My history. 80's/90's hatches, RSs, 911s and a few bikes

My history. 80's/90's hatches, RSs, 911s and a few bikes

Author
Discussion

samj2014

552 posts

111 months

Friday 30th January 2015
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Awesome thread, love the camper! I'd really like to do a road trip like this at some point, a decent van would definitely be on the cards if I had the cash. If not, my Octavia would probably do alright.
I've been to the alps a couple of times for mountain biking holidays and the scenery is truly amazing! I'd love to drive there some day - i was a passenger driving down the first time, and flew out the second time.

jk888

110 posts

125 months

Saturday 31st January 2015
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Really enjoyed reading this, I'm also from the max power era in the 90's, the cruises, getting pulled over by the police and getting producers all the time. I've had a few cars, some of them have been ok, some of them have been absolute dogs, namely a B reg Nova SR I bought with blacked out windows and a big bore exhaust, it looked the nuts to an 18 year old lad but it fell to pieces within a month! Actually come to think of it I don't think I've ever owned a faultless car

ruggedscotty

5,606 posts

208 months

Saturday 31st January 2015
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Sadly deluded.... Cars own us lol.

First car a Fiesta Pop - not even a pop plus a 1984 on a B in radient red...

Can remember putting seat covers on it and a set of fog lamps - went into a garage to see about a 323 mazda and the guy was putting seat covers on the car - said don't worry the poxy crap seat covers are only on to protect the seats and that they didn't come with the car - you can imagine his face when he put a price on my car and saw the same seat covers.... I looked at him and asked if the seat covers reduced the value....

Next was another fiesta an 89 diamond white 1.4s now that was modded as it was the car I was running about when I worked in Dagenham. 4-2-1 exhaust K&N and re jetted carb. a decent car that was. slapped on some XR2i alloys.

Next up was a Corsa 1.5 TDI GLS reasonably good car that would have been about 96 or there abouts was an M plate. Traded that in for a fiat Uno. That was a crap mobile kacked brakes every time you hit the brakes the engine stalled as the vacuum booster had failed. Got rid of that as moved to Canada. Ran about in a Mercury Villager over there. That was pretty rapid for an auto family bus. 3.0 litre Nissan engine I think.

Came back here and got a Fiat Marea diesel. Should have stayed away from Fiat as they were crap. And the dealer that I bought it from was even worse.

A focus was next 1.6 Silver, that was a good car, decent road holding and chuckable. that would have been around 02.

Chopped that in for a Vectra a 1.9 diesel 120. Not a good move - passing something and the turbo pipe blew off - feck that made me brick it as I wondered what had happened.... The Vectra wasn't that great a car didn't like it at all seats were terrible and the finish inside was fragile. Got rid and moved to an Xtrail - good towing machine. rough old lump the 2.2 and it ate turbos had two replaced under warranty. Had thought about even buying it at end of lease but nah.

After the xtrail I got an Audi A6 and that has been a great car - Ill keep that till it can do no more. Oh and Ive a Z4 for fun....

LouD86

3,278 posts

152 months

Wednesday 11th February 2015
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Come on then Mark, we are eagerly awaiting the next update!

stevec33

82 posts

135 months

Thursday 12th February 2015
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Really fantastic read, youve had some great toys and great stories to go with them

marky911

Original Poster:

4,417 posts

218 months

Saturday 14th February 2015
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Thanks for the comments. I'll answer properly soon and get the thread updated.

Been working mega hours but should have time over the next couple of weeks. Cheers.

jaacck

188 posts

139 months

Sunday 15th February 2015
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still enjoying the thread

Slippydiff

14,742 posts

222 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2015
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Don't tell me Mark, you bought the invisible Aston they used in Die Another Day, and now you can't find it to take photos of it ? biggrin

How's things mate ?


marky911

Original Poster:

4,417 posts

218 months

Friday 6th March 2015
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Hi Henry, thanks for dropping in. hehe
People always say this but I've been meaning to email you for ages, since new year actually to check you had a good one etc.

Aston Martin? Austin Maxi more like, with my budget. In fact, I bet even they are on the up and out of reach. hehe

My next update (hopefully tonight) will be mainly about "the pinnacle" of my motoring life, which you know well. wink

Anyway, I'll drop you a proper email sometime. If you're heading to any events over the summer give me a shout and I'll try and get down.

marky911

Original Poster:

4,417 posts

218 months

Friday 6th March 2015
quotequote all
Siko said:
Great write up on the Campervan trip.......not sure I could have sold it myself after such an awesome trip! Thanks for taking the time to write it up, keep it coming smile
Thanks Siko, it was a great van and if space and money were no object I would definitely have tucked it away. I knew for various reasons though that it wouldn't see much use at all for a long time if I kept it. Plus I needed the money back in for the next car..... wink


AGAR said:
I've just spent the past hour and a half reading this thread from start to your latest update. Loved hearing about your first few cars and the mishaps along the way.

I am in the habit of keeping the same cars for 3-5 years at a time, but having read this, I think I'm missing out on all the excitement (and maybe headaches?) of changing cars more often. Hopefully I'll be able to make a similar thread when I'm your age.

I also think your story is a prime example of how cars are so much more than just material items.

Looking forward to your next update.
Thanks for putting the time in Agar. smile

To be honest you’re probably doing the right thing keeping cars for longer. As I matured and looked back at how much money I’d spent by the age of 25, I thought “Damn, I should have just run a banger til now and bought a great car”.

However, your comment about cars being so much more than material items is bang on and looking back now I wouldn’t change a thing. It’s no exaggeration when I say cars have changed my life, from the friends I have, even down to my occupation. I’ll maybe elaborate when I conclude things at some point.
If you aren’t bored with what you drive then be happy and enjoy it. I was always looking for the next car as soon as I had bought one. Which brings us nicely onto the next post….


trowelhead said:
This thread is great smile

I've had 8 different cars since last jan so I know of this disease wink

One question, how do you handle all the comments from family / friends

"What you've changed cars AGAIN?!" Etc

Edited by trowelhead on Wednesday 28th January 23:42
Thanks trowelhead. Yes it is a disease we suffer from biggrin .

When I was scrimping and saving for the next car I’d always say to my parents “If I can only stretch to one of these I’ll not want anything else for years, honestly. It’s my dream car”. 3 months later it would be up for sale with me saying the same thing again about the next one.
My parents just let me get on with it. I wasn’t ticking on debt or anything and I was working hard to pay for them. I blame my dad as he always changed cars a lot, being in the motor trade and a petrol head. wink

samj2014 said:
Awesome thread, love the camper! I'd really like to do a road trip like this at some point, a decent van would definitely be on the cards if I had the cash. If not, my Octavia would probably do alright.
I've been to the alps a couple of times for mountain biking holidays and the scenery is truly amazing! I'd love to drive there some day - i was a passenger driving down the first time, and flew out the second time.
Hi Sam, definitely do it when you can. Just watch out if you do some 10 hour days at the wheel, a momentary lapse of concentration and you could switch back into driving on the left. I almost did once or twice and my wife shouted to tell me.

To be honest you could do it in your car just as well. Our camper was small and not a pop top so we couldn’t even stand up straight in it. I didn’t like cooking inside as it stinks all the bedding out, etc so we lived and cooked outside really. Mainly went in the camper to sleep. One night in Switzerland we had heavy rain so lay in bed and watched Senna on DVD but if we only had a car we would have just gone to the pub.

You go for the great outdoors so you’d be fine in a car and you’d cover ground quicker too. You’d also have more fun on the passes. wink

jk888 said:
Really enjoyed reading this, I'm also from the max power era in the 90's, the cruises, getting pulled over by the police and getting producers all the time. I've had a few cars, some of them have been ok, some of them have been absolute dogs, namely a B reg Nova SR I bought with blacked out windows and a big bore exhaust, it looked the nuts to an 18 year old lad but it fell to pieces within a month! Actually come to think of it I don't think I've ever owned a faultless car
Cheers JK, very much like me then. If you had a Nova SR back then you were cool, but my mate pulled up one day in an AX GT. He was instantly transformed into a king amongst men. hehe

Who wants a faultless car eh? It’s the tinkering and spannering that forms the bond. I was talking to my apprentice at work the other day. He’s 18 and has an 06 plate A3 2.0T. He came out with “I tried to paint my callipers the other week. It’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done”. I was like “What?! nothing is that hard, just have a go”, to which he replied “I’ll probably get the garage to do them”.
That’s where the young ‘uns are going wrong I told him. Buying expensive cars straight away so they’re scared to touch anything. I told him about the stuff I used to do and said we’d just have a go at things back then. I know there’s a lot of talented young lads (and lasses) out there too mind, but equally a lot of others just don’t seem to get in amongst it and have a go.


ruggedscotty said:
Sadly deluded.... Cars own us lol.

After the xtrail I got an Audi A6 and that has been a great car - Ill keep that till it can do no more. Oh and Ive a Z4 for fun....
Hi Scotty, indeed they do. smile (Hope you don't mind that I've cut your post down a bit. Just for space).

You’ve climbed a similar ladder to me then, with the old cars and erm, choice mods. wink
I remember Mk2 fiesta S models, as they were a cheaper alternative than the XR2. Yours was white as you say and it would have had black up to the door strips yes? I’m sure one was on my list to own, at some point. smile

My mate had Corsa 1.5D he used as a runaround. He used to run it on red diesel so it became known as the Cherry Limo. I used to borrow it sometimes and he’d spilt a gearbox in the back of it. When the sun came out it would stink like cats pee. biggrin
Many years ago though and I don’t condone using red diesel.


LouD86 said:
Come on then Mark, we are eagerly awaiting the next update!
stevec33 said:
Really fantastic read, youve had some great toys and great stories to go with them
jaacck said:
still enjoying the thread
Thanks, I’ll try and get it update. Really busy for reasons which will become clear later on.
Yes Steve I’ve had some great, hilarious times and adventures. No regrets.

Right, update to follow. Cheers. smile

marky911

Original Poster:

4,417 posts

218 months

Friday 6th March 2015
quotequote all
Ok, so going back to 2008 for a minute when I bought the 964 Turbo off my mate Andy, that was a great feeling. I actually owned a 911 Turbo! I gave Andy £18k for it. At that point in time 964s were at their all time low. As further demonstrated by my C2 selling for £12k!
This was still big money for me though and I couldn’t ever imagine climbing much higher up the Porsche ladder.

Now my mate Paul (“Clough” as he’s known to us) had owned loads of nice cars but had been tyre kicking for a while. Well, he looked throughout 2008 for something and it became a bit of a joke at the pub when he mentioned his next prospective viewing, to which we’d say “Just get the seller to stack his wheels and tyres up on the drive so you can give them a kick and leave”. hehe

Anyway he eventually bought something in Jan 2009. A Mk1 996 GT3 Clubsport in Guards Red.
Now we didn’t know much about it at the time but Paul mentioned it was rare. I still remember him coming to see me in it when he bought it. I was at my parents and we went out for a blast. I just couldn’t believe the noise this thing made. Simply spine tingling after 5000rpm.

A quick pic to break up the monotony of my words. (Actually taken from the brekkie run we did when I still had the Turbo.)




Now this was during the banking crash etc. Paul had paid £30k for the car from a dealers in Scotland. Now £30k to me back then was in the “I’ll never have that to spend on a car in my lifetime” area of my mind. Fast forward 3 years though and hmm…

I mentioned earlier looking for a 964 C2 to go alongside the Turbo. That was over the winter of 2011/12. I’d then mentioned selling the Turbo after a fruitless C2 search. Well in the spring of 2012 Paul was making noises about selling the GT3. At the same time I had a guy who had enquired about the Turbo over winter, get in touch about buying it again. So I let the Turbo go literally a couple of weeks before our campervan trip.
On returning from my trip Paul said there was a big chance he’d be selling the GT3 due to possible redundancy at work due to an ongoing dispute with an ahole boss.
Now, obviously I was really hoping for the car, but if I got the car it would mean my mate had lost his job, so it felt a bit weird. Should I wish for the car or not? I just let things run their course (in the meantime I’d sold the camper van on my return just incase) and sure enough one day in August Paul text and said “The car’s yours if you want it”. It was in my garage within the hour.
I got it straight away as I didn’t want Clough changing his mind. This meant a bit of trust on his part as it was a Sunday and I could only switch so much via internet banking. I paid the rest the next day and all was well.

Well Wow! Talk about dream come true. In the 3+ years Paul owned the car I had become more clued up about them and it was indeed a rare car. Only 28 UK Clubsport models had come to these shores and some of those had been written off, exported etc.








Being the CS model it had the full cage, Nomex buckets, fire extinguisher, safety cut-off switches etc.








The car was a totally straight, original panel car, known to a few Pistonheaders as the owner before my mate Paul used to track it quite a bit. It had very much been used as intended but cared for all the same. It had £3000 worth of Alcon front brakes alone.

I set about bringing it back up to my standards, firstly with an engine bay clean. I also sorted the air filter out.

Before






After






The black bumper strip was powder coated and refitted with new screws soon after.




The car came with the standard air box but was fitted with a Cup filter. Not a true Cup car filter as this requires losing the MAF, but a Cargraphic Cup filter with Carbon fibre intake hose.
Well the hose was rubbish and had deformed over time. On top of that the mounting bracket was a joke.
After speaking to Ade (“keep it lit” on the Porsche forum and all round top “Madchester" dude) at Oulton he showed me his setup which was a silicone hose and better mounting bracket.

Before




New hose purchased




I machined a mounting block and adaptor ring at work out of black nylon. Nice and light and corrosion resistant.




Done. The jubilee clips were still to be trimmed.




One thing that did bug me was the engine noise on tickover. My neighbour had a Boxster Spyder with PSE and that sounded fantastic. My GT3 would trump it on noise once revving but I still wanted more at tick over. My mate Craig had 2 rear boxes spare so we set about fitting them.

Stripped rear end




Rear light apertures a bit grubby




Brackets powdercoated factory colours




All cleaned up




All done. Forgot to take a pic on the day so here’s one from later on.



In all honesty I preferred the look of the standard rear pipes but the new ones did sound better and a lot deeper and gave out much more pops and bangs on the over run. biggrin


Apart from the general tinkering I just used it on nice days and for weekends away, mainly to watch my mate Andy racing. I also went to a few shows and runs out with the north east 911UK lads. Good bunch and not arsey like some car club/meets.

A few more pics. Why not. It was the best car I’d ever owned after all. smile

Croft on an unusually sunny day.




Croft on a more usual not so sunny day, with my mate Craig in his. More on that later. Totally sorted car. A real lucky find!




Beamish show with 911UK lads
Colour looks a bit washed out in these pics, but it wasn't.




If you look carefully in this picture you can see a 993 in the background under its blue cover. tongue out




Anyway, I bought this in August 2012 after my awesome camper van trip. I then proposed to my girlfriend (in a little boat on Ullswater) in September and we wed in November (don’t ask! smile ), so it’s fair to say 2012 was one of the best years of my life.

Apologies for the self indulgent post, but I’ll only be doing this once so I may as well include the back story and lots of pics. smile

Cheers.

Edited by marky911 on Saturday 7th March 00:02

marky911

Original Poster:

4,417 posts

218 months

Saturday 7th March 2015
quotequote all
One more quicky for tonight.

Whilst I had just bought the GT3, I was missing my track days. The GT3 was built for the track but I was never going to do that to it. It had a very easy life with me and even though I had track cover included in my insurance, I wasn't going to be responsible for one less MK1 CS in the world, should the worst happen. wink

I'd bought the E46 off James but one day when speaking to Jamie (Nelson) he mentioned selling his Seat Leon Cupra. This thing had had £20k spent on it by a former keeper. Utter madness and a lot of it was things being done twice, such as a hybrid turbo one year, then a different one the next. Anyway, Jamie had used it as a regular car but had also tracked it in the UK and at the 'Ring.

He said I could have it for £4k. i said ok but knowing the fanny that I am, Jamie said "Take it away for a couple of weeks to make sure you like it". Well I'm glad he did as I just didn't get on with it.
The plan was to sell the BMW and use the Leon as a daily car and also do some track days in it, however when sitting in traffic on my way to work i just felt like an old Chav. I was 35 now and I just felt awkward in it.
It had 300bhp and some nice bits. It gripped and handled incredibly well for a FWD hatch with the power it had going through the front wheels but I was used to Turbos from years ago that made a lovely burble. This thing just sounded dull despite a stainless sports exhaust. So Jamie kindly took it back. He wasn't too bothered at all and had been having second thoughts anyway. I'd given it a good clean up for him too so it was mint again.

So technically not mine but almost. wink

Some pics from when Jamie and I had it.

Jamie at Blyton




Jamie going camping. Very practical




Jamie at the ring




Tarox 10 pots




Clean








Anyway, good car, just not for me. smile


Edited by marky911 on Saturday 7th March 00:32

marky911

Original Poster:

4,417 posts

218 months

Saturday 7th March 2015
quotequote all
Actually one more I'd forgotten about until I seen it next to my GT3.

MGF. yuck

My mate Craig got offered this but wasn't interested.

I paid £200 for it and stuck it straight on Ebay. Got £650 a week later. Horrible little car that you sat on top of, rather than in. Mind you it was far from the best example. A mint one maybe ok.
Only pic I have is this one where it's on the drive when we were doing the GT3 exhausts.


coopedup

3,741 posts

138 months

Saturday 7th March 2015
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Another brilliant thread here, very entertaining and well written, please keep them coming! A truly great selection of cars too....

marky911

Original Poster:

4,417 posts

218 months

Wednesday 11th March 2015
quotequote all
Cheers cooped up, not too much left now.

So as I said earlier my R1 was the thing I owned for longest. I think It was early 2011 when I finally sold it.
Total lack of use as I’d been doing the car track days. I had planned to keep it as it wasn’t taking up much space etc but I got it out after winter and the alarm didn’t recognise the key fob anymore so I had to pay £100 to have the alarm ripped out. The clutch had started sticking too, so it was suffering from standing about.

The last pics I took of it. Probably a little while before I sold it. I could still get it to clean up almost like new. Awesome bike!











Back to winter 2012/2013 now and still missing the track days after not having kept Jamie’s Leon.
A few of my mates who race (usually from March til September) said we should all buy karts to play with over the winter.
We’ve all done loads of karting so decided to buy 4 stroke Honda pro-karts. The good thing about the 4 strokes is the lower noise levels. Our nearest good track, Warden Law in Sunderland, stops the 2 strokes running at teatime due to noise restrictions, but the 4 strokes are allowed to run until 8pm. Great stuff.





As is usually the way with these things though, we hardly used them at all though so mine was sold early 2013.

Anyway, back to the cars next time. smile

melvster

6,841 posts

184 months

Wednesday 11th March 2015
quotequote all
Another great update Mark, thanks for posting. Love the GT3 biggrinbiggrinwink

marky911

Original Poster:

4,417 posts

218 months

Wednesday 11th March 2015
quotequote all
Ok, so at the start of 2013 after selling the kart I was left with the GT3 and the 325 Coupe for work. I was still missing the track days though so again I began looking for something that could possibly replace the BMW for work and also take in a couple of track days in the summer. I didn't want a dedicated track car sitting there for both space and money reasons.

So how’s this for coincidence, the brother (Stephen) of “Amethyst Girl” still lived near my parents and used to chat to my dad whenever they saw each other walking the dogs. Stephen was looking to trade in his car for something a bit newer so my dad said “Tell me what you get offered and our Mark will probably have it off you”.

A week or two later and this was mine -

Honda Civic Type R EP3 in Nighthawk black. 99k miles, 4 owners and a good straight totally standard car. Stephen was a policeman and very fussy, so I knew he wouldn't touch anything that wasn't totally right.









I was fairly happy with this. A big step down in terms of refinement, comfort, engine noise and even looks in my eyes from the E46 but it did handle brilliantly and certainly put the fun back in to driving.

Trouble was that it had the same problem my lasses Mini had had. They’re great when blasting about full belt, but stiff, bumpy and plastic-y when driving slowly. Since I don’t drive hard on the road as you just look like a hooligan, the Type R wasn’t really me. Pretty much like the Leon really.

I kept it though with the intention of doing some track day over summer 2013. I’ll show in my next post though why I didn’t get to do any. Nothing bad mind and nothing to do with kids. wink

marky911

Original Poster:

4,417 posts

218 months

Wednesday 11th March 2015
quotequote all
melvster said:
Another great update Mark, thanks for posting. Love the GT3 biggrinbiggrinwink
Hiya matey, hope you're well? I thought it was you when you posted earlier in the thread but wasn't 100%.

I see you've got yourself a little pocket rocket now. Great stuff! Have you had it on track or not? A quick Clio is still on my list to own at some point. May even do it soon as I have to have a juggle about with cars soon. It'll be nothing like yours mind. Probably an early one.

Enjoy it anyway. smile

ClarkPB

818 posts

199 months

Thursday 12th March 2015
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I've got a phase 2 EP3 Type R as a daily as well and would agree with everything you say about it. For the majority of the time it does me fine and the boot is big enough to put the dog in but I'm starting to get a bit bored of fiesta ST's etc trying to bait me into a race biggrin

melvster

6,841 posts

184 months

Friday 13th March 2015
quotequote all
marky911 said:
Hiya matey, hope you're well? I thought it was you when you posted earlier in the thread but wasn't 100%.

I see you've got yourself a little pocket rocket now. Great stuff! Have you had it on track or not? A quick Clio is still on my list to own at some point. May even do it soon as I have to have a juggle about with cars soon. It'll be nothing like yours mind. Probably an early one.

Enjoy it anyway. smile
Yes all good thanks Mark biggrin yep, bought the little rascal back in April 2014; 9k enjoyable miles so far. Not had it on track yet but going to the 'ring at the end of May with a few mates. Only doing tourist days but really excited to see what the car is like. Obviously not going to be pushing hard as i know of the consequences if you crash...

The Clio's are good value for what they are, you can pick up a tidy 172/182 for not much money and they're a great way into circuit days. Interesting you had the Civic, i wanted a Premier Edition Civic R so bad but couldn't find a nice one that was sensibly priced so I ended up with the 197. Always fancied a cheaper Civic R as a track toy though.