Balkan Bucket Bonanza

[hairnet]

saw mk4 fiestaas like that on the autobahn in germany

 

stayed well the fek away from them

[Bucketeer]

Time for some terrible quality pictures of largely uninteresting chod brought to you from the files of 'I really can't be arsed with this thread at the moment'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The deathtrap before it found it's way down a ditch.

 

 

 

To plumb new unexplored CBA depths, I also got some appalling 'through car window' shots, which I feel dirty and disappointed in myself for doing, but meh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too close up or too far away. Don't say I don't give you options.

 

 

 

 

My ever productive girlfriend sent me the next few from a car show preview display thing recently. They look alright I suppose if you like 'too shiny'.

 

 

 

 

 

I promise this thread will either get better or die. I dunno which I'm rooting for yet.

[chaseracer]

This thread is already full of WIN.

[SiC]

It's one of my favourite threads by far on here.

[Junkman]

I know that dark red 1934 Nash Advanced Eight - and its owner.

It is a gorgeous piece of kit, full of little Art Deco details.

The longer you look at it, the more of them you discover.

[Bucketeer]

Junkman - I can definitely appreciate it as an artwork and would like to see it close up and study the intricacies, but as an actual motor conveyance it leaves me tepid.

 

Thanks DCR and SiC for the unnecessary kind words. You'll have to ignore me, I'm just been having a swim in a lake of melancholic malaise recently which has spread to my spotting mojo and this thread. Also the Photobucket phiasco has left me a bit despondent. I haven't properly checked but I guess two thirds of my 28 pages, 4 years and many countries worth of spots and shit have gone (I don't know why some have and some haven't, they're all Photobucket). I wouldn't for a second think that anyone else would want to trawl through it all but I liked to re-read the thread every year or so just to remind me where I had been and what I had seen and done.

[The Moog]

I hope you got a lurgy shot being that close the escort!

 

Did you get the fiasco out of the ditch?

[Split_Pin]

I always enjoy this thread too, it's pretty much the only spotted one that I check into now, chiefly because the levels of tat always reach (plumb new depths?!) new highs. What's the deal with Photobucket anyway? Are they holding your photos to ransom? Surely they can't do that?

[SiC]

Junkman - I can definitely appreciate it as an artwork and would like to see it close up and study the intricacies, but as an actual motor conveyance it leaves me tepid.

 

Thanks DCR and SiC for the unnecessary kind words. You'll have to ignore me, I'm just been having a swim in a lake of melancholic malaise recently which has spread to my spotting mojo and this thread. Also the Photobucket phiasco has left me a bit despondent. I haven't properly checked but I guess two thirds of my 28 pages, 4 years and many countries worth of spots and shit have gone (I don't know why some have and some haven't, they're all Photobucket). I wouldn't for a second think that anyone else would want to trawl through it all but I liked to re-read the thread every year or so just to remind me where I had been and what I had seen and done.

We won't be the only ones enjoying this thread. On every forum there is a large contingent of lurkers that never post. I remember reading that on average it's only around 10% of visitors that post content and contribute on forums.

[RobT]

I hope you get your mojo back Alex, I always enjoy reading about your Balkan exploits even if I don't make a comment.

 

What's the maroon saloon on the previous page?  Looks a bit like a Seat Cordoba but with a different rear end.

[Bucketeer]

Did you get the fiasco out of the ditch?

Not yet. Who would have thought it would be so difficult to get a car pulled out of a ditch in a remote mountainous region of a foreign country.

 

 

What's the deal with Photobucket anyway?

I really don't know. I had to delete most of my pictures from memory cards over the years to free up space so Photobucket is the only place they're stored now. If I get a free month or summat I may have to try and take them back and re-picturise the whole thread. Joy.

 

 

What's the maroon saloon on the previous page?

That's a Lada 110. I really like them and the estate version (the 111) gets me especially tingly in the boy parts.

 

[RobT]

I've never heard of them, but they look alluring.  Wiki says they also came with the Opel C20XE engine, which gives me added want.

[John F]

RobT, on 25 Jul 2017 - 12:33 PM, said:

I've never heard of them, but they look alluring.  Wiki says they also came with the Opel C20XE engine, which gives me added want.

 

Yep, the Lada 110 GTi had a C20XE,. albeit downrated to about 110 bhp according to some sources.

[Spottedlaurel]

I'll vote for letting the thread live, it's always an enjoyable bit of lunchtime viewing.

 

I see one or two of those Lada things each time I visit France. From some angles they look OK, from others (and particularly so for the saloon) they are most strange.

[Bucketeer]

Finally I have managed to turn this . . .

 

 

Into this . . .

 

 

After a very slow drive back to the house I can confirm that the engine runs appallingly, the bodywork is horrific, it won't go in a straight line and the brakes barely work. So it's exactly as it was before it went in the ditch. Result.

[John F]

Wow. You're lucky it didn't roll...!

[The Moog]

At first glance I thought you had just built a cover over it.

 

How did you get it out... Like this?

 

 

So bringing it to Knockhill then?

[Heidel_Kakao]

I preferred it when it was still in the ditch.

[Bucketeer]

Wow. You're lucky it didn't roll...!

I know. I reckon gravity was having a lie in that morning. A half decent shove would have sent it 50ft down into the stream.

 

 

How did you get it out?

I eventually found a toothless old Bulgarian guy with a tractor who was happy to be paid with cheap strong booze.

 

 

I preferred it when it was still in the ditch.

Me too. I was sorely tempted to just leave it there. After pissing on it.

[Bucketeer]

Due to the unique way in which the B.B.B is (not) funded, I had a 14 hour walk to the nearest bus station to get a bus to Sofia to get to the airport to get to England.

I took some pictures of some cars and stuff along the way obvs.

 

 

 

 

The first part of the walk was along a road I had traveled previously, which would have been a great stretch of driving road if I hadn't been in a ruined old Fiesta with a vomiting dog in the back.

 

 

 

 

I spotted a couple of properties with interesting access.

 

 

 

These places take me back to my removals work. I would hate to be double handing BFO wardrobes or dining tables or whatever in or out of here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I guessed a route to the bus station. The roads started getting smaller and less roady as night started to fall.

 

 

I did pass through mushroom town though.

 

 

And carried on spotting through the night, with no help from my rubbish phone camera flash.

 

 

 

 

This Renault Master looked like it had mated with a Power Ranger.

 

 

 

 

After arriving at the bus station I had to wait six hours for the bus to Sofia. Getting one of my favourite pics of ever cheered my up though. I love ZAZ 968s and this is the bestest one I've yet seen.

 

 

I arrived in Sofia just after noon and had about 18 hours to kill before my flight so did what anyone in my situation would have done, I headed to the park and had copious amounts of sausage and strong booze.

 

 

And spent a pleasant evening paddling in the ornamental pool outside the National Theatre of Bulgaria.

 

 

Some more rubbish was spotted on the sleepy walk to the airport next morning.

 

 

 

 

 

And lastly, something new to me. A Bertone Freeclimber 2. Festooned with 'powered by BMW' badges.

 

 

All this was followed by some flying, more not sleeping and feeling like turd, so no more pictures. Fin.

[andy18s]

ffs Alex give me a shout if your planning summat like that

we drove the outlaws back to Sofia on tuesday and could have stuffed you in somewhere

[The Moog]

That booze looks like it was supplied by Mr muscle!

 

Never seen a zaz 968 before... They look lovely....

[RobT]

Blimey it's made me feel tired just reading that. Top spots and a nice paddle at the end though, bet your feet needed it!

[Bucketeer]

Andy - Thanks, I'll definitely bear you in mind next time.

 

Moog - The booze was Mastika. The Bulgarian equivalent of Pastis or Ouzo or Pernod. It's bloody lovely and only 47% so you can drink it all day.

The 968 is something you can add to your list of possibilities, although they're becoming more desirable and expensive now. I think partly due to the association with Vladimir Putin (his first car was a ZAZ 968). It's odd that this has increased their appeal, to me that would be like wanting a Toyota Picnic or something because Fred West used to drive one.

It hasn't dampened my ardour for them though, if I had a 968 I think it would be looking like this pretty quickly . . .

 

 

Rob - The pool was sore foot bliss, right up until the police impolitely informed me of their desire for me to get the hell out of it. Spoilsports.

[Asimo]

Most "travel writing" makes me glad to stay home.

 

This thread just makes me want to go.

 

Preferably in a Moskvich van.

[John F]

I had to look up the Bertone Freeclimber 2. It's apparently based on the Daihatsu Fourtrak, beloved of Irish farmers.

 

From Wikipedia:

 

Assembled in Italy for European sales, this version called the Bertone Freeclimber used mechanical components by Daihatsu, although it was powered by a BMW 2,443 cc turbodiesel or one of two BMW petrol engines (1,991 cc and 2,693 cc), with a Bertone modified body. The Freeclimber is a well-equipped, high-end deluxe (luxury car) off-roader produced from 1989 to 1992. In France, where only the diesel was available, the importer Chardonnet offered an even more luxurious version. Named after a perfume by Nicolas de Barry it was called "Blue Lagoon", and was available with either Alcantara or leather interior.

 

Wantage level: MASSIVE

[nomiST]

We won't be the only ones enjoying this thread. On every forum there is a large contingent of lurkers that never post. I remember reading that on average it's only around 10% of visitors that post content and contribute on forums.

That's me, so I'm delurking to let you know (as if it matters!) that I love this thread.  

 

And I want to move to Bulgaria.

 

Some of the time.

 

So thank you and please don't stop.

 

-S

[Supernaut]

I thought it looked a bit like a Daihatsu Fourtrak.

 

Also, this made me laugh:

 

It's bloody lovely and only 47% so you can drink it all day.

[John F]

That's me, so I'm delurking to let you know (as if it matters!) that I love this thread.  

 

And I want to move to Bulgaria.

 

Some of the time.

 

So thank you and please don't stop.

 

-S

 

Post liked due to use of the word "delurking".

[Split_Pin]

I enjoy reading about your epic travels just as much as the spots. That was a bloody intrepid walk you took, especially guessing the way to the bus station!