Dez' 'fleet' thread. Another bl00dy transit!

15 was another right place, right time thing.
My mate George who has the paint shop next door got offered an ‘Mx5 that’s been in someones garden for 7 years’ for scrap money. He just bought it unseen. Scrap was high at the time, so I think including sending someone to pick it up it owned him £250.
We were taking bets at how bad it was going to be.
I saw it and gave him £500 before it was even off the transporter 😂


It’s probably the most rust-free Mx-5 I’ve ever seen. Every bit on it was mint. Perfect sills and rear 1/4s, rear pockets, front wings etc. No rust at all anywhere. And it really has been parked in a hedge on wet grass for years, as you can see.


I’m calling it an Mx-5 but it was really a eunos. It was also REALLY early. The chassis number was about 1200. It was also a really good spec. PAS, air con, electric windows, headrest speakers, yellow projector fogs, momo wheel.
The only deviation from stock was the gash wheels. They were real cheap sh1t.
The thing that really let it down was the comically bad paintjob. It had been blown over, but f-k knows what with as it’s was up to 1/4” thick! It was also super chalky as you can see.
Looked alright when wet though.


I got it for the mrs, to be her first rwd car. It was perfect.

The roof was seized up and the rear window knackered so I bought a mint mk2 roof with glass rear screen for £150 and swapped the whole thing. I put some genuine chrome mirrors on as it didn’t come with any, and bypassed the faulty immobiliser and it ran perfect.






I serviced it, took the seats out and gave it a deep clean, put all new brakes on it, sold the gash wheels and put some 13” allycats with fat tyres on it, then tested it.


The shocks started leaking shortly after putting it on the road, presumably they had rust on the shafts.
I bought some TA technix as George has em on his old Mx5 and they were really good. They’d changed the design and the new ones were AWFUL. so soft it was undrivable.




It looked good though.


I was welding up another 5 for a friend at the time and I did a deal with him for his not very old HSDs as he had gaz golds to go on. So I swapped everything over and it was a total revelation.
Picked up a nardi and put that on too.


Bombed around in it for a few weeks before giving the mrs. it to make sure it was all good. No.1 dog approved of this.


It proved to be pretty reliable tbh, to say it has been laid up for so long. cooling system sh1t itself and blew the rad, turned out to be this bypass pipe.


Fixed


Belts and water pump and stuff were also done.


I think apart from that it had an alternator and a battery and a couple of tyres (weren’t new when they went on) and that was about it in about 2 years?

The mrs enjoyed it, but was fancying a change. (You’ll see to what shortly).
Tbh it was a real fun car.
On the little wheels with fat tyres but low and stiff it was a great b lanes car. You could absolutely wring it’s neck and not die.


George was interested in it and had done me a deal with it in the first place, I added up what it owned me (a grand) and let him have it for that. So one crossed off, but it means another coming in.

I’ve had good results with racelands in the past too, especially on VWs.

The Passat was a good car really, yeah it was only a 1.8 petrol but they seem to be largely overlooked by most VW people. Tbh I think they’re better than the compatible mk2/3 golfs. Build quality is certainly a lot higher.

Well as I’d done so well reducing things down from 16 to 9, I’d Best Buy a few things hadn’t I? 🙄
My fleet my rules I guess, and all 3 can be well justified.
Yes I’ve bought 3 more vehicles 😂

This first one is fully allowed as it’s the subject of
this thread.
So unicorn vehicle=allowed.


It still on the chassis table right now but Is
Only 2-3 days off being a roller, when I get time.
Tbh it actually ties up a few loose ends form earlier in the thread, as the leftover running gear and chassis from the ‘38sedan have gone under it, as has the leftover flathead originally from the ‘47 truck that went on the ranger chassis. Recycled vehicle and all that.

I’ll do a build thread at some point, I’ve taken enough pics.

So that’s either #17 or #10, depending on how you look at it.

N N N N N N Nineteen is the unveiling of a secret* project! I’ve had this stashed away for nearly a year now.

I had unfinished business with one of these due to the fire. The other one id given to the mrs, and was a week or two away from being on the road, but as I had so much else to deal with post-fire she said to just forget about it. Which we did, I just canned it (well, sold the burnt out shell to a banger racer) and moved on.
But when this one came up for sale locally I had to have it to replace the one she’d lost.
I even kept it a secret from her, for the best part of a year until recently when i accidentally called at the yard with her with me and I’d left it parked out front 😖😂
She was actually fairly impressed is gone to the trouble of finding such a similar car and buying it for her again though, so it went down pretty well.

It is of course, another lada riva estate.
Here it is being delivered.


It’s only done 43k, and was sold as having been dry stored for nearly 20 years. It is is rather amazing condition, never welded and only needing minor attention in that department. It needs a full mechanical overhaul and some bizarre mods undoing, before being given the treatment.



I found out the other week the the 20 years dry stored was an understatement, as it appears it’s never had an MOT!

The will be a build thread soon, it’s now not stock and not far off being done, admittedly I did get a bit carried away with the running gear freshen up which is why it’s taken so long. That and waiting for bits from Russia.



Overall it’s worked out well, it’s a much nicer car than the other one in a better colour, and still a 1500 so the best engine. Yes it’s cost a few quid building basically the same car twice, but it’s only money...

Car transporters don't count as a purchase because you don't lose a parking space. Them's the rules.

Time for a recount I reckon, and some more talking about the fleet overall.

So, what’s left-
1. '28 model A ford
2. '48 chevy fleetmaster
3. '50 ford shoebox
4. ‘47 ford/ranger pickup
5. ‘63 ford falcon sedan delivery
6. 1980something nissan c32 laurel
7. ‘66 lincoln continetal coupe
8. ‘01 lupo tdi sport
9. 1981(?) bmw e28
10. ‘34 ford pickup
11. ‘04ish Nissan Cube
12. 1995 lada riva estate
13. ‘04 Transit recovery truck

So I’m at about 2/3 of what I had. That’s a good start despite the additions.

I'm aiming to get down to about 6 cars, but if it stayed at 7/8/9 for a while that wouldn’t be a huge problem.

Next I really need to decide on a priority order. Not the easiest of things to do, some are equal 100% Keepage, some are equal 100% get rid. Some are circumstantial, are very much needed at the mo, but might not be soon.

Only the model A and the 34 pickup are 100% keep regardless.

The Lupo, falcon, cube and transit are here because they all work and are in service. Each are practical in their own way, and fulfil different roles. The lada is very close to joining this list too, and the 47/ranger pickup is a little further way but not miles off.

The Chevy and shoebox are what i would call long-term liabilities. They’d be difficult sales as they stand, for any reasonable amount of money anyway. I’d have to decide what I did and didn’t want to go with them if i sold too.


The laurel and Lincoln will probably be easiest to sell so that’s likely where I should concentrate my efforts. Especially as the Lincoln is massive and it going would be like selling two cars.

The e28 is in danger of getting broken if I sell it and it’s one of the reasons I’m hanging on to it, but realistically it should be the third on the ‘sell’ list.

So, all I can do is advertise stuff and see what happens....

I had to buy some new number plates for the truck as they were smashed and I don’t want to get pulled. Chunks of number plate missing just makes it too easy for them.

Rear was smashed cos it was poorly mounted-


It was literally screwed onto the very back of the bed in a prime position to get twatted.

As that bottom bar was just part of a now redundant ramp rack and doesnt actually add any structure, I chopped it off and ground it back and folded up a simple recess panel in some 1.6mm steel I had laying round, welded in in the new gap and then painted it. Some new legal font pressed aluminium plates are extra insurance against knocks.
I also rewired all the number plate lights properly using solder and heatshrink rather than twisted together wires and electrical tape 🙄
The lamps themselves are LED ones that seems a fairly recent addition.





You can see it sits a little higher than the light pod bits, so shouldn’t get bashed.

With that improvement completed, I went for a short local trip and picked this up-


It’s getting broken as I wanted some parts off it to complete mine, mostly stupid little bits I lost in the fire that are difficult to source unless you’re stripping a breaker yourself. I also wanted the earlier brake and clutch master cylinders are they’re a bit different, and better suited to my setup in the ’47. It was already pretty well picked over. No engine/box, bolt on panels, lights or front end.
I’d sold the carpet out of it before I’d got back to the yard, and the bed is going at the weekend. The body and bed are now unbolted after a couple of hours work and will be off tomorrow, leaving a complete donor chassis with paperwork for another body swap.

The ranger was ‘processed’ quickly.


Bed off and sold, Body removed and stripped of all parts, parts I wanted filed away and rolling chassis sold.



I did this with the shell-


And then took a trip down the weighbridge. So I now know that the transit weighs empty..... care to have a guess?

I’m not overly sure on a flatbed but I knows 3.5 sprinter or similar is 1.1-1.2 payload so I’m going to have a guess at....
Still thinking....



1467 without a passenger ?
Not a clue really because I don’t know what it weighs.