'The Balance' thread

[Station]

The madness of being a 'car enthusiast'. I know the question will be asked 'Why don't you just sell/scrap', but you can get attached and/or see some ridiculous lucrative thing of making £50 on sale price if you spend 500 quid on repairing and 50 man hours.

 

I have these:

 

Subaru Justy which I like - it needs arches welding in, and attention to the engine. Parts are thin on the ground for these. I've tried selling it for £200 and think someone's interested, only in the running gear and floorpan to put a Mini shell on. I'd really like for this to go to someone who could spend a week on it (as it has a 'good history' etc etc etc), but at the moment I've had it too long.

 

 

Then there's this, my MR2 which I love, but it's beyond my welding skills, which is all it needs, everything else is fine and works as it should (which is the case with all these). Oh, a caliper fell off the frigging shelf through the frigging windscreen (sealing it's fate). Ironically, it was the brake caliper that I bought the week before to swap for the seized caliper it failed it's MOT on.

I've pretty much decided it's got to go, but do I break it for spares, or just sell it whole:

 

 

Then the Astra. I've had this since 2000, and can't see me parting with it, even though -I haven't driven it since 2005-. It's really ridiculous this, why don't I just sell it? Why am I sentimentally attached to a ton of metal? Anyway, I put a Saab Turbo engine in last year, and haven't got it running properly. It could be anything, it just doesn't run anymore. I've been offered 250 quid for the engine, and want to put a normal C20XE engine in. It needs things I've long forgotten about, which is a concern as I can't remember what I've done to it. I've also punted this outside the unit, which is now begging for someone to steal it - so I want to put the Justy outside instead, but the rear arches of the Justy are bear metal and I don't want them to get rusty. Madness!!!

 

 

Other issues - a nice CRX with just expired MOT that I don't want to sell until I get the new bonnet repainted (as I'll lose about 500 quid on that when I sell it), a K10 Micra I probably should not have bought and spent a week repairing, and a Nippa my friend uses (that I should just give to her as I'll never use it again). She also has an MGF which is taxed and MOT'd every year but is never used.

 

Feel free to join me and air your too-many-car owning worries.

[outlaw118]

It's an affliction I'm afraid.

 

*IDEA* Autoshite TV run a Jeremy Kyle - type show with us as participants.....

 

Dugong can host, and Wollydobbles can be the counsellor bloke (whose name escapes me) providing the calming voice of reason.

 

Oh....that's not going to work is it? Anyhow.....

 

Reg_Ballz in "I'm addicted to K-Seal, and I love the smell of despair"

 

Angry Dicky "You only love me for my A35"

 

Bike Man "I dream about being bummed by a Griffin"

 

 

I could go on.....

[Jim Bell]

Having no room or workspace is a blessing I suppose. Keeps the fleet in the realms of the roadworthy, so nothing can be kept because of sentiment.

I'm up to three. But they all perform daily.

 

I think I'd be in the same, or similar situation to Station if I had a unit.

[derskine]

 

My 18 is totally worthless, it didn't sell for £150 when FOAD/Nisfan had it for sale a while back.

Yes it's rare, but really it's a money pit as I'll never get anywhere near what I put into it to fix it.

But I don't care, I like it, and to me personally it's worth spending the time sorting.

It needs huge amounts of welding, and will take a good couple of months to get back on the road.

[SambaS]

In confused, are there two army green 18s on here or summit?

[HillmanImp]

I started thinking about writing a proper reply to this but suddenly started feeling the onset of a panic attack and had to leave to read something else.

 

Even writing this is making me feel a little overwhelmed.

[Asimo]

No point in having anything you don't use or that doesn't make you smile each time you think about it...

 

Move them on, you will lose cash, but so what? you would lose that much every month of your life if you were locked into the new and lease system.

 

Then you could get another car that you could enjoy rather than fret over.

[Station]

^ Those are very wise words, which make no sense to me due to the madness of car hoarding.

Jusy would go for £150 on ebay in this condition. If that even. If I welded it up and put it on an MOT I could sell it for about 500 (esp approaching winter). I have one day off during the week, and have a week off in a couple of weeks. This would be spent welding the Justy up, and then back to work! Does anyone think I should break it up and sell the bits? I need to just bin the frigging thing FFS.

[derskine]

In confused, are there two army green 18s on here or summit?

 

Nope, I 'as got da only ratluk 18

[Minimad5]

Can you not get welding bloke by your unit, to weld it on the cheap ?

Then you enjoy time off work, and actually relax for once .... Just thinking !? Lol.

[anonymous user]

I came to the same conclusion years ago, after I seemed to have started my own motoring dogs' home, with too many projects that never got done. I managed to rein it in to the point where I had one sensible, reliable, but uninteresting car. I've slipped back to the point where I still have one sensible, reliable, uninteresting car and three others that I don't need. The Volvo is handy, now and again, for moving rubbish around, but I could manage without it. The A35 has not been used this year, but having bought it back again I don't really want to sell it again. The TR7 has not been used for about three years now, I should get it MOT'd and sell it as I can't see me ever use it again, but it is a really tidy example and it's out of sight, out of mind in storage with my brother 100 miles away and too much effort to sort out.

[mercrocker]

A timely thread......As of now, the Oxford is in having its sills welded for a potential MOT this week, the Minor has spent two days up on blocks AGAIN this year after losing to the Hammer of Doom which I wield along the sills and chassis members twice a year.   Its had one leg already this year and now the other which I thought would ride the winter is already cornflakes....Plus I found* (with a Snap On pick) a scabby patch on the floor is not doing much to hide an ugly ginger gash (no Eastender jokes please) PLUS a bloody hole appeared in the rear wheel arch which was still solid in April.   A man is coming to see the Cowley to price up a wheel arch repair and I still have a little episode with the T25 to resolve.   I have, however, had two lovely jaunts in the Minor and Oxford today, one courtesy of the re-booked MOT which should have involved a mile or so but, erm, took a bit longer.   Driving this shit is brilliant.   Even going up the tip with the old engine oil (don't usually tip it but already have 8 litres for fence purposes) was a blast.   There are people I loved who are no longer around who rode in these cars, I got married in one of them and celebrated my 50th in another (not literally of course, I got out for both celebrations but you know what I mean).    Jesus, these feckers are going to bankrupt me financially, but as long as I am working its only money yet the feelings I have when I drive them, not least that I can still pretend its 1968 or something, is priceless.   They are not going anywhere.....

[Fabergé Greggs]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh my. Those wheels are lovely on that. Lotus Eclat?

[New POD]

Project Planning, and focus. That is all you need.

 

Not A focus. Just Focus.

[Station]

 

Oh my. Those wheels are lovely on that. Lotus Eclat?

 

 

Yes - in better days ... :'(

 

[Partridge]

Station, why don't you weigh all the junk in?

 

You could probably get around one and a half k for the lot, so why not put that towards the 12 k you need for a new Corsa, then loose most of that 12k on residuls, on top insurence, fuel and tax (but hey, it comes with a free servicing package) and have something which makes you smile as much as a Holocaust documentary and has the personality of a dead Goldfish from Belguim.

 

You know it makes sense!

[Sigmund Fraud]

Messing about with shite, old cars is one of the most affordable hobbies for the discerning gentleman out there... FACT !

 

 

Football ? That will be £1K for your season ticket, sir.

 

Golf ? £500 for the privilege of spending your Sunday kissing the boss' arse networking*.

 

While for only* £250, you can be the lucky* owner of a classic* car that will provide years* of entertainment*.

[dugong]

I need less tat.

[Minimad5]

I own too much shit, and spend too much per month housing it (2 garages)

But it costs less then what my work colleagues spend every weekend on nights out, yes i still end up with a headache at times, but i'm never going to catch the clap welding up a a rusty Herald, or crabs from a terminally ill Riva.

 

The hobby sometimes pays off, as i get odd jobs from friends / family and even work (yay fixing a shagged Iveco)

[Minimad5]

Arg fucking Phone *than* not then

[Noel Tidybeard]

A timely thread......As of now, the Oxford is in having its sills welded for a potential MOT this week, the Minor has spent two days up on blocks AGAIN this year after losing to the Hammer of Doom which I wield along the sills and chassis members twice a year.   Its had one leg already this year and now the other which I thought would ride the winter is already cornflakes....Plus I found* (with a Snap On pick) a scabby patch on the floor is not doing much to hide an ugly ginger gash (no Eastender jokes please) PLUS a bloody hole appeared in the rear wheel arch which was still solid in April.   A man is coming to see the Cowley to price up a wheel arch repair and I still have a little episode with the T25 to resolve.   I have, however, had two lovely jaunts in the Minor and Oxford today, one courtesy of the re-booked MOT which should have involved a mile or so but, erm, took a bit longer.   Driving this shit is brilliant.   Even going up the tip with the old engine oil (don't usually tip it but already have 8 litres for fence purposes) was a blast.   There are people I loved who are no longer around who rode in these cars, I got married in one of them and celebrated my 50th in another (not literally of course, I got out for both celebrations but you know what I mean).    Jesus, these feckers are going to bankrupt me financially, but as long as I am working its only money yet the feelings I have when I drive them, not least that I can still pretend its 1968 or something, is priceless.   They are not going anywhere.....

shirley you can't warm an auld shitter up in a mile so the "bit longer" is a legal requirement for emissions reasons

[New POD]

Messing about with shite, old cars is one of the most affordable hobbies for the discerning gentleman out there... FACT !

 

 

Football ? That will be £1K for your season ticket, sir.

 

Golf ? £500 for the privilege of spending your Sunday kissing the boss' arse networking*.

 

While for only* £250, you can be the lucky* owner of a classic* car that will provide years* of entertainment*.

Golf ? £500 ? I think you forgot a 0 !!!