Flakey Shite - More Holiday Horrors!!!

[mouseflakes]

I think the thread full of my old shite was lost in the great purge. I'll recreate it here with added scans from yesteryear.

 

If I can get my act together I'll arm myself with a modern digital-type camera and add some more up-to-date spots as they occur!

 

This must be around 1992. Second car I owned (I'd had it for four year's by this time) - was a metallic green, but I became lazy trying to match the replacement panels to the original body colour and did this to it (I suspect this sort of treatment has a name these days )...

 

 

 

 

The big patch in the centre (below) is where I had to repair the 'afterthought' seat belt mounts were added on these later R4s - terrible rust trap. Check this area if you're looking at one to buy!!

 

 

 

 

I was quite obsessed with R4s at the time. I lived in Cardiff for a year and went out to photograph as many of them as I could find. Mine is in the background in this evening shot, but look closely at the fablious Merc camper!

 

 

 

 

Isle of Skye this one...

 

 

 

 

Connemara, Co. Galway...

 

 

 

 

And while we're in Ireland, what's this hiding its ugly mug in a Cork hedgerow??

 

[ashmicro]

"I suspect this sort of treatment has a name these days )... "Rat look?My first car was a Froggie too, a Samba. Started life as a 954 LE, got a GL interior, MG Metro seatbelts and finally a 205 GTi powertrain which puked it's diff when an inner CV bashed the floor so hard my passenger felt it against the sole of his foot.

[Mr Lobster]

Quality! R4s are cool. Fact.

[nigel bickle]

Love it. Very 'avant garde' Bet you wish you still had it..

[mouseflakes]

"I suspect this sort of treatment has a name these days )... "Rat look?

I think so - or possibly some satin black sub-section of same?

an inner CV bashed the floor so hard my passenger felt it against the sole of his foot.

Ouch!

Quality! R4s are cool. Fact.

Bet you wish you still had it..

Yes!

[mk2_craig]

Renner 4s are quality, do they sell for enough £££ yet to make it worth importing a super-late one from Eastern Europe?Used to pass one daily on my paper round circa 1991 that had been liveried like Nigel Mansell's F1 car made famous after being in a nasty 3-car shunt with the photo in the local paper. I wonder what part of the underside gave way...

[Split_Pin]

Loving your old 4 Theres a house near me with a dormant C-reg example kept company by a Van version, and a 21 and 25

[mouseflakes]

More Renaults later.

 

Old Jap tin now.

 

Crown 2.8 - absolutely loved this car. Lovely, lovely, lovely. Loved it. Lovely. £80 with some MOT. Lasted five years. VFM!

 

 

 

And (not for the first time here) my old Civic. My wife adored this - just became impractical as the family grew.

 

 

 

 

Something weird to round off tonight.

 

Spotted on holiday in the Yorkshire Dales many years ago.

 

With doors and seats it appears to be just a means to increase the seating capacity of any vehicle with a tow bar!

 

 

'I've just had a lift in the back of an Alfa!'

 

[Split_Pin]

Looking at that Alfa thing for the first time messed with my head. I thought there was some kind of weird, prism-mirror shit going on That Crown was MEGA value for money!

[mouseflakes]

Looking at that Alfa thing for the first time messed with my head.

Arrr! Seeing it for real mangled my wurzel - I've not recovered yet!

[Guest]

Crown 2.8 - absolutely loved this car.

Great cars those Crowns Was lucky enough to use a mates one a few times in 1990/1991 after he swopped a Mercedes 280ce for it.

[mouseflakes]

No one curious as to what this was?

 

I reckon this was the zenith of my trajectory across the shite firmament. Things have never been quite so bad/good since!

 

[mk2_craig]

Reliant Regal?

[mouseflakes]

Okay, okay, I can take no more!

 

Having been inundated with suggestions as to what that shonky old camper is (thanks mk2_craig ) and requests for a full-frontal, no holds-barred onslaught (thanks, erm, ......well anyway....) here it is in all its glory!!!!!

 

Those of a nervous disposition may want to look away now...

 

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Don't say I didn't warn you.....

 

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AAAAARRRRRRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!

[Guest greenvanman]

WANT.

[mk2_craig]

Don't say I didn't warn you.....

Yeesh.

 

[Electric Leyland]

I love it more than 100 black puddings.

[Spottedlaurel]

Crikey! Dare I ask what became of it? You could drive Mondeos and Vectras for the rest of your days and still die a happy man with ownership of that under your belt.

[pogweasel]

Praise be!For that has got to be one of the most dismal, unappealing vehicles I have ever clapped eyes upon. I LOVE IT!Autoshite colourscheme as a bonus. Imagine rocking up with that to whisk a 'beloved' away for a weekender. I am amazed that there is a Mrs Flakes at all!!!

[mouseflakes]

Hee hee - shocking isn't it!?Glad I found these old photos as I thought I'd lost all record of it.I bought it as a scrapper to rip the interior out to go in my pop-top Hiace of the same vintage. I was told by the vendor the engine was shot - the oil light was on and the motor engineer's report that had condemned it described knackered big ends and mains, camshaft wear, bore wear etc. etc. and an estimate of £700 for a new lump.Strangely enough the engine seemed to run very smoothly, but like a fool I took the report at face value and spent a weekend ripping the engine out of a (really) dead one to transplant it.The wire from the dash to the oil pressure sender didn't fit the sender on the new engine, so I swapped the senders over - and guess what? Oil light on, but a lovely smooth engine.A new sender was all it needed, as was probably the case with the original. Live and learn I guess. I'll trust my own judgement on the condition of an engine in future.I also had to cut the front wings and door posts out and weld a lot behind them and stick them back on again (hence all the red oxide round the front) and then it was ready to roll!

[mouseflakes]

Crikey! Dare I ask what became of it?

I sold it for £150 to a chap and his son to use on their trials bike weekends away. I had made a super-heavy duty towbar for it by then and he trailered the bikes.I used it more than once to move my other shite around.Can you imagine seeing this dollying a '72 Renault 4 up the M4??

[mouseflakes]

Autoshite colourscheme as a bonus.

I knew it was a terrible colour scheme but the Autoshite tie-in has never occurred to me! Tops!

 

 

Imagine rocking up with that to whisk a 'beloved' away for a weekender. I am amazed that there is a Mrs Flakes at all!!!

Funny you should mention that.

 

It was while hodilaying round Ireland in this that I suggested we should perhaps get married, and she agreed!

 

I feel a bit cheated really as I took that to mean she accepted me AND my shite into her life. Needless to say I was wrong and the shite gets short shrift from her now.

 

Happy days....

 

 

[Guest greenvanman]

Awesome. If I had a hat I'd take it off to you now, Sir

[pogweasel]

Wow! So the van actually saw some action, huh?

[Mr Lobster]

^ LOLalot That is a splendid looking machine, you have my greatest respect.

[reallyloud]

Have to say that Toyota Hiace is a wonderful object of desire. Extra kudos points for also having what appears to be the omnipresent marina door handle on the caravan door.

[mouseflakes]

Pogweasel! You potty-mouthed mustelid! Yes - that van took us one and a half thousand miles in two weeks on pretty much its first outing! Used a lot more fuel than my pop-top version mind.Thanks DC - I knew that door handle was familiar but never managed to place it.

[Simon M]

Date of liability: 01/02/98Stone me, that thing lasted almost 25 years! What a wonderful creation!

[mouseflakes]

Thanks Simon - that was about a year after I sold it - looks like the chap lost interest. Can't blame him really - it's hideous!

[Guest greenvanman]

The Astra's mission for last weekend was to take me to the Womad festival, which it managed in fine style. While I was there I picked up a copy of 'Home away from Home - the world of Camper Vans and Motorhomes' and look what's on page 164!