The Art of Shedding

[Retroshite]

I've seen a couple of threads on here lately of a similar nature which seem to be quite popular, I exclusively buy and drive sheds, I don't have anything modern, nice or fast.

I'll be updating this thread regularly with my exploits of buying cheap old cars from a variety of places including facebook marketplace, gumtree, ebay and various forums.


Here's a quick run down of last years sheds.



RJC_6394 by srblythe, on Flickr

In January I bought this E30 for £300 and sold it a while later for £1200

RJC_6451 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought the Subaru for £1200 and still have it.

RJC_6467 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought the 960 for £250 then part exchanged it along with £500 for a 1977 Volvo 244.

RJC_6540 by srblythe, on Flickr

I sold the 244 for £1900

I also sold a 190e for £700 and a Proton for £400

RJC_6517 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_6532 by srblythe, on Flickr

I sold the Sierra for £500 and the Mazda for £200

RJC_6593 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_6584 by srblythe, on Flickr


240D by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a 240D for £1k and spent hours welding it and fitting new parts and sold for £800

RJC_6696 - Copy by srblythe, on Flickr

I sold the Audi 80 CD for £900

RJC_7092 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a Corolla for £300 and still have it.

RJC_7814 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_7820 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a pair of Subaru pickups for £200, stripped a few parts from them then sold them on for £2500.

RJC_7917 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a Golf for £150 then part exchanged it and £900 for a Chevette which I still have.

RJC_7997 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought an E28 for £600 and sold it for £1200

RJC_8188 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a Polo saloon for £500 and swapped it for a Mercedes C230 Kompressor.

RJC_8950 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_9761 by srblythe, on Flickr

I part exchanged the Mercedes for an Audi A6 with £750 cash my way then sold the Audi for £750

RJC_0423 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a Felicia pickup for £400 then swapped it for a 309 then swapped the 309 for a ropey 305 on moon miles, I sold the 305 for £700

RJC_0168 by srblythe, on Flickr

Peugeot 309 GL by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_1293 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a Felicia for £50, removed some parts and sold it for £150.

RJC_0324 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a Renault 19 for £250 and sold it for £500

RJC_0232 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a 306 for £400 and sold for £500

RJC_1345 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a Xantia for around £200 and sold for £400

RJC_1419 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a 305 estate for £200 and sold it for £700

RJC_1712 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a Senator for £900, raffled it and just about got my money back.

RJC_1743 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought an E38 318i for £350 and sold for £450

RJC_1802 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a Lada for £1k and still have it.

RJC_2260 - Copy by srblythe, on Flickr


I also still have these...

RJC_6368 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_8763 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_1089 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_1334 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_2035 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_0770 by srblythe, on Flickr

£15 car by srblythe, on Flickr



I won this in a raffle for £20

£20 car by srblythe, on Flickr

£20 car by srblythe, on Flickr


And swapped it for this which has sold for £1800

RJC_2340 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_2343 by srblythe, on Flickr


I bought a Ka for £90 and sold it for £650

RJC_2377 by srblythe, on Flickr

I won this in a raffle for £13

RJC_2488 by srblythe, on Flickr

And swapped it for a 205 Auto

RJC_2595 by srblythe, on Flickr

Then swapped the auto for a 205 D-turbo

RJC_3406 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought another Subaru pickup with rusty wings

RJC_2575 by srblythe, on Flickr


I bought a 309 for £250


RJC_2740 by srblythe, on Flickr

And swapped it for a 740

RJC_2785 by srblythe, on Flickr

And sold the 740 for £700

I bought a Cavalier for £950

RJC_2930 - Copy by srblythe, on Flickr

Last car of 2019 was a Daihatsu Charade for £300

RJC_3314 by srblythe, on Flickr

Edited by Retroste on Saturday 18th January 11:35

Edited by Retroste on Saturday 18th January 11:42

YouTube links removed.

Edited by Scrump on Sunday 9th February 16:33

[p4cks]

With the utmost respect... are you mental?

[Cads]

My kind of thread! Top shedding!

Bookmarked.

[DanG355]

p4cks said:

With the utmost respect... are you mental?

[Retroshite]

New year, new sheds...

I bought my first car of 2020 and dear god it's a fking heap of st.



RJC_3456 by srblythe, on Flickr



It was advertised cheap on marketplace with a short description and a couple of rubbish photos, the description basically read - Engine good, bodywork bad which was factually correct, what he failed to mention was the clutch was completely fked and it reeked of pish inside. I did my typical buying technique of turning up, giving it a quick look over then handing over the cash and fking off, I don't often bother with test drives but this is the one occasion I probably should have because I'd never had handed over the cash had I driven first.

The seller was hopeless, he spoke mostly in Romanian and the only thing I could make out was brexit and export, it parked awkwardly in his driveway next to his caravan and made a mess of trying to manoeuvre it out and ended up scraping one side of it down his garden wall.

Out on the street I was keen to get going so made an offer which he accepted, he then asked if I was happy and confirmed that it was sold as seen with no comebacks etc, I said yeah, whatever and jumped in. Everything inside was slightly slimy and sticky and it reeked of piss, the ashtray was full.

I went to pull away and instantly knew the clutch was knackered, the bite was incredibly high and it was quite clearly slipping in every gear. The fuel light was on. I headed to the nearest fuel station and stuck £20 in, I really shouldn't have bothered because it never made it home. I managed to nurse it for a few miles until I got to a slight incline and it ran out of clutch, I had to abandon it in an industrial estate.

I returned to my unit and collected my other Ranger and A-frame then headed back for the broken hateful heap of st. I think it was probably the worst A-framing experience I've ever had, the rear end of the RWD ranger kept sliding and wanting to jackknife on corners and was horrendously slow. After holding up traffic for a few miles I took a sharp turn at a junction and almost crashed when the tow car jackknifed then bent one of the arms on the A-frame. I continued on my journey and saw that the ranger behind was sitting off centre and whenever I went round corners I could hear it scraping the ground.


RJC_3457 by srblythe, on Flickr

I made it back eventually. What should have been a quick 1 hour max car collection turned into a 4 hour ordeal.


RJC_3513 by srblythe, on Flickr


I kept it for a week but ended up sending it off to the scrappers at a loss because I couldn't muster the enthusiasm needed for it.

The day after buying the Ranger I spotted a really crap looking LDV Pilot on facebook marketplace.

RJC_3529 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3525 by srblythe, on Flickr


It seemed ok, a little frilly around the edges but it started and stopped which was the main thing. The next day I discovered that along the top of the windscreen was letting in a serious amount of water when it rained.

RJC_3560 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3583 by srblythe, on Flickr

Prodding it revealed lots of crunchy holes and the majority of the roof gutter above the windscreen was made of filler. I chipped all of the filler, cut out the rust and welded a strip along the top and plastered it with seam sealer, it looks crap but no longer leaks.

RJC_3604 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3600 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3612 by srblythe, on Flickr

I sold the Ldv to a masochist from Birmingham who got a lift here then drove it for 6 hours back home. fk that!

Edited by Retroste on Saturday 18th January 11:33

Mod edit: YouTube link removed.

Edited by Scrump on Sunday 9th February 16:35

[Retroshite]

p4cks said:

With the utmost respect... are you mental?

Quite possibly...

[martin mrt]

Awesome thread, I wish I kept the pics of all the cars I’ve owned/sold/swapped it would take me an entire day to put a thread like this together

[p4cks]

Retroste said:

p4cks said:

With the utmost respect... are you mental?

Quite possibly...

We're cut from the same cloth

[Retroshite]

martin mrt said:

Awesome thread, I wish I kept the pics of all the cars I’ve owned/sold/swapped it would take me an entire day to put a thread like this together

That first post was just all of the cars I bought sold or swapped in 2019, there's been loads more in previous years. I do probably have a photo of every car I've owned since passing my test in 2009 but I really don't have the time to be compiling them all here at the moment.

[Kettmark]

Retroste said:

That first post was just all of the cars I bought sold or swapped in 2019, there's been loads more in previous years. I do probably have a photo of every car I've owned since passing my test in 2009 but I really don't have the time to be compiling them all here at the moment.

Where do you source these motors generally?

[Retroshite]

Kettmark said:

Where do you source these motors generally?

Out of last years selection 21 of them came from Facebook Marketplace but as I said in the first post I'm buying from a variety of places including facebook marketplace, gumtree, ebay and various forums.

A couple came from word of mouth or friends, the pair of Subaru Pickups I spotted on a farm while out driving around the Perthshire countryside, I chapped on the door and the farmer asked me to make an offer on them.

[anonymous-user]

Some absolute corkers in there, absolutely fantastic

I bet you’ve spent less in total than most people spend over a PCP term too

[Ilovejapcrap]

What and where is this car raffle I want in

[CelebrationSport]

You nutter. Following with interest.

[Retroshite]

One of the cars I bought last year which I plan on keeping for a while is a 1981 Vauxhall Chevette ES, it was described to me by the seller as mechanically good but cosmetically poor, I think the correct term for the bodywork was utterly fking hanging...
The car was located on the Isle of Skye in north west Scotland and I live in Fife so from the start, the logistics of going to pick it up were going to be difficult. The thought of trying to arrange multiple trains or busses around the sellers availability didn't inspire confidence that this collection would happen easily.

Barn Find! by srblythe, on Flickr

My plan was to find the cheapest possible car locally, drive it to Skye and dispose of it somehow, I searched eBay, Gumtree and Facebook for cheap ste and looked to spend around £150 on something that started and stopped and had some mot on it.

RJC_7894 by srblythe, on Flickr

I found a mk4 Golf within budget which had some test on it and drove well enough but had just about every dashboard warning light illuminated.

RJC_7893 by srblythe, on Flickr

Road trip by srblythe, on Flickr


My initial plan was to drive the Golf up to Skye and abandon it when I got there but the seller was happy to take £100 off the Chevette's purchase price if he could keep the Golf.

RJC_7915 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_7916 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_7963 by srblythe, on Flickr


A 200 mile trip in a £150 car to the Scottish Highlands? What could possibly go wrong?


It drove absolutely fine.
I arrived on Skye in the early afternoon after a leisurely and stress free journey.


Shove it by srblythe, on Flickr

The Chevette was pretty much as expected, it started up and drove OK and was a little bit frilly around the edges.

Shove it by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_7997 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_7998 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_8001 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_8006 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_8008 by srblythe, on Flickr


I drove back via Fort William then onto Glen Coe, the car performed faultlessly although it was a bit loud with the lack of carpets and the rubber bungs missing from the floors.

RJC_8020 by srblythe, on Flickr

Edited by Retroste on Sunday 12th January 13:39

[Scooobydont]

Buying a shed to allow you the collection of another shed, bloody genius!

[Retroshite]

Jbeale96 said:

Some absolute corkers in there, absolutely fantastic

I bet you’ve spent less in total than most people spend over a PCP term too

Who knows? I've never had a car on PCP as new cars don't interest me in the slightest. I enjoy driving and experiencing a variety of older cars but only have a limited amount of space (16 cars max) so end up selling off a couple to make room for different stuff.

[Butter Face]

Thread delivers. Amazing

[Retroshite]

Scooobydont said:

Buying a shed to allow you the collection of another shed, bloody genius!

I'd usually just get the train on longer collections but the car was awkward to reach via public transport so it made sense to do what I did and didn't cost me too much.

[andy43]

Retroste said:

... only have a limited amount of space (16 cars max)....

I wish...
Excellent thread. I’m hoping you’ve got traders insurance - or you’ll easily be on first name terms with most of the insurers call centre staff.