project shoestring/bangernomics

petrolhead69

Loving the GTE tom, they are my favorite car ever. If I could find a clean one for a reasonable price I`d have it in a second but all the good ones are appreciating in value now. I had a G plate 16 valver sprayed metallic british racing green pearl with Jenvey throttle bodies and megasquirt ecu, skorpion exhaust and spax vsx kit. If theres one car I ever regret selling it`s that one. I built an astramax van gte 16v too from an f plate valver that was way too rotten to save. That was fun to surprise folk with.
Do you still have the astra?

Rolandtheroadie

Havent got pics, but heres a list of 18 years worth.
CARS: - MK2 Cavalier, Chevette, MK1 Fiesta, Talbot Samba GLS, Mk3 Escort, nissan bluebirds x 2, mk2 astra, Rover 216 (project) BMW 318 (project). 2.5 Senator, rover 800 followed by a couple of ex police 827's, M reg Laguna, p reg Omega, B reg 3.5v8 SD1, v reg Vectra, K plate 3.9 Range Rover, 55 plate Mondeo, R reg Corsa.
Bikes are Honda c90 for the fields as a boy, 250 superdream (no licence at that time, sat in the garage). CBR1000f x2, Hayabusa, Ducati SP2. Projects gsx400r, cb250ko (1969 honda), CZ350, 1976.
Project generally means bought, left lying then sold.

anewman

rictus123 wrote: »

but want under 100k miles

If a car looks well kept and maintained, or has full service history, mileage oer 100k wouldn't concern me In fact at least you know it's not been clocked.

tomstickland

petrolhead69 wrote: »

Do you still have the astra?

No, I sold it in 2005 to someone who took it up to Scotland to use as a trackday thing.

I've got loads of pictures of it though. I need to upload them really.



They defintely had the "small car large engine" feel to them. Great fun, but the shells did not stand up to heavy use very well.

petrolhead69

Oh i hear you on that one, between my obsession with mk2 cavs and astras I ended up having to get a trade account with boc to get a huge bottle of mig welding gas for the amount of welding I was doing, sills, the chassis at the rear points of the wishbone mounts, floor pans, rear arches, rear spring mounts those cars are probably why I have a bad back now:rotfl:

andygb

My list of "bargain cars" excludes the more civilised transport which I have been "forced" to buy since getting married, although I have found it hard to ditch the old habits.

1972 BMW 2002 £200 from auction, needed a new front screen, and I ended up respraying it. It was great and I sold it three years later for £1250.
1978 VW Polo £25, yes you read it right £25. I kept this for two years and sold it for £400 after respraying it.
1978 Alfa Giulietta 1.6 £180 - so much fun, kept it for a couple of years, then used it for spares.
1982 BMW 528i £950. This was a superb 130 MPH car, comfortable, fast, it had the Getrag gearbox and a limited slip diff. I had it for six years, and it eventually went to meet its maker.
I have a 1997 Alfa GTV coupe in the garage, which cost me £1800 at auction four years ago. It is in great shape, but I am going to restore it.

There really are a lot of interesting bargain cars to be had. I personally reckon that mid nineties Toyota Corollas take a lot of beating when it comes to sensible cheap motoring.

andygb

petrolhead69 wrote: »

Oh i hear you on that one, between my obsession with mk2 cavs and astras I ended up having to get a trade account with boc to get a huge bottle of mig welding gas for the amount of welding I was doing, sills, the chassis at the rear points of the wishbone mounts, floor pans, rear arches, rear spring mounts those cars are probably why I have a bad back now:rotfl:

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
Oh that brings back memories, I returned my bottle to them about fifteen years ago, but the MIG welder is still in the garage. I bought it when I tried to restore an MGB GT, but gave up when I couldn't find any good metal to weld the new panels to.
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
Happy days.

petrolhead69

I forgot to add to my total, £3 for some gun gum, a cut up tin can and a jubilee clip to fix a tiny hole in the exhaust. Up yours kwikfit:p

rictus123

Well after someone said get myself onto confused.com and see if i can make the dream happens it looks like iv got something to work towards!

Check this out!
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/largepic.asp?i=1505969&noPics=3&make=AUDI&model=A4&imgsrv=1&current=2

That cars near me..well its only 100 or so miles. £850 for half years tax + almost a years mot, fsh. Perfect and exactly what il be looking for, a 1.8 petrol and not turbo. So checked out insurance...£1600? Thats with a years no claims which i should have come June when il actually be looking to buy a car just like that! I love it, it seems so cheap! Id happy pay the £175 deposit then 10 monthly payments of £175 for insurance that Swinton quoted me. 4 Saturdays a month should cover the yearly cost of running the car :j:j So excited! Now just putting van in for pre mot on Thursday then getting saving! Getting by on less than £500 a month just now for everything, add in the car thats still under £700 a month( when il be on £1375 net this summer, not including overtime) its really not even costing that much :T Cant wait :cool:

plane_boy2000

I had the standard 1.8 non turbo A4 and it was probably the best car I have owned as a package. Picked it up at Auction (my first Auction buy) direct from the lease company - had 120K on it but was only 4 years old an previous user had just had it serviced a few weeks before it went back - bill was in the glovebox for 1K showing new discs, pads, tyres, service etc.

Ran it for 2 years and all I spent on it in 40K was a couple of tyres and a few cheap services. In reality I wish I had kept it as at 160K it was a little tatty, but mechanicaly very sound. Gave it to my Mrs so I could get an A6 2.8, but she didnt really get on with it which was a shame.