My New Shed - Mk1 Punto Sporting 1.6
Discussion
And a bit of a history!
So, first car - a Mini mostly used for thrashing around private land
Come 17 I was given the use of the family Punto, bought for a mere £650
Shown here hauling my Prokart plus 2 TKMs at Llandow in South Wales
And in Belgium...
Dropped a valve shortly after, so had a new engine in for the grand sum of £120. It carried on being a trusty stead for the next 5 years, I covered just shy of 70,000 miles in it and it never let me down, well not in a way that had be stranded on the side of the road anyway! It got laid up after I decided to go for something just that bit more p/h
A 1.7 Ford Puma. Seemed like a good idea at the time - cost me £1200 and then provided me with two years of absolute pain. Nothing overly major, but annoying nonetheless. Engine light came on a couple of months of having it, and I never managed to trace what the problem was, despite much searching. Add to that rust expanding exponentially and an increasing number of rattles bangs and other assorted annoyance.
During this time my original Punto was brought out of retirement and given my other half, who spent a summer pottering around in it, before parking it into the back of an MG ZT - at 30mph. This made it about a foot shorter, and obviously a write off
I decided to get it back from the insurers and take a few useful bits from it, mainly to keep its replacement going - enter the Gold Punto
Aside from being an awful colour it was just £290, with a 12 month ticket on it. However a couple months after getting it I decided to park into the back of a friends Corsa, albeit at a slightly slower speed, hence
Multicolured Punto, which didnt amuse my other half. Ran that for another few months until it got towards MOT time, and it became clear it wouldnt go through. About the same time after a bit of a search through Gumtree I came across this
It was up for £300 - no tax or MOT, off the road for 6 months. Stupidly I went to see it. Then bought it for £250. Happily it then sailed through its MOT, got the tax back from the Puma and I was now the owner of a Punto Sporting.
Of course the o/h Gold Punto had to be scrapped, well not before a bit of light strippage. It has been replaced by a Renault Megane. No pictures of that because even by the standards of this thread, it is remarkably unremarkable. However it had only done 47,00 miles and was £650
So there we are, still have the Puma sat in my garage, awaiting a bit of care and attention. Quite happy with my Punto, we got £180 for scrapping the other one, plus £80 back from the insurance company, so essentially it was a free car. The o/h's Megane has been reasonably reliable, so all in all considering we've just bought a house our £900 fleet isnt doing us too badly at all.
Few more pics of my 'new' car
Current jobs to do;
-Spoiler needs sticking back on - currently held on with the magic of duct tape
-New exhaust backbox - old one fell off
-Oil/Filter/Plug Change
-General bodywork tarting
It is the more undesirable 1.6 engine, with only 90 horses, but i'm happy enough with it, plus at only 80,000 miles I think its got a fair more in it. Its not like I dont know my way around the model anyway, or have a garage full of spares!
So there we go, no the most p/h of car histories but then there is plenty if time for that!
So, first car - a Mini mostly used for thrashing around private land
Come 17 I was given the use of the family Punto, bought for a mere £650
Shown here hauling my Prokart plus 2 TKMs at Llandow in South Wales
And in Belgium...
Dropped a valve shortly after, so had a new engine in for the grand sum of £120. It carried on being a trusty stead for the next 5 years, I covered just shy of 70,000 miles in it and it never let me down, well not in a way that had be stranded on the side of the road anyway! It got laid up after I decided to go for something just that bit more p/h
A 1.7 Ford Puma. Seemed like a good idea at the time - cost me £1200 and then provided me with two years of absolute pain. Nothing overly major, but annoying nonetheless. Engine light came on a couple of months of having it, and I never managed to trace what the problem was, despite much searching. Add to that rust expanding exponentially and an increasing number of rattles bangs and other assorted annoyance.
During this time my original Punto was brought out of retirement and given my other half, who spent a summer pottering around in it, before parking it into the back of an MG ZT - at 30mph. This made it about a foot shorter, and obviously a write off
I decided to get it back from the insurers and take a few useful bits from it, mainly to keep its replacement going - enter the Gold Punto
Aside from being an awful colour it was just £290, with a 12 month ticket on it. However a couple months after getting it I decided to park into the back of a friends Corsa, albeit at a slightly slower speed, hence
Multicolured Punto, which didnt amuse my other half. Ran that for another few months until it got towards MOT time, and it became clear it wouldnt go through. About the same time after a bit of a search through Gumtree I came across this
It was up for £300 - no tax or MOT, off the road for 6 months. Stupidly I went to see it. Then bought it for £250. Happily it then sailed through its MOT, got the tax back from the Puma and I was now the owner of a Punto Sporting.
Of course the o/h Gold Punto had to be scrapped, well not before a bit of light strippage. It has been replaced by a Renault Megane. No pictures of that because even by the standards of this thread, it is remarkably unremarkable. However it had only done 47,00 miles and was £650
So there we are, still have the Puma sat in my garage, awaiting a bit of care and attention. Quite happy with my Punto, we got £180 for scrapping the other one, plus £80 back from the insurance company, so essentially it was a free car. The o/h's Megane has been reasonably reliable, so all in all considering we've just bought a house our £900 fleet isnt doing us too badly at all.
Few more pics of my 'new' car
Current jobs to do;
-Spoiler needs sticking back on - currently held on with the magic of duct tape
-New exhaust backbox - old one fell off
-Oil/Filter/Plug Change
-General bodywork tarting
It is the more undesirable 1.6 engine, with only 90 horses, but i'm happy enough with it, plus at only 80,000 miles I think its got a fair more in it. Its not like I dont know my way around the model anyway, or have a garage full of spares!
So there we go, no the most p/h of car histories but then there is plenty if time for that!
Edited by Merry on Monday 5th March 21:13
Edited by Merry on Monday 5th March 21:14
I like the Mk1 Punto.
My mum had two. They were both end of line 'T' reg. One was an Fiat Punto 60S Selecta (Auto), and the other a 55S. They were/still are decent cars. I remember them having quite a big boot for the type of car. I like the styling and I think it also won COTY in 1996 IIRC.
I always wanted her to get a 'Sporting' but we never did.
Enjoy!
My mum had two. They were both end of line 'T' reg. One was an Fiat Punto 60S Selecta (Auto), and the other a 55S. They were/still are decent cars. I remember them having quite a big boot for the type of car. I like the styling and I think it also won COTY in 1996 IIRC.
I always wanted her to get a 'Sporting' but we never did.
Enjoy!
jamiebae said:
Llandow kart track, many happy memories of freezing cold and soaking wet days there hosting customer days there in the salubrious surroundings of various portacabins!
That brings back memories! I run karting events at the Three Sisters now. Same stuff different location! Admittedly we have fewer portacabins... Hehe, we used to put up a marquee too, for extra glamour! Last one was so wet I had to wring out my underwear when I handed the car over! I walked back into the building to a cry of 'you're wetter than an otter's pocket, f
k off and don't come anywhere near me' from a certain BTCC driver who was hosting, but opted not to drive, strangely!
k off and don't come anywhere near me' from a certain BTCC driver who was hosting, but opted not to drive, strangely!5charlie46 said:
I'm guessing your a punto fan then lol cant believe you've had hassle from the puma. I've had 2 and 3 zetec-s which are pretty simular and the only reason I keep buying them is cos they are so reliable! (and fun).
I won't deny they're fun, that's why I kept it and reliability wise mine hasn't been too offensive, its just there little niggles that wound me up. Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff