Shed Mondeo- Ex TV show car
Discussion
Well, I've been without a car for a while now, still sorting bits out on the MX5 so I thought I'd engage in the classic Pistonheads activity of purchasing a temporary shed. I didn't really have anything in mind, but it needed to have a big boot, be manual and at least a month's MOT on it.
£234 later, I won the Mondeo on Ebay and I'm picking it up on Tuesday. It has MOT until early June, 66k on the clock and is a 2 owner car.
The bad points are that the electric windows don't work and it's missing a bit under load. I quite like having a few little jobs on a car, and I generally change the leads, plugs etc anyway, though I suspect it might be a coil pack from a little bit of reading. It also has the classic Mondeo door rot starting on the driver's door. All in all, it has all the criteria required for being a proper shed. I'm not intending on running the car for long, and if it fails it's MOT in June, it'll be going on Ebay as spares repair.
The car however used to be a celebrity! It was Sierra 1-1 on the Bill; the CID unmarked Mondeo. It does still have the blue lights fitted in the front grill that are still operational. These will be removed sadly as they're not road legal to be fitted.
Some pics from the advert and of it in the Bill below. Note the lack of hubcaps and air freshener that mean it's a contender for the Council thread.
£234 later, I won the Mondeo on Ebay and I'm picking it up on Tuesday. It has MOT until early June, 66k on the clock and is a 2 owner car.
The bad points are that the electric windows don't work and it's missing a bit under load. I quite like having a few little jobs on a car, and I generally change the leads, plugs etc anyway, though I suspect it might be a coil pack from a little bit of reading. It also has the classic Mondeo door rot starting on the driver's door. All in all, it has all the criteria required for being a proper shed. I'm not intending on running the car for long, and if it fails it's MOT in June, it'll be going on Ebay as spares repair.
The car however used to be a celebrity! It was Sierra 1-1 on the Bill; the CID unmarked Mondeo. It does still have the blue lights fitted in the front grill that are still operational. These will be removed sadly as they're not road legal to be fitted.
Some pics from the advert and of it in the Bill below. Note the lack of hubcaps and air freshener that mean it's a contender for the Council thread.
Edited by Jonmx on Friday 14th April 20:11
Jonmx said:
It does still have the blue lights fitted in the front grill that are still operational. These will be removed sadly as they're not road legal to be fitted.
I like that they're still there after all this time.Bet the intervening owners found it surprisingly quick point-to-point in traffic...
The Ebay seller is actually the disposal branch of the company that supplied the cars for the Bill, so I'm guessing that's why the lights are still fitted. That said he has been using the car as a run around for the last 5 months....
I'm in two minds about the lights, I might disconnect them so that they're inoperable and cover them with a bit of tape so that the car still has them as and when I come to sell it. It's never going to be Morse's Jag, but I know there are people into old TV and Police cars. Part of me's tempted to wind up the Dad's army thread a bit and pretend I'm a hedgehog rescue vehicle or something.
On the more practical side I'm going to change all the electric bits, leads etc and do an oil change this week. Quite looking forward to a bit of playing about. The last shed I bought was a £50 1997 Polo that was supposedly misfiring. Turned out to be a dropped valve which was a shame as it was a 2 owner full history car with fsh.
I'm in two minds about the lights, I might disconnect them so that they're inoperable and cover them with a bit of tape so that the car still has them as and when I come to sell it. It's never going to be Morse's Jag, but I know there are people into old TV and Police cars. Part of me's tempted to wind up the Dad's army thread a bit and pretend I'm a hedgehog rescue vehicle or something.
On the more practical side I'm going to change all the electric bits, leads etc and do an oil change this week. Quite looking forward to a bit of playing about. The last shed I bought was a £50 1997 Polo that was supposedly misfiring. Turned out to be a dropped valve which was a shame as it was a 2 owner full history car with fsh.
Magic919 said:
Later than facelift, they started with 56 plate. Should have the matching reflectors on the bumper, to keep the anoraks happy.
Aha, you've solved it for me, I knew they didn't look quite right for the age of the car. My Mondeo knowledge ran out with the MK2 when I had my last one, back in 2003! Picked up the shed today, and made it home in one piece which is always a bonus. I had the reassuring experience of the booster pack being used to start the car that obviously hadn't been driven for a while. The way home involved a bit of motorway driving and a bit of A road driving, and the car seems surprisingly solid. It does miss slightly under load, so new leads, plugs and coil pack will be ordered and that will hopefully remedy the issue. Tyre wise it has Dunlops all round with 3-4mm tread and amazingly they all had the correct tyre pressure! Oil is at the correct level and is a nice colour suggesting it's been changed some time recently.
The interior seems fine, other than the driver's sun visor has come off, but that's an easy fix. I even found £2.30 down the side of the seat, giving me back 1% of the purchase price. Annoyingly I don't have the radio code amongst the paperwork so I'll have to fix that. I need to pull the head unit out and then I can use an internet decoder to work it out for me.
All in all I'm quite chuffed with it; a decent low mileage car for buttons. It does have serious walt potential though; as well as the blue lights in the grille, it has the alternate flicker headlight flash at the same time. It looks like a pain in the arse to remove the lights so I may just remove the button and put the original blanking plate on so there's no way of activating them.
List of jobs so far
The interior seems fine, other than the driver's sun visor has come off, but that's an easy fix. I even found £2.30 down the side of the seat, giving me back 1% of the purchase price. Annoyingly I don't have the radio code amongst the paperwork so I'll have to fix that. I need to pull the head unit out and then I can use an internet decoder to work it out for me.
All in all I'm quite chuffed with it; a decent low mileage car for buttons. It does have serious walt potential though; as well as the blue lights in the grille, it has the alternate flicker headlight flash at the same time. It looks like a pain in the arse to remove the lights so I may just remove the button and put the original blanking plate on so there's no way of activating them.
List of jobs so far
- New wiper blades
- Plugs, leads, coil pack
- New number plates (old ones are cracked)
- New interior bulbs (All but the boot one seem blown)
- OE Hubcaps or maybe alloys
- A bloody good exterior clean!
- Sort out the radio code
Jonmx said:
All in all I'm quite chuffed with it; a decent low mileage car for buttons. It does have serious walt potential though; as well as the blue lights in the grille, it has the alternate flicker headlight flash at the same time. It looks like a pain in the arse to remove the lights so I may just remove the button and put the original blanking plate on so there's no way of activating them.
replace the interior bulbs with LEDs - so much brighter when you are looking for something youve dropped.
Tinkshusband said:
just make a sticker that says " do not press" . job done.
replace the interior bulbs with LEDs - so much brighter when you are looking for something youve dropped.
replace the interior bulbs with LEDs - so much brighter when you are looking for something youve dropped.
I did think that, but we all know what must be done with a button labelled in that manner.And that's a good shout about LED's, hadn't thought of that.
I have a Ford Mondeo 6 CD changer that fits into the dash, which I will supply to you if you wish? its out of the previous model Mondeo but was the top spec model at the time I beleive, and only a year older than your model?
edit - and yes, I wrote the code for it in marker pen on the top of it when I took it out! There may or may not be a Best of the 80s CD in the unit, if that sweetens the deal? I haven't seen the CD for a long time, only the box, and I think the last time I had it on was when I still owned the Mondeo...
edit - and yes, I wrote the code for it in marker pen on the top of it when I took it out! There may or may not be a Best of the 80s CD in the unit, if that sweetens the deal? I haven't seen the CD for a long time, only the box, and I think the last time I had it on was when I still owned the Mondeo...
Edited by Shakermaker on Wednesday 19th April 10:06
Seems like a stonking deal - 66k, decent tyres, quite a lot of MOT? Definitely keep the blue lights!
A couple of friends bought an old BL 3.5 V8 ambulance to travel to France for a ski season with - blues 'n' twos were hooked up but didn't work. They were asked to prove they were inop before they got on the ferry and surprise surprise thanks to BL electronics that was the one time they actually came on! They were as surprised as the customs officers who believed their pleas of innocence and let them go on anyway!
So maybe a blanking plug is a wise idea for MOTs and foreign trips...
worth buying a second hand door from Ebay to combat the rot and dodgy window in one fell swoop? Can't be more than £50?
A couple of friends bought an old BL 3.5 V8 ambulance to travel to France for a ski season with - blues 'n' twos were hooked up but didn't work. They were asked to prove they were inop before they got on the ferry and surprise surprise thanks to BL electronics that was the one time they actually came on! They were as surprised as the customs officers who believed their pleas of innocence and let them go on anyway!
So maybe a blanking plug is a wise idea for MOTs and foreign trips...
worth buying a second hand door from Ebay to combat the rot and dodgy window in one fell swoop? Can't be more than £50?
Loving the story about dodgy BL electrics, reminds me of my childhood! Ordered a coil pack, plugs and leads last night so hoping they'll be here for the weekend. Something to keep me busy.
Will pull the head unit out later and have a look to see if the code's on there. If not will have to use one of the internet decoders as suggested. Cheers for the offer of the head unit, I may well come back to you on that.
Well yesterday afternoon I decided to do a random drive, probably something to do with not having had a car for the last few months. With no where in particular in mind I headed out and ended up on Dartmoor. Despite being in a non sporty 16 year old rep mobile, it was a great drive. The car handled a lot better than I recall my mk2 Mondeo did and had enough 'go' for the straights and for overtaking. That said, when my MX5 is back on the road I'll probably wonder what I was thinking writing this.
Obligatory car shot
Decisions decisions....in a Ford I avoided the ford!
Oh dear, can't go any further. Doesn't look like a temporary closure.
View from the end of the road.
Will pull the head unit out later and have a look to see if the code's on there. If not will have to use one of the internet decoders as suggested. Cheers for the offer of the head unit, I may well come back to you on that.
Well yesterday afternoon I decided to do a random drive, probably something to do with not having had a car for the last few months. With no where in particular in mind I headed out and ended up on Dartmoor. Despite being in a non sporty 16 year old rep mobile, it was a great drive. The car handled a lot better than I recall my mk2 Mondeo did and had enough 'go' for the straights and for overtaking. That said, when my MX5 is back on the road I'll probably wonder what I was thinking writing this.
Obligatory car shot
Decisions decisions....in a Ford I avoided the ford!
Oh dear, can't go any further. Doesn't look like a temporary closure.
View from the end of the road.
A productive afternoon. Wiper blades, interior bulbs and head unit (code was written on top of the head unit) all sorted. Also picked up and fitted a new front number plate to replace the cracked original one on the front. Hoping for Coil pack etc tomorrow, and then I can start thinking about the fun of replacing window regulators. There's also a bit of a knock from the rear that could be bushes, drop links or something as simple as the handbrake cable. I'll be chucking it up on a ramp I think to investigate further.
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