Schaefft's Bargain Barge Extravaganza - Oldsmobile Resurrection

[Dabooka]

Are they worth doing a round trip for? Donny isn’t that far* for the right deal?

[Schaefft]

It might be but I won't be back in Newcastle until the 24th and I need them for FOTU a few days later, by then with new tyres on!

[Dabooka]

Ah I see.

[yes oui si]

No shiters local to Doncatraz who could grab them and get them tyred for you? 

[Schaefft]

5 hours ago, yes oui si said:

No shiters local to Doncatraz who could grab them and get them tyred for you? 

I only know if someone posts in time! I did mention the wheels in the shitly thread as well.

[Ghosty]

Doncaster/Shef is the realm of the Dark Wob more than here I think. 

[Schaefft]

Got home from hols at 2pm, first thing of order was the 4h roundtrip to Doncaster to pick up these 14" Toyota Celica wheels...

After 2 weeks of beautiful weather in Croatia (and most of Europe as far as I could tell from above) I was greeted with torrential rainfalls, traffic congestion and oblivious drivers on my drive down there. Lovely. We literally barely got past London on our flight back before almost the entirety of England disappeared in a layer of clouds, you can't make it up...

As you can tell the alloys are actually in really good nick and just need a clean. The tires aren't terribly dry rotten but no doubt ancient (and with two of them being of the "Dark Horse" variety proper ditch finders) so I'll order a set now. 

A shame these aren't proper directional wheels. I wanted to continue with the turbine theme of the original wheel trims though, and finding the US convertible alloys that are extremely close to the Corona's factory alloys isn't going to happen anytime soon (neither a set of period correct deep dish basket weave aftermarket wheels), so these will do. Here's what they look like on the car they'd originally be found on:

Fingers crossed the Corona actually passes it's MOT the coming week...

[Ghosty]

 Glad you've got 'em. They're the spit of the CR-X wheels on my sedan - except Honda bothered making those directional. 

[Schaefft]

22 hours ago, Ghosty said:

 Glad you've got 'em. They're the spit of the CR-X wheels on my sedan - except Honda bothered making those directional. 

Yeah, good old Honda. I'm quite excited about these wheels, I generally prefer to keep things factory and finding these wheels in such good shape for 100 quid might be a pretty good deal, even with the petrol prices taken into account.

I decided to go with Yokohama "BluEarth ES32 " for them in the end, they were the quietest tire available and matched most others in wet grip. Can't wait to get ripped off when these get mounted towards the end of the week.

In other news, the Oxford Green 728i finally got dropped off to get the cat exhaust section I bought months ago installed. Hopefully everything goes smoothly and the absolute mess that the previous owner left (page before) will be gone for good, one of the last remaining issues it has. Less clutter around the garden as well!

The silver 728i breaker doesn't have too many useful bits on it left (mainly steering wheel, battery and ignition coils. I'll add everything up in the end but including the 432 quid EMS is willing to give me for the remains I made a healthy profit and gained way over a grand worth of wheels and spares for the other two cars. Can't wait to get it and a bunch of other scrap out of here finally.

Believe it or not but it still runs and drives just fine. If anyone still needs anything from it, let me know. Easy to remove things I dont need myself will be dirt cheap. It'll get collected this Friday.

[Schaefft]

As mentioned in the FOTU thread, the Corona has passed its MOT! I've spent my evening today putting the new wheels on, what a difference new decent tires make. Feels more comfortable and quiter now, so much better. And not deadly.

I think these 14" Celica wheels work fairly well on it, the lighter wheels probably help too.

I've also put the original EXiV-labeled (!) lace seat covers back on. They definitely need a bit of glue and I can't find the 2nd headrest one which will set my OCD off until all eternity but they are part of the car's charm. The rear wiper is also back on dispite having a seized wiper motor shaft, I'll probably never find a replacement for that one either...

Only a wash and appriate sticker-age required now and we should be all good to go!

[hairnet]

take the headrests  off if it ocds you

were the corolla cressida previous wheels the wheels for the exiv?

 

[Schaefft]

8 minutes ago, hairnet said:

take the headrests  off if it ocds you

were the corolla cressida previous wheels the wheels for the exiv?

 

Yeah, I might have to😅 The wheels on it previously were the original mid-level wheel trims available for it. You can see them in this blurry screenshot of the brochure.

You can see that there's also an alloy wheel option. I'm fairly sure Toyota used the same wheel (with a different center cap) on the Mk5 Celica Convertible in Europe and the US. There's a set for sale in Germany but I needed something pretty quick.

[Schaefft]

The Corona made it back to Newcastle safe and without issues. In fact, the whole journey down to Grimsthorp and back again was so trouble free that this might now be one of the best sorted cars that I own... Aside from the radio amp obviously missing and the AC system needing a recharge the only thing that wasn't on my list is a flickering fuel level light sometime around 1/3 of a tank. For the whole ~400 mile trip it used a little under a tank at ~80mph motorway speeds, I don't know how large the tank is yet so MPGs will have to wait...

I now also know that the odometer does read in km, which means the car has under 140k km or 87k miles. That might explain why it didn't need a huge amount of recommisioning , even after having been off the road for 10 years before.

I actually had a proper look at the previous V5s and tax discs for the first time today and was able to reconstruct most of the car's ownership history. I've only looked up the address of the direct previous owner before, however I actually had the addresses of all but the 1st and 2nd owners (pre-'97).

As it turns out, the 3rd owner bought the car in 1997, and it lived at the address in South West London for the next 20 years, literally a stone's throw away from the guy I bought my first Oldsmobile Aurora from! Turns out the area was an absolute gold mine for obscure chod up until at least a few years ago!

Hilariously enough, the owner also seemed to own an E38 728i as the Corona was only taxed 6 months at a time in certain years, clearly this car attracts a very particular type of owner...

It stayed there for many years, last MOT and tax was in early 2012. My guess is the garage couldn't find a replacement for the rather specific coolant outlet pipe that rotted out (I had to do a ton of cross referencing and visual comparisons before settling on a Rav4 one with the right number of outlets).

Eventually is was taken off the road and parked up until 2017.

A mechanic/detailer in Reading probably took it off the elderly owner's hands (after 20 years of ownership), passed it on to the banger racer (also Reading) a few months later who eventually decided against smashing it up and put it up for sale after 2 years in February 2020. That's when I saw the for sale link in the Ebay tat thread and immediately jumped on it.

And here it is now, back in daily use (for a few months now) and out at an event that truly appreciates what these car are about.

Hopefully I can source the remaining bits (outside of Russia or time wasters on FB marketplace) soon and sort the remaining little quibbles. I have to start doing some proper research into where I can find a decent bodyshop as well now, the sills need be sorted properly eventually and the bumpers would benefit from a bit of paint.

[barrett]

Still my favourite car on AS. Although I would deeply love to own it, I have to admit you are the best custodian that car could've ended up with. I doubt many people would have given it the care and attention you have - kudos

[Schaefft]

10 minutes ago, barrett said:

Still my favourite car on AS. Although I would deeply love to own it, I have to admit you are the best custodian that car could've ended up with. I doubt many people would have given it the care and attention you have - kudos

That is some high praise, thanks man! Its a shame that there aren't more people who would. Think about all the moments this could have easily ended up in the crusher, kinda pains me to think how often similar cars didn't have as much luck. Quirky stuff like this is irreplacable, once its gone there probably won't be another one so I'm glad a community like this exists that helps people do something about it.

[Schaefft]

Completely forgot, just before we set off to Fotu the breaker 728i was collected by EMR. I got 438 quid for it, which I really can't complain about considering it didn't even have cats. The engine, gearbox and a few other minor parts were still worth money but not worth my time.

In case anyone is wondering: Including the EMR payment I got a little over 1.9k so far, with about 400 quid worth of parts still left to sell. If I decided to sell the parts I'm keeping for myself that would be about another 1500 pounds (Style 37 wheels alone are $$$). The car, petrol to view it and transport to my house cost me about a grand. Keep in mind that if this car had its original cats that would be another 700 quid guaranteed in the bank.

I'm not surprised that people like to break these, although I would still be against it. Unfortunately this one has seen a few too many careless owners and Scottish winters...

[Schaefft]

Not a huge amount of news. The cluster for the green BMW got fixed and now has nice clear pixels and a lifetime warranty on the repair. As some might remember, I bought the car for my girlfriend and carried out A LOT of work to make it as nice as it can be. 

Unfortunately my gf does not understand overall cost of ownership and only sees the distance the needle moves when putting 40 quid of fuel in (which would be near full on the Fiat 500 a few months ago). If anyone is interested in a nice, clean, low mileage E38 please let me know!

In other news, the ivory Lincoln received some attention for the upcoming Radwood event. Driver side valve cover is supposed to be a pita to remove, it's been leaking into the sparkplug hole for years which I thought caused a misfire.

Turns out someone was in there before, the gasket was nice and pliable, and it turns out that someone ground off a little material from the valve cover that probably made all the difference when removing it. Unfortunately after cleaning out the sparkplug hole the misfire is still there... And why it still leaked anyway before is beyond me.

In other other news, the AT Avant once again put some work in this morning. Batteries and starter got me 47 quid which is nice, wheels can only get recycled without tires but even they are worth 35 quid as scrap.

 

 

[Schaefft]

The final Radwood preparations have taken place over the last few days. I 've had an odd issue with the coolant temp for a while now. It seems to run fairly cool at city speeds, however once on the motorway the needle actually moves beyond the center of the normal temp range, but only if you stay at just around 70mph! At first I thought I bought the wrong thermostat years ago, while also having restricted flow because of an aging water pump. I replaced the thermostat again, Im pretty sure it still didn't get as warm as it should be on my quick trip into town... Waterpump is now brand new, too.

Fortunately this was a pretty straight forward job. The electric fan is only held in by 2 bolts (naturally someone had it out before and somehow managed to lose one of them). ITS TWO BOLTS HOW?!

That gives plenty of room to reach the waterpump bolts.

There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the old pump, its still the original Ford stamped unit and spun just fine. Some doofus obviously had to use silicon sealant instead of replacing the original O-ring when they took it off before. When I got the car it suffered from regular overheating issues, probably one of the reasons the car receive a new rad with the previous owner. In the end it turned out to be the fan control module not switching the fan on when intended.

As you can tell, this engine has never seen a drop of degreaser in its life before, making it impossible to see where there might be a failing gasket. Lets do something about that:

I have to admit that Autoglym engine degreaser did an incredible job. Still required a bit of scrubbing action but a decade or two of gunk came off fairly quickly.

New pump in:

And with the pulley and belt back on. You can tell how much space you actually got here. This might be the only area around this engine bay where you actually have a sufficient amount of space to work on it...

Did an oil change today, noticed that I didn't have a replacement filter and you obviously can't just get one from ECP quickly. Guess the motorcraft one will have to do for a little longer...

Gave it a wash, that shall conflude my Radwood preparations.

Unfortunately the gearbox is still leaking between the output shaft extension and case, the exhaust and tank need to get lowered to remove the driveshaft so this is not something I am going to tackle myself. All because of a 2$ paper gasket. Oil pan gasket needs replacing as well, but for that you'd need to lower the subframe...

[jmsguzzi]

Think I must of drove past your place on the way to Corbridge last week, unless someone else in Newcastle owns a white Toyota Corona and an E38 BMW!

[Schaefft]

1 hour ago, jmsguzzi said:

Think I must of drove past your place on the way to Corbridge last week, unless someone else in Newcastle owns a white Toyota Corona and an E38 BMW!

Haha, definitely not. You'd find the rest of the cars just a few meters down the road.

[Schaefft]

As you might have seen, the oxford green E38 is now for sale, please take a look if you are looking for a super solid 7-Series.

https://autoshite.com/topic/50899-bmw-e38-728i-bargain-barge-its-a-nice-one-with-12-months-mot-£2900/?tab=comments#comment-2602784

Meanwhile, a purchase might have occurred. It might take a few days before I have more news but I'm super stoked (and a little worried) about what has been acquired, there are multiple firsts for me with this one.

In the process I must have discovered the largest hoard of 90s Fiats, Alfas and Lancias in the country, all of which are no further than 5 minutes from my GF's house. I was blown away by the amount of cars (mostly shite) there and will definitely try to get more photos soon.

I mean, where else can you find three (!!) Fiat Tempras behind each other?

[Dabooka]

Where’s that then? I mean roughly, not thinking of a raid!

[Schaefft]

1 hour ago, Dabooka said:

Where’s that then? I mean roughly, not thinking of a raid!

Near Durham. Drove past there multiple times and had no idea what was hiding down this road. I wouldn't be surprised if there are some deals to be had, I have to talk to the yard owner.

[Schaefft]

Yes, it has happened! As the title revealed I finally own a Cadillac! And what a beast it is.

 

What you see below is a 1996 Cadillac Sedan DeVille, Cadillac's FWD (!) Fullsize offering featuring the famous Northstar V8 (similar to that in my Olds Auroras). Yeah, the one blowing head gaskets left and right...

 

I never really seriously considered getting one as the Rwd, body on frame Fleetwood is way more interesting to me (and even larger). With this DeVille coming up for sale literally 5 minutes from my GFs house, and with a deal to be had, how could I resist though?

I don't have a huge amount of info yet. The car apparently stood in a garage in Sunderland for years before the current owner dumped it in a storage yard only about a year ago sometime around mot time. There it just sat until now, the yard is getting converted into self storage and everything must go. And boy are there some interesting cars there...

The car clearly needs a clean, but with only 77k on the clock and a reasonably easy life it should clean up well enough. Had it run for a while, no signs of omghgf.

Plans are to get it thoroughly checked asap, put an mot on (unless it needs a ton of work, which hopefully is not the case...) and then slowly restore it as I've done with my other cars before. More info soon!

But wait, there is more... There may have been another car... More soon...

[DVee8]

We need a AS meet to come and have a look at all these delights you have.

[hairnet]

4 dr version of @Six-cylinders caddy??

want.

 

[hairnet]

3 minutes ago, DVee8 said:

We need a AS meet to come and have a look at all these delights you have.

charge entry

would be more interesting than chumley

 

[Schaefft]

9 minutes ago, DVee8 said:

We need a AS meet to come and have a look at all these delights you have.

Ha, I could open up a museum by now. Some day... We are now actually starting to look for property north/northwest of Newcastle, somewhere with space for an actual garage that isn't the typical useless garbage they sell you as a garage here. Hopefully the right place comes up for sale and I get a little bit closer to the dream.

[Asimo]

Excellent.  Only Cadillacs I find interesting are the front wheel drive ones…

Paying attention.

[Dave_Q]

This thread continues to deliver on the title, if anything Extravaganza is probably selling the levels of shitery on display a bit short.