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Dollywobbler's Consolidated Tat Thread


dollywobbler

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To echo @R1152

You'll know from your own sales of the merch, views on the YouTube channel, searches etc what drives the traffic to what is really your source of income. Some of the fleet is more desirable than the others, and it'll be them driving the continued attraction to you and your channel. From that, keep some and cut off the rest. If you're not working on it, it's not earning it's place in your fleet. If you're not working on it, or driving it, you're not making content, you're not earning money. That's the fact of the matter really. You have too much there to get on with, and not enough of it to make any sort of solid content. 

I can't keep up with this thread at all but I also don't want to be the boring bastard that brings us out of Autoshite freedom in to the drudgery of reality (which sometimes is all I feel like I do here), but you're a family man now. You're part of a unit. Sacrifices have to be made in order to push the family unit forward. It happens to all of us, and plans change to suit the realities of the life we live. I've got that reality now and it's not a nice feeling at all to look at your plans, look at what your responsibilities are (or are soon to be) and start changing or even cutting plans altogether. I should be enjoying lockdown in a lovely MG F, instead I'm arguing with anyone who will listen about why baby seats cost FROM £150. That's not me!

Like I said, you know what's selling, what draws the punters in. It's great to have a unit to store cars and work on them. It's no good though to have a unit full of cars that need work, and no room in the inn to work on them. 

You've a reliable (I assume, I haven't kept up on the C5 other than the clutch) car, and given the relative safety it provides you, along with it's reliability, it's worth the clutch cost. The Yugo is fit for scrap, same with the burnt out Olcit but at least that leads to a usable niche classic of the Olcit. The Chamoiscloth, unless it's dragging in punters on the YouTube could be moved on, same with the rest of the fleet barring the 2CV, Fox, and Invacar.

Ultimately though, you know what works for the channel. You know what sells. I like to say cheques aren't real money until they're cashed, there's a number of cars there that with the best will in the world either need you throwing money at them via a 3rd party to make right, or need your full time attention. If you can't do either of them, then it's not paying its way for the World of Hubnut and need gone.

Edited to add: It may also be worth keeping, or working out, a diary to see what you're spending your time on in case you're wondering where the days are going. You'd be amazed at how the perceived 10 minutes tea break turns in to an hour of dithering. 

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It must be the season for BMW fires - we passed a burnt out one on the A55 near Bangor on Saturday.

Money spent getting on the property ladder is a wiser spend than renting and old cars.

I think a reliable daily needs to be priority - having something nearly 20 years old as a daily steer needs deep pockets and reasonable spannering skills. That's why anything old that had has had a clutch and timing belt will make a fair bit more at sell time than one that hasn't. But at the end of the day you can only have what you can afford.

I agree that the vectra is a dull steer but in it's favour was the bork factor was much lower than an old 75 or C5.

Best of luck.

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If I was writing the biography of Hubnut I'd say Classichub started as a car review channel and became a tinkering channel through osmosis. I commented on the XM brake phail video in November 2015 that we might be watching the new Edd China ;-), which is one of the earliest tinkering vids on the channel.

For me 'peak Hubnut' was the TWC and Foxanne revivals when I tuned in for each video like a TV series.  But I can see life is different now.

I think now it's Ian's full time job the audience is necessarily far wider and us AS folk probably represent only a fraction of the audience HubNut has to cater for to pay the bills.

But I don't think Ian would want to go down the Doug DeMuro route of releasing exactly the same video twice a week every week worrying about heated seat settings only being on a screen. Even though that does bag Doug 20m views a month (though there's clearly some viewer fatigue as he used to do 30m a month).

I think being a self-employed entertainer is a tough gig really, when an algorithm is your boss.

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If I may put my two pence into the ring (bearing in mind, of course, I have never given any sound advice to any living being):

3 hours ago, Braddon81 said:

Ian Seabrook now needs to get a decent car for himself and not for content .

I share this view...

I know it's not always as easy as "just go and buy a decent car", because money and car-hunting are two things which are not the friendliest with each other really.
But, if you were to purchase a cheap, reasonably modern, reliable "boring" car, you might find that by getting rid of the battles with your daily driver, you restore some of your mojo to work on the rest of the fleet, and they will feel that bit more special when you drive them too. 

Obviously this is all easy for me to say without knowing your exact circumstances (and I'm not going to delve) but if it were me, I think that would be my approach. If you can pick up something practical, reliable and cheap for when you're 'just' being Ian - and there's plenty out there which will do that - then you'll have so much more time for the HubNut fleet when you're being HubNut.

YMMV, obvs.

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Reading through the last few posts, there seems to be a consensus emerging - the need for a reliable Seabrook family car that is in no way, shape or form part of the HubNut fleet and perhaps not subject to Ian getting bored with it after six weeks!

Like @egg, for me "peak HubNut" was TWC and Foxanne and I'd drop everything and watch them but I appreciate that was at a very different time in Ian's life. I absolutely loved the videos from NZ and Aus, but that was as much "armchair travel" for me.

I've watched a Doug DeMuro video and... nah. Not my cup of tea.

I did think of @dollywobblerand @LightBulbFun earlier whilst watching something* on Talking Pictures TV I'm transferring to DVD for a mate (he can't receive it where he lives) and spotting a Model 70 parked up!

*"Scarborough in the 1970s" - it's right behind a brown Victor FE.

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27 minutes ago, R1152 said:

I did think of @dollywobblerand @LightBulbFun earlier whilst watching something on Talking Pictures TV I'm transferring to DVD for a mate (he can't receive it where he lives) and spotting a Model 70 parked up!

@R1152 I have seen a number of "Public Eye" set in the 1970s, on that channel,  and I think I may have seen it,    I have a number recorded ( from late April ) ready to watch. They are good old fashioned stories, excellent watching!  There were some original "Van Der Valk" stories on not long ago, for Daf fans!! They often repeat after a while so those programmes that were missed might well be on again in the future.

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Ok my 2 p's worth (I appreciate that opinions are like arseholes & everybody has one 😃)

Keep Elly, keep TWC, keep Myrtle.

Flog Foxanne (it's a 2 seater pickup & you have TWC as the uber impractical car).

Bin the Charade, it's going to cost money, ain't worth it & doesn't really add much as you have the Matiz.

The Oltcits might be worth keeping for tinkering but seriously consider if you want to put a lot of effort into tinkering..if you do cool, if not flog them.

Get rid of the Yugo, it's buggered.

Flog the GSA, you've just had it "fettled" & it runs well currently, thing is it's nice & it'll deteriorate if you use it, it's a complex old car - sell while you can get some dosh, this will become something you'll spend money on if you keep it.. do you need that if buying a house ???

The C5 would be decent family transport that will get you & the family around comfortably, safely & be ok to use to go off all over whilst doing road tests etc., yes it need a few quid spending but it might just be worth it, what else will you get if you flog it for that money? Unless of course you want to get rid to just buy something new...

None of this meant to be a smart arse & all posted to try & help a bit..

 

 

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5 hours ago, R1152 said:

First, the Yugo: I love the fact you have one but - and please don't take this the wrong way, Ian - I don't think you have the electrical skills to sort it out and am I correct in thinking it needs considerable attention in the rust department too?

I'd be more concerned of the rust on the Yugo than the wiring. I've a feeling that'll be a shop of horrors underneath. Sills, inner arches, floorpan. My gut of Fiat based car constructions of that era tells me  it's hiding a lot of nasties. I could be wrong, but....

On the plus side, given It's largely Fiat based mechanically. They aren't all that complicated. I reckon if he could source a loom for a 1.4 Tipo and treat it initially as one, he'd be 90% there in the engine bay and can pretty much connect the dots from there.

But in all honesty? If it were me, I'd bin it. It's just not the project for Ian and the rust won't be standing still whilst it's sat forever pending. obviously it's his channel, his cars and his unit so nobody can tell him what to do , But it feels to me like there needs to be some losses cut, closure brought to some things and something of a fresh start so he's not walking into a unit of broken cars pending attention feeling forced to do something someday with them.

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As I've said above this, I'd be willing to help somewhat for the C5 if it needs major work as I do feel somewhat guilty here.  I was honest with it's flaws at the point of sale but clutches are funny things, there could have been just enough friction material left for it to run fine for me and the trundly 3k miles per year I do but not enough for several spins across the country loaded which I wouldn't have known about. 

Never the less, do let me know. I could throw a few quid, I'm probably too honest for my own good here @dollywobbler 

If you're keen on selling it, I'd just spend a couple of grand on a boring reliable 10 year old Avensis or Hyundai. Something for the family car that's just going to work and not need constant work like a 20 year old car. Even a Dacia, which seems the ultimate hubnut modern... 

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I know you are not particularly a Ford fan Ian but a Mk2 Focus estate would be a good daily, mine has been fine and they are available for only a few hundred £ these days. The offer of a go in mine stands of you ever want to try one. 

Regarding the fleet maybe cutting down on some of the projects might be a good idea. I know you will want to keep Ellie, TWC and Myrtle, and Miss HubNut will want the Charade. 

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12 hours ago, Spurious said:

As I've said above this, I'd be willing to help somewhat for the C5 if it needs major work as I do feel somewhat guilty here.  I was honest with it's flaws at the point of sale but clutches are funny things, there could have been just enough friction material left for it to run fine for me and the trundly 3k miles per year I do but not enough for several spins across the country loaded which I wouldn't have known about. 

Never the less, do let me know. I could throw a few quid, I'm probably too honest for my own good here @dollywobbler 

If you're keen on selling it, I'd just spend a couple of grand on a boring reliable 10 year old Avensis or Hyundai. Something for the family car that's just going to work and not need constant work like a 20 year old car. Even a Dacia, which seems the ultimate hubnut modern... 

Thanks but that's entirely unnecessary. I got a tired clutch, you got squeaky brakes and window mechanism that fell apart. Cheap old cars are always a gamble and I hold not one iota of bad feeling about the trade.

The fact that the Yugo has now sat largely untouched for a year is enough for me to realise it has to go. I want to focus on the Oltcit instead. But is the Sana worth anything? I'm yet to have anyone lob in an offer. (it has a few rust holes but is largely solid by the way, though there is some forklift damage). I suspect I'll end up keeping it just because it's unsellable. Maybe one day I'll find a better one and this one could become a parts car.

Foxanne is surprisingly popular, which I suspect is the only reason she's still around. There is now a new engine oil leak and overall, it has the feel of a car I built, so it's pretty awful. I think she'll be filed away for another day.

But as for which car should replace the C5, if we go down that route. It's all well and good saying get something boring and modern, but what? I've been running end of life shitboxes on a mostly successful basis since 1995, so don't really see the need to change things up now. Sure, safety and luggage capacity have become more important (so it's a bit of a shame that my fleet is mostly unsafe and tiny) but there are still bargains to be had I feel. 

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9 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

It's all well and good saying get something boring and modern, but what?

Unless buying something that is still under manufacturers warranty you may well still have the same kind of jobs being required.

Someone I work with had to get a new clutch pack on his 2016 Peugeot after it decided forward motion was too much to ask for (french dual clutch £1500). 

I think there's a happy middle ground that involves buying good examples of cars rather than a fixer upper that keeps on throwing up new and exciting* issues!

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Thing is, all cars develop issues. Even brand new ones. If I chucked a few grand on a car, I'd feel I absolutely had to fork out to fix it. Sure, I might get lucky but I think I'd prefer to try and get lucky at the cheaper end of motoring. If the C5 dies, it is still a cheap way to cover a few thousand miles.

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16 hours ago, Bren said:

having something nearly 20 years old as a daily steer needs deep pockets and reasonable spannering skills. That's why anything old that had has had a clutch and timing belt will make a fair bit more at sell time than one that hasn't.

I think that depends on what the 20-ish year old car is.  Some will be an absolute money pit, whereas others still have many thousands of miles and years of service left.

A late-90s or early 2000's Merc C-class or E-class is still an absolutely viable daily & reliable car.  Whilst I hope I do have a bit of spannering skills, the '98 E-class I've been barreling about in for the last 2 years and 35k miles has been pretty reliable.  Yes, I had to put a gearbox in it when I first got it, but I knew all about that, and it's the reason the car was cheap.  I've had one lower arm break open due to rot, which was a pretty straightforward repair and one other bit of welding to do, which again I knew about when I got the car.

Other than that, 35k miles completed without any real incident.  I know I've now set myself up for a massive phail having said that, but it's been superb.  Fast, comfy, huge loadspace, reasonably economic for the size of car, etc.etc.  Allover just a competent vehicle.  One might say "boring", but being broken down at the side of the road isn't really my idea of excitement anymore.  Also, no timing belt (instead a fat duplex timing chain FTW) and no clutch.  Although I'd honestly prefer it if it had one.

Granted, you can get an absolutely shit e-class which will be an utter nightmare of problems, but that then comes down to buying the right one.  You need the right model of car, and the right one for sale.  Won't happen overnight but is possible.

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If I was going to recommend something from the BMW stable (which I'm not), I'd just say "something with the M54 engine in it, as long as the water pump's been changed". 

My heap - at 294,000 miles and counting - is still a lovely, wafty barge, doesn't have uncomfortable seats, still has functioning aircon and will return 37+ mpg on my commute (mostly dual carriageway). I'd just like to get to the bottom of the "restraint systems failure" - and no, it's not the passenger seat mat. 

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2 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

But as for which car should replace the C5, if we go down that route. It's all well and good saying get something boring and modern, but what? I've been running end of life shitboxes on a mostly successful basis since 1995, so don't really see the need to change things up now. Sure, safety and luggage capacity have become more important (so it's a bit of a shame that my fleet is mostly unsafe and tiny) but there are still bargains to be had I feel. 

A new car would be the cost of a clutch on a C5, wouldn't it?

Better the devil you owe money to than the drug dealer you don't. 

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2 hours ago, Talbot said:

A late-90s or early 2000's Merc C-class or E-class is still an absolutely viable daily & reliable car.

I stand for this. And the automatic transmissions in those are indestructible. Find a good condition facelift W203. They're now 15 years old, well into shite territory

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Failing that wouldn't an early 2000s/late 1990s Corolla or Avensis estate do you well? The one thing I would hope for one of those is that they're not as shouty and uncomfortable as the Primera you had.

Something that is reliable, low maintenance and holds a good amount of luggage points to a solid Japanese or German car in my mind. Preferably someone that doesn't have the propensity to rust either. Perhaps a late 90's Corolla wouldn't be a good idea on that front.

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28 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

Failing that wouldn't an early 2000s/late 1990s Corolla or Avensis estate do you well? The one thing I would hope for one of those is that they're not as shouty and uncomfortable as the Primera you had.

Something that is reliable, low maintenance and holds a good amount of luggage points to a solid Japanese or German car in my mind. Preferably someone that doesn't have the propensity to rust either. Perhaps a late 90's Corolla wouldn't be a good idea on that front.

Perhaps an E12 Corolla wagon with the 2.0 D-4D?

b4c796196220ea5775c4c1a2887b4377.jpg.35a5b7269c6c7ea1c18bfa55c0e14857.jpg

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Just now, OM646 said:

Perhaps an E12 Corolla wagon with the 2.0 D-4D?

b4c796196220ea5775c4c1a2887b4377.jpg.35a5b7269c6c7ea1c18bfa55c0e14857.jpg

It's not the nicest looking thing but it'll do very well. Something that doesn't cause stress due to bodywork or mechanical issues, a robust interior and benign driving style and comfort level. Yes, it'll probably be as fun and interesting as a new fridge, but it shouldn't let you down if you get a well-kept one.

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4 hours ago, Talbot said:

A late-90s or early 2000's Merc C-class or E-class is still an absolutely viable daily & reliable car

This needs an alternator (which is a quite unusual fault on these, hence second-hand ones are cheap and plentiful) and will do 35mpg round the doors and an easy 45mpg on a run.  Also 200bhp, massive loadspace, comfy and a superb long-distance vehicle:

£500.  Or is accepting offers.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114843309203

Edit:  If I had the space/somewhere to do the work, I'd buy this myself and sell it on at the £800-£1000 it's probably worth.  Assuming it's in as good condition as stated, it's a bargain.

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5 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

there are still bargains to be had

Absolutely, if you can buy quickly and don't mind a bit of work (and expense) initially.  The Saab I recently bought I would call a bargain, not in terms of resale value but defininitely in long term usability.  Purchased site unseen, it had stood for six months, with water in the rear footwell & rear wheel well with resulting mouldy interior and a dead battery.  As soon as I got it home the alternator packed up, but it had had a full service, new glow plugs, egr valve and tyres within the last 200 miles. A few days work to put it right, and I now have reliable car that should last me years, 

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