The new news 24 thread

[Cavcraft]

604 finished on eBay. No bids in last day £1220 finish.

 

Bit fucked off to be honest, but I've learnt a valuable lesson: Stop fucking about with old cars.

 

 

I was watching that at the end Pete and amazed you didn't get more for it. At one point the listing was getting about two hits a minute then it just died off. Funny place eBay at times, I have a theory now that if people start bidding early it puts others off. God knows why, unless they're just mingebags hoping to score something stupidly cheap. For what you have done with that car I'd humbly suggest it should have seen another £300 or so at least.

[Pete-M]

604 finished on eBay. No bids in last day £1220 finish.

 

Bit fucked off to be honest, but I've learnt a valuable lesson: Stop fucking about with old cars.

 

Are you letting it go for that?

 

It's eBay. If the geezer arrives with the cash this week and doesn't mess about I'll bite the bullet and let it go.

[trigger]

I'm surprised you never got more but to be brutally honest i think you should have added a reserve or at least got a mate to bid it up for you, at least you'd have the option to send a second chance offer then.

[Pete-M]

It's the chance you take with eBay. 145 watchers, 2500 hits I thought it'd hit £1500 minimum.

 

There was a reserve, stupidly I set it low and it stalled when it hit it.

[MrDuke]

As promised, pics of the Scrote (to prove that I do actually own it). Really, really awful ones, sorry. I'll get some better ones when I've washed it, and the sun's out again. Probably.

 

 

 

 

Check my STANCE YO. I'm surprised by how good* it looks on cloverleafs (cloverleaves?) as well - I see them so rarely these days, they actually look quite quirky. I have plans for them, too, unless someone offers to swap them for some dishy Revos, or something equally unlikely.

 

 

Close-up featuring original radio/cassette goodness & strangely pointless 'grille' on the dashboard - mono speaker housing for base-spec? Oh, and brown vinyl - lots and lots of that.

 

 

Mrs_Duke does like to see a huge clock in front of her. sorry.

 

 

Last and most definitely least, the strangest rear belt mounting I've ever seen. Also, speakers in the tailgate, which will be ideal when the boot's full.

 

 

 

Immediate plans are:

1) Sort out the rust spots - surprisingly few, but if I don't deal with them over the spring/summer they'll become 1000 times worse.

2) Track down some weather strips (for less than £70 ideally), and some 'chrome' fillet strip for the f+r screens - they're piss-yellow at the moment.

3) Ditch the knackered bump-strips - they don't line up with either of the bumpers anyway.

4) 'Mend' the huge crack in the dashboard with silicone stuff and paint - not important, but it's the only thing that's spoiling a near-mint interior, and a brown replacement will be pretty hard to find I suspect.

5) Swap the 'pod' for an XR3/Ghia one with a rev counter. I just can't relax without a rev counter. FFS.

 

 

I am really, disproportionately happy with it - coming from a soulless, bland, point-and-squirt-mobile back to clattery engines and porridgey gearboxes just feels like coming home

[Shep Shepherd]

That is pretty magnificent

 

The grille on the dash was indeed for a mono radio's speaker. A similar arrangement could also found on mark 1 Sierras

[Minimad5]

 

I Really like that !

If it's ever for sale

 

Not really "News" as i've posted it in the great herald / 75 thread, but:

Budget and time to complete HAROLD has increased

I'm in need of a small number of Herald parts (Water pump housing, manifold ..) check your garage, check your loft - Please

[philibusmo]

The Cressida sold for £1120

Now to see if the buyer turns up or makes any contact. His feedback gives mixed reviews.

[Lord Sterling]

 

That is absolutely brilliant Mr Duke. I've not seen Cloverleaf for years, they used to be quite popular amongst the mid-90s Yooof who'd stick them on anything like 4-door Escort GLs to mk2 Fiesta etc....

 

You've seriously got to keep those alloys, if you are getting rid, I'd almost certainly buy them off you just to have them. I do have a set of 15' Ford pepperpots somewhere from my old Sapphire Ghia.

 

The dash reminds me of the time when FATHA_Sterling had a very clean Mk2 Escort, I'd finished cleaning the dash with some seriously strong smelling dash cleaner with the doors closed, naturally he asked me if I was a glue sniffer........

[cms206]

It's the chance you take with eBay. 145 watchers, 2500 hits I thought it'd hit £1500 minimum.

 

There was a reserve, stupidly I set it low and it stalled when it hit it.

 

 

Jesus. I thought I'd robbed you when I bought the Senator but even Dick Turpin would've been shocked at that.

[RoadworkUK]

....in-depth reportage of a Sterling bent

 

Mate, you really ought to have a build-thread or a "What Lord Sterling has been up to" thread. It seems a shame for you to make that much effort on an entry in News-24, only for it to disappear into history....

[John F]

Made progress with the Maserati today.

 

(moved the pics etc. to my WIP thread... I'd forgotten I had one )

[Craig the Princess]

The Metro is back on the road, decided to chnage the head gasket over Easter because i) the cooling system was pressurised and ii) I overheated it by driving 100 miles with the expantion tank off.

 

Managed to get the head off Friday (with a bit of help from the housemate - managed to bugger up a nut holding the exhaust clamp on) and everything back together this afternoon

 

 

Need to use the Metro as the Rover Coupe is back at the garage. Took it in to fix a charging problem, thay ran the tests and condemmed the battery and fitted a new one. Next morning - nothing Serves me right for being a lazy git and not doing it myself.

 

Percy (the Applejack (green) Allegro) is back on the road. It was Mot'ed last year after fitting a new engine and gearbox. Gearbox was knackered so it came out and took 10 months to get round to fixing it. The replacement (free) gearbox is a bit crumchy into third but overall quite good. The red Ambassador is also fixed (leaky fuel tank) and would be on the road apart from needing a tax disc.

 

[warren t claim]

Saved a few toy cars from the bargain bin at a charity shop.

 

Anyone want one of these?

 

 

Just the Rangie on its own I'm afraid.

[wuvvum]

Went down to Oxford on Wednesday to pick up this.

 

 

 

 

It's not really my usual fare, and ordinarily I probably wouldn't have bothered, but it was my grandad's car (the last car he bought before he died in '99), and my uncle had been using it for the last 13 years. He'd decided to treat himself to an 11-plate Golf TDI estate, so I inherited the Toyota. To be fair, it's not a bad old thing - it's tidy for a P-plater, it's still only done 72K, uncle has religiously changed the oil & filter every 6K and it had a cambelt at 56K. It's a 1.8 lean burn so good on fuel too - uncle reckons he gets 48mpg on a run and 42 round town, although he's not the fastest of drivers. It's still T&T'd, and best of all it was free - all I had to pay for was the 3/4 tank of unleaded it came with. He even left in the expensive Kenwood CD player. It is rather dull to drive - a bit like a heavier and better-screwed-together Volvo S40 in some ways - but it's perfectly competent, it should be reliable, and it has a towbar, so I now have something other than the rather thirsty and cumbersome Transit van to tow with.

 

Uncle has obviously decided it's time he started treating himself - as well as the top-of-the-line Golf, he's recently bought himself a very fancy Eura Mobil A-class motorhome, built on a Sprinter chassis. It's an impressive bit of kit, with all mod cons and a drop-down double bed over the cab area (much better than being crammed into a luton), a proper separate shower and toilet (rather than the usual "wet room") and all sorts of clever electronic controls for everything that will be a nightmare when they go wrong. I was quite jealous I have to say.

 

Uncle gave me a sheaf of paperwork along with the Toyota docs, saying that there was some stuff in there that I "might find interesting". Too bloody right there was! There's a receipt, made out to my grandad, dated 12th March 1956, for £771/10/9 for the purchase of a brand new Ford Consul saloon, with optional heater and leather upholstery, in Dorchester grey, with an allowance of £390/0/0 for the Triumph Mayflower he part exchanged. Unfortunately it doesn't mention the reg of the Consul so I can't find out if it's still about (unlikely though). There's another receipt, from 16th Feb 1963, for a 1959 Morris Mini Minor that he bought my grandma, for the princely sum of £331/14/6 including 12 months' tax & insurance. Mini reg was 971 GFC - can't find it on DVLA under Morris or Mini though so chances are it didn't last long. There's also a bill for an MoT in February 1979 on a Triumph 1500 - the bill came to £12.51 including doing the tracking and balancing the front wheels - MoT fee was £4.50. Those were the days...

 

I know this all probably sounds a bit geeky, but I love finding old stuff like this, especially when it's related to the family. There were loads of other bills in there for cars Grandad owned more recently - the H-reg Astra CDi was one I remember quite fondly - lovely car to ride in. Uncle also gave me a selection of workshop manuals he'd found whilst clearing out his girlfriend's parents' house - I'm now the proud owner of Haynes manuals for a Mk1 Astra and Renault 4, and proper factory workshop manuals for a Rover P6 2000 and a Volvo 140 (which I'm hoping might come in useful for certain bits on the 164). There were also some "practical motorist" type books from the 1940s, and '60s vintage books on tuning engines and carburettors, which I'll have a flip through when I get a moment. Girlfriend's mum sounds like a game old bird too - there was a case full of souvenirs she brought back from a trip on a steamer up the Amazon in 1948 (including bowls made from dried fruit skins and a snake skin), although uncle is keeping hold of those. All in all, my intention to have a quick cuppa and hit the road ended up with me staying for 5 1/2 hours and getting home about midnight. Still, at least the M25 was quiet by the time I hit it...

[eddyramrod]

Bloody hell Wuv, that's a result! I call that a really good day's work, well done. I'm right with you on the old paperwork, it's fascinating!

[Pete-M]

604 may not have sold. Long story.

[skattrd]

604 may not have sold. Long story.

Is that good news or bad?

[wuvvum]

Continuing with the Peugeots-on-eBay theme, the 607 sold to somebody with only 1 feedback, for buying a DVD player ages ago. Will be interesting to see how this pans out. The CX sold to someone in Ireland, who to be fair has been in touch to say he will have the car collected ASAP and to ask for the post code; the DS to a chap who emailed me straight after the auction ended to say he'd be in touch this evening to arrange collection, but haven't heard owt so far. So we'll have to see. As soon as the SVX logbook comes through that can go on there as well.

[STUNO]

Top inheriting there wuvvum. Had one of those etc. I just can't help picturing your grandfathers face as he drove away in a new Mk2 Consul (with optional heater) after dropping his Mayflower. He must have been wearing the biggest grin imaginable

[Lankytim]

That Toyota looks OK to me! I'm used to seeing pretty clapped out examples round here... it's easy to forget that they all used to be smart motors like this one once.

[wuvvum]

I just can't help picturing your grandfathers face as he drove away in a new Mk2 Consul (with optional heater) after dropping his Mayflower. He must have been wearing the biggest grin imaginable

I would imagine so - although my mum has fond memories of the Mayflower - she says it was a very comfortable car to sit in the back of, and very reliable. But then she never had to drive the thing...

 

In other news, DS buyer has now been in touch. He's a professional camera man from the Southampton area who drives an ex-rally DS as his daily and wants to use the camera car for the purpose for which it was intended, which I think is brilliant. He asked whether it would drive back to Southampton; I've said realistically probably not. He did say he'd work out a Plan B if not, so will have to see.

 

In other news, I appear to have won a speedboat on eBay.

[trigger]

That Toyota looks pretty tidy, It makes up for the Sabb you lost last night.

 

I spotted this today in Aldeburgh, I'm guessing it's a ex Dyno-Rod camper van?!.

 

1990 Iveco Daily Dyno-Rod Camper Van by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

[Albert Ross]

Looks more like an ex-Fire Brigade Incident Command Centre.

[trigger]

I wondered that is it has the fire transfers but it was painted in the dyno rod colours, I'm sure it was a camper?.

 

1990 Iveco Daily Dyno-Rod Camper Van by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

[vulgalour]

@wuvvum: My Dad has just bought himself a 1.8 E auto Carina like the one you inherited, but in burgundy. He sold his Lexus LS400 (which threw ALL of it's toys out of the pram shortly before sale) so that he could change to the Carina and he's *very* excited about it. Sounds like it'll do exactly what he wants too, from your report of the blue-ish one.

[Pete-M]

604 may not have sold. Long story.

Is that good news or bad?

 

For me, it's a fucking disaster. It means I'll have to cancel my trip to Czech to collect the Escort, cancel my holidays from work and quite possibly means I'll end up fucking my job off when work start being cunts when I try to rearrange the trip.

 

I could have done with this selling, but what appears to have happened is someone on my facebook has chucked a bid in, I suspect trying to help, and ended up winning the car. I didn't know it was happening so I let it run to the end, but nobody outbid them so now I don't know what the fuck is going on. They're mental enough to actually be a serious bidder, but with zero contact who the fuck knows?

 

They've not been back on either FB or eBay, they're not answering texts and it's too late to call 'em.

 

This has not improved my day at all. I'm seriously tempted to ring the banger lads, tell 'em it's super-rare and get £1500 from 'em.

[catsinthewelder]

Best of luck sorting it out Pete

 

Had a shitetastic RTA yesterday, started to pull onto a roundabout in the BX then realised that the rag topped Rover 200 coming out of the exit before was properly going for it so stopped sharpish. Clonk,

 

Bugger, pulled forward a couple of feet and checked for damage, none on mine and the KIA Mentor that ran into my towbar was looking surprisingly straight for it. The other guy hadn't even bothered to get out so I shrugged and waved, he waved back both drove off.

 

OMG no whiplash etc WIN

[trigger]

but what appears to have happened is someone on my facebook has chucked a bid in.

 

Do you have any idea who it is? (It wasn't me btw)

[warren t claim]

Can you not give a second chance offer to the next highest bidder?