JohnK's Diverse Fleet Notes - 8/9/18 - Introducing my E55 AMG

[JohnK]

It's been a while since I have done a thread on my fleet due to work, personal life and just generally being busy and unorganized. I haven't really had chance to focus much on doing anything with cars and I haven't really been buying much compared to what I might have done say 18month-2 years ago. There have still been a fair few cars that have come and gone, although I did get into a position at the beginning of this year where most cars ended up being out of MOT and needing a few bits doing etc which then spurred me into action of planning to get them all sorted out this year and back on the road.

 

I made good headway on this but then faltered a little bit due to time and money constraints, the death of my father and difficulties with my children and access. Thankfully things are on their way up.

 

To make a start on the update, I did a dual-collection yesterday.

I agreed to buy a car a few weeks ago as a cheap and cheerful daily runabout; I had seen an advert on here and having always fancied giving one a bash, agreed a purchase.

It started at around 7am where, as usual, I was running late so RichBraith and our mate Chris (Geordie from other forums including Retro Rides) ended up having to sit around and wait for me, but we eventually got on the road, in the ex-RichBraith, ex-Me, ex-AndyCMS now back to RichBraith Cavalier:

 

 

It was nice being back in the driving seat of this, now with 171k miles on the clock from its 1.8 8v lump:

 

 

Chris had a go too:

 

 

We got quite a lot of spots on the way down, which have been shared across a multitude of Facebook groups, however two that standout for me are these:

 

 

 

And eventually made it to RobT's house, where we had a cup of tea, sorted insurance and also the next vehicle in the saga, had a look around Rob's new Xantia, perused over the oil leak on my new purchase and just generally chatted rubbish:

 

 

 

 

1.4 with MOT until November. It is a 'Provence' spec which basically means … lots of blanking plates. Probably more that I have ever seen or had in a car. It is BASIC. But it has a fair bit of charm for that really. It doesn't even have a radio at the moment, but regardless it has been pushed into daily service already today.

 

We bid Rob farewell, grabbing a couple of snaps of his Cavalier before we left:

 

 

And then headed off into Kent to collect car number 2.

 

The story behind this started a couple of weeks ago. My mate Chris was on holiday in France and saw a vehicle for sale on Facebook that he quite liked the look of. Chris really fancied it however with his current fleet commitments and a lot of his money being tied up in the coffee shop he opened earlier in the year (See https://www.facebook.com/Saltburn/ - well worth a visit if anybody is in the area!), wasn't really in a position for an all out purchase.

 

Chris messaged the seller and found out exactly what he would sell it for, resulting in a quick message to me asking 'Do you want to go halves on this?!'

 

Of course the answer was going to be yes! So we agreed to tie the collection in with the ZX.

 

 

 

 

Rover 820i Sterling with a fully loaded interior. Absolute bargain in my eyes at £650 and it drives absolutely lovely.

 

Bumped into Ghosty's FTP'd Rover 416 at Cambridge services:

 

 

We all returned home around 9pm, a fairly uneventful journey really with no traffic etc. A pleasure to be honest.

 

Chris has already started working his magic on the Rover with a quick wash, clay bar and wax. Really looking forward to seeing what it looks like when he has finished

 

 

 

More to follow! Including updates on some other members of my fleet....

[320touring]

Huzzah! Someone is back on form:)

[Split_Pin]

What a delightfully eclectic fleet!

[chaseracer]

That MGB minibus is the Portuguese one that's been all over Fleabay on several occasions.

[JohnK]

E23 7 Series BMW's have always been one of my favourite cars. I've owned three now in total, of which one of them remains.

 

This particular example i picked up in April 2014 from an old boy in Worksop for £1000. I saw it advertised on Car & Classic one Friday evening, so made a trip down to view and test drive it on the Saturday. It was absolutely faultless; the guy was your typical old money type who had it as a second car and it had absolutely wanted for nothing. A deal was struck and I went back to Worksop the following day with my old man to collect it.

 

I used it for around a year, putting it through an MOT in September 2014 to which it passed with no advisories. It is absolutely RUST FREE. Alas, I laid it up to focus on 'other cars' I had and when the MOT expired in September 2015, it sat in a lockup my old man rented on his road and I pretty much put it to the back of my mind and forgot about it.

 

A couple of months ago I made a decision to pull it out and see exactly what it needed. Here it is looking rather sorry for itself ready to go to the workshop:

 

 

My mate Phil gave it a quick wash for me:

 

 

Not sure what it needed for MOT, it was decided that we would go with the following after a quick check:

 

- Full engine service

- Full brake strip down and clean

- 2 new rear tyres

- Try for an MOT

 

Bingo. It passed. Really glad to get this back on the road - 

 

 

Unfortunately the story went a bit downhill after this....but that's for another time!

[Guest Hooli]

It's very green

[Supernaut]

That MGB minibus is the Portuguese one that's been all over Fleabay on several occasions.

I was wondering if it was that minibus.

[loserone]

Kia Pride or GTFO

[richbraith]

I still rate the car I brought home as my pick.  I keep parking it next to other Cavs and being reminded how good it is.  It just piles the miles on effortlessly.  
That ZX though...that's a quick little car.  Not that anyone had a race or anything.  Always rated those more than the 306.

[purplebargeken]

Sorry to hear about your Dad and the other difficulties. Glad you are back on here and continuing with the buyage.

 

The green Beemer and the Rover look especially lushtastic.

[JohnK]

Behold the quantity of blanking plates on the ZX!

 

 

 

 

 

Camo spec interior too! Has received approval following vigorous* testing yesterday evening:

 

 

Chris has started a thread on Retro Rides for the 800 - worth a read, particularly if anybody is interested in detailing. He is likely to give a better update on that car than I am ....

http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/206049/1999-rover-820-sterling

[Guest Hooli]

Must the expensive sport* version with all that equipment deleted.

[JohnK]

 

 

1999 E55 AMG

5.4 V8 

 

I have very limited words to describe this car to be quite honest. But it is an absolute ANIMAL. A car that absolutely will not leave my fleet.

 

The story behind this one is quite familiar really. Chris, who I share the Rover 800 with bought this last year. You will find as I update this thread with other cars in my fleet, that I end up buying a lot of cars from Chris - a combination of similar tastes, lack of will power, always agreeing a sensible price and knowing how absolutely anal Chris is about his cars it's a known quantity with any faults declared, but most having already been sorted out.

 

Anyway, as usual, I called dibs on this in about October. Fast forward to December, Chris needed more cash for the coffee shop so reluctantly advertised this for sale, quickly following that with a message to me advising I could have it for £1000 less than advertised. Yeah why not then? 

 

I went up to view it, test drive it and just generally try to justify whether £5000 was a good idea to spend right on Christmas. One key failure point in my willpower happened when I went to see the car. I DROVE IT. Once driven, never forgotten. 

I bought it as a Christmas present to myself, picking it up on Boxing Day!

 

 

It hasn't always looked this clean. W210's like to rust, don't they?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that was just one side! And only a small selection of MANY pictures of rotten holes, cut out rot and freshy welded metal. It was absolutely hanging.

 

After it was all welded up, it has been fully resprayed too. This thing is solid and absolutely immaculate now. And properly undersealed.

 

Mechanically, it has stacks of history from its 165k miles on the road. It had a long term owner before Chris who worked for AMG and it had been excessively maintained. I'm in contact with that guy as well and have received a lot more history of the car via e-mail.

It isn't exactly standard either. Nothing major but standard these are 350bhp, this one is pushing just under 400bhp.

 

 

 

 

 

Currently in the bad books with a slight misfire when warm which is at the top of my list of work to be completed across the fleet as I really do miss driving this car.

[JohnK]

Forgot to add - another purchase was agreed yesterday. Watch this space...

[Matty]

Shame they rust. When I haven't seen one in a bit I forget how good lookin they are. Love a big quick saloon!

[Guest Hooli]

That E55 is lush

[Schaefft]

Yeah, the W210 has always been seen as one of Mercedes' darkest chapters, and the abysmal rust protection was one of the main reasons for that. That doesn't mean it has its own qualities though. And this being a proper AMG, a lot of people seem to forget how fantastic a performance luxury sedan even in W210 form actually is. Great to see at least one of them receiving the attention it deserves. I regularly see cheap early S55 and CL55 AMGs for sale and wonder how good they really are. But I also often come to the conclusion that the hassle you'd have with the ABC system is only worth it if you have the supercharged facelift models, so I tend to ignore them. Not an issue this one has.

 

Looking forward to the Probe and Maxima!

[JohnK]

800 has received a decent coat of wax today - the shine is really starting to come through it would seem. This is going to look ace!

 

I've agreed a deal on a set of 17" Vitesse alloys for my (ex-Trigger) 620Ti today, so it is likely the current Ti wheels will make their way onto the 800 too to smarten it up a little

 

 

 

 

Probe, Maxima and Talbot stories will come over the next couple of days!

[Liggle]

Love the E55, I’m a member of the fast V8 saloon club (Lexus IS-F)