My car history. Bit rubbish start but gets a bit better
Discussion
Digging around today found some old pictures of my cars. Not as good as other threads (Marky911 is a brilliant read)
Part 1.
So i passed my test in 93 and first car was VW Beetle
Looked a bit like this but mine had far more rust. As all first time cars I had mad plans for this car but never happened as it was always breaking. Was pretty cool to own but it was truly awful in the acceleration / braking / steering dept. Sold in the end but the plate on it was kept and sold on for more than the car.
Then followed a whole load of sheds, cant even be bothered to find look a likes
2 x Escort mk3
Astra mk1....in beige with brown interior....cost £90....caught on fire at the side of the road.
All these cars took me through college and into my first full time job.
Then followed a Peugeot 309 poverty spec, quickly upgraded to another one, think it was called a 'Trio', which was white and had a sunroof !
Got a better job and moved in with my girlfriend in 1998, bought a car for the first time that cost more than good night out.
1995 Honda Civic 1.4, with an electric sunroof ! Again no photos. Sold this to sister to fund next car
Another job move in 1999 doubled my wages so moved house and naturally bought another car
1998 Vauxhall Vectra SRi. My first fast car (so i thought). Loved this and bought plenty of Irmsher crap for it. Lasted for 3 years and joined by another Vectra, a GLS that was truly dreadful but the now wife liked it
2002 came and a new job with better wages so again traded up to this
1 year old Octavia VRS. Still the most expensive car I have bought. Now i really really loved this, bit of a sleeper back then, 180bhp that with some money and Jabbasport took it to 250 bhp. Exhaust / remap/ boost controller / induction etc. Did I say i loved this ? Ran it a few times at Santa Pod RWYB against my brothers Leon Cupra, best time was 14.9, never lost to him either.
The Octavia was such good buy back then that we traded the wifes Vectra for another 1 but diesel.
Kept the vRS for 3 years, was still immaculate, very low mileage when the Skoda dealer rang me and said a new vRS was coming and would i like to come in and have a look at 1. Oh yes please.
Next day i was in there, ticking boxes, choosing colour and spec etc. Total was just shy of £25k. Hmm not so cheap now. Deposit left and build slot confirmed. Excited bit of a understatement.
Decided to sell mine privately, I had been on Ebay for a few years buying and selling small stuff so thought I would try the car. Sold 2 days after listing for full asking price. Well pleased.
Walking the dogs a few weeks later had bit of a panic attack, do i need a new car ?, do i want to spending nearly £25k on a car to sit on the drive most of the time ?, can i do something better with the money ?. As soon as i got back to the car , rang the dealer and cancelled the order. Got home and rang the guy who had bought mine and tried to buy it back. Not happening was his response. Damn damn damn.
So now im without a car, missus is upset that i cancelled the order (she actually cried when i sold the vrs).
What follows is still a bit blurry but was kinda good fun.
Part 1.
So i passed my test in 93 and first car was VW Beetle
Looked a bit like this but mine had far more rust. As all first time cars I had mad plans for this car but never happened as it was always breaking. Was pretty cool to own but it was truly awful in the acceleration / braking / steering dept. Sold in the end but the plate on it was kept and sold on for more than the car.
Then followed a whole load of sheds, cant even be bothered to find look a likes
2 x Escort mk3
Astra mk1....in beige with brown interior....cost £90....caught on fire at the side of the road.
All these cars took me through college and into my first full time job.
Then followed a Peugeot 309 poverty spec, quickly upgraded to another one, think it was called a 'Trio', which was white and had a sunroof !
Got a better job and moved in with my girlfriend in 1998, bought a car for the first time that cost more than good night out.
1995 Honda Civic 1.4, with an electric sunroof ! Again no photos. Sold this to sister to fund next car
Another job move in 1999 doubled my wages so moved house and naturally bought another car
1998 Vauxhall Vectra SRi. My first fast car (so i thought). Loved this and bought plenty of Irmsher crap for it. Lasted for 3 years and joined by another Vectra, a GLS that was truly dreadful but the now wife liked it
2002 came and a new job with better wages so again traded up to this
1 year old Octavia VRS. Still the most expensive car I have bought. Now i really really loved this, bit of a sleeper back then, 180bhp that with some money and Jabbasport took it to 250 bhp. Exhaust / remap/ boost controller / induction etc. Did I say i loved this ? Ran it a few times at Santa Pod RWYB against my brothers Leon Cupra, best time was 14.9, never lost to him either.
The Octavia was such good buy back then that we traded the wifes Vectra for another 1 but diesel.
Kept the vRS for 3 years, was still immaculate, very low mileage when the Skoda dealer rang me and said a new vRS was coming and would i like to come in and have a look at 1. Oh yes please.
Next day i was in there, ticking boxes, choosing colour and spec etc. Total was just shy of £25k. Hmm not so cheap now. Deposit left and build slot confirmed. Excited bit of a understatement.
Decided to sell mine privately, I had been on Ebay for a few years buying and selling small stuff so thought I would try the car. Sold 2 days after listing for full asking price. Well pleased.
Walking the dogs a few weeks later had bit of a panic attack, do i need a new car ?, do i want to spending nearly £25k on a car to sit on the drive most of the time ?, can i do something better with the money ?. As soon as i got back to the car , rang the dealer and cancelled the order. Got home and rang the guy who had bought mine and tried to buy it back. Not happening was his response. Damn damn damn.
So now im without a car, missus is upset that i cancelled the order (she actually cried when i sold the vrs).
What follows is still a bit blurry but was kinda good fun.
Part 2.
So i was without a car for the first time since passing my test so the hunt began.
This was bought fairly quickly
BMW 328i SE.
Never had a Beemer before but I bought this without really giving it much thought. Never gelled with it, nothing wrong with it but it just never made me want to just go for a drive.
Now remember the Ebay thing, enjoyed selling my car that way and thought would do it again. A few cars i had looked at had the words ' no swap' in the title. Odd but after a bit of digging turns out that by putting that it actually meant you want to. Added that to the title and listed it. That was the start of my 'wheeler dealer' dream. In my head, a few years of swapping / selling smartly would have me in Porsche, without spending a penny. Oh how my wife laughed.
So after lots of offers, some dreamers and their sheds, i found one
Renault Clio 172 plus £900 for my BMW. Great deal i thought, this is dead easy.
This was a fun car, handled better than anything in my past, was fairly brisk and looked nice. My kids thought it was super cool aswell. Had this for about 6 months, put up with the super hard suspension, french build quality, but i had a hankering for an Impreza. Another listing done, 'no swap' again in the title.
Again lots of dreamers, but to be fair i enjoyed the whole 'will you swap for this...' questions. Then this turned up in offer and i was hooked.
Impreza Turbo.
Now i still have nightmares about this car. Straight swap, no cash involved. Seller was in Edinburgh, i am in Peterborough. Fair trek for either of us. Spoke to the guy lots of times. 1 owner who had just passed away (his dad), 101k with lots and lots of history, never been on track, he couldnt insure it etc etc. Looked good in photos so a deal was struck and halfway point of Scotch corner agreed for the swap.
Got to the meet at the agreed time. Matey wasnt there. slight panic setting in. Rang him, no answer. panic getting bigger. Getting dark, over an 1 hour late, finally answered his phone, he is just round the corner. Thank f@@@ for that.
Quick inspection of the cars, V5's signed and swapped, job done. Oh he has left fairly lively. Oh well lets get home.
1st banging noise appeared 5 mins later, 1st warning light on dash 5 mins after that. F@@@ and double F@@@. Took 4 hours to get home, didnt run too badly and was fairly happy once home. Woke up the following morning to the missus saying whats all the stuff under the car ? Triple f@@@. Oil, lots of it making a break for freedom.
That was just the start, the thing constantly leaked oil, things like the heatshield fell off, brakes were shot, behind the front fog covers was......nothing. Spent a bit on it, spent a bit more, constantly chasing problems. Final straw was watching Men & Motors, a trackday special at Knockhill, that Impreza looks like mine lol, bloody hell it is. Thrashed was a polite way of watching that car on the track. Time for it to go.
Back to Ebay but it sold without a swap. Lost a lot on that car.
Bought a E36 316 'sport' which was nothing of the sort, swapped that for another Impreza thinking i must have had a bad 'un. Went for a non turbo this time and it was just s
te. Swapped that for this
Golf mk3 8v Colour Concept
Looked faster than it was, nothing wrong with it apart from turning out to be a Cat C. lasted about a month before i listed it again.
My wheeler dealer dream was quickly turning into a clusterf@@@, fed up with dodgy sellers and dodgy money pit cars i decided to act my age and get a sensible car. Didnt quite happen like that and found this car from a bloke i was working with.
Golf mk3 VR6 Highline.
This was immaculate. Less than 40k on it, 1 owner, supercharged with loads of mods, ICE install, and absolute fortune spent on it. I spent some more rebuilding the charger, getting arches rolled for alloys to fit. This car made a great sound, was pretty fast but it was fat !. If i could rewind a few years i should have stripped the ICE (not my thing anyway) and kept it. As it was i compounded all my previous errors and sold this for a quick profit. Should have kept it. Should have kept it. Should have kept it.
Mike Brewer has nothing to worry about from me.
So i was without a car for the first time since passing my test so the hunt began.
This was bought fairly quickly
BMW 328i SE.
Never had a Beemer before but I bought this without really giving it much thought. Never gelled with it, nothing wrong with it but it just never made me want to just go for a drive.
Now remember the Ebay thing, enjoyed selling my car that way and thought would do it again. A few cars i had looked at had the words ' no swap' in the title. Odd but after a bit of digging turns out that by putting that it actually meant you want to. Added that to the title and listed it. That was the start of my 'wheeler dealer' dream. In my head, a few years of swapping / selling smartly would have me in Porsche, without spending a penny. Oh how my wife laughed.
So after lots of offers, some dreamers and their sheds, i found one
Renault Clio 172 plus £900 for my BMW. Great deal i thought, this is dead easy.
This was a fun car, handled better than anything in my past, was fairly brisk and looked nice. My kids thought it was super cool aswell. Had this for about 6 months, put up with the super hard suspension, french build quality, but i had a hankering for an Impreza. Another listing done, 'no swap' again in the title.
Again lots of dreamers, but to be fair i enjoyed the whole 'will you swap for this...' questions. Then this turned up in offer and i was hooked.
Impreza Turbo.
Now i still have nightmares about this car. Straight swap, no cash involved. Seller was in Edinburgh, i am in Peterborough. Fair trek for either of us. Spoke to the guy lots of times. 1 owner who had just passed away (his dad), 101k with lots and lots of history, never been on track, he couldnt insure it etc etc. Looked good in photos so a deal was struck and halfway point of Scotch corner agreed for the swap.
Got to the meet at the agreed time. Matey wasnt there. slight panic setting in. Rang him, no answer. panic getting bigger. Getting dark, over an 1 hour late, finally answered his phone, he is just round the corner. Thank f@@@ for that.
Quick inspection of the cars, V5's signed and swapped, job done. Oh he has left fairly lively. Oh well lets get home.
1st banging noise appeared 5 mins later, 1st warning light on dash 5 mins after that. F@@@ and double F@@@. Took 4 hours to get home, didnt run too badly and was fairly happy once home. Woke up the following morning to the missus saying whats all the stuff under the car ? Triple f@@@. Oil, lots of it making a break for freedom.
That was just the start, the thing constantly leaked oil, things like the heatshield fell off, brakes were shot, behind the front fog covers was......nothing. Spent a bit on it, spent a bit more, constantly chasing problems. Final straw was watching Men & Motors, a trackday special at Knockhill, that Impreza looks like mine lol, bloody hell it is. Thrashed was a polite way of watching that car on the track. Time for it to go.
Back to Ebay but it sold without a swap. Lost a lot on that car.
Bought a E36 316 'sport' which was nothing of the sort, swapped that for another Impreza thinking i must have had a bad 'un. Went for a non turbo this time and it was just s
te. Swapped that for thisGolf mk3 8v Colour Concept
Looked faster than it was, nothing wrong with it apart from turning out to be a Cat C. lasted about a month before i listed it again.
My wheeler dealer dream was quickly turning into a clusterf@@@, fed up with dodgy sellers and dodgy money pit cars i decided to act my age and get a sensible car. Didnt quite happen like that and found this car from a bloke i was working with.
Golf mk3 VR6 Highline.
This was immaculate. Less than 40k on it, 1 owner, supercharged with loads of mods, ICE install, and absolute fortune spent on it. I spent some more rebuilding the charger, getting arches rolled for alloys to fit. This car made a great sound, was pretty fast but it was fat !. If i could rewind a few years i should have stripped the ICE (not my thing anyway) and kept it. As it was i compounded all my previous errors and sold this for a quick profit. Should have kept it. Should have kept it. Should have kept it.
Mike Brewer has nothing to worry about from me.
Part 3.
With the Vr6 gone, missus pulling the plug on the wheeler dealer dream, I had to get a sensible car. Without any kind of enthusiasm i bought this
Mondeo 2.0 LX
What can i say, it just did everything i needed and nothing more, only needed a battery in the 18 months i had it. I was loosing my petrol head mojo.
At that time traded up the wifes silver octavia diesel for.....a newer octavia diesel in silver.
During this period my eldest past his test so we had wonderful pleasure of finding a insurance friendly car. Doin my dad bit i said i would sell mine and then we could share a car, helping with the insurance costs.
Mondeo was sold and in its place came this beauty
Clio something. Basically poverty spec. I wanted to spend as little as possible, no fancy electrics to go wrong, painfully slow, due to remembering what me and mates used to get up to in our first cars. Was proved right when one of his mates split coke in it, he managed to hit several kerbs, had the words 'tt' scratched in the drivers door one evening, and finally had an accident when someone drove into him on a roundabout.
Eventually it was written off after about year battling with the insurance company.
How i enjoyed driving that car to work, i remember once trying to race an Allegro....and losing.
Over the years i had gotten to know my mechanic fairly well (not that much of a shock) and for the year i had the Clio i had spotted a E36 Touring in his yard just sat there. He always managed to avoid answering any questions about it so i thought he was just being an arse. Roll on xmas day 2011 my wife hands me a present, inside a V5 for the beemer.
Unbeknown to me she had bought it for me 6 months prior and it took her awhile to pay for it and get it mot'd etc.
She is a diamond and puts up with my car addiction fairly well.
E36 328i SE.
Above picture is on its winter wheels. This car reignited my inner petrol head. Spent a lot on this car maintaining it, bought some M3 goodies, went twice to the Ring in it including 6 laps of the F1 track. It was no sports car but it was super comfy, would happily cruise along at 90-100 on the autobahn all day, never broke down and my new best mate liked going in it
After a few years the jobs for each mot were getting bigger, fuel lines were corroded, rusty sills that had been patched a few times already, so decided to sell. Sold for a little bit under what my wife paid 2 years previously. Really did like this car.
While selling the BMW i bought the next car as a spares or repair intending to break it. the ABS fault the seller thought was the end of world turned out to be a just a sensor. So £250 plus £16 i got this
Audi A3 1.8T
Nice car, ran faultlessly, nippy enough round town and could get me to Snowdonia for £25 (half the BMW cost).
The Audi took me upto 2013, January of that year was the worst of my life, my best mate (see above BMW picture) passed away unexpectedly from a twisted stomach, my company announced we were shutting down and the wifes Octavia blew an oil pipe and seized the turbo making it uneconomical to fix.
The Octavia was replaced by a Punto 1.3 multijet thing thats slower than a slow thing, the eldest replaced the now written off clio with a poverty spec mk4 Fiesta. I decided when the company shut the gates for the last time i would be going self employed so would need to change the Audi
Roll on August 2013 and the gates shut for the last time. The Audi was sold for a nice profit and the hunt was on for my next and most recent car.
Really i should have got a van but i couldnt bring myself to buy one. I needed something with a massive boot. The shortlist was well...short.
Volvo V70
BMW 5 Series Touring
Merc E class estate
Saab 9-5 estate
Mercedes and BMW were to expensive for the spec i wanted, didnt find a Volvo i liked so decided on a Saab. The following arrived in the same month.
9-5 Aero Hot.
From picking it up in Sheffield to driving home i love it. Xenons / heated leather / Climate / cruise / manual / 1 owner / 250bhp and more importantly a massive boot with the seats down. (i picked up 80 front and rear car lights this week no problem) All this for what a manky Berlingo would have cost. I have had minor work done on it (2003 so over 10 years old now), disks and pads are about £250, years tax is £285, ave mpg is currently at 30.2. Round town is low 20's but on a good run i have got low 30's. I only do about 5000 miles a year so does not concern me greatly.
Maybe an upgrade next year to a newer one....or maybe throw some money at Abbott Racing for them to do their magic.
And thats it ! Hope this hasnt bored you too much, i have certainly spent all afternoon doing this (wife thinks i have been working so got out of loads of jobs), have loads more pictures of the recent cars but as it took me soooo long to upload these thought 1 per car was fine
Thanks for reading
With the Vr6 gone, missus pulling the plug on the wheeler dealer dream, I had to get a sensible car. Without any kind of enthusiasm i bought this
Mondeo 2.0 LX
What can i say, it just did everything i needed and nothing more, only needed a battery in the 18 months i had it. I was loosing my petrol head mojo.
At that time traded up the wifes silver octavia diesel for.....a newer octavia diesel in silver.
During this period my eldest past his test so we had wonderful pleasure of finding a insurance friendly car. Doin my dad bit i said i would sell mine and then we could share a car, helping with the insurance costs.
Mondeo was sold and in its place came this beauty
Clio something. Basically poverty spec. I wanted to spend as little as possible, no fancy electrics to go wrong, painfully slow, due to remembering what me and mates used to get up to in our first cars. Was proved right when one of his mates split coke in it, he managed to hit several kerbs, had the words 't
t' scratched in the drivers door one evening, and finally had an accident when someone drove into him on a roundabout.Eventually it was written off after about year battling with the insurance company.
How i enjoyed driving that car to work, i remember once trying to race an Allegro....and losing.
Over the years i had gotten to know my mechanic fairly well (not that much of a shock) and for the year i had the Clio i had spotted a E36 Touring in his yard just sat there. He always managed to avoid answering any questions about it so i thought he was just being an arse. Roll on xmas day 2011 my wife hands me a present, inside a V5 for the beemer.
Unbeknown to me she had bought it for me 6 months prior and it took her awhile to pay for it and get it mot'd etc.
She is a diamond and puts up with my car addiction fairly well.
E36 328i SE.
Above picture is on its winter wheels. This car reignited my inner petrol head. Spent a lot on this car maintaining it, bought some M3 goodies, went twice to the Ring in it including 6 laps of the F1 track. It was no sports car but it was super comfy, would happily cruise along at 90-100 on the autobahn all day, never broke down and my new best mate liked going in it
After a few years the jobs for each mot were getting bigger, fuel lines were corroded, rusty sills that had been patched a few times already, so decided to sell. Sold for a little bit under what my wife paid 2 years previously. Really did like this car.
While selling the BMW i bought the next car as a spares or repair intending to break it. the ABS fault the seller thought was the end of world turned out to be a just a sensor. So £250 plus £16 i got this
Audi A3 1.8T
Nice car, ran faultlessly, nippy enough round town and could get me to Snowdonia for £25 (half the BMW cost).
The Audi took me upto 2013, January of that year was the worst of my life, my best mate (see above BMW picture) passed away unexpectedly from a twisted stomach, my company announced we were shutting down and the wifes Octavia blew an oil pipe and seized the turbo making it uneconomical to fix.
The Octavia was replaced by a Punto 1.3 multijet thing thats slower than a slow thing, the eldest replaced the now written off clio with a poverty spec mk4 Fiesta. I decided when the company shut the gates for the last time i would be going self employed so would need to change the Audi
Roll on August 2013 and the gates shut for the last time. The Audi was sold for a nice profit and the hunt was on for my next and most recent car.
Really i should have got a van but i couldnt bring myself to buy one. I needed something with a massive boot. The shortlist was well...short.
Volvo V70
BMW 5 Series Touring
Merc E class estate
Saab 9-5 estate
Mercedes and BMW were to expensive for the spec i wanted, didnt find a Volvo i liked so decided on a Saab. The following arrived in the same month.
9-5 Aero Hot.
From picking it up in Sheffield to driving home i love it. Xenons / heated leather / Climate / cruise / manual / 1 owner / 250bhp and more importantly a massive boot with the seats down. (i picked up 80 front and rear car lights this week no problem) All this for what a manky Berlingo would have cost. I have had minor work done on it (2003 so over 10 years old now), disks and pads are about £250, years tax is £285, ave mpg is currently at 30.2. Round town is low 20's but on a good run i have got low 30's. I only do about 5000 miles a year so does not concern me greatly.
Maybe an upgrade next year to a newer one....or maybe throw some money at Abbott Racing for them to do their magic.
And thats it ! Hope this hasnt bored you too much, i have certainly spent all afternoon doing this (wife thinks i have been working so got out of loads of jobs), have loads more pictures of the recent cars but as it took me soooo long to upload these thought 1 per car was fine
Thanks for reading
Thanks for the comments, glad the thread didnt bomb lol.
I was so desperate for that Impreza i ignored all the warning signs, bought with my heart not my head, live and learn.
I did miss out 2 cars, another Subaru (it seems me and Subarus just dont get on )
Legacy 4cam.
Cant even remember when in my timeline this appeared but it only lasted a few days before overheating, broke it for spares.
and wafted about in this for abit
Jaguar XJ6 Executive. Was quite cool for abit, but very thirsty, tried selling it but no luck so again broke it for spares.
I was so desperate for that Impreza i ignored all the warning signs, bought with my heart not my head, live and learn.
I did miss out 2 cars, another Subaru (it seems me and Subarus just dont get on )
Legacy 4cam.
Cant even remember when in my timeline this appeared but it only lasted a few days before overheating, broke it for spares.
and wafted about in this for abit
Jaguar XJ6 Executive. Was quite cool for abit, but very thirsty, tried selling it but no luck so again broke it for spares.
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