My life in cars - XR3i & MK2 Escort Ghia Double the Escorts, Double the pussy

[trigger]

Next along in 2018 was my Skoda, as previously said the Focus turned out to be shite so i binned that for a loss and found this 2008 Fabia 1.9TDi Sport locally on Autotrader, 1 owner from new and 44000 miles, I paid £2600 for it and have been using this as my daily to and from work since, other than normal wear and tear It's been faultless, it's now on about 78000 miles so not that high still, i really rate these cars and would have another one.

Meanwhile a lady in our East Coast Retros group asked if anyone would be interested in her Fathers old Granada that had sat in the garage 10 years after he died and as her mother was going into a home they needed to sell it on, a few banger racers were circling so i got asked if I'd like to take a look at it, i think this most be some kind of code word for "buy it" !

so £400 later i owned a 1989 Granada Scorpio 2.9i...

I threw just over a grand at it, replaced lots of stuff and a lot of hours and it turned out looking pretty smart

It was a lovely thing to drive, very smooth and felt much newer than it was and had a good sound to it but i never found it particularly exciting or engaging to drive so once lockdown started i didn't see the point on hanging onto it or paying road tax on something i couldn't use so i stuck it on ebay and got £2600 for it, the last heard was that someone paid £5500 for it earlier last year from a dealer.

[trigger]

It was early lockdown and i needed something to cheer me up and when i saw this 1962 Vauxhall Victor come up for sale in our group for £2200 locally and i knew the owner i thought it be something to play with for a bit.

I had it delivered as technically i shouldn't have been driving about at the time, seems ridiculous looking back now doesn't it but such was life at the time.

Again i messed about with it, sorted some bodywork, new tyres and a few mechanical issue and got it looking and running nice and we took it to a few shows and a few local trips out once lockdown eased off a bit

and whilst it looked very pretty i didn't like driving it, the 3 speed box was annoying either being too high a gear or too low, the panel fitment was a bit crappy and the steering box and all the bushes under the car were worn out so it was a bit to drive in a straight line, the novelty wore out quickly, especially as technically i bought it for Mrs Trigger and she couldn't get on with the column shift

so that got sold to a local mechanic for £3300, this photo brings me to the next car.

[trigger]

A lad i know was selling his Dolomite Sprint, I've wanted one for years and his was my favourite spec and having sold the Marina and Granada i had a bit of cash so a price was agreed and we drove to Potters Bar to take a look, again i bought it.

I removed all the stickers, started replacing missing bit and went right though the car and really enjoyed it, i still say a good Sprint is a wonderful car, unfortunately a good Sprint is hard to find and although mine was far from bad it wasn't quite as nice as i hoped either.

I felt that i was working on it more than driving it, every weekend involved me having to try and fix or replace something and by the time the rear main oil seal started leaking for a 3rd time my patience started to get to it's end, i turned up late for a friends funerial as i lost power to the starter and i just got a bit pissed off with it.

I did get to take it to Cowley where it started it's life

and i had it on display outside the doors of the Gaydon Motor Museum (with thanks to the Marina club again)

and once all finished it looked beauiful.

 

I ended up selling it last year for a lot of money which helped the burden and the new owner absolutely loves it and has the money to sort the oil leaks so all ends well

[trigger]

I then sold my blue 2014 Grand Cmax 1.6TDCi as i found the car too heavy for a 1.6 115bhp and was gutless and replaced it with a newer shape 2.0 TDCi version which is miles better, yes it's still a modern Ford etc but it's much more of a joy to drive, it's basically a Kuga with 7 seats and not as good looking, especially from the rear, but as a family car that the wife uses it's ideal, I'll add the photos but appreciate they aren't really any interest to the forum.

The next old car was this 1983 VW Golf 1.8 GLi Cabriolet which i bought 18 months ago, It was advertised locally again on my East Coast Retros group for £3000 and i thought it was worth a look for Mrs Trigger to replace the Victor.

It had been 'scened' up a bit with coilovers, bonnet struts and stickers but this was all reversable and the boned of it were good, I've done quite a lot to it now since I've owned it, replaced all the suspension, replaced the interior with a much nicer one from a Clipper and numerous other bits and bobs. It goes tax exempt in April but I might sell it in the summer as I've got more cars than room at the moment, we'll see.

 

[trigger]

Late 2021 i picked this up from my next door neighbour for £600 as a little project, it had been of the road in his garden for a few years and been used to collect wood in his garden

It was proper minging, i cleaned the crap out of it, fitted a pair of tyres, a new battery, fixed the turbo that had seized and fitted a new screen, moted it, used fit for a few weeks and sold it for £2100 to some random of Fcaebook who wanted it for free...

He sold it straight back on but to someone local to me as i still see it about.

Next was the 1982 Vauxhall Astra 1200 E Mk1, a friend was chatting to a elderly couple in Morrisons who said that had a old car in the garage that needed to go, he gave me their number and i went to see them, the full story is here.

but basically they won it in a competition whilst on holiday in Scarbrough and kept it ever since.

It had been off the road 7 years but look fairly solid so I handed over £2000 and took a gamble.

again i went right though the car and replaced everything that needed doing, it drove really nicely but didn't really engage me, i was just happy to get it back on the road and move it back onto a enthusiast to enjoy, I wasn't very happy about the colour match on the wings and couldn't justify doing it professionally which also bugged me a bit.

I ended up selling it to a lad in our car club who loves it.

[trigger]

Car number 65 was the Volvo 240 2.0 Torslanda, i bought this of a friend for £1000 which won it in a Facebook raffle off some banger racers, thankfully he could see it was worth saving so parked it up until i was chatting to him and he asked if i'd be interested in it.

It only had 48000 miles on the clock but no service history so no idea if that was correct, and even though it had a current mot the brakes were all shot and rear of the sills rotten, 

a LOT of work and time went into it, i felt like i had bit off far too much and regretted buying it more than few times.

I managed to find most the parts at a scrap yard in Norfolk and a couple of months later it looked like this.

with all new brakes, tyres, a service and welding done it went straight through the mot and sold the next day for £3300 to someone in Dorset who promptly put it straight up for sale on Facebook for £6000, it's still not sold. The money from it paid to take the family to Disneyworld Paris which I've just come back from which was far more interesting than this car ever was.

[trigger]

and lastly the current two, my 1976 Triumph Dolomite 1850, it was owned by a member in our car club who's father had had it new, it was looking very faded and needed 'lifting' back up again but with only 33000 miles and the most original and rust free body i'd seen i had to buy it, I paid proper money for it but i still feel it was cheap as it drives like new and doesn't even rattle or squeak.

 

I'd love to fit a set of Sprint alloys to it but they are really expensive to buy now, especially once you factor in for tyres and wheel nuts.

and last September i bought this Capri 2.0 Laser which i won't go into much detail on as it's all here.

but it's now back on the road and being enjoyed until i get bored and fancy a change again!

[AnnoyingPentium]

1 hour ago, trigger said:

Same colour as my Mk1. Flamenco Red I believe that is.

[artdjones]

5 hours ago, trigger said:

I was at a car show in the Ital van in 2018 when someone came over saying they had a old Marina in their barn they wanted to sell and would i be interested, obviously i was so a few days later i went to view it.

Now i know I've got a thread about this car 

 

so i won't go into too much detail about it but basically it had been of the road since 1981 only done 26000 miles and the owner wanted £1000 to see the back of it after he had nearly cut 3 fingers off whilst working on it 7 years before removing the fuel tank.

I had a lot of enjoyment with the car, the condition was outstanding and it really drove well, regardless what the naysayers say, I done 700 miles to Wales and back in it without fault and 300 miles round trip to the Festival of the Unexceptional in 2019 where i was amazed to be voted car of the show!

In 2020 lockdown started and i fancied a new car to play with and i couldn't take my children out in the car as it had no rear seat belts and no easy way to fit them so i ended up selling it for £3500 to a Marina Club Member, i do regret that decision but hey ho, life goes on. 

My brother had a 1978 Pageant Blue Marina estate. It was scrapped as long ago as 1988. 

[artdjones]

You are great at resurrecting cars 

[2flags]

This is a great read. You have certainly saved a few cars here. Hopefully they will be looked after and preserved. 

[Matty]

Well now we're knackered trigger. End of the story till you buy more cars. Better get on with it then 😄

[hairnet]

yeah blame the kids (or impending ) for the problem of the cars too small  

didnt know about the red doloshite  (perv - thats 4 now?)

 

 

 

[trigger]

14 minutes ago, hairnet said:

idnt know about the red doloshite  (perv - thats 4 now?)

That's the 3rd Dolomite I've owned now and 3 old cars that I currently own! 

[hairnet]

trig needs to buy a more upmarket car - like a volvo

240 didnt count

 

[wuvvum]

My enduring memory of that Marina estate is Hannah drifting it round the field behind the Rose pub!

That orange Dolomite really is a lovely thing - by far the best one of those I've driven, and there's been a few...

[hairnet]

oh no not another one

is it a norfolk thing?

do you wish you had a brummie accent

 

[barrett]

8 hours ago, trigger said:

I was at a car show in the Ital van in 2018 when someone came over saying they had a old Marina in their barn they wanted to sell and would i be interested, obviously i was so a few days later i went to view it.

Really enjoyed this little trip down memory lane. Can't remember if you had the 02 or the Kadett when we first met (I think the Kadett). Lots of things I'd forgotten about along the way, and very impressed you've had loads more cars than I have in the last few years.

I think the question on everyone's lips, though, is what happened to the Samara????

[quicksilver]

Now this is bringing back memories. Some Triggermobiles I remember but others I'd totally forgotten about. I think you had the P6 when we first met at the MK Autumn Rally, then took the SD1 there the following year, and of course we convoyed in the Maxi with the Marina from FOTU just after its victory.

[trigger]

45 minutes ago, barrett said:

Really enjoyed this little trip down memory lane. Can't remember if you had the 02 or the Kadett when we first met (I think the Kadett). Lots of things I'd forgotten about along the way, and very impressed you've had loads more cars than I have in the last few years.

Thanks, It would have been the Kadett i believe at Shitefest 2010, I even have a photo with you in the background here with Mr Lobsters R4 van, the sadly passed away 'Oldford' to the left and Pogweasel and Dollywobbler there too

45 minutes ago, barrett said:

I think the question on everyone's lips, though, is what happened to the Samara????

I wish i knew! I suspect it's probably still in the barn, it was a F reg too i think

 

There was a few cars dotted about in this barns including these too

and some Bentleys and this Ital Estate which came with the Marina which i swapped with a friend in exchange of delivering the Marina to me,

[barrett]

You realise you'd attain SHITE_HERO status if you went and extracted that and gave it the "trigger treatment"! Jupiter looks nice, too.

[trigger]

Even I'm not sure I'm ready for a Samara yet! funnily enough i got offer another car last week from my mate i bought the 240 off.

a 1 owner, low mileage R21 Savanna 2.0 GTX which has been of the road in a dry garage since 1995, I wasn't too keen on that either as it was one of them which wrote of my green Escort Si!

[trigger]

Our Golf went tax exempt last Saturday, It literally just scraped in being registered on the 7th January 1983 so it probably one of the newest tax exempt cars on the road! Mrs T wanted to take it for a drive to a garden centre on Sunday to celebrate...

 

I really need to sell one of the cars, either this or the Dolomite but i think I'm going to struggle to be allowed to let this one go so I suspect it will be the Dolomite, that will be a sad day as the Dolly is such a nice car to drive and condition wise  

[Sunny Jim]

Managed to miss this thread back in February. Really enjoyed reading it, thanks for taking the time to write it @trigger and hat doffed for the quality and quantity of the cars you've resurrected over the years,

[HMC]

Loving this thread, youve got a great eye for a hidden gem and brilliant bodywork skills. 

[High Jetter]

I hope the Dolly is beyond my range,/wallet

[trigger]

So there's been a change in the fleet again, the Dolomite has now sold back to the original owners other son

I got a message from the other son who i bought the car off asking me when i come to sell it his brother who like to buy it back, a price was agreed and a massive 3 months later i got  the full payment... don't ask, it wasn't agreed to take that long but it's sorted now.

Meanwhile a mate of mine who I've been helping out a lot fixing and playing with his cars bought a immaculate Mondeo ST200 at the East Anglian Car Auctions after i expressed an interest in it so i paid him what he gave for it, i had to wait 2 months until i got the money and space from the Dolomite sale but last Thursday i collected it from him, he even put a years mot on it for me.

It started life as a BT Fleet managers car in Cambridge for the first 2.5 years and 66000 miles before being sold to a chap near Norwich who has owned it for the last 21 years and 33000 miles. It clearly been garage kept and rarely used as it's immaculate par a few stone chips on the bumper, these ST's have all rotted away as the water gets trapped under the bodykit but this one's like new still, I spent a few hours Saturday polishing it and the Imperial Blue paintwork is mint

I don't suppose I'll kept it that long as it's a bit modern for me but at the moment I'm really enjoying driving it and hearing that V6 bark and it brings back memories of the ST24 i had back in 2007ish!

[trigger]

Also i put the Golf up for sale yesterday as I need to free some money up and I'm not keen on taking the kids out in it with lap belts, and this summers weather has been wank, I'll probably get told it's too expensive but I've seen loads which aren't as nice up for £13000+ and you've got to start somewhere!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134705543270

[trigger]

So the Mondeo sold last week, a chap from Northern Ireland contacted me before Christmas, left me a deposit asking if he could collect it mid Jan, i collected him from the airport at 7.30am, and he had driven to Stranraer port in Scotland by 4.30pm and was back home by 11pm, quite the day but apparently the car drove well and only done £100 in fuel so that's a relief.

He's already re-registered on Irish plates.

[trigger]

Randomly we got a message of a lady down my road who got our details from the antique centre because she had her departed husbands old Escort to sell and asked if we knew anyone interested in it, me obviously being a sucker for a old Ford and having just sold the Mondeo agreed to take a look.

I was surprised when she opened the container where it had been stored since 2010!

So the story is her husband used to work for Tescos and cashed in his shares in 1989 to buy this XR3i Cabriolet from Dagenham Motors, It was his pride and joy and he used to go cruising on Southend seafront and around Romford and Dagenham in it during the 90s before getting a company van in 2000 and parked it, his plan was to recommission it when he retired but he sadly passed away in 2021 aged 59 after laying down for a hour as he felt rough and passed away in his sleep, very sad indeed.

For a car which hasn't seen the road for 24 years it seems VERY good, there no rust on the body or arches or behind the kit that i can see, the rear floor has a lot of surface rust but I'm hoping that will clean up ok.

I agreed to buy it so yesterday my mate came over so we could collect it, it was a bit of a faff as the rear brakes had locked on but we managed to drag it onto the trailer, eventually!

The first time it had seen light for 14 years! as you can see it's very of it's period! I personally think it's a Dagenham Motors demonstrator as its shows two previous owners, not one, i know his wife registered after he died but I'm thinking the garage owned it for a bit too, especially as it's all skirted up, shame that the paperwork hasn't turned up yet and carbaba doesn't give keeper change dates anymore as I'd be really interested to know if it had a keeper change in 1989.

What's peoples thought's on the wheels? they are 15" Oscam Windy alloys which have been on it since new, I'm quite tempted to get them refurbished again.

Half leather Recaros! very posh! and check out the hifi!

big Alpine speakers in the car too, just a shame the stereo isn't in it, the lady thinks it's in the loft and will let me know when she finds it. i think it's a special edition model as they only made a few in Aquafoam blue and with the high spec of leather and electric roof back in 1989.

we managed to push it into the garage, tomorrow I'll make a start on seeing what parts i need and the condition of the belt before turning it over.

and here it is in it's glory days when it was brand new