End of year Tat Accounts.

[dome]

A pretty busy year for me this year. 

Out

My Rangey. 2 1/2 years of joy with a sprinkling of trepidation. It never let me down though and was an amazing car to own. Would absolutely have another. As long as it had a supercharger.

In and Out

It's replacement, a 530d Msport

An excellent mile muncher with one of the best diesel engines ever made, sadly flakey electrics and me reaching the end of my tether meant it was fucked off.

Random purchase from a friend who was trading this in.

Nowt exciting but it gave me something to do getting it through an MOT and made presentable. Tried it as a daily for a while but it was thoroughly uninspiring, as you'd expect. Sold on to be someone's first car.

In and fucked

Never meet your heroes. After looking at 6 I bought this one. The £10k engine rebuild gave me some confidence it might be a good one. 

It shat itself big time 2 months later. 

Engine is out and ready to go to a specialist in the new year. Expect to see this in the "out" column next year.

In and still here.

Bought after the BMW went and 911 shat itself as a palate cleanser. Has given me back the joys of fixing cars as it's pretty simple to work on. 

4.7 V8 on LPG. Has had a lot spent on it but not necessarily in the right places. Busy making it better at the moment.

And.

Sensible* replacement for the BMW. Ex Kent police Focus ST estate. High miles but well looked after. 250bhp standard but it's been dyno'd at 280😳

 

No change.

Kangoo

I'll have had this for 4 years come February. Easily the longest I've had a car van on the road. Practical, fun (2.0 with 182 bhp) and as it's non standard it's good fun to mess around with. Hopefully will get a few more upgrades over the next year. 

Manta

Still with @GingerNuttz who is doing an amazing job of building me my dream car. More updates in the new year on this. 

[Schaefft]

The car I was considering bidding on went for the price its actually worth (over 3 times the estimate) so there should be no further changes for the rest of the year. So with that in mind settle in, here's the score:

Out:

The ex-Spain expat/AS GS300 purchased last year, sold in summer. Utterly excellent car, probably one of the overall best luxury cars you can buy for rediculously silly money right now. Driven it as daily doing a few longer trips in it. Replaced one headlight and done front brakes, would have kept going forever with minimum investment but needed the space so sold it to a mate as his first car in the UK, now living in Leith. Might get a V8 one thats not silver in the future, just can't go wrong.

Edit: Forgot about the A6 Avant! Sold in spring, was an excellent car for little over a year I owned it. Was basically completely free motoring in the end aside from petrol:

In and Out:

The oxford green 1999 BMW E38 728i. Bought on ebay beginning of the year (abysmal ad) for very little money to get it back on the road. Fixed a few minor things, cleaned it up and had the bonnet resprayed, first viewer bought it. Now also happens to live in Leith.

The ex- @sdkrc Alfa 166 Twin Spark. Bought for just a few bits I needed for my busso (in the In section below), very rough example that however benefitted many of the other few remaining 166 in the country. I'm fairly sure there was very little left of it in the end once the next owner got what he needed out of it.

The ex- @HMC 1997 Citroen XM V6. What an excellent car, very thankful to have had the opportunity to own one of these with such low miles. Done many detail improvements that made it a better car while I had it. Now with @Rocket88 receiving more attention, no doubt making it even better.

The 2007 BMW E65 750i parts car. Bought as interior donor for the 745i and made a few quid while at it. Had a ruined engine so no regrets, was a very nice car before it ran out of oil (the poor previous owner must have lost thousands on it within 2 months).

In:

2000 Alfa Romeo 166 Super 3.0 manual, in Aurora Iridescent. To me the holy grail of Alfa 166s. This one was bought in March right after returning from the NEC in Birmingham, having had a chat with a 166 owner there. I was interested in them for quite a while and always said I would buy any 166 in this color, should I ever find one. Well, this one happened to have the perfect engine/gearbox combo AND be low mileage. Unfortunately the latter doesn't necessarily mean much for Italian cars, as I have learned that they age about twice as fast as a comparable German car, evidence of it absolutely everywhere. Poor engineering decisions/cost cutting everywhere, if it wasn't for the badge it could be mid-2000s Chinese. However, it is glorious to drive and after getting it back on the road (after some struggling) I'm glad I have it. If it just wasn't made by Fiat...

The 52k mile 2002 BMW E65 745i. Bought on FB marketplace somewhere near Southampton where it was abdondoned in a muddy yard for 3 years. Clogged up sunroof drains eventually caused leaks that wrecked havoc inside the car. However, after months of investigations, learning and fixing one issue after the other its finally back on the road. The plan is to fix the remaining electrical gremlins and sort all the cosmetics, with a few upgrades like soft close taken from the donor 750i and fitted with most of the replacement interior eventually.

The 1994 Infiniti Q45! Most people here know what Lexus had with the LS400 in the 90s, hardly anyone in Europe knows that Nissan launched its main competitor around the same time with the Infiniti Q45, which was never sold here. I bought this incredibly clean, low mileage (around 50k km!) facelift example in Birmingham of all places. It came on Primera wheels and coilovers that a waay too low for what this car is supposed to be. I always wanted one, although ideally the more distinctive pre-facelift. With this one selling for rediculously little money and maybe a handful (at most) in the country I couldn't say no though. Unfortunately put on the back burner due to many other, more needy arrivals.

R129 attempt #2! After buying (and selling) a cheap R129 SL320 last year I didn't want to miss the opportunity to pick up another facelift example, however this time in better shape, with the way more desireable 5.0l V8, but for the same money! Currently still in the process of sorting the ESP related issues it has, with it being winter on the backburner for now. However, Im hoping to get it on the road for summer at the latest.

The German E39 523i Touring. Why spend hundreds on a rental when you can have an E39. I miss driving my 528i (further below) and ideally would have a car available when visiting family flying over there. It will need its TUV inspection soon so I'm hoping the bills will not ruin my whole justification for owning it. Received a deep clean shortly after getting it, should see more of it soon.

I always liked the Z3 and with both of my brothers currently owning Z cars (among them a black facelift Z3 like this) I felt like I will end up with one sooner or later. It had to be a clean facelift 2.8 or 3.0 manual, and with this one popping up at Mathewsons car auctions I thought why not register for a car auction for the very first time to see how things might go. Well, I put my test bid (also the first bid) in and to my surprise only won the car! Turns out it was an utter bargain as aside from a CEL I got a well sorted Z3 in a desireable spec for crazy little money. If you can get one of these for under 3k, just do it, now! Currently in hibernation.

When you see a Buick Riviera for sale for 250 quid, or anything else interesting really, you don't wait around and just buy! Well, I had to pay a hundred quid more to actually seal the deal. This 1989 example with the CRT touchscreen (!) arrived somewhat recently. Clearly a longer-term project, I'm currently waiting for the V5 to arrive. Non-runner, high mileage, but with the 3800 V6 I'm not particularly worried. Surprisingly clean underneath, too. Would part out for much more easily.

Many people regret not buying their dream car when they still had the chance to aquire one for relatively little money. Many of them were once common vehicles that age and neglect reduced to now comparatively small numbers. The E30 BMW is one of those examples, once cheap, now desireable, with the rarer variants demanding big money. The E39 will (and in some cases already does) follow the same path, and a manual transmission E39 540i Touring is pretty much as rare and desireable as things can get for the 5-Series. RWD, manual V8 sports wagons just aren't a thing that you can buy nowadays. Having found one, in somewhat neglected state, for as little as I paid for it, would be pretty much unheard of no matter where you live in the world. This one runs, drives, has MOT, new tires and is a nice spec, so naturally I had to jump on it. This will most likely be a rolling restoration for the next couple of years, doing every bit of preventative maintenance it will need to get it in perfect shape again. 1 of maybe 15 left in the country.

Last arrival for this year, the Japanese import S500 Coupe. Once again bought sight unseen for very cheap, this S500 will need a bit of attention going forward. With around 61k miles it should be a very nice thing to drive though. Together with the SL500 and 500SEL this is 5.0l 90s Merc #3 right now.

No movement:

1996 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC, semi abdondoned since summer last year, needs a replacement gearbox, currently no space on the drive to do the work.

My 1996 E39 528i. Not my first car but sure feels like it. Currently waiting to have its jacking points repaired. Hopefully early next year after the Celsior comes back.

1995 Candian-spec Oldsmobile Aurora #1 Now two decades off the road, 6 of which in my possession. Still in storage, might receive some attention eventually. Fuel system is the main issue.

1991 Opel Senator B with the 3.0 24V inline6. Actually in my drive now, which means I might have to force myself replacing the steering column, which was damaged when some d*ckhead attempted to steal it last year.

The 1992 JDM Toyota Celsior. After sorting (almost) all the typical LS400 weaknesses last year not much has happened this year, as it's been waiting to get MOT welding work done. This will finally happen now so fingers crossed it will be MOT'd early next year.

The 1992 W140 500SEL. One of my favorite cars. Started removing the entire front suspension on it (things escalated), de-rusted the subframe as much as I could, haven't put anything back together yet. Hopefully back on the road until summer next year.

1995 Oldsmobile Aurora #2 (with the Autobahn package!). Bought right before the pandemic hit. First attempt to get it to my parents failed when transporter person crashed his trailer into oncoming traffic in September, next attempt will happen soon hopefully.

1989 Toyota Corona EXiV. Being a Toyota it just works after having been off the road for almost a decade. Short distance daily during the summer, enjoyed some attention at this year's Toyota Enthusiats meeting in Carlisle. Continues to improve with detail by detail sorted over the last months.

2002 Audi S8. After patiently waiting the entire year to get this in a queue to be checked over by a specialist I finally had enough and sent it to a more local VAG specialist to have a few things sorted. Hopefully the list of issues won't be too horrific and I can get on with it next year.

1997 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC. This really hasn't been driven much at all since returning from Germany in January. A shame as its in good order, waiting to be used.

1995 Oldsmobile Aurora #3 (on the left). I haven't done anything with this aside from robbing its fuel pump I believe. Suspected omghgf so long term project.

The 60k mile ULEZ refugee 728i. Not a whole lot of action for this one this year aside from family transport when they were visiting. Received new wheels and a few odd bits.

The dutch-market '92 Caprice. Not much has happened, I replaced the stuck ignition cylinder and the coil died, other than that its really just waiting for the MOT and to be registered here properly.

The 1995 Caddy Sedan DeVille, bought together with SL #1 late last year. It received an interior clean, drop links, a functioning remote and a few other detail improvements this year. Taken on a few shorter journeys. As most other of my cars just waiting for spring.

And that's it. As you can see, the fleet is massive, even after considering the cars that have left. On average I bought a car every 4 weeks this year, something that ovviously can't continue. Every sale is a struggle though knowing that it might be the last chance to pick up X for such little money, most of them are in the single digits in the UK (usually thats true btw, haven't seen many of previous years purchases for similar money again). Lets see what next year brings though, with a planned move at least space might be less of an issue going forward. Which obviously can't end well...

[Spottedlaurel]

A modest year for me, but I managed a bit better than the even quieter 2022 by managing to buy one new car:

Had no real need for it, but I was on the rebound after being unsuccessful in trying to buy a Carina E saloon for £600 and when Wuvvum pointed out the ad for this tidy estate on here I couldn't resist. Have since spent more than the purchase price on tyres, radiator, service and MoT but it should now be a reliable, useable back-up car. Has less than half the mileage of the Avensis SR (itself in daily use with Miss SL) so should have a good few years in it yet.

Laurel, LS400 and modern daily driver RX450h continue to do their thing. A little bit to report on the latter as I finished paying the loan off and it's now 100% mine, and something I'm planning to keep as long as possible.

Within the extended family fleet Master SL took over the Yaris, which was recently treated to a set of Uniroyal Rainexperts as it does quite a few miles. Miss SL's boyfriend bought himself two Mk4 LS400s:

RH one was his daily until its MoT became due, just a few minor issues to sort and it'll be back in use. LH one he then bought cheaply because of an engine noise that just turned out to be loose and missing bolts. Condition-wise it's actually better than the first one, so at some point there'll be a bit of parts swapping and he'll get it back on the road. Bit of a bonus being the UK only DHP (Dynamic Handling Pack) model.

[DVee8]

I still have the Daimler, I have had her for 16 years.

In August I px-ed the modern daily X-trail for a modern daily X-trail.

In September N01 son bought a BMW 220i, he then had the alloys refurbished, a colour change, a rear defuser and M2 spoiler and then a remap.

Last week MrsV8 px her modern daily Bini Cooper for a BMW 1 series.

Around the 20th of this month, I should have an umm, err new arrival. 

We still have the Fiat 500 Abarth on the drive. anyone want to buy it?

 

[AnnoyingPentium]

Ever-constant is the Fabia. Despite its one foot in the grave moment in July at Shitefest. Still running, slightly better than it was before it was stuffed in a ditch. Although, the MOT is due in this coming February, so I've got that to look forward* to. Still hanging about for towing, and for stoating about places the Vectra isn't allowed to be in.

 

(Yes, the towing eye is still stuck in the front from July - I can't get it out)

In, the repmobile Vectra Arctic 1.8, which sort of wormed its way into being my daily. AVAS in action, and all that, but I love it.

Looking forward to 2024. Hopefully nothing else in, unless the MOT for the Fabia flags up anything massive, but I'm overly confident that it'll be fine.

[JJ0063]

I’ve had a busier year than normal

 

Out:

Scirocco. 
 

Nice car and did me well for about a year, but small and it’s one of those cars I like more looking back at pics of than I actually did during ownership

In then back out:

Replaced the Scirocco with an X5, such a lovely comfy car and I wish I could have afforded to keep it but the reality of coming from the easily 60+ MPG scirocco, to the X5 which barely did 20mpg, hurt and I sold it very quickly.

I then bought back my old 335D, 364 days after selling it. Just simply my favourite car I’ve ever had and if it were a touring, I’d certainly still have it now. Re-ownership was shorter lived than expected as we bought a Labrador pup so a coupe was no longer a viable car choice. 

I picked up the £400 Volvo V50, what a bargain car, I thoroughly enjoyed giving it a second life and also made a tasty profit on it. Only sold it as I decided I didn’t need to run two cars so sold the 335D and the V50.

 

That leads us nicely on to IN:

VW Transporter T5

A bit of a bucket list vehicle for me, heavily overpriced because VW tax but it’s got a certain quirkiness about it that I love. It gets more attention than anything I’ve driven, I just love it. Yes I often wish I could go for a proper spirited drive which you can’t do in a van but I have no regrets and no intention for it to be going anywhere soon. 
 

2024 forecast:

Keep the T5, I have a real urge to buy an E39 so if I happen to be in a position to buy a car, it’ll likely be an M sport M57 E39…

 

[Justwatching]

On 06/12/2023 at 22:17, Justwatching said:

IN:

OUT:

CARRIED FORWARD:

Whoops, forgot the Saab!

Had my 9-3 estate for just over five years, but sold it for scrap in the summer. A good workhorse, but pretty unremarkable otherwise. 

 

[N19]

In:

I bought the Focus in May, in urgent need of day-to-day ULEZ compliance. A well kitted out competent car which is very well looked after and, although it had been laid up for 6 months before I bought it, had no problems getting straight into service.

 

Out:

A casualty of ULEZ, the Bluebird left in June. Definitely missed, was surprisingly nippy for pottering around town, there were some challenges with age and with parts being quite difficult to come by. In another world I'd have kept it and given it attention, but sadly not practical.

 

Staying:

The Capri's driven a grand total of a mile this year according to the odometer, but it's now solid and simply* needs painting to go back together.

 

Mondeo has survived the ULEZ expansion, there are a few trips I make which don't get counted, and I do fairly-regularly do long trips outside the zone which are much easier in this. Most useful for sitting on the motorway, occasional towing, carting around dismantled bits of car to/from lockup.

  

[Volksy]

OUT: 

Mr reliable, had for three years, without it putting much of a foot wrong. If I had any parking I would have kept it. Stayed within the forum for now. 

IN 

The Big. One of my bucket list cars. 

It's a bit of a sorry old dog, but it's rather charming and a bit of fettling seems to be keeping on top of things. Currently my daily, and it seems to be coping. 

Need it to f*cking stop raining for more than a day so I can get the interior leaks and other bits sorted. 

It's on planned refurbishment with my tame garage so goes in once a month for various bits and pieces doing. 

IN 

Current work hack. No one in the office seems to like it, they prefer the petrol Merc A Classes.

So I've adopted it as my daily, and I really like it.  

[High Jetter]

21 minutes ago, Volksy said:

 

Someone's put a bit of effort into the design of the graphics, I bet it looks really good on the move.

[wesacosa]

Time to call it for the year as there wont be any more incomings for sure and I not had any luck with outgoings

I had expected a busy year of "outs" this year due to the ULEZ scam making it difficult to keep so many non compliant cars but in the best spirit of AS it didn't turn out quite like the 😳

OUT

None.  Despite my best* efforts advertising semi broken non ULEZ compliant cars they are all still here

IN

There was always going to have to be a ULEZ compliant in this year, and no more unsuitable stuff or projects until at least one was moved out.  So May brought this

1990 Skoda Estelle 120L 5 Speed

The eagle eyed amongst you will note that its neither ULEZ compliant nor a non project but hey ho. I still haven't driven it, its currently in various pieces on the drive

2004 Mercedes C180K

I was already thinking that commuting in my only complaint car (M3) was not going to be a long term/winter thing but when it decided to lose its brake fluid one day I had to bring in car #7 

the ex @Volksy C class mentioned in the post above, but via a short stay with @Pat Earrings   Enjoying cruising around in it, need to find some time to sort the lumpy idle , abs light,. give it a service and fit a Bluetooth receiver then its ready to serve as my WBOD

Non Movers

Noooo, sadly not the Lada , and most definitely not the Tesla

2004 BMW M3 E46

Still don't use it enough, still looking cool. Still really needs someone with more time and a garage as its looking a bit tatty now.   As above a still TBD brake fluid leak

1994 Skoda Favorit LXiE Plus

Got it back MOTd this year after sitting a little while in the queue for work and ran around in it a bit before ULEZ.  Parked up since then. Didn't take Khan's £2000 bribe for it . Probably should have. 

1997 Citroen XM 2.1 TD VSX

Started the year continuing its service as my daily.  It really is a fabulous thing, quirky, comfortable, economical, cool.  Did FoTU in it again

Tried to sell it post ULEZ but I think the leaky fuel pump is putting people off despite me pricing it about £500 less than it's probably worth so its sat outside my house since. I really should try and fix it but car post ULEZ depression/mojo loss hasn't fully gone yet

1988 Fiat Panda 1000S

Had an interesting half year with the Panda. Went to the AS southern meet up in it where it decided to FTP due to a broken dizzy cap

took it to the Bromley Pageant where it ran faultlessly

took it for its MOT where it shat its gear linkage for second successive year so its sat outside my house in shame since 😂

I had really hoped it might have moved on to its next AS custodian by now, it really needs someone who doesn't have to park it on a London street or in the ULEZ zone, and can give it more use than can. There was some interest when I mentioned it early last year but because I decided to keep it until post ULEZ situations had changed for those interested parties so its still here

If any trusted shiter fancies making an offer and giving it a loving home where it will get the same care @spartacus gave it then let me know 

1985 Sinclair C5

Still here. Still cool. Still terrifying to take on the roads, so I haven't

1999 Westfield SEiW

Still here, still not moved. Still no idea what on earth I will end up doing with it. I not sure I like driving enough anymore to keep it , the roads around here are so bad.  Needs a bit of fettling but the bulk of it was done in lockdown 

 

[Jenson Velcro]

15 hours ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

Ever-constant is the Fabia. Despite its one foot in the grave moment in July at Shitefest. Still running, slightly better than it was before it was stuffed in a ditch. Although, the MOT is due in this coming February, so I've got that to look forward* to. Still hanging about for towing, and for stoating about places the Vectra isn't allowed to be 

 

 

(Yes, the towing eye is still stuck in the front from July - I can't get it out)

Does the towing eye have a left handed thread? I’m sure our Polo does. Clockwise to undo. Just get a long bar in it and give it a good heave.

[AnnoyingPentium]

4 hours ago, Jenson Velcro said:

Does the towing eye have a left handed thread? I’m sure our Polo does. Clockwise to undo. Just get a long bar in it and give it a good heave.

Ah I'd forgotten about that! Will reinvestigate once it stops raining. Doh!

[RoverFolkUs]

28 minutes ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

Ah I'd forgotten about that! Will reinvestigate once it stops raining. Doh!

🤣 I came here to say the same thing. Glad I didn't have to be the one

[jmsguzzi]

On 06/12/2023 at 23:14, Rust Collector said:

Thank god for my camera roll or I’d have no idea what happened and when.

In:

  

The first new arrival was the BX Leader. Having visited a house two streets away from my house to inspect the car for the BX club, I ended up buying it. I fettled this up to the point it could pass an MOT, used it for a bit and realised that I probably wouldn’t be the person to bring it to full potential. More on that later.

Second in was this beast, bought for scrap money with a fucked radiator and water pump. I had no space on the driveway (naturally) so I fixed it on the trailer at the side of the road I use as overflow. See my build thread for the full miserable experience. It has mostly been my partner’s car, and it is now at the point where I need to do stuff* to it and spend some money to make it nicer.

I picked this up from @calebaaront with a view to getting it back on the road. It had an overheating issue which I’ve fixed, a blowing down pipe which I’ve replaced, and I now need to cut loads out of the offside sill and weld in less rusty metal. I keep saying it’ll be done soon, but I’m only lying to myself. But it will be done soon.

The Disco of Doom (tm). As I repeatedly drone on about, this belonged to my mate who died just over a year ago now. His son was left with this, but (sensibly) didn’t want to run it. It sat for months and developed some exciting faults, and so a deal was struck. It didn’t fit on the trailer so it got driven home whilst the electronics went mental. Cleaning the TCCM and connectors fixed that, and since then it’s just been a Land Rover. I use this mostly as my daily now.

@Stinkwheel is an enabler and offered this XM up for free just before I went on my holidays. This obviously had to come for a ride on the trailer, and is what I’m mostly focussing on getting back on the road currently.

I bought this LS430 in a deal with @rob88h. I then drove it across Europe a couple of days later, as this made sense at the time. It did the job admirably besides from me having to replace the rear discs and pads in Bratislava. It’s not a holiday without working on the car though, so this was fine. Since then it’s had a replacement air strut, and the starter has gotten lazy so I need to swap that out. I absolutely love it though, but sadly my partner loves it more and this became her daily after she briefly borrowed it.

I got the Pontiac Trans Sport in a swap with @Weird Car in what will possibly my last vehicular transaction of the year. This car has probably made the biggest impression on me out of everything I’ve taken in to date, I’m besotted with it. Sadly my love is unrequited and it has shit out its water pump - that’ll be a job for next year now.

Fostered:

I was graced by the presence of the Xantia of Not Many Shiters during the summer, after I collected it from Brighton for @purplebargeken. A combination of French engineering and my local MOT station tried to break my morale, but luckily that died ages ago and so I got the car up to a testable standard. It went through MOT eventually and I waved it off. It’s now lived with a number of shiters, in what could be a threat to its title.

Out:

The Leader, now MOT’d and in use, went to live with @rob88h. He’s made great progress with it, and I’m glad to see it has found a great home with the bonus of it being on the forum still.

The Clio, which is possibly the one car I should have kept and used, wasn’t doing much for me anymore and wasn’t used by my mrs. It went in a swap with @Weird Car for the Pontiac, and is hopefully being a useful an car.

Crashed:

The Insight had a bad year. I shunted a Hyundai in it, and it’s now sitting in the field behind the stables waiting for some love.

Non movers (some quite literally):

Do we have to?

Go on then…

Most of these are sat appreciating* behind the stables.

The Bottom Line:

I make that 22. I desperately want to get that number down, but everything keeps breaking and I only really want to send stuff out in a useable condition. I’m also a fucking idiot and I keep getting more cars.

How many work? Enough that we can normally find a car to use. Up until December it was about 6, which seems to be the natural balance of things. In true winter form however, everything has now broken at once and I’m spending my evenings in the dark and the cold wondering if I should’ve chosen jigsaw puzzles or making ships in a bottle as a hobby.

 

I'm looking for one of those 3.0 Outback's for when/if I ever manage to sell this W124, what's up with yours just out of interest?

[jmsguzzi]

Out: 

BMW 523i 

Mercedes 230TE

In/out/in:

Subaru Forester All-Weather (current daily)

in/out:

Peugeot 205 GTX

SAAB 9-5 2.3t 

BMW Z3

Citroen Xantia 

In: 

Mercedes 300E (it’s for sale though)

[barrett]

Normally I make jokes about people adding to this thread so early on when there are three weeks of car-buying time left (and I do tend to buy cars in December or January - everybody's broke so it's the best time to do a deal I find) but for the first time since I started driving there has been NO MOVEMENT in the Barrett fleet in 2023! In fact it's been about 18 months with nothing happening, which is absolutely ridiculous. I did come quite close to buying something but the day I went to look at it I was in the middle of a bit of a health issue where I was pretty sure I wasn't going to make it to the end of the year and it felt like another stupid thing somebody else was going to have to deal with so I walked away (it was also exceedingly rusty). I am going to try my hardest to atone for this cowardly decision in 2024, as long as I can remain employed reliably enough to get some money together.

[Rust Collector]

3 hours ago, jmsguzzi said:

I'm looking for one of those 3.0 Outback's for when/if I ever manage to sell this W124, what's up with yours just out of interest?

It's doing the typical Subaru thing where rampant corrosion is causing the body shell to make a bid for freedom from the floor pan. Its rear inner arches don't attach to the outer arch at any point now, there's just an inch wide gap of jagged edges and tetanus; it's quite impressive.

[Datsuncog]

19 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

It's doing the typical Subaru thing where rampant corrosion is causing the body shell to make a bid for freedom from the floor pan. Its rear inner arches don't attach to the outer arch at any point now, there's just an inch wide gap of jagged edges and tetanus; it's quite impressive.

Ah yes, sounds remarkably similar to what my Forester did.

It was like someone had gone round the perimeter of the floorpan with a can opener; it was indeed quite impressive in a way.

I'd been under there fitting new discs and pads barely a twelvemonth earlier and all seemed ok, so for it to just dissolve over the course of a year must have involved some serious overtime for the rust bug - even more so since it was off the road for the duration of the previous winter.

Great cars otherwise, but by cracky they like to crisp up.

[dozeydustman]

1 out

Cracking to drive but became unreliable. 
 

2 in

gutless but fun to drive.

madam loves it. Goes pretty quick but handling is stodgy.

 

Also sold 2 Corsas on behalf of friends, but I know that doesn't count as they didn't get my names on the log book.

 

[RobT]

Only two purchases for me this year (both In and Out) which must be some kind of record.  I end the year on three.

In/Out

Fiat Marea.  Low millage ex-giffer car that drove really well.  Ticked a box and sold it to a bloke who wanted the world for £400.  I genuinely think I'm done with selling cheap cars to the masses.

 

In/Out

Polo project that I bought off my postman.  It'd sat unused for two years and I thought I was on to a nice little earner, but nope.  I spent a few months doing some jobs, acquired a new MoT and then the head gasket went after a celebratory drive on the motorway.  Wasn't sure if I could be arsed fixing it but I took my time and got there in the end.  Sold via a classic auction at a loss.  But at least I got one road trip out of it as the auction house was 200 miles away.

 

Remainers

Morris and Metro.  Both are runners, more or less, and I'm trying to use the Morris as often as possible over the winter.  I keep wondering whether to sell it and replace it with more historic chod, like a Saab 96 or something.  

 

Xedos.  Still here on main car duties.  Future jobs are a pair of tyres and the exhaust centre section.  I keep patching it up but might have to bite the bullet before MoT time in March.  Not looking forward to that!  I keep bodging it with silicone sealant, and yes I don't care.  Does a better job than the paste shit.

 

[wesacosa]

still a lot of love for that Xedos 😍

[Schaefft]

Yeah, if it wasn't an automatic I'd totally want dibs on it!

[MrGTI6]

Started the year with just the 306 GTI 6, which has been my faithful servant for several years now. 

 

I fancied a change from the Pug, so I treated myself to a Megane 225. I'm sure it must have been chipped/mapped or something, it went like a rocket! Despite the Renault being better in every measurable way, I couldn't bring myself to sell the Pug, so I sold the Renault instead. I hope to buy another one at some point in the not-too-distant future.

 

Meanwhile, I bought my first bike, a Triumph Sprint ST 955i. I haven't used it as much as I'd have liked due to poor weather conditions and a bad back. I'm planning to make up for that in 2024!

 

The missus wanted us to have a modern car that she could drive from time to time, and decided we should get a Hyundai Kona because her parents have one. She drove it once, decided that the (admittedly awful) lane assist system was trying to kill her, then refused to drive it anymore, but also didn't want to get rid of it. I used it for a while but soon became bored with it. In the end I sold it through Motorway, and only told her after it got collected. 

 

Replaced that with a lovely CLK320 CDI. Probably the best long-distance cruiser I've ever owned. I sold this to make way for my first Alfa.

 

Another ULEZ refugee, this time a diesel Giulietta. A gorgeous car with a stunning red leather interior. £35 annual tax and capable of 70mpg+! I ought to have kept this one really.

 

Last month, I allowed both my car and bike MOT to lapse and found myself in need of some wheels urgently. This little Picanto appeared on Facebook Marketplace within walking distance of my house. Despite having a habit of getting stuck in third gear, it did an excellent job at keeping me mobile for a couple of weeks. I was toying with the idea of keeping it as a cheap back-up car. It's now sold and its new owner will be collecting it in a couple of weeks.

 

Despite already having too many cars at this point, I took on yet another ULEZ victim, this time a (very) green Audi A3. However, since I bought it, it's just sat around not being used. I put it up for sale last weekend, and tomorrow it's getting Roffled off to a lucky* new owner.

 

I'm posting this now in the hope that I don't buy anything else in 2023. Wish me luck... 🤣

[mk2_craig]

1 hour ago, MrGTI6 said:

Triumph Sprint ST 955i

Great bikes. And yours is in a great colour. Well bought! 

[RobT]

3 hours ago, Schaefft said:

Yeah, if it wasn't an automatic I'd totally want dibs on it!

Well, the auto 'box threatens to go full bork every now and again by holding the gears and flashing the HOLD light on the dash.  Dodgy solenoid?  Either way I'll keep using it until it by becomes a bigger problem.  There's no pattern and it doesn't happen for months on end.

[captain_70s]

No change.

'77 Triumph Dolomite 1300, on fleet since 2012
'83 Triumph Acclaim, on fleet since 2018
'89 Volvo 740, on fleet since 2021

The entire fleet is even roadworthy. This may be in part due to my not buying any new tat to distract me...

[rob88h]

Hmmm. 2023’s not gone exactly to plan, but some interesting motoring nonetheless!
I was hoping to reduce my numbers and focus on some of the ones that have been here a while.

Instead I acquired the following: 

Rav4 (now with @BorniteIdentity)

Mk2 Focus (now with @red5, maybe)

LS430 (now with @Rust Collector)

BX Leader, still here.

Rusty Mk1 Focus (now with Benfleet Scrap)

 

The cars that still hang round with the BX, the ones that I should have worked on are:

The Mini

The Granada

The MX-5

(oh, and the Moped Collective, x3 Raleigh Runabouts)

The others are:

The other mk2 Focus

The 440

In=5, Out=4, Non movers=5(+bikes). New total=6(+bikes)

I don’t mind if 2024 brings more cars in churn, I just hope to be holding fewer in total at any one point!

[Six-cylinder]

2023 – In 6

There was always a plan to buy one car in 2023 and I had been selling cars through 2022 to achieve that. Yes I bought a pre-war 1933 Rolls Royce 20/25 with Park Ward bodywork. Still a touch of Autoshite about it being the cheapest I could find running, it has slightly dodgy paint work, broken fuel gauge, a dragging clutch and missing the spirit of Ecstasy!

It was not long into 2023, “the year of no more random purchases” I got a message did I want to save the Mitsubishi Sigma 3.0 estate I had admired when it visited me in 2016 as the clutch was gone. Big Thanks to Talbot, Andyrew and Morrissital SLX it is now MOTed.

I had a message from Andyrew offering me a pick from his collection and I chose to buy the MX5 MK2, random yes but I knew how much work had been done under that scruffy exterior. I only kept it 4 months. I struggled a bit with getting in under the full size airbag steering wheel after my small Momo wheel on the MK1, but the real reason was the £365 road tax on a car I was going to use occasionally for less than 1,000 miles a year.

A further message came from Andyrew offering me his Discovery MK1 300 TDi manual before he offered it to the world. The yes reply was by return, after all I had only owned one other MK1 Discovery and that was a V8 Auto! Andyrew has done a lot of work to it but it needs more and I have found somebody who loves MK1 Discos to do it so next year it should be out and about.

The MG TF 1.6 was rather strange, Mrs6C came into my office one evening and asked if I had seen the yellow MG TF for sale and that could be my new winter beater. I pointed out it only had 2 days MOT left, needed some work and was in North Norfolk. When Mrs6C offered to take me next day to collect it I knew I was beaten! It is all MOTed and running now and I like it, but not as a winter beater.

The Ad for the Volvo 480ES was sent to me and like a moth to a flame I was attracted to it.  

2023 – Out 2

1986 Mercedes 230TE W123 - I loved that car but the job list was long and the straw that broke the camel's back was not being able to find a rear arm that supports the spring at a reasonable price.

2002 Mazda MX5 1.6 – fitting under the steering wheel could have been sorted with a new steering wheel but the £365 road tax was just too much.

[Schaefft]

Liked for the Sigma, the efforts undertaken to get it on the road are praiseworthy.