My car history....illustrated for your viewing pleasure
Discussion
Hi, thought it was about time i did my car history....
passed my test back in '02, my first car, like so many people, was also my mothers...
Nissan Micra!
please note i do not live in an estate, i merely rent a lock up there. Anyway, hooned about in this for a few years during college etc. Spent a lot of time on the rev limiter - they really are hilariously slow.
After a while I got a design and production manager job with a bike parts manufacturer in West Sussex. Living in Winchester, this involved a 70 mile round trip to work every day. Obviously, a car was called for. Step forward,
The Rover:
The advantages of this car over the micra were many and varied. For example, it had a rev counter, so I knew when i was about to hit the limiter (unlike the micra), and it was also marginally more powerful. Other than that it handled like a boat, but resolutely failed to break, despite racking up the miles.
Maintenance bills came to one set of brake pads, and four tyres - the rears were perished, which contributed to my first (that sounds ominous...) crash. Driving along the A272 (my route to work was from Winchester to Petworth, so involved driving this great road twice a day!) near the petworth end, i managed to loose the back end, and spun her along the road at about 80mph.... Managed to hold her straight enough to avoid any other traffic, but ripped off the rear bumper by brushing a hedge. Other than that, no damage. Very lucky. Continued drive to work with bumper in rear seats.
Some new rear tyres and a tracking set up and she was as good as new...ish. Bumper replaced but very wonky!
Then, whilst waiting at a junction just before gaining a years no claims, this happened:
A woman driving a van was driving along, indicating left to pull into the road I was waiting to pull out from. As traffic was heavy, i started to pull out before she had started to slow, but she carried on straight contrary to her indicators; the result was the Rover getting written off, and i was only third party. Gay.
Still, lesson learned the hard way: Assume everyone else on the road is an idiot.
I found myself back in:
The Micra!
Sold the Rover to a guy from the Midlands who won it on Ebay for about £250.
Needed another car fast (Micras are not built for A-road commuting - overtaking was basically impossible), so step forward...
The Peugeot 306
This was a 1.9 DT, and I would describe as my first 'alright' car. Went pretty well for an old diesel, with a good slug of torque from the turbo. Overtaking on my way to work was back on!
This went alright for about six months, until all the signs of a blowing headgasket (a very common fault on these engines) made itself known...I tried to convince myself it was an airlock, but sadly one day on the way to work it really went.
One hastily paid AA membership later, I was back in...
The Micra!
Given that I'm tight (read: Had no money to pay a garage to sort it out for me) I decided to change the headgasket myself:
This lead to a lot of skinned knuckles, swearing and tool purchasing. It was, however extremely satisfying (in the end!)
This went fine, and when put back together the Peugeot was running as sweet as a nut. I had a bit of spare cash at the time, so started to 'restore' her - I don't want to say modify as that makes me sound too chavvy. I changed the rear beam to an XSi one (lower, stiffer, with disks instead of drums) Changed all the bushes, brake pads etc. I was just eyeing up some GTI6 front brakes, when all of a sudden the temperature gauge started to creep up...
And the headgasket went again. This would be the third time this had happened to the car, so I decided to bit the bullet and get shot of the bloody thing - I wasn't doing the headgasket again in a hurry!
Sold it for £400 to a car trader who planned to fix it up and sell it. I reckon the head must have been cracked or something. Selling this car really hurt as I'd put a lot of time and effort into making it go well!
Back to cruising around in:
The Micra!
By this time my mum had a new car, so gave me the Micra on the understanding that I would give her the cash when I sold it.
By this point I had been commuting 70 miles a day for over two years, and not earning a great wage (considering the responsibilities of the job). I decided that the time had come to get a degree in Product Design and learn to do what I was already doing properly. To this end I applied to go to Uni, and was accepted unconditionally by Sussex - I start in about a month!
This meant that I no longer needed a reliable, frugal commuter. So, here's the plan: get the Micra MOT'd and taxed, flog it and buy a fun car for blasting about in when I'm back from Uni!
No:
This is what is know as an 'MOT fail'. Apparently they all rot here.
Because I had no interest in the Micra whatsoever I had maintained it only as necessary: Changing brake pads, filters, fluids etc. I hadn't bothered looking for rust, assuming that the Japanese knew how to galvanise things, like my older, rust free Peugeot was...How wrong I was!
So to the breakers she went: £80 in my pocket (my mother was generous enough to forget our previous agreement), and they pick it up for you! bargain!
I was strangely sad to see it go - as much as it was rubbish (didn't handle, didn't go, didn't stop) I had been faultlessly reliable (up to a point) and even the AC still worked (although it reduced the car's forward motion considerably)
Assuming that my luck with cars couldn't get much worse, I did the right thing and bought an '89 Peugeot. Allow me to present...
The GTI!
As I bought her...
I've owned this for about two months now, and she hasn't missed a beat. Got a bit of a bargain buying her - I left a note on the windscreen asking if she was for sale, and got a phone call the next day, aparently they'd decided to sell the day before I left the note!
She's only got 80K on the clocks, and the rear tyres and spare were original!
One times set of new tyres (having learned my lesson with old rear tyres; see above) some uprated front pads and discs, and a bit of a polish, she is looking like new again (nearly!)
Anyway, I hope someone has enjoyed reading my ramblings, and I hope you'll wish me better luck with the GTI!
Cheers,
Adam.
passed my test back in '02, my first car, like so many people, was also my mothers...
Nissan Micra!
please note i do not live in an estate, i merely rent a lock up there. Anyway, hooned about in this for a few years during college etc. Spent a lot of time on the rev limiter - they really are hilariously slow.
After a while I got a design and production manager job with a bike parts manufacturer in West Sussex. Living in Winchester, this involved a 70 mile round trip to work every day. Obviously, a car was called for. Step forward,
The Rover:
The advantages of this car over the micra were many and varied. For example, it had a rev counter, so I knew when i was about to hit the limiter (unlike the micra), and it was also marginally more powerful. Other than that it handled like a boat, but resolutely failed to break, despite racking up the miles.
Maintenance bills came to one set of brake pads, and four tyres - the rears were perished, which contributed to my first (that sounds ominous...) crash. Driving along the A272 (my route to work was from Winchester to Petworth, so involved driving this great road twice a day!) near the petworth end, i managed to loose the back end, and spun her along the road at about 80mph.... Managed to hold her straight enough to avoid any other traffic, but ripped off the rear bumper by brushing a hedge. Other than that, no damage. Very lucky. Continued drive to work with bumper in rear seats.
Some new rear tyres and a tracking set up and she was as good as new...ish. Bumper replaced but very wonky!
Then, whilst waiting at a junction just before gaining a years no claims, this happened:
A woman driving a van was driving along, indicating left to pull into the road I was waiting to pull out from. As traffic was heavy, i started to pull out before she had started to slow, but she carried on straight contrary to her indicators; the result was the Rover getting written off, and i was only third party. Gay.
Still, lesson learned the hard way: Assume everyone else on the road is an idiot.
I found myself back in:
The Micra!
Sold the Rover to a guy from the Midlands who won it on Ebay for about £250.
Needed another car fast (Micras are not built for A-road commuting - overtaking was basically impossible), so step forward...
The Peugeot 306
This was a 1.9 DT, and I would describe as my first 'alright' car. Went pretty well for an old diesel, with a good slug of torque from the turbo. Overtaking on my way to work was back on!
This went alright for about six months, until all the signs of a blowing headgasket (a very common fault on these engines) made itself known...I tried to convince myself it was an airlock, but sadly one day on the way to work it really went.
One hastily paid AA membership later, I was back in...
The Micra!
Given that I'm tight (read: Had no money to pay a garage to sort it out for me) I decided to change the headgasket myself:
This lead to a lot of skinned knuckles, swearing and tool purchasing. It was, however extremely satisfying (in the end!)
This went fine, and when put back together the Peugeot was running as sweet as a nut. I had a bit of spare cash at the time, so started to 'restore' her - I don't want to say modify as that makes me sound too chavvy. I changed the rear beam to an XSi one (lower, stiffer, with disks instead of drums) Changed all the bushes, brake pads etc. I was just eyeing up some GTI6 front brakes, when all of a sudden the temperature gauge started to creep up...
And the headgasket went again. This would be the third time this had happened to the car, so I decided to bit the bullet and get shot of the bloody thing - I wasn't doing the headgasket again in a hurry!
Sold it for £400 to a car trader who planned to fix it up and sell it. I reckon the head must have been cracked or something. Selling this car really hurt as I'd put a lot of time and effort into making it go well!
Back to cruising around in:
The Micra!
By this time my mum had a new car, so gave me the Micra on the understanding that I would give her the cash when I sold it.
By this point I had been commuting 70 miles a day for over two years, and not earning a great wage (considering the responsibilities of the job). I decided that the time had come to get a degree in Product Design and learn to do what I was already doing properly. To this end I applied to go to Uni, and was accepted unconditionally by Sussex - I start in about a month!
This meant that I no longer needed a reliable, frugal commuter. So, here's the plan: get the Micra MOT'd and taxed, flog it and buy a fun car for blasting about in when I'm back from Uni!
No:
This is what is know as an 'MOT fail'. Apparently they all rot here.
Because I had no interest in the Micra whatsoever I had maintained it only as necessary: Changing brake pads, filters, fluids etc. I hadn't bothered looking for rust, assuming that the Japanese knew how to galvanise things, like my older, rust free Peugeot was...How wrong I was!
So to the breakers she went: £80 in my pocket (my mother was generous enough to forget our previous agreement), and they pick it up for you! bargain!
I was strangely sad to see it go - as much as it was rubbish (didn't handle, didn't go, didn't stop) I had been faultlessly reliable (up to a point) and even the AC still worked (although it reduced the car's forward motion considerably)
Assuming that my luck with cars couldn't get much worse, I did the right thing and bought an '89 Peugeot. Allow me to present...
The GTI!
As I bought her...
I've owned this for about two months now, and she hasn't missed a beat. Got a bit of a bargain buying her - I left a note on the windscreen asking if she was for sale, and got a phone call the next day, aparently they'd decided to sell the day before I left the note!
She's only got 80K on the clocks, and the rear tyres and spare were original!
One times set of new tyres (having learned my lesson with old rear tyres; see above) some uprated front pads and discs, and a bit of a polish, she is looking like new again (nearly!)
Anyway, I hope someone has enjoyed reading my ramblings, and I hope you'll wish me better luck with the GTI!
Cheers,
Adam.
Are the pics taken in Winnall or Stanmore? Cant place the tower block....
Great story, I think you and the micra were meant to be really. The peugeot looks lovely, always fancied one of those, but rear tyres that are 15+yrs old and have done 80k!! Thats gotta be somne sort of record surely.
I'm in Winchester too, just up by Symonds so will keep an eye out for your peugeot. I'll be in a battered silver Eunos or a diesel repmobile.
Ollie
Great story, I think you and the micra were meant to be really. The peugeot looks lovely, always fancied one of those, but rear tyres that are 15+yrs old and have done 80k!! Thats gotta be somne sort of record surely.
I'm in Winchester too, just up by Symonds so will keep an eye out for your peugeot. I'll be in a battered silver Eunos or a diesel repmobile.
Ollie
I have my own equivalent of your Mum's Micra in my Dad's Corsa. Through writing off my Rover, my Volvo's head gasket failure, my other Volvo's radiator splitting and my Golf's gearbox, my Dad's Corsa has always been sat there waiting for me to need it again.
And yet despite all that dependability, the good fuel economy, the servicing that costs pennies and the fact that it never gets through any tyres at all, I don't want it.
Hope the 205 goes fine for you, looks pretty tidy now you've given it a bit of a clean.
And yet despite all that dependability, the good fuel economy, the servicing that costs pennies and the fact that it never gets through any tyres at all, I don't want it.
Hope the 205 goes fine for you, looks pretty tidy now you've given it a bit of a clean.
Edited by iRoll on Sunday 24th August 13:14
OllieBirmingham said:
Are the pics taken in Winnall or Stanmore? Cant place the tower block....
Great story, I think you and the micra were meant to be really. The peugeot looks lovely, always fancied one of those, but rear tyres that are 15+yrs old and have done 80k!! Thats gotta be somne sort of record surely.
I'm in Winchester too, just up by Symonds so will keep an eye out for your peugeot. I'll be in a battered silver Eunos or a diesel repmobile.
Ollie
Pics taken i Winnall!Great story, I think you and the micra were meant to be really. The peugeot looks lovely, always fancied one of those, but rear tyres that are 15+yrs old and have done 80k!! Thats gotta be somne sort of record surely.
I'm in Winchester too, just up by Symonds so will keep an eye out for your peugeot. I'll be in a battered silver Eunos or a diesel repmobile.
Ollie
Francis350Z said:
Ah, alright for some. I live in the s
thole lol. Will look out for your car. Would be cool to meet another petrolhead in the area.
There are plenty about!thole lol. Will look out for your car. Would be cool to meet another petrolhead in the area.just got back from this mini hoon - mucho fun!
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