Project Memoirs from the Hard Shoulder: bASeman's Spot of the Year award.

[wuvvum]

Renault especially.  My neighbour appears to have acquired a 55-plate Clio (first of the Mk3s) - to me it still looks like a new design even though it's 15 years old.

[HMC]

Great result!Plus the paint looks very uv resistant which is pretty good going for 25. (Or is that the result of a lot of mopping etc?)

[Mr Laurence]

9 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Renault especially.  My neighbour appears to have acquired a 55-plate Clio (first of the Mk3s) - to me it still looks like a new design even though it's 15 years old.

The one that messes with my head most is the idea that for a short time, the Renault 5 and Morris Minor were both being sold as new cars. Renault have been really ahead of the game design wise a lot, and don’t seem to get the credit they deserve for it

[Dick Longbridge]

7 minutes ago, Mr Laurence said:

The one that messes with my head most is the idea that for a short time, the Renault 5 and Morris Minor were both being sold as new cars. Renault have been really ahead of the game design wise a lot, and don’t seem to get the credit they deserve for it

Don't forget the mk3 Escort van and the Bedford HA van were also on sale at the same time! I'd personally have one of each.

[SRi05]

24 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Renault especially.  My neighbour appears to have acquired a 55-plate Clio (first of the Mk3s) - to me it still looks like a new design even though it's 15 years old.

I think the MK2 has actually aged better than the 3's, still a fresh looking design 

[mat_the_cat]

On 12/30/2020 at 3:46 PM, BorniteIdentity said:

Griff's Garage of Countesthorpe get +3 points in Garage Leaderboard for an oil filter that was literally welded on.  After 10 minutes of knuckle scraping, chain wrenching, strap pulling and grunting I gave up and fucking went for it.

It took 5 punches to get the bastard to shift.  I'd say that it's been on for a good few years as it was leaking a bit and there was some crust on the rim.  Yum.

The worst filter I ever came across was on a 106, and my heavy duty strap wrench just crumpled the filter canister. I too reverted to the old 'punch a screwdriver through it and hammer it round' option, and sure enough with the appropriate amount of force, the screwdriver began to move. Strangely, it didn't seem to crack off, but still required hammering even once it started to move. It was getting dark so I was working mainly by feel, so I just continued belting it. I even had to withdraw the screwdriver and re-pierce further round, as the handle came up against an obstruction.

Eventually, after nearly a complete revolution, I began to feel less resistance to turning. Then soon afterwards, zero resistance. That's strange I thought, and went to grab a torch. The screwdriver had only gone and sliced through the filter casing, slicing off the end and leaving only a jagged ring of metal and a lot of soggy cardboard. I think I cried.

[Cord Fourteener]

3 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Renault especially.  My neighbour appears to have acquired a 55-plate Clio (first of the Mk3s) - to me it still looks like a new design even though it's 15 years old.

 

4 hours ago, Mr Laurence said:

How is that a 30 year old design?! The french seem to have a knack for designing cars that age really well

I'm fairly sure they use pencils to draw challenging shapes on paper that don't look like a car and then draw wheels under it, and basically tell us what a car will look like. Maybe at first when you see the new Renner CliGan you think 'fucksticks that's ugly' but they manage to convince you it's stylish by the brute force of exposure to it.

[beko1987]

3 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Renault especially.  My neighbour appears to have acquired a 55-plate Clio (first of the Mk3s) - to me it still looks like a new design even though it's 15 years old.

I remember a friends dad coming back from Renault in Peterborough with a demo S reg Clio in that bright but burnt orange colour. It looked amazing! Burnt into my memory as one of my first car memories after that and the drive we went on. 

Still would tbh, either a nice old diesel one like robt had, or just a 1.2 petrol. Would involve a huge size downgrade though! 

[BorniteIdentity]

As reported in the sold thread for the car - Lovely Mick has fixed it already.

He said he was going to get cracking, had a ramp, no work on, couldn't go anywhere because his Mum is elderly and needed to check on her regularly, and this is what you can do in just a few days with some talent.  Absolutely delighted for him and the car.

Attention now turns to us getting another 7 seater in time for 'brighter days'.  There's a bit of a stand off between my wife and I about what we should get.  She needs to be able to drive it, so it can't be a behemoth.  But we are a family of 6 with 2 proper adults, a 16 year old and a tall 12 year old - plus paraphenalia.  Also, my brother has just bought a house in Cornwall for holidays etc so we'll need to fit in comfort.

I've voiced my concerns about Galaxy's etc before.  I just - it's weird - don't want to go down the obvious route.  She likes Qashqai+2 but, again, softroader/suv's aren't my bag at all.  

We are keen on Grand Tourneos/Caddy Maxi etc - they are a lot more "purposeful".  We also really really liked the Multipla and if I could find a really nice one ANYWHERE I would pay top money.

Any other slightly left field 6 seater suggestions welcome!  

[BorniteIdentity]

On 8/13/2016 at 8:07 PM, BorniteIdentity said:

2003 Rover 75 by Bornite Identity, on Flickr
2003 Rover 75 Club SE. AX53 BFA. This is where my career as a serial car buyer really began. Ignoring all of the warning signs I decided to press a K Series into a daily 100 mile commute, which it did with aplomb. This wasn't actually the car I set out to buy, the one I'd agreed to buy OVERHEATED ON THE FORECOURT whilst I was doing the paperwork. Consequently I couldn't leave fast enough and bought a different car later that day.

Facebook and all social media takes a bit of a battering on here - I guess it's different strokes for different folks.  Over the last few weeks it's been lush to see how everyone else is doing, and to keep in touch with people as well.  I'm not sure I've ever felt so lonely in my entire life!

Anyway, this mythical beast was on my mind the other day as naughty thoughts entered my head about entertaining another Raver and BOOM - up turns this picture on my Facebook Memories

It's a terrible quality picture - but shows the overheating car on the Morning of Saturday 14th January 2011.  Again, cliched, but I genuinely mean this - how the fuck that was nearly 10 years ago I have no idea.  This whole LOCKDOWN thing has made me realise just how quick it's all flying past.

I remember this car buying experience vividly, and this was from a time before I joined AS and documented things for the amusement of others.  I was sat in a studio on a Sunday afternoon and thought "FUCK IT - I really want to have a 75 before they're all shit and gone" and found this one about 15 minutes from my house in a tiny little village next to the A1.  I then got drunk that night (spectacularly) and told myself I'd buy it.  I then test drove it (back when I bothered with that sort of thing) no further than two miles in the pitch black with my (then 3 - now 12 year old) son in the back.  I thought it was lovely; despite being only a 1.8NA I had no other 75 experience to compare it to and had driven to the garage in a Fiesta 1.25 Zetec!

I remember the garage owner being furious that I'd come out to test drive a car without the money to buy it - even though I had a debit card (which it turns out he had a machine for!).  I said I'd be back on Saturday for it, he said "Might be gone" I said good luck to him and quelle surprise his remote garage hadn't managed to sell a 75 in 3 days.  

Saturday morning comes around, and I pitch up to pay and collect.  I start it up - look for white smoke - see none so go into settle up.  No sign of the guy but his 18 year old son is there who, to be honest, was a lot more agreeable.  We do the v5 (paper back then) I make a debit payment (I seem to remember it was only £800 for a 9 year old Rover!) and walked outside to see more steam than Oblivion at Alton Towers.  Fucksake.

The lad phones his Dad who says "Just needs some coolant" - I protest asking him to tell me where the previous water had gone - and eventually he refunds the debit payment and starts tippexing the v5!!  

With an irritable wife in the car, we had a McDonalds (only sensible thing to do) and set up a 50 mile radius search on Autotrader for Raver 75s.  There was one in Peterborough - same colour, same spec, 18 months newer so we went to see it.  The guy had it up at £1400 and wasn't up for dealing much.  In the end, with a hungry child and a grumpy wife, I coughed up £1250 and drove it away.  

Both 75s, very disappointingly, didn't last much longer.  I sold mine in July 2012 to an old boy and it was scrapped by the end of the year despite being pretty mint.  The 02 pictured car also seemed to disappear off the radar later that year being scrapped.

I'd urge anyone who's interested to try one.  They're probably a bit more of a risk now than they were back in 2012, but there's plenty of knowledge out there and a lot of specialists who'll travel.  If I had infinite garage space I'd have another just like this one.  

[BorniteIdentity]

Forgive the trip down memory lane, but that is - in fairness - what the memoirs are all about.

The car I probably SHOULD have bought, is this one.

Sadly, a mega manipulated Instagram picture is all I can find at the moment.  Although it's nice to see my Focus (Tonic) in frame (now with Mother in Law) and a pre-facelift Mk1 Focus to the left.  

This is what these should look like if you ask me.  Boot, blue, leather, beautiful.  From memory it was a STERLING ( @Lord Sterling can confirm I'm sure) and looked a million dollars on the forecourt of the now defunct Murco Garage in St Neots.

It sold a month after I took this photo, and hasn't been on the road since 2014.  Weird, as it changed hands in 2015 and is clear of scap/export.  Hopefully it's just slumbering somewhere.  Probably Lord Sterling's lock up

[Split_Pin]

Lovely to see all these again and especially your story about the forecourt kettle.

Didn't you have another one which was press car or something?

I'd recommend them to anybody. They are needy but as long as the big stuff such as clutch and rear suspension arms are ok then the rest is just fiddly bits.

[BorniteIdentity]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

Lovely to see all these again and especially your story about the forecourt kettle.

Didn't you have another one which was press car or something?

I'd recommend them to anybody. They are needy but as long as the big stuff such as clutch and rear suspension arms are ok then the rest is just fiddly bits.

Yes, this one.  A really special car tbh - Launch Spec 2.5v6 with those rare Y spoke wheels.  

Coincidentally, it's now owned by @Heinzywho found this place via THE GOOGLE.  The guy who bought it from me allowed it to deteriorate quite quickly from what I gather, as it went from a clean MOT pass with me to a pretty good fail within 12 months.  Heinzy has properly turned it around though and it looks spectacular.

I sold this to buy a BRIGHT YELLOW 306 Cabriolet because I...err... wanted one and, at the time, had more money than I knew what to do with!  Fortunately my wife has seen to that with a series of important expenditures on vitals like "interior design" so I'm glad I had the fun whilst I could!

[Mr Laurence]

I can remember you getting that launch 75! It was about the time I'd found out about this place, and reading about it sparked an interest in me for 75s. I'd love a nice early one just like yours, with them lovely personal line seats.

[Lord Sterling]

3 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Forgive the trip down memory lane, but that is - in fairness - what the memoirs are all about.

The car I probably SHOULD have bought, is this one.

Sadly, a mega manipulated Instagram picture is all I can find at the moment.  Although it's nice to see my Focus (Tonic) in frame (now with Mother in Law) and a pre-facelift Mk1 Focus to the left.  

This is what these should look like if you ask me.  Boot, blue, leather, beautiful.  From memory it was a STERLING ( @Lord Sterling can confirm I'm sure) and looked a million dollars on the forecourt of the now defunct Murco Garage in St Neots.

It sold a month after I took this photo, and hasn't been on the road since 2014.  Weird, as it changed hands in 2015 and is clear of scap/export.  Hopefully it's just slumbering somewhere.  Probably Lord Sterling's lock up

Oooh! 😮 a Sterling. 

This would be one of the later final "facelifted" Sterlings. At this point, from around 1997+ they came equipped with the 2.0 4-pot M-series engines (The T-series engines were turbos, Sterlings did not come with turbos)

Sadly it isn't in my exposed-to-elements lock up. 

[BorniteIdentity]

With Lockdown3.0 - we’ve had just two cars on the road since Christmas. In reality, that was one or two too many - but it wasn’t the six we were running this time last year. 

The Multipla was a revelation, and we looked hard to find another one. Sadly (for me) all the lovely ones have been wheelchair converted and all the remaining ones are shit. Honda FRVs were considered too, but I realised one thing. Nobody ever goes to work hoping one day to own a Honda FRV. If this year has taught me anything, it’s JFDI. It’s also taught me that - as a family - we like to get outside and do stuff. So, a van it was. 

We quickly ruled out Toyotas and LDVs (thanks @wuvvum) and I’ve always liked Caravelles. T4s are just starting to look cool now, so we set about trying to find one. I’ve probably said this in the memoirs before, but I honestly think the right car finds you.  The seller was a lovely lovely guy and, on the basis “people buy people” the deal was done swiftly and politely. 

Huge thanks to everyone in my T4 thread for help, and to the legendary @barefootfor his advice, insight and connections in the VW world. They all reassured me that the price was fair, so it’s now parked outside!

It’s a gorgeous old thing. Characterful, and full of stories. They’d take it to the French Riviera each year which helped contribute to the 245,600 miles on the ODO. Despite the miles, there’s no smoke and no taps.

The belts are due so that’s the first job; fortunately my tamed mechanic has a T4 himself and is all kitted up. 

Really looking forward to getting to the beach and making a brew in my HUGE boot! 

Bring on summer 🍍 

[beko1987]

My green TD zx did 160k of its 290odd in its first 4 years being driven from the uk to France (all its warranty service paperwork was in French) , I attribute that to its longevity (was on its 7th owner when it got to me, poor thing). 

Add a giffer owner with an attitude of whatever the bill is it gets done and hopefully its a recipe for a good van! 

 

[MJK 24]

Great work!

I think the possibly slightly unfashionable colour and the fact it’s on steels and trims suggest you’ve got a good one.

Half of them are sat on their belly on daft wheels under 469 stickers and self imposed rust.  They’re the ones that possibly need more through consideration!

Good luck with it.  I’d say that’s depreciation proof motoring right there!

[bezzabsa]

That VW is looking splendid despite its miles...

[Soundwave]

Looks a really nice example! After 15+ years of going to VW shows, it seems weird to see one that isn't on badly cut springs and plastered with gaudy stickers. It looks all the better for it.

[lisbon_road]

I've seen it before in a car, years of MOTs and somewhere along the line it gets an advisory for steering rack wear and never gets mentioned again. 

[w00dy]

That's a great colour and really shows how great the T4 looks when un-messed with. One of the few great facelifts.

[wuvvum]

Now that is nice.  As others have said, I can't remember the last time I saw such an un-messed-with T4 Caravelle.  Probably the best engine option as well.

How does the performance compare with the Granvia?

[BorniteIdentity]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

Now that is nice.  As others have said, I can't remember the last time I saw such an un-messed-with T4 Caravelle.  Probably the best engine option as well.

How does the performance compare with the Granvia?

Off the line there’s probably nothing in it. However when you stamp on the loud pedal to get round it sort of shrugs and then has a bit of a go. In the fullness of time I might do the stage 1 for 140hp but it won’t be anytime soon. 

[HMC]

I’m a bit confused, I thought originally all T4 bonnets were painted mat black by the factory? 
 

Lovely purchase. Looks very original and a great colour. It’s the sort of colour these get repainted in as it’s nicely retro. Our original buyer was a canny chap in 2000. Do you know much about the first owners?

[Matts_Rusty_Bus]

Looks like a nice example, is it a blue or silver "I" ? I had an 88hp 2.5 which suffered from the classic stanadyne injector drip/unstable idle problem.
New ones were comparable in cost to the stamp duty on my house, eventually I found a guy on a T4 forum selling units sourced from United Diesel for a fraction of the cost. They also gave it a significant hp increase (something like 25ish)
I had it remapped in the end which got me a rolling road print out for 149bhp and 360 torque.
Great old vans and I really miss mine, I have a newer caravelle now which has nowhere near the character of the 5 cylinder one.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

[timolloyd]

Looks like a top buy.

Just needs some Kath Kidston bunting and cushions and you’ll be ready for the road

[BorniteIdentity]

45 minutes ago, Matts_Rusty_Bus said:

Looks like a nice example, is it a blue or silver "I" ? I had an 88hp 2.5 which suffered from the classic stanadyne injector drip/unstable idle problem.
New ones were comparable in cost to the stamp duty on my house, eventually I found a guy on a T4 forum selling units sourced from United Diesel for a fraction of the cost. They also gave it a significant hp increase (something like 25ish)
I had it remapped in the end which got me a rolling road print out for 149bhp and 360 torque.
Great old vans and I really miss mine, I have a newer caravelle now which has nowhere near the character of the 5 cylinder one.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk
 

102 horsies on board*
 

*21 years ago 

[Matty]

2.5 tdi? Had o e for work 16 year ago and put mega miles on it. Genuinely nice thing to drive and a nice noise to boot. Hope you enjoy it (all vag are shite mate) 😜👍

[BorniteIdentity]

5 hours ago, lisbon_road said:

I've seen it before in a car, years of MOTs and somewhere along the line it gets an advisory for steering rack wear and never gets mentioned again. 

He had a reconditioned one fitted years ago. If it needed fixing, he fixed it