A VXR8 that's done more miles on a ship than on its wheels
Discussion
Hi all,
I think this is the first time I've ever done a RR thread, but its probably the first time I've had something which I feel is worth documenting like this!
I've always been car obsessed and a bit geeky, I grew up on a farm in the Scottish hills so I had my first 'field' car at 13 which started now nearly 20 years of having a car, I started driving at 17 and heres a brief car history to set the scene of where we are today, these are the 'main' ones and don't include stopgaps or winter cars.
2001 Fiesta Zetec S
2004 Vauxhall Vectra SRi CDTI
2006 Honda Civic Type R Premier
2005 VW Golf TDi
1997 Honda Accord 1.8 vtec
2013 Toyota GT86
2017 BMW M140i
and onto the present!
I've had the V8 bug for a long time, my cousin had a TVR Chimaera which he took me out in when I wasnt even big enough to see over the dash and it all started from there, the noise and power were intoxicating. Around the same time as I had the Golf I got a Range Rover classic with the 3.9 for using round the farm and as part of an off-road club which did trials and punch hunts. It was bobtailed, a locked rear diff, +4" suspension and 33"s, it was quite a tool. I also gutted the exhaust boxes so it made a fantastic noise.
So, the story of the VXR8, well actually this story actually starts with a tale of going to see a horrendously prepared F-Type R...
I always loved the VXR8, and probably even more so the Monaro VXR and for probably the last 4 or 5 months I had been quietly musing about getting myself a one but Monaros and VXR8s are quite thin on the ground and being from the NE of Scotland they always seemed to be very far away! So after posting a Car Buying thread I started to look at newer and more readily available alternatives, one of which landed me on an F-Type R. I found one I liked, it looked cracking in the photos, I was told 'its a really tidy car' on the phone so I reserved it and organised to go and see it in-between Christmas and New Year.
The 29th of December came and I left home at 5am headed for Oswestry to look at the Jag. Six hours later I arrived to find the car running, despite me asking on the drive down if I could see it start from cold. The salesman didnt even get off his arse to come out with me to look at the second most expensive car the dealer had which raised a red flag with me before I even got to the car and immediately I saw why. It was dog rough, every single panel was chipped scuffed or scratched. The wheels had been refurbed without de-mounting the tyres (so basically they had just sprayed the wheels with a rattle can, you could see the runs!) the rear diff was suspiciously clean with liberal 'goo' on it which indicated it probably leaked a bit. The reason for it sitting running also made its self clear when I shut it off, a low battery warning. Dumped the keys on the salesman desk and said it wasn't for me, again he didn't even ask why because I'm sure he knew.
I got back to my car gutted at such a wasted journey under false pretences. With my interest in Vauxhall V8s I knew MWPerformance was on my route home, they seem to have the most flow through but didnt have any currently on their website. I decided just to pop in and have a chat and maybe put down my name for any they got in in future. I arrived and chatted to Marc for about half an hour about the cars they had, and what I wanted. He then said he had one sitting outside they had just picked up and it was a really special example, although it was yet to be through the workshop and prepared. I had a look round it, a seat in it started it up and left a deposit, it really is a special car. Here it is in the middle on the day I left the deposit.
I collected it on the 17th after it had been prepared, underseat, coated etc and it looks stunning.
So why is this one so special? Well at point of collection it had only done 17800 miles from new. Depending on the route it can be over 18000 miles from Austrailia to the UK so the chances are it may well have done more miles on a ship, than on its wheels! It had been owned by an eldery guy most recently whos health was unfortunately failing him but he loved his VXR8 for the 13 years he had it and was still using it to pop to Morrisons every now and then. Its been usually annually but sometimes as little as 190 miles/year. I did 370 getting it home! It comes with a folder full of paperwork including all the condition check sheets and waybills from the transport across Australia and then the shipping company which brought it to the UK, even down to reciepts for genuine Vauxhall wiper blades. I'm not often one for locking cars away in a shed, but this one deserves it, at least until the salt is off the road!
I think this is the first time I've ever done a RR thread, but its probably the first time I've had something which I feel is worth documenting like this!
I've always been car obsessed and a bit geeky, I grew up on a farm in the Scottish hills so I had my first 'field' car at 13 which started now nearly 20 years of having a car, I started driving at 17 and heres a brief car history to set the scene of where we are today, these are the 'main' ones and don't include stopgaps or winter cars.
2001 Fiesta Zetec S
2004 Vauxhall Vectra SRi CDTI
2006 Honda Civic Type R Premier
2005 VW Golf TDi
1997 Honda Accord 1.8 vtec
2013 Toyota GT86
2017 BMW M140i
and onto the present!
I've had the V8 bug for a long time, my cousin had a TVR Chimaera which he took me out in when I wasnt even big enough to see over the dash and it all started from there, the noise and power were intoxicating. Around the same time as I had the Golf I got a Range Rover classic with the 3.9 for using round the farm and as part of an off-road club which did trials and punch hunts. It was bobtailed, a locked rear diff, +4" suspension and 33"s, it was quite a tool. I also gutted the exhaust boxes so it made a fantastic noise.
So, the story of the VXR8, well actually this story actually starts with a tale of going to see a horrendously prepared F-Type R...
I always loved the VXR8, and probably even more so the Monaro VXR and for probably the last 4 or 5 months I had been quietly musing about getting myself a one but Monaros and VXR8s are quite thin on the ground and being from the NE of Scotland they always seemed to be very far away! So after posting a Car Buying thread I started to look at newer and more readily available alternatives, one of which landed me on an F-Type R. I found one I liked, it looked cracking in the photos, I was told 'its a really tidy car' on the phone so I reserved it and organised to go and see it in-between Christmas and New Year.
The 29th of December came and I left home at 5am headed for Oswestry to look at the Jag. Six hours later I arrived to find the car running, despite me asking on the drive down if I could see it start from cold. The salesman didnt even get off his arse to come out with me to look at the second most expensive car the dealer had which raised a red flag with me before I even got to the car and immediately I saw why. It was dog rough, every single panel was chipped scuffed or scratched. The wheels had been refurbed without de-mounting the tyres (so basically they had just sprayed the wheels with a rattle can, you could see the runs!) the rear diff was suspiciously clean with liberal 'goo' on it which indicated it probably leaked a bit. The reason for it sitting running also made its self clear when I shut it off, a low battery warning. Dumped the keys on the salesman desk and said it wasn't for me, again he didn't even ask why because I'm sure he knew.
I got back to my car gutted at such a wasted journey under false pretences. With my interest in Vauxhall V8s I knew MWPerformance was on my route home, they seem to have the most flow through but didnt have any currently on their website. I decided just to pop in and have a chat and maybe put down my name for any they got in in future. I arrived and chatted to Marc for about half an hour about the cars they had, and what I wanted. He then said he had one sitting outside they had just picked up and it was a really special example, although it was yet to be through the workshop and prepared. I had a look round it, a seat in it started it up and left a deposit, it really is a special car. Here it is in the middle on the day I left the deposit.
I collected it on the 17th after it had been prepared, underseat, coated etc and it looks stunning.
So why is this one so special? Well at point of collection it had only done 17800 miles from new. Depending on the route it can be over 18000 miles from Austrailia to the UK so the chances are it may well have done more miles on a ship, than on its wheels! It had been owned by an eldery guy most recently whos health was unfortunately failing him but he loved his VXR8 for the 13 years he had it and was still using it to pop to Morrisons every now and then. Its been usually annually but sometimes as little as 190 miles/year. I did 370 getting it home! It comes with a folder full of paperwork including all the condition check sheets and waybills from the transport across Australia and then the shipping company which brought it to the UK, even down to reciepts for genuine Vauxhall wiper blades. I'm not often one for locking cars away in a shed, but this one deserves it, at least until the salt is off the road!
Very nice, manual or auto? I went to look at a silver manual car back in June when my M3 gave up the ghost, and it was a dog! Huge scrapes and rust on the panels, not looked after at all. Clearly prepared or owned by the same person who did the F-Type you went to look at. Still fancy one at some point.
dtulip8 said:
Very nice, manual or auto? I went to look at a silver manual car back in June when my M3 gave up the ghost, and it was a dog! Huge scrapes and rust on the panels, not looked after at all. Clearly prepared or owned by the same person who did the F-Type you went to look at. Still fancy one at some point.
Oops I forgot pretty much any detail! 
It’s the 6.2 Manual.
The F-Type seems to be sold now, or it’s not on the dealers page, but I can’t see how someone would take it!
what an absolute gem you found!
always hankered after one, and if this was 10 years ago, or i was 10 years older, i 100% percent would have loved to own one. sadly theyre getting rare and fuel is too expensive!
i would also be careful about buying a car with very little usage. suspension bushings and other rubber bits and hoses can go bad due to lack of use. it happened to my 2006 volvo which barely did 10k miles in 10 years. cost me a lot to sort the burst power steering pipes
always hankered after one, and if this was 10 years ago, or i was 10 years older, i 100% percent would have loved to own one. sadly theyre getting rare and fuel is too expensive!
i would also be careful about buying a car with very little usage. suspension bushings and other rubber bits and hoses can go bad due to lack of use. it happened to my 2006 volvo which barely did 10k miles in 10 years. cost me a lot to sort the burst power steering pipes
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