The Art of Shedding

[Retroshite]

I've seen a couple of threads on here lately of a similar nature which seem to be quite popular, I exclusively buy and drive sheds, I don't have anything modern, nice or fast.

I'll be updating this thread regularly with my exploits of buying cheap old cars from a variety of places including facebook marketplace, gumtree, ebay and various forums.


Here's a quick run down of last years sheds.



RJC_6394 by srblythe, on Flickr

In January I bought this E30 for £300 and sold it a while later for £1200

RJC_6451 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought the Subaru for £1200 and still have it.

RJC_6467 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought the 960 for £250 then part exchanged it along with £500 for a 1977 Volvo 244.

RJC_6540 by srblythe, on Flickr

I sold the 244 for £1900

I also sold a 190e for £700 and a Proton for £400

RJC_6517 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_6532 by srblythe, on Flickr

I sold the Sierra for £500 and the Mazda for £200

RJC_6593 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_6584 by srblythe, on Flickr


240D by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a 240D for £1k and spent hours welding it and fitting new parts and sold for £800

RJC_6696 - Copy by srblythe, on Flickr

I sold the Audi 80 CD for £900

RJC_7092 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a Corolla for £300 and still have it.

RJC_7814 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_7820 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a pair of Subaru pickups for £200, stripped a few parts from them then sold them on for £2500.

RJC_7917 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a Golf for £150 then part exchanged it and £900 for a Chevette which I still have.

RJC_7997 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought an E28 for £600 and sold it for £1200

RJC_8188 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a Polo saloon for £500 and swapped it for a Mercedes C230 Kompressor.

RJC_8950 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_9761 by srblythe, on Flickr

I part exchanged the Mercedes for an Audi A6 with £750 cash my way then sold the Audi for £750

RJC_0423 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a Felicia pickup for £400 then swapped it for a 309 then swapped the 309 for a ropey 305 on moon miles, I sold the 305 for £700

RJC_0168 by srblythe, on Flickr

Peugeot 309 GL by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_1293 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a Felicia for £50, removed some parts and sold it for £150.

RJC_0324 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a Renault 19 for £250 and sold it for £500

RJC_0232 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a 306 for £400 and sold for £500

RJC_1345 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a Xantia for around £200 and sold for £400

RJC_1419 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a 305 estate for £200 and sold it for £700

RJC_1712 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a Senator for £900, raffled it and just about got my money back.

RJC_1743 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought an E38 318i for £350 and sold for £450

RJC_1802 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought a Lada for £1k and still have it.

RJC_2260 - Copy by srblythe, on Flickr


I also still have these...

RJC_6368 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_8763 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_1089 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_1334 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_2035 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_0770 by srblythe, on Flickr

£15 car by srblythe, on Flickr



I won this in a raffle for £20

£20 car by srblythe, on Flickr

£20 car by srblythe, on Flickr


And swapped it for this which has sold for £1800

RJC_2340 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_2343 by srblythe, on Flickr


I bought a Ka for £90 and sold it for £650

RJC_2377 by srblythe, on Flickr

I won this in a raffle for £13

RJC_2488 by srblythe, on Flickr

And swapped it for a 205 Auto

RJC_2595 by srblythe, on Flickr

Then swapped the auto for a 205 D-turbo

RJC_3406 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought another Subaru pickup with rusty wings

RJC_2575 by srblythe, on Flickr


I bought a 309 for £250


RJC_2740 by srblythe, on Flickr

And swapped it for a 740

RJC_2785 by srblythe, on Flickr

And sold the 740 for £700

I bought a Cavalier for £950

RJC_2930 - Copy by srblythe, on Flickr

Last car of 2019 was a Daihatsu Charade for £300

RJC_3314 by srblythe, on Flickr

Edited by Retroste on Saturday 18th January 11:35

Edited by Retroste on Saturday 18th January 11:42

YouTube links removed.

Edited by Scrump on Sunday 9th February 16:33

[Retroshite]

New year, new sheds...

I bought my first car of 2020 and dear god it's a fking heap of st.



RJC_3456 by srblythe, on Flickr



It was advertised cheap on marketplace with a short description and a couple of rubbish photos, the description basically read - Engine good, bodywork bad which was factually correct, what he failed to mention was the clutch was completely fked and it reeked of pish inside. I did my typical buying technique of turning up, giving it a quick look over then handing over the cash and fking off, I don't often bother with test drives but this is the one occasion I probably should have because I'd never had handed over the cash had I driven first.

The seller was hopeless, he spoke mostly in Romanian and the only thing I could make out was brexit and export, it parked awkwardly in his driveway next to his caravan and made a mess of trying to manoeuvre it out and ended up scraping one side of it down his garden wall.

Out on the street I was keen to get going so made an offer which he accepted, he then asked if I was happy and confirmed that it was sold as seen with no comebacks etc, I said yeah, whatever and jumped in. Everything inside was slightly slimy and sticky and it reeked of piss, the ashtray was full.

I went to pull away and instantly knew the clutch was knackered, the bite was incredibly high and it was quite clearly slipping in every gear. The fuel light was on. I headed to the nearest fuel station and stuck £20 in, I really shouldn't have bothered because it never made it home. I managed to nurse it for a few miles until I got to a slight incline and it ran out of clutch, I had to abandon it in an industrial estate.

I returned to my unit and collected my other Ranger and A-frame then headed back for the broken hateful heap of st. I think it was probably the worst A-framing experience I've ever had, the rear end of the RWD ranger kept sliding and wanting to jackknife on corners and was horrendously slow. After holding up traffic for a few miles I took a sharp turn at a junction and almost crashed when the tow car jackknifed then bent one of the arms on the A-frame. I continued on my journey and saw that the ranger behind was sitting off centre and whenever I went round corners I could hear it scraping the ground.


RJC_3457 by srblythe, on Flickr

I made it back eventually. What should have been a quick 1 hour max car collection turned into a 4 hour ordeal.


RJC_3513 by srblythe, on Flickr


I kept it for a week but ended up sending it off to the scrappers at a loss because I couldn't muster the enthusiasm needed for it.

The day after buying the Ranger I spotted a really crap looking LDV Pilot on facebook marketplace.

RJC_3529 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3525 by srblythe, on Flickr


It seemed ok, a little frilly around the edges but it started and stopped which was the main thing. The next day I discovered that along the top of the windscreen was letting in a serious amount of water when it rained.

RJC_3560 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3583 by srblythe, on Flickr

Prodding it revealed lots of crunchy holes and the majority of the roof gutter above the windscreen was made of filler. I chipped all of the filler, cut out the rust and welded a strip along the top and plastered it with seam sealer, it looks crap but no longer leaks.

RJC_3604 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3600 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3612 by srblythe, on Flickr

I sold the Ldv to a masochist from Birmingham who got a lift here then drove it for 6 hours back home. fk that!

Edited by Retroste on Saturday 18th January 11:33

Mod edit: YouTube link removed.

Edited by Scrump on Sunday 9th February 16:35

[Retroshite]

p4cks said:

With the utmost respect... are you mental?

Quite possibly...

[Retroshite]

martin mrt said:

Awesome thread, I wish I kept the pics of all the cars I’ve owned/sold/swapped it would take me an entire day to put a thread like this together

That first post was just all of the cars I bought sold or swapped in 2019, there's been loads more in previous years. I do probably have a photo of every car I've owned since passing my test in 2009 but I really don't have the time to be compiling them all here at the moment.

[Retroshite]

Kettmark said:

Where do you source these motors generally?

Out of last years selection 21 of them came from Facebook Marketplace but as I said in the first post I'm buying from a variety of places including facebook marketplace, gumtree, ebay and various forums.

A couple came from word of mouth or friends, the pair of Subaru Pickups I spotted on a farm while out driving around the Perthshire countryside, I chapped on the door and the farmer asked me to make an offer on them.

[Retroshite]

One of the cars I bought last year which I plan on keeping for a while is a 1981 Vauxhall Chevette ES, it was described to me by the seller as mechanically good but cosmetically poor, I think the correct term for the bodywork was utterly fking hanging...
The car was located on the Isle of Skye in north west Scotland and I live in Fife so from the start, the logistics of going to pick it up were going to be difficult. The thought of trying to arrange multiple trains or busses around the sellers availability didn't inspire confidence that this collection would happen easily.

Barn Find! by srblythe, on Flickr

My plan was to find the cheapest possible car locally, drive it to Skye and dispose of it somehow, I searched eBay, Gumtree and Facebook for cheap ste and looked to spend around £150 on something that started and stopped and had some mot on it.

RJC_7894 by srblythe, on Flickr

I found a mk4 Golf within budget which had some test on it and drove well enough but had just about every dashboard warning light illuminated.

RJC_7893 by srblythe, on Flickr

Road trip by srblythe, on Flickr


My initial plan was to drive the Golf up to Skye and abandon it when I got there but the seller was happy to take £100 off the Chevette's purchase price if he could keep the Golf.

RJC_7915 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_7916 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_7963 by srblythe, on Flickr


A 200 mile trip in a £150 car to the Scottish Highlands? What could possibly go wrong?


It drove absolutely fine.
I arrived on Skye in the early afternoon after a leisurely and stress free journey.


Shove it by srblythe, on Flickr

The Chevette was pretty much as expected, it started up and drove OK and was a little bit frilly around the edges.

Shove it by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_7997 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_7998 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_8001 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_8006 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_8008 by srblythe, on Flickr


I drove back via Fort William then onto Glen Coe, the car performed faultlessly although it was a bit loud with the lack of carpets and the rubber bungs missing from the floors.

RJC_8020 by srblythe, on Flickr

Edited by Retroste on Sunday 12th January 13:39

[Retroshite]

Jbeale96 said:

Some absolute corkers in there, absolutely fantastic

I bet you’ve spent less in total than most people spend over a PCP term too

Who knows? I've never had a car on PCP as new cars don't interest me in the slightest. I enjoy driving and experiencing a variety of older cars but only have a limited amount of space (16 cars max) so end up selling off a couple to make room for different stuff.

[Retroshite]

Scooobydont said:

Buying a shed to allow you the collection of another shed, bloody genius!

I'd usually just get the train on longer collections but the car was awkward to reach via public transport so it made sense to do what I did and didn't cost me too much.

[Retroshite]

andy43 said:

I wish...
Excellent thread. I’m hoping you’ve got traders insurance - or you’ll easily be on first name terms with most of the insurers call centre staff.

I used to have a multi-car classic policy with Footman James but they said 26 changes within 6 months was excessive for some bizarre reason...

I ended up taking out a traders policy for me and the Mrs, it works out about the same but makes buying cars too easy.
The funny thing is I'm not buying with the intention of selling on at a profit, what happens is I see something I fancy and sell something I've got to make room for it.

[Retroshite]

S100HP said:

That Chevette is awesome.

Are you hubnut in disguise?

No, I buy all of the cars I drive...
My YouTube channel is the same as my forum name, I'd post a link but I think that might be against the rules.

[Retroshite]

Hub said:

Wow, some ratty motors there - that Sierra!

Quite a few now rare cars too - most are at the age of increased rarity and value rather than bottom of the depreciation curve 15 year old cars of the typical shedder. Are many restored?

I try and avoid cars made after 2000, I'm regularly finding 20-40 year old cars for not much money that apparently don't exist these days. I'm not practicing bangernomics or anything like that, I just prefer cars from a certain era.
None of them are restored but some of them have likely had a bit of welding over the years.
I think typical shed drivers driving 15 year old bargain basement cars aren't doing so out of choice, I buy cars I like, use them for a while and sell them on to make way for something else.

[Retroshite]

DSC_0809 by srblythe, on Flickr

The Last car I bought in 2017 was this Peugeot 406 turbo diesel estate, it was a bit of a shed but the fuel economy was decent and it was a comfortable mile muncher.
I swapped if for a Volvo 340 Variomatic with the rubber band gearbox which was my first car of 2018.

RJC_9871 by srblythe, on Flickr

It was quite a clean car but didn't run all that well so I sold it on a while later.

I didn't buy anything in February but had fun taking my sheds out in the snow, the W123 went everywhere.

w123 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_0253a by srblythe, on Flickr

w123 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_0283 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_0284 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_0286 by srblythe, on Flickr


With a set of winter tyres fitted it performed faultlessly in the snow and didn't manage to get stuck once.

RJC_0295 by srblythe, on Flickr

My 190E and L200 were hopeless so they were abandoned until the snow cleared.

RJC_0302 by srblythe, on Flickr


RJC_0308 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_0313 by srblythe, on Flickr

The Lada had a new set of winters but it was hopeless compared with the W123 so I didn't drive it much in the snow.

RJC_0396 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_0406 by srblythe, on Flickr

The 305 van with a pair of winters up front was pretty good too.




It wasn't until March I found something else worth buying.


RJC_0524 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_0526 by srblythe, on Flickr





A 1.8 Audi 80 B2 with an mot measured in days, 30 miles north of Inverness and in need of some welding.


I spent a bit of time welding it and replacing lots of parts and used it for a few months including a trip around the north coast 500, I sold it on in the summer.

The route by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_1560 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_1537 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_1484 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_1397 by srblythe, on Flickr



RJC_2063 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_2050 by srblythe, on Flickr


April saw me swap my L200 for a 4x4 Mazda which I kept for a couple of months.

I sold the 305 van

RJC_1177 by srblythe, on Flickr

Also in April I bought another 305 estate


RJC_1181 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_1184 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_1185 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_1296 by srblythe, on Flickr

I bought it from the Morris Leslie classic action and had to do a bit of welding to get it through its mot. I'm still using it daily.

RJC_1349 by srblythe, on Flickr




May saw the arrival of a Citroen C15 van


RJC_1696 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_1699 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0731 by srblythe, on Flickr

I welded the sills and sold it on.

DSC_0771 by srblythe, on Flickr

June saw me buying a Proton Jumbuck I had previously owned sight unseen on eBay.



It was a lot more fked than I anticipated so I sold it on and bought a nicer one.

RJC_2175 by srblythe, on Flickr


That guy who ended up with my L200 also took the C15.

RJC_2353 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_2351 by srblythe, on Flickr





I spotted a total fking shed of a Ranger (which I still have) so promptly got the red Jumbuck away to fk to make way for the Ranger.

DSC_0850 by srblythe, on Flickr



I changed the look of the Ranger from biker gang wanabee to cowboy builder with some badly applied paint.

DSC_0856 by srblythe, on Flickr

July saw this cool old Polo saloon arrive.

DSC_0866 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_2715 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_2718 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_2765 by srblythe, on Flickr

I spent quite a lot of time and money sorting out a lot of issues and getting it through an mot. As I discovered, Polo's are actually just st so I sold it on breaking even.


RJC_2837 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_2835 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_2833 by srblythe, on Flickr

My Proton's head gasket blew and I spent a considerable amount of time and money fixing it, I had the head skimmed, new head bolts, gaskets, water pump and timing belt installed then sold it on for less that I'd just spent on fixing it. I didn't want to be responsible for sending it to the scrappers so wanted to make sure it stood a chance of being preserved by the next owner.



August saw a poverty spec Renault 19 arrive, I used it for a couple of months and sold it on for what I'd paid for it.

RJC_3520 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3522 by srblythe, on Flickr



September saw me buying a Proton from a scrapyard in Paisley for £200, it reeked of pish inside and I had an unpleasant drive back to Fife in it. I spent hours welding up the rear arches and got it through an mot.

RJC_4719 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4539 by srblythe, on Flickr

In October I bought a 1998 Mazda 323

RJC_4862 - Copy by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4859 - Copy by srblythe, on Flickr



I really didn't like it at all so only kept it for a few days.

Also in October I bough an Estelle

RJC_4906 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4909 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4912 by srblythe, on Flickr

Tried and failed to get it going and sold it in December

I occasionally hire my cars out for films and got word of one being shot in Edinburgh and Glasgow which they were giving £400 per car per day.

RJC_5342 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_5340 by srblythe, on Flickr

I provided the 305, Proton and 190E on one of the days and borrowed a pals Honda Ballade for filming on another day and split the money with him.

RJC_5718 by srblythe, on Flickr

I knew the production company were still looking for 90's cars for another date so scoured eBay for suitable candidates, I figured if I could get a car for less than £400 use it in the film and be paid for it the car essentially becomes free...

RJC_5744 by srblythe, on Flickr

I ended up buying a Felicia for £275 and actually it isn't bad at all, I still have it!







November I bought another Audi 80, this one with the smooth 5 cylinder engine and auto gearbox.


RJC_5553 by srblythe, on Flickr



£15 car by srblythe, on Flickr

I won an Avensis for £15 and gave it away to my dad.

End of November I bought a Mercedes 280CE

RJC_5703 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_5705 by srblythe, on Flickr


It was a bit of an impulse buy having sold the mk2 Polo the day before and having money to waste. I ended up selling it on to a friend for a little bit more than I paid for it.


Mid December saw a shed of a Mazda 323 turn up.

RJC_5940 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_5941 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_5943 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_5950 by srblythe, on Flickr


The 323 was a complete shed, it broke down multiple times on the way home from buying it, I later found out that the tank was full of sugar. I think it got scrapped eventually.


RJC_6158 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_6154 by srblythe, on Flickr

Oh dear! by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_6149 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_6148 by srblythe, on Flickr

Last car of the year was an executive shed Hyundai XG30, bought for around £300, it had a couple of warning lights on the dash but drove fine. I swapped it for the horrible Sierra estate with the 2.3 diesel indenor engine at the start of 2019...

[Retroshite]

Blanco92 said:

And I thought I drove a shed...

Do you do much to tart them up before selling on, e.g service, wash and polish etc? I can see you weld a few... it’s that that puts me off a car! Clearly I’m doing it wrong.

The aim for me is to get the cars and drive them, some may need general maintenance, welding or minor fettling but I'm not "tarting them up" I'm just fixing them for my personal enjoyment.
There's a strange satisfaction in taking a car nobody cares about which is probably one mot failure away from the scrappers and giving it a new lease of life.
From a financial standpoint it probably isn't worth the grief but for the entertainment factor I usually get some enjoyment out of.
I'm not shining them up and photographing them in a white room and selling them for extortionate amounts, I'm just preserving them for my own amusement and selling them on as honest used old cars.
I'm also not doing this for a living, I have a full time job as a welder on a submarine dismantling programme, this is just a bit of fun on the weekends. I love travelling to new places and buying crap old cars just for the adventure.

Very little puts me off buying stuff, if I want it I'll usually just go out and get it, I don't care if its dirty, needs welding, has moon miles on it, doesn't have service history, as long as it starts, goes and stops I'm easy.
I'll happily let everyone else avoid buying cars like these if it means I can get them for little money, enjoy them and move onto the next one.

[Retroshite]

funkyrobot said:

I guess being handy at spannering and welding helps with this?

As someone who has only done minimal spannering, I salute you. Seems like something that could be a world of fun if you have the experience, time and tools for it.

I have a unit/workshop/man cave equipped with a tyre machine, 4 post lift, some basic tools and welding equipment where I can work on cars at my leisure.

The fun bit is the novelty of driving something different, sometimes I don't have the time or enthusiasm for spannering and will farm the job out to someone else.

[Retroshite]

CornedBeef said:

I love this thread, can't believe I didn't click it sooner - thanks for the big update. When you factor in the £400 a day thing for the filming company that makes it even better! Half of the cars you listed in yesterday's update I've never seen on the road - quite partial to the Peugeot van funnily enough.

The pay isn't always as good as £400 per car, it depends on the film. I've had a car in the last episode of Still Game, a few in the David Walliams film Grandpa's great escape, one in a Netflix film called malevolent, my subaru pickup was in a bollywood movie last year called 83 and I had a couple of cars in a film called she will a couple of weeks ago.

I'll post some more details about the 305 van shortly as a few people seem interested in it.

[Retroshite]

The story of the 305 van starts in 2017 with this...

DSC_0587 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0576 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0201 by srblythe, on Flickr

A Tata Loadbeta 4X4 which looks like a knock off Mercedes of some sort but isn't licensed in any way by Mercedes. It did have a knock off Peugeot XUD engine and knock off Bosch fuel pump and even with a turbo bolted to it was horrendously under powered. I bought it from a Scrapyard just outside of Glasgow for £250 and drove around in it for a month or two...

The 305 van appeared for sale around the same time as I bought the Tata, the owner of the 305 was a motoring journalist of some sort and the van had previously featured in a staff car bit of Practical Classics.
He wanted something like £1k for the van which was a bit rich considering the poor condition of it, it was located in Peterborough which made getting it here costly, it hadn't been roadworthy for a while and wasn't good enough to drive here.
Fortunately the owner after having little to no real interest in the van started to drop the price.
Believe it or not but there was someone else out there who wanted a Tata pickup, he lived further south than Peterborough so I made a deal that if he bought the 305 van and transported it here, he could have the Tata.
The Tata was very rusty and didn't have a lot of test on it and he wanted it for his college students to mess around with.

DSC_0180 by srblythe, on Flickr

By late October the 305 van had arrived.

DSC_0182 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0187 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0189 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0190 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0191 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0192 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0194 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0195 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0203 by srblythe, on Flickr


It was in a bad way but luckily I had a red 305 estate to swap some bits with.


DSC_0207 by srblythe, on Flickr


I focused my efforts in cutting out the rust.


DSC_0219 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0297 by srblythe, on Flickr



I discovered that rear arch repair panels were made of unobtainium so I improvised with some Volvo 340 repair panels.


DSC_0300 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0301 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0304 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0363 by srblythe, on Flickr


In classic car circles the van was affectionately referred to as the Knobvan because it had a gearknob made from a block of wood, I think the owner must have kept the wooden knob for sentimental reasons because it was missing when the van arrived.

DSC_0367 by srblythe, on Flickr


I fitted something I had lying around.

I started to fit replacement parts from the other 305 estate, I swapped the doors, headlights, taillights, struts, brakes and rear axle.


DSC_0373 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0377 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0393 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0396 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0634 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0694 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_9937 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_9942 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_9950 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_0126 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_0195 by srblythe, on Flickr

It wasn't going to win any beauty contests but was presentable, everyone still referred to it as the Knobvan even though in my eyes I had totally transformed it. I thought the best way to totally transform it was to paint it a different colour.

RJC_0237 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_0236 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_0231 by srblythe, on Flickr

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It was a pretty good winter steed.


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The 1.9 na XU diesel engine returned reasonable fuel economy for such a st old van.


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At the start of April 2018 the weather started to get a little warmer so I decided it was time to paint it, I don't have the appropriate equipment such as heaters or a spray booth so I sprayed it inside on my ramp and wheeled it outside to dry and cure the paint.
The cost of the "respray" came in at a total of £30 with a can of generic metal paint thinned and run through a spray gun.


RJC_1091 by srblythe, on Flickr

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I know it's unlikely to appeal to the majority of people but I liked it. I sold it at the end of April for £1k

[Retroshite]

Paul S4 said:

Great reading...however, I reckon that White W123 would be my choice...they must surely go up in value and they still look good even today.

DSC_0975 by srblythe, on Flickr


I picked it up in August 2017 for £350, looks good doesn't it?


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Hmm...

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On second thoughts...


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Some welding and a few brake lines and calipers and it passed its mot.

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I love smoking around in this. It's the later 2.3L injected 4 cylinder petrol engine with a 3 speed automatic gearbox, manual gearboxes are generally a bit rubbish in old Merc's especially for wafting around in.

DSC_0440 by srblythe, on Flickr

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In September 2017 the car paid for itself when it was used in the David Walliams kids book turned film "Grandpa's great escape"


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My friend had his Imp in it and my Mrs had a Mk2 Polo also in the film.

Grandpa's Great Escape by srblythe, on Flickr

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It's such a great looking car.

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I eventually got a pair of second hand wings for it as new replacements are something like double what I paid for the car, I've yet to paint them.


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RJC_1087 by srblythe, on Flickr


I don't think it's worth an awful lot, maybe in pristine condition it would be but It'll never be that in my ownership, I'm just going to continue to use and enjoy it when I can. Currently it's out of mot but I don't see it needing much to get through the next one, I've just had so many other projects lately the old Mercedes has fallen by the wayside.

[Retroshite]

idealstandard said:

this is by far one of the best threads I have read on Pistonheads.

Keep this up bloke, this is fantastic.

Thanks, I have plenty of stuff to share from the not too distant past and will also be updating the thread with stuff that's happening currently.
I'll continue with the yearly run downs too and elaborate on the stuff people take particular interest in.

[Retroshite]

I've bought some right fking sheds over the years, in 2014 I had the notion that I was going to resurrect this heap of st...


What have I done by srblythe, on Flickr

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There were some issues getting it on the truck!

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But we got there in the end!

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It was an FSO 125P pickup which is rare in it's native Poland and Super rare in RHD and UK registered. I paid something daft like £200 for it. I really shouldn't have bothered because it was way beyond my capabilities and I ended up abandoning it and leaving it in my unit when I moved to a new place.
It was totally fked.
If I had it now, it might have been different but back then I was on apprentice wages and didn't have enough time, money or imagination to make it into something.

[Retroshite]

Baldchap said:

This thread is fantastic.

I currently have six sheds (all <£350) for a banger rally but I'd never get away with permashedding! I have them MOTd and taxed and I use them as pubcars and for embarrassing the kids.

By my maths OP, you're in profit (at least certainly in the first post)! Top work.

I enjoy the fact that I can use most of my cars without giving too much of a fk about them, obviously I don't deliberately try to wreck them but things like car park dings don't concern me too much.