The Art of Shedding

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January 2020 saw some comings and goings within the fleet, there seemed to be a trend going on with most of them which were bought on a whim because they were cheap then sold quickly because they were a bit crap.
In December I bought a Daihatsu Charade for £300 and sold it in January for £400

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There was nothing majorly wrong with it, it had some rust around the rear arches and there was some steering wheel wobble above 50mph but as a functioning car I had no complaints, I just didn't really like it.


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The ranger I bought for £600 and soon discovered the clutch was knackered and it was letting in water - the front carpets were soaking. I was contemplating fixing it until I tried to open the bonnet and found that the mechanism underneath was missing making it virtually impossible to open so in a bit of a rage I sold it to a breaker for £450 because I was sick of the sight of it. Really I should have taken some bits off for my other ranger.

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The LDV Pilot I bought for £450 and enjoyed the novelty of driving it around for a day until it rained.

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I welded a strip of metal along the top of the windscreen and plastered it with seam sealer then sold it for £800.

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I swapped a Peugeot 305 which owed me £300 for the 190E, it drives well enough but needs a blower motor to enable daily use as it's prone to steaming up on the inside. I'm planning on keeping this one for a little while longer.

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Last car bought and sold In January was a k10 Micra, I bought it for £500 with half a tank of fuel in it then used it for a week and sold it for £600. It was reliable and economical but I just wasn't really feeling it so sold it on less than a week after buying it.

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whytheory said:

Where are you finding all these sub £1000 Rangers?

Facebook marketplace.

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Challo said:

Wow...fantastic thread OP.

Where are you finding these cars, some are very rare you just dont see on our roads anymore.

A variety of places such as ebay, Facebook, gumtree, autoste etc. Usually within a 150 mile radius.
I much prefer rare, old or unusual cars so I'm always actively looking for things that stand out when filtering through the classifieds.

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I have a couple of mots booked for tomorrow for the rusty chevette and mouldy felicia. Which one is going to fail the worst?
Place bets now!

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I was planning on getting rid of the Skoda anyway so sold it for £150.

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I bought it in November 2018 for £275 to use in a film, I think I got £200 for the film so the car really only owed me £75. I had 14 months of trouble free motoring and never spent anything on it so getting £150 for it was pretty good. I removed the pair of winter tyres, the head unit and battery and for ultimate mingebaggery I removed all of the bulbs and wiper blades...

Moderator edit: no YouTube links.

Edited by jeremyc on Monday 10th February 14:20

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whytheory said:

Must have been a really hard year and 1100 miles for that Chevette judging by the MOT history!

Either that or the previous mot tester who also owned the car gave it a lenient test.

I made a start on the weld repairs


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Edited by Retroste on Sunday 9th February 19:49

Moderator edit: no YouTube links.

Edited by jeremyc on Monday 10th February 14:19

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Fermit and Sexy Sarah said:

It's a great sounding word, but what the juddering f*ck does it mean?

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/submission/589/mingebag

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I had some help today, my friend who works on classic cars for a living came along and made up some bits and pieces. A far nicer looking job than I'd have done...

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Moderator edit: no YouTube links.

Edited by jeremyc on Monday 10th February 14:18

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jeremyc said:

Retroste: you have been warned once already - stop posting links to your YouTube channel; it's against the forum rules.

Unless it stops, the thread may have to be closed (or your posting rights curtailed).

Carry on with the pictures!

Ok, pictures it is. Sorry.

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TheInsanity1234 said:

Off topic I know, but I cannot begin to understand why it's bad for members to post links to their own youtube channel or their own website? I understand it's the rule but what's the reasoning behind the rule?

I can understand not allowing it due to people needlessly spamming the site but not allowing sharing videos that correspond with the post/story/photos seems silly.
I've seen a few other threads where others posted links to the op's thread which seems to go unnoticed.
Anyway, I'd prefer not to get banned so I'll not post any more video links.

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With just a few hours sleep after a 12 hour night shift welding inside a nuclear submarine I set off to buy a car I'd never owned before, a Triumph Acclaim.

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I set off with the Mrs in the 305 estate on a 2 hour journey across Scotland in wintry conditions. The 305 drove perfectly for the whole journey.

We got to the seller's house and got a look at the Triumph for the first time, he showed us all of the areas which he'd welded to a decent enough standard, he'd even cut out the rear quarter to access the inner wheel arch and strut top and welded the rear quarter back on without it looking totally st. He showed us some of the other modifications he'd done including some bright as fk LED headlights and an LED lightbar butchered into the front grille. As if that wasn't bad enough it had some of the worst looking aftermarket alloys I'd seen in a while fitted to it. My heart sank a little when I saw the wheels.

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Not only did the wheels look st, it also had some bad steering wheel vibrations at 55 to 65mph which made the 2 hour return journey a bit rubbish.

Fortunately the original wheels were included with the car so first thing I did when I got home was stick it up in the air for a look underneath and to fit the steel wheels.



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Much better. All of the welding underneath looks to be done to a decent standard, he'd come to the conclusion that it had a bent mot on it before he bought it but has actually fixed all of the rusty areas on the car.

With the original wheels fitted the steering wheel vibration has gone.

The car seems to drive quite well and should be a decent daily driver.

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S100HP said:

That 305 is lovely. Any more details (or have I missed them?)

I've probably given a brief description of it but to reiterate, I bought it from the Morris Leslie classic car auction in April 2018 for £420 bidding fees included.



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It had belonged to an elderly owner in Forfar who had died and his family were left to dispose of the car. Fortunately they put it into the auction with no reserve rather than just sending it straight to the weighbridge like a lot of people seem to do - Old car = Worthless scrap in a lot of peoples eyes.

Having just sold my 305 van a couple of days previously, I wasn’t exactly looking for another 305 to replace it with but after a friend told me about a late entry Peugeot 305 GR at the Morris Leslie Classic car auction which was happening the very next day, I knew it was a sign! I had to buy it.

I contacted Keith Murray who works for Morris Leslie to ask for some details about the car as it hadn’t appeared in their online sales catalogue yet, he informed me that the car hadn’t arrived yet but would let me know when it came in.

After an hour or so Keith sent me some photos and videos of the car, I had never seen one in that colour before and it looked ok in the photos so thought it was worth checking out.

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I jumped in my 305 SRD estate and headed up to Errol for a look at the car, I had thought on the journey up that I’d probably offer around £200 for it as my highest bid after all it was a crusty old French car with no mot and doesn’t have much of a following in the classic car scene.

When I got to Errol I was greeted by Keith who took me straight to the car, handed me the keys and said “take it for a spin”. I took it out onto the old airfield which isn’t particularly smooth and it drove fantastically.

The cars 1.6 petrol engine was incredibly quiet and smooth compared to the diesel I had just driven up in and the car handled brilliantly. I was impressed with the GTX style interior and steering wheel which were in immaculate condition.

There were plenty of dents and scrapes on the bodywork and the rear arches and sills looked quite crusty but having just had the pleasure of sitting in it and driving it I thought I’d up my bid to £400 to try and make sure I was definitely going to get it.

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With that dealt with I had a wander around the auction stock.

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There were some nice cars on display, most of them out of my budget…

By around 2.30pm people were starting to leave so I headed inside to watch the remaining cars go through. I was surprised by some of the prices, everything seemed to be selling for a lot more than I had guessed it’s value would be, there were a couple of mk1 mx5’s that went for over £5k each and an e46 316 auto that went for over £2k. With results like that I was starting to worry that the 305 would sell for more than anticipated and I’d be leaving empty handed and disappointed.

Then came a 2cv, it was totally hanging and I could see daylight through every floor panel when looking round it earlier in the day. I thought if this actually fking sells for decent money I’m doomed when the 305 comes up. Bidding started low and ended on £300 which gave me a glimmer of hope that if this slightly more sought after crusty French piece of chod wasn’t of much interest to the regular bidders at the auction then maybe I’d be ok for the 305.

As the auctions went by I was starting to feel even more nervous and helpless, I wished I had registered to bid because at least then I would have been able to raise my bid in the heat of the moment if the hall bidders had went above my maximum £400 which was left with the auctioneer. In hindsight I should have either registered to bid or just not turned up and waited on a phone call to see if I had won the car but at the time I was just too excited at the prospect of getting another 305 I had to know the result as soon as possible.

By the time the auction came I was a nervous wreck, I had to just sit and wait and see what was going to happen.

The auctioneer started bids with me at £200, a hall bidder went to £250 fk fk fk st! Back to me at £300, hall bidder was out of the game. The auctioneer says all done at THREE HUNDRED POUNDS, any advance at £300, by this time I was sting it and thinking to myself just drop the fking hammer! The auctioneer says going once at £300, going twice then bang, the hammer dropped and the car was provisionally mine (they had to call the owners to make sure it was ok to sell at that price)

With auction fees added I ended up paying £420 all in.

I drove the 305 home the next day and made a start on the welding repairs.

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This side I just bashed some metal into a general wheel arch shape and patched up the end of the sill, it looked like crap. The other side I managed to make a little bit better.

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After the welding repairs were completed it was pressed into daily use and passed the last couple of mot's without any concerns.

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I did briefly consider selling it in the summer of 2019 when I seemed to have an abundance of 305's but even though it's the best driving 305 I've ever owned, most people were put off with the tatty bodywork.

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I had a diesel 305 saloon in much nicer condition cosmetically but on over triple the mileage and drove like a dog. I advertised it at the same time as the estate and it gained much more interest. The estate looked a lot rougher but drove so much better so when the saloon sold I decided to keep the estate.

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Macron said:

I have one too, it's been stuck in a garage for donkeys so lacks rust, but rubber is, err, unhappy. I will sort it one day.

How did you drive it home without an MOT?

Legally by insuring it and booking it in for an mot.

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Macron said:

I have one too, it's been stuck in a garage for donkeys so lacks rust, but rubber is, err, unhappy. I will sort it one day.

Any photos of yours? I'd love to see it.

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Some more progress on the Chevette, wing removed and a start made on the A-pillar repairs, a repair panel was made up for the battery tray then an outer panel was fabricated, after that another panel was welded in position, there's still a few more bits to be sorted before the wing goes back on.





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Chevette Weldathon week 3...



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The funny thing is, all that time spent making the panels similar to how it came out of the factory and nobody will ever see it when the wing goes back on...

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Swapped the Acclaim for another 305!

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So this is what I swapped the Acclaim with, another 305 estate making it my 4th estate and 7th 305 in total! It's a right bd to start in the morning, tonight I changed the glow plugs which seemed to help a little bit but I think the other issue is air in the system.



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There doesn't appear to be a way to bleed the filter system so tomorrow I'm going to swap the filter from my other 305 which has a priming pump and bleed screw on the filter housing and hope that sorts it.

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Someone at work contacted me recently asking if I wanted to buy their van. I collected it this afternoon.

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It drives fine, mot is until May and it came with a set of 205 GTI alloys with Toyo tyres in decent condition as well as the original steel wheels. I'm not entirely sure what to do with it apart from maybe selling the alloys. Small vans are quite handy things to have I suppose.