Wednesday 22nd February 2017

£100K Garage: Will Sheward

Why limit your £100K Garage to one Brit V8 when you could have four?

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Name: Will Sheward
Previously owned: Alfa Brera, Alfa GTV, Fiat Coupe, Mazda MX-5 (Mk1), Alfa 145, Renault Laguna, VW Camper, Ford Escort XR3i, Opel Manta, Wolseley Hornet
Currently owned: Mini Cooper, TVR Chimaera
On the shortlist: Maserati GranTurismo, Lotus Evora, Rover P5B, Volvo P1800

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70s: Rover 3500
Cost: £6,330 (7,500 euros, converted 22/02/2017)
Balance: £93,670
Why I chose it: "Firstly I should mention that there's a theme at work here - see the bottom for details! My dad was never into cars and, as a child, I suffered through a series of very uninspiring rides. His younger brother, however, fancied himself as a bit of a style icon and would often drive down to visit from London in his latest purchase. I remember his Rover 3500 clearly as it was the car that got me interested in cars. To my young eyes it looked like the future, had crazy performance (OK, I was comparing it with a Ford Prefect) and came with leather seats - such luxury! This LHD model is particularly suitable for PH trips to Le Mans, Spa and so on, where our continental cousins will surely be amazed at the quality of British 70s automotive engineering."

80s:Range Rover
Cost: £16,850
Balance: £76,820
Why I chose it: "Every garage needs a Chelsea tractor, and what could be more Chelsea than a Range Rover? Ideal for a wide range of uses including lording over the plebs from the command driving position, stowing all of that Harrods shopping and towing the other cars in this list to the garage."

90s:Morgan Plus 8
Cost: £33,950
Balance: £42,870
Why I chose it: "Why wouldn't I choose a Morgan? Ideal for those rare sunny days in the English countryside (which is probably why this 17-year-old example is alleged only to have done 6,000 miles) when one absolutely must break out the tweed driving gloves and the moustache wax! The colour combination on this one is fantastic. True, it lacks the superfluous bonnet strap (I would source an aftermarket example) and has very little luggage space, but that's what the Range Rover's for!"

00s:TVR Griffith
Cost: £29,990
Balance: £12,880
Why I chose it: "At first glance it appears I have two convertibles in the list - surely some mistake? No, the Morgan and the TVR have entirely different uses; Morgans are tweed, driving gloves and gin and tonic, TVRs are fleece, baseball cap and Red Bull. The Grif would be my track day car. It's ferociously quick, sounds like somebody's set fire to a pride of lions and has plenty of room for track day-specific alterations (up to £12,000 worth). Plus it allows the owner to position himself as a 'real driver', superior in every way to those mere mortals with their namby-pamby airbags, anti-lock brakes and traction control."

"And the theme? 2017 is the 50th anniversary of the Rover V8 which, in one form or another, powers all of these vehicles."

[sh33n]

It's a no from me on all of them - I respect some brave choices, but getting up every morning, trying in vain to start each one, failing, then walking to the bus stop would get boring very quickly

[JMF894]

^^

Oh dear more pub talk repetition

OP:

I get the classic Rangie and the Griff but i'll leave the others. If V8s are your thing what about a cheap A8 to smoke about in as a daily?

[JuanMochay]

What an absolute corker of a 100k garage.

[Peppka]

In my time I had an original Range Rover "L" reg plastic seats, rubber floor mats 2 doors and hatch as a company car (farm manager) in the mid 70's the only thing it wouldn't pass then was many filling stations my own car was a Triumph 2.5 PI saloon which was slower. My Dad bought a white Rover 3500S in '76 that was really quick no slushmatic auto gearbox but had a 4 speed manual (pity no overdrive like Triumph had shows what a mess BL were in then). Rover had 125mph top speed rode and gripped well on Michelin XVS tyres and being white if you came up quickly behind slower vehicles they invariably pulled over as the police were using them then.

[Crankie Shaft]

Get what you mean by the A8 but as the OP clearly states, his choices are all about the Rover V8, for which I applaud. Good work that man.

[Turbobanana]

Excellent garage.

The perfect antidote to the "silver with black leather" fast German estates that normally darken these doors.

Interesting to read the first comments re starting: granted I've never tried to start a Morgan or TVR V8 but the Rover V8s I have tried had either manual chokes (remember them?) or fuel injection, and never failed to start.

They did seem to get through oil and petrol in equal measure, though.

[Dale487]

Personnally I'm not a fan of BL/Rover (I blame the Metro) but I do like the theme to this £100K garage - a great range of cars.

With the £12K spare you could even buy a newish car that will actually start and not break down (but thats not really the point.

[WillS66]

sh33n said:

It's a no from me on all of them - I respect some brave choices, but getting up every morning, trying in vain to start each one, failing, then walking to the bus stop would get boring very quickly

I own a TVR and have a history of Alfa ownership. I'm all about the "brave" choices ;-)

WillS

[rtz62]

sh33n said:

It's a no from me on all of them - I respect some brave choices, but getting up every morning, trying in vain to start each one, failing, then walking to the bus stop would get boring very quickly

Obviously never owned any of them at a guess?
I've got a RR, never fails to start.
Had a TVR Chimera, and THE ONLY time it failed me was on a red-hot day, after a (very) fast drive, and the lead to the starter motor got too hot and wouldn't carry suffieicient current. A well-known issue, I found out, and cured with an upgraded loom (apparently oroginaly fitted to the Range Rover (!)
Sorry, not trying to be disrespectful, but I've heard many urban myths concerning these two vehicles over the years, and concluded that either a. I'm very lucky, or b. they are just that; myths
As for the track day aspect, I tracked mine, had fun but got fed up of Caterhams and their like crawling all over my rear through corners. I'd guess that good choice in updated suspension, brakes and tyres will make a good bit of difference. And invest some of that hard-earned in driver training!

[theshed]

I want this Garage !
And the cars
Think I may have had a Stag in there too.

[Peppka]

theshed said:

I want this Garage !
And the cars
Think I may have had a Stag in there too.

A Stag with a Rover V8 conversion would be OK. The original Triumph V8 that really was a crap underdeveloped engine with cooling problems and stretchy cam shaft chains that would be a British V8 too far!