HMC- Return of the Cheeky 500

[flat4alfa]

Yep, didn't make it to NEC Classic myself, but photos were all over the place as it was a surprise for many

I wonder if NEC 2024 might have a AS Bike 'SHAD' on show, complete with silver Poundland repaint, side exit exhaust, Feu Orange abound and hub cap delete, etc. 

[The_Equalizer]

8 hours ago, Mr Pastry said:

One of my cousins had a badly painted white Shadow as her wedding car in about 1987-88 and this did not seem unusual, so yes, it was a thing back then.

Shadows were cheap and considered cheap for a long, long time. Only one step away from a pub landlord and his Jaguar XJ6. However images change over time and it's not dissimilar to 2000s Bentley Continentals which wreaked of footballer until fairly recently. I'd now say a good 2004/5 Continental is a decent buy. 

Not sure if there's now a default cheap motor used for weddings. People seem to chuck such huge sums of money at weddings that the 'new' Phantom doesn't seem to be unusual for such purposes.

[HMC]

11 hours ago, Mrs6C said:

Looks like the owner of this business is the grandson:
https://www.michaeljchapman.co.uk/

[HMC]

Ive also been having a sniff around a few more recent names on the odd reciept- and a potentially more recent colourful / seedy past is emerging 😂

 

[Mrs6C]

13 minutes ago, HMC said:

Excellent! A family reunion would be appropriate...

[lesapandre]

22 minutes ago, HMC said:

Ive also been having a sniff around a few more recent names on the odd reciept- and a potentially more recent colourful / seedy past is emerging 😂

 

Nothing quite as exciting probably - Companies House say:

"Nature of business - Production of meat and poultry meat products."

[flat4alfa]

Unfortunately Farthingale Lane is now a housing estate, so that retro photo outside the Smithy doing a burnout getting a jump start is unlikely

[Dick Cheeseburger]

3 hours ago, HMC said:

Ive also been having a sniff around a few more recent names on the odd reciept- and a potentially more recent colourful / seedy past is emerging 😂

 

Wipe-clean seats? 

[HMC]

Having positive vibes back from the Grandson….

[HMC]

Had a quick google of that reg….

Hoping for a circa 1971 cassir fleet photo to be unearthed

[timolloyd]

I would like it if this was the one car you decided you wanted to keep, and yet he’s willing to offer over-the-odds for sentimental reasons.

[bunglebus]

Think this one's beyond help

[HillmanImp]

1 hour ago, HMC said:

Had a quick google of that reg….

Hoping for a circa 1971 cassir fleet photo to be unearthed

Thats from an auction where it sold for £45k.

If I had a time machine..... Oh and £45k

[lesapandre]

Funny thing relative car values. 

The 1970 Aston Martin DBS V8 was priced at £4473 - presumably that is ex-works.

(Source:  https://www.astonmartin.com/en-gb/models/past-models/dbs )

The invoice for the @HMC Shadow V8 is £7626 - ex works - so more than 50% more than the equivalent contemporary Aston Martin.

The price difference is considerably in the other direction these days - by a ratio of up to about x10.

Is the AM-DBS-V8 now ×10 better - though of course there were a lot less of the Aston Martins sold - and I suppose they have a 'cooler' image for  buyers.

[flat4alfa]

2 hours ago, timolloyd said:

I would like it if this was the one car you decided you wanted to keep, and yet he’s willing to offer over-the-odds for sentimental reasons.

Just imagine, he sells £2M of property just this afternoon, goes home this evening, opens up a bottle of Jamesons, then by 9pm offers £5k and writes that off against the business hospitality bill for the weekend

[Hertz]

Or even has 2 bottles of Jamesons and wants a 2005 LWB Transit camper as well!

[flat4alfa]

Transit Camper GR9 for Goodwood races weekend glamp for undergraduate nephew on a bender with chums

Then by Wednesday next week on this very thread, a gorgeous 1985 JRG Bentley Mulsanne Turbo is delivered.  Full of creature comforts just wanting a scrub, full circumference tide-mark paintwork and a complementary 7-cylinder running order soundtrack.  Living the dream.

#21 and #45 please.

 

[lesapandre]

The unfolding history of the Rolls Royce reminds me of this film:

The 'Yellow Rolls-Royce' is a 1964 British movie written by Terence Rattigan and directed by Anthony Asquith - with an ensemble all-star cast - telling of the adventures of the car with it's various owners.

The car in the film is a 1931 RR Phantom II Sedanca de Ville which still survives restored in the US.

[HMC]

We all know how @LightBulbFun the DVLA have got ever stricter with their v888 vehicle history requests.

In my day you could just state you wanted to research the history but AFAIK you just get rebuffed these days.

But what if a personal effect has been hidden in the car…..

 

Lets find out….

 

[bunglebus]

11 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Slight aside, but The Beast finally has its Roller nose back. Looking better for it, too.

Why isn't it nasty 70s beige anymore?

[camryv6]

On 19/01/2024 at 13:35, timolloyd said:

I would like it if this was the one car you decided you wanted to keep, and yet he’s willing to offer over-the-odds for sentimental reasons.

I can't wait for him to ask if you want to sell it, he will probably hear the whole of this forum laughing

[HMC]

Fast forward to 2023 and kudos to Nathan Wren, a very competitive racer on a national level featured in the top image on this flyer having a crash…

 

As he decided not to banger it and put some time and effort into making it road usable last year.

going from this

avoiding 

to this

I mean, its far from a good example, but it is still here and being used. When he gets an old phone fixed he is going to send some more pics.

 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

^ Love this. It reminds me in a roundabout way of my Lambretta - it should really have gone in the bin in the early 70s when it was worthless and everyone was buying Minis instead. However, thanks to one forward thinking individual, it was lobbed into a shed for 25 years then exhumed and recommissioned when values were on the up, thereby securing its future. 

Your Rolls hit that tipping point and one person's efforts at deciding to let it live have enabled this whole new chapter, including stirring up family members fond memories. 

The condition of the classic is almost moot, really - the back story is the part which makes it for me. 

Don't sell it yet; we're all enjoying finding out the next chapters. 

[Schaefft]

9 hours ago, HMC said:

Fast forward to 2023 and kudos to Nathan Wren, a very competitive racer on a national level featured in the top image on this flyer having a crash…

 

As he decided not to banger it and put some time and effort into making it road usable last year.

going from this

avoiding 

to this

I mean, its far from a good example, but it is still here and being used. When he gets an old phone fixed he is going to send some more pics.

 

A Lincoln Towncar had to die in its place. I know they made a million of them but still a shame considering their rarity in the UK.

[outlaw118]

ORL BANGA RASERZ R BASTERDS remember😉

[eddyramrod]

21 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Don't swop it for Handsome yet; we're all enjoying finding out the next chapters. 

EFA

[HMC]

Is my w220 s class a bit of a dog?

(answer- yes but its fun improving it)

But also i wonder if the last but 1 owner got fed up, in part due to an underwhelming mb specialist. 

in the  limited paperwork theres a visit to said specialist in november 23- 1 headlamp not working (i received the car like this) bulb changed, no difference, wiring needs investigating.

On the way back from swapping with the  passat b5, ominously the other headlamp failed too.

Oh dear. After half expecting fucked xenons, or a wiring mess i was suprised to find conventional lamp units, and even more suprised when i replaced the h7 pattern bulbs in each unit and normal lighting was resumed, and has been fine ever since.

Add that on the same visit to the “noisy but working airmatic pump” which was faulty (+/- the valve block , and seems only to have been noisy as it had been cable tied directly to the body rather than mounted on bushes- albeit not by them i should add- but this reason for the noise wasnt noticed) Plus the suspension bottomed out after 30 mins resting.

I dont know what to make of that- and we dont know the full background- how beligerent the previous owner was, eg taking the car before more money was spent/ being rude/ not allowing them to do their job etc….. But ive sorted a few things just by looking carefully and googling.

 

My googling face is very similar…

Next up- the intermittant loss of boost. Its immediately reset by restarting the car. I had this once before on this engine by swapping a MAF- do i feel lucky? 

I tend to trust single marque specialists instinctively but reading through these scraps of paperwork makes me think twice about implicitly trusting just because they only deal with one make.

[Cookiesouwest]

54 minutes ago, HMC said:

Is my w220 s class a bit of a dog?

(answer- yes but its fun improving it)

But also i wonder if the last but 1 owner got fed up, in part due to an underwhelming mb specialist. 

in the  limited paperwork theres a visit to said specialist in november 23- 1 headlamp not working (i received the car like this) bulb changed, no difference, wiring needs investigating.

On the way back from swapping with the  passat b5, ominously the other headlamp failed too.

Oh dear. After half expecting xenons, or wiring mess i was suprised to find conventional lamp units, and even more suprised when i replaced the h7 pattern bulbs in each unit and normal lighting was resumed, and has been fine ever since.

Add that on the same visit to the “noisy but working airmatic pump” which was faulty (+/- the valve block , and seems only to have been noisy as it had been cable tied directly to the body rather than mounted on bushes- albeit not by them i should add- but this reason for the noise wasnt noticed) Plus the suspension bottomed out after 30 mins resting.

I dont know what to make of that- and we dont know the full background- how beligerent the previous owner was, eg taking the car before more money was spent/ being rude/ not allowing them to do their job etc….. But ive sorted a few things just by looking carefully and googling.

 

My googling face is very similar…

Next up- the intermittant loss of boost. Its immediately reset by restarting the car. I had this once before on this engine by swapping a MAF- do i feel lucky? 

I tend to trust single marque specialists instinctively but reading through these scraps of paperwork makes me think twice about implicitly trusting just because they only deal with one make.

I no longer trust a single marque specialist, following a terrible time with a Disco 3.

They had 50+ Google reviews, all positive.

Will now only trust a garage, that is new to me, if someone I know has used them and confirms they are good.

[The_Equalizer]

2 hours ago, HMC said:

Is my w220 s class a bit of a dog?

(answer- yes but its fun improving it)

But also i wonder if the last but 1 owner got fed up, in part due to an underwhelming mb specialist. 

in the  limited paperwork theres a visit to said specialist in november 23- 1 headlamp not working (i received the car like this) bulb changed, no difference, wiring needs investigating.

On the way back from swapping with the  passat b5, ominously the other headlamp failed too.

Oh dear. After half expecting xenons, or wiring mess i was suprised to find conventional lamp units, and even more suprised when i replaced the h7 pattern bulbs in each unit and normal lighting was resumed, and has been fine ever since.

Add that on the same visit to the “noisy but working airmatic pump” which was faulty (+/- the valve block , and seems only to have been noisy as it had been cable tied directly to the body rather than mounted on bushes- albeit not by them i should add- but this reason for the noise wasnt noticed) Plus the suspension bottomed out after 30 mins resting.

I dont know what to make of that- and we dont know the full background- how beligerent the previous owner was, eg taking the car before more money was spent/ being rude/ not allowing them to do their job etc….. But ive sorted a few things just by looking carefully and googling.

 

My googling face is very similar…

Next up- the intermittant loss of boost. Its immediately reset by restarting the car. I had this once before on this engine by swapping a MAF- do i feel lucky? 

I tend to trust single marque specialists instinctively but reading through these scraps of paperwork makes me think twice about implicitly trusting just because they only deal with one make.

You might well have stumbled across this YouTube channel. This video is about the air suspension. It's certainly one of the better MB channels and he there's quite a bit on W220:

How to Find the Leak in Your Airmatic Suspension Part 1: Initial Testing - Mercedessource

Not W220, but fupabox is also good for W202 and W208 MBs. It's also entertaining to watch the Canadian chap work in freezing temperatures plus having the odd fag while doing it. Certainly greater staying power than I have. Six degrees Celsius is was the lowest I ever coped with. 
 

[HMC]

Why am i freezing my ass off in a dorset village waiting for a post office to open?

 

Well it all began at 5.15 when i fired up the w220 and drove into deepest dorset, to do a swap.

For this 230te 7 seater 

After we did the swap it became clear its on the disabled tax thing- hence freezing my ass off waiting for the post office to open- where im hoping that my v5c/2 will allow be to change the tax category, and tax it.