The fleet clearout...

[Cavcraft]

Jesus wept, would you look at the arse end of that? It's so fabulous it's blasted straight the stratosphere of fugly, smashed through the back door of class and landed on the leather couch of top bollocks.

[Stixy]

 

Back view.  It has a towbar, which I didn't even notice until this morning  , and which partially obscures the already illegal rear number plate.  I might have to do something about that.

 

DSC_0202.JPG

 

 

 

Parked next to a Magentis or a Sonata ?

[hauserplenty]

I was guessing an Oldmansmobile Gutless, but it looks like a C- body GM conveyance so top bombing!

The brakes might not be getting enough vacuum to the booster, from what you described. 3.1/3.4/3.8 all use the same block, so generally* good motors, those. Ignition coils often fail causing weak spark and misfires...filth!

[hauserplenty]

...Sonata bad looking car either!

 

'Here's me 'at, worrs me 'urry y'knowloike. Innit.

 

Sodding autocorrect needs a bleedin' Scouse filter...

[Jollyfckr]

What's the Perodua story? Strangely I fancy one!

[wuvvum]

Parked next to a Magentis or a Sonata ?

Magentis.  2.5 V6 no less.  Objectively a better car in every conceivable way than the Olds, but somehow I still prefer driving the Yank.

[wuvvum]

What's the Perodua story? Strangely I fancy one!

It failed its MoT on lots of welding underneath.  And headlight aim.  Not sure quite what I'm going to do with it tbh - it's almost certainly not worth paying a garage to do the work, and once I'm sufficiently confident in my own weldage skills to tackle MoT fails the Renault 6 is at the front of the queue.

[wuvvum]

I found an amusing feature on this this evening.  The "E/M" button to the left of the instrument panel changes the display between miles and km.  The speedo reads fine in km/h, and the trip meter also displays km OK, but if you set the display to the main milometer and then switch to metric it displays "Error".  I have no idea why, but it entertained me briefly.

 

It also has a couple of other unusal features.  Firstly, the world's most useless glovebox.

 

 

Except that when you lift the "floor" of the glovebox up, there's a much bigger space hidden underneath.

 

 

What is the point in that?

 

Also, it has funky "clap hands" wipers, which I never knew these had.

 

 

It also has what is almost certainly the busiest single column stalk I've ever encountered - it does indicators, headlight dip, wipers, washers and cruise control.  Take that, Mercedes.  The cruise control doesn't work mind.

[RoadworkUK]

Whatever you do don't try to indicate using the stalk on the right.

[wuvvum]

how many GPM does it do?

I've worked out that it did about 29mpg on the run back - which included driving across London, so it should beat 30 on a steady run.  A tune-up'd probably help mind.

[wuvvum]

The brakes might not be getting enough vacuum to the booster, from what you described.

Quite possibly - but to be honest I prefer them as they are, rather than the usual sneeze-on-the-pedal-and-the-wheels-lock setup.

[jonny69]

Mate, that thing is HORRIBLE, I love it! Loving the Knight Rider dash.

[oldcars]

Magentis.  2.5 V6 no less.  Objectively a better car in every conceivable way than the Olds, but somehow I still prefer driving the Yank.

You have both? If so you is a winner 

[stuboy]

ugly assed yanlshiter

[hairnet]

eddy pwned

 

the plate is fine just take the plate off the towbar...........

[eddyramrod]

eddy pwned

 

the plate is fine just take the plate off the towbar...........

Yep, that's actually lovely.  I had the Lumina, which is really the base car in that lineup, also with the 3.1, so I totally understand how it drives.  I am jealous.

[barmatt]

my god that is ugly and it looks thoroughly depressing to drive, top purchase Dave.

 

That may have to be on the list of barmatts purchases from Wuvs

[DVee8]

Looks like there may be a queue  for this when it comes up for sale. soon.

 

Top shiteing love it  

[BorniteIdentity]

Anything with column shift gets an erect thumb from here.

 

10/10.

[wuvvum]

Yep, it's up for sale again already.  I actually quite like it, but it's yet another car that needs TLC that I don't currently have the time / energy / patience to give it.

 

I think the thread so far gives a fair bit of info about it, but here's a sum up:

 

Good bits:  Starts / drives / stops / steers - actually drives quite nicely.  All lights, wipers etc. work, tyres are good.  Has a funky digital dash.  It's a 6-seater, although the middle front passenger would need to be on the skinny side.  It's MOT'd, albeit only to the end of the month.  It uses a drivetrain that GM made for about a million years, so mechanical bits are plentiful and cheap.  It's also a pushrod engine so no cambelts to worry about, and it isn't as dreadful on fuel as you might think.  Aircon seems to work after a fashion - it's not ice cold but definitely colder than the ambient temperature.  It's called an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, which is a much cooler name than Vauxhall Vectra or whatever.  It has a towbar.

 

Bad bits:

 

-Bodywork is presentable but not perfect - the horizontal surfaces all have some degree of Milford Cubicle on them, there are a few minor dings and a bit of bubbling on the nearside front wing above the bumper (in what I like to call the W210 spot).

-Engine needs a tune-up - starts fine but seems to be over-fuelling (the chap I bought it off reckoned a tired injector) and can cut out at idle sometimes, mainly when cold.

-Gearbox works fine but has an ATF leak.  It's not pissing out but it's losing enough that it'd probably need topping up every week or so.  I've put in a Wynn's stop leak treatment today - it's too early to tell how successful this has been, you may be lucky or you might need to take bits off and put Hylomar round them.

-The engine doesn't start off the key - the key does the ignition and steering lock but there's a separate flick switch under the dash to operate the starter.  The advantage of this in light of point 2 is there's no cutout mechanism if the car's in gear so if the engine stalls at a junction, you can just flick the switch and pull away straight off, you don't have to faff about putting it into park.

-The boot doesn't currently open as I snapped the key off in the lock because I'm a hamfisted twat.  It might open with a bit of fiddling as most of the key is inside, it just needs lining up with the pins properly.

-Will probably need a bit of work for its next test - apart from the above, the previous owner reckoned the parking brake was a bit rubbish, it might need other bits too, I haven't been over it in any detail. 

 

£250 please.

[eddyramrod]

You cruel, cruel man.  I may have to do some man-maths over the next few days...

[Lacquer Peel]

An obscure American car in need of work seems ideal* for you Eddy.

[danthecapriman]

You cruel, cruel man.  I may have to do some man-maths over the next few days...

Sod the maths, just buy it Eddy!

 

This thing is cool, ugly is beautiful! Certainly stands out unlike euro and jap stuff.

[purplebargeken]

Get it bought man!

[garethj]

One man has an odd and slightly tired American car for sale, another man is looking for an odd and slightly tired American car.

 

It's something of a perfect storm that you can only get on Autoshite.

[eddyramrod]

I'm not though, that's the trouble!  I need to keep my head down a bit and try to build up some funds so I can afford an older, possibly more obscure and hopefully slightly better American car.  Dammit.  And I'm well aware of the irony content, given that I've just sold off a similar-sized American car, of similar age, with issues.

[hairnet]

You cruel, cruel man.  I may have to do some man-maths over the next few days...

 

 

Sod the maths, just buy it Eddy!

 

This thing is cool, ugly is beautiful! Certainly stands out unlike euro and jap stuff.

 

 

Get it bought man!

 

 

fuck everything

 

listen to this lot ffs

[danthecapriman]

I'm not though, that's the trouble!  I need to keep my head down a bit and try to build up some funds so I can afford an older, possibly more obscure and hopefully slightly better American car.  Dammit.  And I'm well aware of the irony content, given that I've just sold off a similar-sized American car, of similar age, with issues.

Or...

 

My (un)intelligent idea. Buy this as it's old, interesting, american, cheap etc etc and run around in it like an old smoker. In order to cover costs, sell the Vectra which should be an easy sell. This will both cover the cost of the yank and keep the other half/family off your case aswell as keeping you in a position where you can continue saving for an older yank.

 

Nothing about this plan can go wrong, it's brilliant thinking!

[eddyramrod]

That pretty-much is what I was thinking.  American autos of this size are perfect as daily-drivers.  At least they are until they go wrong, like certain white things parked in nearby driveways....  But seriously, in use, they're no harder to run than a big Volvo, or XJ40.

[danthecapriman]

That pretty-much is what I was thinking.  American autos of this size are perfect as daily-drivers.  At least they are until they go wrong, like certain white things parked in nearby driveways....  But seriously, in use, they're no harder to run than a big Volvo, or XJ40.

I bet they aren't any worse reliability wise than an XJ40 etc either. I think you just got unlucky with the Mercury.

At the price, I reckon you could actually be quids in if you sold the Vectra and got this!