Some past cars and the latest - Audi 80 2.8 SE
Discussion
Having been a lurker on PH for several years (without even creating an account!) I figured it would be time to make one, what better way to start than a Readers Car thread.
I've had a few cars over the past few years, some worse than others, the ones that stand out to me being:
1989 MK1 Nova Merit:
Started out as quite a different looking car, requiring a fair amount of welding and other work.
Then I came across quite a cheap Peugeot 205 GR, plenty of service history and in excellent condition. I found out shortly after purchasing it that it had been a local car since day 1, after a few conversations I managed to get copies of the work done from the garage which looked after it - meaning full service history back to 1990.
This is how it looked when I first purchased it
Goodies were purchased
Work was done
At Retro Rides Gathering 2013
I still have the Peugeot at the moment however it is off the road for the winter, I've been contemplating selling it but man maths is leading me to believe it isn't costing me much to keep it off the road and I'd only regret selling it.
Onto the Audi!
A few weeks ago, late night browsing of eBay led me onto seeing an Audi 80 2.8 SE. Fairly high mileage (199000+ miles), not too great bodywork, no history (however the owner did insist the belts were done by a mechanic relative around 10,000 miles ago) but very very cheap.
I decided it would be worth taking a look as it was cheap, it was as described really - worn bodywork (however to an extent where a good machine polish would sort it out), lots of little niggles; a fair few dash lights not working, a fault sensor amongst other things. After going for a quick drive in it I was sold, the engine felt as smooth as new and it pulled in every gear without fault.
Some photos of the day I viewed it:
The following day, she was mine!
Having seen a few photos on the internet, I decided to black the outer chrome on the grill:
It came with a pressed plate on the front, first thing I did was get a legal replacement made up. I then found out the next day, the previous owner had fitted HID's - I'm not too sure on them (a bit boy racer-ish for my liking)...
The shape of the car's rear is really growing on me (excuse the low hanging exhaust!)
I gave it a quick pass with the machine polisher then took some obligatory photos with the other wagon:
A bit of a marmite modification, yellow tint film was then applied to the foglights.
And the interior was properly cleaned, I absolutely love the leather 3 spoke wheel.
I'm "one of those" people who also like to have a clean engine bay, excuse the excessive instagram filtering, it's the only copy I have at the moment!
The car came with a stainless exhaust so a video is due, it is rather loud but I still enjoy the sound (although it may tire on me eventually, I don't really do enough mileage each day for it to become annoying)
http://s1000.photobucket.com/user/bsrally/media/C2...
As we had some sun recently, another pass was done with the machine polisher, the paint is almost presentable in my eyes now!
And there we are up to now. Further plans for the Audi are to tidy it up whilst spending as little as possible, I'm also debating getting the belts done for peace of mind however that's entirely dependent on how much as the car has to be put in service mode to get to them! if it's too much I may just go with the spirit of shedding and drive it till something breaks!
I've had a few cars over the past few years, some worse than others, the ones that stand out to me being:
1989 MK1 Nova Merit:
Started out as quite a different looking car, requiring a fair amount of welding and other work.
Then I came across quite a cheap Peugeot 205 GR, plenty of service history and in excellent condition. I found out shortly after purchasing it that it had been a local car since day 1, after a few conversations I managed to get copies of the work done from the garage which looked after it - meaning full service history back to 1990.
This is how it looked when I first purchased it
Goodies were purchased
Work was done
At Retro Rides Gathering 2013
I still have the Peugeot at the moment however it is off the road for the winter, I've been contemplating selling it but man maths is leading me to believe it isn't costing me much to keep it off the road and I'd only regret selling it.
Onto the Audi!
A few weeks ago, late night browsing of eBay led me onto seeing an Audi 80 2.8 SE. Fairly high mileage (199000+ miles), not too great bodywork, no history (however the owner did insist the belts were done by a mechanic relative around 10,000 miles ago) but very very cheap.
I decided it would be worth taking a look as it was cheap, it was as described really - worn bodywork (however to an extent where a good machine polish would sort it out), lots of little niggles; a fair few dash lights not working, a fault sensor amongst other things. After going for a quick drive in it I was sold, the engine felt as smooth as new and it pulled in every gear without fault.
Some photos of the day I viewed it:
The following day, she was mine!
Having seen a few photos on the internet, I decided to black the outer chrome on the grill:
It came with a pressed plate on the front, first thing I did was get a legal replacement made up. I then found out the next day, the previous owner had fitted HID's - I'm not too sure on them (a bit boy racer-ish for my liking)...
The shape of the car's rear is really growing on me (excuse the low hanging exhaust!)
I gave it a quick pass with the machine polisher then took some obligatory photos with the other wagon:
A bit of a marmite modification, yellow tint film was then applied to the foglights.
And the interior was properly cleaned, I absolutely love the leather 3 spoke wheel.
I'm "one of those" people who also like to have a clean engine bay, excuse the excessive instagram filtering, it's the only copy I have at the moment!
The car came with a stainless exhaust so a video is due, it is rather loud but I still enjoy the sound (although it may tire on me eventually, I don't really do enough mileage each day for it to become annoying)
http://s1000.photobucket.com/user/bsrally/media/C2...
As we had some sun recently, another pass was done with the machine polisher, the paint is almost presentable in my eyes now!
And there we are up to now. Further plans for the Audi are to tidy it up whilst spending as little as possible, I'm also debating getting the belts done for peace of mind however that's entirely dependent on how much as the car has to be put in service mode to get to them! if it's too much I may just go with the spirit of shedding and drive it till something breaks!
Edited by bnsq on Wednesday 25th September 22:32
sshenton1975 said:
loving the Audi! Very retro but yet the style still looks relevant
What power do these 2.8s put out? Any stats for us?
Machine polishing can do wonders - I recently bought a Meguiars DA and love it. You can make your car look like new!
Thanks!What power do these 2.8s put out? Any stats for us?
Machine polishing can do wonders - I recently bought a Meguiars DA and love it. You can make your car look like new!
I believe the 2.8 is about 175bhp, with a 0-60 around 7.5 seconds. Not the fastest of things but it isn't really a slouch at around 1400kg curb weight, enough to surprise alot of modern cars!
WeirdNeville said:
Nice looking car! I had a 80 Avant for a while, sadly it was a bit of a dog but that was entirely down to the Tdi Engine which had some sort of intermittent fault. The rest of the car was rock solid at 135k miles. (edit -I've just checked my garage and my log of the car is a bit more damning than that! I liked it at the time, anyway, until it started wallet raping me! Felt solid)
One plea from a fellow road user though: PLEASE get rid of the HID's. They look crap, they blind other road users, and they're illegal. You can see how bad the diffraction is in that photo. Sorry, do not like that single thing on your car. Needs sorting. Get Osram Nightbreakers in them instead and put up with the joys of early 90's headlight design.
Hope it serves you well!
The plan is to get rid of them! is it simply a case of removing the ballast and just plugging in normal bulbs again, or is there more work involved?One plea from a fellow road user though: PLEASE get rid of the HID's. They look crap, they blind other road users, and they're illegal. You can see how bad the diffraction is in that photo. Sorry, do not like that single thing on your car. Needs sorting. Get Osram Nightbreakers in them instead and put up with the joys of early 90's headlight design.
Hope it serves you well!
Edited by WeirdNeville on Thursday 26th September 06:36
t with yellow foglights - and cheers for reminding me the playing card trick! personally I'd have gone for a lighter grey/silver for the wheels, very nice though!
Loving the Audi!!
My dad had one years ago that he bought on a whim while travelling up to my grandparents in Northumberland from Leeds, saw it on a forecourt popped in and about an hour later drove the car away
His was a red 2.8 quattro, all the kids at my school were jealous because it had a spoiler 'like the race cars'
My dad had one years ago that he bought on a whim while travelling up to my grandparents in Northumberland from Leeds, saw it on a forecourt popped in and about an hour later drove the car away
His was a red 2.8 quattro, all the kids at my school were jealous because it had a spoiler 'like the race cars'
On the road to sorting one of the many small problems on the car.
What's been most annoying (especially this time of year) is that I've had next to no dash lights, fortunately I came across a guide on one of the Audi forums and it turns out the majority of the switches/instruments just contain standard mini 12v filament bulbs.
Bought quite a few of these; bargain at 24p each trade price
Popped the heater control cover off, replaced a bulb and tested it (I was actually expecting it to be another problem and the bulbs to be fine), fortunately it worked!
All 3 in and working
I also replaced the bulbs in the switches, last one to do is the headlight level, it's a bit more involved as you need to split the switch and solder in a new bulb as it doesn't use a plug, I'm going to do this at the same time as replacing the lights for the electric mirrors and windows!
What's been most annoying (especially this time of year) is that I've had next to no dash lights, fortunately I came across a guide on one of the Audi forums and it turns out the majority of the switches/instruments just contain standard mini 12v filament bulbs.
Bought quite a few of these; bargain at 24p each trade price
Popped the heater control cover off, replaced a bulb and tested it (I was actually expecting it to be another problem and the bulbs to be fine), fortunately it worked!
All 3 in and working
I also replaced the bulbs in the switches, last one to do is the headlight level, it's a bit more involved as you need to split the switch and solder in a new bulb as it doesn't use a plug, I'm going to do this at the same time as replacing the lights for the electric mirrors and windows!
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff