Let's Play Your Game (Daihatsu Collection Thread)

[dugong]

Before things changed, someone posted up an eBay link for a G11 Charade. 
Money changed hands when it shouldn't have. The vendor ended the auction early after repeated pleas via text. 

Junkman decided to come with me down to Forest Hill to pick the car up. For reasons known only to Virgin Trains, a pair of first class tickets were cheaper that their equivalents in steerage. We got a lift from the family Pamp in their Mexico brown P6 to Stockport station. From there it was a chicken tikka main to Euston, and from then on we travelled backwards in time. The Tube makes very little sense at the best of times, but we persevered. 

 

The trains and overground slowed to a moribund pace. Eventually,  three and a half hours later, we ended up in Forest Hill where the vendor was waiting for us in the car park. He'd written a very pessimistic description of the car's condition. Aside from several dents (which hadn't broken the paint) the car was as good as any 29-year-old Japanese hatch had any right to be. It was time to lapse into Doctor-vision. 25,000 miles from new, two owners, supplied from new by Course & Beacham in Southampton, with the tax disc and rear window stickers to prove it. 

The seller had used it for trips into and out of town, occasionally venturing down the coast. After doing a merry dance with Paypal on a borrowed iPad, the Charade was paid for. Into the car, and the usual inverted indicator \ wiper controls mayhem ensues for the next 20 miles. The vendor had left half a tank of fuel in the car and a non-functioning Gelhard stereo for company. No matter, I had a tame Austrian on an FIA ban to chat to while I wrestled with the ridiculously light controls and gear whine worthy of an exposed-hinge Mini in third. 

Up front a sub 1.0-litre 3 pot throbbed and warbled, giving a surprising amount of forward momentum up to 40 mph. After that we were outdragged by stray dogs, tectonic drift and signs to the M11. Yo-yo-ing back and forth in accordance with the speed limit, we hit the Blackwall Tunnel, its walls in stark contrast. 



The juxtaposition was so shocking my camera began taking shots in colour. The strip lighting gave me a chance to survey the [very] basic dashboard with air vents pilfered from a K10 Micra, presumably a bulk order between the two manufacturers. Every electronic item [bar the aforementioned stereo) worked with the immediacy of a three year-old car. The dampers did their job with alacrity. Other than a slight steering wobble, mechanically the car appeared ship-shape. 

Flecks of Dinitrol on the panel seams appears to be the reason why this G11 survived. The seller even apologised  for the overspray in the boot aperture, not that I was bothered. 



Motorway cruising was not something the Charade appeared comfortable with. A vexatious 70 mph cruise was possible, but as we plied the A14 for the Catthorpe Interchange visions of the engine doing a 'Trigger's Alto' fresh in my mind prompted me to back off. The engine was much happier at 60 mph, roaring away at just under 3000 RPM.

 

Junkman deplores any kind of radiophonic entertainment in cars. Nevertheless, I cued up the National Anthem as Radio 4 wound down for the morning, my phone wedged neatly between the instrument binnacle and the top tray.
He squinted at me through the darkness with a mixture of pity and disgust.

We got back at 5 am. A search for some cheap, dry storage in Cambridgeshire continues.

 

 

 

 

Hilariously, there's a great deal of tuning parts available for the G11, as it sired a hot DeTomaso variant that was enormously popular in SE Asia. I've got my pick of strut braces, coilovers, steering wheels - as much or as little as I want to do. 

To be honest, to over complicate this car would be destroying it. I'll settle for some balanced wheels, a period Alpine radio \ cassette in the dash slot, and Pirelli P4s when the time comes. The finest eBay service kit is en route. 

[stuboy]

good looking win!!

[trigger]

Truly a most sexual purchase. This shitter approves of your game plan.

[Alexg]

That's a beauty!

[dugong]

Also, I forgot. Runway tyres!

£10 says this drops off the board quicker than if Dollywobbler posted it. 

[Jim Bergerac]

That's a nice bit of kit. Love the 80s-tastic trims.

[STUNO]

That is better than the like button. There should be a made a mess in my pants button.

[Inspector Morose]

That is one fine automobile you have there! I wonder if any of the three pot diesels survive? I seem to have a hankering for one after seeing that. (I know, but before you say diesel is the spawn of the devil and kills kitten nuns, I like them so there).

[Ratdat]

We had a G11 and it was GR8. If I recall, it cost me something like £92 off of the bay of E complete with MOT. Great fun to drive, unerringly reliable, frugal and with a surprisingly satisfying engine growl when pressed. I'm 'well jel" as young people say, especially as yours has the lower, more handsome roof line.

[oman5]

That's a little cracker. Did you wind the window down in the tunnel to hear the 3 pot warble? I would have. 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Very nice!!!! Yo Dug, you still got the 305 wagon?

[Station]

I love these and can't wait to see it in the flesh.

I have coilovers on my Nippa and it's the best handling car I've driven. You may scoff but 650 kg = amazingness.

[dugong]

I saw this car with my own eyes, it was so nice that I immediately rinsed my eyes out with thinners as seeing anything else afterwards would be a disappointment.

D_HIRST gave me a workshop manual and a brochure. He is brilliant.

 

Very nice!!!! Yo Dug, you still got the 305 wagon?

I have not. It is stuck in Blackburn at £595 with no MOT and sparkly paintwork.

[catsinthewelder]

That looks an ace little chariot,  80's Daihatsus rock

[SambaS]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, nice!

[scruff]

That is a great little car and a excellent write up, Junkman looks just as don't-give-a-fuck I imagined him.

 

Are you moving over this way Dugong? I must have missed that if you are. Let me know a rough area and I'll put the feelers out for you. 

[dollywobbler]

Truly excellent work. Daihatsus are bloody brilliant.

[Pillock]

What a honey!

[Station]

£10 says this drops off the board quicker than if Dollywobbler posted it. 

 

[drum]

Two words. First word, first syllable - die. Ah! It's a charade.

 

Ace report.

[Micrashed]

Very nice and retro in an 80's way (not that I consider the 80's retro, but kids today keep telling me my paisley tie collection is retro and they were the height of trendyness in the 80's, along with my piano leather tie and white socks.)

[mercrocker]

Winnah!    Although I find the 80s still too modern rather  than retro - I spent  the entire decade avoiding it - there is no shortage of appreciation from this quarter for shite well saved.   Course & Beacham packed  up only recently, sadly, after flogging the dead horses that are Chrysler up until early last year.   The site  is still there as a used  car  lot - SO16 6UP if you wanna see....

[Micrashed]

I find the 80s still too modern rather  than retro 

I loved the 80;s, the music the clothes and the hair, the promiscuous sex *(until AIDS knackered that)

Sadly I deal with a lot of younger people these days whos date of birth is either the very late 80's or the 90;s and they seem to think that the 80's is like the 60's was to me.

Trendy and hip and something long long ago where they did a lot of drugs and had ace music.

[phil_lihp]

That's a brilliant purchase.  I approve, especially of the eighties-tastic trims.

[Skizzer]

Top purchase and great write-up.  Win all round.

 

Hope you can continue to resist the coilover temptation, but that's just me.  Don't bin the trimz!

[dugong]

Top purchase and great write-up.  Win all round.

 

Hope you can continue to resist the coilover temptation, but that's just me.  Don't bin the trimz!

 

Resisting the temptation will be easy - I don't want to buy them! Easier said than done when the editor of Retro Cars is mithering you to do so, mind. I may borrow some daft wheels and adaptors for a photo shoot, but that'll be it. I quite like the idea of a custom strut brace, though. 

 

The trims are the icing on the cake. The wheels  need taking off and respraying, so a purchase of the diesel-specific alloys will have to be actioned. 

 

 

Like these. I bought this brochure for the express purpose of checking the wheels out. Truly a golden age for three-spokes. 

[dugong]

The mesh wheels are a tad generic for my taste. If I was going to the trouble of seeking out new wheels, I'd want them to be of the period, more so than cross-spokes. 

[dollywobbler]

You can tell JJ to behave. I'm surprised he hasn't slammed his office chair.

[lovejoy]

Hey Dugong - BRILLIANT !!    I will send more info later when I have a bit more free time, but for now,  "wheels"  ....

 

 G10 / G11 Charades are a bizzarre  4 x 110 p.c.d.   -   let me know if you find anything else that fits; I haven't !! 

you can hammer on a Nissan Sunny rim which is 108 mm,  but it looks shit, and I wouldn't want to drive with 4 of em on...

- wobbly bolts then  ?

(p.s.  I have highroof G11 badermatic in Cornwall, and one scrap one similar out here in the wilderness, which is a future

parts supply  -  but the G10 and 3 x G11's I had before were all 5 speed and bulletproof and went extremely well :  pics to follow.)

[dugong]

Hey Dugong - BRILLIANT !!    I will send more info later when I have a bit more free time, but for now,  "wheels"  ....

 

 G10 / G11 Charades are a bizzarre  4 x 110 p.c.d.   -   let me know if you find anything else that fits; I haven't !! 

you can hammer on a Nissan Sunny rim which is 108 mm,  but it looks shit, and I wouldn't want to drive with 4 of em on...

- wobbly bolts then  ?

(p.s.  I have highroof G11 badermatic in Cornwall, and one scrap one similar out here in the wilderness, which is a future

parts supply  -  but the G10 and 3 x G11's I had b4 were all 5 speed and bulletproof and went extremely well  pics to follow.)

Mine's a 5 speed. The latter ratio's so steep it feels like you're trying to crawl vertically up a wall. 

 

I knew about the Charade's 4 x 110 PCD eccentricity - you're limited to ATV wheels, RWD Mazda rims and Daihatsu's own alloys, unless you want to go down the route of expensive adaptors. I consider wobble bolts a bodge so won't be bothering with them. Wouldn't a Sunny be 4 x 114.3?

 

For everyday use, I'll stick with the deranged steels \ trim combo - although I'd like a set of those three spokes. I came quite close to buying some early RX-7 rotor alloys, but the offset was completely wrong and the lad wanted too much for them IMHO.