Shed gets a pay rise!

Yes, the Shed of the Week budget is being upped to £1,500 - here's why

This is not a decision that's been taken lightly, trust us. Shed is a PH staple, always one of our biggest features of the week and a story that we give a good deal of consideration before each Friday. We give Shed a lot of thought because, as well as knowing how popular it is, we all just like looking at cheap and interesting cars.

Sadly these sort of Sheds aren't around now!

Those of you who also enjoy that pastime will have noticed recently that finding gems for less than a bag of sand has become more difficult. Various scrappage schemes have made it hard, as has the incredible rise in classic car values, plus the fact that a lot of newer cars are less interesting than their forebears: a 2.4-litre, five-cylinder Fiat Bravo from the 1990s is a far more Shed-worthy than a diesel Fiat Bravo from the late 2000s, for example...

So the budget for Shed each Friday has been upped from £1,000 to £1,500. The options at three-figure prices on PH were becoming ever more limited, and often the same cars were making repeat appearances - not fun for writer or reader. While this rise won't bring back some incredible Sheds of a few years back - think XJS, Range Rover, six-cylinder E30s - thanks to the bizarre classic market, we're hoping it will open up new options for a more entertaining, informative Shed of the Week.

More money should mean more cool cars, right?

A quick reminder of the rules while we're here: all Sheds have to be from the PH classifieds, the car must have a valid MoT and, well, they should be interesting in some shape or form. Finally, all Sheds must now be for sale at £1,500 or less.

Simple, right? The first new Shed will be this Friday, and let's just say there are a few very good contenders already. If you've seen a great Shed, feel free to send it to me - matthew.bird@haymarket.com - or Tweet us, or anything. Bring on Friday!