Your other cars

[captain]

Just wondered what other people have got in the household or stored away somewhere that they are working on - and what is the car you regret selling?

Obviously I rock around in this:



Which I got to enjoy motorway journeys and transport the baby in comfort. I'm unsure how long I'll have it, but so far so good - despite a long list of niggles which I'm gradually sorting.

Wife has the Focus ST in the background.

And parked up is this:





Which is now Sorn until I can fit a small pram in the boot - hopefully in a year, when the young one has grown up a bit. The current pram belongs on a canal.

Anyway, its my pride and joy, originally started life as a Clio 172 (51 registration) and was in the hands of my best friend until it started drinking water in 2009 and he parked it up for 13 months (got a better job and forgot about it). I had always wanted it, having had one almost identical for 3 years in 2004. I made him an offer of £1200 and I had it towed to the parents house (bigger drive than mine).

The problem he described before he parked it up sounded like the headgasket, so we set about stripping it down last summer and found this:



So a new engine was needed

Luckily I sourced one from a local breaker and for the bargain price of £275 I got a phase 1 engine with similar miles to the one we removed



A weekend spent transplating the unit - improvising by actually dropping the engine out the bottom with the subframe and jacking the body up and over the top and wheeling it back on the jacks!



And she ran for 12 months until I got the '8 and a little addition to the family.

I do feel guilty though. Its sad and my wife constantly reminds me of it. But the car is so much fun to drive. Its not that quick, compared to the V8 but its the chassis that really puts a smile on your face. I just wish I could tax and insure both cars

Not sure if anyone has had any experience with Clio's in the past but I've put a lot of effort into it, which include:

-Custom Remap
-Polished, ported and matched inlets
-Phase 1 Airbox
-Custom Inlet Silicone Elbow
-Lowered on Eibach Sportlines
-Speedline Turini's in Anthracite (originally on the lightened cup model)
-V6 Spoiler
-Upgraded brake hoses
-Octavia Splitter
-Cobra Daytona Seats
-Powerflex dog-leg bush
-K-Tec Solid Top Mounts

Now I know what you'll be thinking - young pleb (is 29 young..?) with a 'modded' car. Yes, it is, but notice that it doesn't have a bean tin on the back to wake the neighbours! I must admit, my profession doesn't really match the Clio, but getting to work was the best part of the day for a year! I have long since outgrown the 'modding' if thats what is called crowd, but I always liked the look of the Turini alloys on the Cup model and the seats were so high, it was light driving it from a highchair. - thats my excuse anyway... maybe I'm just a chav at heart...

If you've ever fancied a good track/weekend cheap runner then I'd highly recommend them. Standard kit includes Aircon, half leather, Xenons, auto lights and wipers etc etc. Just a pity that its french and rattles a lot! but thats part of its character. I was going to sell it, but what is the point? its worth nothing on the open market and little to someone else, so it'll stay until the wife lets me purchase the car below.....

Besides the Clio, my previous love was this:



A Megane R26.
I miss it, to this day, only selling it to fund my wifes business startup and would have one tomorrow.

Anyway, just wondering what everyone else has hidden away...

[Adrian E]

I have the S8, also for baby duties as I'm a stay at home dad on a 2 year career break Bought specifically for the task.......largely on the basis of what's the stupidest, largest engined car I can get for less than £10k!



Also have this barge for the Mrs to drive to work 5 miles up the road - was originally bought as a weekend car, when my wife was driving a battered Passat estate for work and tip run duties while we did up the house:



Car I probably most regret selling is the predecessor to the A6 above:



Was a very late (05) Leon Cupra R 225 which is the one and only car we've ever bought new! Only sold it because the Mrs had kerbed every wheel on the car (hence buying the Passat shed for work duties) and when parked in John Lewis in Kingston it picked up a scrape and a couple of dents in the doors from one day's car parking couldn't bare to look at it, so sold it back to the dealer it came from for £3k less than we paid for it 3 years earlier. It would've been fine for baby duties or wifey transport now, but at the time we sold it we thought we needed another estate and the Passat was on its last legs.....I was at risk of spending a lot of money on it when the warranty ran out - was thinking LSD, remap to 300bhp and a Milltek. None of which it needed as I probably would've lost my licence if I'd kept driving it.

Tucked away for when we move house to somewhere with a double garage is this:



Despite the diesel like body kit familiar to anyone who was around in the 1980s this is a GTI 16V, one of only a handful of 'phase 1's' left now. Later cars (I had a '92 as well) had a much more aggressive bodykit.



Engine produces 160BHP in standard trim, with less than 900kg to lug about. It's great on A roads

I persuaded my dad to buy this with me a decade ago after seeing it on ebay with full main dealer history and not much over 40k on the clock. It had a new head about 18 months ago after the old one went porous due to corrosion (lack of coolant changes) and now flies. It did less than 1500 miles last year and so far this year has done a return trip from Cheddar to Weston-Super-Mare and is on about 50k miles now. Luckily it lives in a heated garage.

It's special enough to us that it's the only thing listed in my dad's will to specifically go to me!!

Nice idea for a thread

Adrian

[The_Laird]

This is the one I most regret selling, but finances were extremely tight at the time. Anyone know what it is? She was a concours winning 1952 model and used as my everyday transport

[Adrian E]

Austin Somerset, by any chance?!

[rickbee]

Or is maybe an Austin Devon?

[The_Laird]

Originally Posted by Adrian E

Austin Somerset, by any chance?!

Spot on! An Austin A40 Somerset to give it its full title

[Adrian E]

Not even old enough to remember them either lol just blame a fixation on old cars from an early age

I regret selling this as well, although I know I could never maintain it properly and it scared the crap out of me to drive it once I'd got used to my Mk1 Golf GTI that I bought as a 'modern' when it was about 12 years old!



Last known to be in Cornwall, painted white and with a 3 litre V6! When I had it it ran a 1760cc X-flow that regularly broke its valve gear due to a silly high lift cam and lots of road rallying!!

[roboblob]

I think the clue was actually in the name of the photo when you hovered over it

[captain]

Originally Posted by Adrian E

Cracking car. Seems like we are very similar, as I had one - well not the R but the Cupra TDI on an 04 plate 150bhp diesel, loved it and the fuel economy.

What a pity you sold it back to the dealer, but £3k less in 3 years is excellent going - wonder where it is now?

I'd love to see what became of some of my old motors.

[Adrian E]

I got it with staff discount, courtesy of my dad's contacts in the motor industry (he was about to retire so figured it was the last chance!) so that softened the depreciation a lot! Only did 14k in it too. Had it Armourfend'd from new too.

We always had it on a private plate, so wouldn't recognise it even if I saw it without looking closely!