From Ford Anglia to McLaren
Discussion
Ford Anglia 'super' don't you know for princely sum of £80. At 17 it was the best thing on the road though promptly fell apart, namely once when I had to slam the door to get it to shut, on a petrol forecourt the complete sill and jacking point fell to the ground exposing the newspaper and filler that held them in place. Embarrassed, threw them in the boot where the spring hangers stared at me having rotted through too. I'd even resorted to drilling holes in passenger side floor to let water out! I manually dug holes in the road for a living progressing on from being a crap milkman. I chased my dream of being cool with a nice motor. Lot's of cars came and went but I always 'tried' to be as cool as I could with the budget I had. 1300GT, Vauxhall Victor fd of which I stuck on wide wheels, sidepipe exhausts and did my own candy Apple paint job out in the street. It may have been sad, it may have been custom car days, it may have been crap, but at the time it was great and it was mine. A reason why I never disrespect young lads doing what they can with their own hard earned with spoilers wheels etc. Though, I wasn't quite as sad as a guy I remember going by my scaffolded job with his arm out the window and stereo blasting out whilst being towed by a taxi! Bless, we do what we can. Then a proper 'rod' as I thought being a 1960 Vauxhall Velox (pa) with the knee-breaker wrap around windscreen with a small block Ford V8. I rebuilt it and again sprayed it best I could out in the street. My 'ex' had to suffer the whole engine in bits in our one bedroom flat and we were still using the local launderette. Moving on several other cars then a loan for a Triumph Stag which had electric windows! of which I had to change the cam chains in an outside car port as they made such a din, and another of which I rebuilt the engine in my own single garage as I had by now bought a two bed house with said garage and a washing machine having manually dug many more holes in search of gas leaks plus I'd gone to college to progress a career. An RS turbo escort followed, a Peugeot 205 1.9 GTI 'turbo technics' of which I really wish I still had to this day but as was then I had to sell in order to move up. Another house move and couple of years in a brown Escort 1.6 diesel of which the dashboard shook like being on a dumper truck. Better at work, saved, small loan and a car of my dreams; a Lotus Esprit turbo no less! Wow! But gearbox fell out, many weeks in garage repairing it and moved on. Then TVR bug got me. Griffith 500, T350 but speed six engines going pop everywhere at the time, so let go for a Chimaera 450 (x-bolted engine). Went self employed and worked bloody hard setting up a company and everything that goes with it. Spent many many hours and saved funds to make the HP match the rear badge of 450 as it was in truth 220bhp standard, and as the modifier/home mechanic in me (men in sheds vs wallet racers) spoke louder than everything else went over board and got it to an outstanding 573hp from the old Rover V8 ( a very long, sad and expensive story). It was scarey fast with no aids, I had it 9 years but in truth was so glad just to get to where I was going in one piece. Mission accomplished I moved up again as I'd had my eyes on having an Aston Martin Vantage for a long time and went for low mileage high spec' car, couldn't believe I actually had one, but what a disappointment that ended up being because of a low life dealer in truth. So, at an age where I care not to mention just being glad I'm still here and upright I went berserk and spent every penny I could find down back of the sofa and went for,,,,,,,, a McLaren MP4-12C in Volcano orange with every single option available when it was new being a £235,000 car! though I paid less than half that amount buying it with a lowly 11k miles. Me?! in a McLaren?! ME!! I still to this day walk into the garage, sit down with a beer and just stare at it in awe. From every angle to me it is perfect and this thing drives even better than it looks. I use any excuse to go out in it taking the mandatory 40 mile trip for milk that we really don't need. But, I still like the thought of a Ford Anglia sat next to it.
Just few pics of journey and still working.
Just few pics of journey and still working.
Edited by macdeb on Sunday 19th February 20:10
Edited by macdeb on Sunday 19th February 20:11
Edited by macdeb on Sunday 19th February 20:13
Edited by macdeb on Sunday 19th February 20:20
Wow, that's an incredible progression in automotive technology starting from the old Anglia! Also amazing getting nearly 600hp from the Rover V8 in the Chimaera.
The 12C looks fantastic, many people have said that shape is looking better recently and I definitely see it. And of course, yours is in the best colour
Thats some leap, my Dad always talks about the Ford Anglia and Poplar sheds he had back in the early 70's. By then they were deeply unfashionable but could be had for next to nothing.
Few stories about a door falling off on the motorway because the hinges simply rusted away, the half shaft snapping while running it backwards down a hill. All kinds of fun times
Few stories about a door falling off on the motorway because the hinges simply rusted away, the half shaft snapping while running it backwards down a hill. All kinds of fun times
Tubes63 said:
I’m interested to hear what was wrong with the vantage?
Well after stretching for what I thought was the best I could find, a Main Dealer in Northern Ireland delivered it having covered an additional 300 miles from when I placed deposit with big ends knocking. Called them straight away and they tried to fob me off saying it was injector noise. I said I know a little bit about engines having built a few and bottom ends gone and I want refund. Then they had it back confirming crank with two big end failures and scored bores (car had only covered by then 6.8k miles from new). They promised me that a "brand new engine" would be fitted from Cologne of which I stupidly accepted. Except as I learned later that Aston Martin do not supply 'new' engines, only rebuilt units and the rebuilt unit fitted on mine was not a good one as that had to be replaced too with another! In meantime the gearbox was also replaced as it had a whine from when it was delivered back to me with the first engine replacement. I do have to say at this point that when I contacted Aston Martin directly they were fantastic and did everything they could to resolve my issues and I sing their praises for customer service to this day. They did indeed get the car to where it should've been even extending the warranty but by then after only 6k miles by myself, 3 engines two gearboxes and some other stuff I'd fell out of love with it. I joked with my local main dealer who rectified everything and were themselves superb that the technician working on it should be a named driver on my insurance policy as he drove it more than I did. The supplying main dealer however were nothing more than dodgy second hand car salesmen and as they did the multipoint inspection for the 'timeless' warranty themselves I have to believe one of two things; Either it was a tyre kicking exercise being a low mileage car or that they knew the engine had a problem and stuck a warranty on it to get it out the door. Strange too that the original salesman always seemed to be away on holiday and the service manager went off on long term sick as I was told whenever I tried to contact them. I LOVE Aston Martins, beautiful cars but would I have another? The jury is still out.EFA.
Edited by macdeb on Tuesday 21st February 14:23
Edited by macdeb on Tuesday 21st February 14:24
Edited by macdeb on Tuesday 21st February 14:28
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