Well I've been meaning to sign up here in forever, but kept forgetting. Thanks to someone over on another forum I frequent poking me about it recently the subject was forced back into my very brief attention span for long enough to get me to act on the instruction.

I figure that my little varied fleet might bring you lot some amusement...

So...we've got:

1993 Lada Riva 1.5E Estate (now fuel injected, as I reckon the later cars should have been from the factory...).
1989 Saab 900i Automatic.
1987 Skoda 120LX 21st Anniversary Special Edition.
1985 Sinclair C5.
2009 Peugeot 107 Verve.

Now getting the photos together has taken me far longer than I'd expected...so you're gonna get a couple of photos of each car for now, and I'll come back with some more information tomorrow when I've got a bit more time...

Firstly...The Lada. Before anyone asks - in response to the single question I get asked about this car: No, it is not for sale. Took me 13 years and my father's inheritance to find the thing.


Yes, it's got the usual rusty wings...Hoping that will be resolved in the next couple of months.

 






Next, a proper old Saab. One of the very last 8 valve cars apparently, and all the better for it. I've driven two 16v autos and they were horrible - the auto box works sooooo much better with the torque curve of the 8 valve engine. Just wish it had an overdrive for motorway cruising...









Next up a *real* Skoda...back when they put the engine where it belongs, right out the back. In the best possible colour of course...eye-searingly bright orange.







Seat covers have been added since that photo was taken as it suffers from the usual rotting seat cloth problem that affects virtually all Estelles.

Then we have possibly the world's scruffiest Sinclair C5...



Realised when looking for this that I really need to get some more photos of the thing...I use it often enough after all! We have a dog who's half husky, so this is a really good way of getting him some exercise.

Finally - again, I really need to take more photos of - we have the little Pug 107.



Included for the sake of variety even if it's a bit mainstream! First (and probably to be the only) new car I've bought, and has been a cracking little motor and has asked for very little in return for putting up with nearly three years of Oxford-Milton Keynes commuter traffic, before finally escaping that fate when my housemate moved to a new job. Now it doesn't do many miles and is my default car for "when I've managed to break everything else."

I'll fill in some more details tomorrow - I warn you though that I do tend to ramble...

I think the Broadsword fleet has become sufficiently complicated to merit a combined thread so that gradually all new additions will appear in one place.
 
As of Sunday 17th March the situation is interesting.
 
Two Citoren Xantias (remember the white Xantia of Excellence is for sale people!)
http://autoshite.com/topic/34699-w-reg-citroen-xantia-20-hdi-xantia-of-excellence-%C2%A3999/
http://autoshite.com/topic/34596-citroen-xantia-double-madness-rust/page-2
 
A turquoise XJR6 pending overdue-collection (need that gone now!)
http://autoshite.com/topic/34003-jaguar-xjr6-double-madness-double-sold
 
An XJS 3.6 manual project which will get in high gear soonish. Wont be a keeper but will be fun getting it back to something presentable. Drivers fantastic!
http://autoshite.com/topic/34664-jaguar-xjs-36-manual
 
A Range Rover P38, which is turning out to be really rather good.
 
And to mix things up even more I'm off on a collection caper today. Had first refusal on it and was expecting it to come around in a year, but things soon changed and no way was I going to pass up on it. It may well render the second Xantia redundant as I've got a really good feeling about this motor.
 
In the meantime here are some snaps of the Range Rover. As usual it was a car I said I would probably never buy due to their reliability*. I have said the same of Jag XJR, XJS, XK8 and I have had all of those now. Basically the moment I declare buying a particular car is impractical or improbable, I end up buying one.
 
Things to note on the P38. It's a nice colour with tidy body. The EAS has been removed. It runs and drives lovely and it doesn't have enough electrical problems to hinder progress. The main one is the driver's side window not working, but that should be fixable. I've tried changing the outstation, that didn't fix it. Might be wiring under the seat. Other than that I bought it and took it for an MOT the very next day, and it passed. Since then it had what seemed like a battery drain, but since unplugging the RF thingy for the remote locking and putting on a proper lead-acid battery, which the car can actually charge, unlike the modern lead-calcium batteries, it has been perfect. I will treat it to a full service soon.
 
Stay tuned for the latest collection later today!

Payment sent. V5 filled in. @worldofceri has loaded and left the sellers compound. 
 
Expected ETA around 1pm. 
 
Edit: Interesting bit of the thread starts here: 

After several years here I'll fully admit I am not a seasoned chod-veteran like many, but here's my tosh.
 
I'll begin with my dad and American chod. During my teenage years this was the toy barn:

 
My first adventure in rebuilding began with my dad's 1952 GMC truck.
Started like this.

 
Freshly imported from a dry state with a solid body. Rear axle had been dragged around for a while and the drums were worn half away.
228 cubic inches of straight six with knackered rings. Rebuild commenced.


 
Spent a year rebuilding the engine with all fresh bits imported from the states. Neglected to acid dip it, and turned out one of the splash oil bores was clogged with crud. 500 miles later the big ends melted and fused. Much swearing, much vehicle aimed violence.
 
Out comes that lump.

This prime piece of chod donated it's heart.


350ci of v8 muscle*. Actually originated in a smog tune Camaro, so about as shite a v8 as you can pick.




 
Truck now owned by a family friend looking like this:

 
 
My own first motor was this.
1972 VW Beetle 1302s
Lasted 500 miles. Failed on rust. Got it on the ramp and it had rusted right across the rear end. Engine was about to damn fall out. Whole thing needed a new floor plan. Got broken for parts.
 
 
That got replaced with this:
 
Golf 1.4i cl

 
In around 2006. 72,000 miles on it at the time. One old lady owner from new, giffer driven, full VW service history. Bargain at £1k.
Much work was done

 
Now at 156,000.
Syncromesh dead in 2nd and 3rd. Very noisy tappets. Engine mounts shot. Rotten jacking points. Bugger won't die.
MOT runs out next week, and I feel really bad at the idea of breaking it. Going to stick it in and see if it will pass an MOT, but I'm getting fed up of having squeaky bumhole journeys that it will drop a valve.
 
18 months ago, added this to the fleet:
Scirocco 1.8 8v carb
£1k on ebay, advertised with one line of information.
67,000 miles, FSH, 3 owners from new, mainly giffer driven, but owned by a young guy for a year before I bought it. Solid body, decent engine. Mk2 Golf GTD gearbox with a massively tall 5th gear (2k RPM = 80mph). Saving the pennies while commuting yo!
Issues have been that it has not had it's perishables repaired in a long time, so since I've had it it's had:
New hard brake lines
New braided soft brake lines
De-rusted and waxoyled fuel lines.
New timing belt and aux belt.
New temp sensor.
A new CV
Carb rebuild.

 

 
In between I briefly flirted with a a Renault 4 van and a BMC FG350 Ambulance (converted to a camper). No photos of these.
 
There's also been this 1987 Scirocco GTX 150,000 I bought locally as a cat C write off with the intention of repairing. Then found out the A-pillar, the B-pillar and rear chassis were buckled. Would never have been right again. Broke her for parts.

 
 
Finally
Jaguar S-Type 3.0 v6.

Recently bought this for a charity rally. T-reg 1999, so think it still counts as chod. Plus it cost £750 and has done 165,000 miles.

I thought I'd start a thread for this as I'll probably end up asking all sorts of questions, given that this is my first 'proper' Citroën.
 
So... the ground clearance lever won't go all the way to the highest setting (all others work), which is bad 'cos the book says I need it to do that in order to check the LHM level. It feels like something's seized, so I don't want to force it. Any ideas for a plan of attack would be much appreciated.
 
Next up are the wheels. I now have a set of 205 pepperpots that have just gone off for powder coating & I need to get some tyres for them. The handbook says the car should have 165/70R14s on, the wheels came with 185/65R14 on. Any thoughts about what size I should get please? Cheers.