The Joy of Running an Old Shed
Discussion
daveofedinburgh said:
2000MY 2.0 manual Z3 (in Topaz blue ofc) bought in 2014 as a 'fun/ summer/ toy' car is still with me.
Much like falling into a career or relationship, it was completely unintentional but as sometimes happens has ended up being a very positive part of my life.
Bought for £1700 (which was suspiciously cheap at the time) with ~95K miles on the odo- I just needed something to get me to work and back before Monday came around. I was going to shift it on at the end of that summer and forget about it.
Here we are in 2020, and I've flirted with buying/ PCPing/ HPing/ taking a loan out for something more modern, luxurious and fancy. But 'we' (and I do mean the car and I) are at a stage now where so long as it keeps flying through its MOT (and getting on for 140K miles, it does) then I'm keeping it. Anything else would feel like a betrayal now.
Consumables aside, its needed nothing. Absolute cockroach of a car. It's fun, I enjoy regular b-road blasts, and people do give compliments/ comments on it. What more could one possibly ask of a shed?
The only 'downside' is the hairdresser image that (allegedly) comes with Z3 ownership, and as a 6'2" shaven headed ape of a man I can honestly say I've never had anything other than positive interactions with people around the car. I came to the Z3 from (two!) mk1 MX5s and find that the Z is the superior car in every way, pop-up headlamps aside.
Really f*cking good sheds, imho.
Looks great, nice to see a sporty car being used as a shed.Much like falling into a career or relationship, it was completely unintentional but as sometimes happens has ended up being a very positive part of my life.
Bought for £1700 (which was suspiciously cheap at the time) with ~95K miles on the odo- I just needed something to get me to work and back before Monday came around. I was going to shift it on at the end of that summer and forget about it.
Here we are in 2020, and I've flirted with buying/ PCPing/ HPing/ taking a loan out for something more modern, luxurious and fancy. But 'we' (and I do mean the car and I) are at a stage now where so long as it keeps flying through its MOT (and getting on for 140K miles, it does) then I'm keeping it. Anything else would feel like a betrayal now.
Consumables aside, its needed nothing. Absolute cockroach of a car. It's fun, I enjoy regular b-road blasts, and people do give compliments/ comments on it. What more could one possibly ask of a shed?
The only 'downside' is the hairdresser image that (allegedly) comes with Z3 ownership, and as a 6'2" shaven headed ape of a man I can honestly say I've never had anything other than positive interactions with people around the car. I came to the Z3 from (two!) mk1 MX5s and find that the Z is the superior car in every way, pop-up headlamps aside.
Really f*cking good sheds, imho.
STIfree said:
I've never seen that weird rear middle seat table contraption before. Was that a optional extra or did I just never spot it in my ownership of one?
It was an option yeah, i saw it in my XC70 manual when i was having a flick through last night. You could also get a small bin bag holder incorporated into the armrest lid. It was part of a pack with the rear booster seats.daveofedinburgh said:
2000MY 2.0 manual Z3 (in Topaz blue ofc) bought in 2014 as a 'fun/ summer/ toy' car is still with me.
Much like falling into a career or relationship, it was completely unintentional but as sometimes happens has ended up being a very positive part of my life.
Bought for £1700 (which was suspiciously cheap at the time) with ~95K miles on the odo- I just needed something to get me to work and back before Monday came around. I was going to shift it on at the end of that summer and forget about it.
Here we are in 2020, and I've flirted with buying/ PCPing/ HPing/ taking a loan out for something more modern, luxurious and fancy. But 'we' (and I do mean the car and I) are at a stage now where so long as it keeps flying through its MOT (and getting on for 140K miles, it does) then I'm keeping it. Anything else would feel like a betrayal now.
Consumables aside, its needed nothing. Absolute cockroach of a car. It's fun, I enjoy regular b-road blasts, and people do give compliments/ comments on it. What more could one possibly ask of a shed?
The only 'downside' is the hairdresser image that (allegedly) comes with Z3 ownership, and as a 6'2" shaven headed ape of a man I can honestly say I've never had anything other than positive interactions with people around the car. I came to the Z3 from (two!) mk1 MX5s and find that the Z is the superior car in every way, pop-up headlamps aside.
Really f*cking good sheds, imho.
My current E 220 CDi is the same.Much like falling into a career or relationship, it was completely unintentional but as sometimes happens has ended up being a very positive part of my life.
Bought for £1700 (which was suspiciously cheap at the time) with ~95K miles on the odo- I just needed something to get me to work and back before Monday came around. I was going to shift it on at the end of that summer and forget about it.
Here we are in 2020, and I've flirted with buying/ PCPing/ HPing/ taking a loan out for something more modern, luxurious and fancy. But 'we' (and I do mean the car and I) are at a stage now where so long as it keeps flying through its MOT (and getting on for 140K miles, it does) then I'm keeping it. Anything else would feel like a betrayal now.
Consumables aside, its needed nothing. Absolute cockroach of a car. It's fun, I enjoy regular b-road blasts, and people do give compliments/ comments on it. What more could one possibly ask of a shed?
The only 'downside' is the hairdresser image that (allegedly) comes with Z3 ownership, and as a 6'2" shaven headed ape of a man I can honestly say I've never had anything other than positive interactions with people around the car. I came to the Z3 from (two!) mk1 MX5s and find that the Z is the superior car in every way, pop-up headlamps aside.
Really f*cking good sheds, imho.
Edited by daveofedinburgh on Thursday 9th January 00:38
Edited by daveofedinburgh on Thursday 9th January 00:40
Bought it at 6 months old with 9k miles for £25k, it has been with me for 9 years and is now on 313k and worth not a lot, but it just keeps on going needing only consumables and a water pump at 220k, in all those miles. Never fails to start, never flashed a warning light apart from low coolant once when the water pump started to leak, and a couple of times for low tyre pressure.
I keep thinking it is time to change but just can't bring myself to do it until something costly goes wrong, so we keep plodding on until then. We have grown quite a strong attachment over the last 9 years and all those miles, it's part of the family to the point where I have only driven my SL 400 miles in the last year because I prefer to use the old girl
It was also an ex Hertz hire car
We also have a 120k 2003 Scenic which won't go wrong either despite playing cambelt roulette for the last 3 years or so and my other half is really fond of that. We might wash that one this year at some stage.
W00DY said:
Awesome job! Sure that'll find a new home easily and have plenty of life in it yet. 
Thanks mate and yes, it drives really well. I mean it's slow and despite driving a similar age car myself day to day, the handling and lack of grip make you realise how small hatches have moved on! Fundamentally though it's a car that'll sell for well under a grand and yet could offer a good few years of trouble free driving.
tomble22 said:
It was an option yeah, i saw it in my XC70 manual when i was having a flick through last night. You could also get a small bin bag holder incorporated into the armrest lid. It was part of a pack with the rear booster seats.
Volvo seem to have some pretty interesting fold out arrangements. I was impressed with my 2000 V70, the rear middle seat part that folded down, would then fold back open and extend slightly to the left and right to make a base large enough for a child seat. I don't have a child and never needed to use it, but still found it a cool feature
Monkeylegend said:
My current E 220 CDi is the same.
Bought it at 6 months old with 9k miles for £25k, it has been with me for 9 years and is now on 313k and worth not a lot, but it just keeps on going needing only consumables and a water pump at 220k, in all those miles. Never fails to start, never flashed a warning light apart from low coolant once when the water pump started to leak, and a couple of times for low tyre pressure.
That deserves a round of applause! By my rough calculations that's 2800 miles per month for the last 9 years. Or 92 miles per day, every day for 9 years. Impressive stuff!Bought it at 6 months old with 9k miles for £25k, it has been with me for 9 years and is now on 313k and worth not a lot, but it just keeps on going needing only consumables and a water pump at 220k, in all those miles. Never fails to start, never flashed a warning light apart from low coolant once when the water pump started to leak, and a couple of times for low tyre pressure.
STIfree said:
That deserves a round of applause! By my rough calculations that's 2800 miles per month for the last 9 years. Or 92 miles per day, every day for 9 years. Impressive stuff!
It was originally bought as a Chauffeur vehicle for my business so the majority of that mileage was in the first 5 years up until I retired. The plan then was to change for an E350 but each time it passed an MOT I thought "one more year" and here we still are 
I only average about 8k miles a year now and have done for the last 4 years so it could last me another 20 years at least. There are many running around with 500k plus on so I will probably die before the car does
Alex_225 said:
Well not strictly my shed by my nan's car. She's 86 and hasn't driven in years, her partner uses the car now and again but it's literally done 1,500 miles a year for the last 3-4 years. She was going to scrap it due to the engine management light being on but I think it's worth more than that.
It's only got 55k on the clock, been serviced and MOT'd yearly regardless and had a new clutch about 5k ago. To be fair it drives pretty well, only a 1.0 bit it's 'nippy' in 1st-3rd, sips fuel and well it goes alright. The only thing was, it hadn't been cleaned in literally years. Seriously grim....
I spent a couple of hours on the interior, cleaned, polished and protected the exterior, treated all the plastics and it's come up pretty good. It's got a fresh MOT and oil change done so looking to sell it on for her soon -
Looks very tidy, wouldn't make a bad first car for someone.It's only got 55k on the clock, been serviced and MOT'd yearly regardless and had a new clutch about 5k ago. To be fair it drives pretty well, only a 1.0 bit it's 'nippy' in 1st-3rd, sips fuel and well it goes alright. The only thing was, it hadn't been cleaned in literally years. Seriously grim....
I spent a couple of hours on the interior, cleaned, polished and protected the exterior, treated all the plastics and it's come up pretty good. It's got a fresh MOT and oil change done so looking to sell it on for her soon -
Yeti97 said:
My current shed is the same as the Corsa above with the 1.3cdti engine. Fantastic cars for the budget, hoping to see mine over 100k soon.
My old shed is a 1.2 petrol one. It’s SORN on the drive now. It just doesn’t go wrong and if it does, it costs about 3p to fix. They don’t seem to rust either 
Jimmy Recard said:
Apart from gear linkage, those Corsas are very robust
Yep.My wife used to have one.
The only faults it developed over 70,000 miles were a couple of lazy Lambda sensors which kept tripping the engine light.
And the inevitable gear linkage disintegration.
The plastic gear linkage translator is a shonky piece of work that can leave you completely stranded depending on what gear you are in when it falls apart.
A pattern replacement is only a few quid and they are not hard to fit, so worth replacing as a precaution, or getting a spare one to keep in the boot for when you need it.
STIfree said:
Run out in the Mondeo today down to Zugspitze (highest mountain in Germany) to celebrate it all being fixed.
Caught the wheels on curbs twice today due to not paying attention and not really caring whilst parking, its excellent freedom not to have something like that ruin the rest of your day on diamond-cut wheels.
Great photos there, Kurt.Caught the wheels on curbs twice today due to not paying attention and not really caring whilst parking, its excellent freedom not to have something like that ruin the rest of your day on diamond-cut wheels.
Looks like a stunning area and glad the shed is going well.
Plus no need to worry about the wheels either.
This thread is the specific reason I signed up to this Forum. 
I love a good shed story!
My first proper shed was a '99 Polo Estate 1.9 SDI with 135K and no service history at all
Bought it specifically to do a banger rally across Europe and over to Oktoberfest with a few mates
It was bought for the princely sum of £200 from a old biddie who just wanted rid.
Couldn't get it past 45 MPH on the test-drive despite my best efforts, but we took a gamble on it anyway.
I took it home, gave it a once over, while cleaning out the EGR and Intake I removed an almighty amount of coked up sludge.
.
Enough to fill 2 of those massive dolmio jars.
It had 68 horses brand new - safe to say a lot of them had since been sent to the glue factory.
The car genuinely struggled to get to 70MPH even after the clean out.
On the way to the ferry we caned it while going downhill on the motorway and with a good tailwind
we reached a blistering 98MPH.
Shortly after we came to a standstill at a Toll , the car just filled with an acrid blue oily smoke. So bad that I couldn't see the attendant on the toll.
We pulled in to let the smoke clear and swore to mind her and not to go past 60MPH for the rest of the trip.
Not only did she get there she made it back and was an absolute miser on juice - we estimated €250 all in.
After all that one of the other guys bought my stake and wanted to transplant her with a TDI lump from a Caddy.
Sadly she didn't make it through the transplant and is now in the Scrayard in the sky - May she rust in pieces.
I love a good shed story!
My first proper shed was a '99 Polo Estate 1.9 SDI with 135K and no service history at all
Bought it specifically to do a banger rally across Europe and over to Oktoberfest with a few mates
It was bought for the princely sum of £200 from a old biddie who just wanted rid.
Couldn't get it past 45 MPH on the test-drive despite my best efforts, but we took a gamble on it anyway.
I took it home, gave it a once over, while cleaning out the EGR and Intake I removed an almighty amount of coked up sludge.
.Enough to fill 2 of those massive dolmio jars.
It had 68 horses brand new - safe to say a lot of them had since been sent to the glue factory.
The car genuinely struggled to get to 70MPH even after the clean out.
On the way to the ferry we caned it while going downhill on the motorway and with a good tailwind
we reached a blistering 98MPH.Shortly after we came to a standstill at a Toll , the car just filled with an acrid blue oily smoke. So bad that I couldn't see the attendant on the toll.
We pulled in to let the smoke clear and swore to mind her and not to go past 60MPH for the rest of the trip.
Not only did she get there she made it back and was an absolute miser on juice - we estimated €250 all in.
After all that one of the other guys bought my stake and wanted to transplant her with a TDI lump from a Caddy.
Sadly she didn't make it through the transplant and is now in the Scrayard in the sky - May she rust in pieces.
RedFella90 said:
This thread is the specific reason I signed up to this Forum.
I love a good shed story!
My first proper shed was a '99 Polo Estate 1.9 SDI with 135K and no service history at all
Bought it specifically to do a banger rally across Europe and over to Oktoberfest with a few mates
It was bought for the princely sum of £200 from a old biddie who just wanted rid.
Couldn't get it past 45 MPH on the test-drive despite my best efforts, but we took a gamble on it anyway.
I took it home, gave it a once over, while cleaning out the EGR and Intake I removed an almighty amount of coked up sludge..
Enough to fill 2 of those massive dolmio jars.
It had 68 horses brand new - safe to say a lot of them had since been sent to the glue factory.
The car genuinely struggled to get to 70MPH even after the clean out.
On the way to the ferry we caned it while going downhill on the motorway and with a good tailwind we reached a blistering 98MPH.
Shortly after we came to a standstill at a Toll , the car just filled with an acrid blue oily smoke. So bad that I couldn't see the attendant on the toll.
We pulled in to let the smoke clear and swore to mind her and not to go past 60MPH for the rest of the trip.
Not only did she get there she made it back and was an absolute miser on juice - we estimated €250 all in.
After all that one of the other guys bought my stake and wanted to transplant her with a TDI lump from a Caddy.
Sadly she didn't make it through the transplant and is now in the Scrayard in the sky - May she rust in pieces.
I love stories like that, great stuff! I love a good shed story!
My first proper shed was a '99 Polo Estate 1.9 SDI with 135K and no service history at all
Bought it specifically to do a banger rally across Europe and over to Oktoberfest with a few mates
It was bought for the princely sum of £200 from a old biddie who just wanted rid.
Couldn't get it past 45 MPH on the test-drive despite my best efforts, but we took a gamble on it anyway.
I took it home, gave it a once over, while cleaning out the EGR and Intake I removed an almighty amount of coked up sludge.
.Enough to fill 2 of those massive dolmio jars.
It had 68 horses brand new - safe to say a lot of them had since been sent to the glue factory.
The car genuinely struggled to get to 70MPH even after the clean out.
On the way to the ferry we caned it while going downhill on the motorway and with a good tailwind
we reached a blistering 98MPH.Shortly after we came to a standstill at a Toll , the car just filled with an acrid blue oily smoke. So bad that I couldn't see the attendant on the toll.
We pulled in to let the smoke clear and swore to mind her and not to go past 60MPH for the rest of the trip.
Not only did she get there she made it back and was an absolute miser on juice - we estimated €250 all in.
After all that one of the other guys bought my stake and wanted to transplant her with a TDI lump from a Caddy.
Sadly she didn't make it through the transplant and is now in the Scrayard in the sky - May she rust in pieces.
All my best car memories are from my old wrecks in my early years of driving.
Pat H said:
Yep.
My wife used to have one.
The only faults it developed over 70,000 miles were a couple of lazy Lambda sensors which kept tripping the engine light.
And the inevitable gear linkage disintegration.
The plastic gear linkage translator is a shonky piece of work that can leave you completely stranded depending on what gear you are in when it falls apart.
A pattern replacement is only a few quid and they are not hard to fit, so worth replacing as a precaution, or getting a spare one to keep in the boot for when you need it.
Agreed on all counts. No faults other than two Lambda sensors and gear linkage. It has a good linkage in it now, but for a few years the linkage was just held together with cable ties. It had a bit of play but worked perfectly!My wife used to have one.
The only faults it developed over 70,000 miles were a couple of lazy Lambda sensors which kept tripping the engine light.
And the inevitable gear linkage disintegration.
The plastic gear linkage translator is a shonky piece of work that can leave you completely stranded depending on what gear you are in when it falls apart.
A pattern replacement is only a few quid and they are not hard to fit, so worth replacing as a precaution, or getting a spare one to keep in the boot for when you need it.
When it went, it would select only 3rd and 4th
tomble22 said:
STIfree said:
I've never seen that weird rear middle seat table contraption before. Was that a optional extra or did I just never spot it in my ownership of one?
It was an option yeah, i saw it in my XC70 manual when i was having a flick through last night. You could also get a small bin bag holder incorporated into the armrest lid. It was part of a pack with the rear booster seats.RedFella90 said:
This thread is the specific reason I signed up to this Forum.
I love a good shed story!
My first proper shed was a '99 Polo Estate 1.9 SDI with 135K and no service history at all
Bought it specifically to do a banger rally across Europe and over to Oktoberfest with a few mates
It was bought for the princely sum of £200 from a old biddie who just wanted rid.
Couldn't get it past 45 MPH on the test-drive despite my best efforts, but we took a gamble on it anyway.
I took it home, gave it a once over, while cleaning out the EGR and Intake I removed an almighty amount of coked up sludge..
Enough to fill 2 of those massive dolmio jars.
It had 68 horses brand new - safe to say a lot of them had since been sent to the glue factory.
The car genuinely struggled to get to 70MPH even after the clean out.
On the way to the ferry we caned it while going downhill on the motorway and with a good tailwind we reached a blistering 98MPH.
Shortly after we came to a standstill at a Toll , the car just filled with an acrid blue oily smoke. So bad that I couldn't see the attendant on the toll.
We pulled in to let the smoke clear and swore to mind her and not to go past 60MPH for the rest of the trip.
Not only did she get there she made it back and was an absolute miser on juice - we estimated €250 all in.
After all that one of the other guys bought my stake and wanted to transplant her with a TDI lump from a Caddy.
Sadly she didn't make it through the transplant and is now in the Scrayard in the sky - May she rust in pieces.
Brilliant story! I love a good shed story!
My first proper shed was a '99 Polo Estate 1.9 SDI with 135K and no service history at all
Bought it specifically to do a banger rally across Europe and over to Oktoberfest with a few mates
It was bought for the princely sum of £200 from a old biddie who just wanted rid.
Couldn't get it past 45 MPH on the test-drive despite my best efforts, but we took a gamble on it anyway.
I took it home, gave it a once over, while cleaning out the EGR and Intake I removed an almighty amount of coked up sludge.
.Enough to fill 2 of those massive dolmio jars.
It had 68 horses brand new - safe to say a lot of them had since been sent to the glue factory.
The car genuinely struggled to get to 70MPH even after the clean out.
On the way to the ferry we caned it while going downhill on the motorway and with a good tailwind
we reached a blistering 98MPH.Shortly after we came to a standstill at a Toll , the car just filled with an acrid blue oily smoke. So bad that I couldn't see the attendant on the toll.
We pulled in to let the smoke clear and swore to mind her and not to go past 60MPH for the rest of the trip.
Not only did she get there she made it back and was an absolute miser on juice - we estimated €250 all in.
After all that one of the other guys bought my stake and wanted to transplant her with a TDI lump from a Caddy.
Sadly she didn't make it through the transplant and is now in the Scrayard in the sky - May she rust in pieces.
Khaki Suit said:
2002 2.5tdi Disco with 152k on the clock. At £1500, a good shed candidate or a liability? Anyone have any experience?
My understanding is you will be in a world of pain with niggles in that vehicle. We go shooting from a well used disco and it's always having issues, electrical gremlins being common. It's robust enough and plods about however. Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff