Hairdresser shite collection thread

[Angry Sheep]

Morning chaps,

 

I rarely post on here but browse a lot. Anyway, I’m off on a not-very-epic journey to collect something which I guess could vaguely be described as shite, so thought I’d do one of those collection threads I enjoy reading to keep me occupied. Hope that’s cool.

 

Anyway, so far, two mile walk to the train station done.

 

 

Now for a 20 min train journey into London, to get a train out of London and buy a car. What’s the worst that could happen?

 

 

I should add that I’ve already seen it, so I’ve been brave and opted for a cheapo one-way ticket. More updates as they happen...

[Rocket88]

bon chance, mon brave..........

[garethj]

Excellent, I'll look out for the live traffic warnings caused by a broken down car!

[Angry Sheep]

UPDATES. As promised.

 

Made it to that London. Arrived at St Pancreas.

 

 

Quick walk to Euston followed. Easier than tube, innit. And it's a lovely, windy morning for a stroll.

 

 

I hate train stations. Had to pay 30p for a wee and then nearly £4 for the least satisfying breakfast ever.

 

 

Anyway, now on the slowest train ever (grr, cheap tickets) to Northampton. ETA: 10:06.

 

[Angry Sheep]

Still on train. Last time I was here was when I was collecting my E34...

 

 

FFS, it's not allowed to rain. I'd hoped for a topless return journey.

 

[Andrew353w]

In happier times when we had more branch lines you would have been able to travel from St. Albans (London Road) to Watford, via St. Albans (Abbey Road) and joined your Northampton train at Watford Junction, thus saving you trekking from St. Pancras to Euston! But as the Hatfield to St. Albans branch closed in September 1951 this advice is somewhat academic... 

 

You could still have saved a fair bit of time by walking to St. Albans (Abbey) station & travelling to Watford Junction directly, again saving the London connection. Would add a certain frisson to your journey.....

[Angry Sheep]

In happier times when we had more branch lines you would have been able to travel from St. Albans (London Road) to Watford, via St. Albans (Abbey Road) and joined your Northampton train at Watford Junction, thus saving you trekking from St. Pancras to Euston! But as the Hatfield to St. Albans branch closed in September 1951 this advice is somewhat academic... 

 

You could still have saved a fair bit of time by walking to St. Albans (Abbey) station & travelling to Watford Junction directly, again saving the London connection. Would add a certain frisson to your journey.....

 

Er, you're right. I could have. Erm. D'oh.

Next time...

[Angry Sheep]

[dollywobbler]

C'mon. Get the roof off! You'll stay dry as long as you keep your speed up. WCPGW?

[Fat_Pirate]

ASTUTE PURCHASE SIR.  I can confirm that there is nothing more butch and manly than a red MX5.  The only real issue with these is the number of lovesick teenage girls you get camping outside your house.

[eddyramrod]

I dare ya!

[dome]

Yas! Good fun little things. I enjoyed mine. Get the roof off!

[Angry Sheep]

Well, the roof didn't stay up for long.

 

 

Had a message from the seller on Friday saying someone had managed to scrape it while it was parked smashing the rear light. Fortunately a replacement was sourced on eBay for a tenner, and the guy selling it was on my way home, so that was replaced straight away.

 

 

Anyway, I've got two sets of wheels with it - one the BBS alloys that it'll have come with originally (as an S-Special) and the other a regular set of MX5 alloys. One tyre in each set has a puncture, hence the half and half arrangement you'll see in the pics!

 

I'm going to make it priority to get them sorted as the tyres on the BBS alloys aren't the best. It's a lot easier to get it sideways than my previous MX5 - fun when you're trying, not so when you're not. The question is, which wheels should I stick with? I like the BBS, but they could really do with refurbishing, and I've only got two centre caps which are stupidly expensive on eBay. So I'm leaning towards the regular MX5 ones (which have better tyres on, too).

 

 

Other than that, it's in pretty good shape. My last one was a bit rotten so I was very cautious this time - took a mate with me who knows MX5s well and went all over it with a magnet. Its MOTed til August and I've got a heap of spares with it. There's a bit of confusion over the number plate - apparently a previous owner wants it back, and the guy I bought it off has signed something to transfer it back to him. It's on the V5 though, so it's mine, right?

 

Oh, and the price of this quality Japanese sports car? That'll be £500, sir.

 

 

Barely stopped driving it after picking it up yesterday morning - even decided to pop for a drive through London last night. Had three different people take my picture - not bad for a cheapo MX5!

[Six-cylinder]

Every household should have a MX5!

[Pillock]

Might be worth a call to DVLA to check before you get pulled over though, since the V5 is assumedly old (as in it dates before the sale, so naturally will have the JOE plate on). It could have been transferred, the car has been given a new reg, plates left on car and new V5 not arrived yet.

[garethj]

Tip top buying, those early ones with popup lights look good and you can't fault £500

[overrun]

Pop up lights are the way!

Looks a nice, clean Eunos, that.

[gm]

Good choice there ! Bung the BBS wheels on ebay and you could recoup a significant portion of the cost of the car the other set are made by Enkei and are nice and light, check if they are the rarer 'hollow spoke' type as they are worth a bit too.

 

I trust you will be removing the crappy retro stickers asap ?

[Fat_Pirate]

Over the weekend I found a 1990 Autocar magazine in my loft, with a road test of the original MX5.  It was just shy of £15K on the road at launch, and according to this inflation calculator, that's more than £32K in todays money!

[brickwall]

Crikey!

[barmatt]

I've been looking at these recently as the prices are now in proper shiter territory, what are the issues to look out for? I've heard of rusty sills but not many other probs.

[Ghosty]

Nice! +1 for the MX-5 original wheels, they're a lot better suited. Also, high value of BBSs as already mentioned.

[gm]

basically look out for rusty sils and arches, mechanically they are pretty robust. parts are readily available and reasonably priced, there aren't many jobs that can't be done with basic tools at home. I've had five of them over the last ten years and absolutely love them

[Angry Sheep]

I've been rubbish at updating this. All is going well, however.

 

It's now sporting four matching alloys. I sold a load of spares that came with it (recuperating most of the purchase cost, making this rust-free Eunos practically free) and bought a noisy chav exhaust off a mate.

 

Drove it up to Shropshire on Friday evening to visit the parents and show off my purchase, and even persuaded Dad to lend me a hand doing a few jobs yesterday. Nothing major - changed the shift boots to make for a slicker gear change, changed the radio (now I can play music via Bluetooth but can't hear it thanks to said exhaust) and a few other little bits. Got the seats out too to give it a thorough hoover (and get rid of a previous owners' old socks).

 

 

 

Next on the list is to change the suspension. It's on Bilstein shocks (because special edition, innit) and it's bloody horrible on anything less than perfect roads. Everyone raves about Meister R coilovers, which I'm tempted by, but they cost more than I paid for the car. So in true Autoshite fashion, I've blagged so new (used) dampers off a mate and pushed the boat out to buy some new springs.

 

Oh, and I'm taking it to Germany in a fortnight. There's a twisty toll road I wanna chuck it around for LOLz.

[Cheggers]

Looking good. Did you ever sort out what's happening with the registration?

[Angry Sheep]

Looking good. Did you ever sort out what's happening with the registration?

 

Nope. It's still on. Not got the V5 yet, but I suspect that's a combination of the seller being slow sending it off (he was very apologetic when I contacted him), and the DVLA being useless. I'm keeping an eye on https://www.vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/and the plate's still showing as on a red MX-5, so I'm confident it's legal for now!

 

Will probably ring the DVLA this week if the V5 doesn't turn up.