Best smoker barges 1-5 large [vol8]

[lostkiwi]

This looks nice (apart from the black aftermarket wheels).

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2001-AUDI-A8-4-2-QUATTRO...

[PugwasHDJ80]

lostkiwi said:

This looks nice (apart from the black aftermarket wheels).

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2001-AUDI-A8-4-2-QUATTRO...

mileage between 03 and 07 looks odd- who would service it out of network? or am I too suspicious?

[Rincewind209]

PugwasHDJ80 said:

mileage between 03 and 07 looks odd- who would service it out of network? or am I too suspicious?

Well if it was your own car and you planned on keeping it for a while main dealer isn't that important. But over 4 years without a service is a bit more of a worry to me. I know it didn't do many miles but 4 years indicates a certain stinginess towards the vehicle. I would like to see plenty of receipts for cambelts and brake/power steering fluid etc. it's a nice looking car but without a comprehensive file of work i don't think it's worth a premium.

[tioaboa]

callahan said:

I think it sounds like they nicked it!

The pictures, however do look rather good. Honey trap?

Mad ad, CLK's of that era are ok I had a 2003 car and the autoboxes prone to failure. I had a lovely 270CDI coupe that ate its own gearbox.

Consensus seems to be very careful with cars from the early Chrysler period (2003-2005) as many corners were cut.

[olly755]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

It's posts like those above from Speckled Jim and dbdb that are so useful. And, in general, from r129sl, and derin, and 0a, and - come to think about it - just about all of you, that make the thread what it is.

Fantastic work, thank you.

Quite. It was dbdb's excellent Jaguar advice, rapidly compiled and posted just prior to me rushing in with all cash blazing as usual, that ultimately prevented me buying a pup rather than a peach of an XJ6. Which, I might have said before, I am enjoying immensely.

I'm more of a reading bargist than a posting one, but agreed, it's a great place here.

[RobinBanks]

W00DY said:

A nice X40 is crisper than a fresh bank note and a design masterpiece. No-one will argue that the twin headlights don't look an awful lot better however.





Subtlely menacing. Simple yet enchanting.

The XJ40 shape is probably my favourite shape XJ (probably because it was the one most common when I was growing up) but that one's awful.

Obviously the owner has tried to make an XJ6 look like an XJ12.

The suspension has gone too low. The purpose of making a car lower is to make it look like a sports version but it no longer looks sporty when it is so low because no responsible manufacturer of such a car would produce them like that for customers.
The black grille is fine on an XJ12 but as that is an XJ6, it shows a chip on the owner's shoulder.

And it would've looked much nicer without body-coloured lattices on the alloys.

ETA: This is much more appealing:

[tobinen]

I've had a few days away and good to check back in. Some good spots from the bargistas, as expected.

[2stis]

harrykul said:

He's had that on and off for a while. Nice colours.

Can't stand his adverts though: it's always "my selection of car is of course far superior than any other model, blah blah blah etc"

And he seemingly can't even be bothered to update that blurb to reflect the make of car being sold...

"unique condition and provenance and is worth every penny to the most ardent Ford aficionado."

[CharlesdeGaulle]

r129sl said:

Daniel Curnock at the 80s Emporium has this nice-looking early 140:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1993-MERCEDES-500-SE-W14...

I agree with the others that his advert blurb is buttock-clenchingly awful, but that looks like a nice car.

If I was spec-ing it I'd probably have gone for black leather with that lighter exterior, but I do like a nice light cabin, and the blue exterior is lovely.

At £1950 last year that would have been a steal.

[r129sl]

CdeG: any more thoughts about the Greek XJS?

[Adrian E]

PugwasHDJ80 said:

lostkiwi said:

This looks nice (apart from the black aftermarket wheels).

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2001-AUDI-A8-4-2-QUATTRO...

mileage between 03 and 07 looks odd- who would service it out of network? or am I too suspicious?

That advert screams run away! Although having said that the service book is marked 'duplicate' so the original history may have been lost from that period. MOT history would tell you a lot, so buying on condition alone could be OK. Mine had a gap in services due to lack of use but before I bought it had £7k spent on it to bring it up to scratch. Judging by the 'air-con needs re-gas' tripe and the state under the bonnet I would not have the same level of confidence in that one!

[CharlesdeGaulle]

r129sl said:

CdeG: any more thoughts about the Greek XJS?

There have been lots of thoughts, but I finally decided that a 10k car in another country was a gamble too far, even by my standards.

I trusted the seller and the car looked great, but my house move makes an overseas road trip a step too far. There is a UK based V12 I really like, and that may be easier to massage around my personal admin. Even then, I probably need to grab a garage on camp unknown to my wife to keep it until I break the good(!) news.

All that said, if the Athens car is still for sale in Sep, and the other falls through, I'll go for it.

About to PM you actually about another car. I'd value your views.

[Jim the Sunderer]

PugwasHDJ80 said:

lostkiwi said:

This looks nice (apart from the black aftermarket wheels).

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2001-AUDI-A8-4-2-QUATTRO...

mileage between 03 and 07 looks odd- who would service it out of network? or am I too suspicious?

He was probably too busy in prison to get it done.

[W00DY]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-230-E-Auto-1988...

Pretty sure this would turn out to be lovely.

[wack]

jalanson said:

Yeah, i'm all for understated elegance We don't buy these cars thinking about fuel economy do we!

About 10 years ago I bought a A8 4.2 Quattro

I it was 10 years old and drove like new, in the winter my wife drove it to work and back which was only about a mile , I worked out over a month it was doing 8mpg

That mileage was going to kill it because it never got warm so it had to go but I missed it for months

Im 55 next year, that thing I've been paying into to keep somebody else in a nice car called a pension is accessible next February so I've been looking for something classic with a massive engine to scratch the itch.

One of those late 80s Merc's has just blipped on my radar

Particularly this one

http://www.usedcarsni.com/1986-Mercedes-S-Class-50...

Edited by wack on Monday 29th June 21:33

[r129sl]

W00DY said:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-230-E-Auto-1988...

Pretty sure this would turn out to be lovely.

Agreed. You could pretend to be Stuttgart's Chief of the Fire Brigade circa 1988, too.

This is like a crumby version of your old one. It's on a 'B'! It must be one of the very first. I have seen a few 'C' reg 124s but never a 'B'.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1985-MERCEDES-230-E-AUTO...

[r129sl]

wack said:

jalanson said:

Yeah, i'm all for understated elegance We don't buy these cars thinking about fuel economy do we!

About 10 years ago I bought a A8 4.2 Quattro

I it was 10 years old and drove like new, in the winter my wife drove it to work and back which was only about a mile , I worked out over a month it was doing 8mpg

That mileage was going to kill it because it never got warm so it had to go but I missed it for months

Im 55 next year, that thing I've been paying into to keep somebody else in a nice car called a pension is accessible next February so I've been looking for something classic with a massive engine to scratch the itch.

One of those late 80s Merc's has just blipped on my radar

Particularly this one

http://www.usedcarsni.com/1986-Mercedes-S-Class-50...

Edited by wack on Monday 29th June 21:33

It's a stunning car and very much on my radar at the moment, too.

[harrykul]

r129sl said:

It's a stunning car and very much on my radar at the moment, too.

Me three, but I just can't right now. The interior is sublime!

[BigBen]

r129sl said:

Agreed. You could pretend to be Stuttgart's Chief of the Fire Brigade circa 1988, too.

This is like a crumby version of your old one. It's on a 'B'! It must be one of the very first. I have seen a few 'C' reg 124s but never a 'B'.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1985-MERCEDES-230-E-AUTO...

You even see some S123s on a C plate !

[Jader1973]

BigBen said:

r129sl said:

Agreed. You could pretend to be Stuttgart's Chief of the Fire Brigade circa 1988, too.

This is like a crumby version of your old one. It's on a 'B'! It must be one of the very first. I have seen a few 'C' reg 124s but never a 'B'.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1985-MERCEDES-230-E-AUTO...

You even see some S123s on a C plate !

IIRC the W124 came out before the S124.

My Dad had an S123 230TE on a C plate. A guy at a place I used to work had one on a D plate.