09-10-2023, 10:16 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-10-2023, 10:25 PM by DrStrangelove.)
Started off with a Rover 90 P4 which eventually failed due to brake pipe corrosion.
Then on to a Singer Chamois, the less said about that the better, though I did sell it twice by mistake.
Rover 100 P4 which had a bad miss and dodgy brakes which turned out to be due to the servo being full of brake fluid*. They were much better with the servo from the 90 installed instead.
*Impressive smoke produced by the engine every time you applied the brakes & the pinking was unbelievable.
Ford Zodiac MkIV flying pig. You could read a broadsheet newspaper in the front of that. It ate the fibre cam gear twice. Those cast iron heads are heavy.
Vauxhall Chevette 1256. Rust bucket that nearly killed me.
Dutton Phaeces 2 litre Pinto engine: you could do doughnuts in it in 2nd. Last year of ownership I did 30 miles. Hideous car.
Ford Granada MkII 2.3 auto, turned out when my dad said it did 12mpg he wasn't joking, it became a 3 litre that did 20mpg, then a 3 litre manual that did 22 mpg, then I stuck a hideous Holley carb on it & fecked it up, should have left the 38dgas alone. I'd never experienced carb icing before the Holley.
Vauxhall chevette 1256: this one didn't try to kill me but rusted in all the same places.
VW Polo 1043: did 105k in this back & forth to Cwmbran every day, 55 miles there 55 miles back. 3 sets of tyres, replaced the shock absorbers twice, plus a clutch.
Fiat Croma 2 litre super ie: I loved that car, tin worm got it.
Fiat Tempra 2 litre: nice car, wish I'd kept it. Very rare spec with the 2 litre engine.
Fiat Marea: 5 cylinder piece of crap, lasted 2 months. Smoked like a chimney.
VW Passat 2 litre: highly impressive when the dipstick tube breaks off the engine coz it's made of plastic, plus the driver's window motor went t*ts up, then the antilock brake controller did the same. Scrapped it. I'll never buy another VW.
Volvo 940 turbo: it leaked engine oil* like it was going out of fashion but I did 15k in it & scrapped it at 212k.
*You could get a gallon of el cheapo engine oil in Wilko for £5 at the time, the secret was to never put more oil in the sump than it took to touch the bottom of the dipstick. It didn't suffer from under body rust.
Fiat Seicento: fantastic little car: first time I've ever had to replace a fuel tank or a sump. Loved the car. Cheap to insure & run, & fun to drive as long as you haven't got big feet. Sold it for £50 to a neighbour who wanted it for his sons.
Toyota Corolla 1.3 auto: the go slower version. It died from some unknown ignition problem & I couldn't be a****d to fix it.
Toyota Corolla 1.6 auto: the go faster version: nice enough car but £300 tax? It's off to the scrappy at 33k miles along with the other one.
I've given up driving, free buses do all I need these days, after I worked out that it was costing £800 a year just to go to Tesco once a week.
Then on to a Singer Chamois, the less said about that the better, though I did sell it twice by mistake.
Rover 100 P4 which had a bad miss and dodgy brakes which turned out to be due to the servo being full of brake fluid*. They were much better with the servo from the 90 installed instead.
*Impressive smoke produced by the engine every time you applied the brakes & the pinking was unbelievable.
Ford Zodiac MkIV flying pig. You could read a broadsheet newspaper in the front of that. It ate the fibre cam gear twice. Those cast iron heads are heavy.
Vauxhall Chevette 1256. Rust bucket that nearly killed me.
Dutton Phaeces 2 litre Pinto engine: you could do doughnuts in it in 2nd. Last year of ownership I did 30 miles. Hideous car.
Ford Granada MkII 2.3 auto, turned out when my dad said it did 12mpg he wasn't joking, it became a 3 litre that did 20mpg, then a 3 litre manual that did 22 mpg, then I stuck a hideous Holley carb on it & fecked it up, should have left the 38dgas alone. I'd never experienced carb icing before the Holley.
Vauxhall chevette 1256: this one didn't try to kill me but rusted in all the same places.
VW Polo 1043: did 105k in this back & forth to Cwmbran every day, 55 miles there 55 miles back. 3 sets of tyres, replaced the shock absorbers twice, plus a clutch.
Fiat Croma 2 litre super ie: I loved that car, tin worm got it.
Fiat Tempra 2 litre: nice car, wish I'd kept it. Very rare spec with the 2 litre engine.
Fiat Marea: 5 cylinder piece of crap, lasted 2 months. Smoked like a chimney.
VW Passat 2 litre: highly impressive when the dipstick tube breaks off the engine coz it's made of plastic, plus the driver's window motor went t*ts up, then the antilock brake controller did the same. Scrapped it. I'll never buy another VW.
Volvo 940 turbo: it leaked engine oil* like it was going out of fashion but I did 15k in it & scrapped it at 212k.
*You could get a gallon of el cheapo engine oil in Wilko for £5 at the time, the secret was to never put more oil in the sump than it took to touch the bottom of the dipstick. It didn't suffer from under body rust.
Fiat Seicento: fantastic little car: first time I've ever had to replace a fuel tank or a sump. Loved the car. Cheap to insure & run, & fun to drive as long as you haven't got big feet. Sold it for £50 to a neighbour who wanted it for his sons.
Toyota Corolla 1.3 auto: the go slower version. It died from some unknown ignition problem & I couldn't be a****d to fix it.
Toyota Corolla 1.6 auto: the go faster version: nice enough car but £300 tax? It's off to the scrappy at 33k miles along with the other one.
I've given up driving, free buses do all I need these days, after I worked out that it was costing £800 a year just to go to Tesco once a week.
