Ich bin ein Autobahnstormer

[wuvvum]

Just picked this up this afternoon, after luzzing an alcohol-influenced bid on it on Thursday night and discovering last night to my surprise that I'd won it.

 

 

 

It's a 2.6i CDX, and being on an L it's presumably one of the last Carltons. I've been sort of looking out for a 3.0i estate for a while (preferably 24v), but they don't come up very often and this was cheap enough to make up for the lesser engine. It still sounds nice and pulls well enough. It's done 111K, which I suppose is fairly low these days for a Carlton estate, and the interior is mint, although the cruise control doesn't work. The rear arches inside the door shuts are surprisingly intact, but I think there is some grot lurking behind the side trim on the driver's side. Other than that, a minor ding in the NSF wing, the driver's door mirror needing painting and a knackered OSR shock (not noticeable at all during normal driving - I wasn't aware of it until I got to the speed bumps 400 yards from home) it seems in pretty good shape really, and it drove back from Ware (120 miles) with no problems at all, and according to the computer it managed 29mpg, which isn't too bad considering. Now I've got to decide what to do with it - it wasn't part of my planned fleet movements for this month, and it needs taxing (although it's tested till August). I reckon I'll rag it around over the weekend and see what I reckon after that.

[pogweasel]

How cheap!!!???!!!That'll learn 'em for putting it in 'parts', nice buying skills.

[FredTransit]

How cheap? Linky linky.....

[pogweasel]

No.

[whitevanman]

go on please

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I imagine if you rag it round over the weekend, it'll end up staying in the fleet for a good while longer!!! I bet its bloody marvellous to drive, i'm pretty jealous. I love these, they are so much better than they have any right to be. Look out for rot though, they can rot to mind exploding levels.

[FredTransit]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/vauxhall-carlton- ... 414cb6c700

 

Yeah that's cheap!

[wuvvum]

Well I'm going to run it up to the unit tonight or tomorrow and jack it up to have a good poke around underneath and up in the arches. I think one of the deciding factors may be the shock absorber - knowing my luck the 2.6i CDX estate will have its own unique rear shock which uses platinum dust suspended in bull semen as a damping medium and costs £2,795,236.84 + VAT per side. There's plenty of shocks for sale on the Bay, but I have no idea whether a saloon shock would fit an estate or not.Yes it was bloody cheap for a motor with 6 1/2 months' test - the seller was obviously not particularly over the moon with what it had made as he kept making reference to the price as he was showing me around the car (and to the fact that he paid £700 for it six months ago plus a further £200-odd to get it through a test), but fair play to him he sold it to me at the bid price, and even picked me up from the station. And like you say, that's what happens when you try to save on listing fees by putting a car in the parts section - it almost invariably sells for less because the only people anal enough to go scratching through the parts section in search of bargains are complete tightwads like myself.

[FredTransit]

Also, he did trill on about it being no reserve, can you put a reserve in the parts section?

[Pillock]

Winner! Very nice looking, my uncle had a company CD saloon on H reg and that was tasty. I'd have sworn it was a 2.5 but I guess my youngster-mind might have been confused.

[Timewaster]

I think the earlier ones WERE 2.5

[trigger]

Wow that is mega cheap!, you could sell it tomorrow and easily bag £500 profit!.My neighbour had a low mileage CDX on a K plate but scraped it last year as it failed the MOT on welding in the footwell and the garage quoted £800 to repair it as they said it would need the wiring loom removed!

[Albert Ross]

Tidy looking barge there. Reg seems to be worth a bit if you're a "Lazy Cook" Or indeed a dinner lady...........! (Lassie Cook)

[Alexg]

Wow, great buy for no money! Well done...

[Pete-M]

I quite like Carltons. Borrowed one (Ok, an Omega...) last time I was in Czech, a bog standard '92 2.0 Estate poverty spec manual job. Did about 130 miles in it over a weekend and it did the job just fine, cruised at 150 km/h quietly and didn't use much fuel. Tons of play in the steering, but that's easily sorted. I very nearly brought it home, until his dad's mate offered £900 for it. I'd offered him £300...

[Rocket88]

Carltons are the dogs danglies. I've had a few, including a coup;e of gsi 24 v jobs, Omegas [especially estates] also very impressive, bought a 2.5 v6 recently, feels very well built.

[r.welfare]

Marvellous. For the price you can't complain - the 24v Diamond estates are rare and pricey when they do come up.

[meggersdog]

Also, he did trill on about it being no reserve, can you put a reserve in the parts section?

Yes you can for anything over 50 quid.Plus the hard to read head-ache inducing colour of the text probably didn't help

[FredTransit]

Thanks for that, I am glad to say i haven't sold much on ebay so didn't know what the rules were in the parts section.

[wuvvum]

Right, well the diagnosis is that the rear shock is completely buggered. As in it's in two bits, which are still bolted to the car but not even vaguely connected to each other. So that is going to need replacing fairly pronto if I want to use it on the bumpy back roads round this way.On a more positive note, I can confirm that heated seats, foglights and headlamp wipers all work fine, and although I didn't take the sill covers off to look underneath, I jacked the car up on its jacking points with no ominous crunching noises, so shouldn't be too bad under there. Oh, and I managed to glue the interior mirror back on using two-pack epoxy resin from the pound shop, which will save me forking out a fiver for one of those Loctite mirror fixing kits (the double-sided sticky pads can work but they make the mirror wobble around like buggery). And it really is an exceptionally comfortable car to drive.

[Richard]

The proper mirror pads are something like 50p from Ford, I imagine they will be about the same from Vauxhall, and the mirror will never fall off again.

[r.welfare]

The Ford pads are the best ones, but if you've fixed it with epoxy then I take my hat off to you.Does it have self-levelling? That might complicate the shock situation at the rear, although I seem to recall GM using a simple air system (Schrader valve on top of the shock, accessible through the top of the inner wheelarch) around this time.EDIT: There's a pair of pukka Koni adjustables on t'Bay for 40 quid to fit all models of estate 1987-93, might be a good score?

[wuvvum]

Does it have self-levelling? That might complicate the shock situation at the rear, although I seem to recall GM using a simple air system (Schrader valve on top of the shock, accessible through the top of the inner wheelarch) around this time.

I couldn't see any sign of an air valve on the top of the shock - but it does have a wire of some description plugged into it, which I'm slightly concerned about (couldn't trace where it went without crawling right underneath the car, which I didn't want to do when it was only supported by a crappy scissor jack). To be honest though I think I'll probably go for whatever will fit - I'm not going to be lugging any heavy loads in it so don't really need self levelling. Those Konis look like a possible solution - I'll keep my eye on them, depending on what Wilcos can come up with.

[Albert Ross]

Look on the boot floor, right on the offside by the lamp cluster access hatch in the corner. That's where it was on my 85 Cavalier estate.

[wuvvum]

Look on the boot floor, right on the offside by the lamp cluster access hatch in the corner. That's where it was on my 85 Cavalier estate.

Erm, yep. There's an air valve right there. Arseflaps - that doesn't bode well for my chances of replacement shocks being cheap...Also, the bloody thing is now out of petrol. At least it won't start and the fuel pump is making gurgling noises, so I assume that's what the problem is. Which is strange, 'cos it had petrol in it when I parked it up last night. Must be parked on a slight angle which is making the fuel run away from the pickup.

[brammy777]

Only just seen this, nice purchase there! Have to say that the estates arent as common as the saloons now. They look proper nice though, Carltons and Senators of that era were incredibly good looking in my opinion.