Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Oct 16, 2015 23:17:28 GMT
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Thanks for your thoughts, appreciate that some cars are like marmite. The Chargers an animal, lol. It's going through some changes which will be updated on here shortly. Surfs are brilliant, although I must admit to preferring the 2nd gen ( the one I have ), to the 3rd gen. I've rebuilt the engines once after the head cooked itself ( very common issue ), it's on 190,000 miles now, lol. As soon as I have the time and money, I'm changing from a 2.4TD to a Lexus LS400, should make it move a bit quicker. In the meantime though, I'm just going to see how OTT as a 4x4 I can take it. 35inch tyres, another 4 inch lift, winch etc, etc. It's not a mojo boost I need, it's more money, lol. The shed is indeed going to be a workshop, but more for sandblasting, welding and fabrication. I have a garage big enough to get the Charger in when it's cleaned out. But for now I have the drive to work in, always been that way, I'm used to it, lol
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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I just read through your thread, A 1968 Dodge Charger. 383ci ( 6.2L V8 ) auto... YES, A 1991 Ford Mustang 5.0L... ohh yes, A 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf... yes, A 1999 Ford Cougar 2.5L V6... Oh no, holy cow whats that!!? To be fair i've never driven one, i'm a very shallow man and i am into the looks more than the personailty lol. But each to their own. Great fleet you've got their mate, looking forward to seeing what replaces the lovely Cougar.
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Thanks PP, to be honest, I'm not sure what will replace the Cougar, yet. I have a very long list of cars I'd love to own, not enough space though and definitely not enough money ( we're back to whorehouses and warehouses again, lol ). I also have a long list of modifications I'd like to carry out on a number of the cars I'd love to own as well. I can guarantee that the Charger and Hilux are staying with me, everything else is just a way of raising capital to throw at them. Don't get me wrong, I love what I'm doing, buying a car just for the hell of it, do some work on it, have some fun with it, then trade it on. My only rule is that the cars I buy have to be pre 2000 ( so there easier to work on ), other than that I'm just trying to work through my list. As a shameless plug for the Cougar, it has a truly wonderful V6 and auto box, pressing the loud pedal produces a most excellent growl from the exhaust, coupled with rapid acceleration ( up to the legal limit ) that has to be experienced to be believed )
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Right then, I'm sure you're all waiting for the "new" flag to show up on this thread, hoping it'll be an update about the Charger, and the good news is.....................it is (woohoo, I hear you shout ). Well, let's have a couple of shameless photos first shall we....... ok, now that everyone's feeling good, a little bit of history, on the car that is, not actual world history. I'd wanted a Charger since I was at school, courtesy of the TV companies and film studios that decided they could make programmes and films with cool cars and car chases in them. Now this was nothing new in the late '70's and of course it's still a thriving money making exercise today with the likes of the Fast n Furious franchise. Incidentally, did you know that the first F n F film was going to be called "Race Wars"? And also it wasn't the original F n F movie, the very, very first F n F titled movie was made decades earlier, in black and white and the cars used included Jaguar D types. Anyways, where was I, oh yeah, I'd wanted one since I was at school, fast forward a good few years and way back in 2004, I found my Charger on the bay of fleas, the auction was due to end at stupid O'clock in the morning, so, coffee made an cigarette lit, I waited and waited, and waited. After more coffee and more cigarettes we were down to the last five minutes of the auction ( I've often wondered if some people deliberately set up an auction to end when only an insomniac can bid on them? ), it's the last two minutes of the auction, my bid is waiting to be submitted as I watch the remaining time count down. At this point, part of me is screaming "Nooooo" you can't do it, how you going to pay for it, look after it, fix it when it breaks, where you going to keep it. Of course, the other part of me is yelling, "Yes, yes, yes, you know you want it, do it, do it. Thirty seconds to go, twenty five, twenty, fifteen seconds, beads of sweat are forming on my forehead, my god, what am I doing. Ten seconds, I click "submit"' the confirm bid screen pops up, "oh god" I click confirm and........................my computer freezes "No, No, No followed by every condescending insult referenced at the female form you can think of. The only thought in my mind was did I win, did my bid go through, is it mine? I couldn't believe it, of all the times for the computer to freeze, so, I shut it down and restarted it. The couple of minutes it took to fully reboot seemed like an eternity, I lit yet another cigarette as I waited and waited, eventually ( well, after a couple minutes in reality ), I logged in to the bay of fleas and.................there's no sign of my bid, at all, not only that but the Charger has obviously vanished as well, more swearing occurs, the computer is shutdown again and I stomp of to bed in a mood. jump forward approximately twelve months to October 2005 and I'm now a member of the MMA ( Mopar Muscle Association ) and looking for my third Charger! You see, I'd read online that a new version of the Dukes of Hazzard was being filmed for the big screen and that it would be released in late 2005, now Chargers aren't exactly cheap, even the wrecks dragged screaming from the undergrowth come in at four figure sums. As we all know, the TV and the movies make things popular, so naturally a new film starring the four wheeled version of General Lee would increase prices even further. It didn't seem fair, I mean, I'd waited a little over thirty years to get one and now it was going to be pushed even further out of my reach! I realised that if I didn't get one in 2005, I'd probably never have one, there was only one thing for it, if I wanted one, if I truly wanted to own one of the most recognised and desirable cars ever, then I'd remortgage! ( yes, really, seriously ), so, I did. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, within an hour, my bank account had five figures in it, three of which were zeros, God it looked good and I felt great, really great ( I should say at this point, that your home may be repossessed if you can't keep up the repayments on your mortgage. I also do not recommend a remortgage as a way of buying a car, any car. But, your all adults and capable of making that particular decision for yourself, however, I still don't recommend it though ). Having said that though, turns out I'm not the only one to do it. Sorry, I'm rambling again, I know you're all thinking "what about the three Chargers"? Well, now that I had money in the bank and I was free to go shopping for one, I spent all my spare time looking on the interweb, I set myself a budget, a realistic one and about a month later, I found one ( in Essex ), I live in Northumberland, so, not too far then, lol. I phoned the guy and it was good news, and bad, it was still for sale but, it had a cracked windscreen, the wrong seats, tatty steel wheels and it was in primer. The owner said he would paint it, change the wheels, sort out a new screen and change the seats but he wanted more than the budget I'd set myself. After chatting some more, a deal was struck, I'd take it the way it was, fit my own wheels, find my own screen and live with the wrong seats, all for less than my budget. Deal done! Oh, and he would arrange delivery, only charging me for one direction ( not the boy band ). I got his name and address, wrote a cheque for the deposit and raced to the letter box, back home and ecstatically happy, I logged in to the MMA forum and proudly announced that I'd found one, and bought it. Listing the details of the deal I had agreed and where the car was. Now, I didn't get all the congratulatory ( is that a word? ) messages I was expecting, oh no, instead I got a barrage of private messages advising me to be careful, one of which asked for my number. I sent my number and got a phone call almost straight away. The guy that phoned me was great, he also lived in Essex and new the seller I'd just posted a large cheque to, in fact, he told me the name and address that I had been given. Not good news though, turned out that the car I had agreed to buy was still in California and by the time it got here ( if it got here ) it probably wouldn't be what I was expecting. This was the same info that other people were sending me in private messages, I looked at the pictures again with a heavy heart, having removed the rose tinted glasses this time. Sure enough, the background didn't look like England and I had this sickening feeling of blind stupidity! I phoned the bank and asked to have my cheque cancelled, I felt numb, how could someone do this to another person! I sent him an email stating I had changed my mind and advising that the cheque he would receive had been cancelled, I didn't get a reply. So, that was the first Charger. I'll give you the details of the second one a little later, especially as my rambling has carried me quickly to 4am, there will be updates of work done with photos as well as work getting done, but that's all to come a little later.
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Oct 23, 2015 12:29:16 GMT
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RUBBISH!! I wanted to hear about the Ford Cougar lol!! Seriously though, I love your Charger, looking forward to hearing about the next one... Third time lucky I hope! I know the feeling of excitement waiting and bidding in the final seconds, all adds to the fun of it for me. I can also feel your pain at having the computer freeze in that final moment, been there too lol.
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skozra
Part of things
Posts: 175
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Oct 23, 2015 13:10:19 GMT
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Great read, absolutely love the Charger - it's my favourite car of all time (the '68 with the dual tail lights) , thank you "Bullitt" car chase. And thank you sir for posting it up and looking after this one !
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93 Volvo 240 Torslanda Estate, 01 Subaru Impreza WRX Saloon & 86 Ford Capri 2.8i (with Weber 38 carb fitted)
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Oct 23, 2015 14:04:08 GMT
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I love Fox body Mustangs. I love Chargers too, you have a nice collection there.
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1988 Ford Orion 1.6 Ghia 1981 Kawasaki Z250 LTD 1994 Honda C90 Cub 1983 Honda CG125
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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RUBBISH!! I wanted to hear about the Ford Cougar lol!! Seriously though, I love your Charger, looking forward to hearing about the next one... Third time lucky I hope! I know the feeling of excitement waiting and bidding in the final seconds, all adds to the fun of it for me. I can also feel your pain at having the computer freeze in that final moment, been there too lol. Saw the word "Rubbish" and thought WTF! lol. I've been a bay of fleas customer for years, spent thousands, made hundreds and to this day when I bid on something I want and the final seconds are counting down, I still experience a quickening heartbeat and that feeling of excitement I used to get as a child on Christmas morning, you're right though, it's just so much fun. I spent some time a few years ago buying a small collection of books I wanted, there was seven of them in the collection, ironically all being sold by different people. There was another bidder who apparently also wanted them, overnight it became my mission to get them all regardless, lol ( still have them all ). As for the next Charger, read on..........
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Great read, absolutely love the Charger - it's my favourite car of all time (the '68 with the dual tail lights) , thank you "Bullitt" car chase. And thank you sir for posting it up and looking after this one ! You're welcome for the posting, thought it was time I gave an accurate account of what they're really like to live with. Incidentally, with regards to the Bullit car chase scene, it was the first mainstream feature film released to include a car chase of that length. The Charger used was brand new and lost a total of six hubcaps during the chase, the end scene of the chase shows the Charger apparently crashing into a gas station with both exploding, however, the Charger can be seen driving / speeding past the rear of the gas station ( on the left hand side of the screen, in case you haven't noticed it and want to check, lol ).
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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I love Fox body Mustangs. I love Chargers too, you have a nice collection there. Thanks, to be honest, the Foxbody is only temporary, so I could continue to enjoy this years car show season as a participant rather than a spectator. There's nothing worse than going to a show without your car because it's still not finished, so I bought a substitute! At least, that's the plan, but we all know how our plans often turn out don't we
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Now then, where were we............oh, yeah, Charger No.2, but, before I get too far ahead, there's a couple of snippets of info you need to know that I completely forgot about on the last update. Won't take long though, and we'll be back on track. As I said, I'd wanted one of these since I first saw them on TV when I was a child. Thing is, over here in the UK, if you want a certain model of car, then you go looking for one in the condition you want it. I know, I know, surely it's all the same regardless of where the car comes from, right?.......... err, no, let me explain. In England, cars are designed and sold for a few years, then they either disappear or go through a Doctor Who like regeneration, new body, different wheels, better engine and chassis etc. In the good old US of A though, the cars are redesigned ( regenerated ) every year. So if your looking for a MKI Ford Cortina, you get to choose one built from 1962 to 1966, but if you want a Dodge Charger, it's a whole new ballgame, they were built from '66 all the way through until '78 ( ignoring the modern version ), and every one is different, so you get to narrow it down to a certain model year, not just a certain car. The particular one that I wanted was the one used in the Dukes of Hazzard, that model exactly. As a child watching the show and reading everything I could find about it, I learnt that the car was actually a 1969 Dodge Charger with a 426 Hemi ( 7 litre ) V8 engine and a floor shift automatic gearbox, as a child, that's all I needed to know. I found out many years later that '68, '69 and a few '70 Chargers were all used in the filming of the programme. But, the actual General Lee is portrayed as a '69 Charger, so that's what I wanted.................. So, back on track and on to Charger No2 ( did someone at the back say "finally" ). Having been saved from losing a lot of money and gaining a whole heap of heartache by some really great people in the MMA forum, I turned to them for assistance in finding the car of my dreams. The forum has a cars for sale section ( as do most forums of course ) which I kept checking but when a Charger did come up for sale it was outside my budget, usually by a few thousand. Then someone suggested that it might be worth importing one from the states myself, there's an idea, I thought. So, every night was spent looking on the bay of fleas.com, Craigslist and any other sites I could find. Nothing, not for months, sure, I found Chargers for sale, loads of them in fact. All of them were either too expensive ( remember I had a budget and, if importing one myself, I would also have to pay for transporting it to the nearest docks, the shipping charges to get it here, then import duty and VAT when it got here and of course some form of shipping insurance would be useful ). As you no doubt know, with the exchange rate between pound and dollar, things can be cheaper in the states, especially vehicles, or, more correctly, they can appear to be cheaper. So, a car with an asking price of say ten thousand dollars, depending on the exchange rate can be as little as seven or eight thousand pounds, but, by the time you add all the shipping and import duties to it, it all adds up. As a general rule of thumb, whatever the price is in dollars is what you'll pay in pounds by the time it's in your garage, just in case you're thinking of importing your own. Anyways, one night while searching through the various websites ( don't you just love the interweb, turns out it's good for more than just porn ) I found one, yes indeed, a 1969 Dodge Charger for sale within my budget, oh the joy, the jubilation. I found myself actually sitting in front of my computer re-enacting that scene from when Harry met Sally. Not only was this a Charger of the right model year, it had a 440 V8 ( 7.2 litre ) engine, ( OK, so it wasn't a 426 Hemi, it was bigger and bigger is better, right ) floor shift automatic and no vinyl roof. It was perfect and looked great in the photos. I know what you're thinking, that last sentence gave it away didn't it, " looked great in the photos ", well, you're wrong, the reason it looked great in the photos is because IT WAS GREAT! But, it was also something like 5,000 miles away, after almost getting caught out last time, this time round I was going to make sure everything was above board. I emailed the owner who turned out to be a really genuine guy, he sent me loads of photos of the car including detailed shots of some small areas that were starting to blister up. Nothing serious though, at least nothing that couldn't be repaired at reasonable cost. I even asked the owner for photos of specific areas from certain angles, just to make sure he actually had the car. He obliged very quickly and even stated in the email that he understood the reason behind me being cautious. So decision time, on one hand, I've found an almost perfect car of my dreams within my budget ( I say almost perfect because of the wrong engine, still, I figured I could live with the bigger engine, oh, and the colour, it was blue and not that nice a shade of blue either, think of the shade of light blue on MKIi Escorts, yeah, that colour blue ). I emailed the owner and said I'd have a decision for him in a couple days. Why? Nerves, well no, I was scared, I mean the idea of having to send a complete stranger in Louisiana a five figure sum of money for a car I'd only seen photos of and wouldn't be able to see, touch or drive for at least two months, well it didn't just scare me, it scared the cr@p out of me. But, you know what, I didn't care, the more I thought about it, the more it felt like this was the right thing to do. Christ, I was on the verge of actually buying my dream car, how many of us get to do that? Not only that, what an adventure, what a story to be able to tell, I not only found my dream car that I could afford, I was really, really going to import it from the other side of the world. I found it, I found it, Oh My God, the excitement. Decision made, I was buying it, I was sure it was an honest car, the owner was a genuine guy, selling for a realistic daily driver price. I sat in front of the computer the next night, unable to type, my hands shaking at the thought of what it was about to do. I lit a cigarette and made a coffee, then lit another one, eventually, I typed the email saying I wanted the car and requested the owners bank details so I could transfer the deposit agreed on. This would give me a couple days to arrange for it to be picked up and taking to the docks for transporting to the UK. Allowing for the time difference, I didn't see the point in waiting up for a reply. Thinking to myself, it's only an email, I haven't signed anything, no legally binding agreement, it's just an email, I can still change my mind ( que the little voice in my head screaming "why the F@&$¥€G Hell would you change your mind, just send the damn money, say thank you and wait for two months, you've waited this long, another two months ain't gonna kill ya!" Well, I tell you, if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any bloody luck at all. A couple of agonising days dragged by with no reply from the seller, I was beside myself, what if he's sold it already? What if he's changed his mind? What if he's had a better offer? The little voice again "give the guy a chance, he's probably busy, might have gone away for a couple of days, might be working". As I said earlier, this was 2005, the car was in Louisiana and it had been a couple of days since I'd emailed saying I definitely wanted the car.............. I got home the next night, made a coffee, lit a cigarette and turned the computer on. I quickly signed in to my email account, searched through the list of offers for cheap viagra, dates with Russian women and South African gentlemen who wanted my bank details to send millions of pounds to me etc, then, there it was, the reply, I stopped, the cursor hovering over the email, I excitedly lit a cigarette, took a seconds to try and calm down a little and clicked on the email. There was only a few lines on the screen, as I read through it, I couldn't believe what I was reading, I read it again......................and again, my heart sank, the excitement had been ripped out of me. I couldn't even begin to understand the true horror of the email, well, not until watching the news later that night!...................... Two words, Hurricane Katrina!! The email simply said "he was sorry for the late reply, but as much as he would love to sell me the car, sadly he would be unable to. It was no longer for sale because it and the garage it had been kept in had been destroyed by the hurricane". So, Charger No2 was lost forever, a few days later, I started looking again, the next instalment will have a bit of a twist in the tale as well............. ( I don't want to offend or upset anyone who may have family, friends or colleagues who suffered because of hurricane Katrina. I do appreciate what a horrific force of nature it was and have no wish to drag up bad memories of such an awful time in history. I included it purely because it was part of my journey in finding and buying my dream car )
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Oct 24, 2015 19:17:13 GMT
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Aaaaargh... talk about sitting on the edge of my seat lol. I must admit whenever I buy a car from the other side of the world as soon as I pay, the panic sets in, what the car going to be like, is it going to be as described, is there even a car of have I just pAid a lot of money for a photo in the internet! My first Mustang, a 1965 coupe, candy apple red, white leathery looking interior, it looked absolutely superb, asked lots and lots of questions including what a the floor like, I was told it was immaculate all over, and it certainly looked it. Couple of.months later it's here, and I'm driving it home from the docks and guess what? NO FLOOR!! Not just a couple of holes I'm talking Fred Flintstones car here!! Oh how I laughed!
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Oct 24, 2015 23:57:12 GMT
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Aaaaargh... talk about sitting on the edge of my seat lol. I must admit whenever I buy a car from the other side of the world as soon as I pay, the panic sets in, what the car going to be like, is it going to be as described, is there even a car of have I just pAid a lot of money for a photo in the internet! My first Mustang, a 1965 coupe, candy apple red, white leathery looking interior, it looked absolutely superb, asked lots and lots of questions including what a the floor like, I was told it was immaculate all over, and it certainly looked it. Couple of.months later it's here, and I'm driving it home from the docks and guess what? NO FLOOR!! Not just a couple of holes I'm talking Fred Flintstones car here!! Oh how I laughed! Yeah, think I would have laughed just as much as you did. There are some awful horror stories about the state of some of the cars that are bought blind from across the pond. Sometimes makes you wonder why we do it, but if it's in the blood, then you have no real control over the need to keep going and hoping for the best. I've also had a '65 Mustang, also a coupe, mine was white though, with all its own floors, bought it locally, drove it home and then started redoing all the "professional" repairs that had been done to it, lol
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Freezing computers, con artists and Hurricanes, everything just seemed to be working against me. I really started to think it was indeed just going to be a dream car. I felt like Nicholas Cage in Gone in 60 seconds, the Charger was my Eleanor, my unicorn. It had been at the top of every Christmas wish list I'd ever written ( well, you've got to try ), the subject of every birthday wish when I blew the candles out, I had wanted one for nearly thirty years. I'd had some amazing cars in that time, two Mustangs, two Ranchero's, a Camaro and an Oldsmobile Cutlass, not to mention the Escorts, the Cortina's, a Capri, a Marina and two MKII Granada's and yet, as much as I loved them all, the need for a Charger kept coming back again and again. Well, enough was enough, I'd chased this particular dream for too long, far too long in fact. I was nearly forty for gods sake, the imminent release of the new Dukes of Hazzard movie would only push the value of them higher again and even further out of my reach. Sometimes, just sometimes, you have to stand up and say "F**k it" and move on........................
That's not me though, I mean, I wouldn't be much of a Rebel if I did the things that everyone else did, would I, lol.
The next one then, a cold and wet night in early October 2005, I was at work in the last hour of my shift, looking through the bay of fleas, more out of boredom than anything else. Then, there it was, a Charger of the Dodge variety and at a decent price, there'd been a few bids on it but it was still in my budget. There were just a few minor details that stopped me from bidding on it there and then. It was a 1968 Charger with a 383 V8 ( 6.2 litre V8 ), column shift automatic gearbox and it had a vinyl roof! So, a completely different car to the one I wanted. Oh, and it was in Luton, bloody Luton FFS!. I'm sure there's nothing wrong with Luton itself, but all I knew about it was that it had an airport ( Lorraine Chase sang about it, remember. Now try and get the song out of your head, lol ) and it was 250 miles away. Well, at least 250 miles is better than something like 5000 miles and its in the UK, back at home and I'm frantically searching the interweb, I manage to find out that the front radiator grille of a '68 is interchangeable with that of a '69 and also the two rear light panels are also interchangeable. Obviously vinyl roofs can be removed and column shifts can be changed to floor shift, so the idea of buying it is becoming more appealing..... I can hear you at the back muttering, "why would you change it, you'd ruin it by turning it into some kind of frankencharger". Well, you see, I didn't just want a Charger because I saw it on TV, I wanted the ONE I saw on TV, 1969, floor shift etc, and in orange with the flag on the roof and 01 on the doors that were welded shut. Oh yes, I wanted my own General Lee! Decision made, I bid on it and went straight to highest bidder, even though you get emails saying you've been outbid, I kept checking just to make sure. A couple of hours later and I'm still highest bidder, the next morning, that afternoon, that night etc etc. The auction was due to finish at 09:45 on a Sunday morning. I'd spent most of the week leading up to it checking that I was still highest bidder ( which I was ). Then late on the Saturday night, the dreaded email arrived, I had been outbid! I went to bid again and was instantly outbid, by now I was getting close to my maximum but I put another bid on and this time I got a message on screen advising that I wasn't authorised for bidding that much, lol. All I had to do was register a credit card, accept that there would be a charge of a penny on the card and my bidding limit would be increased. But, but, what, erm, err, what do I do now? I thought. I mean it's the interweb, might be the bay of fleas but it's still the interweb and it's a credit card, l lit a cigarette and had a coffee while I thought about it....................more coffee and cigarettes later, I was typing my credit card details on the screen and accepting the penny charge ( well, no choice really, was there? ). My bid went through and I was highest again. A couple of hours later, before going to bed, I had one more check of my emails and I'd been outbid again! No, No, No, I can't have been, but I had been dammit. That was it then, I was out of money, totally. My last bid had been the maximum that I had, there was no more budget and so another Charger was slipping away ( remember what I said earlier, if it wasn't for bad luck etc ). The thing was though, when I remortgaged in order to buy a Charger, I did my sums and thought about it a lot, I had a couple of credit cards running at the time and I wanted to go to America. So, I borrowed enough money to buy a Charger, pay off my credit cards and go to the states. By now though, I was so far into wanting to take what I thought was pretty much my last chance of having one that I dug out my calculations and went through them again. I couldn't do anything about what I'd spent paying for the holiday but, the credit cards, yes, the credit cards, what about the credit cards. I mean it's a once in a lifetime chance, it's not like I'm going to do this again, ever! So I added the amount available on the cards together and added that amount to my last bid. Then I placed a new bid, to the full and final amount I had. That was it though, there really was no more this time. I once again was the highest bidder, if I was outbid this time, I couldn't do anything about it. By now it was very late or very early depending on how you look at it. I went to bed, didn't set the alarm as there was no point, if I didn't win the auction then so be it, it was out of my hands. I woke up the next morning in time to make coffee and be in front of the computer with five minutes until the auction ended. I didn't have the heart to hope I'd win though after last night, I just wanted to see how much I'd been outbid by. I didn't check my emails, I didn't have to, why upset myself. I just went straight to the bay of fleas and signed in............................OH!.......MY!.........GOD! I'm still highest bidder! Two minutes to go, just two minutes, I lit a cigarette and watched the time countdown........... 90 seconds and still highest bid...............60 seconds..................30 seconds, heart racing...........25 seconds..........that child on Christmas morning feeling...........15 seconds............heart pounding,...................10 seconds, I'm going to pass out, God, I feel sick...........5.........4..........3..........2.........1..........then, there's an email, then another. The first email says congratulations the item is yours ( I'm doing the scene from when Harry met Sally again ), the second email advises me that I've been outbid by another bidder. What, how, I mean like, WTF. Stunned and a little confused, I'm wondering what happens next, I have an email saying it's mine and another saying I've been outbid, so someone else must also have an email saying they've won it. How does that work then, who gets it. Two people just can't both win an auction like this. Disheartened and more than a little peeved I go looking for contact details for the seller, then there's yet another email, this one advises me that the highest bidder has retracted their bid and as I was the next highest bidder the item is indeed mine! I've done it, finally I've got one. My God, what have I done.........................
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Bloody hell! What a tale! I'm exhausted and need to go for a restorative beer now. Thanks
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Oct 25, 2015 17:02:32 GMT
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wow you make buying a car a whole new type of pain, but to get a charger i most defiantly would go through all that pain too. great read so far and booked marked.
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Oct 25, 2015 22:31:48 GMT
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Bloody hell! What a tale! I'm exhausted and need to go for a restorative beer now. Thanks Glad you're enjoying it, thanks
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Oct 25, 2015 22:40:02 GMT
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wow you make buying a car a whole new type of pain, but to get a charger i most defiantly would go through all that pain too. great read so far and booked marked. You know, sometimes I don't even believe it was that difficult to buy it. I mean why couldn't it of been as simple as man sees car, man likes car, man pays for car and drives home? Having said that, if it had been that simple, I'd have nothing interesting to write and you'd all wonder why my thread consisted of thirteen words in total, so far, lol. Thanks for bookmarking it. speaking of paying for and driving home.......................
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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I did say earlier that there was a twist in the tale, it wasn't about the multiple emails at the end of the auction though. You might remember at the start of this journey that it involved three Chargers. The mathematicians amongst you may have worked out that the Charger I bought is actually number four, ( and here's the twist ). I thought there was something familiar about it but couldn't think why, then it hit me ( no, not the car. The reason why it seemed familiar ). This Charger was the one that I was about to bid on about a year earlier when my computer froze. When speaking to the previous owner about it, in the seconds after my computer froze, the auction ended without the reserve being met, so it didn't sell. Almost a year later it was advertised again with a lower reserve due to the previous owner emigrating, I don't know, maybe I do sometimes have some good luck after all.
So, having secured the car, I now needed to pay for it and get it home. After getting in touch with the previous owner to discuss the details, he said he would prefer cash and i really didn't want to wait for a cheque to clear or transfer the money through the banking system without having something to show for it. Which is pretty ironic really, especially as not all that long ago, I was ready to transfer a similar amount to a virtual stranger something like five thousand miles away that would leave me with nothing to show for it for about two months.
We agreed that I would take the train to Luton, he would pick me up at the station and take back to his house to pay for the car and drive it home. So, a week later, I'm on the train to London, changing at Kings Cross for a connection to Luton. It was a worrying journey, carrying a backpack full of cash all that way. But, I'm glad to say the only "scary" parts of the journey were getting in to Kings Cross and finding out that my connection to Luton was at a different station round the corner and down the street, and I only had five or six minutes to get there! That and waiting for the previous owner to pick me up as I stood on a strange street in a strange area on my own with a bag full of cash trying not to look conspicuous, lol. All however went according to plan and as we rounded the corner in to his street, there it was, just standing on his drive, paintwork shining and chrome glinting in the sunlight, truly a vision to behold. Paperwork signed, cash counted and it was time to head home in My Charger. Now, at the time of buying the Charger, my daily driver was an eight year old Mondeo with all the comforts and boredom that is the beauty of an eight year old Mondeo. Not that I have anything against them, I've had two of them, but they do tend to reliable to the point of mind numbing boredom, I mean, you try and unlock the door and it unlocks, you turn the key to start it and it starts, then stays running until you turn the key to stop it, at which point, of course it stops. They probably all aren't like that but both of mine were and of course driving a thirty seven year old car from Luton to Newcastle for the first time is never going to be the same experience. I was nervous, excited and scared all at the same time at the thought of driving all that way, yet strangely looking forward to it. Of course we'd been out for a drive before I left, we both took turns in driving, him to show me what controlled what and me to get a feel for it before the long journey home. I'd driven left hand drive cars before, indeed I feel just as comfortable, if not more so sitting on the left. But, it had been a good few years since I last drive an American car, and that was a 1973 Ford Ranchero pick up, with a few creature comforts, like disc brakes and headlights that lit up the road ahead at night. Not the Charger though, I was informed to bear in mind that it's eighteen foot long, almost six foot wide, weighs something like two tonne, has over 300bhp and comes with manual drum brakes all round. Shouldn't be a problem I thought, I mean brakes are brakes are they not. I obviously new they worked from driving it, all be it around a housing estate for ten minutes. So with directions to the nearest petrol station and on how to get to the A1 after that, I fired her up and burbled off down the road, slowly. No real dramas on the way home I'm glad to say, got to the garage on the way home and filled up, then lost about half a gallon due to filling the tank above the overflow pipe, lol. She ran like a dream on the way home, all the way. Although, there was one minor issue of which I was certain. Over the 250 mile drive, cars and bikes etc would pass and give a wave or nod of appreciation which was great, but there was that small problem. I pulled in for more petrol on the way home and a drink, accidentally left the lights on, all was ok though, but that little niggle was still there. I burbled in to my street a little after midnight, pulled into my drive, turned the engine off, got out and locked up. What? Oh, yeah, the niggle, it bugged me all the way home. I had thought it was due to it realistically being an old car but couldn't stop thinking about it. I didn't like it!
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Last Edit: Oct 26, 2015 1:33:43 GMT by Rebel
1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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You can't leave us hanging there, man!
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