Serious (no, really!) group purchase suggestion: Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire, or summat else

[richardmorris]

Did you make contact with the putative AS Sapphire seller in the end?

[richardmorris]

I have been a member of two aircraft ownership groups (a Cap 10b and a Beagle Pup), and both were well run and avoided arguments.  If the agreement is clear and people are sensible, problems tend not to arise.  A clear agreement helps to promote sensibleness, and can contain provisions for what to do in the hopefully unlikely event of a dispute.

Sounds a sensible way to proceed if this idea takes off ( no plane pun intended).

[Uncle Jimmy]

Short straws for the coffin.

[Guest Breadvan72]

I have a vague idea of staying around 10K as the maximum initial purchase cost, but could maybe stretch to a share in a 15K purchase if there were, say, five in the group, and the car chosen was sorted ish and  not a mega project.

 

 

Hmmmmmm.  This one has  been mucked around with, but maybe semi sensibly, although part of me wants the gear change to be old and bonkers.  Saab seats would be in the bin on day one.

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C836794

 

[Uncle Jimmy]

A colleague of my dad had an eclat in the 1980s. Braked heavily once when some kids ran across the road and the windscreen fell out. Didn't break though! So he duck taped it back on.

Typical! Windscreen on my Excel broke without warning; it was very cold at the time, maybe that was the reason? Or a very dense pigeon turd.

[Guest Breadvan72]

Did you make contact with the putative AS Sapphire seller in the end?

 

Pleasant chap, told me he sold the car to a bloke in Kent.

[Guest Breadvan72]

... 105 Westie ...

 

 Sorry, I don't know what that is.

[Guest Breadvan72]

Hmmmmmm


http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C819794

 

[richardmorris]

Typical! Windscreen on my Excel broke without warning; it was very cold at the time, maybe that was the reason? Or a very dense pigeon turd.

Mind you my dad also said it rarely left the car park under its own steam and usually had a couple of sixth formers shanghaied to give it a push start.

[Guest Breadvan72]

Sports cars maybe best for solo ownership, or two good friends.  Something biggish and stately would be fun, especially if all members could get into it for the AGM/pub crawl.

[barrett]

What you want is one of these. Unloved even by AS standards, technologically interesting, quick, comfortable and good looking and, to those in the know, generally considered to be head and shoulders above a Jag or similar in handling and performance. This was probably the best one in the world and it strugged to £7k. You might be waiting a while, but it'll be worth it...

http://classiccars.brightwells.com/viewdetails.php?id=729

[Guest Breadvan72]

I agree that an Armstrong Siddeley from the 50s would be worth waiting for, in view of their advanced tech and as yet non crazy prices.

 

[Uncle Jimmy]

Austin Westminster A105...a Westie, a moniker I picked up from a friend who owned one.

Who knows what the connection is between the car and the aircraft above?

[panhard65]

How about a Hotchkiss. This one is very nice but the dealer has had it a few years and it is missing it's running boards, The price has been going up over the years and the car hasnt been getting better. It is just up the road from me and I am sure I could pick enough holes in it to get a fair discount. They drive really well and like a much newer car. 80 is possible and the suspension is really smooth.

http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/hotchkiss/anjou+13.50/205410

[Guest Breadvan72]

Who knows what the connection is between the car and the aircraft above?

 

 

There was an Armstrong Siddeley jet engine in some of the Hawker Hunters, if I recall correctly from my teenage aero-spod days.  The aircraft in the ad is a Hunter.

[drum]

I can provide storage.

 

PS. I'm in Scotland.

 

 

PPS. I think it's a good idea as most of my cars only get driven occasionally anyway and having access to something I couldn't normally afford would be nice.

[Guest Breadvan72]

How about a Hotchkiss. This one is very nice but the dealer has had it a few years and it is missing it's running boards, The price has been going up over the years and the car hasnt been getting better. It is just up the road from me and I am sure I could pick enough holes in it to get a fair discount. They drive really well and like a much newer car. 80 is possible and the suspension is really smooth.

http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/hotchkiss/anjou+13.50/205410

hotchkiss.jpg

 

 

Not a bad idea at all, thanks, although a couple of extra cylinders would be more gentlemanly (not that I am one; I've just bought the suit).   Too expensive at present, but how much could you expect to haggle off?

[chodweaver]

Perversely, I have more interest in the opportunity to work on/fix up a groupoheap than I do in driving it. This would however depend on the specific vehicle.

 

AS Sapphire? Quirky, nice to look at, not that busted about driving or even travelling in the thing. Plus: worried that if I tried to drive it, I'd get it totalled by stalling it/not being able to find a gear at a crucial moment and have a bus or a Barry pile into it.

 

Lancia Stratos? I think I'd have to drive that at least once...

 

My skill level is definitely in the 0-3 spanners range if you take any notice of the HBOL scale. I have delusions of ability though and accordingly I CAN'T STOP BUYING TOOLS. Most of these are either in storage, or still in their original box/blister pack/cardboard and kept distributed through various cupboards/rooms so that Mrs CW is never confronted with the sheer number of them. My retirement fantasy atm is finding some OAP apprenticeship scheme that allows me to draw my pension and bother a proper vehicle restoration operation until they let me wear overalls and make the tea in between playing with the gas axe/spray gun/flapsander.

 

Just saying like...

[Guest Breadvan72]

I would score minus 97 spanners.

[Skizzer]

I am a spanner.

 

I get the tools thing. Choosing tools is much more fun than failing to make cars work again, I find.

[anonymous user]

I would score minus 97 spanners.

My score is four spaniels, which is enough to make a dogs' dinner of most things that I attempt

[panhard65]

Not a bad idea at all, thanks, although a coupe of extra cylinders would be more gentlemanly (not that I am one; I've just bought the suit).   Too expensive at present, but how much could you expect to haggle off?

The six cylinder ones with a cotal box are serious money and Anjou's are about the cheapest of them. The 4 cylinders go well enough, as to value no idea but there is a solid one that needs recommisioning in Belgium for 8.5k

http://m.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C746840

The picture in the ad of the dash is wrong though and of another car, which is a shame as it is really nice. If they won't knock at least 5k off the one in somerset this one would be a better bet as 5k spent on it would make it a much better car

[Guest Breadvan72]

There are more pics of the Somerset Anjou on carandclassic.

 

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C468291

 

 

[anonymous user]

Am I alone in thinking that it looks a bit like a slightly melted A70 Hereford?

[panhard65]

They are a lot bigger than they look about the size of a Rolls. When I bought a bodyshell back from France I had to go through London and every set of lights I had people asking what it was, most thought it was a Bentley. Now I have tracked down the one I was going to buy last year if I could of raised the money. A different model but a lot cheaper.

http://www.crabtree-classics.com/vehicle_detailedview.php?vid=174

[garethj]

£9k for a Lea F?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LEA-FRANCIS-14-HP-Saloon-1951-/282347383339?hash=item41bd372a2b:g:FMUAAOSwA3dYkxUG

 

[garethj]

This Traction is £8k and in France, would something like this be impressive enough or a bit too prole?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Citroen-Traction-Avant-11BL-/332116760992?hash=item4d53b399a0:g:ufUAAOSw9GhYmIhq

 

[richardmorris]

I'm on th look out for a normale rather than the smaller legere. I think the proportions are better. But they do seem to need specialist attention unlike British cars of the same era.

[PiperCub]

I have been a member of two aircraft ownership groups (a Cap 10b and a Beagle Pup), and both were well run and avoided arguments.  If the agreement is clear and people are sensible, problems tend not to arise.  A clear agreement helps to promote sensibleness, and can contain provisions for what to do in the hopefully unlikely event of a dispute.

 

This sums up the situation in a paragraph. Especially with respect to maintenance/repair & general upkeep.

 

BTW - a Pup & a Cap10? Bloody hell, that beats the crap out of my 150 in the bragging rights stakes!!!! Have flown a Pup (& big brother Bulldog) but never a Cap10.

[Guest Breadvan72]

I have flown two different Bulldogs and like the type a lot, although Bulldogs are ridiculously over engineered and therefore too heavy.  I must confess that I am no great fan of Cessna 150/152s, but they are at least a lot better than PA 28s, which are dire.  

 

Cap 10s are fab.  Think of something with the control harmony and lightness of a Chipmunk, but with eliptical wings, better handling on the ground, an enough oomph to enter a loop from straight and level at cruising speed, perform a fully aerobatic sequence, and gain height during it.  If ever I have any money again, I would have another (pref a 10c) like a shot.