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Kiltox’s 1994 Vauxhall Astra Cabriolet! 09/06 - notDITCHFINDERS


Kiltox

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Had quite a few, so I'll try to summarise here....

Two Golf GTi s and one Clipper. One GTi was swapped for a 5 Turbo, one sold to an RR member, and the Clipper went to a friend of @Pete-M

Alfa Spider S3 rescued, MOTd and later sold to a local MP

Dutton Phaeton. Bought on a whim, never turned a wheel in my ownership and was sold when I realised I'd never get it on the road.

Mercedes SLK  Raffle win. Enjoyed it briefly, then swapped for a Mini Cooper, for Mrs S.

MX5.  Another raffle win.  Liked it , but obviously not practical for a family. Sold on here. 

MGF. Yet another raffle win! Flame me here, but I really didn't like it. Felt like I was sat on, rather than in, it. Again sold on here, and when I last heard, was in the custody of @scaryoldcortina (where is he now?)

Finally,  Saab 9-3, which I bought  to take the kids through Blackpool illuminations.  Decent thing, which did it's job well. 

 

 

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Current convertibubbles are a 1990 MX5 and a 2004 Boxster S... but this one (from many years back) was clearly the best-

1893629749_OSFrontUP.jpg.af012d7ac69c55535c1b9da3e7571934.jpg

1646647253_NSRUP.jpg.da43c6288d98057c6f2566b753e0c733.jpg

25463145_OSRDown.jpg.444dc026ea6e9f75e841c4733ae35b19.jpg

125799529_Interiorfront.jpg.da90dc3a38cffdede508976b1622841a.jpg

Utterly tragic and fantastic in equal measures.  It was a proper GTE with the digi dash and the marvellous 2.0 8v lump under the bonnet.  Scuttle shake was comical, but not as bad as the contemporary Escort.  Trim was awful, baggy, damp and mouldy of course.

Sold in 2003, no idea if it survived.  I guess not! 

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17 minutes ago, Rusty_Rocket said:

Current convertibubbles are a 1990 MX5 and a 2004 Boxster S... but this one (from many years back) was clearly the best-

1893629749_OSFrontUP.jpg.af012d7ac69c55535c1b9da3e7571934.jpg

1646647253_NSRUP.jpg.da43c6288d98057c6f2566b753e0c733.jpg

25463145_OSRDown.jpg.444dc026ea6e9f75e841c4733ae35b19.jpg

125799529_Interiorfront.jpg.da90dc3a38cffdede508976b1622841a.jpg

Utterly tragic and fantastic in equal measures.  It was a proper GTE with the digi dash and the marvellous 2.0 8v lump under the bonnet.  Scuttle shake was comical, but not as bad as the contemporary Escort.  Trim was awful, baggy, damp and mouldy of course.

Sold in 2003, no idea if it survived.  I guess not! 

Pure GM class. It looks as though it survived until 2010 so it did very well compared to most of its contemporaries. I wonder how many ended up with an XE dropped in?

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Wow, that is something.  I sort of thought it would have been scrapped shortly after I sold it.  It wasn't really that rusty though.

An XE would have been way too much for it.  The thing literally wobbled all over the road.  The steering is frightening enough on a Mk2 Astra, even with a metal roof!

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I've only had 3 cars which vaguely qualify as convertibles. This was pre digital cameras and can't find any photos of them so found similar jalopies with Google.

First one was an early 70s white MG Midget which I bought ca. 1987 as an MOT failure. I rebuilt the mechanicals and a mate did the welding and painting. Being 6'2" it was a pain to drive and I sold it with the profit paying the deposit on my first house. It looked like this one, except I'm certain it was a square wheel arch model.

mg midget blanc d'occasion - Recherche de voiture d'occasion - Le Parking

In the mid-nineties I sold my Mk2 Golf GTI 16V and bought a blue MR2 T-Bar. I still think they are great looking cars and at the time genuinely different to drive. The generic 90s Toyota dashboard is bland, but the generic 90s Toyota reliability was highly impressive, though the rear tyres wore out at an alarming rate and I once spun it in the wet. It looked like this:

1997 Toyota MR2 For Sale

After 2 years of ownership I entered a midlife crisis phase and bought one of these:

1996 TVR Griffith 500 For Sale By Auction

It was that colour and similar year, TVR Griffith 500. Neck snapping acceleration and still gorgeous to look at, but horrendous build quality. Not even the TVR dealer could sort out the overheating, cutting out and myriad electrical problems, and indy garages wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. The exhaust system fell off it once as did one of the driving lights, the nearside indicator and the rear number plate. Sold it after 2 years for what I'd paid for it.

Since then, a sunroof gives me as much fresh air motoring as I need.

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5 hours ago, Inspiral_Mondays said:

I've only had 3 cars which vaguely qualify as convertibles. This was pre digital cameras and can't find any photos of them so found similar jalopies with Google.

First one was an early 70s white MG Midget which I bought ca. 1987 as an MOT failure. I rebuilt the mechanicals and a mate did the welding and painting. Being 6'2" it was a pain to drive and I sold it with the profit paying the deposit on my first house. It looked like this one, except I'm certain it was a square wheel arch model.

mg midget blanc d'occasion - Recherche de voiture d'occasion - Le Parking

In the mid-nineties I sold my Mk2 Golf GTI 16V and bought a blue MR2 T-Bar. I still think they are great looking cars and at the time genuinely different to drive. The generic 90s Toyota dashboard is bland, but the generic 90s Toyota reliability was highly impressive, though the rear tyres wore out at an alarming rate and I once spun it in the wet. It looked like this:

1997 Toyota MR2 For Sale

After 2 years of ownership I entered a midlife crisis phase and bought one of these:

1996 TVR Griffith 500 For Sale By Auction

It was that colour and similar year, TVR Griffith 500. Neck snapping acceleration and still gorgeous to look at, but horrendous build quality. Not even the TVR dealer could sort out the overheating, cutting out and myriad electrical problems, and indy garages wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. The exhaust system fell off it once as did one of the driving lights, the nearside indicator and the rear number plate. Sold it after 2 years for what I'd paid for it.

Since then, a sunroof gives me as much fresh air motoring as I need.

That MR2 is sweet man. My mate had a lovely metallic blue one about 15 years ago and he fitted a Beams engine to it. K822AUD. Went like the hammers of fuck. I'd forego my 'must be a 4 seater and have a big boot' to own one but they're too dear now.

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50 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

That MR2 is sweet man. My mate had a lovely metallic blue one about 15 years ago and he fitted a Beams engine to it. K822AUD. Went like the hammers of fuck. I'd forego my 'must be a 4 seater and have a big boot' to own one but they're too dear now.

They‘re lovely looking cars. When I bought mine, the dealer had a JDM MR2 Turbo for sale but wanted serious money for it. The chassis is quite twitchy in the wet anyway so anything significantly more powerful would have resulted in some serious brown trouser moments without mods to the rear suspension.

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7315A32F-1927-4A93-BC02-73532869A787.thumb.jpeg.fa252b5ea7edb2ebe3a76b1b1fbc2a9d.jpeg

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You could say I have a type. The blue one was proper shite, Cheapest on Gumtree at £475, drank oil like a two stroke, Stevie Wonder had painted the passenger side and the hood was mostly Gaffa tape. Had it for a couple of years until the rot got into the rear strut tower. 

Replaced it with the silver one from a small time dealer out the back of a hand car wash, in the rain at night. £1500 in 2020, which I think was a reasonable deal. The body isn’t the greatest with various parking marks, but it’s nice and solid. I did have to swap the carpet out as it used to be owned by a mobile hairdresser.  Done a bit more work as I plan on keeping it for a while. 

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Never had a convertible, I've never been interested. In fact it's the quickest and most efficient way for me to skip an ad. Quicker and more effective even than when sellers spray paint over the number plate...

Closest i had to a vert was the overly large sunroof on a Porsche 924.

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On 03/05/2022 at 08:40, eddyramrod said:

 

Chrysler leBaron V6

 

I very nearly bought one of these a couple of months back. But when I drove it it left me a bit cold, so I passed. Slightly regret it, think it would have been interesting to own! 
 

I realised I forgot my MG Midget, that truly was shite, the most unreliable car I’ve ever owned. Broke down more times than all my other cars ever had up to that point combined! 
E9CFE7D2-E6A7-4884-927A-246F5DBFB6C8.jpeg

It was yellow though, so automatically awesome. 
 

Still going and still local, saw it on the A55 a couple of weeks ago! 

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10 hours ago, Cord Fourteener said:

Never had a convertible, I've never been interested. In fact it's the quickest and most efficient way for me to skip an ad. Quicker and more effective even than when sellers spray paint over the number plate...

Closest i had to a vert was the overly large sunroof on a Porsche 924.

I'm in a similar boat but for the reasons that I have no practical use for one really. Hence I've not been interested.

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  • Kiltox changed the title to Shite convertibles are the best convertibles and I will die on this hill - 10/05: COLLECTION
8 minutes ago, Kiltox said:

WELL THEN

Lack of live collection shots sadly, but I did a buy 

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9-FEVR.gif

I'm no quite sure if @Kiltox is Stevie the Bookie at the back of this GIF, though, while we all cheer him and his purchase on. :D

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