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Nothing new to report, i just thought i'd post a few pictures of the Carlton i took tonight before i begin the de-stickerization... Hopefully at the weekend if by some miracle it's dry  Actually if you don't mind i'm going to do a bit of cross-pollenisation from my other thread which featured my mk2 Carlton, and just chop a chunk out of that thread and add it here just for comparisons sake:- Anyway, while i was out i realised that i had neglected to put up any pretty pictures of my Carlton, i'll admit, these are not great, but i try to make an effort with my car photographs so that i have some sort of rekord of it for my own uses! Unfortuanately because of the rain, and it being dark i had to take my photos in a car park. So i went to a Jet wash, blasted off all the New Forest mud that i had collected en route, found a car park, and wiped it down with a chamois before taking a few pictures.  This one's for all you Borbet loving wheel whores!    I think this one is my favourite!  Again, another one for all you Borbet fans! Now I've refreshed your memory on how that looked, here's tonights efforts with the mk1 Carlton, again because of the rain, and it being dark i had to take my photos in a car park, i'm not sure if this adds to the ambience of it all or not to be honest...  The Pistonpoppets have christened this "The Stickerbook Car" I wonder what they'll be calling it after the weekend?     I'm not sure where i'm going with this yet. It's funny, i've been thinking about having a mk1 Carlton estate for so long now, i had all these plans for it, but now, sitting here looking at it, i'm not sure what i want to do! I spent over an hour today looking at it, and thinking that it's such a nice looking machine (Its an eye of the beer holder thing!) I'm pretty sure they're the wheels i'm going to roll on, and i'm pretty sure i'm going to add a tow bar as i've managed to get hold of one for a mk1 Carlton estate. But apart from that, i dunno... I get the stickers off first, have a look at how the bodywork is underneath, and then start hunting down a few more parts... Stay tooned! |
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Dec 16, 2015 11:06:42 GMT
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Looks like a largeish area to get sorted on the rear end of the front wing in that last photo? I know it's a kind of scene thing to do, but I think the front would look pretty ok with clear indicators.. And if you're doing the fronts... (you probably can't do the rears due to none existing!) Also needs some lows, or with how high it is now, maybe a bit of a lift, some ruggeder tyres and a roof rack for that not quite 4WD look?  Be nice if the semi spats on the MkII were possible on the MkI, too! I look forward to seeing what happens! |
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Dec 22, 2015 17:05:30 GMT
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Sorry for the blast back to the past but, what haappened with the Ranger in the end? I didnt see any follow up.
And on that subject I hate ebay, and especially people on ebBay who win stuff then arrive to knock you down. I sent a guy back to London from Lincoln after he'd driven 3+ hours with his trailer to collect my car.
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Looks like a largeish area to get sorted on the rear end of the front wing in that last photo? I know it's a kind of scene thing to do, but I think the front would look pretty ok with clear indicators.. The picture of the large area on the rear end is a bit misleading, sure enough there is rust there, but it's not as bad as it looks, what you're actually looking at there is where the black paint on the bottom of the wing has peeled off revealing the gold paint underneath...  See... Should be A-ok... Hopefully. As for the clear front indicators, yeah, theyr'e a bit 'scene' but i'd love a set if i could find some, i'm not sure anyone makes them, but if anyone knows different, please don't keep it to yourself! As for the rear lights, i'm thinking tint them completely red, then add a set of 'blu-dots' in the correct place! Sorry for the blast back to the past but, what haappened with the Ranger in the end? I didnt see any follow up. And on that subject I hate ebay, and especially people on ebBay who win stuff then arrive to knock you down. I sent a guy back to London from Lincoln after he'd driven 3+ hours with his trailer to collect my car. I hate eBay too, it's the way it's done so that no matter what the seller has no protection at all! The stupid thing is that you have to have a paypal account to be on ebay, so they should do it so that if you win an auction the seller is paid instantly from the winning bidders account. This would stop all the people who just bid on stuff without ever having any intention of following the transaction through and actualy buying whatever it is they've won on eBay. It would also stop all the idiots who think it's ok to buy something, then turn up and start haggling over the price. I can understand why people try it, I've bid on stuff before, then turned up and the whole time i've been thinking that i'd paid too much, but it's too late then. I shouldn't have got caught up in the frenzy of the auction, but i did, so now i'm paying the price dammit lol! As for the Ranger saga... I've kept quiet about it because every time i think they've let it go, they'd phone me up! I was always waiting for the phone to ring, every time it would ring I would have a little panic! I'd never had to deal with that kind of problem before, but i figured that i probably wasn't alone in it! I still have a copy of their address, and my CCTV captured the address on the side of their van perfectly, and it very readable, anyone want to hazard a guess at what the signwriting on the van says they do?... Would you believe that they resurface drives?!! However, the address they got me to put on the logbook appears to be for a fish resturaunt and is about 60 miles from the address on the van! Anyway i reported everything to the Police, and the last time they called me up i told them that i'd reported it all to the Police, and that they were now harrassing me. That was the last time i heard from them, and hopefully it will be! But for a long time i felt quite twitchy, i dreaded coming home, i felt that one day i'd come round the corner to find Pistonpopper Towers surrounded with travellers in their pick ups! Just recently I did a vehicle check on my Old Ranger and apparently it's untaxed, and run out of MOT. My guess is that it's still being driven about, if it hasn't lost its engine! So, moving on... Now that i've had my mk1 Carlton estate for over a month i figured that i'd take it out for a bit of a spin as i've not really had the time to go for a proper drive in it, my seat time being just the odd trip to pick up the Pistonpoppets from skool at the very most. So without further ado here's obligatory first fill up photo:-  Good news, it was getting dark, chucking it down with rain, and blowing a gale, just the type of weather you want when your taking your new 30 odd year old car out for a bit of a reliability run. Never mind, get yer motor runnin...  Head out on the highway, looking' for adventure, and whatever comes our way. I figured that it was probably going to be ok, but you just never know. I decided to trundle off down the M3 at about 60mph to just ease myself into the drive. Almost immediately i find that there's a problem... The stereo is going to need replacing! So are the speakers, and it probably wouldn't hurt to add a couple more speakers to the interior while i'm at it. I'm a bit torn over this as to what i should do, i've got a good CD player sitting in my shed which would fit the hole, and do the job of providing tunes while i cruise very nicely. But, it wouldn't really fit with the interior of the car, it would probably look too modern, and wouldn't suit it at all. I've no idea why this is worrying me, it never bothered me before but there you go! My other option is that i've found a rather nice looking modern stereo which takes flash drives etc, but it looks like a stereo from the early eighties, so it would suit the interior better! Why am i even thinking about this? Anyway with the stereo turned off as there's only so much snap, crackle, and pop i can listen to without a bowl in one hand and a spoon in my other, i settle down to tune into the noises the car makes. You know what, it doesn't really make any! I mean sure, the engine whirrs away under the bonnet, but i've got no suspension clunks, no brake judder, no transmission, or final drive noise, nothing... Almost nothing! If i was going to be picky, there is the tiniest hint of thrust bearing whine, and i think there may be a bit of air trapped in the coolant system, but thats it... Not too shabby! Anyway i continued along the M3, and on to the M27 where i drove for about 30 odd miles, my confidence levels now rising i decided to head cross country for the remaining 30 odd miles to home, again this it managed without a hitch. But driving along the country roads familiarity kicked in, as did a very strong sense of déjà vu. Now for me, i get déjà vu a lot but this time it was a lot more intense than usual. I suddenly felt like i was 19 years old again, driving the Carlton that i had learned to drive in, all that was missing was a bit of Blondie blaring out of the stereo, and a bit of a blondie sitting in the passenger seat! It made me realise what i great time i'd had when i was younger, i had nothing, and having nothing meant i had nothing to worry about. I was footloose and fancy free, i was having a good time, a damn good time! I was having fun and makin some noise... Damn, i was out of control... It was good! But sitting here thinking about it, i wouldn't swap the life i had back then for the life i have now... I'm still having fun, it's just a bit different now! Anyway it got me to thinking, i always thought that i learned a lot from my Alpine, and i did, that car taught me a lot about driving, owning a car, making friendships and relationships even, make no mistake, my first car, my 1979 Chrysler Alpine registration number JYD 778T taught me a lot of valuable lessons. But, it wasn't the car i learned to drive in, no that award goes to my aunties 1980 Vauxhall Carlton automatic, registration number PLD 813W, the car that i've been searching for for years... The very first car i drove solo(ish)! I remember the day vividly, i was just 15, and i'd practised driving for years starting with my Dad sitting me on his lap, and i steered as we drove around a car park, as my Dad always had automatics, all i needed to do was steer. (it's funny thinking about it, at the time all my friends Dads did this sort of thing with their kids, we all sat on our parents knees and steered the cars around carparks. Does anyone still do that?) Anyway, before too long i was big enough to reach the pedals, and being that Dads car was an automatic, and all i needed to do was select 'Drive' and only had two pedals to deal with ' Go' and ' Whoa' before long i got to try it out with my Dad sitting beside me, as we slowly drove around the car parks. It was great, i enjoyed it, and i thought i got pretty good at it. Then one night when my folks were out i was sitting in my aunties Carlton (she lived in the USA most of the time, but kept a car at my folks house for when she'd come home two or three times a year). So i'm sitting there with my friends, all of us were about 15 at the time, and we'd all done the driving on our parents lap thing, and we'd all pretty much progressed to driving around car parks with our parents sat next to us thing by then too. So we're sitting there, and one of them pipes up, lets go for a drive! I laughed and said, yeah right-o! But then he said he didn't think i could do it, and that i was a CHICKEN!! Oh really i said... Everyone buckle up! It was dark, rainy, and cold. Plus, my folks were out for the evening, so they'd never know... What could go wrong!? So i plunged the ignition key into the barrel, and fired the old thing up. At first there was a lot of laughing and whooping, and a lot of doubt that i would actually go through with it, i mean, anyone could just start the car. I yanked it into 'Drive', and released the handbrake. My friends had all now fallen slient as we headed off into the night! I did one full lap of the town, before heading for home! I was so nervous it was unreal, in my mind every car was a police car, every pedestrian was an off duty police officer! As i pulled back into my parents drive i can honestly say that my nerves were in tatters! But we'd made it, we'd got away with it ha ha... NEARLY! My friend, my next door neighbour, the one who had started all this shizzle, the one who had called me a chicken and dared me to drive it, his Dad was a Police Sergeant... His Dad was waiting in his drive as we pulled up! Oh dear! As i shut the engine off he started to walk towards us. There was no escape, it was really going to hit the fan, and hit the fan it did! The converstation started quite well, he asked if we'd all had a nice drive? We said that it was fairly pleasant, if a little nerve wracking! He then said that we had a choice, he could give a call to the chaps at the station so they could come and have a chat, or... Or we could have a nice little chat with our folks! Oh pooh, talk about being between a rock and a hard place! Who would i rather deal with, the Police, or my Folks? There's not going to be a way out of this where we're not going to be swimming in the brown stuff, but which way do i go? Oh curse word... Here comes my folks, so thats that decision made then!! So then there's the four of us, standing in my folks lounge, with eight angry parents sitting in front of us. I felt like i was stood infront of a firing squad! Man alive did they have a go at us! My Dad just went ballistic, infact all the Dads did, this was back in about 1985, and i am genuinely surprised that i'm not still grounded! After that i never got to drive the car around the car park again! Two years later and i'm learning to drive in the very car that i gotton in so much trouble in before! I'd got my provisional licence, and my Dad put the 'L' plates on to the Carlton. Thinking that the two years that had passed since the night we took it for a drive would've eased my Dads anger i foolishly said, Don't worry Dad, i can do this on my own! He scowled at me and told me this was not a time to get funny! And i was to do this properly, or not at all! Still to soon eh? Ok then off we go. But Dad took me out for driving experience every night, of course being that it was an automatic meant that i needed some extra tuition in a 1.0 litre Rustin Metro with a manual transmission! But just ten lessons, and erm three tests later i had my own full licence! I hit the road for the very first time (legally) SOLO!! Damn i liked that car. I should've bought it when my Aunty sold it, but i didn't have enough money to buy it, let alone insure the damn thing! I don't know what it had that made that car feel special to me, but it had something, and that something never left the back of my mind...  As i arrived back at Pistonpopper Towers after my little reliability run i realised that this one has that something too!! |
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I hate eBay too, it's the way it's done so that no matter what the seller has no protection at all! The stupid thing is that you have to have a paypal account to be on ebay, so they should do it so that if you win an auction the seller is paid instantly from the winning bidders account. This would stop all the people who just bid on stuff without ever having any intention of following the transaction through and actualy buying whatever it is they've won on eBay. It would also stop all the idiots who think it's ok to buy something, then turn up and start haggling over the price. I can understand why people try it, I've bid on stuff before, then turned up and the whole time i've been thinking that i'd paid too much, but it's too late then. I shouldn't have got caught up in the frenzy of the auction, but i did, so now i'm paying the price dammit lol! As for the Ranger saga... I've kept quiet about it because every time i think they've let it go, they'd phone me up! I was always waiting for the phone to ring, every time it would ring I would have a little panic! I'd never had to deal with that kind of problem before, but i figured that i probably wasn't alone in it! I still have a copy of their address, and my CCTV captured the address on the side of their van perfectly, and it very readable, anyone want to hazard a guess at what the signwriting on the van says they do?... Would you believe that they resurface drives?!! However, the address they got me to put on the logbook appears to be for a fish resturaunt and is about 60 miles from the address on the van! Anyway i reported everything to the Police, and the last time they called me up i told them that i'd reported it all to the Police, and that they were now harrassing me. That was the last time i heard from them, and hopefully it will be! But for a long time i felt quite twitchy, i dreaded coming home, i felt that one day i'd come round the corner to find Pistonpopper Towers surrounded with travellers in their pick ups! Just recently I did a vehicle check on my Old Ranger and apparently it's untaxed, and run out of MOT. My guess is that it's still being driven about, if it hasn't lost its engine! Thats a terrible feeling and part of the reason I don't sell cars from my home, from my unit yes, not my home. But glad you're in the clear now  |
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For me, and my youngest Pistonpopper Boxing day can only mean one thing, Romsey's Annual Boxing Day PRE 1976 Car & Bike Meet! I am a relative new comer to this show as i started going the first year that my youngest child was born, and we both have been every year since then, this would be our sixth year of attendance. The rules for showing are relatively simple, This event is open to ONLY PRE 1976 European Cars, Bikes & Commercials & PRE 1986 American Cars & Hot Rods. NO post 1976 Motorbikes. NO post 1976 Euro / J or R.O.W Cars & Commercials. NO post 1986 American Cars or Hot Rods. NO ignoring Marshalls directions. NO d**king about! I think when we initially started to attend it was a lot more relaxed, (I think the first year we attended we drove into the show in a mid nineties Thunderbird) but as i remember due to some very angry people getting turned away (In their Minis i beleive) as the show area was already full up has lead to these rules being in place. Anyhoo, the show generally has a couple of hundred plus cars and trucks in attendance, and also a couple of hundred motorsickles, and is free to attend, although they always have a charity collection on the go, which for the effort the guys put in to organsing the show for us all to enjoy is well worth dipping your hand in your pocket and shelling out some money to help a worthy cause. The event takes place in the ALDI store car park, Crosfield Hall and Bus Station car parks on Broadwater Road, and to be honest is a piece of cake to find. Just drive into the small town of Romsey, and look for a lot of people, and a lot of cars! If you want any more information, or to look at previos years photos etc, then click the linkySo, seeing as the show is for pre 76 European cars, and pre 86 American cars i was wondering what to take. The thing is, at the moment i've got nothing in my collection that meets that critieria that is currently on the road. This is mainly due to poor organisation by me, and the Twelve Cars In A Year saga that has taken over my motoring life this year! I do however still have the Carlton, and the Alpine, which i thought might be different, and rare enough that if i got there early, maybe they'd let me in. But which one should i take?..  I decided that it was about time the Alpine had an outing, as i can't remember the last time it went out, the show starts at 09:00 hours, and it gets busy really early, at 08:00 hours i was heading up the road towards the show area with my fingers crossed, hoping that i would be able to get in. As i approached the entrance to the car parks the marshalls greated me to wave me on by! Dammit, i'll have to park elsewhere then lol. I was expecting that to be honest, i knew the rules, so i wasn't too disappointed. I decded to park not too far away with the rest of the non-show cars in the Waitrose car park, still, never mind, atleast i knew one of my friends was already wandering around at the show, and so i parked next to his van. As ever it was a jolly good show, and we wandered around taking loads of photos and catching up with other friends who attended the show. If you're into cars and bikes there really is something here for everyone, and its well worth the effort to visit, especially if you are feeling a little housebound, and have stuffed your face with far too much turkey and mince pies like i had done the day before! Anyway, i'm sure by now you're fed up with me twittering on, so here's a couple of photos of some of the cars that caught my eye at the show, i'll do my best to put a little bit of blurb about them, but please forgive me if i don't get the models or ages quite right:-  I'm guessing here, but i think this is a Chevrolet pick up from the nineties, possibly something like a Silverado? It's a bit playworn, but i like this if i'm honest, and i know that mrs Pistonpopper has been on the lookout for something like this for herself for a while!  A Commer FC van from about 1974? I must admit i've got a soft spot for these, and back in the seventies where my Dad worked they had a couple of crew cab Commer pick ups in teir fleet... I wish i could get my hands on one now, i've always thought that they were a bit more interesting and unique than the ever popular VW offering!  Speaking of which, a VW Type 2, i think. I must admit rough and ready as this little beauty looks, this this is very cool!  Marina coupé complete with Unipart livery. I'm not sure if there's any history to this car at all, or even if its ever raced, but it looks the part to me.  1957 Chevrolet Bel Air station wagon. I've wanted one of these, well, a coupé really, but a station wagon would do, for ever, but never seem to be able to scrape enough of the folding stuff up together to buy one. I usually almost get he money together, then the prices jump up, i'm forever chasing that rainbow lol!  A black Pontiac Trans Am, Burt Reynolds has a lot to answer for!  mk1 Ford Granada. I remember back in the day not thinking much of them, but now i think they're so damn cool it's unreal, and oddly for me, i don't prefer the coupé preferring instead the estate, or even the saloon... Especially in 1970s disco inferno ORANGE!!  Dunno... Could be anything, but that would appear to be a BMW motorsickle engine poking out the front! The execution of the build of this thing was flawless, that aluminium bodyworks was expertly crafted, and i especially liked the copper nose of the thing, which clearly had a former life serving in an airing cupboard as a hot water cylinder in someones house!  1978 Chevrolet C3 Corvette. I don't know what it is about these things, and it would be so impractical for me, but one day, one day, i'll have one!  1976? Toyota Celica liftback... Damn i've missed out on way too many of these back when they were cheap to get your hands on! I reckon i've missed the boat on them now... This one was a blinder!! So thats it gang, if you want to check out some even lower quality photos that i took of the event on film, then please click the smiley 8-) |
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dikkehemaworst
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,636
Club RR Member Number: 16
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Pistonpoppers MotorJournal.dikkehemaworst
@dikkehemaworst
Club Retro Rides Member 16
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Dec 29, 2015 17:49:31 GMT
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that celica liftback has a thread on retrorides.
Do not have the time to look for it , but itś very interesting
Edit :http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/179450/bennys-1976-toyota-celica-gt2000?page=3
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Dec 29, 2015 18:16:11 GMT
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What a fantastic fleet you have! Some very admirable cars there for sure, and the collection range is immense.
Fabulous read as always in your well written discriptions!
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Dec 29, 2015 22:40:43 GMT
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just finished reading your other thread and caught sight of this one another good read think you missed your vocation in life should be a writer. . . oh you are and got a following too haha well done fella excellent read look forward to your ramblings!
cheers paul
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Dec 30, 2015 11:02:15 GMT
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1976? Toyota Celica liftback... Damn i've missed out on way too many of these back when they were cheap to get your hands on! I reckon i've missed the boat on them now... This one was a blinder!! Thanks for the snap! I'd never been to that meet before that day, it was pretty good! I was pretty sure I wouldn't be allowed in as the rules were Pre '76 and it said no Japanese lol maybe the guy didn't quite know what it was but who cares I got a space! |
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So i was listening to HoTWire s *Retro Rides Podcast #1* the other evening, and towards the end of the thing i heard this question:- What is the true cut off point for the number of cars you own? I ask this because I have 8. I have 8 cars and no money. But I want more. But I don't...... you see the confusion? To which HoTWire replied that the true cutoff point for the number of cars you own is three, your project, your daily driver, and your show car/race car, or possibly four, should you have both a show car and a racecar. He went on to say that otherwise you end up having a load of cars, no money, no time, none of them work, and theyr'e all projects and none of them work. He then went on to say that you don't want to end up being that guy whos field you see on the internet thats full of cars that have molded into the ground. Because at some point he/she bought all of those because they liked them, and now they're beyond repair because they didn't have the time or money to do them...  This got me thinking, that's me (puts head in hands!) What you are looking at here is the tip of the iceberg. I started off last year with 13 cars! I know what you're probably thinking, i could've done my whole Twelve Cars In A Year saga without going out and buying anything! So why didn't i? Well several reasons, firstly the stupid bet with my friend, he knows what i've got so he'd know if i was cheating! Secondly of those 13 cars only three of them were in any state to be driven on the road. Lastly, i genuinely am an autoholic, who really should be being treated for in the Henry Ford clinic right now, and i thought the challenge of buying a car a month for the year would be fun... And it was! However i decided early last year that what i was going to do before the year was out was have a culling of my collection. It came to my attention that i was never going to get around to doing them all anytime soon, so i might as well let them go, free up the space, the time, and the money,this time last year that was the plan... It hasn't really gone to plan if i'm honest, sure enough i have sold one car every month(ish) but i've also bought one a month too! So you could probably be forgiven for thinking that i am still left with 13 cars, WRONG!! I'm up to 18 (I think) now! However, of those 18 six are actually on the road!! So atleast now ive gone from having 25% of my collection being driveable to having 33% that i can jump in a go for a spin should i desire! BUT this does of course still mean that 12 cars are projects, laying dormant! Now, the four cars that you see in the above picture are stored off road in a little piece of wasteland, however, this is about to be developed, so i've either got to find a new home for them all, or get rid of them. In my heart i know i want to find a new home for them all, but to be honest, if i do, i'll just be paying out storage for them, and still never do them. But i want to do them, but i don't have the time, or to be honest, the talent! I don't honestly know what to do. But, i want to talk about the Escort.  After listening to the podcast, this, oddly was the first vehicle i thought of. My 1992 Ford Escort van, K101 XOX. I know what you're thinking, that's nothing special. Yep, i'd agree with that, i mean it was ok, but it was just an old mk5 Escort van. The thing is, a long time ago in a galaxy far far away i was a pipefitter, and this was my works van, eventually when i ceased being a pipefitter and went off to college to try and learn to be something else, they let me take the van with me, for nothing! So it became my daily. However time marches on and back in January 2004 it failed its MOT. Various things, cracked windscreen, steering rack, and other bits and bobs.  It got laid up, just temporarily though, or that was the plan, but other things got in the way, other cars, jobs, so on and so fourth. It's now been temporarily laid up for twelve years!  As you can see i have been using it to encourage nature to grow! I've actually been using it as a shed, and the back is full of all kinds of spares for all kinds of cars that i might need someday... Get ready for a flurry of action on ebay!! But what to do with the van? Well, i've decided, i'd quite like to see this thing back on the road! The reason for this is that i'd quite like to put the K101 XOX numberplate on one of my Dads cars, as would he! But the other reason is that i stumbled across this thread by chilly chilly and it got me thinking. When was the last time i actually saw a mk5 escort van on the road? Infact, i don't think i've seen an Escort of any description on the road for a long loooooooooooooooong time! I know that there's probably dozens of you out there with Escorts, and probably even dozens of you near where i live, but i've just not noticed them.  I thought i'd make a start by opening the bonnet, to see what was lurking in there, that was a laugh, the bonnet catch did not want me to see inside, but after quite a lot of gentle persuasion it was open to reveal...  The mighty 1.8 litre diesel engine! Now to be fair to the old thing, when i was still using it this engine ran very well. But before i just drop a battery in there and start cranking it over, what should i do? I had a poke around in the engine bay and although it was full of leaves (how do they get in there, the bonnet was shut!) Once all the leaves were out of the way it was remarkably sound, with very little rust to speak of. although that bonnet will need replacing, that was quite rusty as you can probably see by the slam panel and bumper!  I havn't yet had a poke around underneath, but i'm guessing its going to be fairly bad? It had never needed welding before it was laid up, but i'm thinking that twelve years outside on the concrete won't have done the underneath any good at all! At this point i'm wondering if the best option would be to free up the brakes, get the engine running, and take it to an MOT station so that atleast i know what it needs? I'm not planning a concourse restoration or anything like that, i'm just thinking get it on the road, and maybe tidy it up a little.  So what do you reckon gang? Can it be done, and is it worth doing? |
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Just a photo of how it used to look:-  The poor old thing used to get loaded right up, then driven like a racecar!! |
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343 
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ooh, ooh, I'm all excited now!
But first, it's an addiction, no, really it is. You have it, I have it, we all have it! There is no limit for me, at one point, I had seven cars, one for every day of the week. However, I still wanted another one, just incase one broke down. I wanted the car we all tell ourselves we've had at least one of, doesn't matter what make or model, it's the one that always starts, sometimes after a few seconds cranking but it always starts, the one that only ever fails MOTs on a lightbulb or a windscreen wiper blade,,the one that no matter how you treat it or how much you ignore regular maintenance, it'll still start! I wanted that to be number eight.
Then I got divorced and had to let six go, she got one and I sold five ( that was hard, but I had no choice ). Once I had my own house sorted out, I started again, this time I made it to four and then believe it or not having remarried, I got divorced again ( Ho-hum ). Then I met a wonderful woman who's also into cars, so I started again and got to six, but, it didn't feel right, because they weren't my original seven. I wanted my original seven!
A bit of searching proved my worst fears, six of them had been destroyed one way or another and the seventh wasn't for sale. I then thought, I'll just have one of each type then, you know, a saloon, a coupe, a convertible, a pick up etc, etc. Lack of money stopped this idea though.
Now, after two divorces and six of my cars being scrapped you'd think I'd settle for just mine and hers maximum, but no, I still want more. I could own 365 of them and I'd still need another one as a spare..........
It's an addiction, I love it, I'm glad that there's no cure for it
Now the exciting bit, you have a fox body in that photo and what looks like another one sat in front of it - the blue one and the red body with the pallet over the engine. It's got LX wheels on it, so I'm guessing it's an LX, having said that though, mines a GT and it has LX wheels on at the moment.
Also in one of the photos, there's a white saloon in the corner with a black vinyl roof, I cant make it out though, what is it? If you don't mind me asking
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1968 Dodge Charger
1985 Chevrolet Camaro
1993 Toyota Hilux Surf
2001 Ford Mondeo
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What a fantastic reply. Youre both right. its an addiction, but I keep telling myself (and others) that when they ask me "why so many cars, steve?" my answer is quite simply..... "its better than taking drugs" I cant actually prove that, because Ive never taken drugs (only the ones that keep me from dying) but its what I come to think its like. Sometimes I get home from work, pull up on the drive and see 3 cars on it...... then theres 1 in the garage, and one in the back garden.....then I cast my mind up to my unit which is full with 3 other cars and 2 ot my brothers... Ive had my B series manta for 8 years now and its still no where near finished because other "projects" come and go and the time is never spent on the original project. Ive got my Yank, which is my childhood dream car...... my landrover, which in the event of towing fowl weather or offroading is quite useful, my show cars x2 and 2 daily drivers (one modern, one old)..... not to mention a couple of "on the side" projects. I think a few of them will go in the near future, It just pains me to part with the ones ive grown quickly attached to, and knowing of their rarity, means I will never have them again.....  |
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1987 Opel manta GT 2.0 16v
1976 Opel manta s project
1985 Opel Rekord E 2.2i
1992 Vauxhall Carlton 2.3TD
1989 Mercury Grand Marquis
2005 Landrover discovery 3
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The very first car i drove solo(ish)! I remember the day vividly, i was just 15, and i'd practised driving for years starting with my Dad sitting me on his lap, and i steered as we drove around a car park, as my Dad always had automatics, all i needed to do was steer. (it's funny thinking about it, at the time all my friends Dads did this sort of thing with their kids, we all sat on our parents knees and steered the cars around carparks. Does anyone still do that?) This was also my very first experience of "car control". Sitting on my Grandads lap whilst he operated the pedals and gear selector of his mk3 Astra estate diesel, and I did the steering! He also used to let me guide the car in reverse into the driveway. Just reading that brought back so many memories! (even if, as you could tell by car choice, I am a little younger than yourself!) My first time driving a manual car was at 15, in my parents Rover 400 1.6 on an abandoned airfield with my dad being a somewhat nervous passenger. It blew the headgasket whilst my mum was driving the next day and she blamed me! (I blame the fact it was a Rover K-series engine personally!) |
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1987 Volkswagen Golf GL 1.8 Auto - Zender special 1981 Honda NX50 Caren - Trial by fire 1993 Volkswagen Polo Genesis 1.0 - Daily runner/Project 1998 Saab 900i Convertible - Girlfriends |
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this thread, which was already very excellent, has taken on a whole new level of intrigue gotta have a go at saving the van, i wouldnt be surprised to see the old esser lump fire pdq and mk5 must be pretty rare now! even sightings of the later ones are getting fewer and further between! on the note about, as SHMBO calls it, car madness.. madness in this regard is fun! embrace it!we all have to be mad about something everyone on here has it and its waaaaaay better than shoes, or stamps, or hat or..... |
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Last Edit: Jan 8, 2016 19:37:06 GMT by s1105117
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i should add i love the wasteland storage, shame gotta go, building work is so overrated....
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Last Edit: Jan 8, 2016 23:56:20 GMT by s1105117
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orangecords
Part of things
yawner extraordinaire
Posts: 892
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another of your threads bookmarked lol
escort van needs doing if you ask me....but don't wash it! rolling that with green mouldy curse word all over it would be hilarious...
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I then wanted to start cleaning the interior as it stinks of wood (the material not the smell of a boner) best quote ever! |
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Jan 10, 2016 21:09:49 GMT
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Now the exciting bit, you have a fox body in that photo and what looks like another one sat in front of it - the blue one and the red body with the pallet over the engine. It's got LX wheels on it, so I'm guessing it's an LX, having said that though, mines a GT and it has LX wheels on at the moment. Also in one of the photos, there's a white saloon in the corner with a black vinyl roof, I cant make it out though, what is it? If you don't mind me asking Well spotted my friend, indeed there are couple of Fox Mustangs there, i like them alot, they're very light, handle moderately well, and are fun to drive and own, i've had four of them i think (one of them caused a bit of a stir on a Mustang forum once, as they couldn't decide what i'd done to it, but that's a story for another time!) All my Fox Mustangs apart from one had the four cylinder 2.3 engine. But because they're quite small and light, that 2.3 engine is more than enough. I might sound a bit bonkers here, but i liken them to driving a quick(ish) mk1 or 2 Escort. Thats the feeling i get whenever i drive one anyway. But of course, to the armchair motoring enthusiast, they're not a real Mustang! Whatever the heck that is! Of course it's a real Mustang, it came from Ford, and they put a Mustang badge on it, what else could it be? I actually prefer the four cylinder to the V8 in the Fox, it just works better for me, i've always thought the V8 felt a little nose heavy! But anyway, you were interested in the white saloon with the vinyl roof yes? Well, it's not actually a saloon, tiz a coupé...  A Volvo Bertoné 262 coupé to be precise. Id wanted one for years, but they just don't seem to turn up that often, and when they do they're either too far gone to repair, or atleast to repair by me, or, they're to expensive for me. I brought this in from Americaland about 18 months ago, and when i bought it i was so chuffed i couldn't wait to get it. But it was such a struggle to get it here that by the time i got it i was feed up with the thing.  The woman who sold it to me was such a pain in the buttocks it was unreal. I paid for it straight away, as i got it really cheap, and didn't want her trying to back out of the deal! But it took her ages to contact me to arrange a time when the shippers could collect it. When we finally arranged a time and day for it to be collected, when the shippers turned up, she was out! This went on and on about three or four times. Then she faffed around with the title documents by not sending it to the shippers, so even though they had the car, it couldn't leave the USA! It took about TEN months to get it here, i was really hacked off by the time it arrived. So really it's just stood there, and it's a good car, and it's rust free! I should sell it really, but i keep thinking if i sell it, when will i get another chance at owning one? This year... It's going to be registered! As for the Escort van, well, to echo what has been said by orangecords , amoungst others... escort van needs doing if you ask me....but don't wash it! rolling that with green mouldy curse word all over it would be hilarious... But it's going to get a thorough clean, that green stuff is a little bit slimey when it's damp, and to be fair, i'd like to see how it looks when it's clean. I have cut down the hedge/vine/creeper that is growing all over it. However, it has forced it's way inside the back doors where they wern't closed properly, and so the interior needs a good clean out too as it's full of decayed plant, and it now smells of wood, to quote swordfish210 :- (the material not the smell of a boner) lol, that's funny stuff Now then, because i was worried about having too many cars and projects lying around, and armed with my freshly gained knowledge on just how many cars you should have (three/four) I did exactly what any other addict would do who has no space to store any more cars, and no time to work on them anyway, i went out and bought another... (bangs head repeatedly against the wall!) Honestly, i really do think it's now time to admit that i have a problem! So what did i buy? Well, if you happen to be following my other story of addiction you will know that back in June i bought myself this Citroën AX.  It wasn't really what i was looking for, but it was in great shape, nearby, and the price was good (i thought!) But i said this at the time:- ...this is not what i was looking for! I had in mind a Citroën XM, in either flavour, hatchback, or estate as i think that they are equally beautiful, and have promised myself one since they came out in 1989! Infact, in 1989 i was so enamoured with the idea of buying one that i bought a coffee table type book all about the Citroën XM, there it is look, actually on my coffee table...  But the beautiful XM still eludes me! (incidentally, if you happen to be the same type of anorak as me, and you're wondering what the ISBN is for the book so you can get yourself a copy for your bookshelf it is:- ISBN 2-85120-315-0) I should've written incidentally, if you happen to be the same type of anorak ADDICT as me, and you're wondering what the ISBN is for the book so you can get yourself a copy for your bookshelf it is:- ISBN 2-85120-315-0. Well, i kept on looking for a Citroën XM, hoping to fit one into the 12 Cars saga, but no luck, but then last week, i found one. And as i didn't read the ebay ad correctly, and thought it was only in Hertfordshire, i bid on it, and won it! I then read the ebay ad correctly and found it to be in Herefordshire! Oh well, thats only twice as far away then lol! Never mind, when they came out i was just 20 years old... 27 years later, i finally get one for myself. Right then, ask all friends if they can give me a lift, er, no, it would appear if my lift getting privalidges have been revoked for the year! So, the train then Aww, £137 one way, and worse than that, it's a five and a half hour journey. Back to friends then! Finally my Brother gives in and gives me a lift! Phew!! Just two hours later i'm stood infront of this... In the pouring rain!  I'll admit that it is a little scruffier than i'd hoped, but it's solid, the interior is very nice, and it's got twelve months MOT on it, so it' can't be all bad!  I know what you're all thinking, and you're all right, and i couldn't agree with you more...  Yup... Totally! I will say one thing though, you'd have thought it would've had a wash before i came to collect it lol! So then, another of my dream cars purchased! I honestly thank my lucky stars that my dream cars are Citroën XMs and stuff like that, it makes acheiving my dreams so much easier! Anyway, here's the first fill shot:-  When i took this photo i thought nothing of it, it was like so many first fill shots that i've taken. Then when i got home, put my anorak on, and added Citroën XM, M295 VMJ to my list of cars i've owned i realised that this car is the sixty-fifth car i've ever owned... Look at the pump numbers in the top left hand corner... Spooky lol! Today, as i got home quite late yesterday, and it was dark, and i was starving marvin, i decided to take my new purchase round to my friends house for his perusal, and appraisal. Now the next bit i hold malc16v completely responsible for lol, over on my other other words of wisdom he said:- What surprised me is the lack of grief and aggro that you have experienced mechanically. One minute i was driving the mile or so to my friends house, then halfway there...  I was coasting to a halt by the side of the road in my new wheels!! Thankyou malc16v ... YOUR FAULT!! You jinxed it lol. I tried to start it a couple of times, but it wasn't having it! So i decided to walk home, get the Carlton, and see what i could do, i had a pretty good idea of what was wrong. Within about five minutes of returning with the Carlton the XM was up and running again. The problem was eventually traced back to a problem with the fuel feed, and the engine had become starved of fuel which of course meant it wouldn't run. Once i had petrol a gallon of fuel into the petrol tank from the can that was in the back of the Carlton, it started on the second turn of the key! Shhh! Don't tell Mrs Pistonpopper, she'll be extracting the wee wee till the end of time if she finds out!  |
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Anyway, while i was out i realised that i had neglected to put up any pretty pictures of my Carlton, i'll admit, these are not great, but i try to make an effort with my car photographs so that i have some sort of rekord of it for my own uses! Unfortuanately because of the rain, and it being dark i had to take my photos in a car park. So i went to a Jet wash, blasted off all the New Forest mud that i had collected en route, found a car park, and wiped it down with a chamois before taking a few pictures.
