My history. 80's/90's hatches, RSs, 911s and a few bikes
Discussion
Thanks very much lads. I’ve enjoyed all the memories flooding back after digging through my old pics. I can remember songs I used to play, people etc. What’s scary is it doesn’t feel like 15 years ago. 
I usually try and answer people individually but time is against me this week so just take this post a big group hug.
In answer to a couple of points that were mentioned, yep I did have some bad luck. Although some would say you make your own luck to an extent, so I did only have myself to blame…. and Max Power. Seriously though I am jinxed with cars and if a certain model has a common fault it will happen on me.
Insurance was a major hassle. For my first couple of years as much went on insurance as the cars almost, but the yoof of today have it just as bad. Some years I’d take out insurance on one car only to find the company wouldn’t insure me on the next so I’d have to cancel, lose the few months NCD and start again with a different company.
If I’d been sensible I could have got into nicer cars a lot sooner, but who wants to look back and say “Oh yeah! I was sensible back then alright”.
10 points for spotting the TSW Venoms
or Scorpions as one policeman called them once.
We used to park up in a carpark in the next town where my mates lived. There was a road from the town carpark that ran along the back of the town to a petrol station. We knew the lad who worked in the kiosk and he used to let us in late at night so we could drink the coffee and blow random objects up in the microwave.
So this one night my mate Maccy in his Nova GTE said “Race you to the garage!” I was in the cab. He won. As we pulled in though, after red-lining it in every gear along the road in tandem, there was a police riot van parked up with 3 policemen in it. They came over and said “Good race lads?”. Obviously we went all coy and said “Not us”. They said “We heard you for ages before we could see you”. We said “Yeah fair enough, sorry, it was a bit daft”. They just said “Nice cars, just calm it down around the doors”. Then one of them says “Cor! thats those new scorpions isn’t it?”. Gave us a chuckle. I said “yeah, well venoms” not really wanting to correct him. “Yeah nice those. See you later lads”. We put some fuel in and headed back to the carpark at a more sedate pace. Ten minutes later the police came past, seen us parked up and gave us a couple of seconds on the blues n twos and a cheery wave. Proof that not all police were bad.
In fact I had a lot of run ins with the police (I had a shoebox full of producers), just due to being a young lad tooling about in cars and the majority were really good about things. I can’t actually ever remember coming away from a ticking off thinking “I didn’t deserve that”. Even the time I nearly took the front off a jam sandwich by missing a mini roundabout out. It was midnight, I didn’t do that during the day.
Hi Craig LOH - Yep thought I’d make time to post. Need to update my house thread actually. Yep we have said before we had a lot of the same cars. We both preferred some but not others. We don’t really agree on the next car yet it’s one of the ones that got away when I look back now.
Re the Rover rossub, I couldn’t have hated it that much as you’ll see. Twice, no thrice.
Anyway, thanks for the kind words lads, I’ll try and get a bit more up to date.
By the time I had the 2nd RS Turbo I was lucky enough to start running an everyday banger too.These were mainly sheds that my dad came across in the trade not worth photographing, but I’d already subscribed to the “Nice car for nice days” thing and this helped with that. I also had the works van so rarely used either car day to day.
So the next few years were spent enjoying both cars and bikes, which meant a lot of washing. I used to love it when I was younger but I’d rather be riding/driving by this point rather than washing stuff. I couldn’t stop though, once it’s in you, it’s in you.
Anyway, the VFR400 stayed for a few months. I loved it and would have kept it longer but at 6ft I was just too tall for it, so every long ride would result in cramp in the wrists. It taught me the basics though, including falling off when I didn’t scrub my back tyre in properly before giving it a handfull of throttle. £1000 of plastics later and all was well. I sold it to a mate who then went on to properly smash it to bits. he even snapped the fork legs!
So a bigger bike was needed but I didn’t want to have too much money in a one for fear of coming off. One of the guys we went out with was selling this quite cheap so I bought it.
Yamaha Thundercat YZF600.
More of a sports tourer than a sports bike it was quite heavy with a steel frame, but I learnt to ride it and due to the fact it was cheap I rode the wheels off it without worrying about anything. It moved my riding on a lot and I was a happy as a pig in poop, mincing down the twisties with my tinted yellow headlight cover.
The Golf cab didn’t stay long. It was slow and didn’t handle that great. It also didn’t sound very nice so there was nothing to keep me interested. A mate of a mate was selling his RS Turbo Fiesta. I’d seen him years earlier when he paid mega bucks for it. We all used to do pizza delivery at nights after our day jobs. It was a fun way of earning a few quid while cruising about with our mates and we had some right laughs.
The price he wanted sounded very fair so I went and had a look. It was still mint and had no filler cap rust. This is probably my favourite Ford out of the ones I’ve owned. Yes you sit too high up compared to the Escorts and yes a Cosworth has more kudos but I just really enjoyed that little car, especially its burbly exhaust and the chirps back through the K+N that sounded like waste gate chatter. The escorts didn’t do this due to the different turbo setup/type.
I attended loads of RS shows with my mates (more on that soon) and got the car as clean as a whistle.
By now I was a bit more confident on the bikes so I bought myself this.
Ducati 748.
After a bit of fettling
With Ralfs GSXR. You'll see our mate Paddy's RS2000 in the back ground. He lived next door to Mark.
I bought the 748 from an older guy, Jon, who went out with us on Sundays. He was a fanny with it and was really quick but never looked stressed, just really smooth. Well I’d spent the last few years watching Foggy, then Hodgson, then Toseland battling out in WSB on 996/8s so I knew I had to have this bike.
Jon had just had it serviced and said ”It sounds more rattly since I got it back”.
Sure enough on my first 300 mile trip, first weekend out, the bike gets rattlier and rattlier. My mates were like “You shouldn’t have bought a Ducati, if you don’t like rattles!” But I have an ear for these things and I was right. It had spun a crankshaft bearing and the swarf had travelled all over wrecking most parts of the engine.
£1000 rebuild later it was ok, but I never really trusted it after that and the thought of it seizing whilst riding fast just hampered my learning, so I sold it.
So next my mate Alan who I’d bought the Thundercat from was now selling his ‘Blade that he’d bought when he sold me the ‘Cat. I’d already had a go and it was awesome. Standard can so no noise, you just twisted the throttle and took off, with only the wind noise increasing a bit. It was 4 years old and had had 6 former keepers! But I knew every one of them. 6K miles, as new.
Now next my memory is a little hazy about the order of these but basically I stupidly sold the Fiesta to buy something a bit more useable instead of having the RS sitting around and being seen in my 2 door Astra estate all the time, yep, MK2 2 door Astra estate.
It had a little door on the rear wheel arch panel in the boot for the first aid kit, but when you opened mine you just saw the rear tyre, it was that rotten. So anyway, I bought this off my mate Craig. -
Rover 220 Coupe. Pic kinda gives away the next stuff.
This was a nice car. My mate Craig had started with a Renault 19 16V phase one, then moved onto this when I bought the MR2. It was lowered and had 17” alloys.
I do deserve a slap for selling the Fiesta for it though.
Now the RS and the blade were the last things I bought in my old job as van driver. I had a lucky break in about 2002. My mate Ralf, you know, the banzai indicating dude, was into CNC machining.
On holiday one year I said to Ralf “I think I’ll struggle to climb the car ladder any further. I’ll need to be moving out soon and van driving isn’t great”. He told me the company he worked for didn’t pay very well so they couldn’t get people. they’d had bakers and butchers applying! If I showed some willing, he reckoned he just might be able to get me in.
So I began a college course one afternoon a week, around my van driving job and got myself a city in guilds in CNC Machining. Ralfs boss gave me a chance and the rest as they say is history.
So back to the cars and bikes. From my first night in the new job I worked 19 12 hour night-shifts in a row. I had quadrupled my van driving wage. First thing I did was save for a flat deposit then rented it out. Then I bought this. -
1999 Yamaha R1. First model (4XV) but 2nd colour scheme.
I loved this bike and only sold it a couple of years ago after 10 years. The longest I’ve kept anything. Massive regret although I never dwell on regrets. I actually asked the buyer to sell me it back a month after I sold it but he wouldn’t. It was Immaculate. I took it from 7k miles to 20k. Which were mainly in the first 3 or 4 years. Other bikes came and went but the R1 always stayed.
I was still enjoying the Rover coupe for work (I obviously had no van anymore) but missed the Fords. Wasn’t too bothered but then this came up locally so I bought it -
XR3i Cabriolet SE500
One of the last 500 made. They were all Pacifica Blue with full grey leather.
I hadn’t had this long when the next car came up. Elderly retired, company director owner, shame P’heads wasn't about then. He’d bought it from Formula 1 in Newcastle so I knew it would be good. He’d had it for 7 years too.
Sapphire Cosworth 2wd. Magenta. (Seen above). 80k miles.
That isn't me in the above pics.
Now it was a totally original panel car but already had the 4wd vented bonnet. I preferred this anyway and also preferred the 4x4 rear lights. So I bought a set off Ebay. I took them to work on nightshift and washed them out. I was struggling to get all of the water back out of the reflectors so thought “I know, I’ll drill a small hole behind it and put my air line in.” Boom! There goes my rear light. Pieces literally flew all over. One went over Ralf’s machine. He came round creased up, holding a bit of light lens. “Does this belong to you?”
I just went to Ford and bought some new ones the next week and did it properly.
Anyway, you'll notice less funny stories now. I think things got a bit more serious the more expensive the cars got. Or maybe I was just finally maturing. I'd realised that my dad actually did know what he was on about and that if something looks to good to be true, it usually is.
I have so many great stories but most of the daft ones were in the first 5 or 6 cars I owned. Things like my mate Scott crashing his 205GTi off the edge of Ingram valley into the river. My other mate Chris racing my mate Paul into Halfords car park one night when we were already parked up. They flew in and Chris turned in too soon clipping the kerb and launching his Mini Metro into the air on 2 wheels. It looked like a Russ Swift Demonstration for a second. He landed it, squiggled about a bit and kept going, sneaking off into McDonalds. The best bit though when his wheel trim, which had been dislodged in the take off came rolling across the car park and fell over right next to us, in a comedy fashion, like when a coin stops spinning. Good times, if a little daft.
Anyway, More pics less talking next.......
I usually try and answer people individually but time is against me this week so just take this post a big group hug.
In answer to a couple of points that were mentioned, yep I did have some bad luck. Although some would say you make your own luck to an extent, so I did only have myself to blame…. and Max Power. Seriously though I am jinxed with cars and if a certain model has a common fault it will happen on me.
Insurance was a major hassle. For my first couple of years as much went on insurance as the cars almost, but the yoof of today have it just as bad. Some years I’d take out insurance on one car only to find the company wouldn’t insure me on the next so I’d have to cancel, lose the few months NCD and start again with a different company.
If I’d been sensible I could have got into nicer cars a lot sooner, but who wants to look back and say “Oh yeah! I was sensible back then alright”.
10 points for spotting the TSW Venoms
or Scorpions as one policeman called them once.We used to park up in a carpark in the next town where my mates lived. There was a road from the town carpark that ran along the back of the town to a petrol station. We knew the lad who worked in the kiosk and he used to let us in late at night so we could drink the coffee and blow random objects up in the microwave.
So this one night my mate Maccy in his Nova GTE said “Race you to the garage!” I was in the cab. He won. As we pulled in though, after red-lining it in every gear along the road in tandem, there was a police riot van parked up with 3 policemen in it. They came over and said “Good race lads?”. Obviously we went all coy and said “Not us”. They said “We heard you for ages before we could see you”. We said “Yeah fair enough, sorry, it was a bit daft”. They just said “Nice cars, just calm it down around the doors”. Then one of them says “Cor! thats those new scorpions isn’t it?”. Gave us a chuckle. I said “yeah, well venoms” not really wanting to correct him. “Yeah nice those. See you later lads”. We put some fuel in and headed back to the carpark at a more sedate pace. Ten minutes later the police came past, seen us parked up and gave us a couple of seconds on the blues n twos and a cheery wave. Proof that not all police were bad.
In fact I had a lot of run ins with the police (I had a shoebox full of producers), just due to being a young lad tooling about in cars and the majority were really good about things. I can’t actually ever remember coming away from a ticking off thinking “I didn’t deserve that”. Even the time I nearly took the front off a jam sandwich by missing a mini roundabout out. It was midnight, I didn’t do that during the day.
Hi Craig LOH - Yep thought I’d make time to post. Need to update my house thread actually. Yep we have said before we had a lot of the same cars. We both preferred some but not others. We don’t really agree on the next car yet it’s one of the ones that got away when I look back now.
Re the Rover rossub, I couldn’t have hated it that much as you’ll see. Twice, no thrice.
Anyway, thanks for the kind words lads, I’ll try and get a bit more up to date.
By the time I had the 2nd RS Turbo I was lucky enough to start running an everyday banger too.These were mainly sheds that my dad came across in the trade not worth photographing, but I’d already subscribed to the “Nice car for nice days” thing and this helped with that. I also had the works van so rarely used either car day to day.
So the next few years were spent enjoying both cars and bikes, which meant a lot of washing. I used to love it when I was younger but I’d rather be riding/driving by this point rather than washing stuff. I couldn’t stop though, once it’s in you, it’s in you.
Anyway, the VFR400 stayed for a few months. I loved it and would have kept it longer but at 6ft I was just too tall for it, so every long ride would result in cramp in the wrists. It taught me the basics though, including falling off when I didn’t scrub my back tyre in properly before giving it a handfull of throttle. £1000 of plastics later and all was well. I sold it to a mate who then went on to properly smash it to bits. he even snapped the fork legs!
So a bigger bike was needed but I didn’t want to have too much money in a one for fear of coming off. One of the guys we went out with was selling this quite cheap so I bought it.
Yamaha Thundercat YZF600.
More of a sports tourer than a sports bike it was quite heavy with a steel frame, but I learnt to ride it and due to the fact it was cheap I rode the wheels off it without worrying about anything. It moved my riding on a lot and I was a happy as a pig in poop, mincing down the twisties with my tinted yellow headlight cover.
The Golf cab didn’t stay long. It was slow and didn’t handle that great. It also didn’t sound very nice so there was nothing to keep me interested. A mate of a mate was selling his RS Turbo Fiesta. I’d seen him years earlier when he paid mega bucks for it. We all used to do pizza delivery at nights after our day jobs. It was a fun way of earning a few quid while cruising about with our mates and we had some right laughs.
The price he wanted sounded very fair so I went and had a look. It was still mint and had no filler cap rust. This is probably my favourite Ford out of the ones I’ve owned. Yes you sit too high up compared to the Escorts and yes a Cosworth has more kudos but I just really enjoyed that little car, especially its burbly exhaust and the chirps back through the K+N that sounded like waste gate chatter. The escorts didn’t do this due to the different turbo setup/type.
I attended loads of RS shows with my mates (more on that soon) and got the car as clean as a whistle.
By now I was a bit more confident on the bikes so I bought myself this.
Ducati 748.
After a bit of fettling
With Ralfs GSXR. You'll see our mate Paddy's RS2000 in the back ground. He lived next door to Mark.
I bought the 748 from an older guy, Jon, who went out with us on Sundays. He was a fanny with it and was really quick but never looked stressed, just really smooth. Well I’d spent the last few years watching Foggy, then Hodgson, then Toseland battling out in WSB on 996/8s so I knew I had to have this bike.
Jon had just had it serviced and said ”It sounds more rattly since I got it back”.
Sure enough on my first 300 mile trip, first weekend out, the bike gets rattlier and rattlier. My mates were like “You shouldn’t have bought a Ducati, if you don’t like rattles!” But I have an ear for these things and I was right. It had spun a crankshaft bearing and the swarf had travelled all over wrecking most parts of the engine.
£1000 rebuild later it was ok, but I never really trusted it after that and the thought of it seizing whilst riding fast just hampered my learning, so I sold it.
So next my mate Alan who I’d bought the Thundercat from was now selling his ‘Blade that he’d bought when he sold me the ‘Cat. I’d already had a go and it was awesome. Standard can so no noise, you just twisted the throttle and took off, with only the wind noise increasing a bit. It was 4 years old and had had 6 former keepers! But I knew every one of them. 6K miles, as new.
Now next my memory is a little hazy about the order of these but basically I stupidly sold the Fiesta to buy something a bit more useable instead of having the RS sitting around and being seen in my 2 door Astra estate all the time, yep, MK2 2 door Astra estate.
It had a little door on the rear wheel arch panel in the boot for the first aid kit, but when you opened mine you just saw the rear tyre, it was that rotten. So anyway, I bought this off my mate Craig. -Rover 220 Coupe. Pic kinda gives away the next stuff.
This was a nice car. My mate Craig had started with a Renault 19 16V phase one, then moved onto this when I bought the MR2. It was lowered and had 17” alloys.
I do deserve a slap for selling the Fiesta for it though.
Now the RS and the blade were the last things I bought in my old job as van driver. I had a lucky break in about 2002. My mate Ralf, you know, the banzai indicating dude, was into CNC machining.
On holiday one year I said to Ralf “I think I’ll struggle to climb the car ladder any further. I’ll need to be moving out soon and van driving isn’t great”. He told me the company he worked for didn’t pay very well so they couldn’t get people. they’d had bakers and butchers applying! If I showed some willing, he reckoned he just might be able to get me in.
So I began a college course one afternoon a week, around my van driving job and got myself a city in guilds in CNC Machining. Ralfs boss gave me a chance and the rest as they say is history.
So back to the cars and bikes. From my first night in the new job I worked 19 12 hour night-shifts in a row. I had quadrupled my van driving wage. First thing I did was save for a flat deposit then rented it out. Then I bought this. -
1999 Yamaha R1. First model (4XV) but 2nd colour scheme.
I loved this bike and only sold it a couple of years ago after 10 years. The longest I’ve kept anything. Massive regret although I never dwell on regrets. I actually asked the buyer to sell me it back a month after I sold it but he wouldn’t. It was Immaculate. I took it from 7k miles to 20k. Which were mainly in the first 3 or 4 years. Other bikes came and went but the R1 always stayed.
I was still enjoying the Rover coupe for work (I obviously had no van anymore) but missed the Fords. Wasn’t too bothered but then this came up locally so I bought it -
XR3i Cabriolet SE500
One of the last 500 made. They were all Pacifica Blue with full grey leather.
I hadn’t had this long when the next car came up. Elderly retired, company director owner, shame P’heads wasn't about then.
He’d bought it from Formula 1 in Newcastle so I knew it would be good. He’d had it for 7 years too.Sapphire Cosworth 2wd. Magenta. (Seen above). 80k miles.
That isn't me in the above pics.
Now it was a totally original panel car but already had the 4wd vented bonnet. I preferred this anyway and also preferred the 4x4 rear lights. So I bought a set off Ebay. I took them to work on nightshift and washed them out. I was struggling to get all of the water back out of the reflectors so thought “I know, I’ll drill a small hole behind it and put my air line in.” Boom! There goes my rear light. Pieces literally flew all over. One went over Ralf’s machine. He came round creased up, holding a bit of light lens. “Does this belong to you?”
I just went to Ford and bought some new ones the next week and did it properly.
Anyway, you'll notice less funny stories now. I think things got a bit more serious the more expensive the cars got. Or maybe I was just finally maturing. I'd realised that my dad actually did know what he was on about and that if something looks to good to be true, it usually is.
I have so many great stories but most of the daft ones were in the first 5 or 6 cars I owned. Things like my mate Scott crashing his 205GTi off the edge of Ingram valley into the river. My other mate Chris racing my mate Paul into Halfords car park one night when we were already parked up. They flew in and Chris turned in too soon clipping the kerb and launching his Mini Metro into the air on 2 wheels. It looked like a Russ Swift Demonstration for a second. He landed it, squiggled about a bit and kept going, sneaking off into McDonalds. The best bit though when his wheel trim, which had been dislodged in the take off came rolling across the car park and fell over right next to us, in a comedy fashion, like when a coin stops spinning. Good times, if a little daft.
Anyway, More pics less talking next.......
Edited by marky911 on Sunday 26th March 12:33
We will be up to 2005 ish now. I'd worked hard for a couple of years, had split with Amethyst girl and went clubbing a lot. 18 months is a blur really. I now had 2 flats rented out and a 3rd for me. My mates were all doing property and said offload now, so I did, apart from my own flat that I lived in. I'd learnt as much as I could at the company I was at and my foreman had moved on, back to a cutting edge engineering company. He offered me a job so I went. Much more money, steep learning curve but rewarding..
The Rover and Xr3I cab had gone and I bought my first BMW. An E36 320 coupe with M bits on it. No photo.
I liked it so thought I’d buy a 328 Sport that a dealer mate got me.
Nice car. It had come with the proper RC rims but they were knackered and I wasn’t interested in fragile split rims on a daily workhorse, so I changed them for the M3 replicas off the 320. I know I need another slap. Whats worse is they were the same width all round. 
I still had the Cosworth but the RS owners club for the most part was full of strange people, so I didn’t really enjoy it as much as some. I liked the cars and travelling to events but that was it. My mate Paddy had restored his S1 RS Turbo and we were at Donnington for the RS day. We were giving the car a wipe down when some guy came past with his mate and said “OOH, Bosch headlamps. It should have Carrello’s on that year.” That’s when I decided it was a good time to leave the RS club.
I kept the car for a little while but one day I seen an advert for a 911 in the Autotrader, which was still limping on as a paper publication, just. Now I’d loved 911s since I was knee high, then No Mans Land further cemented that when I was about 13.
I didn’t know 911s though and didn’t have time to research them. Bad move!
I went to see this and it was all black and shiny. We went out in it and it drove ok but made a bit of a ticking noise. Probably blown exhaust I thought.
So I bought it.
Now this car was a 1975! impact bumper car that had been wide-bodied at a later date and changed frm a kermit the frog green narrow car, to a white 930 Turbo rep. Then at a later date again it had been turned into a Black 964 Turbo rep!
Now I knew all that but it was cheap at £7k so my RS plus £2000. What I didn’t know was that those engines only made 150BHP. Uh-oh, I had a proper sheep in wolf’s clothing. Worse still the ticking wasn’t blown manifold, it was snapped head studs.
I had it rebuilt but it was too slow, so I fitted a 3.2 carrera motor which livened it up a bit but apart from the looks and noise it wasn’t that good. Infact my 328 for work was a nice car to drive quickly. I had it for a year and had spent another £7k on it. i sold it for £10k which was lucky.
Next was a lovely car. Again, aftermarket rims but I loved it. A proper car.
964 Carrera2 manual coupe.
I bought this from a local Porsche specialist.
4 owners full history and just great.
I only had it for a year though when my mate said he was selling his 964 Turbo. I could just about stretch to it if i beg stole and borrowed.
He gave me the Turbo and said “Pay me once you’ve sold the white one”. So for a while I had 2 964s on the drive.
Now the Turbo was good. 4 owners, 90k and owned by my mate Andy for 4 years. He was getting into motor racing now and changed cars a lot anyway, hence the sale. It wasn’t great though. Dodgy aftermarket rims, even by my standards, faded paint and generally need a good bit of bringing back to life.
I changed the wheels for some period tech art items, fitted a 3.8RS rear wing, clear indicators (I know, I know), and enjoyed it.
I fitted a 1bar boost spring instead of the standard .7 bar item and all was well for a while. One day though I was driving along and it started making that familiar ticking sound. Uh-oh, engine rebuild time. £6k later(and that was at mates rates from Jamie Nelson, more on him later) and it was back, sporting full top end rebuild, SC cams, new tin ware, etc etc. i kept this for 5 years and enjoyed every minute. If I could choose one car to have back it would be this.
Next I was still enjoying the bikes so I decided I wanted something to go alongside the R1. Now in 2005 Suzuki brought out a GSXR750 Anniversary edition sporting the 1985 paintjob, 2 cans, loud and quiet, a numbered plaque on the headstock etc.
I almost traded my R1 in back then for the £8199 GSXR, but couldn't bear to part with it.
Fast forward 2 years and I have a look at used ones. They were selling for about £5200-£5500. Then a one pops up. Never been sold, unregistered, so will go onto a 57 reg. £5999!
I was straight on the phone and bought it unseen from Kent. Delivered for £200 so £6200.
I was over the moon.
Now I was going to put this in my living room if it had 0 miles on the clock and just have it as an ornament. Totally stupid idea though and when it turned up t had 2 miles on the clock anyway.
At the same time my work mate was getting divorced. He had an old Fireblade that he needed shot of. He said “Mark just give me a grand and it’s yours”. I don’t care if you just want to sell it on, I need rid.
I kept the R1 and GSXR at my mate Craig's and my 964 and blade at mine, as I was using the blade for commuting on as I working on the other side of the Tyne, hence using the Tyne Tunnel twice a day.
After a few weeks though I realised that by the time I got all my gear on and unlocked the bike at both ends, it was no quicker than sitting in the traffic in the car with the heaters and stereo on.
So I sold the blade.
More to come.....
The Rover and Xr3I cab had gone and I bought my first BMW. An E36 320 coupe with M bits on it. No photo.
I liked it so thought I’d buy a 328 Sport that a dealer mate got me.
Nice car. It had come with the proper RC rims but they were knackered and I wasn’t interested in fragile split rims on a daily workhorse, so I changed them for the M3 replicas off the 320. I know I need another slap.
Whats worse is they were the same width all round. I still had the Cosworth but the RS owners club for the most part was full of strange people, so I didn’t really enjoy it as much as some. I liked the cars and travelling to events but that was it. My mate Paddy had restored his S1 RS Turbo and we were at Donnington for the RS day. We were giving the car a wipe down when some guy came past with his mate and said “OOH, Bosch headlamps. It should have Carrello’s on that year.” That’s when I decided it was a good time to leave the RS club.
I kept the car for a little while but one day I seen an advert for a 911 in the Autotrader, which was still limping on as a paper publication, just. Now I’d loved 911s since I was knee high, then No Mans Land further cemented that when I was about 13.
I didn’t know 911s though and didn’t have time to research them. Bad move!
I went to see this and it was all black and shiny. We went out in it and it drove ok but made a bit of a ticking noise. Probably blown exhaust I thought.
So I bought it.
Now this car was a 1975! impact bumper car that had been wide-bodied at a later date and changed frm a kermit the frog green narrow car, to a white 930 Turbo rep. Then at a later date again it had been turned into a Black 964 Turbo rep!
Now I knew all that but it was cheap at £7k so my RS plus £2000. What I didn’t know was that those engines only made 150BHP. Uh-oh, I had a proper sheep in wolf’s clothing. Worse still the ticking wasn’t blown manifold, it was snapped head studs.
I had it rebuilt but it was too slow, so I fitted a 3.2 carrera motor which livened it up a bit but apart from the looks and noise it wasn’t that good. Infact my 328 for work was a nice car to drive quickly. I had it for a year and had spent another £7k on it. i sold it for £10k which was lucky.
Next was a lovely car. Again, aftermarket rims but I loved it. A proper car.
964 Carrera2 manual coupe.
I bought this from a local Porsche specialist.
4 owners full history and just great.
I only had it for a year though when my mate said he was selling his 964 Turbo. I could just about stretch to it if i beg stole and borrowed.
He gave me the Turbo and said “Pay me once you’ve sold the white one”. So for a while I had 2 964s on the drive.
Now the Turbo was good. 4 owners, 90k and owned by my mate Andy for 4 years. He was getting into motor racing now and changed cars a lot anyway, hence the sale. It wasn’t great though. Dodgy aftermarket rims, even by my standards, faded paint and generally need a good bit of bringing back to life.
I changed the wheels for some period tech art items, fitted a 3.8RS rear wing, clear indicators (I know, I know), and enjoyed it.
I fitted a 1bar boost spring instead of the standard .7 bar item and all was well for a while. One day though I was driving along and it started making that familiar ticking sound. Uh-oh, engine rebuild time. £6k later(and that was at mates rates from Jamie Nelson, more on him later) and it was back, sporting full top end rebuild, SC cams, new tin ware, etc etc. i kept this for 5 years and enjoyed every minute. If I could choose one car to have back it would be this.
Next I was still enjoying the bikes so I decided I wanted something to go alongside the R1. Now in 2005 Suzuki brought out a GSXR750 Anniversary edition sporting the 1985 paintjob, 2 cans, loud and quiet, a numbered plaque on the headstock etc.
I almost traded my R1 in back then for the £8199 GSXR, but couldn't bear to part with it.
Fast forward 2 years and I have a look at used ones. They were selling for about £5200-£5500. Then a one pops up. Never been sold, unregistered, so will go onto a 57 reg. £5999!
I was straight on the phone and bought it unseen from Kent. Delivered for £200 so £6200.
I was over the moon.
Now I was going to put this in my living room if it had 0 miles on the clock and just have it as an ornament. Totally stupid idea though and when it turned up t had 2 miles on the clock anyway.
At the same time my work mate was getting divorced. He had an old Fireblade that he needed shot of. He said “Mark just give me a grand and it’s yours”. I don’t care if you just want to sell it on, I need rid.
I kept the R1 and GSXR at my mate Craig's and my 964 and blade at mine, as I was using the blade for commuting on as I working on the other side of the Tyne, hence using the Tyne Tunnel twice a day.
After a few weeks though I realised that by the time I got all my gear on and unlocked the bike at both ends, it was no quicker than sitting in the traffic in the car with the heaters and stereo on.
So I sold the blade.
More to come.....
Edited by marky911 on Wednesday 15th March 00:39
Cheers Craig. Like I say not as many daft stories spring to mind (even though 2004-2008 were some of the best years of my life for car laughs and banter) and I have my grumpy night shift head on today which may be apparent in my writing style.
The fiesta was a torque steery little thing but it got under my skin. Some things do eh.
The fiesta was a torque steery little thing but it got under my skin. Some things do eh.
Thanks lads, glad it's striking a chord with a few people. I knew there must be a few on here like myself, who had progressed through some right s
t-heaps but come out the other side with some taste in tact and gone on to lead a normal life. Not that I regret a minute mind.
Go on Clark rub it in! I hope your beauty is still doing well. That will be one of the best in the country now.
Back to the cars.....
So now it was now about 2008 and I met my girlfriend, now wife. I’ve now got a Citroen Picasso and life is dull. The End.
Just kidding, The cars didn’t end and my wife is fantastic. She also knows how much I love my cars and rarely whinges about anything, unless I really take the pee.
I’d had about 3 years of going away motor racing with my mates Andy and Clough (Paul) every weekend. We’d done Le mans every year since 2004, mainly in the RV, but also once by flying there and once in the cars.
We’d done countless morning blasts out to Hartside cafe etc, so I felt it was a good time to settle down. Plus the fun didn’t end there anyway.
Hartside run with the lads from home.
My mate Andy who sold me the 964T bought the grey 550. My mate Craig had progressed to the Cerb 4.5.
I later had the chance of the GT3 in the middle for £35k or the silver 360 Spider for £38k. Guess what I chose.
Hon Fleur, en route to Lemans 2008
Le mans camping 2008
So like I say I met my wife and carried on with the car fun. Since I'd sold the old Blade i got off my mate, I decided to change the daily runaround 328 Sport. I asked my mate Andy who's a car dealer to find me a cheap M3.
Voila!
£3000! Bargain. Well sort of. The power hood didn't work and guess what! The front corners of the roof leaked exactly the same as the Escort cabriolets. I was instantly taken back to 1997.
Right, not a lot a changes as far as my good car goes for a while, but I carry on swapping the daily a bit, get into track days and then my lass gets the car changing bug. Oh no, what have I done.
I'm off for a nightshift now. To be continued...
t-heaps but come out the other side with some taste in tact and gone on to lead a normal life. Not that I regret a minute mind.Go on Clark rub it in!
I hope your beauty is still doing well. That will be one of the best in the country now.Back to the cars.....
So now it was now about 2008 and I met my girlfriend, now wife. I’ve now got a Citroen Picasso and life is dull. The End.
Just kidding, The cars didn’t end and my wife is fantastic. She also knows how much I love my cars and rarely whinges about anything, unless I really take the pee.
I’d had about 3 years of going away motor racing with my mates Andy and Clough (Paul) every weekend. We’d done Le mans every year since 2004, mainly in the RV, but also once by flying there and once in the cars.
We’d done countless morning blasts out to Hartside cafe etc, so I felt it was a good time to settle down. Plus the fun didn’t end there anyway.
Hartside run with the lads from home.
My mate Andy who sold me the 964T bought the grey 550. My mate Craig had progressed to the Cerb 4.5.
I later had the chance of the GT3 in the middle for £35k or the silver 360 Spider for £38k. Guess what I chose.
Hon Fleur, en route to Lemans 2008
Le mans camping 2008
So like I say I met my wife and carried on with the car fun. Since I'd sold the old Blade i got off my mate, I decided to change the daily runaround 328 Sport. I asked my mate Andy who's a car dealer to find me a cheap M3.
Voila!
£3000! Bargain. Well sort of. The power hood didn't work and guess what! The front corners of the roof leaked exactly the same as the Escort cabriolets. I was instantly taken back to 1997.
Right, not a lot a changes as far as my good car goes for a while, but I carry on swapping the daily a bit, get into track days and then my lass gets the car changing bug. Oh no, what have I done.
I'm off for a nightshift now. To be continued...
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