What were you driving when you discovered Autoshite.com? (INV*C*R-FREE ZONE--- ahhh f*ck)

[mk2_craig]

Some time in early 2006, Leeds, 1984 Escort L auto:

I've probably told this story before on here, but I was endlessly procrastinating on a postgrad course and while eating breakfast at my newly broadband-connected PC around 12 noon, idly browsing the Classic Cars category on Ebay a blue Renner 15 popped up - the description casually mentioned that it was one of the cars on the Autoshite.com front page.  Curiosity suitably piqued, I then spent the remaining daylight hours digging through the various sections of the site including all the London area roadside spots of stuff that I hadn't seen in the wild for years (Renner 14, 70s J-tin etc).  Didn't actually sign up for the forum until later in the year though.

Anyway I had brought this old heap down with me from Edinburgh the previous September, it only actually had about 40k on the clock when I bought it from a slightly feckless young lad who lived in a grotty old tower block that was demolished not long afterwards.  I think this was as old a daily driver as I had ever owned up until that point, it replaced a J-plate mk3 Fiesta that I sold earlier in 2005. 

I took a job in Leicester in September 2006 and bought a Mondeo prior to the move, so I ebayed the Escort off to some gimp from Loughborough who had never bothered to gain his manual licence, he also apparently never bothered to put it into his name either as I got a demand for road tax about four months later.  I cheerfully wrote back to DVLA sharing his name and address and that was the last I heard about the car; presumably it's long gone now but you never know, not out of the quesiton that it could be hiding away somewhere.

[DoctorRetro]

This. 2008 ish. 

1.3, 'Hiker' 19k on the clock. 

It may have ended up slightly modified due to Retro Rides peer pressure... 

[loserone]

This.  The most expensive car to run I've ever had, narrowly ahead of a three litre subaru from Aberdeenshire.

[St.Jude]

Two of these, I think I joined last year? The Corolla was the daily, the Peugeot was the back up but the daily of the wife. Now, because of the forum, the RAV4 is the daily and the Peugeot is still the back up and the daily of the wife.

I've had the Peugeot 10 years this month, does it now graduate from the Modern Shite part of the forum to the Autoshite part?

[NorfolkNWeigh]

2012/13

My work car was this,  what a surprise a diesel Merc . This was the last car I leased.

Replaced by this, a lot better than their reputation would have you believe, seen here in St Tropez,  I haven’t got any better pics.

Mrs N’s car 3.0 manual , faster than I expected and less fragile. Made its purchase price back over 3 years in weddings.

Replaced by this when she finished Uni and started work to save money on fuel- never bettered 30 mpg in 4 years- the Jag often managed 35 !

Fun car, family holiday car and OLLI wankering  tool.  Did all the big Welsh lanes with nothing more than Colwsy All Terrains and the spoiler cut off. Was as rotten as an old pear, scraped through 3 lenient MOTs , this was  just before it was picked up by a breaker who paid £500 for it- I paid £800 4years before. Probably the cheapest long term car we’ve ever had.

Plus of course the E30 and ClK that are still here.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Back in January 2017 I was driving my 1999 Hyundai Sonata, which shortly after lost it’s clutch hydraulics (amongst other issues) and has been sitting in the garden since.

I also had my 1985 Jaguar Sovereign, which became my daily until it broke and I got the Corolla last year. It is in the garage awaiting repairs.

[Shep Shepherd]

I discovered the Autoshite.com website in 2006, some years before I joined the forum. Back then, The Volvo was my daily driver 

[sutty2006]

I joined in 2013 and I think I was driving this ST as a daily. The manta has been with me for years before that too.

[Wilko220]

This beast (RIP)

 

 

[Asimo]

Back in 2013 I had these three. Only the van remains, and I think that will be sorned tomorrow.

[Spiny Norman]

When I discovered AS I had an Alfa 156, but by the time I  finally  managed to join up in 2009 I was in this.

[Supernaut]

When I joined in 2015 I had this pile of stupid-coloured misery.

 

I sold it in 2016, and it was written off 6 months later. It was side-swiped by a lorry. Said lorry driver apparently claimed he "didn't see it".

Also, that Astra across the road is still around. Still very noisily parking up late at night blasting shite music.

 

[rob88h]

When trying to sell this back in 2011, a potential buyer pointed me in the direction of this Forum... 

This gem* required a fleet of breakdown services on many occasions. Even with all this content potential, it still took me 9 years to join the Forum!

[Datsuncog]

At the point I discovered the Forum in 2011, I was driving this...

But by the time I graduated from the Facebook AS group and signed up to the Forum proper in May 2014 (rather than just lurking) these three were disgracing my driveway...

An Alfa 156, in 1.9 Turbodiseasel format. Had been languishing down the side of the house since it became borderline undriveable in June 2013.

As it was a Veloce, it also had a stupid spoiler. And it stood me a £1500 loss with what turned out to be rampant underbody corrosion, ruined brakes and suspension, a borked gearbox and an oil leak down the back of the block (possibly related to the time it blew out all its coolant through the rad on the motorway and overheated). And the fuel tank half-fell out on a different motorway, when the straps gave way at speed. All this on a car that was not yet nine years old when I decided enough was enough... and don't get me started on the 'idiosyncratic' electrics...

Also on the drive was a Polo Breadvan, bought as a cheap(ish) and not-very-cheerful stopgap the previous year after the Alfa shat itself, and which lasted precisely one mile from the seller's door before breaking down (when I rang him, he didn't want to know).

Once running again, it actually did ok, although MrsDC forever despised it for its initial unreliability, which had caused all manner of stress.

As 'Fox' trim spec, it was however vindictively basic, with niceties such as a clock and a passenger side courtesy lamp switch ruthlessly deleted by Wolfsburg's bean-counters, as a constant reminder to the owner of how much of a cheap-arse they were.

BUT during May 2014 I flogged the Polo (for a small profit, surprisingly) and swapped the fucked Alfa for this...

Yup, a very dinged bASe spec Laguna Phase 1, which had been acquired by a fellow-shiter mainly for its wheel trims - and was looking at a one-way trip to the recycling yard before I faecetiously asked if he wanted to swap it for a dead Alfa...

I know the Volvo died banger racing at Mildenhall sometime in 2013; while KAZ the Laguna was sold as spares after a hellish month trying to get one or other of my Lagunas running again in April 2018, and is now presumed scrapped as there's no record showing on the DVLA site.

Incredibly, both the Polo and that fucking Alfa - possibly the only car I've owned that I'd have gleefully taken a lump hammer to - are  currently showing as SORNed...

[Noel Tidybeard]

i came here in 2014 apparently and i was dailying this

today i are dailying this

🤡

 

[LightBulbFun]

I signed up to this forum with nary a car, and was actually quite worried that id get chewed up and spat out because of my lack of shite and just general "NOOB-ness" having never owned a car or anything such (I did not even have my provisional licence at that point!)

thankfully my worries where unfounded and this forum is the internet forum I frequent the most these days, and it is thanks to this forum I was able to acquire my first-and-also-dream car!  

(ahh back when she was clean LOL)

[HMC]

2010 Not pictured-

1995 pug 405 glx turbo d estate

2000 civic 1.6 executive se auto

1992 Land Rover discovery S TDI manual

5 door

1994 Mercedes e320 coupe

1990 Mercedes 300te-24 estate sportline

[SiC]

13723 posts and nearly five years ago, as I write this post, I wrote my first post:

 

 

[eddyramrod]

I was dimly aware of Autoshite through the Rust In Peace pages in Practical Classics.  It took me until the middle of 2010 to actually visit the site though, and once on the forum, I was hooked.  Now in 2010 I was living in Cyprus.I was therefore driving this...

And this...

And I had a restomod project on the go...

I have a particular soft spot for the old A40.

[paulplom]

A 1998 S70 T-5 manual my favourite ever car and I regret getting rid ever since.

I pxed it for a 2000 xj8 and the volvo was better in every way.

[AndyW201]

Early on in 2011, I had this,

Bought as a stop gap after selling one of my 190s. The wife had owned a ZR when new, and I fancied getting one for old times sake. TZE was mine for £750, complete with recent brand new head and MLS gasket job. It was brill, only a basic 105 but at least it had been up-specced with remote locking, leccy sunroof and 17" "straights" alloys from new. Drove as tight as a drum and was completely reliable, with the head work that had been done on it.

But I wanted another 190, so by the time I joined up later in 2011, I had this,

It was a bit rough when I got it, but it was £400, which was a decent price for a running, driving 2.6, with factory leather interior. I wanted to try a straight six 190 after owning two 2.0 versions. I wasn't disappointed and by the time I got it home from Harrogate, I decided it was worth sorting the cosmetics out. Especially when I decoded the option codes and found it was a genuine factory Sportline pack model with lowered uprated suspension and wider alloy wheels. After a bit of paint tidying and a slight* bit of welding around the notorious rear screen surround,

It was half decent, and  once I replaced the seized steering damper, and replaced the (wrong) front springs and spring pads with Sportline spec ones, it drive like a 2.6 sport pack 190 should. Even got invited by a mate to display it on an MB club stand at a show!

Wish I could afford another 190 in that spec now!

[beko1987]

My first 1.4 ZX. Was the most sensible source of info that came up on Google! 

Was probably one of the only results that came from Google, I imagine my registration dates for here and the French car forum are close... 

[clayts450]

Nowt. I found out about AS from Pistonheads, where I was constantly being amused by antics of people buying cheap sheds for the price of a monthly lease payment. I was torn between a Micra and a Streetwise, and eventually plumped for the Streetwise about three months after joining the forum. It's all been plain sailing* since then.... EDIT : it was actually a month after I joined.

Here is the red beastie the day I drove for the first time in something like 19 years. I was petrified.

 

[Yoss]

I had these two, which have since left. 

I also had the Felicia and the Triumph that I still own. 

[chancer]

34 minutes ago, AndyW201 said:

Early on in 2011, early on I had this,

Bought as a stop gap after selling one of my 190s. The wife had owned a ZR when new, and I fancied getting one for old times sake. TZE was mine for £750, complete with recent brand new head and MLS gasket job. It was brill, only a basic 105 but at least it had been up-specced with remote locking, leccy sunroof and 17" "straights" alloys from new. Drove as tight as a drum and was completely reliable, with the head work that had been done on it.

But I wanted another 190, so by the time I joined up later in 2011, I had this,

It was a bit rough when I got it, but it was £400, which was a decent price for a running, driving 2.6, with factory leather interior. I wanted to try a straight six 190 after owning two 2.0 versions. I wasn't disappointed and by the time I got it home from Harrogate, I decided it was worth sorting the cosmetics out. Especially when I decoded the option codes and found it was a genuine factory Sportline pack model with lowered uprated suspension and wider alloy wheels. After a bit of paint tidying and a slight* bit of welding around the notorious rear screen surround,

It was half decent, and  once I replaced the seized steering damper, and replaced the (wrong) front springs and spring pads with Sportline spec ones, it drive like a 2.6 sport pack 190 should. Even got invited by a mate to display it on an MB club stand at a show!

Wish I could afford another 190 in that spec now!

Wish i had kept that now! Loss of driveway meant it had to go, got no takers and off to the scrapyard it went! Its leather interior lived on with another member on the 190 forum. God i miss that thing. Here it was loaded up and ready to leave your place

And here sitting all polished up and waiting on welding and a new fuel pump.....

Doubt i could ever afford another, toyed with the idea of buying your old c200 from tetley on here but dont think it would be the same as a 2.6 sportline somehow

[RayMK]

I joined in October 2014 after a search engine threw up Autoshite when I was looking for spares for my '88 Hyundai Stellar (Photographed in Wales around that period).  I was 'between cars' on the modern, daily driver side of my small fleet, so the Stellar had become my main car. I reluctantly gave up ownership of the Stellar in 2017. It is now owned by a fellow shiter.  I also had (and still have) a 1961 Reliant Regal MKVI in Oct 2014.  It is still roadworthy but gets little used these days. The photo shows my Regal at a Reliant gathering in Tamworth a few years back. As a back-up to the usually very reliable Stellar I also had the use of my son's '94 Fiat Tipo 1.4ie.  The Tipo left our household to a friend in 2019 but it's back again and now owned by me. Photo was taken a few years ago in the New Forest.

[egg]

This thing in 2015.

[23rdian]

Good question. I think I had my E39 BMW which I unsuccessfully tried to flog on here. Then bought a Skoda Felicia from Kiltox to tide me over. Really liked the simplicity of that car though  It was a lot better than the BMW although they both ended up with OMGHGF. Since then have acquired a few more cheap cars. 

[Soundwave]

17 minutes ago, RayMK said:

 

Was that pic taken in Hollands Wood by any chance?


As for me... actually been a lurker on AS since 2008. at which point I was driving this. Still own it, it was my first car, but it's been off the road for 10+ years. Baby steps are being taken to revive it.

[Quintus]

Was driving a Mazda 323 1.5 GSE, which was the second car I owned. Traded that in against a 52 reg Focus in late 2010 and now driving a Jazz.

Haven't got any pics of the Mazda to hand, but MOT history (reg. V747 JKO) shows the last one expired in early 2019, so it's now scrap.



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