Grizz' Prozac for the Soul 🚙 Berlingo Multispace 28/01/22

I keep credit cards purely for "in case" for pets.

Win some, lose some.

How it goes.

I have been looking at another vehicle to replace Prozac.......

Absolutely no reason to escalate my private motoring costs at all but the itch is always there.

Now we know that I have the 1966 C10 Chevy truck in “kit form” in my garage, and it is patient and I will get to it, in my own time.

Yes, really.

When I am ready.


Mate Martin gave me a heads up on a 1979 Chevy K5 Blazer in 2wd form last week (Thanks Mate #sarcastic mode) which I then went to see on the way home Friday night and again for more than two hours on Saturday afternoon. I have no interest in 4x4 cars at all.

Turns out that I saw this car in June 2016 and still have a photo I took at the time as I really liked it then.
But of course life, death and taxes plus a divorce got in the way.




I also started a question thread here: which has generated a lot of comments and opinions, all valid of course and much appreciated as I am the KING OF DITHERERS when it comes to this sort of thing.

Below a quote from Disasterbus with my responses to his points.




It will fit my drive, just.

I have loads of space to park it.

I am selling Prozac, so need a car.

I have cash to spare, banks are not making it worth my while.

I have a new welder.

I can’t afford to run it, or maybe I can.......

It has four seats, technically you can fit 5 people.

The rear converts to flatbed truck, tailgate drops, rear roof comes off.


Where do I deliver it???



And no, it still was not enough motivation to get me to just randomly hand over cash. Even a half an hour on the phone to kevfromwales had me thinking it’s a great idea. Yet I woke this morning wondering if this little Berlingo that has been running and performing faultlessly for 19 months as an adjunct to my company car Ford Focus for when dirty jobs needed doing, really needed to be replaced with a Big, Dirty, Nasty Fossil Fuel Guzzling Monster that would be costing me pretty much 10 times as much to run and own than the Berlingo.

Not the car in question, though it is American too.




Prozac stood in the background, truly Kicked to the Curb, looking on as I fawned over the bid smelly beast for hours.




Tailgate too drops, turning it into a cavernous skip on wheels.



Inside the rear bench can fold forward or be unbolted too.



Folded forward access via front passenger seat.



I spent about 30 minutes under it, and the only rust was this hole in the corner by the drivers footwell.

The rest of the underside is shockingly rustfree.

Fenders and hood, conversely are rough, rotten but absolutely functional.

This does not scare me. Couple of hours cutting, welding, undersealing and job done.





Where your wallet goes to get raped.



I am sure Prozac will find a new home easily enough and the cash from him will make the purchase of “TIPPEX” as the monster has been named by DarrenH even easier.

So what to do?

My kind of friend 😁😁😁😁



.

Grizz you love the US and US things. Prozac is about as far from the US as you can get (stickers aside) BUT you already the C10 in the garage. Southern England is not Louisiana. All logic points to it being a MASSIVE "Nope".

However, as with most things car-related, surely logic doesn't come into it. My commuting mileage has trebled since January. I have a 50mpg VW Bora diesel as a daily. I want to replace it with a 15+ year old Merc SLK with a V6 which makes no financial sense at ALL. Yet I am still saving money up in order to do it. Because if I don't do it soon, I never will.

Fix the C10 but if you want a new toy replace the berlingo

Agreed Dave.

I would really hope not to be needing to fix anything or much on it, except cosmetics in a very minimal way. The MOT advisories list to me is a guide and having driven it a bit I do not foresee any need to work on it.

I offered Prozac to Mickey next door for the same as I paid for it, not including maintenance and modding costs, as he is a good man, who has never said no to anyone needing help so cost is fine by me, I offered it to him free, but he declined, saying he wanted to pay me what I paid for it. Karma does that.

You are right on the stickers too, but that’s fine too. Prozac is a bargain to own, I just don’t want more vehicles on my drive than the company car and one toy.



mrbounce, you get me, and I think always have.
I agree with your first paragraph fully.

But it is a real Titanic battle of heart over mind right now for me.

And like you, it makes no sense at all, which is exactly the right reason to do it.

I hope to see you in your V6 impractical car ASAP.



Thank you Pauly.

I do not know how others live, but the money my Bootfair, charity shop and non branded item purchases save me goes into a separate account and is there for this sort of thing.

I have had some tough times over the last 30 years, but I also had awesome times and that is life in itself.
My salary always pays the mortgage and services first, and even when I had a two salary mortgage after my first divorce 20 plus years ago, I used to eat coffee and bread three times a day, but I NEVER EVER owed anyone a penny that I could not pay.

I am not sure this is an asset, but it certainly has inherent value and even if broken, used as a chassis donor for a body swap or whatever, I could see myself regaining at least 50% of the purchase price, which has been established and fixed.
I have only ever lost money on one toy type car, Nicola’s MX 5 that dropped me way over a grand as I spent lots too much on it, but she still used it, enjoyed it, so not all bad and it was a great little car. That still equates to pretty much free motoring.

The C10 has its own bank account and is pretty much a matter between me and it 😉 it will get done.



Agreed.

And that probably how it will play out, depending on how I wake up feeling in the morning.

I think the novelty would soon wear very thin. Just don't sell Prozac, you will regret it. Its worth sweet fanny Adams,so drive it into the ground. Money seems to burn a hole in your pocket. Why don't you take the money that the tippex shed will cost, and get your c10 blasted and painted?

Or if you really have to have another shed,buy it ,but don't sell Prozac,Fix the white shed up over the winter,drive it next summer and then see what needs to go. That way you can use the shed when you want to, not when you have to....

Much appreciated Grizz. I think we definitely sing from the same lyric sheet. The SLK probably won't come my way for a bit yet (call it 10-12 months) unless the Bora gets into an accident and written off - I don't have enough funds to pay for it outright yet and I refuse to get into debt on a car. Plus buying an SLK in summer is an act of idiocy as the prices rocket. I've seen £2k cars priced at £4k this year because people think they've got something special. And if I can't find a decent V6 for sensible money, the 230 Kompressor will have to do (*looks up different pulley kits to make it quicker*). 

Oh, and it ISN'T impractical - you can tke the roof off if the sun is out 

This is very true.