Rusty row - scrappers & project cars
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 | 1958ish A35 2dr and one of the rustiest vehicles I've ever owned, given for free and broken for spares c1997. The paintjob, applied years earlier, apparently courtesy of some spare pink paint left over from the owner redecorating their bathroom in this colour .. it didn't stop it rusting alas, and was broken for spares .. |
 | 1972 Daimler Sovereign 4.2 XJ6 swb. Bought and sold in 2001, this was a bit rough around the edges, and the interior had more damp in it than the Titanic. However, mechanically it was very tight and, when I saw the asking price for this MOTd XJ, I had to have it, running it for some time then passing it on later for restoration .. |
 | 1946 Fordson E83W wooden back pickup, the first of this style of body I've had. This one was bought in 2004, but with 2 more pickups bought early in 2005 the reluctant decision was made to pass it on, once I'd fitted some secondhand panels to it that I bought recently .. |
 | 1948ish E83W pickup. This one turned up just 4 days after the flatbed (above) and was bought mainly because it had received a host of new mechanical parts during an overhaul some years ago. Despite being left outside for a few years, condition isn't too bad, shown here after a session with the jet wash .. |
 | 1956/7 Ford E83W flatbed. Bought March 2005 this nice little flatbed truck. First of two that were acquired early in 2005. Collection was made during a cold snowy journey down south, but worth it in the end as you can never have too many E83Ws around the place, I think .. |
 | 193? Ford Model Y. I stumbled across these crumbling remains in 2005, and agreed to buy it from the current owners of the house on whose land it was left. A few small parts were salvaged but it was rotten as a really rotten pear so didn't give up much of use .. |
 | 196? Ford Special, yet another Ford powered Special of the 1960s, this one acquired in 2004 originally just for its Aquaplane equipped 100E engine and box, however the whole rolling chassis (sans remaining panels) was left completely alone and a different result ensued .. |
 | 1961 Nickri Champion. This car was bought allegedly as a Falcon Caribbean early in 2004, so thought the previous owner of 30 years, but by accident I discovered that I'd bought myself a Nickri instead. Doesn't seem there are too many of these originally E93A-based 'Ford Specials' surviving. This one is on a rotten Herald chassis .. |
 | 1962 SAAB 95 van 2 stroke, 1 of only 3 imported by SAAB GB in 1962, and rescued from certain doom behind a long-gone SAAB dealership in Stockport. This is the only surviving UK 2 stroke bullnose van in the UK, and was rescued despite floor rot of biblical proportions. Now in preservation .. |
 | 1957 Standard 8. This handsome little car arrived on my doorstep in June 2005. Bought locally, I had thought of using it as a parts donor for my Standard 10, however I couldn't bring myself to break the little thing, so sold it on for what I paid for it, to a guy restoring a 10 .. |
 | 1955 Standard 10, bought as a cheapie early in 2003, this old Standard 10 4dr saloon joined the fleet. Initial impressions were favourable, but on closer inspection is was a rough old thing with serious rot underneath .. |
 | 1967 Triumph Spitfire Mk3, given it in 2000 following a conversation with someone I worked with, whose dad had this decayed old Spitfire collapsing in his garage and wanted rid. Never more than a spares car, I rescued it and swapped it for an old 50s motor racing poster and some new A40 Farina spares .. |
 | 1969 Spitfire Mk3, bought for �50 & broken for bits, this original dead Spitfire donated several vital organs to the rebuild of KED 453F, my first Spitty, including the difficult to find original Mk3 spec engine. The mortal remains were sold on for �25 to a Triumph specialist who wanted the chassis for some reason .. |
 | 1934 Vauxhall 12 ASY, acquired via a swap for my unique SAAB van in 1992, and sold on three years later when I needed to raise some funds to get my 2.5 Spitfire back on the road. According to DVLA, AND 300 is still around, which is good news .. |
 | 1970 Volvo 120, bought in 1991 as yet another �50 nail, this one found in Autotrader and irresistable of course. Problem was it had no front suspension on it and was very dismantled. Time passed and I didn't end up doing much with it .. so passed it on to another Volvo owner I knew, who cut it up for bits .. sob .. |
 | 1970 Volvo 120, another �50 breaker, a late model Amazon, bought from Handforth in Dec 1992 as a total wreck, acting as a donor car for the rebuild of my first 121, the blue one, the rotten shell being carted off for scrapping once I'd pulled all the usable bits off it .. |
 | 1967 Volvo 121, a lashed up rotbox bought specifically to donate its nearly-new front wings and other newish bits to my green 122S, the parts finally being pressed into service a few years later by its new owner .. the rest was scrapped .. |
 | 1964 Volvo 122S rally car. I'd first seen this competition prepared Volvo Amazon a few years earlier, when I was running my first 4dr 121. I bought it but a look underneath confirmed a crumbling sub-structure so sold it for parts to a bloke in Canada, who needed parts for his rally car .. |
Other oddball old stuff, caravans and so on
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 | c195? Fairey Gannet, co-purchased with dad in 2001 to restore. Yeah I know it isn't a car, but I like it so it's here! Found looking unloved behind a museum building down south, we decided this would look nice at a local former-RAF airfield that we had involvement with .. if anyone has a rear canopy going spare, please get in touch!! A local ATC squadron are giving it some TLC as I type. |
 | 1960s Portafold folding van, quite a nice little folding caravan from the late 1950s, this an early one with the fins on the roof and a tubular chassis. I owned this and used it for camping at classic car shows, then sold it on to a collector who has fully restored it to original spec, and can be seen at local shows every year looking mint. |
 | 1949 Wessex folding van, another old folding caravan, this one bought in 2006 from its owners of 10 years. Quite an unusual little thing, would look great behind my '49 Devon. More info in the classic caravans section. |
Slightly more modern, daily use stuff (not classics) owned and driven since 1987...classics one day? hmmm..
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 | 1995 BMW 520i touring. I bought this from dad as a newer load lugger to replace the Merc in 2004, but its slightly smaller size & engine, when compared to the Merc estates I'd had previously, meant it didn't stay long .. |
 | 1987 BMW 750 iL (UK Motorshow car in 1987). This was my first V12 BMW and it was a fantastic car, the acceleration and cruising ability was the mutts essentials, especially as it was the high spec iL model. It went in 2002, to be followed 6 months later by an end-of-line E32 750i built in 1994 750i.. |
 | 1985 BMW 535i then briefly in 2002 dad's old 1986 535i , the red one dressed up as an M535i and went like stink. Found on a car lot, without MOT and looking down at heal. Bought it for a snip, put a new exhaust on it and got it MOT'd. This provided great everyday transport for a while, until being swapped for the Austin Somerset in 2001! .. shrewd eh? err .... |
 | 1988 Mercedes 230TE. Another not-quite-classic plummeting towards obscurity, however its a useful old barge and during 2004 acts as hack to save wear and tear on nicer cars, plus being a 2.3 is quite economical especially compared to the BM which was in semi-retirement at the time. An new MOT was earnt, but made way shortly after for a more pokey replacement estate .. |
 | 1987 Mercedes 300TE. I found this old load-lugger in the local newspaper, and decided to get it as with the 3.0 straight 6 engine, it'd be a much better towcar than the slightly weedy 2.3 which it replaced. It went very well and was great for hauling old car parts and garden rubbish to the tip .. |
 | 1996 Mercedes E280 TE. Once the BMW had gone I set to looking for another 124 series Merc. The 230TE and 300TE in 2004 confirmed that these estates are great old tools, so a long search turned up this facelifted E280 version, powered by a 24v 2.8 engine with auto transmission .. |
 | 1985 Saab 900 Turbo, bought in 1997 and sold in 1999 to make way for BMW 750, this was my first foray into running a more modern type of car. Quite an entertaining vehicle, and great for carting junk to the tip, it followed on from an earlier 900 turbo that dad owned years earlier, which must have opened my eyes to these great swedish cars .. |
 | 1985 Volvo 760GLE. Ok not exactly classic, but not entirely modern either .. this fantastically useful old crock was bought from an online auction in 2003 to make moving house a whole lot easier - a 2.8 V6 with towbar came in very useful in shifting lorryloads of stuff to our new house, and was somewhat reluctantly sold on late in 2003 once its job was done .. |
My other half's cars...
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 | 1955 Austin A30, bought by my better half back in 1996. This car had seen restoration work prior to our ownership, and was run as a daily car for a few years. This car was laid up for a few years, and sold on in 2002, ending up in a new life in Atlanta USA, where it receives lots of interest .. |
 | 1990 Mazda MX5, bought by 'er indoors in 2002 when she finally grew bored of driving around in dull moderns while her A30 was off the road, this MX-5 has proved to be a fun car, despite being the 1.6 version - to my mind a Spitfire that doesn't leak, an MGB that doesn't rot - in theory .. |
 | 1992 Mazda Eunos. A new arrival in the summer of 2005, replacing the UK-spec car above. We got to hear about this import and decided to go for it. The plan had been to look out for another UK spec MX5, but those we looked at all had rusty, or bodged up, rear sills, so we went for this import simply because they don't salt the roads in Japan! .. |
