New minge-bag motoring

[Largactil]

Have you stolen Dr Who's dog?

 

Aha - That's a little dinky B&W enlarger (oh err!) - Does look like K-9's offspring, though!

[Cavcraft]

Likewise, Ross, and hats off to you for such a journey. Your car is class, and proof that older motors can be used everyday for all kinds of journeys.

[wackywacerwill]

Smiles for miles this thread. Always a pleasure to see the little pug soldering on and more so as the reports are nicely written with pretty pics.

 

Re the back bouncy bar, almost 100% it's never been messed with as iirc wilko's bro was the second owner after an elderly gent with me being the third. I doubt the old boy ever messed with it and I certainly didn't.

[Wilko220]

Yep, Brutha Wilko was indeed the second owner after an OAP and neither of them made any mods of that nature

[Morgan84]

Could that not have been converted into a 5 speed without a lot of additional components required ?

 

That little cars doing very well;the thing is with a older car like that,as long as you keep on top of basic maintainance and put decent parts in,they 'should' be as reliable as they were when new.Too many decent motors get killed off too early through neglect - cambelt manages to kill a few off early !

[Largactil]

Could that not have been converted into a 5 speed without a lot of additional components required ?

 

As far as I'm aware, not much changed on the TU9 engine, so a 5 speeder should be a straight swap - But the peasant-spec nature of the XE is part of the attraction, so I'd rather stick with a 4 speed. (4th is a very looooong gear ratio in the OEM 'box - And it doesn't seem to hurt economy, as I've had 46mpg + out of it on a run )

[Largactil]

Reading about Mr Van of Bread’s recent 205 purchase prompted me into giving this thread a quick update.

 

The peasant Pug has been enjoying a much more sedate existence of late, harking back to its days as giffer transport in St. Albans...

 

...at least it was, until I signed a lease on a flat just north of Dublin, and pressed it back into service as the finest 954cc load lugger in the land.

 

With 200kg + of my tat to haul across the Irish Sea, the rear bench had to come out to squeeze in the essential 42†Plasma telly (much cheaper to buy over here), as well as many other household items.

 

 

 

The fully-laden Pug blezzed down to Cairnryan ferry port without issue, coping well with Glasgow rush hour traffic – 2.5 hours later and we’re in Belfast, bound for the M1 south to Dublin, and arriving at my new gaff 7 hours after leaving Stirling, in Scotland.

 

I had to fly back to Scotland a few days later for work commitments, so the Pug sat dormant for a fortnight, before I flew back to Dublin last Friday to fetch it, driving it back to the UK via the Belfast ferry once again, with added OMG SNO KAOS!!!

 

 

 

 

(I guess this is probably the first time the car has left mainland Britain in its life, so a bit of a novelty in that, I suppose!)

 

As a treat for looking after me so well, I elected to replace the rear bench with my £4.50 eBay purchase…

 

Before:

 

 

After:

 

 

(I’ll pull them both out again in the summer, and give them a good seeing to... )

 

Also cleaned the boot floor – Pleasingly solid for a 23 year old...

 

 

 

Still debating whether to bring it over to Eire full time to live – I’m in the UK a bit, so handy to have transport here. We’ll see.

 

As mentioned in Breadman's thread - In boggo basic spec, they really are a modern day 2CV...

 

The peasant Pug abides, man – The peasant Pug abides...

[Largactil]

Reading about Mr Van of Bread’s recent 205 purchase prompted me into giving this thread a quick update.

 

The peasant Pug has been enjoying a much more sedate existence of late, harking back to its days as giffer transport in St. Albans...

 

...at least it was, until I signed a lease on a flat just north of Dublin, and pressed it back into service as the finest 954cc load lugger in the land.

 

With 200kg + of my tat to haul across the Irish Sea, the rear bench had to come out to squeeze in the essential 42†Plasma telly (much cheaper to buy over here), as well as many other household items.

 

 

 

The fully-laden Pug blezzed down to Cairnryan ferry port without issue, coping well with Glasgow rush hour traffic – 2.5 hours later and we’re in Belfast, bound for the M1 south to Dublin, and arriving at my new gaff 7 hours after leaving Stirling, in Scotland.

 

I had to fly back to Scotland a few days later for work commitments, so the Pug sat dormant for a fortnight, before I flew back to Dublin last Friday to fetch it, driving it back to the UK via the Belfast ferry once again, with added OMG SNO KAOS!!!

 

 

 

 

(I guess this is probably the first time the car has left mainland Britain in its life, so a bit of a novelty in that, I suppose!)

 

As a treat for looking after me so well, I elected to replace the rear bench with my £4.50 eBay purchase…

 

Before:

 

 

After:

 

 

(I’ll pull them both out again in the summer, and give them a good seeing to... )

 

Also cleaned the boot floor – Pleasingly solid for a 23 year old...

 

 

 

Still debating whether to bring it over to Eire full time to live – I’m in the UK a bit, so handy to have transport here. We’ll see.

 

As mentioned in Breadman's thread - In boggo basic spec, they really are a modern day 2CV...

 

The peasant Pug abides, man – The peasant Pug abides...

[hairnet]

vrt will rape yer wallet - keep it uk regd

[hairnet]

vrt will rape yer wallet - keep it uk regd

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Great update. I like seeing this car.

 

 

(I guess this is probably the first time the car has left mainland Britain in its life, so a bit of a novelty in that, I suppose!)

 

Irish numberplates are terrible. Surely the advantage of being a relatively small country is that you can have very simple, short, instantly memorable plates. No, instead you get "did you catch the number of the car that hit you?" "Yes, it was one-three-one-doubleyou-doubleyou... then I think his phone number". Still at least if every man woman and child in the Republic started buying twenty cars every year they wouldn't run out of numbers.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Great update. I like seeing this car.

 

 

(I guess this is probably the first time the car has left mainland Britain in its life, so a bit of a novelty in that, I suppose!)

 

Irish numberplates are terrible. Surely the advantage of being a relatively small country is that you can have very simple, short, instantly memorable plates. No, instead you get "did you catch the number of the car that hit you?" "Yes, it was one-three-one-doubleyou-doubleyou... then I think his phone number". Still at least if every man woman and child in the Republic started buying twenty cars every year they wouldn't run out of numbers.

[Spiny Norman]

Brilliant! I've really got the hots for a 205 again, there was one just like yours for sale locally on Ebay at the weekend for a mere £250BIN and I hesitated and of course someone else pulled the trigger and when I went back it had gone.

[Spiny Norman]

Brilliant! I've really got the hots for a 205 again, there was one just like yours for sale locally on Ebay at the weekend for a mere £250BIN and I hesitated and of course someone else pulled the trigger and when I went back it had gone.

[Largactil]

Brilliant! I've really got the hots for a 205 again, there was one just like yours for sale locally on Ebay at the weekend for a mere £250BIN and I hesitated and of course someone else pulled the trigger and when I went back it had gone.

 

Mines has definitely been the best £250 I've ever spent...40mpg +, cheap tax / insurance, reliable so far and buttons to fix if it breaks

 

I have to say - During my time running around Ireland in the 205, I didn't see another car as old as mine (1990) - The next oldest was a 1995 base model Starlet.

 

(It was even referred to as a 'classic' in a petrol station, which was a little sad given how numerous 205's still are on UK shores).

 

From what I understand, the scrappage scheme killed a huge amount of old chod - And the crazy road tax is killing the remainder.

 

A diesel 205 with the XUD9 would be ideal for my needs over there - Were it not for the £600 per year road tax one would attract...

 

(The 954cc TU9 in my car is a far more reasonable £178 P.A.)

[shedvan]

Reckon on it costing €220-€250 for VRT, my G plate Polo breadvan cost approx €230 around a year back, which is reasonable I guess, the minimum is/was €220 - VRT is a real expense on something recent so I guess its more to exclude/price out grey importing than old stuff. Its based on the list price when new so I think a 205 like yours would be at the lower end.

 

I hope you keep it personally as it is a shame how few older cars there are around, particularly regular oldies.

[Largactil]

A sad day the other week, when the Peasant Spec Pug departed into new ownership…

 

 

A 14 month / 8,000 mile adventure in bangernomics drew to a close, and it was kind of fitting that I was behind the wheel on my final drive as it ticked over to 80,000 miles (was on 72k when I bought it from Will).

 

Why the change?

 

I’ve been unfaithful to the AS ethos, and bought a new modern to take over to Ireland – One which Mrs Largactil will drive, so taking the Pug was a non-starter.

 

I did look at keeping it in my folks garage, but my old man would have moaned the ears off my head about “the scrapper in my garage restricting access to my golf sticks / gardening gearâ€Â.

 

Old cars like to be run regularly, anyway – A friend of a friend asked if I was selling. He’s had a rough time of it recently, and has been car-less for a while since his Saxo died of OMGHGF.

 

His commute involves a 1.5 mile walk each way from the bus station to an industrial estate, which isn’t a lot of fun in inclement weather.

 

He offered £350 for it (6 months tax / 6 months MOT remaining), and given the issues many on this fine forum have had selling chod in better condition than the 205, I took it.

 

So, in the end, 5 or 6 return trips from central London to central Scotland (a couple from NW6 to Aberdeen), a trip to Lands End and a spell as a removal truck to Dublin via Belfast.

 

It’s certainly been worth the £250 I paid for it.

 

(Although I have spent £300 on belts / water pump / plugs / thermostat / springs / tyres etc).

 

I’m really going to miss it, and look forward to the next point in time I can have some old chod in my life – If it’s still rolling in a couple of years, I might buy it back