My car history
Discussion
Long time lurker and all that....
By far my favorite posts on PH are the car histories, so here is my legacy! Nothing exotic I am afraid.
Apologies for the range of image qualities which ranges from scanned 35mm to camera phones to digi cams!
Started 13 years ago with this puppy:
1979 1 litre jobby which had a full £0 modifying budget. So on went the 10" Minilites, Corbeau buckets, Stage 1 tuning kit, silly speakers etc etc. By far my favorite mod was to hack some rubber off the suspension trumpets to drop the ride height! Now that is a great way to cock up a car!!! Oh, and the drums all round meant it didn't stop. I crashed!
Then moved on to this:
So this time I had no rust (for about 2 weeks), disk breaks and less nicotine odour. Dropped the suspension properly this time (no trumpets) with a full Spax set up. So while it was slow as hell, it handled nicely. Stage 1 tune again, this time with a silly straight through Playmini exhaust (unhappy neighbours). The Dunlop composite alloys came with the car and I must admit I loved the retro styling of them. Miss the car, especially as the next owner cashed it.
So still at uni and bought this:
Was slow as hell, but was my first proper car. Loved it to bits.
So needed something a bit quicker and made the mistake of buying this:
Was the quickest car I owned at that point by far. Really quite good fun to drive with a nice revy engine. But it was turd. Everything broke / fell off / melted. Just bol$*cks really. Most amusing thing when we (Mrs and I buying together by this point) traded it in. The fuel guage didn't work (optimistic, always said full) and the guy who took it said how rare it was to get a car with a fuel tank of fuel as a trade in. Feeling guilty? No.
Best failure on this car was the brakes which failed on the motorway. Coasting to a halt from 90mph while dodging other cars on a busy motorway is an experience.
So next we wanted something new, with a warranty. Was still at uni so budget was tight. So we bought this little love box:
This car started a bit of an obsession (6 years of it)! As you can see, did a few modifications (wheels, suspension etc), albeit leaving the mechanicals as MCC intended (warranty et al). So we were back to one litre cars, but we loved it. I am 6ft, but these felt so spacious. Probably the high volume of glass. Handled well with the suspension and wheels changed, but the gearbox was a bit hit and miss (clutchless sequential jobby).
Did a lot of miles in this little guy and whilst you had to cruise at 75mph, it was happy on the motorway. You just couldn't overtake!
Also loved it being a left hooker (UK car, but early spec so was still LHD).
By the time Uni was done, we needed two cars. Just bought a house, am a sad risk averse person and wanted something relatively cheap with a warranty, so guess what:
Was a new one again, but imported from Holland this time. Wanted a left hooker (driving position in RHD Smarts is wrong, seat had to be higher, peddle box offset etc) and an import was about £2.5k cheaper than a UK car. Did some tinkering again to make it go round corners quicker and played with the looks a bit. I miss the car sat on the driveway (I think it's pretty), but I don't think I miss driving it (suspension I put in was too hard). Anyway, did lots of miles and kept it for quite a while.
Not all the mods were successfull! Put these wheels on for about 10 minutes, then realised that 17's on Smarts just don't work if you want to retain your spine / pelvis / vision when driving:
They came off and were sold quickly! (for a profit mind you).
So what next.....got my first decent company car:
The second photo tells a tale! Don't stop at the end of the driveway of old tossers in tank tops to read a map as they will reverse into your shiney Jag, then saying "I didn't see you!" Knob.
Anyway, loved that car. Did about 100k in three years and was a pleasure to own. Nice 2 litre diesel, soaked up miles, handled well. OK so it broke a bit, but when it isn't yours and there is a warranty you don't care! Got some great courtesy cars when being fixed (favorite being 3 litre V6 diesel S type with lots of extras, hard to give back).
Amazing how often you get stopped by the police when in a black Jag at 23 / 24 years old.
In the interim I wanted a toy and bought this (one on the left):
By far the most camp car I have ever owned. Now I love suits, silly ties etc. So put together a mental picture of me, pink shirt, loud tie, Oakleys with the top down trotting to the office. Yes, camp.
Tried to keep this one looking a bit stock. Changed the suspension again for a Bilstein set up and put some green panels on:
I genuinely miss this car. OK so it was slow, but having the top down was great fun. The engine chirp was quite funny (three pot turbo). Sold it at a profit though, so can't argue.
Drive got a bit crowded.....so bought a bigger house.
Then the Mrs got a proper quick car (sold the black smart to make space. Interesting point on selling the black Smart. It went for about 50% of purchase price after three years, but that is only £4k depreciation. Not bad):
2 litre supercharged jobby which we bought from the Inlaws (who had it since new and only did 14k!). Quite simply lovely, quick, handles well, superb build quality (minus the rust, but that is Mercs of the era!) and interior. SOaks up the motorway miles well and whilst having a manual ruins Merc resale values, I love playing with the clutch.
We still have it and is used as a daily driver by either me or the Mrs. Although these days a baby seat for my daughter is a permanent addition. Although I have now put some CLS 18's on it:
.....and the 18s have ruined the ride! At 8j all round it makes the car tram line like a ........tram. I think that the servo assisted steering exagerates the road surface too much, although the ride isnt too hard, just a bit wobbley at times! So when the tyres wear out (I paid £250 for 4 18s and new tyres, so wasn't a bad deal at the time - love Fleabay) I will either get the 16's refurbed and reshod with tyres or find some of the proper staggered width AMG 17s. Have to see what turns up later in the year.
Still haven't got many clean photos of the current cars! Sorry, they are used a lot!
So then the Jag went back to the lease company and I got this:
I realy miss this car too, but it went with the job! So in that case, f&^k em! Had all the S Line kit (18's, suspension, interior etc) and was built like a tank. My first Audi and will not be the last (have eyes on an A6 Allroad at the moment). Sadly it was the 1.9 diesel (does that lump go back to Mk2 Golfs?) so was underpowered for the size of the car and the sports suspension with the 18s was too hard (well, for my pregnant wife at the time!).
So new job (yay!) meant a bit of a clear out (blue Smart went, as said earlier for a profit! Also the cream Smart went) and a new company car:
2 litre diesel jobby. God I hated it. OK so it was only a pool car for a few months, but it was just crap! Kept breaking, plastics were horrid, just hated the sinfull turd box.
So when the time came I bought this:
I love the Bus. 2.2 diesel with lots of options. Was from the Inlaws again, so well looked after and very few miles (not now though!). I ditched the standard wheels for some AMG 18s (Fleabay - £300 with new tyres!) and it actually improved the handling massively.
Soaks up the miles like nothing I have owned before and intend on running it into the ground.
So that's where we are now, with a pair of silver Mercs. OK so we may not have lots of variety in the looks, but we have one cruiser / bus for the family and one fast cabrio. So we're happy. I would like to put the SLK into the garage and polish it etc a bit more, but both need to be used for lots of miles very frequently, so no choice there!
Last point, rear wheel drive Mercs and snow don't mix!:
The manual SLK was reasonably controllable, but the auto c class was hopeless (bald rear tyres didn't help)! Hence eyes on an A6 Allroad.
Phew....there we are!
By far my favorite posts on PH are the car histories, so here is my legacy! Nothing exotic I am afraid.
Apologies for the range of image qualities which ranges from scanned 35mm to camera phones to digi cams!
Started 13 years ago with this puppy:
1979 1 litre jobby which had a full £0 modifying budget. So on went the 10" Minilites, Corbeau buckets, Stage 1 tuning kit, silly speakers etc etc. By far my favorite mod was to hack some rubber off the suspension trumpets to drop the ride height! Now that is a great way to cock up a car!!! Oh, and the drums all round meant it didn't stop. I crashed!
Then moved on to this:
So this time I had no rust (for about 2 weeks), disk breaks and less nicotine odour. Dropped the suspension properly this time (no trumpets) with a full Spax set up. So while it was slow as hell, it handled nicely. Stage 1 tune again, this time with a silly straight through Playmini exhaust (unhappy neighbours). The Dunlop composite alloys came with the car and I must admit I loved the retro styling of them. Miss the car, especially as the next owner cashed it.
So still at uni and bought this:
Was slow as hell, but was my first proper car. Loved it to bits.
So needed something a bit quicker and made the mistake of buying this:
Was the quickest car I owned at that point by far. Really quite good fun to drive with a nice revy engine. But it was turd. Everything broke / fell off / melted. Just bol$*cks really. Most amusing thing when we (Mrs and I buying together by this point) traded it in. The fuel guage didn't work (optimistic, always said full) and the guy who took it said how rare it was to get a car with a fuel tank of fuel as a trade in. Feeling guilty? No.
Best failure on this car was the brakes which failed on the motorway. Coasting to a halt from 90mph while dodging other cars on a busy motorway is an experience.
So next we wanted something new, with a warranty. Was still at uni so budget was tight. So we bought this little love box:
This car started a bit of an obsession (6 years of it)! As you can see, did a few modifications (wheels, suspension etc), albeit leaving the mechanicals as MCC intended (warranty et al). So we were back to one litre cars, but we loved it. I am 6ft, but these felt so spacious. Probably the high volume of glass. Handled well with the suspension and wheels changed, but the gearbox was a bit hit and miss (clutchless sequential jobby).
Did a lot of miles in this little guy and whilst you had to cruise at 75mph, it was happy on the motorway. You just couldn't overtake!
Also loved it being a left hooker (UK car, but early spec so was still LHD).
By the time Uni was done, we needed two cars. Just bought a house, am a sad risk averse person and wanted something relatively cheap with a warranty, so guess what:
Was a new one again, but imported from Holland this time. Wanted a left hooker (driving position in RHD Smarts is wrong, seat had to be higher, peddle box offset etc) and an import was about £2.5k cheaper than a UK car. Did some tinkering again to make it go round corners quicker and played with the looks a bit. I miss the car sat on the driveway (I think it's pretty), but I don't think I miss driving it (suspension I put in was too hard). Anyway, did lots of miles and kept it for quite a while.
Not all the mods were successfull! Put these wheels on for about 10 minutes, then realised that 17's on Smarts just don't work if you want to retain your spine / pelvis / vision when driving:
They came off and were sold quickly! (for a profit mind you).
So what next.....got my first decent company car:
The second photo tells a tale! Don't stop at the end of the driveway of old tossers in tank tops to read a map as they will reverse into your shiney Jag, then saying "I didn't see you!" Knob.
Anyway, loved that car. Did about 100k in three years and was a pleasure to own. Nice 2 litre diesel, soaked up miles, handled well. OK so it broke a bit, but when it isn't yours and there is a warranty you don't care! Got some great courtesy cars when being fixed (favorite being 3 litre V6 diesel S type with lots of extras, hard to give back).
Amazing how often you get stopped by the police when in a black Jag at 23 / 24 years old.
In the interim I wanted a toy and bought this (one on the left):
By far the most camp car I have ever owned. Now I love suits, silly ties etc. So put together a mental picture of me, pink shirt, loud tie, Oakleys with the top down trotting to the office. Yes, camp.
Tried to keep this one looking a bit stock. Changed the suspension again for a Bilstein set up and put some green panels on:
I genuinely miss this car. OK so it was slow, but having the top down was great fun. The engine chirp was quite funny (three pot turbo). Sold it at a profit though, so can't argue.
Drive got a bit crowded.....so bought a bigger house.
Then the Mrs got a proper quick car (sold the black smart to make space. Interesting point on selling the black Smart. It went for about 50% of purchase price after three years, but that is only £4k depreciation. Not bad):
2 litre supercharged jobby which we bought from the Inlaws (who had it since new and only did 14k!). Quite simply lovely, quick, handles well, superb build quality (minus the rust, but that is Mercs of the era!) and interior. SOaks up the motorway miles well and whilst having a manual ruins Merc resale values, I love playing with the clutch.
We still have it and is used as a daily driver by either me or the Mrs. Although these days a baby seat for my daughter is a permanent addition. Although I have now put some CLS 18's on it:
.....and the 18s have ruined the ride! At 8j all round it makes the car tram line like a ........tram. I think that the servo assisted steering exagerates the road surface too much, although the ride isnt too hard, just a bit wobbley at times! So when the tyres wear out (I paid £250 for 4 18s and new tyres, so wasn't a bad deal at the time - love Fleabay) I will either get the 16's refurbed and reshod with tyres or find some of the proper staggered width AMG 17s. Have to see what turns up later in the year.
Still haven't got many clean photos of the current cars! Sorry, they are used a lot!
So then the Jag went back to the lease company and I got this:
I realy miss this car too, but it went with the job! So in that case, f&^k em! Had all the S Line kit (18's, suspension, interior etc) and was built like a tank. My first Audi and will not be the last (have eyes on an A6 Allroad at the moment). Sadly it was the 1.9 diesel (does that lump go back to Mk2 Golfs?) so was underpowered for the size of the car and the sports suspension with the 18s was too hard (well, for my pregnant wife at the time!).
So new job (yay!) meant a bit of a clear out (blue Smart went, as said earlier for a profit! Also the cream Smart went) and a new company car:
2 litre diesel jobby. God I hated it. OK so it was only a pool car for a few months, but it was just crap! Kept breaking, plastics were horrid, just hated the sinfull turd box.
So when the time came I bought this:
I love the Bus. 2.2 diesel with lots of options. Was from the Inlaws again, so well looked after and very few miles (not now though!). I ditched the standard wheels for some AMG 18s (Fleabay - £300 with new tyres!) and it actually improved the handling massively.
Soaks up the miles like nothing I have owned before and intend on running it into the ground.
So that's where we are now, with a pair of silver Mercs. OK so we may not have lots of variety in the looks, but we have one cruiser / bus for the family and one fast cabrio. So we're happy. I would like to put the SLK into the garage and polish it etc a bit more, but both need to be used for lots of miles very frequently, so no choice there!
Last point, rear wheel drive Mercs and snow don't mix!:
The manual SLK was reasonably controllable, but the auto c class was hopeless (bald rear tyres didn't help)! Hence eyes on an A6 Allroad.
Phew....there we are!
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff