Harrison's Garage - Volvo 440 and Citroen XM

[Eyersey1234]

23 minutes ago, rob88h said:

I tend to stick to originality as a general preference with my cars. I don't mind preserving what someone else has already done to a car by the time I've got it, as I can tell myself it's part of the car's history... It was a difficult decision for me to change the Mini wheels to white and the thought of whether it was the right thing to do or not still bothers me more than it should. If it comes to full respray I was anticipating an Old English White roof with the rest the standard Primrose and I though the white wheels and roof would be a good look. However, I've already decided for sure that if it ever gets does get re-sprayed (I'm currently in the wear it's patina camp) then it'll only ever be Primrose all over. 

I prefer to keep cars original (ish) too

[rob88h]

Harrison’s History - #33 BMW 528i Touring V590 ROA

I can’t remember why I bought this car, but (eventually) I was glad that I did. I think it came about from a “cheeky low bid” followed by that horrifying moment of explaining why I’ve got to go to Stoke to pick up a car when I already have four cars on the drive. It was the double oh-shit moment when, perfectly timed after a flawless test drive and accepting of sale, the 528 erupted in steam genuinely less than one mile down the road!

My theory is that this car had been parked up with a coolant leak long enough for the heater core to drain and when I messed around turning the heater on and stuff in the test drive it re-distributed the poorly topped up and un-bled coolant causing the overheat. I discount the thermostat as the culprit because the seller drove it down from Manchester to Stoke to meet me, so it was fully warmed up. I still don’t know if this car has heater core coolant isolation valve control or not because I topped it up, heater on, engine fan on and never had the problem again in all my many thousand miles. I also addressed the coolant leak once home, which was a worn quick connector on the top rad hose caused by engine rock from 240,000 miles of life. A new hose from BMW wasn’t even that expensive.

I did a lot of trips in this car and it is certainly very high up the wish-I-hadn’t-sold-it list. Looking back over my history so far it was probably one of the most “competent” cars I’d had until this point and I still can’t believe how cheap these e39’s can be. I took out one of the Tuning Fork M5-y wheels in a pothole. The damage was bad and the cost of a tyre was prohibitive, so I sourced some of the Turbine style alloys that would have been on this car originally, with decent tyres and managed to sell the three remaining alloys for more than the set of Turbine wheels had cost. I can’t find a picture with its final look unfortunately.

[rob88h]

On 6/16/2020 at 2:51 PM, rob88h said:

I can’t find a picture with its final look unfortunately.

Found!

[rob88h]

Harrison’s History - #34 Ford Focus Mk2.5 WF08 JMV

The Focus came along as the replacement for the Civic we’d got back in 2012. That Civic had been a dependably motor but was basically dead in an expensive way.

On 5/26/2020 at 1:28 PM, rob88h said:

the transmission input shaft bearing was too worn to inspire any confidence. We’d grown accustomed to the growing noise over the previous tens of thousands of miles but whenever we gave people a lift, they were quite alarmed. It seems to be a weakness with these petrol Civics, ours having already had one transmission replaced under warranty. I “sold” the car, running and MOT’d albeit with a chuggy transmission, but I think it was bought by a scrap company rather than a private buyer. If I’d had the space, I’d have liked to park it in a corner and done nothing with it.

One humorous failure I forgot to mention about the Civic was that the LCD odometer screen had started bleeding like a 90’s calculator once the “1” of the hundred thousand miles had first lit up and by the time I sold it you could only see the hundreds, tens and single units figures. We used to use a fresh Postit Note every time it did a thousand miles to keep track of things haha. Good times. We got to 155,000 in that Civic – so that’s the benchmark for the Focus. Anyway, the Focus, yes:

The Focus was a considered purchase, which is a very rare thing for me. It was to replace the “useful” car as so called by my wife, it had to be a Ford out of pride for the company I work for, it had to be a high displacement petrol with manual transmission, it had to be an estate and my wife wanted it to be a nice colour. With these filters there were surprisingly few options available to choose from. I went to a dealer on the Sheffield Parkway who had WF08 JMV for sale and had a test drive and stuff and thought it was a car. I usually buy sight unseen from eBay and the concept of being able to walk away was foreign. I thought I’d have a go at negotiating so asked to look at the history and upon finding no record of a cambelt change (car was at 90k) I thought I should get some money off – and I did. I feel a bit bad about that though as when I got home to look up the service procedure and parts, it turned out the 1.8L petrol Focus takes the engine from the Mondeo which is on timing chains and are theoretically not a service item. Oh well. Other than servicing it we’ve reversed into someone in a car park who was reversing out at the same time, driven into the back of someone at a roundabout and got two dogs and a horse so the interior is now very rural. The only times the car has let itself down is that speed 1 and 2 on the HVAC have died (resistor death?) and the stupid bonnet lock died, what a pain in the arse, I had to smash the lock barrel out from the inside the engine bay, undertray off and going up behind the bumper. I needed more elbows in my arm for that one.

To finish off with have some dog life pictures for shameless likes. This is where it started:

This is where they are now:

[rob88h]

Harrison’s History - #35 Mercedes 300TD KHM 73W

At this point the Focus was now the official dog-mobile, I’d sold the e39 for God knows what stupid reasons, the Volvo became my stand-in daily, the Mini was probably undergoing surgery and the Mazda still remains un-worked on. I was out minding my own business competing in the Chelmsford marathon when I ran past this at mile 10:

The rest of the marathon was a breeze and I smashed my PB because my psychology was set in car daydreaming mode and I could feel no pain. The next day I made me wife drive me out to see it (I was too stiff…) and the previously mentioned disappointment and accidental purchase ensued.

On 5/7/2020 at 8:21 AM, rob88h said:

accidentally paid only £500 for it. I had gone to look at it and it was super rusty underneath with mega mega mileage. I decided not to buy it within about 30 seconds, but the way I chose to tell the seller for some reason was that I'd only pay £500 for it because of the condition. To my horror he said ok... I had it repaired back to a just about road worthy state and it's been biblically failing MOT's ever since without once letting me down or leaving me stranded

For whatever reason I did loads of miles in this S123, to and from the North visiting family and my mountain biking calendar was full, I was often crossing the country to Wales and I even took it down to the Alps. I had to leave that trip a day earlier than everyone else to get back to the UK for a wedding, so I took the 750 mile trip alone and did it in a 1er, only stopping for Diesel and the Channel crossing. At one point I got so bored I thought I’d go for a speed check because either a) it would be exciting to be going more than the 65mph chug this thing likes in top gear (4^th), or b) it would explode, which would also be exciting. It didn’t explode. The Beige Battle Bus seemed to eek out 100mph, if I can admit to that, but it did involve a long downhill stretch. It seemed to be limited by fuel delivery as it got a bit surgey/fuel starvey at that point. Maybe with clean filters, who knows how fast this thing could go?! It did kick out a bit of protest smoke during my brief and terrifying land speed record attempt, a lot of which it wore with pride on the tailgate.

The Merc became a bit directionless in my fleet after that summer – I’d improved it greatly from where it came from and I’d had some big adventures in it and now I didn’t really know what I was doing with it. I took that as a sign to sell it and quite quickly someone took it off my hands for about £2500 from memory. The astute amongst you however will realise that the story doesn’t really end there, but for now I thought that was it on this car. This is how excellent it looked when I sold it:

Bonus snow picture!:

[rob88h]

Harrison’s History - #36 Honda Jazz FG05 OTW

This was my second successful RobinBuyAnyCar.com purchase (now RobinBuyAnyCarBlockChain.com – I’d clearly missed the dot com bubble by 2018 so thought I’d improve growth opportunities by throwing Block Chain randomly into the name even though it has nothing to do with it).

It was a battered little tyke, but it wasn’t a bad little drive and was very frugal no matter how you drove it. I rated the Honda Jazz higher than I thought I would – I guess its main problem is just its image if that sort of thing bothers you. I had, and developed, an attachment to a Civic over many years though, so I might have a bit of a Honda pre-bias thing going on. Amazingly, I sold this Jazz to the very same person that I had sold the RobinBuyAnyCar.com Golf to. You'd think he's have learn't from buying cars from me! He used it as an economical little commuter for about a year and came to the same conclusions on it as me. He also fixed up the bumpers and repaired a boot seal leak. Troop on little buddy.

[Cord Fourteener]

Wow, that's epic!

I've got a 924 2.0, it's crusty for sure but drives really well.

On my thread about it there is a you tube video review of my crusty 924. 

I also have a BMW estate, mine's a 325. Again, there is a thread on here and a you tube video.

Thanks to @Twin-Cam for taking the time to come all the way out here to film my chod.

I have threatened to put him in my 440, and if it weren't for lock-down I dare say he would have suffered that fate by now...

It is with much sadness I'm trying to sell mine but happily it's not selling and as it's official the rarest car I've ever owned (I owned a Seat Malaga a long time ago that's now extinct but when I had it it clearly was not extinct) I could easily be tempted to keep it! 

 

[rob88h]

Thanks @Tim_E. I've enjoyed almost all of my machines on some level, but the 528i and the 924S were corkers (and the 440 goes without saying - I'm sure i heard @dollywobbler saying in a video that the 440 has a Porsche tuned* engine on Lotus tuned* suspension. I guess Porsche and Lotus graduates have to start tuning careers somewhere). I'll try and find your videos for a watch - and who knows I may even be coming over to North Wales for that Blurple 440 if you can get the Roffle off the ground!

[rob88h]

Harrison’s History - #37 Raleigh Runabout NDB 351E

(Controversy Alert: Oh no, it’s another non-running Moped)

I bought the Raleigh Runabout YOO 41F  back in 2012, dismantled it and put it into boxes into my garage…? Well guess who forgot how to put it back together! They’re pretty simple machines but the literature is poor so I thought what better way to rebuild the one I took apart than to reverse engineer it off another complete one! This has the added benefit that I can take a companion with me on my Isle of Man flying 28mph lap as there's clearly not enough power for pillion or a sidecar. This one hasn’t run in about a year, but it did run, so I’m hopeful it will live again.

I’m not really sure how you’re supposed to start these. Pedal with decompression open then drop the throttle? I had some luck with that but it just seems to readily flood and won’t start. If I could make it reliable I think I’d use it a lot.

[rob88h]

Harrison’s History - #38 Ford Puma X885 MTS

This purchase was the was the result of buying a car solely to complete the collection of having had every prefix letter numberplate (except Q – they don’t do it for me). The game was first afoot when I got the Mini A654 WOV and realised I only needed a few more letters to complete such a mighty achievement. It all ended on X, the year 2000, so what was around in the year 2000? – my mind was instantly drawn to the Millennium Edition Fords; Focus, Ka and Puma. Having checked the usual haunts I found an acceptable Puma that would fit the bill – proceeded to buy it and then spend way too much on it.

It had the usual problems, rusty arches and a non-functioning heater control valve. I changed the heater control valve and heater control panel resistor, being adept in such a procedure from the Mk4 Fiesta. I also got the rear arches repaired to a high standard because the car was really good otherwise and it deserved the love. The nearside was just a fabricated repair, but the offside wing was made using a Peugeot 206 front n/s wing, flipped. A trick from the Puma forums – I don’t know who discovered that, but well done. I’d like to think it was someone at a car show staring at a Puma and thinking “you know what, that rear arch profile looks just like the reverse of my 206 opposite side front wing…”

I sold the car back to the same Puma enthusiast that I’d bought it from at a loss in a true move of selfless good car Karma. In reality I’d spent too much on the bodywork to ever break even, but as great as this thing was, I was never going to be keeping it long term. I’m pretty proud of how minty it turned out in the end with access to my wallet. The Ford Puma is most definitely on my would-buy-again list.

[Eyersey1234]

Nice Puma, must admit one is on the list of cars I want. 

[rob88h]

On 6/26/2020 at 11:34 PM, Eyersey1234 said:

Nice Puma, must admit one is on the list of cars I want.

I couldn't recommend it highly enough. I loved this Puma. If you take it as a given that they all have rusty arches and broken heaters, then it's pretty hard to be disappointed with any purchase. I'm not a vehicle dynamicist, but the Puma was a really great car to drive and I mostly hear people saying similar things about them. These old Pumas are getting to be a bit more of an infrequent sight on today's roads now though.

[rob88h]

Harrison’s History - #39 Rover 2600 SD1 A866 TGP

I sold the S123 Merc and the money burned a serious hole in my pocket. I dispatched a friend off to go and collect this SD1 before the Merc had even left my driveway.

Despite its looks, this piece* was a real exercise in regret and frustration. Things were bad right from the off and the Rover straight away took the title of “fastest breakdown” from the BMW 528i which had erupted in steam in less than one mile. The Rover managed to conk out shifting into reverse doing a 3-point turn outside the house of the guy I bought it from, right as setting off... It maybe managed 5 metres forward in driving the width of the road ready to turn around. It would not restart. My ex-friend called out the RAC and after a 3 hour wait, they got it going by bypassing the ballast resistor on the coil. He was then able to attempt the 4-hour journey home, which went really well right up until he ran out of petrol on the A1. In his defence the fuel gauge was reading over a quarter when it had coughed and spluttered to death. Faced with another 3 hour callout from the RAC (must have been a busy day!) he ran a couple of miles to a petrol station, bought fuel, then ran it back just to pass the time while waiting for the RAC. He’d thought it felt like it ran out of fuel. Thankfully that worked and he was on his way again and I was able to cancel the second RAC callout. Eventually the Rover made it to mine and everyone went to sleep!

Replacing the ignition coil and ballast resistor improved the reliability of the ignition system and stopped me having to disconnect the RAC bodge every time I parked the car – he warned us of fire risk with the ballast resistor bypassed! It also gave the bonnet a well earned rest as it was being used as often as the drivers door. I didn’t get long though and very soon the drivers door broke (window got stuck fully down) and so did the bonnet (fully closed catch wouldn’t catch). It also still had presumed-collaterally-bad-earth moments where all the interior dials would drop to zero and the engine would hesitate (at the cost of power steering and power brakes). Another more important problem was although when I got the car the brakes were strong and stopped straight, it suffered from pedal sag while braking. This was to the point where when at traffic lights my pedal was sinking to the floor and I was worried the torque converter would overcome the brakes if I sat there too long. My policy with brakes is never to risk it, so I took it to the garage. The Master cylinder was replaced but then brake booster was no-longer functioning. FFS. Nice firm pedal but no servo, so I replaced the booster too which highlighted a new problem. Now the brakes were great, except for when they randomly weren’t!

There were terrifying inconsistencies in the delivery of vacuum to the brake booster, so the car went on the condemned do-not-drive list and I bought the car I’ll write about next (and accidently another one) to sooth my misery.

At this point I had eight cars, the SD1 had not proved itself and it’s pot luck braking system meant I wouldn’t even drive it. I decided that I would sell the SD1 but couldn’t bring myself to sell it without fixing it, so I trooped on. The driver’s window was a piece of cake, a thorough clean of all the connections and switches saw it working again and at twice the speed! The bonnet catch I managed to improve, but it became more a learned technique than actually fixing it and I finally tracked the vacuum problem down to a faulty check valve on the intake manifold. The original was pure unobtanium for a 2600, so I added in a second in-line check vale and a new vacuum hose for good measure. Finally, it was all working – I did about 500 or so miles to prove it to myself and then sold it on.

The biggest strength of this SD1 had always been it’s bodywork. I wouldn’t say no rust, but it was a very very solid example – it’s just a pity it kept falling apart because I really love the look of the SD1 and I’d have probably had a better relationship with it and kept it longer if this one wasn’t such a crock of shit.

[rob88h]

Harrison’s History - #40 Alfa Romeo Spider P691 WGK

I promise to keep this one shorter! It’s late 2018 with six or so cars on the drive, but nothing fitting the sportscar bill for the biennial Lands End to John O’Groats trip. Enter a £350 Alfa Romeo spider 916 – GTV style, truly worst-of-breed. Someone appeared to have poured brake fluid over the bonnet and every panel had a dent in it.

I serviced it, had some new tyres put on and pressed it into daily use to iron out any obvious faults ahead of the trip – then went for it.

To make things a bit different from the previous years we decided that 2018 was a top-down-all-the-way year. A fairly cold, wet and noisy experience but we (and the Alfa) survived the whole way up with nothing but a blown bulb in Cornwall which we replaced that afternoon in Lancashire. Oh and then the map light came on around Glasgow and could only be turned off by removing the bulb…

On the way back, after an overnight in Inverness or somewhere, we got a fairly substantial clatter on start-up which soon went away and things seemed as smooth as could be… I continued using the car, all things fine, for another few weeks and sold it for what it owed me. However, the clatter came back again one morning after I’d sold it, so I apologised to the buyer and stopped the sale. It seemed the balance shaft belt was done for and the repair procedure was engine out... Running it as it was ran the risk of detritus from the balance shaft belt taking out the timing belt, so it was a bit of a ticking time bomb. I tried to sell it spares or repairs two or three times having no appetite to fix it myself and eventually it was bought by a scrap company. I feel bad about that, but it was January and I already had a well and truly overcommitted car life.

[rob88h]

Harrison’s History - #41 Saab 900 P691 PAR

This was my next RobinBuyAnyCarBlockChain.com hit. The greatest thing about this Saab 900 was that if I were to say what car I had to people without them seeing it, their minds immediately went to something better. I think this became branded as the 93 pretty soon after P-reg, but I don’t really know. I’m not much of a Saabnut.

It was a nice car and certainly had ample life in it, having just scored four brand new premium tyres and a full new exhaust system a few months before I got it. I replaced the dead tailgate struts and both headlights as their glass was smashed and taped together. I sold the machine on before we bonded too closely. My lasting impression was “I can see why people like Saabs”. There was something about the marque that I can’t put my finger on that nurtured the inner enthusiast, even with it being a GM model.

[rob88h]

Harrison’s History - #42 Jaguar XJ8 W536 XDU

I got this bargain-basement-barge from a friend at work and was immediately smitten. I’d tried so hard not to buy it, but it was old enough to not have stupid tax, the insurance on an 8^th car at home (at this point!) was negligible and the cost of the car was too good to turn down. It was in the highly capable category, like the 528i e39, but it had that V8 sound if you locked it in gear!  Also, the back was so massive that it was just about as practical at carrying my bikes as the Touring BMW! Despite being large enough to command its own postcode it drove really well and I spent a summer and a good few thousand miles wafting around with grace, pace and certainly space in absolute luxury before selling it on before anything major could go wrong with it during my stewardship. Top car, get it on yer list.

As a demonstration of length, the Mini and the X300 XJ8 are parked with their rear bumpers in line... ?

[rob88h]

Harrison’s History - #43 Jaguar XJS V12 HE G295 EHP

A bit of a fire sale occurred in late summer 2019 and I got rid of everything but the Mini, Mazda, Volvo and Focus. A natural reaction to losing four cars in short succession is the inevitable creep to filling some of that space. I sat on my hands for so many nights watching eBay listings go by without bidding, but I cracked when one of my top 3 dream cars came up with all the right problems – and it was local. Welcome the XJS V12.

What could possibly go wrong with an off-the-road-since-2006, zero history V12 XJS?? Ahem, let’s just say that me and the XJS are not friends… The only paperwork I got was a clean MOT sheet and the V5. Some recommissioning work I could see and some other work I was told was done I just took in good faith. The story so far:

Supposed work carried out before I bought it:

• All fourteen November 2018 MOT Fail items – I presume this was the to-do list when it came out of storage.

Visually verified work before I bought it:

• Welding to front shock tower
• Full service – clean oil, all 12 plugs are new
• The worst of the tyres replaced
• Brakes cleaned rebuilt (bears the scars on the bumper from rolling into the sellers work bench because he didn’t bleed it correctly at first – he was really annoyed with that)

Work I’ve had done:

• Installation of a reconditioned steering rack and new hoses at great cost (old one let me down)
• New temperature senders (analogue and digital) at great cost (old ones let me down). Actually, that one was cheap, but I had to invent a new tool to get at them.
• New cooling overflow tank at great cost (old one let me down)
• New Aux belts, all 20 million of them at great cost (precautionary maintenance)
• Full many-point inspection by an independent Jaguar specialist at great cost (precautionary – but it did confirm some more of the less obvious MOT fixes had been carried out as I’d been told which was good)

Since September 2019 I’ve done about 600 miles, so I’m hopeful the re-commission job has settled in and I’m over the worst of it. Famous last words ?! I LOVE this car, but I don’t like owning it or driving it – does that even make sense?!

What I like about this last photo is that when I sent it to my brother and he said "Nice Jag - I didn't realise you still had the SD1". 

[RRT22R]

Well written, interesting thread full of interesting cars.

Top work!

[Broadsword]

So many interesting cars, a really diverse selection indeed. I like the XJS, it looks pretty clean for one that has been off the road for a long time.

[LightBulbFun]

nice write ups   I fell a few pages behind so just caught up on it now made for a good read  

(so apologies to your notifications inbox!)

 

love the Mini BTW  they always look the best on 10 inch steelies IMHO

[wesacosa]

the interior of that XJS is magnificent

[stuboy]

loving the galaxy 'galaxy'

[rob88h]

Thanks for enjoying it @RRT22R @Broadsword @LightBulbFun, I really enjoy trying out different cars and it has been fun to reminisce at people, ?. I can’t believe it’s July 2020 and I’ve bought zero cars this year! That’s bound to change, but 6 is still a bit of a burden so I’m plotting some fleet thinning – a shame because everything I’ve settled on right now is quite special, but I do want to make way for some changes. The Mini is staying though, and it will retain it’s 10” steelies.

On 7/4/2020 at 10:38 PM, wesacosa said:

interior of that XJS is magnificent

You should smell it! Leather and unburnt fuel, they should bottle it.

20 hours ago, stuboy said:

loving the galaxy 'galaxy'

I might have mentioned it, but I’d have loved to have had the time to drive that back to the UK – there was nothing really wrong with it and it looked ace.

[rob88h]

Harrison’s History - #44 Mercedes 300TD KHM 73W

The most recent car I’ve bought is the now familiar Mercedes 300TD. I feel like buying the same car twice is some sort of rite of passage to an idiot’s club. Rose-tinted specs featured heavily in the thought process that led to the re-purchasing of this utter croc-of-shite. It resurfaced on the eBay a couple of years after I’d had it the first time, I felt confident I knew the car quite well and was supremely pleased and smarmy having agreed a price £250 less than I’d sold it for, smugly telling people it’s like putting a car into storage where you get paid. What I’d cataclysmically failed to grasp was the amount of deterioration that can happen to a 40-year-old car in two years of very poorly maintained ownership.

Enthusiasm is a powerful thing though and I got stuck straight into rectifying things. The black plates were ripped off, I ordered a new old stock fuel cap (that I’d been the one to lose 2 years ago!) and replaced the now broken rear light lenses. Then I was about to neaten up the sill black because of rust staining around some of the welding I’d had done in my first time owning it when a monster flake of paint came off and brought an alarming amount of metal with it… Bugger.

My first instinct was to throw money at it, so I took it to the body shop where sensibly we decided to look over the whole car to see if I was throwing good money after bad. These were the guys who got it back on the road when I’d first recued it. Things were not ideal when the pokey stick came out and although they said it could be fixed, they were not complimentary of its condition. Certainly, for the money I’d have to spend I’d be better starting with a different S123… But sometimes this isn’t the point. I’d love to say I paid the man, but they wouldn’t quote me for the work this time (and they’re a very good garage – they got it on the road the first time, they did the flawless job on the Volvo and Puma arches and they re-floored the Mini). I’d love to say even more that I won the lottery and it’s currently at Hemmels right now getting a full official MB restoration, but that didn’t happen either. In fact, what did happen is I panicked and sold it with it’s remaining MOT to a bloke miles away at a massive loss at the end of Feb. He gave me a deposit to hold on to it until the end of March when he’d be able to come and collect it.

A certain pandemic then got in the way and lockdown is evidently a good time to reflect on a perhaps alcohol fuelled purchase. Cold feet evidently set in (or his situation/employment status may have changed, to be fair). Regardless, fate has intervened, I’m still plagued by the Mercedes. Depending on if it’s an even numbered or odd numbered hour I’m either selling it immediately or keeping it forever and my wife is getting fed up with my newly formed Tourettes, declaring aloud that I’m keeping it or selling it, even if we’re talking about something completely different. The mental anguish is real.

So, hear it is now – at the bottom of my garden, filled with spare body panels for the Volvo 440, despite running and driving with a Boris MOT until November. I’ve SORNed it because I don’t want to drive it around with the hole in the base of the B-pillar. I’m leaning towards selling it because my weldathon priorities are with the Mini (paid for welding) and the Mazda (have a go myself welding). It’s not “up for sale” at the moment – take from that what you will, but it really should be.

[LightBulbFun]

1 minute ago, rob88h said:

The Mini is staying though, and it will retain it’s 10” steelies.

yeah its in a lovely condition, just like everyone remembers them as they say! needs to get together with @BorniteIdentity's Mini  

 

as a side note I think theres a surprising amount of V12 Jags in the fold now? yours, @Zelandeth's and  @Skizzer's IIRC

some diverse motoring going on right here!

[rob88h]

And so concludes the Harrison’s History section. Austin Mini, Ford Focus, Jaguar XJS, Mazda MX-5, Mercedes 300TD and a Volvo 440 still present and correct as current day driveway fodder. Anything from now on is wild automotive adventure just waiting to happen to me.

[rob88h]

49 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

needs to get together with @BorniteIdentity's Mini 

I’d like that. I’ve got a feeling that in a side by side comparison in the flesh with independent adjudication, my Mini would take home the prize for worst-of-breed. I would be outwardly jubilant, but inwardly crushed. 
 

55 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

surprising amount of V12 Jags

Love an XJS. Second favourite car of all time for me, only behind a mk1 Granada saloon. Amazingly the XJS V12 is the cheaper option, so I’m still saving up and looking for Granada time.  I’m pretty sure my XJS could sustain its own thread the amount of trouble it has caused in the one year I’ve had it, mostly because it’s fresh out of long term storage. Pretty sure I’m going to sell it though now I’ve had my “fun”. Having said that, I look at it and think... nah! I can’t part with that!

[wesacosa]

really enjoyable read. Its tempting me to dig out some old photos and do something similar with mine, but will probably be too depressing remembering how little I bought and sold my classic Fords for back in the day

[rob88h]

You should do it @wesacosa! You’ll notice how very few times I mentioned what I bought and sold for price-wise or what I’ve spent in repairs – I don’t keep a very good track of that sort of thing intentionally. Bucket of sand meet head, head meet bucket of sand…

[BorniteIdentity]

14 hours ago, rob88h said:

I’d like that. I’ve got a feeling that in a side by side comparison in the flesh with independent adjudication, my Mini would take home the prize for worst-of-breed. I would be outwardly jubilant, but inwardly crushed. 
 

Love an XJS. Second favourite car of all time for me, only behind a mk1 Granada saloon. Amazingly the XJS V12 is the cheaper option, so I’m still saving up and looking for Granada time.  I’m pretty sure my XJS could sustain its own thread the amount of trouble it has caused in the one year I’ve had it, mostly because it’s fresh out of long term storage. Pretty sure I’m going to sell it though now I’ve had my “fun”. Having said that, I look at it and think... nah! I can’t part with that!

What used to take you to Felixstowe? It’s my home town - and where my Mini spent the first 10 years (pretty much) of its life. 

Ps great thread. If the s123 isn’t £expensive I could very easily be tempted.