Trigs "Car in front" - Bonnet repairs!

[trigger]

Mrs Trigger has been moaning for a long while about not having a car for herself and having to drive big thirsty cars so I decided to be a gentleman for a change and find something half modern and boring, after spending ages looking at some of the shit for sale and narrowingly missing out on a Yaris on ebay i ended up finding this Toyota Starlet SR about a hour away also on ebay.

 

The SR model was basically a run out model for the Starlet before it was discontinued for the Yaris. There was 1000 of them made in black, white or silver and they came with the standard 1332cc 16v 4E-FE engine kicking out a MASSIVE 74 bhp YO, they also came with some TTE (Toyota Team Europe) goodies, namely A TTE backbox, a TTE rear spoiler and a lowered suspension all round as well as a set of Speedline alloys, groovy hey!.

 

To be fair i didn't know anything about them before i bought it except that Mrs T wanted a Nissan Micra and i thought the Starlet looked like one but a little more manly.

 

Anyway i popped up to look at it during the week and a deal was made to collect it this morning, this all went well, the wind and rain was awful so it wasn't exactly the best day for it mind, I bought some fuel at Morrisons nearly in Bungay and I'm still kicking myself for not getting a photo as i was parked next to a old boy in a 1974 M reg Lotus Europa in brown! It was proper tasty, the old chap looked in his 80's too. Gutted!. The best photo i got was this ropey one on a back road.

 

 

It drives really nicely actually, it's only done 76000 mile so it should really, It's quite tinny and noisy inside, very much like most small Jap cars but it goes quite well and seems very frugal on the fuel. The power steering is a bit light for my liking but it handles really well but again it's a bit crashy over the bumps, i suspect the low profile 195/45/15 tyres don't help with that. 

 

So once it was home the first job was to pressure wash it, i don't think it had been cleaned for years. The last owner was a young lady whose first car it was and i don't think she cleaned it much.

 

 

 

 

 

It came up pretty well really, i done inside the engine bay too which looked better, after this the buyer for the Merc arrived and once he left with it (It made the 252 mile drive home faultlessly apparently which is excellent) I nipped up to ECP and bought some service parts for it, 10 minutes later that job was done (what a piece of piss!) so I got jiggy with the polishing mop.

 

 

Messy bloody job, it has a nasty scratch along the offside which i hoped would polish out but it didn't, tomorrow I'll wash it and give it a hand job.

 

It needs a few jobs doing, the rear parcel shelf is missing it's string and the wiring for the speakers and one of them has a hole, I should be able to fix this without to much trouble although i did think about fitting my old Kenwood 6x9's but they would have left holes exposed..

 

 

I think this was the original spare as it's a Conti but it's perished badly and needs changing ASAP, the spare is brand new though.

 

 

and the front bumper has well scuffed so will need painting (as well the alloys really).

 

 

Tomorrow I'll go over the inside, it smells a bit funky and there's dog hair everywhere which i hate, I want to get a new CD player for it do as the old one's wank.

 

 

 

and lastly it should have a full Castrol inspired SR sticker set but there missing which is quite common, I've found a chap on the Starlet forum who sells a full set of reproduction ones for £45 which I'll get, It should look like this.

 

 

You can see where someone in the past has painted the bonnet when the sticker was on it and just masked it off...

 

 

If any of you are still awake after reading this I'll post some more tomorrow once I've done the inside.

 

Konnichiwa.

[HillmanImp]

I like the stickers, i don't like the seats. 90s puke camoflaged.

[trigger]

Yeah I agree about the seats, You'd thought being a sports model they'd jazz them up a bit but no, they just look crap, they aren't the most comfiest either, they're pretty hard on your back.

[greengartside]

Looks good Trig, I take it you were up my neck of the woods when collecting this beast?

[trigger]

 I take it you were up my neck of the woods when collecting this beast?

 

Close, I think, It was from an industrial estate in Ellough. The girls dad owned a business there so we did the deal from there.

[hairnet]

sr - sore rectum cos of seats.............

 

dont look bad

[Wilko220]

I think it looks very promising - will be total class once you get the stickers on.

[HMC]

That's come up really well! Good result finding someone who can do the stickers too. Has it still got the original sports back box?

[trigger]

Sadly not, just a normal Starlet one, i think the TTE one's are like rocking horse shit. It's probably easier and cheaper to get stainless one made up I'd thought.

[Partridge]

That's tidy innit? Always liked these and they seem to be much rarer than the Yaris.

 

This seems to be the year of dirty new cars. Mine is filthy and looks like it's not seen a sponge on the seats since 2003 and has half a forrest under the bonnet...

[RobT]

Looks nice that. The alloys give it STANCE, not sure about the stickers though, bit of an odd colour combo.

[greengartside]

Close, I think, It was from an industrial estate in Ellough. The girls dad owned a business there so we did the deal from there.

Yep that's Beccles, would have had to go past mine to get there!

[Matt]

IMG_3072.JPG

Good lord man, steady up on the polish! I think you're either applying way too much, not spreading it correctly first or lifting the machine before it has finished turning. Either way it shouldn't be getting splattered everywhere.

 

Will look rad with the stickers installed, IMO tasteful stickers like that aren't common enough on cars.

[trigger]

That was with the G3, it always makes a mess as you need to keep it wet to stop scoring the paintwork. It's a right PITA though.

[overrun]

Doing it right!

 

I love these SR's. These days they are rarer than a turbo brick south of the border.

Them cute little Speedlines are always worth a few bob, anarl, should it ever be broken.

 

Mop and sticker plans are properly tits, though.

She's gonna come up like a new 'un!

[Mr Lobster]

Loving that. I reckon once you've got that all cleaned up and with the stickers fitted that'll look pretty good.

[Twiggy]

BUT........................ is Mrs. Trigger happy with it ? ? ?

[cort16]

After staring at those seats dor30 seconds I started to see nelson mandalas face in them. A lot of japanenese stuff of this age has similiarly gawpin seat patterns I think the micras are equally guilty .

Nice little car though this is still back when having a 1.3 gave you some kind if performance. I

[HillmanImp]

Volksys 96 Toyota Corolla also had similarly horrific patterned seats but suppose it was the fashion in the 1990s:

 

 

Did not realise yours does not have the stickers and that is a shot of what it should look like, I had been out when I read this last night. Apologies.

 

I agree you should have some made up they really do look good. 

 

 

they aren't the most comfiest either, they're pretty hard on your back.

 

This is coming from a Mercedes though, where the seats are soft as when new they were designed to contain an overweight Financial Adviser. You will get used to them quick enough no doubt. 

[r.welfare]

I remember when these came out thinking Toyota had gone absolutely mad because the base Starlet was so dreary and there were no mechanical mods so who the hell was going to buy them? Amazed they are 45 profile tyres actually, that must have been performance car territory in '98.

[chaseracer]

...tomorrow I'll wash it and give it a hand job.

 

Easy now, tiger...

 

[Hendry]

I normally hate Jap cars and the interior is hideous, reminds me more of an 80s Daihatsu than anything Toyota but the outside looks like smart and sporty without being OTT, that and the fact its nice to see a sporty pukka UKDM Starlet rather than those wanky (IMO) JDM Glanza Vs boy racers seem to all run about in.

[garethj]

Good work, stickers will be ORSUM

[trigger]

Hello again, more progress has been made on this today, First thing this morning i pressure washed all the polish spits of the plastic and bodywork, it gets everywhere then after that i spent a few hours with the Autoglym super resin polish it's transformed it now, it's amazing what a difference a good hand polish makes to it, I should have waxed it too but by this point i couldn't be arsed.

 

I also spent some time cleaning the inside so now it looks fantastic. I was also planning on swapping the dodgy tyre with the spare but they are directional and sod laws it's the wrong side so i might as well just get a part worn fitted plus i think the tracking could do with being checked anyway.

 

So not to bore you any longer here the finished photos.

 

 

 

 

 

The last time i had a black car was 9 years ago and i can remember why, it shows every little mark, The bumper really needs painting but i can do that, more annoying is this key mark down the side, that would explain why it was so dirty when i saw it.,

 

 

Oh well, It was only a £650 car so it's to be expected, the interior looks nice though but i really need to change that stereo.

 

 

Engine looks cleaner now too.

 

 

So there you have it, I drove it to my dads this afternoon which is a 60 mile round trip and it's great fun, it's surprisingly quick and handles really well, It's just the loud, boomy engine and tinniness that lets it down.

 

The sticker set is all paid for now too so I'll hopefully be fitting that shortly.

[Hendry]

Have you dewipered the rear now too?

[trigger]

No, The old one was really rusty so I've rubbed it down and painted it with hammerite, It's still drying. Admittedly though it does look better without the wiper on IMHO.

 

That also reminds me, Euro car parts is the other side of town, a good 30-45 round trip, anyway I hoped my new wiper blade i picked up yesterday and the bloody things been crushed! It's totally bent so now I have to drive back again and hope that they will change it, So that's more wasted fuel.

[RoadworkUK]

My God trigger, how nice is your garage! Hope the Starlet is paying you for bed and board...

[Station]

I was going to buy one of these, they are great cars the SR.

[purplebargeken]

That is not a bad looking little nip-about. You've done a grand job on the interior and exterior by the way. 

 

Can I bring the Beetle round for you to have a go on! 

 

 

[Billy SR]

This is getting me emotional, my old SR was the best car I ever owned, before spinning out on a motorway and writing it off,  just after replacing her with new decals  

 

Now own a corolla SR and it's nowhere near as fun and enjoyable to drive.