Now before i start rambling on, i realise that my title is supposed to be formatted like this:- Year, Car Name/Type. But the truth is, i don't know what any of them are going to be yet, so please bear with me!
I was having a discussion sometime during the Christmas period with some of my friends about how many cars we'd each owned and i was losing, a lot! Anyway, one of my friends, who is an armchair car enthusiast, and as such has had less cars than me piped up that it's ok for us lot, he'd love to have a cool old car, but cannot afford one! I responded to this by saying what a load of rubbish that is, ofcourse he could afford one. He was adamant he couldn't. So i pressed him on the subject, and asked him how much money he could afford to spend on a classic, retro, or otherwise interesting car. He said that he could afford to spend between £500, and £1000! For this kind of money, i told him, he could have something quite cool sitting in his driveway. But he still insisted that he couldn't get anything interesting or cool for that money. We were all pretty amazed by this little statement, so we asked him what kind of car did he want? His response? I dunno, something like a Shelby Mustang, E-type Jag, or Ferarri or something like that! (Yeah, we'd all like one of those! But none of us who were part of this discussion have any of these things, although, a couple of us have Mustangs, one of us has an old XJS, but the nearest any of us has to a Ferarri is an old Fiat... And it's a Multipla lol!) Anyway, after telling him he was being unrealistic, we pretty much all told him that good, fun interesting cars are out there for less that a £1000! But he was having none of it! Then, because i was being foolish i said something really stupid! I suggested we have a little bet, and that would be that i would buy, drive, experience, and then sell one car a month for a year. Each of these cars should be less than £1000, although if something comes up that i consider to be especially cool or interesting, then i can spend more! If i manage it, and do manage to get through 12 cars in a year, then he was to stop being a whiney-ass, and go out and buy something interesting to drive, and stop complaining that he can't afford a cool retro or classic car!
The cars i choose whatever they may be must be MOTd, and in running order, and not a project, although being tatty is ok, as long as it's got an MOT, and is ready to drive!
As a side note a couple of my other mates who were at this informal gathering of idiots have decided that they too will be playing along, just to add insult to injury, to see if they too can buy, drive, and sell one car a month! One of them lives in Canada, and one in Germany... I cant help feeling their cars might be a bit better than mine, still, no matter, on with the show!
Now, I want to stress that this is NOT meant to be a money making excercise, and i am not a dealer in any way shape or form, however, i do want to get back what i put into buying a car, so for example, if i buy a car for £400, and it cost me £75 to go and get it, when i sell it i want to be looking for £475, this way i can carry on playing! Also, i'll probably want to cover any seller fees too! Oh, and if you're wondering what it is i do for a living, i'm a general dogs-body on a building site!
Anyway, back to the plot, so when i've bought these cars i plan to post it in this thread, and write a little bit about the car, whatever it may be. By the way, if anyone sees something that they think would make a worthy addition to their own collection please do let me know, I am based in Hampshire, and as I've said previously, the cars will be for sale for what I paid for them... So, on that bombshell, here's the first one...
JANUARY.
A 1997 Vauxhall Frontera Sport 2.0litre. 139590 miles.
I'm guessing that there's a fair bit of head shaking going on, but never mind, i like them, and i think they're pretty damn cool! So, how much did it cost, well including a rather expensive, and very slow train journey, about £580. It is also MOTd until July 2015, and in running order, although a little scruffy! First impressions... Well, as i said, a little scruffy, but thats ok, the photos in the ad showed that so i was ready for it! The battery was a little flat, and the interior was filthy, and stunk of wet dog!! Lovely! Also, no petrol in it, i started it up, and the needle crept slowly up to the red, not onto it, up to it... Great! So i said to the seller, where's the nearest petrol station? Oh he said, there's one in the village, about 1/4 of a mile away, and he pointed me in the right direction, and off we went. He was absolutely correct, there was one in the village, but being a Saturday, it was closed! So i asked a local where the nearest petrol station was? You're in it, he said, but that ones closed on the weekend! The nearest one is in Salisbury, about 15 miles away!! Oh curse word!! I looked at my daughter and asked she if she fancied a long walk if we run out of fuel? She just laughed at me! Annoyingly i usually take a can with me, but the last time i went to pick up a car via the train they wouldn't let me take my can of petrol with me on the train as it's a fire risk! Anyway, i tapped in Salisbury (which is on our way home anyway) into my SatNav, and according to that, it was only 13 miles away, ok then, thats far better! Anyway, we made it... Here's the obligatory petrol station shot...
I should've taken a photo of the sign, petrol... £1 a litre!!! I filled up!
To Be Continued...
I was having a discussion sometime during the Christmas period with some of my friends about how many cars we'd each owned and i was losing, a lot! Anyway, one of my friends, who is an armchair car enthusiast, and as such has had less cars than me piped up that it's ok for us lot, he'd love to have a cool old car, but cannot afford one! I responded to this by saying what a load of rubbish that is, ofcourse he could afford one. He was adamant he couldn't. So i pressed him on the subject, and asked him how much money he could afford to spend on a classic, retro, or otherwise interesting car. He said that he could afford to spend between £500, and £1000! For this kind of money, i told him, he could have something quite cool sitting in his driveway. But he still insisted that he couldn't get anything interesting or cool for that money. We were all pretty amazed by this little statement, so we asked him what kind of car did he want? His response? I dunno, something like a Shelby Mustang, E-type Jag, or Ferarri or something like that! (Yeah, we'd all like one of those! But none of us who were part of this discussion have any of these things, although, a couple of us have Mustangs, one of us has an old XJS, but the nearest any of us has to a Ferarri is an old Fiat... And it's a Multipla lol!) Anyway, after telling him he was being unrealistic, we pretty much all told him that good, fun interesting cars are out there for less that a £1000! But he was having none of it! Then, because i was being foolish i said something really stupid! I suggested we have a little bet, and that would be that i would buy, drive, experience, and then sell one car a month for a year. Each of these cars should be less than £1000, although if something comes up that i consider to be especially cool or interesting, then i can spend more! If i manage it, and do manage to get through 12 cars in a year, then he was to stop being a whiney-ass, and go out and buy something interesting to drive, and stop complaining that he can't afford a cool retro or classic car!
The cars i choose whatever they may be must be MOTd, and in running order, and not a project, although being tatty is ok, as long as it's got an MOT, and is ready to drive!
As a side note a couple of my other mates who were at this informal gathering of idiots have decided that they too will be playing along, just to add insult to injury, to see if they too can buy, drive, and sell one car a month! One of them lives in Canada, and one in Germany... I cant help feeling their cars might be a bit better than mine, still, no matter, on with the show!
Now, I want to stress that this is NOT meant to be a money making excercise, and i am not a dealer in any way shape or form, however, i do want to get back what i put into buying a car, so for example, if i buy a car for £400, and it cost me £75 to go and get it, when i sell it i want to be looking for £475, this way i can carry on playing! Also, i'll probably want to cover any seller fees too! Oh, and if you're wondering what it is i do for a living, i'm a general dogs-body on a building site!
Anyway, back to the plot, so when i've bought these cars i plan to post it in this thread, and write a little bit about the car, whatever it may be. By the way, if anyone sees something that they think would make a worthy addition to their own collection please do let me know, I am based in Hampshire, and as I've said previously, the cars will be for sale for what I paid for them... So, on that bombshell, here's the first one...
JANUARY.
A 1997 Vauxhall Frontera Sport 2.0litre. 139590 miles.
I'm guessing that there's a fair bit of head shaking going on, but never mind, i like them, and i think they're pretty damn cool! So, how much did it cost, well including a rather expensive, and very slow train journey, about £580. It is also MOTd until July 2015, and in running order, although a little scruffy! First impressions... Well, as i said, a little scruffy, but thats ok, the photos in the ad showed that so i was ready for it! The battery was a little flat, and the interior was filthy, and stunk of wet dog!! Lovely! Also, no petrol in it, i started it up, and the needle crept slowly up to the red, not onto it, up to it... Great! So i said to the seller, where's the nearest petrol station? Oh he said, there's one in the village, about 1/4 of a mile away, and he pointed me in the right direction, and off we went. He was absolutely correct, there was one in the village, but being a Saturday, it was closed! So i asked a local where the nearest petrol station was? You're in it, he said, but that ones closed on the weekend! The nearest one is in Salisbury, about 15 miles away!! Oh curse word!! I looked at my daughter and asked she if she fancied a long walk if we run out of fuel? She just laughed at me! Annoyingly i usually take a can with me, but the last time i went to pick up a car via the train they wouldn't let me take my can of petrol with me on the train as it's a fire risk! Anyway, i tapped in Salisbury (which is on our way home anyway) into my SatNav, and according to that, it was only 13 miles away, ok then, thats far better! Anyway, we made it... Here's the obligatory petrol station shot...
I should've taken a photo of the sign, petrol... £1 a litre!!! I filled up!
To Be Continued...
