An attempt at keeping one of these threads up to date…
Discussion
Over my many years on PH I’ve started and subsequently abandoned many Readers Rides threads, so I’m going to attempt a summary of my car journey in the hope that I’ll actually keep this one going.
The good stuff.
I’ll divide the cars up into ‘good stuff’ and then the rest of the daily drivers/company cars. A few years ago I went through a few unpleasant events in rapid succession which made me realise that you’re only here once, so you might as well enjoy it. Whilst not the most exotic of cars they’re each special to me.
Ford Focus ST - my first ‘fast’ car. This was the first car I owned that I modified. Took it Collins Performance and had the full works, ended up making around 290bhp at the wheels and piles of torque. Not the finest handling car though.
When we found out a child was the way we decided to swap the Focus for something a bit more sensible/practical. I’ve always been into my retro VWs so the mk5 GTI in 5 door flavour seemed the perfect choice.
Usual VW bits - suspension that was set way too low and some BBS wheels that were too wide. Loved it though. Unfortunately it was a bit too dull and an opportunity came up to get into another hero car of mine, a full fat Prodrive STI.
There’s nothing I can say about these cars that hasn’t been said a 1000 times before. Getting caught in Boxing Day snow a few years ago was a high point, having to have the rear arches virtually re-fabricated after the winter was not so fun
Having had lots of fun in the Impreza the next step felt obvious, its long standing rival - the Lancer Evolution. My favourite has always been the V, it’s more angular front bumper and wing suiting the body shape a lot better. I was lucky enough to get an incredibly clean fresh import before prices went mad.
The previous owner in Japan clearly knew what he was doing, it came with super light Rays wheels, Tein suspension, Cusco upper and lower braces on the front and rear, other than a HKS ‘Silent’ exhaust and an air filter the engine was standard.
First things I did were change the clutch. Update the fuel pump, change every fluid and have it set up on the rolling road at Noble Motorsport. Nothing radical, the car made 280bhp so we sent for a safe tweak of just over 300bhp to the wheels. With a super close ratio gearbox the only time I felt it needed more power was motorway racing my friends tuned Supra.
This was by some considerable distance my favourite car. The way it drove is impossible to describe and I would fully recommend anyone who enjoys B-road blasting should have a go in one at least once.
After the Evo we managed to take advantage of our house jumping in value at the same time we were looking to move somewhere more rural, this allowed me to go for the big lad, the car at the top of my bucket list. The one I was after ever since picking up Gran Turismo, a midnight purple R33 Skyline GTR.
I found the car on PH Classifieds, the previous owner had clearly built it with a ‘money no object’ attitude as there were some serious parts that would have been suitable for in excess of 800bhp. However he’d just bought an LS-engined RX7 project from one of this friends that needed some money to finish, so the skyline was sold to fund it.
When I bought it the car was running a very conservative 550bhp, but through an enormous single turbo that didn’t spool up until 5000rpm (dyno graph below from the original check over run).
As a minimum it needed new cams and more RPM, the long term plan was to replace the internals so the turbo could be turned up safely.
This thing was an absolute riot. Straight through exhaust and power delivery that would light all 4 wheels up at any speed it was just stupid but so much fun. It wouldn’t know which way my Evo went, but fun in so many other ways.
Oh, and when I say it was a straight through exhaust, I mean straight through, none of this silly ‘resonator delete’.
After a couple of years with the GTR my mental health (which is something I’ve battled with for decades) took another sharp decline and I couldn’t face going out to shows/meets or taking the car out for a drive, so before I even knew what I done it was sold. Worst decision of my life.
Once I’d straighten myself out a bit I used the money to dabble in a few ‘must haves’ for any petrolhead
An Eunos Roadster. Obvs.
A well sorted tuned EP3
And a proper family barge, an A6 Allroad 3.0 V6.
A few years later I was ready for something properly fun, I live a couple of miles away from Britannia cars who had this in
The car had been off the road for 10+ years, so it was cheap. With a bit of cash spent on it I had a great summer hooning around last year and being a right yob. Unfortunately I don’t have a covered place to store it so it was never a long term keeper.
That brings me right up to my current car, and continuing the theme of ticking things off my bucket list I’ve gone all American.
I didn’t get long with this car before the dark nights and crap weather came in, so it’s currently under a cover while I gather bits ready for next year, new water pump, weather strip, body control module and a general tidy up will have it doing big smokey burnouts again by the spring.
I’ll make another post containing all the daily drivers I ran at the same time as these as there’s some quirky stuff in there people might enjoy.
The good stuff.
I’ll divide the cars up into ‘good stuff’ and then the rest of the daily drivers/company cars. A few years ago I went through a few unpleasant events in rapid succession which made me realise that you’re only here once, so you might as well enjoy it. Whilst not the most exotic of cars they’re each special to me.
Ford Focus ST - my first ‘fast’ car. This was the first car I owned that I modified. Took it Collins Performance and had the full works, ended up making around 290bhp at the wheels and piles of torque. Not the finest handling car though.
When we found out a child was the way we decided to swap the Focus for something a bit more sensible/practical. I’ve always been into my retro VWs so the mk5 GTI in 5 door flavour seemed the perfect choice.
Usual VW bits - suspension that was set way too low and some BBS wheels that were too wide. Loved it though. Unfortunately it was a bit too dull and an opportunity came up to get into another hero car of mine, a full fat Prodrive STI.
There’s nothing I can say about these cars that hasn’t been said a 1000 times before. Getting caught in Boxing Day snow a few years ago was a high point, having to have the rear arches virtually re-fabricated after the winter was not so fun
Having had lots of fun in the Impreza the next step felt obvious, its long standing rival - the Lancer Evolution. My favourite has always been the V, it’s more angular front bumper and wing suiting the body shape a lot better. I was lucky enough to get an incredibly clean fresh import before prices went mad.
The previous owner in Japan clearly knew what he was doing, it came with super light Rays wheels, Tein suspension, Cusco upper and lower braces on the front and rear, other than a HKS ‘Silent’ exhaust and an air filter the engine was standard.
First things I did were change the clutch. Update the fuel pump, change every fluid and have it set up on the rolling road at Noble Motorsport. Nothing radical, the car made 280bhp so we sent for a safe tweak of just over 300bhp to the wheels. With a super close ratio gearbox the only time I felt it needed more power was motorway racing my friends tuned Supra.
This was by some considerable distance my favourite car. The way it drove is impossible to describe and I would fully recommend anyone who enjoys B-road blasting should have a go in one at least once.
After the Evo we managed to take advantage of our house jumping in value at the same time we were looking to move somewhere more rural, this allowed me to go for the big lad, the car at the top of my bucket list. The one I was after ever since picking up Gran Turismo, a midnight purple R33 Skyline GTR.
I found the car on PH Classifieds, the previous owner had clearly built it with a ‘money no object’ attitude as there were some serious parts that would have been suitable for in excess of 800bhp. However he’d just bought an LS-engined RX7 project from one of this friends that needed some money to finish, so the skyline was sold to fund it.
When I bought it the car was running a very conservative 550bhp, but through an enormous single turbo that didn’t spool up until 5000rpm (dyno graph below from the original check over run).
As a minimum it needed new cams and more RPM, the long term plan was to replace the internals so the turbo could be turned up safely.
This thing was an absolute riot. Straight through exhaust and power delivery that would light all 4 wheels up at any speed it was just stupid but so much fun. It wouldn’t know which way my Evo went, but fun in so many other ways.
Oh, and when I say it was a straight through exhaust, I mean straight through, none of this silly ‘resonator delete’.
After a couple of years with the GTR my mental health (which is something I’ve battled with for decades) took another sharp decline and I couldn’t face going out to shows/meets or taking the car out for a drive, so before I even knew what I done it was sold. Worst decision of my life.
Once I’d straighten myself out a bit I used the money to dabble in a few ‘must haves’ for any petrolhead
An Eunos Roadster. Obvs.
A well sorted tuned EP3
And a proper family barge, an A6 Allroad 3.0 V6.
A few years later I was ready for something properly fun, I live a couple of miles away from Britannia cars who had this in
The car had been off the road for 10+ years, so it was cheap. With a bit of cash spent on it I had a great summer hooning around last year and being a right yob. Unfortunately I don’t have a covered place to store it so it was never a long term keeper.
That brings me right up to my current car, and continuing the theme of ticking things off my bucket list I’ve gone all American.
I didn’t get long with this car before the dark nights and crap weather came in, so it’s currently under a cover while I gather bits ready for next year, new water pump, weather strip, body control module and a general tidy up will have it doing big smokey burnouts again by the spring.
I’ll make another post containing all the daily drivers I ran at the same time as these as there’s some quirky stuff in there people might enjoy.
Edited by KarlMac on Saturday 7th January 21:34
Edited by KarlMac on Saturday 7th January 21:35
You’ve had the good stuff, now here’s the daily drivers! In no particular order…
My first car, a VW Lupo 1.4 in which I learnt all about maintain momentum and how good skinny tyres are in the snow.
My first ever ‘new’ car, Seat Ibiza 1.2 FR. Delivered with 3 miles on the clock! I was unreasonably excited by this at the time.
Toyota Avensis 1.8 petrol. Awful. Lent it to my dad and then someone crashed into him. Delighted.
VW Vento 1.8 CL. Was a weird survivor car with AC and a sunroof, beige cloth interior. Had no right to be as clean as it was.
Put some cheap wheels and coilovers on it and did scene kid stuff with my little brother and his first car for the lols.
I’d actually have another Vento if I could find a clean, well priced one. This one was £600 and it became a bit of a guilty pleasure.
VW Tiguan. Company car that was great for carting the kids about but not much else.
Audi A3 1.6 TDI. Thank god this was a company car because if I’d have spent my own money on it I think I might have cried.
Saab 9-3 Vector, affectionately christened The Scab. It just wouldn’t die. No matter how negligent or abusive I was it just kept trucking.
Sold to a lovely Nigerian gentleman who I imagine (given with how he drove it away) had even less mechanical sympathy than me.
And my current car, a Volvo S60 D5. I hate it. my Tiguan went back and I needed something to get to my new job. It will be gone as soon as the Corvette is back on the road, I’m tempted to sell it to the local banger racers so it it can’t hurt anyone else.
Technically it’s for my wife but we also run a Renault Zoe as Renault gave us a mental trade in for our PCP’d Clio during Covid.
My first car, a VW Lupo 1.4 in which I learnt all about maintain momentum and how good skinny tyres are in the snow.
My first ever ‘new’ car, Seat Ibiza 1.2 FR. Delivered with 3 miles on the clock! I was unreasonably excited by this at the time.
Toyota Avensis 1.8 petrol. Awful. Lent it to my dad and then someone crashed into him. Delighted.
VW Vento 1.8 CL. Was a weird survivor car with AC and a sunroof, beige cloth interior. Had no right to be as clean as it was.
Put some cheap wheels and coilovers on it and did scene kid stuff with my little brother and his first car for the lols.
I’d actually have another Vento if I could find a clean, well priced one. This one was £600 and it became a bit of a guilty pleasure.
VW Tiguan. Company car that was great for carting the kids about but not much else.
Audi A3 1.6 TDI. Thank god this was a company car because if I’d have spent my own money on it I think I might have cried.
Saab 9-3 Vector, affectionately christened The Scab. It just wouldn’t die. No matter how negligent or abusive I was it just kept trucking.
Sold to a lovely Nigerian gentleman who I imagine (given with how he drove it away) had even less mechanical sympathy than me.
And my current car, a Volvo S60 D5. I hate it. my Tiguan went back and I needed something to get to my new job. It will be gone as soon as the Corvette is back on the road, I’m tempted to sell it to the local banger racers so it it can’t hurt anyone else.
Technically it’s for my wife but we also run a Renault Zoe as Renault gave us a mental trade in for our PCP’d Clio during Covid.
Edited by KarlMac on Saturday 7th January 21:26
Japveesix said:
That's a great car history. If happily have any one of the cars mentioned but I must say I really like the white Chimera. So many TVRs are in wild colours and I'm not sure I've seen a nice clean white one before.
What's next OP, there must be others on the bucket list?
From what the TVRCC told me there may have only been a handful of white ones, someone mentioned possibly 6. I think it’s Ford Polar white which takes the glamour off it somewhat What's next OP, there must be others on the bucket list?
I liked it because I have a soft spot for white cars as I love JDM cars. Glenn63 said:
Some great cars in there OP, a corvette has always been a secret want for me be interesting to see how you get on with it.
Well I’ve never owned a Merc or a Beemer, or a rotary engined car. The current shortlist to replace the Volvo is an 130i, 330i Touring, E55/E63 or an RX8, it depends what comes up that’s reasonably priced given everything that’s gone on lately. I was really annoyed as I had the chance to take over the Tiguan lease but I thought there’d be loads of sheds about for a few grand that would fun and interesting. After settling for the Volvo the day before I started my new job I was once again reminded I’m a bit of an idiot.
Edited by KarlMac on Saturday 7th January 21:55
It’s amazing how quick these thread drop through the pages isn’t it!
Anyway, not photographic updates but I now have a new water pump, weather strip, battery and coolant for the Corvette. I just need the temperature to be above freezing for a weekend to take it on.
The BCM might be a bit more complicated. Everything works fine but a fault in the system is causing a battery drain. It looks like the fault has been caused by water ingress via the roof. You can chase signs of water damage back up the to the roof but also the targa seals are shagged, which should have been my first clue. If I can stop it leaking Eurovettes have a used BCM in stock in the states if I can find someone with a Chevrolet Tech 2 to re-code it.
Small update on the Volvo, it hit a funny mileage but I still hate it.
I really need to replace it with something I don’t actively despise but really struggling to decide between a big barge for the family camping trips or something small to get to work in and just rent something when we go camping.
Anyway, not photographic updates but I now have a new water pump, weather strip, battery and coolant for the Corvette. I just need the temperature to be above freezing for a weekend to take it on.
The BCM might be a bit more complicated. Everything works fine but a fault in the system is causing a battery drain. It looks like the fault has been caused by water ingress via the roof. You can chase signs of water damage back up the to the roof but also the targa seals are shagged, which should have been my first clue. If I can stop it leaking Eurovettes have a used BCM in stock in the states if I can find someone with a Chevrolet Tech 2 to re-code it.
Small update on the Volvo, it hit a funny mileage but I still hate it.
I really need to replace it with something I don’t actively despise but really struggling to decide between a big barge for the family camping trips or something small to get to work in and just rent something when we go camping.
Yep that's a cracking car history ticking of a lot of Gran Turismo favourites 
I was in a s
t state with mental health for about 4 or 5 years and the Monaro reflected that, it sat unmoved on the drive for 18 months at one point, moss starting on the window seals, the lot.
Fortunately I didn't sell it, and when I got it home from its first MOT after "the dark period" I had a little cry, the sense of relief, achievement, and actual forward progress was overwhelming.
Very glad to hear you're also in a better way now
I was in a s
t state with mental health for about 4 or 5 years and the Monaro reflected that, it sat unmoved on the drive for 18 months at one point, moss starting on the window seals, the lot.Fortunately I didn't sell it, and when I got it home from its first MOT after "the dark period" I had a little cry, the sense of relief, achievement, and actual forward progress was overwhelming.
Very glad to hear you're also in a better way now
Thank you to everyone for your kind words. One thing I’ve had to learn the hard way is that it’s good to talk about these things and it affects a lot Mel’s people than you’d think.
https://www.instagram.com/p/xMb5czk7pZ
https://www.instagram.com/p/0JDHU7E7m_
https://www.instagram.com/p/1GA5YRk7pP
I’ll try and dig out the hard drive as there are loads of pics of my old cars on there.
It was a UK STI that has the Prodrive PPP package, they also offered bespoke bumper, projector headlights and a better interior. The person that bought my car new must have ticked every box as it had upgraded suspension and brakes too!
M22s said:
Any more pictures of the Subaru - not sure I’ve seen that front bumper before and it looks ace! An STi is an itch I really need to scratch (oo-err).
I have some on a hard drive somewhere but the only ones online are on my instagram:https://www.instagram.com/p/xMb5czk7pZ
https://www.instagram.com/p/0JDHU7E7m_
https://www.instagram.com/p/1GA5YRk7pP
I’ll try and dig out the hard drive as there are loads of pics of my old cars on there.
It was a UK STI that has the Prodrive PPP package, they also offered bespoke bumper, projector headlights and a better interior. The person that bought my car new must have ticked every box as it had upgraded suspension and brakes too!
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