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[SiC]

So this post means I've hit it.

 

In 1132 days I've posted 10,000 times which means an average of 8.8 posts every single day in that time. It puts me in the top 22 of posters on this forum.

 

Not sure if this is something I should celebrate or if I should seek help. At least I still have got a long way to go compared to some though!

 

I thought I would go back through what I've done in that time. This post could potentially be a bit narcissistic, but hey what the hell I can only do this once.

 

Lets start with my very first post.

Hello all

 

Stumbled across this site by accident while looking for tips on a particular car while in my usual obsession with ropey old cars... I didn't realise that there were other like minded people who like cars that others would reject and not seemly be like everyone else and put down £xxx p/m on finance deal for a spanking new boringly reliable box thing...!

 

Currently in my garage is a rather non-shed like 57 reg Civic (well I need a safe, reliable car to keep the fiancée happy...) and at the moment a 2002 Astra Mk4 1.6. The Astra was acquired from the fiancee's grandad as a) to get him off the road, sold fiancee's beloved MX5 MK3 to help fund a house purchase... Despise the thing. Actually surprised me how good handling it is... Then 62k on the clock and garaged for the last 10 years, the rubbery bits haven't worn too badly. Even the gearbox is still pretty tight! In the last 8 months of ownership I have had to replace 2 rear shocks, radiator, thermostat, one rear spring, one front spring, 2 rear tyres (after 13 years on the car they were pretty perished...). But it did get through its last MOT with zero advisories 

 

However now that is reliable and, as the other half says, damn ugly, I've been doing the fatal thing of browsing through gumtree at <£500 cars. Found a rather ropey, high mileage Saab with no MOT going cheap that I'm really rather tempted by... 

 

Si.

Only one like (thanks brickwall)

and most won't have read it.

 

So whats happened car related since then? Cripes, its quite a lot.

 

Firstly that Astra mentioned above. It languished around a bit on my drive, until I finally got it MOT'd and then sold it cheap (£400) to phil_lihp who's colleague had it. Unfortunately the MOT history suggests its no longer on the road. Shame.

 

Next up was a 1.6 automatic Scenic with 150k on the clock I bought for under £150.

 

Thread here: http://autoshite.com/topic/22978-2004-reno-scenic-ii-now-gone-but-not-forgotten/

 

This I played around a bit, got it working and then went to sell it. I got messed around trying to sell it on eBay + Gumtree. Fed up, I put it up on here for under what it owed me (£180 iirc) and Kiltox bought it. His Father-in-Law then ran around it for 6 months or so and then it failed its MOT because the steering rack clunked. Annoying that the garage failed it on that as it had been doing it for a good 60k or so apparently and it worked perfectly fine. Amazingly despite those gearboxes being made of cheese, it wasn't that which caused it to be scrapped.

 

Oh and lets not forget the letter I found in the paperwork pack.

 

After that taste of Frenchness, I wanted some more. I'd been hankering after a Laguna II for a while and I needed to scratch the 6cyl itch. Naturally it had to be a Laguna II v6 - best of all the Laguna IIs. Not least because of that engine but also top Initalie spec. However these were rare and it took a bit of hunting to find one. After a couple of non-starts with a eBay seller not wanting to sell his even though I won it - just didn't get to what he wanted to sell it for. I managed to bag one cheap in London from a "Trade Sale" type place that I had been spying for 6 months.

Thread here: http://autoshite.com/topic/24360-gooner-ii-v6-reliable-motoring-at-its-finest

 

I nearly went down a couple of times, but he wouldn't knock the price down enough - especially as it had a few electrical problems. It ended up on eBay and I got it for an absolute bargain of under £600. Got me the 100 or so miles home absolutely problem free. The biggest fault needed to be fixed was the ABS light. This was a pressure sensor inside the ABS module (common fault on many cars of that age - including BMW/VAG/Mazda/others) that had failed. VAG had a repair kits for their models, but Renault only did a new ABS unit at £1k. I went down to my local scrappy and luck would have it, I found a 2.2dci of the same trim (similar engine weight and suspension setup) that I extracted the ABS module and paid £40 for. My local garage fitted it for £60. Result!

 

I used it for a year and had great fun smoking off BMW E46 330i/E60 530d/etc off the lights in the classic traffic light GP. One car I missed. angle off this forum bought it from me and is using it as his daily driver too. Still going very strong.

 

Whats next? A silver Saab 9-5!

Thread here: http://autoshite.com/topic/25800-sics-silver-saab-9-5-23t-vector-gone/

 

I bought this from a contractor colleague at work for under £200. It had just under 210k miles on clock with a bunch of faults. Biggest one was the gearbox banging into gear. Changing the ATF helped a lot, but never totally fixed it. I got a second hand valve body for it from a scrapyard but never got around to fitting it.

 

Ended up selling to Hooli on this forum (at a loss for me naturally) and he daily it for 2 years putting like another 20k on it. I believe 95Peugeot is the current custodian of it after winning it in a Roffle.

 

At this point, there was one car that was in my bucket list that I wanted to have. A Smart Roadster. I started a thread asking about them but never followed up immediately in buying one. Mostly because I'm a cheap skate and I like buying broken examples that are cheap. Eventually one popped up locally that had been sitting around for a year or two but had low number of owners and very well looked after. It was sitting around as the owner at the time had kids and it became too impractical. I paid something like £680 - well under what they should be worth. Owner was happy it was going to someone that wasn't going to strip it for parts.

Thread here: http://autoshite.com/topic/26414-smart-roadster-the-poo-brown-go-kart/

 

Biggest and main problem it had was it triggering gearbox fault code (they only came in automatic). This lead it to loosing all gears and FTP'ing. The previous owner took it to Mercedes and they diagnosed this as a body computer fault - £800 to fix. I found the problem to actually just to be a chaffed wire that goes to one of the actuators a bit of soldering fixed it - £0 it cost me to repair.

 

I then spent quite a bit getting it top notch. Still cost me under what a cheap working one went for though. I drove it around having lots of fun for around a year. I shifted it on for £1400 or something on eBay. This is a car I very much regret selling. It came back on eBay late last year and I was extremely tempted to buy it back. Alas I didn't.

 

During this time I owned the Laguna still. My parents main car was being problematic. At 160k odd, they determined it was not economically viable to fix. So I bought it off them, diagnosed the problem and been using it since. This is it.

 

No thread as boring modern. Despite me buying it and paying out to run it, this "officially" is my wifes car. Mostly as she moaned that she hadn't properly "owned" a car since her MX5 and also it stops me selling it.

 

Next up is a car that you don't hear about me talking about very often now. Near me there is a classic car garage. They had a very nice looking MGB GT rubber bumper in. This re-triggered a bad reaction in my head and got me stuck back into classics. I've always wanted a MGB (and a Spitfire too) but never was in the position to get one. Except now. After a bit of too'ing and throwing, it was pointed out on here that the example was a rotten heap. This resulted in a 27 page marathon thread of me trying to find an example I was happy with. Even though the thread only lasted around a month, I think a few on here were close to coming round and strangling me due to the frustration in me not committing.

That thread, if you dare to read it, is here: http://autoshite.com/topic/28635-mgb-gt-mission-finally-complete-phew/

 

Anyhow, I eventually committed and bought this. A very solid example with only 3 previous owners - one of which was only a couple of months as he transferred it into his name to sell on behalf of his friend. I paid a fair amount (at the time) as it was both solid and I wanted a good example that I could use right away.

Thread here: http://autoshite.com/topic/29005-1974-mgb-gt-the-mustard-mit-mobility-scooter/

 

I don't want to go much into this one. After a troublesome start of breaking down and rough running, its currently languishing up in a rented garage. Actually looking at that picture makes me feel sad about it. Out of sight, out of mind. Once my (hopefully) house move is done, I fully intend to bring it closer to home again and give another go. I really ought to have kept that Smart Roadster instead.

 

Next up was another modern. After my ever reliable Civic spaceship got rear ended and written off, I had to find something to replace it. The Civic I actually bought back, but I sold it cheap to my in-laws as an upgrade to replace their Corsa C (such horrible piles of white good junk they are).

Again no thread, as boring modern.

 

I really don't know why I bought this. I don't even like Audi TTs. Cheap from a mate I think was the real answer. Oh and naturally like most of my cars I buy, it was broken. Cheap and broken, two things I find hard to resist - no matter what the car is or if I like it. Ended up costing me a grand on top of the 4.5k I paid for it in the first month. Fancy pants suspension (Magneride) cost £550 in labour and part alone to fix (the shock absorber was £380 for the part alone). Very nearly sold it because of that. The only reason I still have it is that it does the job as a car pretty well and I can't be doing with the hassle of changing it. Maybe later in the year I'll chop it in for a Boxster? Or possibly even next year go crazy and get a Vantage V8, 911 or something.

 

Next up is a short interlude of a roffle win. This caused quite a bit of stress but also humor with the missus after buying a car for less than a tenner.

http://autoshite.com/topic/32712-xj6-sport-£550-north-bristol-page-7/

 

After an early morning flight up to Glasgow, I then had a 8hr drive back down to Bristol in it. Performed faultlessly. Used it for a month or so and got my fun out of it. Then sold it back on here for what it owed. Changed hands a couple of times and still on this forum with Jazoli.

 

Now to my final car in this list. The one that we all know from around here.

Thread here: http://autoshite.com/topic/32171-the-austin-2dr-1100-story-part-iv-welding-engineclutch-work

 

The rust bucket, aka The Purple Peril. My first proper full-on project and the first time I've ever welded. Its become very much a marathon where I am slowly chipping away bit-by-bit. All being well, I'm hoping that this will be MOT'd (even though its exempt) and back on the road by the summer next year.

 

Where am I going to go from here? I have no idea! As said above, the TT is likely the next to go - replaced with something more enthralling. Classic car wise I'm not sure. I've got a big hankling for a Dolomite Sprint and is an itch that needs scratching. Not sure if I can get away with getting another classic without shedding one of the others. I am hopefully moving house soon with more garage space, but unlikely more car storage space. So I'll see how far I can test Mrs SiC patience with that one...

 

So this is summary of my automotive ownership history in the last 3 years, 1 month and 5 days. It's taken quite a bit to figure all this out but has been interesting for me. If you've got this far hopefully its been a little bit interesting to you too.

 

Now I put it out to you, going back to your very first post what is your summarised shite car related history since then?

[Fumbler]

Many congratulation. As a prize we will give you thruppence for your custom.

 

Lovely 1100 by the way.

[egg]

All interesting stuff Si, and all excellent contributions to the forum!

 

I joined 11 days after you, so I'm about 2,000 posts behind

[xkjagnz]

Well I guess that trumps the 42 posts I did as xkjaguar from 2004-2014 and The 592 as xkjagnz I have done since then (forgot my logon so re-registered) Classic underachiever

[Guest Hooli]

Damn people who post endless crap....

[tooSavvy]

I arrived in a Savvy... Was rightfully flamed down to me underpants... forgave everyone and took a bold, bold step into 'tom$hitery' by scoring Stations ToMM @£350 - fresh from a French odyssey.

 

 

... I just keep jogging along + my post count reads as 'constant irritation'

 

Go..Go..Gooo SiC

[SiC]

I arrived in a Savvy... Was rightfully flamed down to me underpants... forgave everyone and took a bold, bold step into 'tom$hitery' by scoring Stations ToMM @£350 - fresh from a French odyssey.

 

 

... I just keep jogging along + my post count reads as 'constant irritation'

 

Go..Go..Gooo SiC

You're only 3 off the magic 6666 posts.

 

I hope you weren't flamed owning a Savvy, they're proper modern Autoshite material!

[tooSavvy]

... No, my attitude was not 'tooSavvy' around what passed for humour/ribbing/clubability...

 

Quickly formed the thick skin, akin to my head, and got stuck in!!

[HillmanImp]

I've been on here about 11 years and am over two and a half thousand posts behind you. Yet I still don't manage to find enough time to do half the stuff on my cars that you do yours.

 

Whats your secret? Do you not sleep? 

[SiC]

I've been on here about 11 years and am over two and a half thousand posts behind you. Yet I still don't manage to find enough time to do half the stuff on my cars that you do yours.

 

Whats your secret? Do you not sleep?

Good question. I think it's a number of things that gives me time.

 

Firstly not having kids gives a lot of time. Now this is something I wish wasn't the case with us, but fettling with old cars provides a welcome distraction from that stress.

 

Secondly, as I'm a software engineer I stare at a computer all day. This means when I get home, I try to avoid staring at another screen. TV I find mostly crap anyway and if it wasn't for the wife, I wouldn't have one.

Many of my colleagues are big into gaming. I can understand this as I used to be too. However when I went to uni around 14 year ago, I made the decision to not ever buy a PC capable of playing games. I loved playing computer games, but found I did a little too much. Hence I got crap A-Levels. It's good fun but it's also a complete and total waste of good time to be doing other stuff.

 

Thirdly, my wife has other hobbies herself. She likes baking, sewing and crafting. When I'm outside fiddling with the car, she's enjoying her own hobbies. It's a careful balance still though as I can all too easily end up spending a whole day working on the car. We liked to go places and for walks, so I need to make sure there is a healthy amount of time still spent together too.

 

Fourthly I'm a fabulous procrastinator and working on cars (which is something I enjoy) is a distraction from other stuff I should be doing.

 

Also there is a bit of grim determination to get the car done. Especially with the potential of a house move soon.

[Six-cylinder]

You have made me do the maths, 1.7 posts a day!

[mat_the_cat]

Well done

An average of 1.2 likes per post, so you've clearly made worthwhile postings!

[Faker]

Congrats!

[Guest Hooli]

Well done

An average of 1.2 likes per post, so you've clearly made worthwhile postings!

 

How do you find out the number likes? I've never seen that stat anywhere.

[SiC]

How do you find out the number likes? I've never seen that stat anywhere.

1) Your profile will give you join date.

 

2) Figure out days here: https://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html

 

3) Posts / Days = posts per day.

[Guest Hooli]

1) Your profile will give you join date.

 

2) Figure out days here: https://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html

 

3) Posts / Days = posts per day.

 

Yeah but mat_the_cat quoted lilkes per post & I've never seen anywhere saying how many likes a poster has got.

[Ghosty]

(and likes is the 'reputation' number on your profile).

[Datsuncog]

Yeah but mat_the_cat quoted lilkes per post & I've never seen anywhere saying how many likes a poster has got.

 

 

^^ You currently have 18,538 'likes'.

 

It's slightly more clearly shown on each member's profile page:

 

 

My calculations indicate a raw average of 1.2 likes per post - so you're on a level pegging with SiC in the AS megaposter fight to the death...

 

[Guest Hooli]

AS stats likes.png

 

^^ You currently have 18,538 'likes'.

 

It's slightly more clearly shown on each member's profile page:

 

AS profile likes.png

 

My calculations indicate a raw average of 1.2 likes per post - so you're on a level pegging with SiC in the AS megaposter fight to the death...

 

wayne campbell.jpg

 

Oh is that likes? I'd never noticed!

 

Lets go for thanks per post as the decider then lol.

 

188/15244 = 0.012333 for me

98/10020 = 0.009780 for SiC.

 

I win!