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The latest project

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DualityNSNO said:
Honestly restoration is time and space consuming - I haven't the space currently, sadly, to try, but I want to provided I have in the future. I've done the "front of the house small mods" route on a few of my cars before, it's quite fun and feels great really.

My unasked for advice for this is to pick a car you'll have fun with, a-la "Mighty Car Mods" on YouTube - doesn't need to have 1000000000 bhp or be the super-specific V8 or something - restomod it so it makes you happy.
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That would be an early MX5 👍
 
Rita_Poon said:
That's some going. Bet it handles like a dream on a rail. Don't know much about tvr's so nice work lookin after the chimaera. If you cash em in, what do you have your eye on next? There's none left now but I'd always wanted to recover an 80's 911.
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Thanks mate. Yes the Lotus is a little gem from those people who developed it. It's a downforce car really so you can only feel its potential on track. Well ougunned on top speed by the bigger engined cars but this will drive around the outside of them on corners.....you can brake so late too and fire out of a corner.....then get reeled back in by the GT3's on the straight then repeatlol
 

COYBL25 said:
Modern classic Fords are affordable and the parts are cheap.

Got a good mate who restores them for a living.

He’s got a warehouse full of his own cars too, which are investments for the future :

Cossys x 3
Loads of RS Escorts
3.0 ghia Granadas
Loads of Capris
Loads of Mk 1 Mini Coopers
Audi Quatros
And bizarrely, Volvo T5’s which he reckons are a future classic !
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I bought a solid RS Escort Turbo during lockdown for £5,750 so you are right there, still about. Sold it to a friend when I'd sorted it and he uses it for shows now.
 
Rita_Poon said:
That's some going. Bet it handles like a dream on a rail. Don't know much about tvr's so nice work lookin after the chimaera. If you cash em in, what do you have your eye on next? There's none left now but I'd always wanted to recover an 80's 911.
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There are still 80’s 911 still out there, but getting one that’s “ straight “ is the biggest hurdle.

Most of them have had something very bad happen to them along the way, due to their owners not being able to handle them or not looking after them properly, due to the eye watering cost of maintenance.

An old 911 would be my dream too, but it’d be a five year project if I ever did it.
 

Street end man said:
I bought a solid RS Escort Turbo during lockdown for £5,750 so you are right there, still about. Sold it to a friend when I'd sorted it and he uses it for shows now.
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The RS 500 Cossy is where the big bucks are.

Hardly any straight ones left and I’ve seen show room ones, with proper history going for over 100k.

The mad thing about them, is apart from the seats, they’re still a Sierra inside 😂
 
chrismpw said:
Armed with a fair bit of experience with old vars I set off with the missus, tool box and gallon of fuel in hand (don't trust those old gauges). The wife's work is an hour from home, the seller picked me up from there and took me the rest of the way, another hour, to his home. Very kind, very 'trapping' - but I figure a taxi and the train was always an option if I had to walk away from the car. There was a vague ... no hang on ... strong smell of [Poor language removed] in his swanky range rover.

I arrived at a farm house, with the kind of barn garage i could only dream of. I inspected the car while the seller made a cup of cheap nast coffee. All seemed good. It was indeed sound - no bubbles of rust, the paintwork generally polished up well, but unrestored. Plenty of blemishes and patina to suggest it wasn't tarted up for a sale. One rear wing showed signs it had suffered some kind of minor shunt at some point, but it had been repaired well. We went for a test drive, the car went and sounded lovely. I checked the paperwork, I was happy. I paid the man, he gave me a stash of books and manuals easily worth a couple of hundreds and said a few things that later would prove significant, before showing me the contents of his barn.

The doors opened an there were shelf upon shelf of parts taken from (as far as I could see) at least 4 donor cars. Manifolds, consoles, switches, steering columns etc etc.

He was an accountant (do we trust these people after Everton?). Not good with his hands so he had the help of an old fella from the village who did work on the car. That fella, the story goes, kept finding and scrapping xj6s for him. Honestly? At what point do you tell your handyman enough! I was offered the lot - for a very reasonable price. There was no way it would fit in the car, or my workshop, or my shed, no matter how much I wanted it. I'd think about it.

So here comes the 90 mile journey home. Estimate 15mpg 6 gallons, half of one tank. New car, excited, distracted, nervous - will the car be trouble free? Where will I stop fir lunch on the way home? The sum is shining. The fuel gauge is showing an eighth of a tank IF its accurate. A priority to find fuel asap. Set the sat nav - off I go. The car is lively, spritely makes all the right sounds. For a long time in the 70s the XJ6 was widely regarded as the best car ... in the world.

After 20 minutes driving I glance at my sat nav ... I'm 6 minutes from home. What? I look more closely - the phone is taking me to Tamworth ... this is what I'd programmed the night before to look up the journey. Ffs! I'm going the wrong way!

Check the satnav for fuel stations ... head off again, the way I'd come ... 20 minutes away. Get to the asda to find its near a motorway junction and demanding nearly 30p a litre more than the going rate. Feck that, even if I am on fumes. Out comes my pre-prepared gallon ... without a spout, oh gawd. Dribble, dribble in we go trying not to splash or spill it .... of course ... the wind, it hadn't been windy in the slightest, it was a lovely, still early summer's day, but at THIS precise time a stiff breeze appears from nowhere to spray my fuel everywhere.

Fed another gallon I head towards the next station for a proper fill. The xj6 has 2 tanks, one in each rear wing, 12 gallons each.

"Nice motor mate, how long have you had it?"
"About an hour"
One of those nice conversations arise about old cars at a filling station, during which I fill the 2nd tank - which the owner had said "I don't use that one, the fuel gauge isn't reliable."

Ahhh crap .... there's a hole! Sixty quid of fuel went in there while I was distracted, and now brim full its piddling out. What to do? Pathetically I put my gallon can under the slow stream while I weigh up my options. There weren't any.

Tge tank was going to empty anyway and I was still 2 hours and now 100 miles from home. I chose to use that tank and drove it like I stole it! For once, steady driving was not going to give me fuel economy.

I got home with 3 of the 12 gallons left, without stopping for lunch. Around 11mpg ... but not all of that burned!

Issue 1 identified .... need a new tank. 300 notes, remove bumper, silencer and rear valance .... some day.View attachment 255743
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Leave the motors alone and start learning how to block pave! 😱😱
 

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