The Joy of Running an Old Shed
Discussion
STIfree said:
Well that was probably one of the easiest fixes I've ever done. I'd seen the trick with boiling water to push a bumper back out before but was surprised how easy it really was. Took about 3 minutes to sort, 2 of those minutes were waiting for the kettle to boil.Also managed to fix the broken fog lamp with superglue, a new bulb and refitted it with tie wraps.
Total cost so far to take this car from category n write off to a very respectful looking 3 series -
£8 (new bulb and a bag of tie wraps)
STIfree said:
STIfree said:
Well that was probably one of the easiest fixes I've ever done. I'd seen the trick with boiling water to push a bumper back out before but was surprised how easy it really was. Took about 3 minutes to sort, 2 of those minutes were waiting for the kettle to boil.Also managed to fix the broken fog lamp with superglue, a new bulb and refitted it with tie wraps.
Total cost so far to take this car from category n write off to a very respectful looking 3 series -
£8 (new bulb and a bag of tie wraps)
Tie wraps and kettle fixes.........win win
watchnut said:
dID YOU JUST POUR THE BOILING WATER OVER THE BUMPER?
Yep, as simple as that. Used the handle of a hammer to push from behind the bumper and it very easily pushed back into place. Took another minute to push and pull in other spots where I'd pushed it out too far, then it was sitting just as it was from factory. Minus the cracked paint from before. I tried a hairdryer and a blowtorch for a minute before and they didnt work at all, boiling water is the way to go.
p4cks said:
I think I’m converted fully to shed life now. Mine everything I want it to do and if it ever went bang, I’d get another. Not much else you can get for £500 which has auto everything, cruise and heated windscreen.
It also occasionally has DAB through a £3 adapter ??
Another Focus 1.6 convert?It also occasionally has DAB through a £3 adapter ??
I wish my heated windscreen worked, but other than that, I'm with you on this shed malarkey. Also, I had a brilliant cross country drive home on Friday on some switchback A and B roads near me. The Focus chassis shone through - first time I'd really pushed it - I don't have to worry about busting a wheel or tyre on the local cross country roads which are in an appalling state right now as the 185/65/14s (on steelies) just soak it all up!!
Morning shedders, I discovered yesterday that one of the rear doors on Shed 1 (Mk1 Focus Estate) has been letting water in. On closer inspection it's clear that the rubber seal around the door that's no longer up to the job. Does anyone have any easy repair suggestions? Or am I better just to pick up another one, most likely from a scrappy on ebay?
There have been a few mentions of wanting more photos of our sheds, so I've put together a potted shed history if anyone is interested.
My shedding career began in 2011 after I sold this lovely Clio 182 and moved to South Korea for 2 years.
After a year on Korean public transport, I was desperate for my own car.
Desperate enough in fact to splash £300 on this majestic '95 Hyundai Avante, seen here with door broken by a malfunctioning car wash machine!
It lasted just 5 weeks as the auto box broke and wasn't worth fixing.
I didn't fancy going back to the bus, so bought the first car I could find, an '03 Matiz Auto nicknamed 'The Fridge' for obvious reasons.
It's still the slowest thing I've ever driven, yet we went all over South Korea in it, covering over 13K miles.
Fast forward 3 years, I was back in the UK and needed a cheap shed.
I went for an '06 Micra, but very quickly got bored of not having an automatic for city traffic.
Next stop was easily my best shed purchase to date, an '03 Yaris that had been cared for by the world's most fastidious old bloke.
We did nearly 40K miles in the Yaris over 2 and a bit years including a 5K mile roadtrip around Norway and Sweden.
Unfortunately an idiot who wasn't paying attention pulled out on me and wrote it off.
The next shed was an '05 Jazz, which did nearly 12K miles, but had a dodgy auto box so went off to We Buy Any Car.
At this point I needed whatever was cheap, reliable and local.
Enter the 2010 'Granny spec' purple Nissan Pixo with massive scrapes on both sides.
It did the job though, 26K miles in just over a year including a winter road trip to the Isle of Skye.
Amazingly after buying it from an 89 year old, I sold it to a 91 year old fella - just shows the target market I guess.
Finally we arrive at the current heap on my driveway, an '07 Micra Auto.
Fancied going back to an auto for city driving and found this locally.
Same owner for 9 years, loads of history, well cared for etc.
It's done 8K miles since August including floods, snow and plenty of off-roading and is still going strong.
Interested to see anyone else's shed history too.
My shedding career began in 2011 after I sold this lovely Clio 182 and moved to South Korea for 2 years.
After a year on Korean public transport, I was desperate for my own car.
Desperate enough in fact to splash £300 on this majestic '95 Hyundai Avante, seen here with door broken by a malfunctioning car wash machine!
It lasted just 5 weeks as the auto box broke and wasn't worth fixing.
I didn't fancy going back to the bus, so bought the first car I could find, an '03 Matiz Auto nicknamed 'The Fridge' for obvious reasons.
It's still the slowest thing I've ever driven, yet we went all over South Korea in it, covering over 13K miles.
Fast forward 3 years, I was back in the UK and needed a cheap shed.
I went for an '06 Micra, but very quickly got bored of not having an automatic for city traffic.
Next stop was easily my best shed purchase to date, an '03 Yaris that had been cared for by the world's most fastidious old bloke.
We did nearly 40K miles in the Yaris over 2 and a bit years including a 5K mile roadtrip around Norway and Sweden.
Unfortunately an idiot who wasn't paying attention pulled out on me and wrote it off.
The next shed was an '05 Jazz, which did nearly 12K miles, but had a dodgy auto box so went off to We Buy Any Car.
At this point I needed whatever was cheap, reliable and local.
Enter the 2010 'Granny spec' purple Nissan Pixo with massive scrapes on both sides.
It did the job though, 26K miles in just over a year including a winter road trip to the Isle of Skye.
Amazingly after buying it from an 89 year old, I sold it to a 91 year old fella - just shows the target market I guess.
Finally we arrive at the current heap on my driveway, an '07 Micra Auto.
Fancied going back to an auto for city driving and found this locally.
Same owner for 9 years, loads of history, well cared for etc.
It's done 8K miles since August including floods, snow and plenty of off-roading and is still going strong.
Interested to see anyone else's shed history too.
greenarrow said:
p4cks said:
I think I’m converted fully to shed life now. Mine everything I want it to do and if it ever went bang, I’d get another. Not much else you can get for £500 which has auto everything, cruise and heated windscreen.
It also occasionally has DAB through a £3 adapter ??
Another Focus 1.6 convert?It also occasionally has DAB through a £3 adapter ??
v15ben said:
Finally we arrive at the current heap on my driveway, an '07 Micra Auto.
Fancied going back to an auto for city driving and found this locally.
Same owner for 9 years, loads of history, well cared for etc.
It's done 8K miles since August including floods, snow and plenty of off-roading and is still going strong.
Interested to see anyone else's shed history too.
My Dad has one of these as his Shed - 1.4 06 Spirita Auto. It's so good as a Shed that I'm thinking of getting one. 1.4 gives reasonable performance, economical at around 42mpg biased towards London traffic, wheel at each corner gives good handling but with compliant suspension for a Eurobox. Only niggles are the standard Renault stuff - boot switch, interior fan motor and the wearing of the key.Fancied going back to an auto for city driving and found this locally.
Same owner for 9 years, loads of history, well cared for etc.
It's done 8K miles since August including floods, snow and plenty of off-roading and is still going strong.
Interested to see anyone else's shed history too.
Big Easy said:
Morning shedders, I discovered yesterday that one of the rear doors on Shed 1 (Mk1 Focus Estate) has been letting water in. On closer inspection it's clear that the rubber seal around the door that's no longer up to the job. Does anyone have any easy repair suggestions? Or am I better just to pick up another one, most likely from a scrappy on ebay?
Can you pull the door latch in tighter like on Passat’s? Undo fixings, nudge in, tighten down and then check it opens again and keeps water out?Definitely not the inner door skin behind the door card?
Nice shed history.....
I'll have a go too.
No pics of these but it went something like
Mk1 cavalier
Fiat strada
Mk2 fiesta
Mk3 granada X 3
Xr3i.....iirc £375....had to buy a drivers door as totally rotton.....ended up fitting full series 2 rs turbo interior and running gear.
Sold it iirc at a modest profit
Then
Ran a pair of GT-4 Celicas.
Which I then sold the grey one and I broke up the white one for spares...again iirc I made a modest profit.
Onto.
Toyota caldina....ran it for iirc 18 months lost £300 on it but prob added about 5k miles.
Then it gets a bit sheddy.
Maxima qx....looks ste but a great wafting barge...at the same time running another 2 nissans in the family.
6 seater micra
Daughter's first car.
Bringing us up to the present day brace of ford Galaxies...
Mk1 has had loads of pics so heres the other.
I'll have a go too.
No pics of these but it went something like
Mk1 cavalier
Fiat strada
Mk2 fiesta
Mk3 granada X 3
Xr3i.....iirc £375....had to buy a drivers door as totally rotton.....ended up fitting full series 2 rs turbo interior and running gear.
Sold it iirc at a modest profit
Then
Ran a pair of GT-4 Celicas.
Which I then sold the grey one and I broke up the white one for spares...again iirc I made a modest profit.
Onto.
Toyota caldina....ran it for iirc 18 months lost £300 on it but prob added about 5k miles.
Then it gets a bit sheddy.
Maxima qx....looks ste but a great wafting barge...at the same time running another 2 nissans in the family.
6 seater micra
Daughter's first car.
Bringing us up to the present day brace of ford Galaxies...
Mk1 has had loads of pics so heres the other.
Edited by magpie215 on Monday 17th February 11:09
v15ben said:
I didn't fancy going back to the bus, so bought the first car I could find, an '03 Matiz Auto nicknamed 'The Fridge' for obvious reasons.
It's still the slowest thing I've ever driven, yet we went all over South Korea in it, covering over 13K miles.
We did nearly 40K miles in the Yaris over 2 and a bit years including a 5K mile roadtrip around Norway and Sweden.
Unfortunately an idiot who wasn't paying attention pulled out on me and wrote it off.
Also I'm amazed you took a Yaris around Norway and Sweden. I keep thinking its mandatory to have a big motorway cruiser for any trip over to the continent.
Great shed history man!
magpie215 said:
Xr3i.....iirc £375....had to buy a drivers door as totally rotton.....ended up fitting full series 2 rs turbo interior and running gear.
What strikes me the most with your history is the value of what some of those 'sheds' would be worth today.
STIfree said:
On a fortunate turn of events though, just an hour after realising the C2 was to be no more, a E91 came into the picture.
A friend owns it, it was involved in a bump last month which ended up writing the car off. Amazing considering its a front bumper and fog light to sort (maybe a wing too). He bought it back from the insurance company for £80.
Issues, apart from the cosmetic damage, are a slight blow to the exhaust around the flexi and an intermittent misfire. Misfire was apparent whilst my friend was still driving it, which he believes is a fault of the injectors. So it comes with a brand new set of injectors that just need to be fitted (and programmed?).
It's been deemed a category N write off, does this mean it'll require an MOT to be put back on the road?
It's due an MOT at the end of March anyway so I'm just going to take it for a new MOT next week anyhow.
I've had it up on the ramps at my friends unit and there doesn't seem to be anything that'll cause a failure.
The total cost of this BMW 318i?
£350
There will be talk of timing chains, injectors etc on this N43 powered Bad Boy. But just fix what needs fixing and don't go looking for issues. It'll be worth £350 in three years time as scrap. If it lasts three years, it's free motoring - and top bombing! A friend owns it, it was involved in a bump last month which ended up writing the car off. Amazing considering its a front bumper and fog light to sort (maybe a wing too). He bought it back from the insurance company for £80.
Issues, apart from the cosmetic damage, are a slight blow to the exhaust around the flexi and an intermittent misfire. Misfire was apparent whilst my friend was still driving it, which he believes is a fault of the injectors. So it comes with a brand new set of injectors that just need to be fitted (and programmed?).
It's been deemed a category N write off, does this mean it'll require an MOT to be put back on the road?
It's due an MOT at the end of March anyway so I'm just going to take it for a new MOT next week anyhow.
I've had it up on the ramps at my friends unit and there doesn't seem to be anything that'll cause a failure.
The total cost of this BMW 318i?
£350
Time for a little shed history from myself.
I've realised my needs and uses for sheds have change a little over the years. Originally I just seen them as a cheap way to have a laugh, a car to do some silly things in with that you'd normally only see on TopGear. But I've been travelling a lot over the last 5 years and it's not worth me owning cars that are going to sit parked up for months on end so it's better to buy and sell each time. Also if they fail whilst I'm in a foreign country it's easier to dump (sell) them there than get rinsed by a local garage to fix them. More on the last note later.
So without further adieu, my first shed in 2012 -
1998 VW Polo 1.6
Purchased for £350 from a lad I went to college with. I didn't really need it but I thought I could get up to some fun with it.
Sold a lot of the spare parts that came with it, including a bunch of modified stuff in exchange for standard items. Made about £200 back from that.
After a few months I'd had some laughs and decided it was headed for the scrap yard shortly afterwards. So a weekend away with 20 friends at Silverstone planned I decided to recreate the Harlequin VW's. It was a mixture of road paint (which would only spray if the can was pointed downwards, bloody annoying! ) and whatever a friend who worked at VW had spare. Topped it all off with a rusted bonnet and a hello kitty vinyl wrapped wing.
VW Polo by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Amazingly, the Monday after that weekend I offered it up on FB before I took it to the scrapyard and a friend bought it from me for £150. That made me break even.
A little while later I realised how much fun a supercheap shed was and a friend offered up his mothers 2 owner 1998 Nissan Micra 1.0. From memory, it had very low mileage and had done only a few hundred miles each year for the last 10 years.
£200
It took me from the north of England to Bristol and back for work.
As was the case with sheds at this time, I was having fun with it. And on one evening having fun with the handbrake I managed to wallop a curb and bent a bunch of things on the front. After trying to fix it I found that something was too rusty and it wouldn't be able to be fixed. So with that news it was again another car that was heading to the scrap yard. At this time a friend owned a vinyl company and jokingly we thought about paying homage to the previous shed, the multicoloured Polo. A few off cuts of vinyl later and it was multi coloured.
Took it to a couple car meets with friends and many laughs were shared all around. Scrapped shortly after that for £120. Leaving me with a total cost of £80 for a few months of driving and a lot of laughs.
I replaced it with another Polo, a newer variant this time. It was again around the £300 mark, I can't remember exactly. Purchased of a local VW car forum so had been lowered etc, exactly what you want when you're 19.
That was the end of my shed life for a while.
I owned a Subaru Impreza that the bottom end started knocking. On my way home from work at 5pm it let go and the engine went. Got towed home and immediately headed onto Gumtree to find a replacement vehicle to get to work in the next morning. Requirements were sub-£500 and preferably RWD.
£450 later I had this, a BMW 520 touring.
I more or less turned up at the sellers home, handed the money over and drove it back. It was only the next morning when the sun rose that I realised it was actually black, not blue which I thought it was when I bought it. Hurray!
My first taste of RWD, which I really enjoyed on wet roundabouts. Bought 8 identical alloys with tyres for £80 so I could continue enjoying RWDness without the expense of tyres.
I ended up putting it on Swapz.co.uk and someone offered me a very nice Lexus GS300. I exchanged in a dark car park and gave him £400 cash along with the BMW. That made my total investment £850. I sold the Lexus a year later for £1200 as I was heading to Australia.
When in Syndey, Australia with friends we needed a car. With most backpackers defaulting to minivans or Subaru Liberty's or some boring estate, I managed to find a Ford Falcon to satisfy my urges for something interesting.
It was a 4.0 straight 6 auto. Around 250hp, it wasn't really fast, but driving round Gold Coast on the street circuit part of the Gold Coast 600, over the red and white curbs, I felt like I was in the supercar race.
We drove it from Sydney up to Cairns, about 2000 miles and then back to Sydney. It hit a kangaroo on the way back and damaged a few things.
The car was purchased between 3 of us, I left to NZ for a few months and left the car with them. When I came back I found that the registration had ran out and my friends had just dumped it in Syndey somewhere. It had been spray-painted on "TOW AWAY" as it was parked where roadworks were due to be carried out. By the time I got back from NZ and found out what'd gone on, the car had been towed. Lesson learnt, don't leave the responsibility of a car with non-car friends.
A picture sent to me from another friend before it was towed -
Anyway, back home I'd bought a Saab 9-3 for £600 to travel between UK and Munich. I'd bought it out of the profits of flipping an X-Type so it owed me nothing.
Managed to sneak a lap of the Nurburgring in whilst driving to Munich. That was interesting with a boot full of belongings!
Sadly, after a month or so, just when I'd put a full tank of fuel in, I was pulling out of a petrol station when the turbo blew.
I managed to sell it less than 5 minutes after advertising it online for 300 Euros. A guy from Czech Republic drove through the night to be there first thing in the morning with a trailer to tow it away.
I learnt that cars are much more expensive in Germany (and I guess Czech) so it was a bargain for someone as spares.
Anyway I tried to find a replacement car in Munich but with even knackered old Corsa B's demanding over 1000 Euros I found it cheaper to fly back to the UK, buy a car and drive it back to Munich. Thats when I ended up with this 2004 D5 V70 for £1200. Lovely car, would certainly have another one but maybe would treat it a little better than a 'shed'.
Sold that I was heading away for a while.
When I returned I managed to find another V70, this time a 2000 2.4 petrol manual for £350. It had a full MOT and was flawless.
Took it over to Munich and actually ended leaving it parked up there for 6 months whilst I was away. I tried selling it whilst I was there but it was mostly refugees who were trying to buy it off me to use it as a home. Kind of sad really. But after one came to buy it, he wanted me to drive it to his 'camp' before giving me the money, I turned it down as it was sounding a little sketchy.
It started up fine after being parked for so long. Drove it back to the UK for an MOT and it failed on a bunch of things that made it not economical to fix.
I listed it on FB for £200, expecting to get half that for scrap by someone. I was inundated with messages in the first 10 minutes. About 20 people were messaging to buy it, some offering £250 if I'd sell it to them. Anyway, the first guy who messaged arrived 20 minutes after I'd posted it online, he gave me £200 without question and took it away.
So that car lost me £150 in a year of ownership. Cheap motoring!
I bought a Mazda 3 to get around in after that. It cost me £350.
I soon realised that the 1.6 petrol engine wasn't going to be the best choice of vehicle to drive to Munich in. So managed to sell it on Ebay for £500 a couple weeks later
Then I purchased my current shed. The 2008 Mondeo for £870. It's been good to me so far minus a few fixes, hope to keep it for at least a year.
That brings us up to date. That was a fun trip down memory lane, hope it was interesting to read as it was for me to reminisce.
Not to forget the two other sheds that have been purchased recently for my family, a C2 for £400 which has lasted 2 months before dying (hope to sell that soon for around £200) and the replacement E91 touring for £350.
I've realised my needs and uses for sheds have change a little over the years. Originally I just seen them as a cheap way to have a laugh, a car to do some silly things in with that you'd normally only see on TopGear. But I've been travelling a lot over the last 5 years and it's not worth me owning cars that are going to sit parked up for months on end so it's better to buy and sell each time. Also if they fail whilst I'm in a foreign country it's easier to dump (sell) them there than get rinsed by a local garage to fix them. More on the last note later.
So without further adieu, my first shed in 2012 -
1998 VW Polo 1.6
Purchased for £350 from a lad I went to college with. I didn't really need it but I thought I could get up to some fun with it.
Sold a lot of the spare parts that came with it, including a bunch of modified stuff in exchange for standard items. Made about £200 back from that.
After a few months I'd had some laughs and decided it was headed for the scrap yard shortly afterwards. So a weekend away with 20 friends at Silverstone planned I decided to recreate the Harlequin VW's. It was a mixture of road paint (which would only spray if the can was pointed downwards, bloody annoying! ) and whatever a friend who worked at VW had spare. Topped it all off with a rusted bonnet and a hello kitty vinyl wrapped wing.
VW Polo by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Amazingly, the Monday after that weekend I offered it up on FB before I took it to the scrapyard and a friend bought it from me for £150. That made me break even.
A little while later I realised how much fun a supercheap shed was and a friend offered up his mothers 2 owner 1998 Nissan Micra 1.0. From memory, it had very low mileage and had done only a few hundred miles each year for the last 10 years.
£200
It took me from the north of England to Bristol and back for work.
As was the case with sheds at this time, I was having fun with it. And on one evening having fun with the handbrake I managed to wallop a curb and bent a bunch of things on the front. After trying to fix it I found that something was too rusty and it wouldn't be able to be fixed. So with that news it was again another car that was heading to the scrap yard. At this time a friend owned a vinyl company and jokingly we thought about paying homage to the previous shed, the multicoloured Polo. A few off cuts of vinyl later and it was multi coloured.
Took it to a couple car meets with friends and many laughs were shared all around. Scrapped shortly after that for £120. Leaving me with a total cost of £80 for a few months of driving and a lot of laughs.
I replaced it with another Polo, a newer variant this time. It was again around the £300 mark, I can't remember exactly. Purchased of a local VW car forum so had been lowered etc, exactly what you want when you're 19.
That was the end of my shed life for a while.
I owned a Subaru Impreza that the bottom end started knocking. On my way home from work at 5pm it let go and the engine went. Got towed home and immediately headed onto Gumtree to find a replacement vehicle to get to work in the next morning. Requirements were sub-£500 and preferably RWD.
£450 later I had this, a BMW 520 touring.
I more or less turned up at the sellers home, handed the money over and drove it back. It was only the next morning when the sun rose that I realised it was actually black, not blue which I thought it was when I bought it. Hurray!
My first taste of RWD, which I really enjoyed on wet roundabouts. Bought 8 identical alloys with tyres for £80 so I could continue enjoying RWDness without the expense of tyres.
I ended up putting it on Swapz.co.uk and someone offered me a very nice Lexus GS300. I exchanged in a dark car park and gave him £400 cash along with the BMW. That made my total investment £850. I sold the Lexus a year later for £1200 as I was heading to Australia.
When in Syndey, Australia with friends we needed a car. With most backpackers defaulting to minivans or Subaru Liberty's or some boring estate, I managed to find a Ford Falcon to satisfy my urges for something interesting.
It was a 4.0 straight 6 auto. Around 250hp, it wasn't really fast, but driving round Gold Coast on the street circuit part of the Gold Coast 600, over the red and white curbs, I felt like I was in the supercar race.
We drove it from Sydney up to Cairns, about 2000 miles and then back to Sydney. It hit a kangaroo on the way back and damaged a few things.
The car was purchased between 3 of us, I left to NZ for a few months and left the car with them. When I came back I found that the registration had ran out and my friends had just dumped it in Syndey somewhere. It had been spray-painted on "TOW AWAY" as it was parked where roadworks were due to be carried out. By the time I got back from NZ and found out what'd gone on, the car had been towed. Lesson learnt, don't leave the responsibility of a car with non-car friends.
A picture sent to me from another friend before it was towed -
Anyway, back home I'd bought a Saab 9-3 for £600 to travel between UK and Munich. I'd bought it out of the profits of flipping an X-Type so it owed me nothing.
Managed to sneak a lap of the Nurburgring in whilst driving to Munich. That was interesting with a boot full of belongings!
Sadly, after a month or so, just when I'd put a full tank of fuel in, I was pulling out of a petrol station when the turbo blew.
I managed to sell it less than 5 minutes after advertising it online for 300 Euros. A guy from Czech Republic drove through the night to be there first thing in the morning with a trailer to tow it away.
I learnt that cars are much more expensive in Germany (and I guess Czech) so it was a bargain for someone as spares.
Anyway I tried to find a replacement car in Munich but with even knackered old Corsa B's demanding over 1000 Euros I found it cheaper to fly back to the UK, buy a car and drive it back to Munich. Thats when I ended up with this 2004 D5 V70 for £1200. Lovely car, would certainly have another one but maybe would treat it a little better than a 'shed'.
Sold that I was heading away for a while.
When I returned I managed to find another V70, this time a 2000 2.4 petrol manual for £350. It had a full MOT and was flawless.
Took it over to Munich and actually ended leaving it parked up there for 6 months whilst I was away. I tried selling it whilst I was there but it was mostly refugees who were trying to buy it off me to use it as a home. Kind of sad really. But after one came to buy it, he wanted me to drive it to his 'camp' before giving me the money, I turned it down as it was sounding a little sketchy.
It started up fine after being parked for so long. Drove it back to the UK for an MOT and it failed on a bunch of things that made it not economical to fix.
I listed it on FB for £200, expecting to get half that for scrap by someone. I was inundated with messages in the first 10 minutes. About 20 people were messaging to buy it, some offering £250 if I'd sell it to them. Anyway, the first guy who messaged arrived 20 minutes after I'd posted it online, he gave me £200 without question and took it away.
So that car lost me £150 in a year of ownership. Cheap motoring!
I bought a Mazda 3 to get around in after that. It cost me £350.
I soon realised that the 1.6 petrol engine wasn't going to be the best choice of vehicle to drive to Munich in. So managed to sell it on Ebay for £500 a couple weeks later
Then I purchased my current shed. The 2008 Mondeo for £870. It's been good to me so far minus a few fixes, hope to keep it for at least a year.
That brings us up to date. That was a fun trip down memory lane, hope it was interesting to read as it was for me to reminisce.
Not to forget the two other sheds that have been purchased recently for my family, a C2 for £400 which has lasted 2 months before dying (hope to sell that soon for around £200) and the replacement E91 touring for £350.
STIfree said:
Time for a little shed history from myself.
...
£450 later I had this, a BMW 520 touring.
I more or less turned up at the sellers home, handed the money over and drove it back. It was only the next morning when the sun rose that I realised it was actually black, not blue which I thought it was when I bought it. Hurray!
Good deal on that 520, they look soo good....
£450 later I had this, a BMW 520 touring.
I more or less turned up at the sellers home, handed the money over and drove it back. It was only the next morning when the sun rose that I realised it was actually black, not blue which I thought it was when I bought it. Hurray!
Really enjoying all the shed histories so far.
It really is amazing how much motoring can be done for such little money.
Especially the Sydney story except for the ending.
It’s definitely a regret that I travelled round Australia and NZ on buses rather than buying old sheds instead.
I did rent a wrecked old Holden Barina to go up the west coast of Oz though, which was good fun.
Very cheap on fuel, easy to park and we even slept in it a couple of nights when thunderstorms turned our tent into a floating home!
Probably closer to 38MPG for me, but that’s a lot of Leeds city centre traffic.
The biggest issue is timing chain stretch and mine is starting to rattle a bit.
Other than that they seem to last well, but I’d probably choose a Jazz or Yaris of a similar age next time.
It really is amazing how much motoring can be done for such little money.
STIfree said:
Time for a little shed history from myself.
Really enjoyed reading this Kurt.Especially the Sydney story except for the ending.
It’s definitely a regret that I travelled round Australia and NZ on buses rather than buying old sheds instead.
I did rent a wrecked old Holden Barina to go up the west coast of Oz though, which was good fun.
STIfree said:
Loving the international shed story!
Also I'm amazed you took a Yaris around Norway and Sweden. I keep thinking its mandatory to have a big motorway cruiser for any trip over to the continent.
Great shed history man!
The Yaris turned out to be an ideal car for a long roadtrip to be honest.Also I'm amazed you took a Yaris around Norway and Sweden. I keep thinking its mandatory to have a big motorway cruiser for any trip over to the continent.
Great shed history man!
Very cheap on fuel, easy to park and we even slept in it a couple of nights when thunderstorms turned our tent into a floating home!
vikingaero said:
My Dad has one of these as his Shed - 1.4 06 Spirita Auto. It's so good as a Shed that I'm thinking of getting one. 1.4 gives reasonable performance, economical at around 42mpg biased towards London traffic, wheel at each corner gives good handling but with compliant suspension for a Eurobox. Only niggles are the standard Renault stuff - boot switch, interior fan motor and the wearing of the key.
Mine is also a 1.4 and it’s been half decent so far.Probably closer to 38MPG for me, but that’s a lot of Leeds city centre traffic.
The biggest issue is timing chain stretch and mine is starting to rattle a bit.
Other than that they seem to last well, but I’d probably choose a Jazz or Yaris of a similar age next time.
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