The survivors

[lisbon_road]

We've had a number of topics on what has disappeared and what we haven't seen recently.  How about a thread based on what we still see that surprises us?

 

For me, the cars that survive that surprise me in numbers are:

 

Mk3 Astra.  OK I own one (well three actually - I sold one) but these are still in every car park.  Where I work, with about 30 cars, sometimes we have four of them.  They're indestructible.

 

Corsa B.  Some threads say they've gone - I don't agree.  They are still everywhere.

 

Peugeot 306.  Did you ever see a rusty one? 

 

Rovers: 75s ok not everywhere but considering that they are barges that guzzle petrol and made by a company that doesn't exist, I am surprised how many I see.  And the smaller Rovers too.  Given all that, they must be good cars.

 

 

I invite the positive thoughts of the rest of you.  I work in rural Gloucestershire and am now never surprised seeing any of the above - its a bit like going to Malta a few years back!

 

 

[fordperv]

Peugeot 205s there appears to be a good few going strong, mk3 cavaliers I see 7 or 8 of these local

[MarvinsMom]

since i bought the 75, then i seem to be seeing them all over the place, both saloons and estates.

 

the smaller ones are i think still running wild in some numbers, both the 25 and 45.

 

save their well known engine issues they seem to keep on going. i did at one point have a 25, and i thought it was a cracking little car.

 

mark 1 freelanders seem to be about still in some numbers, though with those it is the diesel ones that are the ones which are still on the road.

 

nissan almera's are another great survivor, though alot of the ones i see do have galloping rot about the back wheel arches, they must have living on borrowed time though.

 

with these and the rovers they would have been bought new by giffers and i think that has helped with their numbers still on the road.

[laser wheels]

Pumas. Given there propensity for rust its amazing that I still see them on a daily basis. Some days I may see 3 or 4 and that's just locally. Pretty impressive for a 20 year old car that appears to have been designed to be disposable. Moggy Minors are another one. I still spot them regularly round here being used as daily drivers throughout the year ditto MGB GTs.

 

Sadly Sierras seem to have been all but eradicated except for the odd Sapphire Cossie although there is a lovely* P100 that bombs about which appears to be held together with twine. I love it.

[MarvinsMom]

i also see a few x300 xj6;s around and about. 

 

which is cool, cos they are cool.

[laser wheels]

Rover/MGs are another one. Hundreds of the things still doing daily service despite the common or garden bloke in the pub who will still insists that 'their problem of course was that they weren't buit properly were they? Not like them Germans!'

[mercrocker]

What DID kill 306s? One minute they were motor of choice where I worked, shit loads of tidy ones and then NONE. I sort of thought one would make a nice winter shitter when they got cheap and disposable but looks like they all bit the dust before that stage. I saw an E reg Senator the other day and it was like seeing a PC Cresta or something, bit like meeting a long lost friend in the supermarket...Pumas, yes, ditto, the scabs on the wheelarches never quite seeming to get much worse. But spy a Cougar and its a memorable moment. Theres a bloke at work about to spend a shed load of money on his OMGHGF'd and MOT failed 75. Its not high spec, solid navy blue but he loves it. I suppose they have quietly gone into cherished car mode and when I spoke to him about it he convinced me that there is nothing like it on sale today. Already.

[laser wheels]

Oh, yeah, and I agree on the 306s as well. Still loads about and 106s, too!.

[Cavcraft]

I can show you a rusty 306 if you come to Chester.

[MarvinsMom]

ah yes, the legendary  hun kwaliti.

 

a friend of mine works in the body shop trade, usually doing classics and the like. 

 

recently he had a bmwhocares 500 thing in, he had to weld up both sills, the jacking points and a big lump of the boot floor.

 

this thing was a good lump younger than my 75 (a54 plate, the rover is a 51), but in terrible shape! and it was a 1 owner, 60,000 mile car that had had anything it needed.

 

plus bmwhocares paint is shit; he cannot understand how they get it so thick and still be able to spray it.

 

and there isn't anything else like the 75 around. the nearest thing i can think of would be an xj6 or an xj8 (x300 & x308) i dunno about any of the newer ones as i've not had chance to try one.

[cms206]

75s are everywhere. Well they are at my workplace, my 69-year old professional Yorkshireman gaffer has just bought his sixth; all are 2.0CDTis, one saloon and five tourers. He's got three Knightfire R8 416 tourers too.

[MarvinsMom]

now there is a proper fan!

[danthecapriman]

Agree about the Rovers, they've survived surprisingly well. There's quite a few 200/25 400/45 and 75 models still around here.

 

Transit 'smileys' seem fairly common too. They are getting on now, they rot like hell and as vans don't get cared for but yet they seem to just keep on going. I suspect people keep them inspite of the rust issues as the later Transits are so shit and expensive to keep going. Brilliant old vans!

[Parky]

My tame mechanic is constantly amazed at the poor quality of BMWs - but doesn't complain as they are a BMW specialist and he gets shitloads of overtime as a result.

 

Survivor wise I saw a lovely 1993 Peugeot 106 at my Sainsburys tonight. It looked standard and I realised that was what a small car is supposed to look like. I had access to a few between 1995 and 2000 and would roll in another like a shot.

 

Nearby Upminster hosts a D reg 205, completely flat paint and rusty steelies but used regularly. I think it might soon be sporting a note on the window saying "if you ever consider selling this car, please keep my number handy as I have loved it from afar for some years now"

[danthecapriman]

I'd also add Volvo 940's. Still a good number around here earning their keep.

[Stanky]

There are no N15 Almeras which don't have tell-tale squares of schutz where the rear wheelarch meets the sill, Mine has it both sides.

 

However, apart from this they are indestructible. I really believe that it is worth getting one welded here as otherwise you cannot kill them. Mine on 138k now, has returned 44 to the gallon over 55k miles and is a doddle to service.

 

Sadly, as howmanyleft attests, the numbers are thinning out quite drastically.

[HH-R]

Still see a fair few Rovers considering the youngest are 10 now. Filled up with fuel the other day and heard the unmistakable sound of a K series starter motor and piston slap behind. Lovely.

[MarvinsMom]

there is a couple round here running about in a mark 3 cav. 

 

its a facelifted one, and is an LS so not an expensive one. 

 

i think it must be the last one running wild and free.

 

the vectra's that followed it though they are almost invisible now.

[MarvinsMom]

like at home i keep seeing a couple of mark 2 primeras running about.

 

one is a like an SRi or something similar, the other is i think one of the GTi limited edition ones.

 

the fact that they are still running about and have missed been run into the ground as mini cabs is something.

 

i think that the same fate met alot of the cavaliers/vectras too.

[mercrocker]

Cavs..yes that reminds me. Walking home from the club on Wednesday night I passed a house whose six foot wooden driveway gates are usually shut. This week they were open, revealing a tidy dark blue J reg Mk3 Cav. Obviously well cared for but I never see it about.

[oman5]

I'd also add Volvo 940's. Still a good number around here earning their keep.

Mine even has an identical twin in the same town. Same year,colour,model.

[Honey Badger]

Quite a few Carina E smoking about round here all very dirty but in good nick and a few early CR-Vs in gold as well.

 

In case you hadn't guessed I live on an estate full of pensioners...

[2MB]

W201 and W124 mercs are still plentiful round me. But as can be seen above, ownership of a particular make or model increases the vigilance of the spotter for its cousins

[MarvinsMom]

this is very true.  

[HH-R]

Early Corsa Cs, still think of them as modern really but the earliest are coming up to 12 years old. Ditto mk4 Astras, still loads kicking about.

 

Mk2 Puntos, considering they suffer HGF and FIAT electrics. Don't see many early Pandas oddly, though there's loads of 07 onwards kicking about.

[beko1987]

Non OLLI'd Suzuki SJ's

[beko1987]

W201 and W124 mercs are still plentiful round me. But as can be seen above, ownership of a particular make or model increases the vigilance of the spotter for its cousins

I agree! I never used to see any ZX's until I got my first, saw a few. Got the XM, and after never seeing one for years saw 3 in a year. Since that's gone I honestly havent seen a single one. Have seen one or 2 ZX's though recently...

 

There's a tidy looking red Xantia hatch locally, and I;ve seen another few but Xantias used to be everywhere. 

 

I'd better buy one so they all come out of the woodwork!

 

'Breadvan' escort estates (no idea of the mk number). Were fucking tons when I were a lad (early 90's), mates mum had a yellow one. Not seen one for possibly decades thinking about it.

 

Mazda 323. I know one or 2 are on here but not seen one in the flesh for years. My primary school headteacher had an R reg one from spankers new, did look nice (still does)

[HH-R]

My cousin had a 53 plate 323 about 2 years ago and it went for scrap because of rust! I couldn't believe it, it seemed like a new car. Screamed it's bollocks off at 70 MPH.

[AnthonyG]

Here in Gloucestershire, you still see Rover R8s in regular use on a daily basis, never mind the newer stuff! I followed a white G reg one for a while yesterday .

 

Corsa B's and Micra K11s, also Fiesta mk4s, given the model's propensity to rust I am amazed how many ones still about, P/R/S plates as well as later ones. I guess, like Micras, if you keep welding the sills up, nothing else much goes wrong.

 

Cheltenham is also home to the giffer Volvo, 240s, 940s, V70s, S40s, all kinds, usually very well kept. I saw a mint P plate S70 saloon in doom blue with plakka wheel trims in Waitrose car park, looking like it had just come off the showroom floor. I think a lot of the reason for these cared-for Ovlovs and the Rovers is you can't buy a new equivalent.

[vulgalour]

Citroens of note are the Xsara, AX and Xantia up here, hardly any back in Derbyshire but very popular here.

 

Japanese cars of note is really only the Pleasurewagon Jellybean like Krujoe has, there's a couple bomb about.

 

Fords of note is restricted to the KA.  They should have all disintegrated by now but there's still tonnes of the fuckers buzzing around dodging MoTs.