stevea
Part of things
Posts: 281
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I'm another one to say go for it, but as suggested, try to pick the time and route you travel to avoid slow or stopping traffic especially if you're not too sure about the cooling system, beware of the road works on the M4/M5 junction. Also worth getting together some brake/clutch fluid, oil and spare coolant just in case.
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have faith and take the plunge exactly the way i do it ! just take a small toolkit litlle bit of oil and coolant and don't worry too much
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if sparks don't fly you're ridin too high !
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Live dangerously! Back in the '90s, I bought two cars that I think qualify for the madness: 1997ish: And 2001 First one was being sold by a dealer in Practical Classics. £1200 Visa Decapotable. Looked okay in the pics, paid half up front, got a lift to Milton Keynes and then a train to Lyskeard. Got there and the car was utter dreck. Windscreen surround gaffer taped. Massive dent in the back with a fist-sized lump of Isopon in it. No key - screwdriver. But i needed to get home and was young and stupid. Jumped in, started driving. Car made it almost to South Wales to visit a friend in Swansea before I had a choice of wipers, lights or engine, but not all at once. Continued journey to Scotland the next day - at Charnock Richard I had to start it by shorting the starter. Got across most of the A7 but by Crailing I was coasting and bump-starting to save what little power was in the battery, the alternator having packed in again. I essentially threw away £1200 on that purely so I could get home. The latter one - again, from a magazine not internet - "Mint, been garaged forever, £400 VX2300 Auto Estate". Got to Watford, bloke immediately says he'll take £200. WTF? Aha. It's filler all the way from waistline to sills. Sod it, pay, get driving. It's running on three cylinders. The high beam doesn't work, the level just flaps about. Get a decent distance up the M1, and the engine decides to run on four. As I pass Washington heading towards Newcastle, the sun rises and the radio suddenly bursts into life with Coldplay's "Don't Panic". I find a peg and use it to stop the high beams winking on and off if I knock the lever. Naturally the car failed the MOT and was another victim of rip-off, dishonest Borders garages (in that I couldn't fix it, and having had my Ventora trashed, wasn't going to trust anyone else to) so I sold it with all the remaining panels I had from the Venny still in it. Both of those trips were well over 300 miles. I wouldn't worry. And these days you see so much more before buying, if people aren't deliberately hiding stuff.
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`state
Yorkshire and The Humber
Posts: 1,215
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I like to do long trips at night so theres less traffic.Also the AA/RAC are less busy so they get to you quicker. Ive driven allsorts all over the country and only ever had to call the AA out once at near 4am.They got to me on 20 minutes and i was on my way half an hour later. Its all the joys of car ownership.
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Look at all the plastic people who live without a care.Try to sit with me around my table,but never bring a chair.
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lae
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,045
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I bought a Datsun Cherry off the forum a few years ago for about £180, with a bad misfire... drove it from north Wales to York with no breakdown cover and no test drive!
Mind you, the w123 I just bought broke down on the journey from Preston to Coventry and I had to call insurance... I got picked up an hour later and was given a hire car and it was delivered on a lorry a few days later. If I hadn't had breakdown cover I would've been buggered (or at least would've had to pay hundreds of pounds to get the car recovered), so I would say it's definitely worth it.
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Currently: Mk1 Focus blandmobile
Formerly: 1969 MG Midget 1972 Avenger GT 1981 Datsun Cherry 1989 Corolla 1979 Mercedes W123 200D 1995 Ford Falcon 1996 Ford Telstar (bet you had to google that one)
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dooooooooooo eeeeeeeeeeeeeeet
having said that i'm on my final callout for the year and the last car i bought broke down on the way home (I had to buy a new battery from the AA man - bah!)
i did about 150 miles for the last car that hadn't left the garage for a year, 250 odd in the car before that and about 150 the one before that - all with little to no trouble
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Kieran
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,092
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Its an obvious amswer really, be prepared for the worst (terminal breakdown on a motorway) and just do it.
I drove my 1972 Skoda s100 from cz back to Barnsley (about 1000 miles or so). It was registered as "for spares only", and hadn't turned a wheel for about a year. Flew over, a quick service, drove it back. Piece of curse word!
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The Ashby Jackson fleet:-
1979 Mini Clubman 1.8 K series 1978 Skoda 110r Project 130RS K-oupe 1978 Austin Allegro 1500 SDL Estate 1984 BMW K100 Sidecar outfit 1999 Yamaha FZS 1000 Fazer 1991 Kawasaki ZXR400 race bike 2002 Kawasaki ZX9r race bike
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Get on with it! I bought the GT6 in Portsmouth after flying from Dublin, none of the rear suspension moved and it had questionable brakes at best. I drove it from the bottom end of England to the north west of Ireland including a breakdown, a missed ferry, no tools, no spares, overnight, alone (and god knows I'm no mechanic!). All part of the fun of getting to know your new car
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Club Retro Rides Member
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Grab some tools, some cable ties and at least a gallon of each essential fluid, some jump leads and go for it! Plan your route, charge your phone and make sure you tell a grown up, in case they have to come looking for you.
I bought a car in Newcastle (200 or so miles from me). Spoke to the guy on the phone and asked if it was driveable. 'It starts, stops, turns, isnt missing any lights or windows, it'll be fine!' The seller assured me. We turned up to find it didnt have a tailgate, speedometer or any bumpers. Drove it back anyway, LOL! Another time I 'megabussed' it to London, got the train to Portsmouth, the taxi to the sellers house (600 or so miles from home/destination) Imagine my joy when she told me 'Its got a flat battery!'. No jump leads, no other cars or people about. Apart from the seller and I there was no-one else on the farm! Had to wait on her Dad driving up on his lunch to jump start it!
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mt2man
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,366
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The bloke picking up my Kadett will be driving it from Portsmouth to Scotland! I think he is slightly mad, not because i don't think the car will make it, i have every faith the car will! I would just be so so bored driving for 8 hours! haha
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I drove a few hundred miles at brake neck speed in a 40 year old french beemer. Never seen before, to make the ferry back to blighty. It loved it, window switch broke and spent 90 percent of the journey blasted by wind. My hair was set blown over to 1 side when I got home, ha ha....do iiittttt
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steve900
Part of things
Idle & Shiftless
Posts: 85
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Do it dude - I Megabus'd it from Sheffield to Inverness, train up to Thurso and then drove back to South Yorks in my Saab no probs, well none with the car anyway!
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Saab 900 Saab 9000
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Clement
Europe
ambitious but rubbish
Posts: 2,095
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In the end it's just a car, that is supposed to run. I regularly drive 12hrs straight in my forty-eight-and-a-half horsepower Cortina, never had a real problem. Well I did lose part of the carb linkage but I had cable ties - sorted. Bring a few tools, WD40, and all the stuff others have mentioned, and don't forget to have some music as well. Bonne route !
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nofrills
Posted a lot
my wings are made of Steeeeeeeel!!!
Posts: 1,243
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i am off to birmingham on sunday to collect my new car, 157 mles away form my house
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Should be ok - the carbs are unlikely to be far enough out to cause damage. And if they are it'll be obvious - it won't idle, and will probably pink horribly. I've done hundreds of miles with poorly adjusted carbs and while it's cost me a bit extra in fuel and been annoying in traffic I've not killed it yet.
The one thing I'd do is invest in a spare set of points and a condensor (ideally NOS rather than modern production). IME they are the bits most likely to give trouble on a car that's not done many miles. It would be worth eyeballing the points gap before you set off too.
Do it - and enjoy. ;D
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stevea
Part of things
Posts: 281
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wafers GSi2000, if it's got it's original carbs they are not so easy to adjust unless you have the right tool, so they probably have not been messed about with too much, hopefully they should not be too far out.
A lot of insurers have breakdown recovery as standard, I have my GT6 with Peter James, great service and reasonable premiums.
As said, it's worth getting a few ignition components, dizzy cap, rotor arm, points and condenser. I got fed-up with my Delco dizzy very quickly as the rotor arm had a nasty habit of jumping up off the shaft.
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Last year when I bought my Alfa 155 I drove it from Glasgow to Essex. It had 6 days left on the mot. I paid 250 quid as it needed a 'few' bits doing on it. And drove it with no breakdown cover, and rather enthusiastically (as it makes you do that!) and got home with no problem at all.
Who says Alfa's always break down?
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Maximum signature image height = 80 pixels.
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AB car pix
Posted a lot
Car mag' snapper
Posts: 1,337
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Most of my car buying involves a several hundred mile trip in an unknown quantity. I've always really enjoyed a good roadtrip to buy new car, I think its one of the best times in car ownership! Here's a little look back through my photobucket to see how some random car buying trips went. (There does seem to be a theme of me getting away with it in random unknown cars, and mate's cars doing lots of breaking on the journeys!!!) London to Glasgow perfectly happily in my Horizon late last year, with only 70s spongy seat backache syndrome to deal with: On another trip I had to use this: To buy this, my 155 Q4 in Gosport a 2 years ago... and drop by an MOT station on the way home in Gloucester! (It acted up a bit, but nothing to end the journey). Liverpool back to Glasgow after buying this V6 Alfa was no problem for the new car, but my mate's Granada did have some autobox woes! My first drift project Sierra I bought in Thurso (almost as far away as you can go in Scotland!) and drove it home via a drift day in Crail, lol (Ahh, this did also include a mate's W123 failing during the journey!) A mate buying a Cossie (which is now mine) in London, and having some engine death..... Massive spectacular engine death and hole in the crankcase in a mate's Capri on the way to get a car for me... (can't even remember what car it was, but I do know that Capri died with a full tank of petrol!). Bought this XR2 for my girlfriend in Essex with no T&T and happily drive home with all 4 wheel bearing hanging off. Got home fine with no pulls or anything (and drove it to its pre booked MOT the next day!) Not a buying trip, but here's me with my old V6 155 at the Ring with no brakes left and leaking head gaskets (but still going fine!). The last time I thought I'd be sensible and take a trailer, the bloody borrowed piece of curse word trailer lost a wheel..... and that messed up my week and wallet massively with the subsequent replacement hire trailer, and second round trip to collect the car again, etc! Whereas my mate who bought a Mk2 Cortina in the same trip had no issues driving back a few hundred miles! Don't think I've ever had a new purchase strand me, so I say buy RAC onward travel (so you get your car recovered and a free hire car if things go wrong), and go fetch some old cars! ;D
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1979 Chrysler Horizon 1.3 GL 1980 Ford Granada 2.8 Ghia 1985 Ford Sierra 3dr 1985 Ford Escort Mk3 1988 Ford Sierra Sapphire Cosworth 1989 Ford Escort 1.3 Popular 1995 Volvo 960 1996 BMW 525i 1998 BMW 323i 1999 BMW 530d 2003 BMW 530i . www.facebook.com/ABCARPIX
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MK2VR6
Posted a lot
Mk2 Golf GTi 90 Spec
Posts: 3,329
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Wellllll, there's an update of sorts. Thanks for all the responses. Looks like I'll be collecting it next weekend now, so watch this space. To say I'm now getting the jitters about buying a slightly scruffy GT6 at the lower end of the price range is an understatement - what am I going to find when I go see it?! Here's hoping it's ok after all (fingers crossed). *Edit, looks like I've let the cat out of the bag - yes the car in question is a Triumph GT6! It's also 40 years old and I'm seriously wondering just how 'solid' it's actually going to be. Here's hoping.....
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Last Edit: Jul 7, 2012 15:30:42 GMT by MK2VR6
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Stu
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,913
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Great thread, and best of luck collecting the GT6 - keep us updated!
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'89 BMW E30 325i Sport, '04 MINI Cooper S, '09 Volvo V70 D5
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