The Art of Shedding
Discussion
Not much car related stuff going on at the moment but in the last month I sold my Niva.
RJC_6610 by srblythe, on Flickr
It was in decent condition and drove well for a Niva but I just found it uncomfortable to drive most of the time so it had to go.
I also sold my Jetta.
Jetta by srblythe, on Flickr
Yesterday I sold one of by Subarus
IMG_20200721_103929277 by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_20200721_103944544 by srblythe, on Flickr
I'd bought it last year with intentions of doing something with it but just never seemed to find the time or motivation to get on with it.
IMG_20200721_132241239 by srblythe, on Flickr
I've been driving the Cortina daily, it really is a pile of s
t! It makes the 305 feel like a luxury car in comparison, it's smooth, fast and handles better than the Cortina...
DSC_0046 by srblythe, on Flickr
The mot is due to run out on the 305 shortly and may need some work to get it through the next one so I bought a modern diesel to use while that's being done...
117444809_1976493992484336_570602292400940686_o by srblythe, on Flickr
A mk3 Golf TDI estate with 11 months mot, it's a bit of a shed and isn't as nice to drive as a 305 but it still beats a Cortina!
Next on the chopping block is a pair of Lada Rivas, I had intended on building one decent car from the pair but again haven't managed to get around to doing much with them so will be letting them go.
RJC_6868 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_6870 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_6862 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_6856 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_6850 by srblythe, on Flickr
The Riva estate I sold a while ago has really started to rust, the current owner put it up for sale then decided to bring it here to have a new wing fitted which should have been done in a day but has ended up sat here for around a month.
IMG_20200719_143307990 by srblythe, on Flickr
Various bits under the wing needed repaired/rebuilt so what I thought was going to be a quick welding job has turned into a weldathon.
IMG_20200719_133048447 by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_20200719_135146425 by srblythe, on Flickr
The other side was worse...
IMG_20200719_135047836 by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_20200719_134703334 by srblythe, on Flickr
The sill, jacking point and chassis leg just kinda fell off and they had already been replaced a few years ago.
IMG_20200808_140304234 by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_20200808_140604866 by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_20200808_153831718 by srblythe, on Flickr
Luckily I had a repair panel already which saved a bit of time.
IMG_20200808_175939557 by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_20200808_180413097 by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_20200808_205042349 by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_20200808_205809175 by srblythe, on Flickr
Not my best work but the owner is just wanting it done well enough to pass an mot and isn't really wanting to pay much for the work.
A coat of underseal will hide all of the pigeon st nicely...
Volvo by srblythe, on Flickr
Volvo by srblythe, on Flickr
I should be away to look at this today, I've offered a swap for my Cortina and they seem interested...
RJC_6610 by srblythe, on FlickrIt was in decent condition and drove well for a Niva but I just found it uncomfortable to drive most of the time so it had to go.
I also sold my Jetta.
Jetta by srblythe, on FlickrYesterday I sold one of by Subarus
IMG_20200721_103929277 by srblythe, on FlickrIMG_20200721_103944544 by srblythe, on FlickrI'd bought it last year with intentions of doing something with it but just never seemed to find the time or motivation to get on with it.
IMG_20200721_132241239 by srblythe, on FlickrI've been driving the Cortina daily, it really is a pile of s
t! It makes the 305 feel like a luxury car in comparison, it's smooth, fast and handles better than the Cortina...DSC_0046 by srblythe, on FlickrThe mot is due to run out on the 305 shortly and may need some work to get it through the next one so I bought a modern diesel to use while that's being done...
117444809_1976493992484336_570602292400940686_o by srblythe, on FlickrA mk3 Golf TDI estate with 11 months mot, it's a bit of a shed and isn't as nice to drive as a 305 but it still beats a Cortina!
Next on the chopping block is a pair of Lada Rivas, I had intended on building one decent car from the pair but again haven't managed to get around to doing much with them so will be letting them go.
RJC_6868 by srblythe, on FlickrRJC_6870 by srblythe, on FlickrRJC_6862 by srblythe, on FlickrRJC_6856 by srblythe, on FlickrRJC_6850 by srblythe, on FlickrThe Riva estate I sold a while ago has really started to rust, the current owner put it up for sale then decided to bring it here to have a new wing fitted which should have been done in a day but has ended up sat here for around a month.
IMG_20200719_143307990 by srblythe, on FlickrVarious bits under the wing needed repaired/rebuilt so what I thought was going to be a quick welding job has turned into a weldathon.
IMG_20200719_133048447 by srblythe, on FlickrIMG_20200719_135146425 by srblythe, on FlickrThe other side was worse...
IMG_20200719_135047836 by srblythe, on FlickrIMG_20200719_134703334 by srblythe, on FlickrThe sill, jacking point and chassis leg just kinda fell off and they had already been replaced a few years ago.
IMG_20200808_140304234 by srblythe, on FlickrIMG_20200808_140604866 by srblythe, on FlickrIMG_20200808_153831718 by srblythe, on FlickrLuckily I had a repair panel already which saved a bit of time.
IMG_20200808_175939557 by srblythe, on FlickrIMG_20200808_180413097 by srblythe, on FlickrIMG_20200808_205042349 by srblythe, on FlickrIMG_20200808_205809175 by srblythe, on FlickrNot my best work but the owner is just wanting it done well enough to pass an mot and isn't really wanting to pay much for the work.
A coat of underseal will hide all of the pigeon s
t nicely...Volvo by srblythe, on FlickrVolvo by srblythe, on FlickrI should be away to look at this today, I've offered a swap for my Cortina and they seem interested...
A few more miserable motors turned up recently...
IMG_4131 by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_4129 by srblythe, on Flickr
A low and slow 1.8 petrol 190E
I bought it through in Glasgow a week or so ago, the seller had claimed that the exhaust had fallen off but it had a new one in the back waiting to be fitted, I had a quick look at it after driving it for an hour with the horrendous exhaust drone and discovered the new exhaust was actually just the one which had fallen of due to one of the silencers being very rusty.
I found a similarly shaped pipe and deleted the rusty middle silencer and welded it into the system. It's much better and doesn't sound loud at all as it still has the end silencers.
I'm probably going to get rid of it soon because it's crap.
Another crap old car came and went recently.
RJC_7294 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_7307 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_7317 by srblythe, on Flickr
While idly browsing gumtree on Saturday night after drinking too many beers I spotted this 306 HDI for £250 with mot until February so called the seller and agreed to pick it up on the Sunday morning. It was on 170k miles but had stacks of paperwork and receipts, the guy had owned it for the last 17 years and taken great care of it until it was parked up and left 6 months ago.
It was described as having rusty brakes and the electric windows no longer worked but what the seller failed to mention was the ream beam had seized so it made for a bumpy ride home.
Apart from the seized rear beam it did drive well and was relatively quick but I knew that I seriously couldn't be bothered fixing it so sold it on for £400 which was pretty good.
When I was in that scrapyard the other week I removed a dash and steering box from an old Datsun for a friend who drove up over 500 miles to collect it from in this beauty.
RJC_7288 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_7278 by srblythe, on Flickr
He gave me a very good price for the parts so I ended up giving a bunch of other tat I had lying around including a couple of old bikes.
With the cash from the Datsun bits and the money I had from the 306 sale I put it together and bought something truly miserable, a mk6 escort estate in poverty spec with 1.3 engine. It has no central locking or power steering or electric windows, rev counter etc but is on 51k miles and does actually drive pretty nicely.
IMG_4131 by srblythe, on FlickrIMG_4129 by srblythe, on FlickrA low and slow 1.8 petrol 190E
I bought it through in Glasgow a week or so ago, the seller had claimed that the exhaust had fallen off but it had a new one in the back waiting to be fitted, I had a quick look at it after driving it for an hour with the horrendous exhaust drone and discovered the new exhaust was actually just the one which had fallen of due to one of the silencers being very rusty.
I found a similarly shaped pipe and deleted the rusty middle silencer and welded it into the system. It's much better and doesn't sound loud at all as it still has the end silencers.
I'm probably going to get rid of it soon because it's crap.
Another crap old car came and went recently.
RJC_7294 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_7307 by srblythe, on FlickrRJC_7317 by srblythe, on FlickrWhile idly browsing gumtree on Saturday night after drinking too many beers I spotted this 306 HDI for £250 with mot until February so called the seller and agreed to pick it up on the Sunday morning. It was on 170k miles but had stacks of paperwork and receipts, the guy had owned it for the last 17 years and taken great care of it until it was parked up and left 6 months ago.
It was described as having rusty brakes and the electric windows no longer worked but what the seller failed to mention was the ream beam had seized so it made for a bumpy ride home.
Apart from the seized rear beam it did drive well and was relatively quick but I knew that I seriously couldn't be bothered fixing it so sold it on for £400 which was pretty good.
When I was in that scrapyard the other week I removed a dash and steering box from an old Datsun for a friend who drove up over 500 miles to collect it from in this beauty.
RJC_7288 by srblythe, on FlickrRJC_7278 by srblythe, on FlickrHe gave me a very good price for the parts so I ended up giving a bunch of other tat I had lying around including a couple of old bikes.
With the cash from the Datsun bits and the money I had from the 306 sale I put it together and bought something truly miserable, a mk6 escort estate in poverty spec with 1.3 engine. It has no central locking or power steering or electric windows, rev counter etc but is on 51k miles and does actually drive pretty nicely.
IMG_4244 by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_4248 by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_4250 by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_4253 by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_4256 by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_4260 by srblythe, on FlickrI bought this today, it isn't actually that rusty, couple of crusty bits on the sills and arches but underneath is just surface rust.
We had a couple of rappers turn up today to use a car in their music video.
Random music video by srblythe, on Flickr
Random music video by srblythe, on FlickrBrabusMog said:
So random but cool! You've mentioned before that your cars have been used for telly, are you signed up with an agent or something or a production company? And apologies if this is a bit of a crass question but is it a worthwhile earner for your time or is it more the fun of getting the cars seen on telly (and now music vids!) etc?
I'm not with any kind of agency, just been approached by people in the industry through word of mouth. The usual rate is £400 for a car and driver for a day but sometimes on lower budget stuff it's a bit less. The music video was done for free because it was mildly amusing watching them shoot it and was done within an hour. A lot of time you're sent to film somewhere in the middle of nowhere and having to hang around all day while the crew do their stuff. The onsite catering is usually pretty good...
Watching how films are made ruins the magic of it a little.
JoeBolt said:
Cholmondeley September 04 2016 by srblythe, on Flickr
Cholmondeley September 04 2016 by srblythe, on FlickrFunnily enough, here's a photo of my C15 van next to it in 2016. The previous owner of my stellar is parked beside it in a beige 205...
IMG_6245 by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_6246 by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_6249 by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_6251 by srblythe, on FlickrI've been after a van for a while but much like off road bikes at the moment, everything for sale seems to have covid inflation and people are asking way too much for them.
Trying to find a van for £1k or less was proving quite difficult and anything that did appear for sale sold instantly.
I saw the LDV a couple of months back on marketplace with a price of £1234, I enquired about it and the owner wanted offers, I made an offer of £450 as it was out of mot and I needed to factor in transporting it. The seller replied he needed £700 for it and all the welding it failed on on its last test had been done so I agreed to pay £700 and arranged transport, after that the seller stopped responding for a while until he replied that he was going to mot it and sell it for more which was fair enough.
A month after that it appeared for sale again from some relation of his, she said she needed £1k for it as they had spent £700 on welding etc and it was ready for an mot, I said I couldn't get down there until the end of the week and by that point it was sold to someone else.
The person that bought it had to redo most of the welding but did manage to get it through an mot. He advertised it on Gumtree for £1200 which I was prepared to pay for a van with a fresh ticket.
I made arrangements to collect it at the end of the week and turned up to see it on time, I had a look at it, he showed me the bits he'd had to do etc, we wended up chatting for a while, he was impressed with the Subaru MV Pickup I'd arrived in and we talked about that, cars and bikes etc.
I was prepared to just pay the asking price and leave but he basically said he was open to offers on it so I offered £1k which he was happy with, I think because we had got along and I was easy to deal with as a buyer he was happier to haggle.
I transferred the money and jumped in it and drove it back up the road, it drives absolutely fine but the speedometer is out of action, looking at the mot history the mileage hasn't changed since 2018, I really should have paid more attention.
I wanted a van for chucking motorbikes in, I'm hoping in the summer we can chuck the bikes in and drive out to the highlands and explore them by 2 stroke 125's whil leaving the van as a base camp somewhere. That's the idea anyway...
What's been happening lately? I sold the gold Stellar, raffled off the Escort and sold the Bini.
IMG_5991 by srblythe, on Flickr
I drove the Mini up to Aberdeen to sell it and bought a Saab 9000 while I was there.
RJC_8495 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_8499 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_8500 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_8515 by srblythe, on Flickr
It goes quite well, it's a 2.0 16v petrol.
I also bought a Carina which I've been trying and failing to sell, it just seems to be a car that attracts timewasters!
RJC_8474 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_8471 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_8465 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_8463 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_8461 by srblythe, on Flickr
It's a 1.6 petrol, relatively nice to drive but I just had a Corolla of similar vintage returned to me and I'm collecting a Rover 218 Diesel tomorrow so really need to start offloading stuff!
IMG_5991 by srblythe, on FlickrI drove the Mini up to Aberdeen to sell it and bought a Saab 9000 while I was there.
RJC_8495 by srblythe, on FlickrRJC_8499 by srblythe, on FlickrRJC_8500 by srblythe, on FlickrRJC_8515 by srblythe, on FlickrIt goes quite well, it's a 2.0 16v petrol.
I also bought a Carina which I've been trying and failing to sell, it just seems to be a car that attracts timewasters!
RJC_8474 by srblythe, on FlickrRJC_8471 by srblythe, on FlickrRJC_8465 by srblythe, on FlickrRJC_8463 by srblythe, on FlickrRJC_8461 by srblythe, on FlickrIt's a 1.6 petrol, relatively nice to drive but I just had a Corolla of similar vintage returned to me and I'm collecting a Rover 218 Diesel tomorrow so really need to start offloading stuff!
I picked up a Scirocco on Friday for £900!
IMG_6603 by srblythe, on Flickr
it's on 240k miles and it shows, interior is very scruffy, in fact the exterior is quite bad in places too but looks good in photos....
It's a 1.8i Scala model so comes with the alloys, a lovely tartan interior and electric windows which don't work!
Not quite sure what the plan is with it, use it for a bit over the summer and possibly sell/raffle it before the mot runs out!
IMG_6592 by srblythe, on Flickr
I also bought a ride on mower the other week and set about trying to make it faster...
It really is a death trap, I plan on making an accelerator pedal to bypass the governor and let it rev freely as the hand throttle seems difficult to control.
IMG_6603 by srblythe, on Flickrit's on 240k miles and it shows, interior is very scruffy, in fact the exterior is quite bad in places too but looks good in photos....
It's a 1.8i Scala model so comes with the alloys, a lovely tartan interior and electric windows which don't work!
Not quite sure what the plan is with it, use it for a bit over the summer and possibly sell/raffle it before the mot runs out!
IMG_6592 by srblythe, on FlickrI also bought a ride on mower the other week and set about trying to make it faster...
It really is a death trap, I plan on making an accelerator pedal to bypass the governor and let it rev freely as the hand throttle seems difficult to control.
IMG_20210718_135118327 by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_20210718_135107333_HDR by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_20210718_135156854 by srblythe, on Flickr
IMG_20210718_135058390_HDR by srblythe, on FlickrPicked up and offloaded a few sheds lately, got a lovely 2.2L petrol Camry for £500.
Sold my Mercedes 230TE for £3500
IMG_20210715_154416790_HDR by srblythe, on FlickrMot'd and sold the Rover 218D for £700
IMG_20210712_122550233 by srblythe, on FlickrBought a Peugeot 505 GTD Turbo for £2500
RJC_8840 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_8847 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_8853 by srblythe, on FlickrAnd picked up an MGF for £800
IMG_6742 by srblythe, on FlickrSpinakerr said:
Ack! Can't believe I missed a 123 estate in white for a decent price! Tell me it was beyond economical repair or leaked or something... blast.
The 9000 looks good, a quick polish and that will look fantastic.
The 123 Estate was a good usable car, it passed its mot without any issues shortly before I sold it. The 9000 is already away.The 9000 looks good, a quick polish and that will look fantastic.
I don't keep cars for very long.
RJC_9145 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_9146 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_9148 by srblythe, on Flickr
RJC_9149 by srblythe, on FlickrHere's the horrible looking BX I picked up last night, it actually drives very well considering how terrible it looks. The old xud turbo diesel engine goes well, I drove it around 45 miles and it performed faultlessly.
DomRoePhotography said:
Unless it's a Firenza that needed more than its own bodyweight in repairs! How's the progress on that one, I see it lurking in the back
It's a chevette, there's been a serious lack of progress made on it this year. I found a couple of crusty bits I'd missed around the boot floor so welded one side up and still need to do the other.I need to replace the water pump, choke cable and rear springs and it should be about ready for its retest. It is now old enough to qualify for tax and mot exemption going by the build date of the car but I'd rather take it in for a test where it failed last time before registering as historic.
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