Where to start with this one...
TL:DR I bought another car when I shouldn't have, but it's probably going to be ok.
I daily drive a very plain 2005 Audi A2, it's very capable, a great size (small on the outside and usefully large inside) and very, very cheap to run. 65mpg and £30pa to tax cheap. However, I constantly yearn for something more fun / cool / old.
For a couple of years I have been planning (or more accurately day-dreaming) an "Ultimate daily" - something that can tackle a 30 mile a day commute, move kids around, be fun to drive, modify well and most importantly make me smile!
I had settled on a Volvo Amazon for the below reasons:
The ultimate daily plan would be a fuel efficient modern drivetrain, powerful enough to be fun and fitted with things like a good stereo and good brakes, possibly even AC etc. So a proper build.
I had parked this idea indefinitely as things are not particularly flush in the MLT household due to a childcare based single income situation. I did have a little pot left over after selling my Fairlane and buying / sprucing the Fury - but there was no way it would buy an Amazon, let alone pay for the upgrades.
Come forward to Autumn this year and I've hardly driven the Fury due to a combination of a mismatch of number of seats and number of children, British weather and lack of roof. My wife is not a fan either due to how fast it is... She's right to a point, it really is fast.
I've started thinking about selling the Fury and using the funds to build something between the ultimate daily and a fast capable classic second car, as the A2 is very hard to justify selling.
Then an Amazon I had noticed before, advertised for a slightly higher price than my aforementioned pot was reduced to the actual size of my pot, I wondered if a bargain could be had. The plan would be to do a simple/cheap build, enjoy it over the winter and then decide what to do next.
Here it is, as viewed:
A bit scabby around the rear arches, a rusty driver's sill and a few other spots here and there - but loads of history, including £3k on suspension and brakes last year. Nice colour, nice interior, lowest drivetrain spec achievable! Oh, and vomit-inducing mirrors.
I had a very thorough crawl over and under it and went home to have a think and price up some stuff. I don't really have head-space for another project and it has a few issues so I decided to make what I considered a rude lowball on the off-chance.
Trouble is he accepted it!
Have some more pics for reading this far
It has a leaky carb, so was collected on a truck and taken directly to a friend Aaron's (coupsterv8) place so the sill can be welded. We've poked and prodded the rest and the rear quarters can wait for a bit, as can the arches.
He stripped it down last week:
And has since cut out the rusty bits:
And we're back to solid metal:
He has repair panels to cut down and fit, I'm awaiting delivery of some paint matched cans and that's about it!
Next steps are coming up with some sort of plan for the engine / carb situation, fit some rear belts and make it low.
TL:DR I bought another car when I shouldn't have, but it's probably going to be ok.
I daily drive a very plain 2005 Audi A2, it's very capable, a great size (small on the outside and usefully large inside) and very, very cheap to run. 65mpg and £30pa to tax cheap. However, I constantly yearn for something more fun / cool / old.
For a couple of years I have been planning (or more accurately day-dreaming) an "Ultimate daily" - something that can tackle a 30 mile a day commute, move kids around, be fun to drive, modify well and most importantly make me smile!
I had settled on a Volvo Amazon for the below reasons:
- Typical Volvo Safety
- Rally pedigree
- Well supported spares
- American styling but in a Euro package
- RWD
- Old but not ancient
- Don't rust tooooo badly
- Capable of all year round use
- Look very good modified
- Available in RHD
The ultimate daily plan would be a fuel efficient modern drivetrain, powerful enough to be fun and fitted with things like a good stereo and good brakes, possibly even AC etc. So a proper build.
I had parked this idea indefinitely as things are not particularly flush in the MLT household due to a childcare based single income situation. I did have a little pot left over after selling my Fairlane and buying / sprucing the Fury - but there was no way it would buy an Amazon, let alone pay for the upgrades.
Come forward to Autumn this year and I've hardly driven the Fury due to a combination of a mismatch of number of seats and number of children, British weather and lack of roof. My wife is not a fan either due to how fast it is... She's right to a point, it really is fast.
I've started thinking about selling the Fury and using the funds to build something between the ultimate daily and a fast capable classic second car, as the A2 is very hard to justify selling.
Then an Amazon I had noticed before, advertised for a slightly higher price than my aforementioned pot was reduced to the actual size of my pot, I wondered if a bargain could be had. The plan would be to do a simple/cheap build, enjoy it over the winter and then decide what to do next.
Here it is, as viewed:
A bit scabby around the rear arches, a rusty driver's sill and a few other spots here and there - but loads of history, including £3k on suspension and brakes last year. Nice colour, nice interior, lowest drivetrain spec achievable! Oh, and vomit-inducing mirrors.
I had a very thorough crawl over and under it and went home to have a think and price up some stuff. I don't really have head-space for another project and it has a few issues so I decided to make what I considered a rude lowball on the off-chance.
Trouble is he accepted it!
Have some more pics for reading this far
It has a leaky carb, so was collected on a truck and taken directly to a friend Aaron's (coupsterv8) place so the sill can be welded. We've poked and prodded the rest and the rear quarters can wait for a bit, as can the arches.
He stripped it down last week:
And has since cut out the rusty bits:
And we're back to solid metal:
He has repair panels to cut down and fit, I'm awaiting delivery of some paint matched cans and that's about it!
Next steps are coming up with some sort of plan for the engine / carb situation, fit some rear belts and make it low.
Ax GTi Turbo
