It's been an interesting year in terms of cars bought, owned and sold.
December 2016 was a busy month. I'd just sold the Ford Probe...
and bought the 1999 Toyota Corolla, which is destined for my 17 year old son when he passes his test...
The Corolla just passed it's MOT with zero advisories last week. It's just passed 100k as well.
The day after Boxing Day 2016, I also headed down to Ipswich on the train to collect the 1993 JDM Mk1 Nissan Terrano...
and then in mid-January 2017 I bought the W220 S320.
Late January saw the Terrano sold. It's still loved by it's new owner, and used as much off-road as on, so that worked out well. So, on the morning of the day I sold the Terrano, this was the fleet...(Corolla, S320, Terrano, Nissan Maxima, plus Julie's Discovery 3)
March saw me sell the S320, due to a change of jobs and a longer commute to work. It was replaced in April by the lovely '97 Saab 9-5. A smashing car this one...
Another incoming in April was the '83 Datsun Stanza. I used to have one back in 1990 (my second car), and I had loved it. On and off, I'd been looking for another for 20 odd years, so I was chuffed to buy this one locally. 34 years old and only 53k miles...
This one has now been mechanically sorted, so I'd love to have the sills sorted and give it a fresh coat of paint in early 2018, ready for the show season, but we'll see how it goes with the coffee shop to see how much time and money I can devote to it.
In July, we sort of inherited my late father-in-law's old car. A modern Mercedes B180d CDI Sport. We still have it, and it's proving to be a worthy little car to be honest. Pretty unremarkable, but plods on well...
When the B180d came into the fleet, there wasn't any need for the Saab 9-5, so that was sold in July, on the same weekend, to the same guy who bought the Nissan Maxima. Ahh. The Nissan Maxima....
Special car. There weren't many cars which could have persuaded me to part with that Maxima. This was one. '99 E55 AMG. Proper super saloon. Purchased in July, then welded and resprayed...
August saw the final swansong of our caravan and Discovery combination. We took it down to the South of France. These Disco's are fantastic cars when they work, but they are sadly pretty unreliable. Even in France, it split a turbo boost pipe...
We decided in September to do something for ourselves. I put my notice in at work and we started the process of starting up our soon to open coffee shop in Saltburn. That of course means we won't have much spare cash, or weekends, to go away in the caravan, so we put both the caravan and Discovery up for sale. They have both just sold in the last couple of weeks.
Before they sold though, we had the possible issue of selling the Disco, and having nothing to move the caravan with. We knew we needed to move it at least once to a caravan repair guy. Soooo, November saw the next addition. An early (1997) Audi A6, 2.8 V6, 30V. Low miles (119k), and quattro four wheel drive. Nice...
Lovely blue and cream interior. Love it.
So, like I said above, the Disco and caravan both sold a couple of weeks ago.
Next, addition was a surprise. A local car came onto my radar. Only 43k miles. 1998 Rover 618 manual. I've always loved these, ever since my company director let me borrow his red one back in about 1996. This one had belonged to a lady who had recently passed away, and her daughter was seeking a loving home for it. That's where I stepped in..another navy blue saloon with cream leather...
Right. So, we come to today. And the last change of the year. The amazing E55 AMG found a new home. I really didn't want to sell this beast, but the money is better off in the bank at the minute in reserve for the coffee shop rather than sat on the drive rarely driven...so off it went today...
And that sums the year up really. Here's a few fleet pics as the year progressed (mostly focussing on my obsession with 90's saloons)...
and how it stands today...
Even for me, 2017 has been quite a year.
How has your year developed?
December 2016 was a busy month. I'd just sold the Ford Probe...
and bought the 1999 Toyota Corolla, which is destined for my 17 year old son when he passes his test...
The Corolla just passed it's MOT with zero advisories last week. It's just passed 100k as well.
The day after Boxing Day 2016, I also headed down to Ipswich on the train to collect the 1993 JDM Mk1 Nissan Terrano...
and then in mid-January 2017 I bought the W220 S320.
Late January saw the Terrano sold. It's still loved by it's new owner, and used as much off-road as on, so that worked out well. So, on the morning of the day I sold the Terrano, this was the fleet...(Corolla, S320, Terrano, Nissan Maxima, plus Julie's Discovery 3)
March saw me sell the S320, due to a change of jobs and a longer commute to work. It was replaced in April by the lovely '97 Saab 9-5. A smashing car this one...
Another incoming in April was the '83 Datsun Stanza. I used to have one back in 1990 (my second car), and I had loved it. On and off, I'd been looking for another for 20 odd years, so I was chuffed to buy this one locally. 34 years old and only 53k miles...
This one has now been mechanically sorted, so I'd love to have the sills sorted and give it a fresh coat of paint in early 2018, ready for the show season, but we'll see how it goes with the coffee shop to see how much time and money I can devote to it.
In July, we sort of inherited my late father-in-law's old car. A modern Mercedes B180d CDI Sport. We still have it, and it's proving to be a worthy little car to be honest. Pretty unremarkable, but plods on well...
When the B180d came into the fleet, there wasn't any need for the Saab 9-5, so that was sold in July, on the same weekend, to the same guy who bought the Nissan Maxima. Ahh. The Nissan Maxima....
Special car. There weren't many cars which could have persuaded me to part with that Maxima. This was one. '99 E55 AMG. Proper super saloon. Purchased in July, then welded and resprayed...
August saw the final swansong of our caravan and Discovery combination. We took it down to the South of France. These Disco's are fantastic cars when they work, but they are sadly pretty unreliable. Even in France, it split a turbo boost pipe...
We decided in September to do something for ourselves. I put my notice in at work and we started the process of starting up our soon to open coffee shop in Saltburn. That of course means we won't have much spare cash, or weekends, to go away in the caravan, so we put both the caravan and Discovery up for sale. They have both just sold in the last couple of weeks.
Before they sold though, we had the possible issue of selling the Disco, and having nothing to move the caravan with. We knew we needed to move it at least once to a caravan repair guy. Soooo, November saw the next addition. An early (1997) Audi A6, 2.8 V6, 30V. Low miles (119k), and quattro four wheel drive. Nice...
Lovely blue and cream interior. Love it.
So, like I said above, the Disco and caravan both sold a couple of weeks ago.
Next, addition was a surprise. A local car came onto my radar. Only 43k miles. 1998 Rover 618 manual. I've always loved these, ever since my company director let me borrow his red one back in about 1996. This one had belonged to a lady who had recently passed away, and her daughter was seeking a loving home for it. That's where I stepped in..another navy blue saloon with cream leather...
Right. So, we come to today. And the last change of the year. The amazing E55 AMG found a new home. I really didn't want to sell this beast, but the money is better off in the bank at the minute in reserve for the coffee shop rather than sat on the drive rarely driven...so off it went today...
And that sums the year up really. Here's a few fleet pics as the year progressed (mostly focussing on my obsession with 90's saloons)...
and how it stands today...
Even for me, 2017 has been quite a year.
How has your year developed?