Ghostly Goings On - over the moon

[Ghosty]

17 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Surprised hearing that about Paul, I miss hearing about his antics on here.

He's very active on the other side, he's one of the m********s.

[brandersnatch]

2 hours ago, Ghosty said:

He's very active on the other side, he's one of the m********s.

He doesn’t do much to be honest 😉😂

[chadders]

How could he though given the hours that he works?

[Ghosty]

Well the new thing failed its MOT, so it's going to get sorted. Ball joints, a top mount (he'd replaced one of them and I thought to myself 'does that look right?' - either he messed up or the other one is duff), decat pipe (he has the cat on a different backbox that he's clearly not fitted yet), and some clips on the brake lines. It sounds like he thought he was going to get a sympathetic test but didn't IMO.

Watch this space. 

[Liggle]

On 7/22/2021 at 4:23 PM, Ghosty said:

 

MK2 MR2?

[MorrisItalSLX]

On 23/07/2021 at 01:23, Ghosty said:

That looks suspiciously like the Hyundai logo, but you do strike me to be a man of better taste than that.

[Ghosty]

3 hours ago, Liggle said:

MK2 MR2?

Bloody hell! Well spotted.

[Liggle]

Love an MR2, when is the big reveal?

[Ghosty]

On 7/24/2021 at 7:13 AM, Liggle said:

Love an MR2, when is the big reveal?

When it gets an MOT. 

[Ghosty]

As described in news 24, I gave up on the MR2 cause something just wasn't right about it. The Aerodeck is for sale on Marketplace, and interest is healthy, so I'm biding my time. 

Yesterday I spotted a Civic for a bargain price on Marketplace, and agreed to view it that evening - I couldn't go sooner as I was working. It would have been a quick flip, but 45 minutes later the seller sent me 'sold', the pillock. Couldn't even have got there in that time. 

Anyway today I had a nose about Gumtree, and I found a ten day old ad for something a bit rare and a bit up my street, and for an entirely reasonable price. I messaged the guy to ask if he still had it, and miraculously he still does. He'd bought it from a giffer for his son but the insurance was too high, so it continued to be laid up in a garage, and they're now selling it on. Anyway I asked to view it and no response was had for several hours, turns out the guy was working, but he then responded with a phone number, so I'm going to call him in the morning and hopefully go and look at it. It's a car I've been after for a while and is really quite uncommon, so I'm hoping I can secure it. Lack of MOT means I might need it transporting, which I might need to explore my options for though.

 

[Ghosty]

Contact made, going down for 5pm.

[Ghosty]

Petrol station shot. 

Pure giffermobile. 

[Fumbler]

YES

 

 

 

Wtaf is in that ashtray?

[Schaefft]

Holy crap want! Is it a manual?

If yes, dibs!!

[Ghosty]

2 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

Holy crap want! Is it a manual?

If yes, dibs!!

Yes, manual. 

 

3 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

YES

 

 

 

Wtaf is in that ashtray?

It's potpourri, a typical giffer thing. 

[Fumbler]

1 minute ago, Ghosty said:

potpourri

Ah, I see!

And with that, he called dibs

[Dave_Q]

What even is it, I thought a Civic saloon of that vintage would have been a Concerto?

[Schaefft]

Nope, they sold the normal Civic saloon here as well. My brother had one years ago, they are such good looking cars in person and this one is the perfect color.

[bigfella2]

I love the little pea shooter exhaust, looks lost poking out of that bumper.

[High Jetter]

Many randoms, please. Awesome buyage.

[Ghosty]

It followed* me home. 

[Ghosty]

3 hours ago, Dave_Q said:

What even is it, I thought a Civic saloon of that vintage would have been a Concerto?

The Civic Sedan was sold here from 88-92, alongside the Concerto, which is slightly bigger and more powerful. 

The Concerto is a Rover 216/416 with Honda badges, different nose and taillights, and a slightly different interior, with a more driver-focused spec than the equivalent Rover's luxury/comfort orientation.

The Civic Sedan is a fourth generation Civic with four doors and a boot, a 1.4 twin carb manual choke, and a premium-small-car spec - central locking, all round electric windows, split folding rear seat, plush velour seats, and extra chrome trim on the front. GL was the only UK spec the sedan came in.

[Ghosty]

Story time - so I've wanted one of these for a bit as I think they look cool as hell, however Civic prices in general have been going insane lately, and the sedan is one of the rarer and more desirable options. At the moment a good hatchback auto is £1500 minimum. 

I've been browsing for something to replace the Aerodeck, and after looking round a friend's Civic sedan that I'd only prior seen pictures of, I realised 'I need me one of these'. By chance, yesterday I found a ten day old Gumtree ad reading 'Honda Civic 1.4gl' with a picture of it in a garage covered in dust. I noticed the chrome grille trim and knew it was a sedan. Looked through the pics and it was under a thick layer of dust but looked rather straight. 
No MOT but three owners, 85k and full dealer history. Some rust to one rear arch, it said. Now these sedans can rot like utter fuck in the rear arches when they want to, but in the pics nothing was evident... a good sign. 

The price was an astonishingly cheap £1000 - I messaged the guy immediately to see if he still had it, an hour later he replied 'yes still for sale'. An agonising eight hours passed, and he replied again with a phone number - turns out he was in work - he was an alarm engineer so his work was erratic. I called him this morning and asked to come down later today - I mentioned what I was doing elsewhere, and Junkman said he would join me.

We headed to Leicester, and we're met with the exact garage from the Gumtree ad, and a very dusty Civic. It was a legitimate giffer garage find - the chap had bought it from a friend's mother that had given up driving, to work on with his eldest son - however they found the insurance prohibitive, and left it laid up for a bit, then put it up for sale when the son got a Jazz. 

The Civic is rolled out, a gallon of fuel put in, and the Rover is brought over to jump start the utterly flat battery - it was HiQ branded and looked a bit cheap. 
Started straight away, no tappet noise, no exhaust blows, nothing. Everything on the car works flawlessly, the paint is perfect, the bumpers are straight and only have minor scuffs on one or two corners. The rear bumper is fitted dead on too - 90s Hondas often have bent down rear bumpers from reversing into things. Dealer plates, etc.. 

The rot on the arches that was mentioned was mainly lifting paint along the tops of them - the inners were caked in mud  however the metal still seemed solid. Astonishingly, the sill ends were like new. 
Took it for a test drive, and the car felt fresh and smooth - it was like it hadn't been laid up at all. 

I didn't even bother to argue on the price as the car was way better than could have been expected, so it followed* me home for some MOT prep work - rust treatment, and a full service is in order.
 

[Ghosty]

3 hours ago, Dave_Q said:

What even is it, I thought a Civic saloon of that vintage would have been a Concerto?

Oh also, Concertos were made in Longbridge, but the Civics were made in Suzuka. 

[Schaefft]

Always great to find a desirable car for a good deal. Great to hear this one fell into the right hands and won't be riced out/stanced within an inch of it's life, too. Oddly enough this is coming right after a Legend Coupe, 2nd gen CRX and maybe a Vigor on my Honda desirability chart!

[Ghosty]

The bumpers are perfectly straight and there's no cracks in the paint on them - the corners only have slight scuffing. That's remarkable for a 90s Honda - usually the rear bumpers don't fit properly because they've been reversed into something and bent the mounts, and the front ones have cracked paint or go all wavy. 

 

 

However this is the bad bit:

the sill end is solid but the arch itself is caked in mud on the inside, and the dampness has caused this rather alarming looking paint lifting. The metal seems reasonably solid though, all things considered. I'll probably farm this out tbh. 

The car came with P40 and paint and I think I might have saved it from a terrible fate of wobbed up arches that would have ruined the entire car...

[Ghosty]

Lunch break observation - battery is fucked, 12.3v. New one ordered. 

[Dobloseven]

One of my one time regular customers, also in Leicester,just round the corner from me, has a very similar Civic saloon in bronze, think it's a J reg, in daily use. Think he's had it since new. He's also a late MG ZT diesel, bought new, and a modern Mercedes but always seems to use the Honda. Seems impossibly small compared to modern cars. Sons got a current model Civic diesel which seems enormous to me, for what used to be a small car. 

[Ghosty]

Mystery tape found under under the seat in the Civic. 

Any bets what's on it?

 

[LightBulbFun]

1 minute ago, Ghosty said:

Mystery tape found under under the seat in the Civic. 

Any bets what's on it?

 

a Sinclair ZX Spectrum program?