Datsuncog's Heaps: Sept 2023 - Another Year's T-Met Exemption Certificate...

[Datsuncog]

Could I have the above, please?

Sure thing - now retrieved from the 20p Box of Doom and set aside for you. Thanks!

[D Spares & Tyres]

Boats arrived today, nicely packaged. Thankyou!

 

Very happy with them. One was tested today in the paddling pool, will get the hot tub out next and test them again after the kids go to bed ☺

[155V6]

Another brilliant package arrived from Mr Cog today who should do eBay tutorials on how to pack things.

 

Thanks Tim 

[Noel Tidybeard]

[RoadworkUK]

Package that was nothing less than a work of modern art arrived over the weekend, a treat to arrive home to.

 

Terrifying anthropomorphic Mini Traveller that might actually be from hell itself will act as a "good luck" talisman when I drive the Rover to Orkney this weekend.

 

Great cellar.

 

I must stop now.

[Datsuncog]

On 7/15/2018 at 10:15 PM, D Spares & Tyres said:

Boats arrived today, nicely packaged. Thankyou!

Very happy with them. One was tested today in the paddling pool, will get the hot tub out next and test them again after the kids go to bed ☺ IMG_20180715_203512.jpg

Heh, that's brilliant - the pic looks like some sort of surrealist picture with a mad sky.

Hope they both passed the hot tub test!!!

[Datsuncog]

On 7/16/2018 at 9:49 PM, Noel Tidybeard said:

20180716_110845.jpg

That's the very same Spot-On Maurice that I dragged out of a jumble sale bag some 25-odd years back???

More pixtures, if you'd be so kind - that looks chuffing awesome in its nice new beigeness!

Well played!

[Datsuncog]

On 7/16/2018 at 9:50 PM, RoadworkUK said:

Package that was nothing less than a work of modern art arrived over the weekend, a treat to arrive home to.

Terrifying anthropomorphic Mini Traveller that might actually be from hell itself will act as a "good luck" talisman when I drive the Rover to Orkney this weekend.

Great cellar.

I must stop now.

Yeah, I guess I find it hard to know where to stop with the tape... it would break my black little heart if something fell out and vanished forever into the depths of the Royal Mail machine, so "just another four circumferences" seems to be my mantra...

Hopefully the Troublingly Merry Mini hasn't seeped into your subconscious yet, and will prove a worthy mascot for such an arduous trip - can't wait for the write-up!

I fear my torrent of available models has now dwindled to more of a trickle, but maybe that's no bad thing for the sanity and wallets of all here gathered...

Thanks again, and enjoy!

[Datsuncog]

On 7/12/2018 at 8:41 AM, mercedade said:

My *absurdly well packed* parcel arrived yesterday (or was it Monday? It was delivered to my work address and they can...take their time in notifying).

Super happy with all my purchases and looking forward to coaching a 3 year old through the process of making the snap-together Camaro!

A pleasure doing business with THE DEALER

Whoo-hoo! Glad it all arrived with you safely... Did you stay in professional mode and keep the unboxing until safely ensconced at home, or did you just tear it open then and there?? Either's good...

And do let us know how your little 'un got on with the Very Orange Camaro!

[Amishtat]

Bits arrived this morning for the Impala taxi, shell is stripped and ready for paint. Hoping to be done this weekend

[Datsuncog]

On 7/17/2018 at 5:36 PM, Datsuncog said:

That's the very same Spot-On Maurice that I dragged out of a jumble sale bag some 25-odd years back???

More pixtures, if you'd be so kind - that looks chuffing awesome in its nice new beigeness!

Well played!

I've just realised a whole heap of pics were posted on the Shite in Miniature thread - just marvellous! That shade of beige looks just right too. Cracking stuff.

[Datsuncog]

Bits arrived this morning for the Impala taxi, shell is stripped and ready for paint. Hoping to be done this weekend

I'm absolutely blown away at the effort people are putting in to these formerly very sad specimens... but then again, if anywhere has people so inclined, it's gotta be here... great stuff, can't wait to see how it turns out (genuinely, no pressure at all though - I'm just glad they didn't end up binned).

[Datsuncog]

Well, just to fill in the gaps...

Bootsale #2 involved a Saturday alarm call at 5:15am, followed by a yawning drive down to Bangor.

I arrived at 6:10, having stopped briefly at a garage to try and wangle some more change for the float tin, only to find even more cars there than last week - albeit in a slightly earlier stage of getting ready.

Just to recap, this is a sale that isn't meant to admit sellers' cars until 8am, with buyers from 9am. Yet there were quite a few entirely unattended vehicles winking in the early-morning sunlight... aha. So that's the game.

Bangor Abbey car park has no barriers; ergo there's nothing to stop some scallywags pitching up on Friday night, dumping their beat-to-shit Galaxy (seemingly laden to the gunwales with World Of Mantovani LPs and dog-eared Patricia Cornwell paperbacks) in a plum spot, then buggering off home to bed and having a nice lie-in before ambling down around 8:30 to set out their precious wares.

Now, there is of course an element of risk here, that some ne'er-do-well might happen along overnight and break a window to relieve you of your incomplete Marshall Cavendish 'Marvellous Meals In Minutes' partworks, and lovely* sun-faded pictures of weeping clowns - but I guess for some that's a risk worth taking.

Bastards.

The upshot was that I ended up parked in the same crummy spot along the back wall as the previous week.

Despite more cars there selling stuff, there were definitely fewer people buying. The two other, larger-stalled diecast guys from last week were also back. The chap across the way was selling Mamod, Hornby and boxed Dinkys, which I doubt he was knocking out all that cheaply.

Since I was there simply as a clearance exercise, I went for broke and started slashing prices merrily throughout the day. Everything decent became either £10 or £5, with other models marked at £2 or even 50p. It didn't really help. In fact, despite attempting to broaden my customer base further by including a few good-quality jackets and cardigans that MrsDC had earmarked for charity shops, sales were somewhat slow.

The disturbingly blonde Village Of The Damned twins were back, poking at the Cararama, but didn't buy anything today. I sold a few Now compilation CDs for 50p, and after much humming and teeth-sucking, I eventually got £3 for a Blaupunkt head unit. A Panasonic twin cassette unit fetched a fiver from a nice lady who was slightly sceptical as to why, if it worked fine, was I selling it.

Because I don't want it or need it any more, that's why.

A few other minor bits of tat went - some boxes of postcards, the box of car badges, some annoying plastic footballer figures formerly belonging to Cog Minor. A brown t-shirt of mine featuring a Mk2 Escort was bought by a teenage girl, oddly.

After seven hours of frazzling myself, all I'd sold in addition to the above was the Citroen DS in Monte Carlo Rally trim and the Minichamps Opel Rekord A (he got a bargain, I tell you). Someone gave me 50p for the terribly abused Corgi Ford Classic; someone else gave me the same for a Bburago keyring. A woman paid £2 for the pink Polistil 2CV which she immediately handed to her three-year-old child - and which is likely now lying in bits, as Polistils were always exceedingly fragile and three-year-olds tend to be less than gentle...

Eventually, I admitted defeat and packed up.

 

Total takings: £60.

Was it worth it? NO.

Is that it? YES.

What will I do with the unsold stock? FUCK KNOWS.

 

I'm not a trader; I'm a shiter.

I'll probably buck all the remaining models up to the attic while nominally keeping them listed for sale here; so if anyone wants anything, let me know. I've updated the lists of what's left, and will continue to do so if anything sells. But I won't be actively touting my wares from here on in. I'd quite like to get this back to being a proper car thread, y'know? ('Proper' is being used in an *extremely* loose sense here.)

MrsDC's Yaris is due its MOT on Thursday, and currently looks like something that's been dumped in a hedge some time ago and has only just been pulled out. This will need to be remedied, quick-smart.

I also need to get the Subaru fully checked over and serviced ASAP as I do not want another repeat of the TAZ saga, where a decent car dies for want of a ha'penn'orth of tar, so to speak. There's nothing major that's given me concern over the three months of driving so far, but there's a number of minor jobs needing done and I'd like to crack on and do them.

I suppose the good news is that this extended commercial break has done the very thing I'd hoped for - it's allowed me to pay off the Subaru's purchase price early, and also put together a goodly pad of unallocated savings for once in my life, which will hopefully avoid the need to reach for the credit card every time I need a pair of tyres, or the cat suddenly takes sick at 9pm on a bank holiday weekend.

So yeah. Big, big thanks to everyone who's helped out here by buying a car or two (or indeed two hundred) - I can honestly say I have never encountered an online community like this one. Everyone, without exception, has been unfailingly courteous, prompt and friendly, and although the act of wrapping and posting 70kg of models (at the last count) maybe wasn't all that fun, I know for a stone-cold fact that it would have been an infinitely worse experience via Ebay. A donation to Forum funds with be forthcoming at the next funding round, in appreciation of this place and the people who make it so.

It's also been unexpectedly uplifting to see so many models - some of which I've had with me all my life - go onwards to a new existence in other collections, in many cases suddenly restored and looking awesome again. It's been a good reminder that my horrible tendency to hold on to things because "other people don't appreciate them, only me" was totally wrong. Everyone seems far happier than I ever was with them.

So. Onwards and upwards!

Cheers!

[Sir Snipes]

Oh great we're back on to the actual car and finally done with all that boring Diecast shit! (Sorry not-sorry etc)

[Split_Pin]

Car booties are great for offloading shite at tuppence ha'penny but awful for selling actual decent models. Swapmeets are even worse though. 320t and me sold next to sfa at the July one despite our best efforts.

[sierraman]

You’d think a swap meet would get you some good returns, how come it was shite?

[Split_Pin]

Plenty of traders but hardly any punters.

[Felly Magic]

Summer toyfairs have generally been shite for as long as I can remember, which was why I started doing outdoor transport events in summer, then just did toyfairs in the winter months

[beko1987]

Oh great we're back on to the actual car and finally done with all that boring Diecast shit! (Sorry not-sorry etc)

This! Understand what all the die cast stuff was about and fair play etc, but I'm not a die cast man! On with the real cars!

[Tadhg Tiogar]

....Eventually, I admitted defeat and packed up.

 

Total takings: £60.

 

Was it worth it? NO.

 

Is that it? YES.

 

What will I do with the unsold stock? FUCK KNOWS.

 

 

I'm not a trader; I'm a shiter....

God Almighty, this part almost sounds like my dealings on eBay....

[Datsuncog]

On 7/26/2018 at 5:34 PM, Rusty Sills said:

Oh great we're back on to the actual car and finally done with all that boring Diecast shit! (Sorry not-sorry etc)

 

On 7/26/2018 at 11:14 PM, beko1987 said:

This! Understand what all the die cast stuff was about and fair play etc, but I'm not a die cast man! On with the real cars!

Heh, I can well appreciate that if you've not a lot of interest in diecast cars, it's been a bit of a slow coupla months... on the flipside, the Forester hasn't offered anywhere near as much drama as the Lagunae did, so it might have been a slow coupla months anyway!

I had originally gained a Mod's blessing to set up my own sales thread, The Datsuncog Digital Bootsale, within which I'd planned to list my substantial amount of car-related tat and ephemera away from this thread, but due to some crossed wires it got pulled after a day or two and merged with the general sales thread (N.B. not a grump - I appreciate that we definitely don't want a forum where every other new thread consists solely of "Found an old clutch cable in the garage, dunno what it's off, no pics, anyone want it?")... by the time thread reinstatement was graciously offered, I'd just posted up a load of diecast here and didn't want to confuse matters further.

But, for the benefit of future generations who will no doubt wish to revisit these pages on a daily basis and marvel at the wit* and skill* here displayed, I've gone back in time and placed a portal to the present day, thereby skipping all the guff about Matchbox and Corgi...

 

On 5/24/2018 at 4:37 PM, Datsuncog said:

***EDIT:*** If you don't want to wade through 24 pages of diecast pictures, and want to get back onto the full-size chod, then click here to leapfrog over all the sales guff and back to the primo car content.

http://autoshite.com/topic/30085-datsuncogs-heaps-260718-commercial-break-over-back-to-the-programme/?p=1563227

I probably will offer out a few more models in time, but I'll be doing so in the context of the Shite In Miniature thread.

Thank you for your patience, non-diecast fans!

[Zelandeth]

Took possession of the Corgi Sierra 2.3 Ghia today:

 

DhQAA5-XcAE_euV.jpg

 

It's not as big as I remember my light blue example being in 1985, but then again, I'm not as smol as I was in 1985 

 

I missed that one. 

 

I've got one of the same model, albeit in the pink Peter Tompkinson's carpets rally livery.  Which my parents sneakily managed to track down to give to me later in the day after us being spectators at a road stage of whichever rally it was that was going on at the time.

 

Of course, I was still well in single digits age wise at the time and played with it to death - but recently managed to pick up a much tidier example again (possibly even courtesy of someone on here).  Sadly it's not yet made it out of house-move storage and is still in a box in the loft. 

 

Now, the 1/24 (I think) Metro in blue rally livery (Citidata?) from the same period is the other one I need to grab at some point as it suffered the same fate!

 

...I was a destructive little sod at around ten years of age now I look back on it.

[Datsuncog]

On 7/27/2018 at 9:24 AM, Tadhg Tiogar said:

God Almighty, this part almost sounds like my dealings on eBay....

This is why I long ago realised that I'm not really cut out for the old wheeler-dealing... despite having spent more years than I care to remember working in retail, I can't make it work for myself at all.

Still, I'd like to think that the bargaintastic bargains have cheered a few folk up!

[beko1987]

Yea I saw your sale thread got binned, and fully understand why you've set up shop in your own thread, don't worry about that! I have had a flick through but could imagine the horror if I bought something really fucking rare by accident then gave it to Charlie to throw about so didn't!

[egg]

Here's a sexy daft idea, why not take the 4 remaining vanguards and maybe one or two others, and do a £1 a ticket roffle. It would be fun, with a capital F. I reckon it would do alright just because of the novelty value...

[Datsuncog]

On 7/27/2018 at 6:23 PM, egg said:

Here's a sexy daft idea, why not take the 4 remaining vanguards and maybe one or two others, and do a £1 a ticket roffle. It would be fun, with a capital F. I reckon it would do alright just because of the novelty value...

Y'know, that's not a bad idea at all... I'll give that some thought! Might be a few on here who'd take a punt for a quid, right enough...

 

In other news, part of this evening was spent discussing what's to be done with MrsDC's owned-from-new 2005 Yaris, as it is now a teenager and, as such, has developed all manner of attitude problems and skin blemishes... not to mention a few big dents and a busted front bumper...

^^^ Seen in happier times, before I slid it nose-first into a verge one snowy morn, and later hit a large chunk of unidentified metal on the Westlink in the early hours of the morning.

Ideas bandied about include:

• new front and rear bumpers, sprayed teal blue
• set of decent Cibie or Hella bumper-mount driving lights (probably a good idea for the winter months, on the tiny unlit roads around here)
• binning the wheeltrims (mismatched and cracked) and painting the steel wheels either teal blue or orange
• window tint (more for security than vanity, but hey)
• offset vinyl stripes to go up and over the bonnet, roof and bootlid

We've long since accepted that this car will never be sold on until it's incapable of functioning, so there doesn't seem much point in 'keeping it good'.

Weather permitting (it's pelting down at the minute), work shall commence tomorrow...

[mrbenn]

Excellent. Normal service resumed in the usual fashion. Not that I haven't enjoyed your die cast offerings, more that I've been on a self-imposed model buying ban so have forced myself to keep out of this thread for a while!

[Ghosty]

Sounds like your ideas for 'customisation' will be giving Stuboy a run for his money.

[Datsuncog]

On 7/28/2018 at 12:51 PM, Ghosty said:

Sounds like your ideas for 'customisation' will be giving Stuboy a run for his money.

Heh, not quite my ideas... I'm just doing the work.

No, her car and her ideas - though I'm going to have to lay the blame squarely on the shoulders of an MX5-licker she used to work with... apparently his air suspension JDM YO! vehicle with a two-foot high translucent gearknob has been selected as one of ten 'star cars' at the upcoming SpeedHunters show in Dublin...

I'm not really sure how this is going to pan out, tbqh - but it sure makes a change from moaning about dead Lagunas, amirite??

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Go-faster stripes and a racing stripe right over the middle of the car.  Go on.  You know you want to.