Discussion
A plan was hatched for a friend's stag do to each purchase a sub £500 estate car to drive down to a camp site somewhere, perhaps partake of some beverages, and then sleep in the back of said wagon. The stagon was born.
Obviously there may be some interesting issues with regards to being 'in charge' of a vehicle and thus a suitable way of proving there is no intent to drive will need to be worked out.
Anyway, even though it's not until May, frantic ebay/autotrader/gumtree searching commenced immediately.
The main criteria for the search, in no particular order:
RWD
Ideally manual
Interesting engine
Power
Naturally BMWs are the obvious choice, but the drift scene has made these hard to find, and a 318i touring hardly ticks all of the boxes...
Never have I looked on at estate cars with such fervent curiosity. News that the Ford Scorpio was available as a V6 RWD estate was a low/high point
Ah the previously unknown delights of the Omega MV6. 3.2 V6 with a manual box, RWD and a friendly chassis. Some of the ex-police ones may even have an LSD! Alas these are a rare beast, and as I've already got a Monaro, having a Monaro estate seemed too unimaginative
So the search continued. I wanted a manual, so I'd not been paying much attention to the other big German marque. But of course, they are an option, and a low spec one could have a manual, be lighter, and probably cheaper. So when an ebay listing appeared entitled simply "mercedes estate car" with no reserve at £180, my interest was piqued.
Opening the advert, things only got better. I've always thought the W202 (or S202 for the estate) were a handsome car. My step dad had one in silver for many years until rust got the better of it (obviously).
So here we had a black C250TD. A 5 cylinder turbo eh? That'll tick the 'interesting engine' box for me, I do love a 5 pot, even the diesels sounding good 'high' up the rev range (I know this because I already have a suitable estate car for the stagon, a V70 D5, but that wouldn't be any fun and I'm an idiot)
132,191 miles under its belt, so nicely run in, and a description that I thought would put enough people off that I'd grab a bargain. I've taken the liberty of repeating here in its entirety:
Spares or repair, engine and gear box great no problem ,needs a lot of TLC inside and out ,reliable old work horse come and try but please bring insurance if you want to test drive and ID has a RARE Manual Gearbox .
And isn't she a beauty? The included pictures showed a car in peak 'bargain' condition.
Well doesn't that sound perfect? I slung a max bid of £250 on there as there were a few days to go, and prepared to play last minute roulette.
The day of reckoning came, interest was still low on the stagon, bidders remorse had set in, the realisation that it was late November and I didn't need this vehicle until May (when the MOT ran out) and the idea of spending £500 on it wasn't something I was relishing. Either way, live by the sword and all that so as a few other bids weighed in and the price crept over £300, I loaded up the bid page and watched the timer. With 15 seconds to go I stuck in a bid of £427 and lo' and behold, for £377 it was mine!
Arranged to go and collect it with a couple of friends on the Saturday, and immediately started researching how to get more power out of it. Turns out the OM605 in it is a pretty stout engine, the turbo is too small for the application, but some resistors here and there can see 175bhp before you have to start fixing other things.
This car became my immediate inspiration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiNAGeTn4x4&t=...
Saturday came, we had an uneventful journey down, met the previous owners (who were lovely) and we set off for the journey of discovery!
The car lived up to all expectations rust wise, even the 3 pointed star looked like it'd been in battle:
Main bonuses included a free Nokia 6310 with car dock that worked through the stereo (owner was very proud of this) and a hardback Haynes manual for the W202.
After trickling it off their drive and round the corner to the appropriately named 'Test Lane' we regrouped and carried out the first 'modification', which chiefly involved peeling off half of 'TURBODIESEL' so that it just said bodies. Childish indeed.
Next up was the first 'burnout'. ESP Off, lots of revs, drop the clutch... Lots of smoke. Black smoke. And what's this? A flashing ESP light?! But I turned you off? Well we got a chirrup in to second, that'll have to count as a win, and there was enough black smoke to make it look impressive. A few more hard prods of the accelerator and the smoke was gone. I suspect this motor hadn't been revved for years the poor thing!
Turns out you can't turn the ESP off. Pressing ESP off disables the torque reduction, but it will still apply the brakes to a skidding wheel. Child like foolishness may well be required, so a simple toggle switch will probably be wired to the ABS fuse and installed (badly) in the dash, as this then disables the ESP completely. You never know, it might snow.
So the bodies Benz carried us 130 miles home in surprisingly refined comfort, and it has officially taken on 'daily shed' duties in the mean time. Will it survive until May? Will it completely oxidise before March? Will I tip it into a ditch? Who knows! But its managed 1,000 miles so far and seems in fine shape. It's even got a Michelin!
Down to Duxford to visit a friend who was house sitting:
Taxi run to Heathrow for the parents:
All in all, a surprisingly good bargain. After the stag I shall be putting the old girl back on ebay as an engine / gearbox with a free car to transport it home in
Obviously there may be some interesting issues with regards to being 'in charge' of a vehicle and thus a suitable way of proving there is no intent to drive will need to be worked out.
Anyway, even though it's not until May, frantic ebay/autotrader/gumtree searching commenced immediately.
The main criteria for the search, in no particular order:
RWD
Ideally manual
Interesting engine
Power
Naturally BMWs are the obvious choice, but the drift scene has made these hard to find, and a 318i touring hardly ticks all of the boxes...
Never have I looked on at estate cars with such fervent curiosity. News that the Ford Scorpio was available as a V6 RWD estate was a low/high point
Ah the previously unknown delights of the Omega MV6. 3.2 V6 with a manual box, RWD and a friendly chassis. Some of the ex-police ones may even have an LSD! Alas these are a rare beast, and as I've already got a Monaro, having a Monaro estate seemed too unimaginative
So the search continued. I wanted a manual, so I'd not been paying much attention to the other big German marque. But of course, they are an option, and a low spec one could have a manual, be lighter, and probably cheaper. So when an ebay listing appeared entitled simply "mercedes estate car" with no reserve at £180, my interest was piqued.
Opening the advert, things only got better. I've always thought the W202 (or S202 for the estate) were a handsome car. My step dad had one in silver for many years until rust got the better of it (obviously).
So here we had a black C250TD. A 5 cylinder turbo eh? That'll tick the 'interesting engine' box for me, I do love a 5 pot, even the diesels sounding good 'high' up the rev range (I know this because I already have a suitable estate car for the stagon, a V70 D5, but that wouldn't be any fun and I'm an idiot)
132,191 miles under its belt, so nicely run in, and a description that I thought would put enough people off that I'd grab a bargain. I've taken the liberty of repeating here in its entirety:
Spares or repair, engine and gear box great no problem ,needs a lot of TLC inside and out ,reliable old work horse come and try but please bring insurance if you want to test drive and ID has a RARE Manual Gearbox .
And isn't she a beauty? The included pictures showed a car in peak 'bargain' condition.
Well doesn't that sound perfect? I slung a max bid of £250 on there as there were a few days to go, and prepared to play last minute roulette.
The day of reckoning came, interest was still low on the stagon, bidders remorse had set in, the realisation that it was late November and I didn't need this vehicle until May (when the MOT ran out) and the idea of spending £500 on it wasn't something I was relishing. Either way, live by the sword and all that so as a few other bids weighed in and the price crept over £300, I loaded up the bid page and watched the timer. With 15 seconds to go I stuck in a bid of £427 and lo' and behold, for £377 it was mine!
Arranged to go and collect it with a couple of friends on the Saturday, and immediately started researching how to get more power out of it. Turns out the OM605 in it is a pretty stout engine, the turbo is too small for the application, but some resistors here and there can see 175bhp before you have to start fixing other things.
This car became my immediate inspiration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiNAGeTn4x4&t=...
Saturday came, we had an uneventful journey down, met the previous owners (who were lovely) and we set off for the journey of discovery!
The car lived up to all expectations rust wise, even the 3 pointed star looked like it'd been in battle:
Main bonuses included a free Nokia 6310 with car dock that worked through the stereo (owner was very proud of this) and a hardback Haynes manual for the W202.
After trickling it off their drive and round the corner to the appropriately named 'Test Lane' we regrouped and carried out the first 'modification', which chiefly involved peeling off half of 'TURBODIESEL' so that it just said bodies. Childish indeed.
Next up was the first 'burnout'. ESP Off, lots of revs, drop the clutch... Lots of smoke. Black smoke. And what's this? A flashing ESP light?! But I turned you off? Well we got a chirrup in to second, that'll have to count as a win, and there was enough black smoke to make it look impressive. A few more hard prods of the accelerator and the smoke was gone. I suspect this motor hadn't been revved for years the poor thing!
Turns out you can't turn the ESP off. Pressing ESP off disables the torque reduction, but it will still apply the brakes to a skidding wheel. Child like foolishness may well be required, so a simple toggle switch will probably be wired to the ABS fuse and installed (badly) in the dash, as this then disables the ESP completely. You never know, it might snow.
So the bodies Benz carried us 130 miles home in surprisingly refined comfort, and it has officially taken on 'daily shed' duties in the mean time. Will it survive until May? Will it completely oxidise before March? Will I tip it into a ditch? Who knows! But its managed 1,000 miles so far and seems in fine shape. It's even got a Michelin!
Down to Duxford to visit a friend who was house sitting:
Taxi run to Heathrow for the parents:
All in all, a surprisingly good bargain. After the stag I shall be putting the old girl back on ebay as an engine / gearbox with a free car to transport it home in
Brilliant.
Never noticed the Bodies hiding in Turbodiesel before.
Also - the OM605 can be given even more power with a big turbo - similar to the OM606 in this thread
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=157...
Never noticed the Bodies hiding in Turbodiesel before.
Also - the OM605 can be given even more power with a big turbo - similar to the OM606 in this thread
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=157...
Shakermaker said:
Brilliant.
Never noticed the Bodies hiding in Turbodiesel before.
Also - the OM605 can be given even more power with a big turbo - similar to the OM606 in this thread
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=157...
Oh I know they can make good power, the stock internals will happily rev to 6,000 if the diesel pump could keep up apparently Never noticed the Bodies hiding in Turbodiesel before.
Also - the OM605 can be given even more power with a big turbo - similar to the OM606 in this thread
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=157...
I think you can get to 300bhp or so before it gets REALLY expensive, which would be absolutely brilliant.I really don't need another car to spend money on however, so I'm really trying to keep this strictly stag focused. I already like the thing though, it's much more fun to drive than the Volvo.
On the Bodies front, there's also spare letters to spell out TURD, but I like it too much for that now.
Vitorio said:
Will it be getting a proper TG style make-over with a mattress and galley/workshop in the back for the stag-do?
I'm certainly thinking about this, yeah. Strip weight out, fix in some sort of cushioning to sleep on, ideally fit some curtains...
I think I'd be going more for the Clarkson route of making it as comfortable as possible as opposed to anything clever
SturdyHSV said:
I'm certainly thinking about this, yeah.
Strip weight out, fix in some sort of cushioning to sleep on, ideally fit some curtains...
I think I'd be going more for the Clarkson route of making it as comfortable as possible as opposed to anything clever
Needs some proper clever-ness even then though, remember the sports-lorry, Citroen condo-block or the 528 with the log handbrake and shower/loo?Strip weight out, fix in some sort of cushioning to sleep on, ideally fit some curtains...
I think I'd be going more for the Clarkson route of making it as comfortable as possible as opposed to anything clever
J4CKO said:
I would have gone with "Turdies"
Or "Lubed Tories"
That would have required re-application of badges though, which is more skill than I could muster.Or "Lubed Tories"
I've since removed C25 as well, so it now clearly states 0 BODIES, which I feel makes it the perfect car should any crims need assistance in disposing of a corpse.
OK, Rustagon update, it's officially uninsured and SORNed.
Is it sold I hear you ask? Well.... No.
There's rumour amongst the group of a new challenge geared around the Rockingham Christmas sprint that we all attended last Christmas, and perhaps purchasing something interesting for that. Using your stagon for the sprint is against the rules, but frankly I don't care, I want to use the Merc as a rusty track car It meets most of the other rules too, RWD, manual only, non-4 pot engine preferred.
Obviously the b
d thing is now properly in to the 'liability' stage of ownership, as I'll need to MOT it at some point, but at this point I'm far too busy dreaming about buying cheap ebay coilovers at some point, and maybe figuring out if it really is down on power...
For some reason I don't have the originals of these images to hand, but the arty farty ones are good enough.
This is where I beached it in a layby on the way down, outside left wheel completely off the floor. Look at that front end though, that's quite the ride height! Everyone had stopped in a layby and there wasn't really room for one more at the back () so I attempted to squeeze the rustagon in half over a grassy bank. Turns out it dropped away rather swiftly
And here is where we used it to transport a lit BBQ lent to us by another camper at the far end of the field
It took so many 5,000rpm clutch drops over that weekend, it clearly wants to be used on track...
Is it sold I hear you ask? Well.... No.
There's rumour amongst the group of a new challenge geared around the Rockingham Christmas sprint that we all attended last Christmas, and perhaps purchasing something interesting for that. Using your stagon for the sprint is against the rules, but frankly I don't care, I want to use the Merc as a rusty track car
It meets most of the other rules too, RWD, manual only, non-4 pot engine preferred.Obviously the b
d thing is now properly in to the 'liability' stage of ownership, as I'll need to MOT it at some point, but at this point I'm far too busy dreaming about buying cheap ebay coilovers at some point, and maybe figuring out if it really is down on power...For some reason I don't have the originals of these images to hand, but the arty farty ones are good enough.
This is where I beached it in a layby on the way down, outside left wheel completely off the floor. Look at that front end though, that's quite the ride height! Everyone had stopped in a layby and there wasn't really room for one more at the back (
) so I attempted to squeeze the rustagon in half over a grassy bank. Turns out it dropped away rather swiftly And here is where we used it to transport a lit BBQ lent to us by another camper at the far end of the field
It took so many 5,000rpm clutch drops over that weekend, it clearly wants to be used on track...
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