Watch me make a stupid mistake - Peugeot 504 Break L

[meowmeow]

Weirdly enough I've only ever owned one car - a Mk2 Golf 1.3 that I bought for £150 from an old boy down the street from me about 7 years ago. My mum actually tried to buy the exact same car about 17 years ago from its first owner, the guy's next-door neighbour, but good thing she didn't as it'd probably be a washing machine by now; she failed her driving test 4 times and the Mk2f Polo she bought instead got part ex'd along with my dad's Peugeot 406 for, of all things, a Signal red Jaguar X300.

(Attaching an old photo because I still think the colour was very cool).

 

Anyway, the Golf's been pretty reliable. It's taken me - and the guy who nicked it in 2017 and drove it some 800 miles before dumping it back 5 mins from my front door a month later - all over the place. It's gotten me back home with a blown head gasket, and only has a *little* piston slap when cold to show for it...

I didn't think I'd need to replace it any time soon, but two problems have since arisen:

1. It's not ULEZ compliant or exempt.

2. It's a bit too small to fit an entire 1950s kitchen that I accidentally bought off eBay for £1, even if you remove the back seats and crank the front seats all the way forward so your chin is on the steering wheel. Case in point:

(that's about 60% of the kitchen, I had to go back for the rest).

 

So I need something bigger, and something that I don't have to pay £12.50 a day to drive.

Luckily I've found a car that fits the bill, problem is it hasn't been on the road since 1986, and I haven't actually seen it yet...

My stupid long journey to view and inevitably buy this thing starts tomorrow.

[sdkrc]

Oooft. Nice Golf mister. Is it for sale?

[outlaw118]

33 minutes ago, meowmeow said:

Luckily I've found a car that fits the bill, problem is it hasn't been on the road since 1986, and I haven't actually seen it yet...

Mere details it'll be fiiiiiiine.

Probably.

Chod Speed!

[grogee]

1986 isn't that long ago. Live Aid was last year, surely? 

Bit of easy start and it'll be fine. 

Good luck with your idiotic mission. 

[meowmeow]

45 minutes ago, sdkrc said:

Oooft. Nice Golf mister. Is it for sale?

I actually have no idea, will probably need it for a few more months depending on how fucked the car I'm buying is

It's definitely not a pretty example though:

• Suspicious MOT-grade welding around the filler neck (of course)
• Pretty loud clutch throwout bearing (it's been doing that for years though)
• The sloppiest gear linkage ever, featuring random rubber o-ring shoved up underneath the gearstick to make the reverse lockout work
• Quite bad central exhaust leak that mysteriously disappeared off the last MOT advisories despite me not doing anything about it (think the tester had a soft spot for the car)
• The car was driven backwards into something when it got stolen, and the body shop just pulled the back end out as best they could and wobbed the rest...
• The paint is 20 shades of blue, including this fetching colour on the bonnet:

[MrGTI6]

Nice to see a Mk2 Golf that hasn't been ruined!

[meowmeow]

21 minutes ago, grogee said:

Bit of easy start and it'll be fine.

The guy said he 'thinks' the engine turns freely, but can't really remember.

I haven't had any photos because apparently it's stuck in a shed with some other cars blocking the entrance, so I guess we'll be moving those first before I get any idea of what I've let myself in for...

 

[D.E]

9 minutes ago, meowmeow said:

 

• The car was driven backwards into something when it got stolen

Tyrone drove it?

 

[bunglebus]

I do like MK2 Golfs. Very solid and usually well rustproofed

[meowmeow]

And we’re off

first hiccup, can’t find my Loose Ends tape

There’s something like 40 of em in the car and over time they all end up in the wrong boxes, which pisses me off to no end.

 

 

[meowmeow]

Reading services 

slick on the floor is definitely nothing to do with me

[meowmeow]

Wales bridge 

which means it’s time for a piss in Cardiff Gate services

[meowmeow]

and time for a rubbish second breakfast

[sdkrc]

Snickers are definitely getting smaller.

Either way, you've got your nut food group, your caramel food group and the nougat food group all covered there. I'd say you're nutritionally sorted for today's challenge 

[Coprolalia]

1 hour ago, meowmeow said:

Wales bridge 

which means it’s time for a piss in Cardiff Gate services

Welcome, we laid on the rain especially for you.

[meowmeow]

Somehow I managed to choke on a bit of the snickers bar whilst on the M4, quite a sketchy 30 secs of my life that was.

Now I’m somewhere on the A477. The journey is still nowhere near finished...

[EyesWeldedShut]

You're collecting some Pembrokeshite? Nice.

Watch this if you make it back - clever little Welsh movie (as in Welsh made not Welsh dialogue).

[Shite Ron]

11 minutes ago, meowmeow said:

Now I’m somewhere on the A477. The journey is still nowhere near finished...

Are you catching a ferry? 

[EyesWeldedShut]

1 minute ago, Shite Ron said:

Are you catching a ferry? 

Rosslare maybe - steering wheel would be on the correct side of the car then?

[meowmeow]

21 minutes ago, Shite Ron said:

Are you catching a ferry? 

Correct 

20 minutes ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

Rosslare maybe - steering wheel would be on the correct side of the car then?

And correct again

Also weirdly fuel economy has been unbelievably good so far despite the awful weather. 44.5mpg average!!   

 

Ferry leaves at 2:45 so will be stuck here for a while now

[Datsuncog]

Let's recap while the OP is waiting for the ferry...

I'll confess, this is shaping up to be something epic.

[meowmeow]

Big boi arrived:

but what’s this? I was the first car in the queue, but they’ve made me wait for bloody half the other cars to get on first. No point getting here 3 hours earlier than I needed to  (which was totally on purpose and not because I can’t count)

 

Now set for 4 hours of boredom as I forgot to bring something to read...

Looks a bit spooky

 

also I need a piss again but I’ll be fucked if I can find the toilets on here

[sdkrc]

31 minutes ago, meowmeow said:

also I need a piss again but I’ll be fucked if I can find the toilets on here

Fire away in your seat, as is tradition on the ferries

[Rightnider]

This is one of the slowest, and most tense collection threads I’ve read. Keep it up!

[S2000]

Can you get a moped in the back of a Golf? 
Or is it the Golf on the back of a pinto smiley transit beaver tail?

[Datsuncog]

I'm hoping this:

With the Golf lashed to an improvised A-frame made out of a farm gate, for the return leg.

[meowmeow]

No I am not dead

Despite doing everything I was told my phone still doesn’t work in Ireland. No worries, at least I have my shitty out of date paper map.

Situation update: 

I left my seat on the ferry for 2 minutes to get the worlds most expensive blueberry muffin (wasn’t prepared to spent €2 on a bloody Time-out bar), as someone nabbed my seat.

So I sat for 3.5hrs on this plastic wood ledge. It was then that it dawned on me that all this sloshing around was probably turning the inside of my fuel tank into a snow globe. Fingers crossed all the shit in the bottom of the tank wouldn’t end up getting sucked into the carb jets...

Pretty pretty (terrible photo on my 10 year old phone with sand in the camera)

Arrived in Clonmel about 1/2hr ago, and parked in a very dodgy car park next to this beautiful Starlet.

Taking no chances, you’re coming with me

Fuck me I’m tired. 

Up early tomorrow to  find out if all this was a waste of time 

[meowmeow]

9 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

I'm hoping this:

With the Golf lashed to an improvised A-frame made out of a farm gate, for the return leg.

That’s actually a good shout, though what I’m buying isn’t quite that big.

Luckily I have recruited some mates (read “fools”) for the pending collection mission, to drive the Golf back while I drive the new car behind, if it turns out that I don’t need to get it trailered

[Wibble]

This is epic, I was wondering what you were doing to get the Golf back. I’m no stranger to that ferry, chodspeed!

[Spiny Norman]

Excellent reading so far, look forward to the next thrilling adventure tomorrow. 😛