Tell us about your best 'new car collection road trips'.
Discussion
They guy who bought my Lupo flew from Ireland to Leeds, where I picked him up and brought him to my house.
He then drove from my house to Scotland, got a ferry from there to Northern Ireland, and then drove from there to home in Ireland.
4 Countries in a day to buy a car is a pretty good effort!
He then drove from my house to Scotland, got a ferry from there to Northern Ireland, and then drove from there to home in Ireland.
4 Countries in a day to buy a car is a pretty good effort!
Went from South West Wales to Manchester to take a mate to his eBay'd Fiesta.
Got to an empty house, but the car was warm (alarm bells), decided that since he hadn't, we better check the HPi thing, which came back as 'stolen recovered in 2002' (not mentioned on the advert) and previous owner of 6 or so years ago (he said he'd owned it for 2 years).
Having told mate not to, he went ahead and handed over the cash to a pair of guys who I judged to be used car dealers trying to get rid of a traded-in-shed privately and we set off back home.
Dodgy Fiesta smoked down the M6, which would go to explain why they warmed it up before we got there, so it didn't belch out white clouds when we started it.
That was last Summers car story, so a 400 mile round trip
Got to an empty house, but the car was warm (alarm bells), decided that since he hadn't, we better check the HPi thing, which came back as 'stolen recovered in 2002' (not mentioned on the advert) and previous owner of 6 or so years ago (he said he'd owned it for 2 years).
Having told mate not to, he went ahead and handed over the cash to a pair of guys who I judged to be used car dealers trying to get rid of a traded-in-shed privately and we set off back home.
Dodgy Fiesta smoked down the M6, which would go to explain why they warmed it up before we got there, so it didn't belch out white clouds when we started it.
That was last Summers car story, so a 400 mile round trip
The most recent I did was 3+ years ago, it was also the longest and was getting my newly acquired dream car, a 1988 911 from Tower Hamlets in London back to the NE of Scotland. I collected it from the guy I'd bought off on PH's yards from Tower Bridge and set off on a lovely June day to find the M1 Northbound. Only a few miles from his house I stopped at a pelican crossing right opposite a ladies hair salon, it was warm so they had the door and windows open. I had the sunroof open and the shades on in my shiney red Porsche, acting all cool and that. The girls all came to the door and windows to look, what did I do? lights go to green, only stalled it!! Then to add to my embarresment I put the bloody thing in to reverse by mistake and shot backwards, luckily there were no other cars behind me.
I broke the 550 mile journey up with a few nights stop at my Mum's in Cheshire. I hadn't told her about the car purchase nor that I was coming to visit, so I parked the car on her drive, rang the door bell and waited, she answers the door shocked and delighted at my surprise visit saying " what on earth are you doing here?" my reply, " I've been to London to do some shopping Mum" then pointed down the drive at the car, poor old bugger nearly collapsed! She was 78 at the time!!
A few days later I set off North towards Scotland where I lived at the time, the highlight of that leg was running at some respectable speeds along side a 1920's Bentley Speed Six for 30-40 miles on the M6 Northbound around Preston/Carlisle on a sunny day, brilliant fun!
I broke the 550 mile journey up with a few nights stop at my Mum's in Cheshire. I hadn't told her about the car purchase nor that I was coming to visit, so I parked the car on her drive, rang the door bell and waited, she answers the door shocked and delighted at my surprise visit saying " what on earth are you doing here?" my reply, " I've been to London to do some shopping Mum" then pointed down the drive at the car, poor old bugger nearly collapsed! She was 78 at the time!!
A few days later I set off North towards Scotland where I lived at the time, the highlight of that leg was running at some respectable speeds along side a 1920's Bentley Speed Six for 30-40 miles on the M6 Northbound around Preston/Carlisle on a sunny day, brilliant fun!
buying a car from Manchester folk, very dodgy indeed (I'm a Manc born and bred!!) LOL
Wattsie said:
Went from South West Wales to Manchester to take a mate to his eBay'd Fiesta.
Got to an empty house, but the car was warm (alarm bells), decided that since he hadn't, we better check the HPi thing, which came back as 'stolen recovered in 2002' (not mentioned on the advert) and previous owner of 6 or so years ago (he said he'd owned it for 2 years).
Having told mate not to, he went ahead and handed over the cash to a pair of guys who I judged to be used car dealers trying to get rid of a traded-in-shed privately and we set off back home.
Dodgy Fiesta smoked down the M6, which would go to explain why they warmed it up before we got there, so it didn't belch out white clouds when we started it.
That was last Summers car story, so a 400 mile round trip
Got to an empty house, but the car was warm (alarm bells), decided that since he hadn't, we better check the HPi thing, which came back as 'stolen recovered in 2002' (not mentioned on the advert) and previous owner of 6 or so years ago (he said he'd owned it for 2 years).
Having told mate not to, he went ahead and handed over the cash to a pair of guys who I judged to be used car dealers trying to get rid of a traded-in-shed privately and we set off back home.
Dodgy Fiesta smoked down the M6, which would go to explain why they warmed it up before we got there, so it didn't belch out white clouds when we started it.
That was last Summers car story, so a 400 mile round trip
Huddersfield to Limoges (about 500 miles) in the XJS 6 litre V12 convertible we bought without having driven.
Apart from appalling 3-hour motorway hold-up near Northampton which meant we nearly missed the booked ferry from Portsmouth, no dramas and very much pleasure. And 22mpg!
Apart from appalling 3-hour motorway hold-up near Northampton which meant we nearly missed the booked ferry from Portsmouth, no dramas and very much pleasure. And 22mpg!
Edited by mikey77 on Friday 6th July 14:13
cjb1 said:
The most recent I did was 3+ years ago, it was also the longest and was getting my newly acquired dream car, a 1988 911 from Tower Hamlets in London back to the NE of Scotland. I collected it from the guy I'd bought off on PH's yards from Tower Bridge and set off on a lovely June day to find the M1 Northbound. Only a few miles from his house I stopped at a pelican crossing right opposite a ladies hair salon, it was warm so they had the door and windows open. I had the sunroof open and the shades on in my shiney red Porsche, acting all cool and that. The girls all came to the door and windows to look, what did I do? lights go to green, only stalled it!! Then to add to my embarresment I put the bloody thing in to reverse by mistake and shot backwards, luckily there were no other cars behind me.
I broke the 550 mile journey up with a few nights stop at my Mum's in Cheshire. I hadn't told her about the car purchase nor that I was coming to visit, so I parked the car on her drive, rang the door bell and waited, she answers the door shocked and delighted at my surprise visit saying " what on earth are you doing here?" my reply, " I've been to London to do some shopping Mum" then pointed down the drive at the car, poor old bugger nearly collapsed! She was 78 at the time!!
A few days later I set off North towards Scotland where I lived at the time, the highlight of that leg was running at some respectable speeds along side a 1920's Bentley Speed Six for 30-40 miles on the M6 Northbound around Preston/Carlisle on a sunny day, brilliant fun!
marvelous I broke the 550 mile journey up with a few nights stop at my Mum's in Cheshire. I hadn't told her about the car purchase nor that I was coming to visit, so I parked the car on her drive, rang the door bell and waited, she answers the door shocked and delighted at my surprise visit saying " what on earth are you doing here?" my reply, " I've been to London to do some shopping Mum" then pointed down the drive at the car, poor old bugger nearly collapsed! She was 78 at the time!!
A few days later I set off North towards Scotland where I lived at the time, the highlight of that leg was running at some respectable speeds along side a 1920's Bentley Speed Six for 30-40 miles on the M6 Northbound around Preston/Carlisle on a sunny day, brilliant fun!
The collection of my Robin Hood kit car from Oulton Park is yet to come but will have to be a weekend write up, nveltastic journey that was!! Watch this space.
pwrc said:
cjb1 said:
The most recent I did was 3+ years ago, it was also the longest and was getting my newly acquired dream car, a 1988 911 from Tower Hamlets in London back to the NE of Scotland. I collected it from the guy I'd bought off on PH's yards from Tower Bridge and set off on a lovely June day to find the M1 Northbound. Only a few miles from his house I stopped at a pelican crossing right opposite a ladies hair salon, it was warm so they had the door and windows open. I had the sunroof open and the shades on in my shiney red Porsche, acting all cool and that. The girls all came to the door and windows to look, what did I do? lights go to green, only stalled it!! Then to add to my embarresment I put the bloody thing in to reverse by mistake and shot backwards, luckily there were no other cars behind me.
I broke the 550 mile journey up with a few nights stop at my Mum's in Cheshire. I hadn't told her about the car purchase nor that I was coming to visit, so I parked the car on her drive, rang the door bell and waited, she answers the door shocked and delighted at my surprise visit saying " what on earth are you doing here?" my reply, " I've been to London to do some shopping Mum" then pointed down the drive at the car, poor old bugger nearly collapsed! She was 78 at the time!!
A few days later I set off North towards Scotland where I lived at the time, the highlight of that leg was running at some respectable speeds along side a 1920's Bentley Speed Six for 30-40 miles on the M6 Northbound around Preston/Carlisle on a sunny day, brilliant fun!
marvelous I broke the 550 mile journey up with a few nights stop at my Mum's in Cheshire. I hadn't told her about the car purchase nor that I was coming to visit, so I parked the car on her drive, rang the door bell and waited, she answers the door shocked and delighted at my surprise visit saying " what on earth are you doing here?" my reply, " I've been to London to do some shopping Mum" then pointed down the drive at the car, poor old bugger nearly collapsed! She was 78 at the time!!
A few days later I set off North towards Scotland where I lived at the time, the highlight of that leg was running at some respectable speeds along side a 1920's Bentley Speed Six for 30-40 miles on the M6 Northbound around Preston/Carlisle on a sunny day, brilliant fun!
Probably when I did factory collection of my M6 in 2006. I flew in from Canada, went over to BMW to pick up the car. It was an Individual edition car, but despite that BMW kept the limiter on a5 155MPH, so that had to go. Pickup was brisk and businesslike- I had come off the transatlantic flight, grabbed a cab and gone straight to the factory. Of course, not sleeping on the flight was not so smart, and I realized this when I nodded off about ten minutes onto the autobahn and found myself drifting towards the wall... A stop, some bald coffee and I was on my way to Beckingen, where Hartge was located. They had a program at the time to remove all limiters. I had asked them for recommendations on accommodation for the night, and arrived at their recommended hotel...which was about half a kilometre into a pedestrian-only cobbled area.. Finally finding parking in a dense lot for my six hour old car, I got to the hotel dragging my bags over the cobbles, and then up three flights of stairs to my room.
Next morning I went over to Hartge, where it took them about six hours to hack the two electronic limiters. There were some amazing cars there at the time, including a rather ugly 3 series fitted with the then-new V10.
I planned to drive a big circle through Berlin and Slovenia ( I think and into Vienna where I would have hit 2000km and get the running-in oil changed at the dealer then back through Salzburg and up to the Nurburgring. With the limiters off, it became quickly apparent that the car was seriously quick, and I gradually raised the speed ...200,250, 270km/h on the autobahn over a few days after the service. Yet, it was never clear enough to run flat out. I had my chance at 4am on a Sunday morning when I hooked up with a German mate in an identical M6 and we ran the empty autobahn in the dark. I hit an indicated 330km/h on the up run. and 337 on the back run. The latter was close enough to 200 MPH and my mate later ran over 200 on a GPS speedo.
At the Ring, I was initially scared silly as I had the combination of never having driven it with a powerful, heavy and ultimately under braked car for the purpose. I met a mate of mine who was a very experienced Ringer, and he took it on the first lap. God, it was terrifying...it appeared as if he was aiming straight at the wall half the time...
the car was very ,very quick, but we could only get five laps on a tank of fuel and wore the brake pads off it a couple of days. Still...it was a fascinating initiation....
4am before our high speed run
video of run:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTMKkPxei0I
Next morning I went over to Hartge, where it took them about six hours to hack the two electronic limiters. There were some amazing cars there at the time, including a rather ugly 3 series fitted with the then-new V10.
I planned to drive a big circle through Berlin and Slovenia ( I think
and into Vienna where I would have hit 2000km and get the running-in oil changed at the dealer then back through Salzburg and up to the Nurburgring. With the limiters off, it became quickly apparent that the car was seriously quick, and I gradually raised the speed ...200,250, 270km/h on the autobahn over a few days after the service. Yet, it was never clear enough to run flat out. I had my chance at 4am on a Sunday morning when I hooked up with a German mate in an identical M6 and we ran the empty autobahn in the dark. I hit an indicated 330km/h on the up run. and 337 on the back run. The latter was close enough to 200 MPH and my mate later ran over 200 on a GPS speedo. At the Ring, I was initially scared silly as I had the combination of never having driven it with a powerful, heavy and ultimately under braked car for the purpose. I met a mate of mine who was a very experienced Ringer, and he took it on the first lap. God, it was terrifying...it appeared as if he was aiming straight at the wall half the time...
the car was very ,very quick, but we could only get five laps on a tank of fuel and wore the brake pads off it a couple of days. Still...it was a fascinating initiation....
4am before our high speed run
video of run:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTMKkPxei0I
A few months ago I made the classic mistake of logging onto Ebay while in the pub, and accidently bought a slightly rusty, very brown 1975 Rover P6 3500 V8. It hadn't been driven for the previous six months, the radiator leaked and only 2 of the 8 cylinders were firing properly. Still, after I got the train to London to collect it, it managed the 230 mile journey home to Devon with only one breakdown - which wasn't even strictly its fault. Could have been a very different journey in the circumstances!
For the nitty-gritty details of the trip, here's my blog post describing the journey: http://80breakdowns.com/2012/04/26/breakdown-eight...
For the nitty-gritty details of the trip, here's my blog post describing the journey: http://80breakdowns.com/2012/04/26/breakdown-eight...
k yeah, tell us more?Brilliant post, thanks, and thanks even more for the excellent photo's, this is real balls out PH stuff!!
RDMcG said:
Probably when I did factory collection of my M6 in 2006. I flew in from Canada, went over to BMW to pick up the car. It was an Individual edition car, but despite that BMW kept the limiter on a5 155MPH, so that had to go. Pickup was brisk and businesslike- I had come off the transatlantic flight, grabbed a cab and gone straight to the factory. Of course, not sleeping on the flight was not so smart, and I realized this when I nodded off about ten minutes onto the autobahn and found myself drifting towards the wall... A stop, some bald coffee and I was on my way to Beckingen, where Hartge was located. They had a program at the time to remove all limiters. I had asked them for recommendations on accommodation for the night, and arrived at their recommended hotel...which was about half a kilometre into a pedestrian-only cobbled area.. Finally finding parking in a dense lot for my six hour old car, I got to the hotel dragging my bags over the cobbles, and then up three flights of stairs to my room.
Next morning I went over to Hartge, where it took them about six hours to hack the two electronic limiters. There were some amazing cars there at the time, including a rather ugly 3 series fitted with the then-new V10.
I planned to drive a big circle through Berlin and Slovenia ( I think and into Vienna where I would have hit 2000km and get the running-in oil changed at the dealer then back through Salzburg and up to the Nurburgring. With the limiters off, it became quickly apparent that the car was seriously quick, and I gradually raised the speed ...200,250, 270km/h on the autobahn over a few days after the service. Yet, it was never clear enough to run flat out. I had my chance at 4am on a Sunday morning when I hooked up with a German mate in an identical M6 and we ran the empty autobahn in the dark. I hit an indicated 330km/h on the up run. and 337 on the back run. The latter was close enough to 200 MPH and my mate later ran over 200 on a GPS speedo.
At the Ring, I was initially scared silly as I had the combination of never having driven it with a powerful, heavy and ultimately under braked car for the purpose. I met a mate of mine who was a very experienced Ringer, and he took it on the first lap. God, it was terrifying...it appeared as if he was aiming straight at the wall half the time...
the car was very ,very quick, but we could only get five laps on a tank of fuel and wore the brake pads off it a couple of days. Still...it was a fascinating initiation....
4am before our high speed run
video of run:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTMKkPxei0I
Next morning I went over to Hartge, where it took them about six hours to hack the two electronic limiters. There were some amazing cars there at the time, including a rather ugly 3 series fitted with the then-new V10.
I planned to drive a big circle through Berlin and Slovenia ( I think
and into Vienna where I would have hit 2000km and get the running-in oil changed at the dealer then back through Salzburg and up to the Nurburgring. With the limiters off, it became quickly apparent that the car was seriously quick, and I gradually raised the speed ...200,250, 270km/h on the autobahn over a few days after the service. Yet, it was never clear enough to run flat out. I had my chance at 4am on a Sunday morning when I hooked up with a German mate in an identical M6 and we ran the empty autobahn in the dark. I hit an indicated 330km/h on the up run. and 337 on the back run. The latter was close enough to 200 MPH and my mate later ran over 200 on a GPS speedo. At the Ring, I was initially scared silly as I had the combination of never having driven it with a powerful, heavy and ultimately under braked car for the purpose. I met a mate of mine who was a very experienced Ringer, and he took it on the first lap. God, it was terrifying...it appeared as if he was aiming straight at the wall half the time...
the car was very ,very quick, but we could only get five laps on a tank of fuel and wore the brake pads off it a couple of days. Still...it was a fascinating initiation....
4am before our high speed run
video of run:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTMKkPxei0I
I often find myself doing car collection road trips. I agree to buy PX's at main dealers I have dealt with before based on description.
This week I went up to Oldham to pick up a Ford Galaxy, jumped on the train from Euston, set my laptop up to watch my film, lovely.
An hour and half later I realised I was on the wrong train!!
Film was good though. Safe House with Denzel Washington.
This week I went up to Oldham to pick up a Ford Galaxy, jumped on the train from Euston, set my laptop up to watch my film, lovely.
An hour and half later I realised I was on the wrong train!!
Film was good though. Safe House with Denzel Washington.
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