A few more of my old chariots of dire....

[AXrescuer]

First off is my old Alpine. Owned by my brother from new, it spent most of its time travelling between the UK and Germany. I was given this in Oct 87 as a non-running freebie and with the help of a friend and a 2nd hand engine was used for just 5 months before it went in as a deposit for my Datsun Cherry in Feb 88.

 

Next up is my Datsun Cherry (Butty). Bought for £1995 with only 8000 miles on the clock in Feb 88 and used daily until it died in Jan 90. Taken as a non-running part exchange for the Cavalier below.

 

So, here is the Cavalier Mk2 I was daft enough to buy never liked it but my wife did so that was it. Ex Foreign & Commonwealth Office, with 25000 miles and FSH. The most basic version I could have bought.

Cost £1495 less £300 from the Cherry. Didn't last long as as I wanted something smaller and fell in love with the idea of getting a Fiat Uno.

 

So now we're up to Feb 1991 and we find this Fiat Uno 60s being sold by a trader in Upminster. A pretty naff limited edition Le Croc (of shite). Did a straight swap for the Cavalier and at first turned out to be a

great little car and truly cheap to run. Sadly, after some use the cracks started to show and it became clear that it was mostly made of Isopon P38.

Weird thing was, my neighbour despite knowing this still bought it which gave me enough cash to buy our next car, a 1985 Renault 11GTL.

 

More cars & pics to follow.....

[gtd2000]

How did you manage to kill an 8000 mile Datsun in 2 years???

[AXrescuer]

The engine seized and I decided not to repair it. It had done almost 49000 miles at the time of its demise. I went all over Europe in that car and often wish that I had kept it going.

It was repaired and returned to the road by its new owner as far as I am aware.

[CortinaDave]

Aye it lasted a while longer...

 

The enquiry is complete

The vehicle details for BUT 919Y are:

 

Date of Liability 01 04 1993

 

 

The Alpine made it to 1989, the uno '95 and the travelling queer until 2000

[gtd2000]

That's pretty good going to kill a Jap car in under 50k miles

 

Was it due to abuse?

[Owain-328i]

A pretty naff limited edition Le Croc (of shite)

 

LOL

[AXrescuer]

That's pretty good going to kill a Jap car in under 50k miles

 

Was it due to abuse?

 

No it wasn't. The engine block just decided to develop a large crack one day. No idea why, car was never thrashed.

[barefoot]

The engine block just decided to develop a large crack one day.

 

SHOCK HORROR- WORLD CHANGING EVENT - Small Japanese engine develops power of Abstract thought!

[gtd2000]

That's pretty good going to kill a Jap car in under 50k miles

 

Was it due to abuse?

 

No it wasn't. The engine block just decided to develop a large crack one day. No idea why, car was never thrashed.

 

Certainly not something you'd expect from a Jap car really unless it had been in an accident previously.

 

Back then it would have been worth bugger all I suppose so not an economical fix.

 

I miss the days when you could buy a 6 year old Hyundai Pony for 250 quid, now that I think about it!

[Rod/b]

Where in Upminster did you buy the Uno? That's where I grew up.

[AXrescuer]

I can't remember myself other than it was a home-based trader. My wife says she thinks the street the bloke lived was called The Meads.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

I miss the days when you could buy a 6 year old Hyundai Pony for 250 quid, now that I think about it!

 

If you take into account inflation and the fact that cars tend to last a bit longer these days, this is not far off:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... 387533656/

[Shep Shepherd]

I can't remember myself other than it was a home-based trader. My wife says she thinks the street the bloke lived was called The Meads.

 

There's a cul-de-sac called The Meads just off Front Lane, not far from the London Underground depot. I lived/worked near Upminster for the best part of five years and as a consequence, I know the area quite well

[MK5 Escort]

I find myself quite drawn to that Cavalier. There's one very similar to that on fleabay at the moment.

 

I always liked the early Fiat Uno, before the 1990 facelift. Something about the rear end styling that appealed to me. An elderly chap about three doors down from our old house had a very early one in red (I'm pretty sure it was a Y reg). What were they like to drive? They've always alluded me.

[Spottedlaurel]

Good stuff. Threads likes this are what AS should be about.

 

The OHC E-series engines in that era Cherry (and the B11 Sunny of the time) are not bulletproof, never heard of a block cracking but the heads certainly had issues and cracked or went porous. Even recently, Mash had problems with his.

 

I bought a 1983 Sunny 1.3 in 1992 for £750 and that had been fitted with a replacement engine. When you traded the Cherry in during 1990 there would certainly have been enough value in it to get it repaired, as seems to have been the case.

 

I used to get a lift in a Uno every so often circa 1992/93, C-reg I think and it was rubbish even at that age. I recall mushrooms growing in the footwell from where it leaked.

[gtd2000]

I miss the days when you could buy a 6 year old Hyundai Pony for 250 quid, now that I think about it!

 

If you take into account inflation and the fact that cars tend to last a bit longer these days, this is not far off:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... 387533656/

 

I hear ya of course but this car above, is 10 years old

 

I did buy an 8 year old Hyundai Coupe for 650 quid in 2009 which was a very good deal