Schaefft's Bargain Barge Extravaganza - Italian Money Furnace

[Schaefft]

Hello dear Autoshitists(?)! I'm Schaefft, and as you can tell by the easily pronounceable name, I am not originally from the UK, but Germany! However, I've been living in the North East for almost 5 years now, and after first experiencing the wonders of the UK's used car market by buying an E38 7-series BMW for an absolutely ridiculous 500 quid, things have never been the same. I'm hoping to find like-minded people here (or maybe even in the Newcastle area?) who will help me on my way to Autoshite Valhalla, or at least can point me into the right directions to keep my shite on the road.

 

As you can tell by the thread's title, my preferences are usually pointing me towards the larger end of the car spectrum, I'm generally interested in pretty much anything from the last 35 years though (with many exceptions for cars older than that). Here's what I currently own (I hope these are worthy of being posted here?), each of these cars has a story worth telling, for now I'll leave it at a brief description:

 

My current daily driver is a manual 1996 E39 528i, ~170k miles, tons spent on it, still needs tons spent on it. Imo one of the best BMWs, and certainly one of the best used car bargains today. I love it!

 

Next up is what is supposed to be my car for the summer, a 1995 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC (probably the only pre-fl LSC in the country/most of Europe) that I found in Sheffield (while looking at a totally different Lincoln Mark VIII lol) where it was "stored" on the driveway of an older gentlemen and US-car fan who had imported it from Florida in '07. Also had tons of work done on it, also still needs tons of work. Currently waiting for OEM front airride shocks to arrive, which are made from unobtanium and next to impossible to source anywhere, incl. the US. Fun times.

 

Next we have a 1995 Oldsmobile Aurora which must absolutely be the only one in the country. Bought sight unseen on ebay (as you do) from a bigger autoshite "enthusiast" than probably most of us (I counted at least 15 US imports on Streetview parked on multiple driveways, the garden and street). Needs a lot of work including what I hope is the fuel pump. Canada spec model, apparently imported in 1997 by someone from the Canadian Airforce or something. Not driven for at least 15 years, but as the Lincoln, always been a dream car of mine, hence the instant purchase. Parts will hopefully be here soon.

 

Next is what is supposed to be my car for the winter months. I needed something nice that wouldn't make me worry about rust anymore, yet still be desirable enough to justifying one of my valuable car spaces (makes sense right?). Since I didn't really wanna spent much more than about a grand on the initial car purchase, the 4.2l D2 A8 (benefit of Quattro) or Jag X350 XJ were my only real options. Until this 2002 Audi S8 (that later turned out to be a Final Edition S8, one of the last UK market D2 S8) showed up on Gumtree for an extremely reasonable price literally just around the corner. I don't wanna leave it running for too long (probably needs an oil change badly, also theres a power steering fluid leak and an unknown liquid in there as replacement, making the power steering pump SCREAM), I haven't started any diagnostics yet. Has the obligatory HURR-V8-NOISESESYEEEAAAHH custom exhaust, which will probably get replaced by a stock one soonish.

 

 

And then there's the newest edition to the fleet, a 1991 Opel Senator CD 3.0 24V (with the digital dash!). I bought this car in Munich a few weeks ago (always liked Senator Bs and Omega As) after a friend took it for a test drive. As you can imagine, after I actually bought the car issues started popping up wherever you looked. I took it on 3-day trip through the Alps where it decided to blow a coolant hose and puke all its content all over the hotel parking lot somewhere in Italy, its currently awaiting its rescue by the ADAC who will tow it back to Germany in 2 weeks or so (they'll never make money of my membership hah!).

 

Each of these cars has been on my must-have list for a long time, and I do not plan to part with any of them, which slowly becomes a problem considering I neither have a garage, nor a driveway lol. I'm sure joining the Autoshit forums totally won't make matters worse.   There are quite a few other cars on that list that will be extremely hard to resist as well, should they show up at a reasonable price (which is very likely, damn you UK car market!). But we'll see how it goes, I think this post is long enough now.

[Matt]

Junkman will mostly approve I'm sure.

[Lacquer Peel]

Welcome.

I like that era of 90s US swoopy styling.

 

 

Why is this not a 'thing'?

[Schaefft]

Welcome.

I like that era of 90s US swoopy styling.

 

 

Thanks! Always loved the US industries take on the 90s aero era, the Mark VIII and Aurora both are excellent examples so they were pretty much on top of my all time favorites. The '91 Caprice is another one.

 

Seen the sliding door prototype quite a few times before, interesting idea, but hate what it did to the profile view of the car. I wonder what happened to them.

[Junkman]

Junkman will mostly approve I'm sure.

He bloody does.

That shonky Aurora sure gets the cake.

[xkjagnz]

Willkommen Schaefft

Autoshite welcomes anyone (even Kiwis!! )

[RoadworkUK]

A warm welcome to our newest, and most epically high-achieving member.

 

The Aurora is my pick of the bunch. It's also among my top ten favourite car brochures of all time.

[purplebargeken]

Welcome indeed! You easily fulfil the AS criteria (actually, there may not be too many criteria to be honest).

 

Like on all of the steeds highlighted.

[eddyramrod]

Seat at the top table for this gentleman please!

[spike60]

Welcome here, I'm from about 50 miles south of you but have a son who lives in Newcastle and I'm a regular visitor there so I may be able to help you out or point you in the right direction with some stuff. I run a shonky 256k mile 530d touring e39 that's just back from camping at the 24h Nurburgring and look after another, I also used to run a digi dash Monza GSE and a 1992 Corvette so some common grounds!

[Bren]

The olds looks like the bastard child of beelzebub.Well done.

 

As for the senator 7 and 22 please...

[rantingYoof]

You appear to win at Life.

 

Much envy. I'm now stewing.

 

Congrats

 

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[cpjitservices]

Hello dear Autoshitists(?)! I'm Schaefft, and as you can tell by the easily pronounceable name, I am not originally from the UK, but Germany! However, I've been living in the North East for almost 5 years now, and after first experiencing the wonders of the UK's used car market by buying an E38 7-series BMW for an absolutely ridiculous 500 quid, things have never been the same. I'm hoping to find like-minded people here (or maybe even in the Newcastle area?) who will help me on my way to Autoshite Valhalla, or at least can point me into the right directions to keep my shite on the road.

 

As you can tell by the thread's title, my preferences are usually pointing me towards the larger end of the car spectrum, I'm generally interested in pretty much anything from the last 35 years though (with many exceptions for cars older than that). Here's what I currently own (I hope these are worthy of being posted here?), each of these cars has a story worth telling, for now I'll leave it at a brief description:

 

My current daily driver is a manual 1996 E39 528i, ~170k miles, tons spent on it, still needs tons spent on it. Imo one of the best BMWs, and certainly one of the best used car bargains today. I love it!

 

 

Next up is what is supposed to be my car for the summer, a 1995 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC (probably the only pre-fl LSC in the country/most of Europe) that I found in Sheffield (while looking at a totally different Lincoln Mark VIII lol) where it was "stored" on the driveway of an older gentlemen and US-car fan who had imported it from Florida in '07. Also had tons of work done on it, also still needs tons of work. Currently waiting for OEM front airride shocks to arrive, which are made from unobtanium and next to impossible to source anywhere, incl. the US. Fun times.

 

 

Next we have a 1995 Oldsmobile Aurora which must absolutely be the only one in the country. Bought sight unseen on ebay (as you do) from a bigger autoshite "enthusiast" than probably most of us (I counted at least 15 US imports on Streetview parked on multiple driveways, the garden and street). Needs a lot of work including what I hope is the fuel pump. Canada spec model, apparently imported in 1997 by someone from the Canadian Airforce or something. Not driven for at least 15 years, but as the Lincoln, always been a dream car of mine, hence the instant purchase. Parts will hopefully be here soon.

 

 

Next is what is supposed to be my car for the winter months. I needed something nice that wouldn't make me worry about rust anymore, yet still be desirable enough to justifying one of my valuable car spaces (makes sense right?). Since I didn't really wanna spent much more than about a grand on the initial car purchase, the 4.2l D2 A8 (benefit of Quattro) or Jag X350 XJ were my only real options. Until this 2002 Audi S8 (that later turned out to be a Final Edition S8, one of the last UK market D2 S8) showed up on Gumtree for an extremely reasonable price literally just around the corner. It currently appears to be in fail safe mode (at least according to what the seller described to me), since I don't wanna leave it running for too long (probably needs an oil change badly, also theres a power steering fluid leak and an unknown liquid in there as replacement, making the power steering pump SCREAM), I haven't started any diagnostics yet. The car was cheap enough to justify any potential gearbox issues though. Has the obligatory HURR-V8-NOISESESYEEEAAAHH custom exhaust, which will probably get replaced by a stock one soonish.

 

 

And then there's the newest edition to the fleet, a 1991 Opel Senator CD 3.0 24V (with the digital dash!). I bought this car in Munich a few weeks ago (always liked Senator Bs and Omega As) after a friend took it for a test drive. As you can imagine, after I actually bought the car issues started popping up wherever you looked. I took it on 3-day trip through the Alps where it decided to blow a coolant hose and puke all its content all over the hotel parking lot somewhere in Italy, its currently awaiting its rescue by the ADAC who will tow it back to Germany in 2 weeks or so (they'll never make money of my membership hah!).

 

 

Each of these cars has been on my must-have list for a long time, and I do not plan to part with any of them, which slowly becomes a problem considering I neither have a garage, nor a driveway lol. I'm sure joining the Autoshit forums totally won't make matters worse.   There are quite a few other cars on that list that will be extremely hard to resist as well, should they show up at a reasonable price (which is very likely, damn you UK car market!). But we'll see how it goes, I think this post is long enough now.

Yeppppppppp Love the Audi. Fine choice sir.

[John F]

Servus Kollege, willkommen am Bord

[djimbob]

welcome Sir,

 

you have a fine collection of barges, I doff my hat to you

[dome]

Welcome, top fleet you have there!

[tooSavvy]

A$ Freedom of the City awaits.....

 

The right to drive anything (sheep too...) across the Tyne Bridge*

 

If it's suitably old and shonkey - drive it North, into Newcastle - for a true A$ Welcome

 

If it is vaguely VAG or on the non-A$ list - drive it South, into Gateshead and leave it! [in TESCO car Park] 

 

 

Vellkommen Bro 

 

 

TS

[Schaefft]

Thanks for for warm welcome guys, I'm glad so many here like the Aurora, its definitely the most obscure of the bunch I'm just lucky to have a short commute enabling me to buy pretty much anything without having to care about minor things like reliability or MPGs.  Space is the limiting factor though and I will need start to thinking about winter storage for most of them now. I also need to find someone who is good at welding/rust repair...

 

@spike: Great to see someone from the area, any help would be appreciated! I love E39s and the 530d definitely would be my choice if I was driving a lot more. A friend of mine bought a 200k mile sport a few months ago and had a few problems, but thats usually the case with all E39s now. Would love to hear more about the Monza and C4 Corvette, too.

 

@tooSavvy: I try to avoid the city center as often as possible. One too many times I got trapped in a work mate's car trying to get somewhere, excellent way to send someone into a total frenzy, they won't come out as the same person...

[overrun]

Welcome.

I like that era of 90s US swoopy styling.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAtkoje4-eM

 

Why is this not a 'thing'?

Because side impacts.

 

Welcome, OP. I am also from the North East. Although I am not a horse puncher, I reside between Durham And Sunderland.

[tooSavvy]

Born a 'sand dancer' I tell you - you can take the boy out of the town... but never the sand out of the socks!

 

 

 

TS

[wuvvum]

Well jel of the Mark 8 - wanted one of those ever since I saw one in North Carolina in 1999 - same colour as yours in fact.  Much prefer the pre-facelift with the narrower headlights.  Good luck finding the bits for it - if you can get it back on the road then maybe I'll get the chance to dribble on it at a future AS event.

[Schaefft]

Well jel of the Mark 8 - wanted one of those ever since I saw one in North Carolina in 1999 - same colour as yours in fact.  Much prefer the pre-facelift with the narrower headlights.  Good luck finding the bits for it - if you can get it back on the road then maybe I'll get the chance to dribble on it at a future AS event.

I agree, I prefer the pre-fl "gen1" Mark VIII over the '97/'98 facelift. even though these can look great as LSC in black/dark green and maroon, too. This one is my second Mark VIII (the first one which wasn't an LSC met its unfortunate fate on the Czech motorway on a rainy night, in fact a day before I was supposed to move to the UK), I've had it for a while now but didn't really get the chance to drive it apart from last summer. Getting parts usually isn't a problem (just expensive due do shipping/customs/tax, or it takes ages) as I am member of both the Mark VIII owners and market place group on facebook. A good friend of mine in Poland has specialized in these cars and many other US Lincolns/Fords, he knows pretty much anything about them so troubleshooting usually isn't a problem either. Getting new Motorcraft front shocks for an even remotely sensible price is pretty much impossible now though, as Motorcraft stopped production a few years ago, and everyone is hanging on their stock or only sell for ridiculous amounts of money (aftermarket ones apparently are crap, so not an option). A member sold me a good looking used set which must be in the back of a car somewhere on the Atlantic right now, I'm hoping they'll be here in time to get them on the car and enjoy the summer for at least a few weeks.

 

Apart from that, the car doesn't really have any serious weaknesses apart from the usual problems that come with age. Mine has some lifter ticking that we couldn't cure so far (probably from overheating in the past, still have a spare engine from the other Mark). I'd love to show up at a meet in it, unfortunately the local one at the Metrocentre got shut down a year ago and I'm not sure if there's anything comparable in size in the area now.

[danthecapriman]

Welcome aboard, that's a hell of an entry with cars like that too! I love the Lincoln and Olds.

[tooSavvy]

"I'd love to show up at a meet in it, unfortunately the local one at the Metrocentre got shut down a year ago and I'm not sure if there's anything comparable in size in the area now."

 

I think (sand dancer head on) South Marine Park do some rodding, during summertime

 

TS

[Schaefft]

"I'd love to show up at a meet in it, unfortunately the local one at the Metrocentre got shut down a year ago and I'm not sure if there's anything comparable in size in the area now."

 

I think (sand dancer head on) South Marine Park do some rodding, during summertime

 

TS

I heard there's something like a cruise night somewhat regularly need the Blue Reef Aquarium, but I can't seem to find any up to date info on that either.

[tooSavvy]

There's always a chance to spot 'scene wan#ers' [Rice or VAG] in the long strip carpark by there...

 

TS

[sporty-shite]

Welcome aboard.

 

I'm not usually a fan of big cats, but those S8s really are something else.

 

WOULD.

[Schaefft]

Welcome aboard.

 

I'm not usually a fan of big cats, but those S8s really are something else.

 

WOULD.

Thanks! Lets hope I'll get in back on the road soon, and find some insurance that won't cost me 5 times as much as I paid for the car.

 

@tooSavvy: Yeah, not sure if I would fit in with my type of shite tho   Maybe the Audi.

[overrun]

Born a 'sand dancer' I tell you - you can take the boy out of the town... but never the sand out of the socks!

TS

Passed through there on me starter road bike today (time for a better one). It looked like Miami Beach, I tell you.

 

[tooSavvy]

Amateur...

 

TS