Having old grannies
Discussion
I have a confession. I am always on the look out for old granny's cars that they are selling.
As they drive them pretty slowly, generally look after them well, they make good second had bargains.
The best old granny I had was a mint VW Mark 2 GTi that was used for a shopping run..
Anybody else got an old granny fetish..
As they drive them pretty slowly, generally look after them well, they make good second had bargains.
The best old granny I had was a mint VW Mark 2 GTi that was used for a shopping run..
Anybody else got an old granny fetish..
Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 2nd February 20:06
NiceCupOfTea said:
Yes, they're great until you do anything than drive to the shops at 20mph, whereupon within 2 weeks it will have expired in a cloud of coolant.
Yep, I once bought a mint y reg triumph acclaim that had done 30,000 miles. Full history and one owner came in at the bargain price of £150! 3 miles after setting off home, going down on to the m25 it developed a misfire. Did a compression test when I got home and found 4 melted exhaust valves. The cylinder head looked like a coal mine!
Re the Golf 2 posts above, it had spent 10 years going to the shops and back and quite a few minor things broke once it regularly started going over 40mph.
The scary incidents were; a perished fuel line and worn HT leads at the same time, open the bonnet in the dark and there was arcing everywhere and a smell of petrol!!!!
Almost total brake faliure after 2 hours on the motorway, approaching a roundabout at 60mph, rapid gear changes and big handbrake pull just saved a big shunt.
The brake fluid was like a gel and pistons so siezed I had to buy new calipers.
The car's now fine and still has the original engine and clutch. It's so simple under the bonnet.
The scary incidents were; a perished fuel line and worn HT leads at the same time, open the bonnet in the dark and there was arcing everywhere and a smell of petrol!!!!
Almost total brake faliure after 2 hours on the motorway, approaching a roundabout at 60mph, rapid gear changes and big handbrake pull just saved a big shunt.
The brake fluid was like a gel and pistons so siezed I had to buy new calipers.
The car's now fine and still has the original engine and clutch. It's so simple under the bonnet.
My Granddad is planning to give up driving fairly soon. So someone will get a good buy - it's a mk.2 Punto that he's driven less than 1000 miles per year and doubt has ever driven above 50mph
ETA - when I was in New Zealand I bought a mk.4 Cortina that had been owned by a 96 year old. He had done 30,000 km in 28 years and kept every last receipt and a service book where he wrote down every last thing that was done to it. Even made his own little toolbox for the boot.
ETA - when I was in New Zealand I bought a mk.4 Cortina that had been owned by a 96 year old. He had done 30,000 km in 28 years and kept every last receipt and a service book where he wrote down every last thing that was done to it. Even made his own little toolbox for the boot.
Edited by Negative Creep on Wednesday 2nd February 22:38
I don't know why anybody thinks they are good buys?
My first car had done well under average miles and was owned by an old bloke. Nothing but bloody trouble, that car.
My MX-5 had done less than 50k miles and was 13 years old - barely driven for 3 or 4 years, one year it did about 150 miles between MOTs. Guess what happened when I started driving it? Things started breaking! I remember driving it home around the M25, it practically refused to go above 65 mph. A good service and Italian tuneup helped, but it still took a couple of years of stuff failing to iron out the problems.
I would *far* rather buy a car with above average miles that has sat on the motorway and is cheap because people are terrified of that number in the middle of the speedo!
My first car had done well under average miles and was owned by an old bloke. Nothing but bloody trouble, that car.
My MX-5 had done less than 50k miles and was 13 years old - barely driven for 3 or 4 years, one year it did about 150 miles between MOTs. Guess what happened when I started driving it? Things started breaking! I remember driving it home around the M25, it practically refused to go above 65 mph. A good service and Italian tuneup helped, but it still took a couple of years of stuff failing to iron out the problems.
I would *far* rather buy a car with above average miles that has sat on the motorway and is cheap because people are terrified of that number in the middle of the speedo!
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