My Best Free Car

[cms206]

Had two free cars; a 1994 Rover 414i Sprint and a 1996 Hyundai Coupe 1.3Si. By default the Rover was less bad.

[Sloth in a bowl]

My first car was a free Fiat Uno, I just paid for the MOT service and Tax.

 

On the first long journey I had the neddle went into the red on the M40 which ment driving it in 3 mile chunks with hard shoulder cooling sessions till I got to the next services. 1 bottle of coolant later and all was fine for the rest of the journey.

I replaced the waterpump the next week 12 quid from halfords.

[Ratdat]

Oh, I just remembered, I did get a free Nissan Caravan, albiet one that clearly had a gypsy curse on it. It was lurched up round the back on my local Nissan dealers. The owners were from Londinium apparently and it had overheated and shat itself whilst they were up here on hols. The dealer had stripped it and pronounced it deceased whereupon the owners decided it wasn't worth paying the bill. 

I suggested they give me a call when they wanted rid... jokingly... and lo, a few months later they did! I lobbed in a replacement engine out of a Largo which was a zero fun job, whereupon it shat itself again almost immediately. Having somewhat lost enthusiasm for swapping van engines, I lthen gave it to a friend who replaced the top end only for it to keel over a few miles later with a cracked head. Last I heard, it had been rebuilt once again with a NEW head but on the first trip out cooked itself silly and died once more. How this thing has so far escaped a one way trip across the bridge is beyond me. 

 

[FredTransit]

had a LWB minibus given me. The engine was good (currently in me daily driver) but it was rotten and had been standing a good 3 years. Slowly took loads of bits off, but the best bit was when it starred in Ashes to Ashes as a dumped van (ep1 series2) and had Gene Hunt and Alex hiding in it for a stake out!

[richardthestag]

Triumph 1500tc with about 15 minutes mot on it and no tax. Previous owner bought my dads a plate sierra ghia. Said we could have the triumph else he would arrange for scrap man to collect it later that day. Only had 4 cars at that point and it seemed daft to turn it down. 1500tc with a bader box and luxurious interior.

 

Welded the sills, laid some glassfibre matting over the comically huge hole in the drivers front wing then popped it in for an mot. Failed because the front wheel bearing dustcap was missing, no hubcap on that corner either.

 

Went off to find one and they turned out to be rocking horse shit rare.

 

In the end i pulled the hub cap off the other side. Removed that dustcap and installed it to the other and refitted the hubcap over the missing dustcap.

 

Went back for a retest. "Blimey you found one" he said then carried on, "i bet my mates you would bring it back with a hubcap over it."

 

Ran it like that for a year, dead comfy, fast for me, loaned it to my grandad as his 2 door tina mk3 was in dry dock, and he did nothing but moan about it. Went and got it back and hooned it back up the m4 home. My brother abused it for another year. It just kept passing mots!

 

In the end i duluxed it and sold it on, for a very tidy profit. Saw it motoring around epsom and ewell for a year or so after that.

[castros_bro]

I had a job which involved some work on site where this amazing item of grot was stashed, being as I had some idea what it was (note what looks like a tractor mounted on the back of a truck) I suggested they gave it to me gratis, so they did. Most of it worked, the hand cranked 6 cyl sidevalve, the donkey engine starter for the traktor, the PTO drive for the kelly and winches. 

 

 

 

 

Located about Giggle Mops 27.682053, 85.319175 

[bub2006]

Had a few free cars back when epic bangers where needed in times of dire need. The three in my mind though are the three that would fetch a pretty penny now. First one was a relatively tidy polo on a g plate. No tax but a few months ticket. On a driveway outside bakery near me. Woman in shop said husband had mew car and wanted rid. Husband came down to talk to me and handed keys over. Vw chaps would loved it for a g40 conversion no doubt. Swapped it for a shonky g plated Honda accord

Next one was a c plate ford fiesta 1.1 popular in 2004. Beige paint,brown interior and vinyl roof. Welded a patch in the boot floor and it went through its mot. Cant recall what happened to that.

Last one was my favourite and regret getting rid of it. J reg rover metro GTa 1.4. Advertised in local rag as free for collection due to being a non runner. Me and a friend had a ride over to meet the owner. He told me it needed a suspension pump up and it didn't run. He said he went on holiday and on his return the car wouldn't start. He swore blind it wasn't a flat battery while signing papers over to me. Just as i walked outside with logbook and service history in my hands my mate started it up. Bloke wasn't impressed but he stuck to his word. Yes it was a flat battery too! Cost me 15 quid for a pump up. Used for a few months and swapped it for a l plate cavalier

[Mr Livered]

Two.

 

My first Saab 900 was a freebie from the mother in law. She had replaced it about a year previously, and offered it to me after it had been festering on her drive since.

 

Got it going with a bit of air in the tyres and a jump start. Then logged on to Freecycle, and got given another Saab 900 (running but buggered) which I used as a spares car.

[castros_bro]

Nepal?

 

And what did it do?

Drill rig - a present from the Russian Embassy (who got it over to drill some pointless holes) to the Kathmandu University Engineering dept who had no idea what it was and didn't want it but nobody wanted to "lose face" by pointing out the truth. I Want I Want I Want foreign bloke installing wind generators on the Engineering block roof steps forward with a briefcase full of tools, slap some grease on it, clean the magneto points, whang the handle round whilst pouring petrol into the carb mouth wrommm wrommmm, so that's why Kali has many arms.