought using generous donations from friends and family at our wedding . Bought, and a week later after hovering 15 years of dog hair out of it, we drove it all the way to northern Norway on honeymoon. Used it for a while. Bought a vauxhall astra estate (again, it was almost a VW in the sales section). It sucked. It did a year of commuting then it was scrapped. Was gifted a skoda fabia estate by my dad as a sensible run around. During this time my wife wanted a sensible runaround for her and the kids, so we bought a bright orange 1971 beetle (rusty of course) which was excellent fun. People were openly critical of apparent lack of regard for our offsprings safety. I pointed out it had seat belts. Due to rusting the T25 was sold as a project, the Skoda was sold for being too dull and a T2 purchased. Here is the peak of VW ownership, where the beetle, bay and T25 are all in one place just before sale: So now we had two aircooled vehicles, the newest of which was made in 1973. This lasted for exactly 9 months., during which I did lots of this: to be repeatedly rewarded with this: When the breakdown driver asks how the kids are getting on, you know you've seen him too much.... I also conducted some invisible repairs on the rusty bits of the beetle. I'll point them out if anyone can't see them: A promotion and car allowance then allowed me to purchase a C3 Picasso (best not ask, I hate it). Its purple. I feel like a dick when I drive it. Beetle then had to go due to third child and not enough seats, but it had the good engine, the van did not. A swap occurred. My neighbors love* me and find my antics endearing*. I clearly have no need for a drive or garage. After 1 too many FTPs, I was told van or family. I chose family and the van left. I then went a looked at another T25 minibus (three kids now) and was in much trouble for even considering another van. Two weeks later, after some small* arguments* we were in total agreement* and the van was purchased. Roughly 18 months ago - note lovely laqueer peel, mismatched rear wing and low level tide mark: After some light fiddling I have made a very basic day van affair, and we dragged it with camping gear and the three kids all the way up to the arctic circle in Finland last summer (wife has family in that part of the world). 6 days before departure I noticed the rear suspension had a bit of paint hanging off. I pulled and it showed this below: Trip to machine mart, a google of "mig wleding for numpties" and a youtube video later and I'd made this: and away we went. Here it is in a moody B&W photo in the land of the midnight sun, which really brings out the high quality paint. the rear suspension is still attached though, so winning. That's an epic catch up post really, but will use this space now to document the exciting* repairs and work done on it to keep everything attached .and working....

Ive been waiting to run a project thread, but as it seems i do so many projects at once picking one is a night mare, plus my plans change faster than the wind, i thought id create a random project thread and id just update it with whatever i was working on at the time. The current list of candidates is as follows.... Vanden Plas 1300 - parked 1993 Mini SPI - finish stripping engine for MG 1300 MGF 75th Edition - NEW - SCRAPPED Rover 75 - SCRAPPED Ausitn 1300 GT - SOLD Purple Morris 1100 - NEXT! - SOLD Blue MG 1300 - scrapped Red 1985 mini - engine rebuilt Green 1971 mini - winter hibernation White MG 1300 repaint and rebuild Blue mk1 Ausitn 1100 welding and paint Blue mk1 wolesley - decide on future Baby Blue mk2 morris 1300 - SCRAPPED Clubman estate - a one day project - SOLD Magenta kit car x3 ....1 one road, one painted red, one waiting to be scrapped - 1 scrapped, 1 sold White Vanden Plas 1300 - SCRAPPED Ford KA X1 - SCRAPPED Volvo v70 - SOLD Golf GTE - SOLD Mg 1100 - 1963 - With little garage classics being rebuilt. Mg 1100 - 1965 - SOLD MGF x1 - one scrapped one now on the road. Reliant Robin x2 - one scrapped one now on the road - SOLD 1983 MG Metro - in temp storage 1967 Austin 1100 estate - SOLD New cars to fleet: 2000 Mondeo TD Estate

Yes, one of those. You've seen the car before, and I've already used up my best jokes (so I'll repeat them). An epic journey, including: - THREE COUNTIES - THAT LONDON - TRAINS - SHANKS' PONY - And possibly a pastry-encased but disappointing meal

Well, here we go again. I bit the bullet and bought me this. It's still up at the lot right now, there will be a miniature Collection Thread embedded in this thread when I go fetch it. Hopefully if the weather's good, that'll be this weekend. So, what is it? As the title suggests, it's a 1951 Pontiac Chieftain. It's got a flat-head straight eight hiding in the engine bay, 4.4 litres of it. It's bolted to a 4-speed Hydra-Matic Drive gearbox. No torque converter on this one, just a fluid coupling. 116 horses at a screaming 3700 RPM, 240lb/ft at 2000. It idles at 375 RPM. Redline just shy of 4k. Did I mention it's quite big? Sixteen foot eight from end to end and it seats six people in comfort. Every door has a quarter-light, too. Comfort is provided by properly sized tyres and (quite surprisingly for the age of it) double independent wishbone front suspension. Steering is via worm/wheel steering box so is moderately direct and the brakes are hydraulic drums all round. Modern and scientific! It's an honest example; looks to have had a "restoration" about 15-20 years back and the rust is coming through the seams and filler. The bottoms of the door skins have gone, the bottom of the A-pillars have gone (the front doors, on a single hinge a piece still open and close with one finger!) And it's got a couple holes and blebs in all the places you would expect. Not much electrical works. It needs to be completely rewired because someone has "converted" it to 12V. Thankfully it was originally negative ground so that's a good start. Gauges and such can be driven from a 6V bucking converter. Engine has had some work done on it- starts and runs nicely with very little greb coming out of the exhaust. It's got a few gaskets that need replacing and the tappets need some major adjustment, the gearbox engages gears correctly, the steering is okay but has a lot of slack in the center and the brakes work well, dont sink or feel spongy but need adjustment. More to come. I'll post up more pictures when I get it home. --Phil

Well I've been meaning to sign up here in forever, but kept forgetting. Thanks to someone over on another forum I frequent poking me about it recently the subject was forced back into my very brief attention span for long enough to get me to act on the instruction. I figure that my little varied fleet might bring you lot some amusement... So...we've got: 1993 Lada Riva 1.5E Estate (now fuel injected, as I reckon the later cars should have been from the factory...). 1989 Saab 900i Automatic. 1987 Skoda 120LX 21st Anniversary Special Edition. 1985 Sinclair C5. 2009 Peugeot 107 Verve. Now getting the photos together has taken me far longer than I'd expected...so you're gonna get a couple of photos of each car for now, and I'll come back with some more information tomorrow when I've got a bit more time... Firstly...The Lada. Before anyone asks - in response to the single question I get asked about this car: No, it is not for sale. Took me 13 years and my father's inheritance to find the thing. Yes, it's got the usual rusty wings...Hoping that will be resolved in the next couple of months. Next, a proper old Saab. One of the very last 8 valve cars apparently, and all the better for it. I've driven two 16v autos and they were horrible - the auto box works sooooo much better with the torque curve of the 8 valve engine. Just wish it had an overdrive for motorway cruising... Next up a *real* Skoda...back when they put the engine where it belongs, right out the back. In the best possible colour of course...eye-searingly bright orange. Seat covers have been added since that photo was taken as it suffers from the usual rotting seat cloth problem that affects virtually all Estelles. Then we have possibly the world's scruffiest Sinclair C5... Realised when looking for this that I really need to get some more photos of the thing...I use it often enough after all! We have a dog who's half husky, so this is a really good way of getting him some exercise. Finally - again, I really need to take more photos of - we have the little Pug 107. Included for the sake of variety even if it's a bit mainstream! First (and probably to be the only) new car I've bought, and has been a cracking little motor and has asked for very little in return for putting up with nearly three years of Oxford-Milton Keynes commuter traffic, before finally escaping that fate when my housemate moved to a new job. Now it doesn't do many miles and is my default car for "when I've managed to break everything else." I'll fill in some more details tomorrow - I warn you though that I do tend to ramble...

This week, for the first time ever, I felt old. I have sciatica which swaps from one side to the other, arthritis in one hand and what I think is the beginnings of IBS. On top of that it took me 2 weeks to remember a registration number that once would take me 2 seconds, and I forgot my parent's wedding anniversary. I'm only 32. Shit. No I'm not. I'm 33. I forgot that too. (Genuinely) So, it's about time I committed some of my tales to paper. Well, a shonky server... but that's the best you can do in 2016. First up, a list of the cars I've owned (as best as I can remember) in chronological order. Main Cars 1985 VW Polo Formel E. C158 TRT. This was given to me even before I passed my test. 1991 Rover Metro S. J801 TAC. Bought about 3 months after I passed my test as I was convinced the Polo was about to shit its gearbox. 1987 Volvo 360 GLT. D899 CBJ ___ Managed three months in a Metro before the small car and smaller petrol tank became a bore. Ford Mondeo and Honda Civic Coupe by Bornite Identity, on Flickr 1999 Ford Mondeo Zetec. V384 DBJ. Still the most I've ever spent on a car. It was 3 years old and cost, from memory, about £8,000. Just think of the Rover R8s you could buy with that now! 1987 Volkswagen Golf GTI 8v by Bornite Identity, on Flickr 1987 Volkswagen Golf GTI D79 CVV. I very nearly bought a MK1 Golf 1.1 but was persuaded, by my father amusingly, to buy this one from a different friend. From memory I gave about £500 for it, and sold it to some racers later that year for about £300. Amusingly, 16 year later I'd sell the Hartge wheels that came with the car for £530. 1999 Toyota Avensis CDX by Bornite Identity, on Flickr 1999 Toyota Avensis CDX. V781 GDP. By far the best car I've ever had. Bought in 2002 for £5300, it had previously been a company car at British Telecom. I ran it from 62,000 to 174,000 before it became surplus to requirements. A German chap bought it on ebay for about £500 and drove over to collect it. Hero. 2001 Ford Mondeo Zetec by Bornite Identity, on Flickr 2001 Ford Mondeo Zetec. Y821 EEB. I should have loved this car. I gave £500 for it in 2008 which was stupidly cheap by anybody's standards. It needed 4 tyres (which actually was nice to pick good ones for once) and a coil spring. Sadly, it was just bill after bill after bill. I sold it and promised to never own another Ford. I nearly succeeded. 1998 Nissan Almera by Bornite Identity, on Flickr 1998 Nissan Almera GX Auto. S58 NLO. My late Grandfather's car and, upon reflection, my first proper attempt at bangernomics. I bought it for £500 in 2008 from the estate and ran it for well over a year and 30,000 miles. It was also my first automatic which, whilst a bit dumb, did lock up into overdrive and give a good 36 mpg no matter how it was driven. 2004 Ford Fiesta 1.25 LX and 2006 Ford Focus 2.0 Ghia by Bornite Identity, on Flickr 2004 Ford Fiesta Zetec. AG53 BWL. My wife's car which I ran for a couple of years when I bought her a Focus as a wedding gift. 2003 Rover 75 by Bornite Identity, on Flickr 2003 Rover 75 Club SE. AX53 BFA. This is where my career as a serial car buyer really began. Ignoring all of the warning signs I decided to press a K Series into a daily 100 mile commute, which it did with aplomb. This wasn't actually the car I set out to buy, the one I'd agreed to buy OVERHEATED ON THE FORECOURT whilst I was doing the paperwork. Consequently I couldn't leave fast enough and bought a different car later that day. 2004 Toyota Avensis T30-X by Bornite Identity, on Flickr 2004 Toyota Avensis T3-X. KT53 DWZ. Sensible head back on, I decided to get back into something I trusted when my 3rd son was born. This was a lovely car, but not without its problems. The VVTi oil burning issues are well documented and do frequently occur. Ironically, this was less reliable than the Rover it replaced! Despite fearing the worst and 3 months off the road, the new owner has just MOTd it. 1999 Toyota Avensis SR by Bornite Identity, on Flickr 1999 Toyota Avensis SR. V263 GDP. Back into bangernomics territory again. The last MK1 Avensis I had was the best car I'd ever had, so I hoped to replicate it with another T22 Avensis. This one came up for sale in my favourite (and rare) colour with a numberplate sequential to my previous car - so it was meant to be. I still have this now, and tomorrow it will tick around to 185,000 miles having been bought by me at 100,500. Side Bitches 1974 Morris Mini 1000 by Bornite Identity, on Flickr 1974 Morris Mini 1000. GEL 517N. Well, I always wanted one - and was young, free, single and well off at the time (2003). A memorable trip to buy it when I called my new girlfriend by my ex girlfriend's name 20 miles into a 200 mile weekend away. She's never forgiven or forgotten but we're still friends. Oh - and married. 1977 Ford Capri II GL by Bornite Identity, on Flickr 1977 Ford Capri II 1600 GL. SMY 675R. I can't remember why I bought this, other than I thought it'd be amusing. It was bought from Norwich for £350 and was perfectly well behaved for the 8 months that I had it (other than a flasher unit expiring). I remember being shocked just how much the windscreen would ice up inside, and duly sold it in November to a guy who was going to drive it daily! It's still alive and now, apparently, black! (Update - it's now silver!!!) 1989 Volvo 340 DL by Bornite Identity, on Flickr 1989 Volvo 340 DL. G67 AVN. I bought this for £80. Unbelievable. It was utterly bloody perfect. I wanted to do a banger rally which is why the guy gave it to me so cheap. I'm still yet to do that rally, but no longer have the car. I sold it for about £300 to a family who were clearly down on their luck who, I hope, still have the car. 1996 Toyota Granvia by Bornite Identity, on Flickr 1996 Toyota Granvia. N775 JEV. My wife and I decided to increase our numbers further and, with our 4th son on the way, larger transport was required. We quickly realised you can either have 4 children and no apparel, or apparel and no children. After trying a very tired Mercedes Viano, the Granvia was found for 1/4 of the price and it's still here 2 years later. I can safely say that we'll never sell it - it really is another member of the family. 1993 Mercedes 190e by Bornite Identity, on Flickr 1993 Mercedes 190e. L795 COJ. I've admired these cars since I was a child. In fact, one of the very few toy cars I still have from my childhood is a Mercedes 190e. Regular readers of "Memoirs from the Hard Shoulder" will know what a PITA this car has been since day 1, but I get the feeling it's a keeper. We'll see! 1983 Ford Sierra Base 1.6 by Bornite Identity, on Flickr 1983 Ford Sierra Base. GVG 510Y. Not explicitly my car, but it should be documented here for reference. Oh - and the V5 is in my name. The story is online for all to read as to how five of us acquired what is believed to be the only remaining Ford Sierra Base. Make a brew and read it, it's a fantastic story. 1982 Ford Sierra L by Bornite Identity, on Flickr 1982 Ford Sierra L. LCR 503Y. I accidentally won this on ebay for £520. Upon reflection, I shouldn't have sold it - but short stop of saying I regret it. I could never get truly comfortable driving it and, in fairness, I could scratch my Sierra itch with the base if I wanted. Sold it at a stupid profit of £1250. It is believed to be the oldest remaining Ford Sierra in the UK. 1979 Volvo 343 DL by Bornite Identity, on Flickr 1979 Volvo 343 DL. DBY 466T As you'll see above, I'd had a 360GLT as a younger lad and fancied one of these earlier cars. The variomatic is, frankly, terrible but amusing. This car has just 8000 miles on the clock and inside was absolutely timewarp. Sadly, the huge bill for the Mercedes 190e cylinder head rebuild meant I had to sell this car shortly after acquiring it. Since then I've had a bit of money luck, and now realise I didn't need to sell it after all. Typical. I think that's it. My arthritis is playing up even more now. I've left out a few cars that were actually my wife's, but if I find pictures will add them in at a later date. I'll run this as an ongoing thread on cars and what's happening. Current SitRep: Purple Avensis: Just about to click over 185,000. Minor drama this week when an HT lead split but otherwise utterly fantastic, fantastically boring and boringly reliable. Granvia: Just done 1000 miles in a month around Norfolk, 6 up with suitcases. 31mpg achieved on the way up which is good for an old tub with a 3.0 Turbo Diesel on board. ODO displaying 175,000 which is a mix of miles and kilometers. Say 130,000 miles for argument's sake. Mercedes: Being a PITA. It's had the top end completely rebuilt after the chain came off. Now needs welding to pass another MOT and the gearbox bearings are on strike. It's about to go into the garage for winter until I can stomach it again. 151,000 miles on the clock. Sierra bASe: Still on sabbatical with AngryDicky who only took it bloody camping in cornwall! Legend.

First some background: I was brought up with no car interest, a car was transport and nothing more which resulted in a selection of poor cheap cars being the cars of my youth. Fast forward many years (just over 9 years ago) and I have a wonderful* Vauxhall Vectra estate to carry us about. Unfortunately it is crap and throws fault codes at us with nothing being there when it is checked (even at Vauxhall) As Mrs T is the main pilot of this chariot with the two little miss T's on board, it has to go. The hunt is on for the new steed to safely and comfortably carry the family around. I have a company car at the time so big journeys are not an issue. ebay is my weapon of choice to find the new family car. It has to be good value cheap for no other reason than I am tight. Weeks of research with lots of cars that are too expensive and too far away for easy collection end up in my watch list. Finally a possible is spotted in Fife. I go and have a look and find a poor looking but solid car. One previous owner and lots of history. The auction was to end on the Saturday at midday, we were going to be out! I decided on how much I was willing to gamble on it and on the Saturday morning I put in my max bid but straight away it went to my max bid, I was winning but it had three hours to go with no room for me to go up! We went out anyway. I spent the next three hours kicking myself for not bidding more while we were out as it was the first car I had seen that fitted my criteria. Fate was in charge. On returning home I go straight on ebay to find 'Congratulations.............' For the grand total of £500 I had just won this fine vehicle! It has 5 months MOT and after fitting seat belts in the rear for the girls car seats it is pushed into daily service. My gamble and subsequent use results in a perfectly reliable car that actually does what it is supposed to do. Even more importantly Mrs T loves it so a win all round. All my cars have names (most are earned over a bit of time) and this one is called 'Gwendolen' ( G reg car and from Wales originally. I hate the name but I am not going to argue) That sums up part one, more will be along later (probably much later)

After several years here I'll fully admit I am not a seasoned chod-veteran like many, but I'll begin with my dad and American chod. During my teenage years this was the toy barn: My first adventure in rebuilding began with my dad's 1952 GMC truck. Started like this. Freshly imported from a dry state with a solid body. Rear axle had been dragged around for a while and the drums were worn half away. 228 cubic inches of straight six with knackered rings. Rebuild commenced. Spent a year rebuilding the engine with all fresh bits imported from the states. Neglected to acid dip it, and turned out one of the splash oil bores was clogged with crud. 500 miles later the big ends melted and fused. Much swearing, much vehicle aimed violence. Out comes that lump. This prime piece of chod donated it's heart. 350ci of v8 muscle*. Actually originated in a smog tune Camaro, so about as shite a v8 as you can pick. Truck now owned by a family friend looking like this: My own first motor was this. 1972 VW Beetle 1302s Lasted 500 miles. Failed on rust. Got it on the ramp and it had rusted right across the rear end. Engine was about to damn fall out. Whole thing needed a new floor plan. Got broken for parts. That got replaced with this: Golf 1.4i cl In around 2006. 72,000 miles on it at the time. One old lady owner from new, giffer driven, full VW service history. Bargain at £1k. Much work was done Now at 156,000. Syncromesh dead in 2nd and 3rd. Very noisy tappets. Engine mounts shot. Rotten jacking points. Bugger won't die. MOT runs out next week, and I feel really bad at the idea of breaking it. Going to stick it in and see if it will pass an MOT, but I'm getting fed up of having squeaky bumhole journeys that it will drop a valve. 18 months ago, added this to the fleet: Scirocco 1.8 8v carb £1k on ebay, advertised with one line of information. 67,000 miles, FSH, 3 owners from new, mainly giffer driven, but owned by a young guy for a year before I bought it. Solid body, decent engine. Mk2 Golf GTD gearbox with a massively tall 5th gear (2k RPM = 80mph). Saving the pennies while commuting yo! Issues have been that it has not had it's perishables repaired in a long time, so since I've had it it's had: New hard brake lines New braided soft brake lines De-rusted and waxoyled fuel lines. New timing belt and aux belt. New temp sensor. A new CV Carb rebuild. In between I briefly flirted with a a Renault 4 van and a BMC FG350 Ambulance (converted to a camper). No photos of these. There's also been this 1987 Scirocco GTX 150,000 I bought locally as a cat C write off with the intention of repairing. Then found out the A-pillar, the B-pillar and rear chassis were buckled. Would never have been right again. Broke her for parts. Finally Jaguar S-Type 3.0 v6. Recently bought this for a charity rally. T-reg 1999, so think it still counts as chod. Plus it cost £750 and has done 165,000 miles.

This. By popular* demand* here is a thread about the least popular VW van around. The photo is as bought, back in 2006. Purchased with a year's MOT, 6 months tax, and a caravan all for £600. To his credit, the seller had received many enquiries from people wanting to buy either the caravan or van, but not both although refused to end the auction early when there were bids already on it. So it failed to go anywhere near what I thought it would sell for. The combination suited us well, as we could live in the caravan wile we carried out major house work, and use the van for carrying building materials. This we did, enduring a sometimes cosy but often cold winter in the caravan while I used the LT as my only road legal vehicle. It was already carpeted inside, with a simple electrical system as it had been previously used as a motorbike race van. It saw a little bit of use as a 'tent on wheels', seen here in Scotland in 2007: I'd always wanted to build a campervan, although I kept this quiet when seeking domestic funding for buying it in the first place! So when the bulk of the work was done, I suggested using some fittings from the caravan to convert it. This was met with approval (to my surprise), and we planned to take it to a festival one August. I waited for a forecast of dry weather, but none came and I was running out of time so ended up booking time off work a week before the festival. The reason for dry weather is that I wanted to tackle some welding... As it turned out, I had one dry day to work on it! After much searching I'd bought some genuine VW panels (despite forum experts saying there were none remaining), which fitted very nicely Managed to get that far on Monday, then it was time to tackle the floorpan but I'll leave that tale for another day...

So many broken picture links! I'll fix it one day. I feel I can finally unlurk properly now that I have something worthy of Autoshite to post about. Day One In the cold light of Day Two Came with some great features. The best thing about vinyl is that you *can* scrub it clean and with this old boat that was needed; everything was sticky and left a black residue on the hands. I've only been able to bring myself to spend an hour on the driver's door, the rest will have to wait for now. Doesn't look as big as it feels, weirdly. This is going to be my new daily in a few months, just got to get through a lot of cleaning and a bit of fettling. She's actually not that bad overall and only cost me £450 (plus £25 day insurance to collect her). The problems? >Quite a few rust blebs, but nothing serious or structural >Handbrake needs adjusting, I have to chock the wheels when parked on the drive >Driver's door window doesn't work >Probably decades of hand grease and silicone spray, built up in alternating layers. The engine bay is cleaner than the cabin. >Bonnet rams don't hold up the bonnet. >Neither do the boot rams. >Garage fitted electric fuel pump has no supressor, interferes with the LW/MW radio >PYE tape deck needs new belts, music played on it sounds like it's underwater >Bad previous respray with water contamination. But you know what, none of that matters. She's supremely comfortable and with some TLC over the summer should be in fine fettle. I'm not sure whether or not the people that look with face agog and jaw slack as I drive past are impressed, worried or amazed that a beige Princess with a brown roof still exists and is out on the road with someone a long way from pensionable age driving it.