Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

jack it up and spin each tyre around see if you can see any punctures or wait check the pressures daily and see which one goes down.

I got the build details for my car from Porsche GB - it was supplied by Porsche Cars Middle East, apparently, which I didn't know. It's a South African spec car - which the build sheet doesn't mention.

Here's the thing I'm wondering about:

Completed on the 18th of May 1998
First registered on the 2nd of June 1998
However the UK V5 shows 29th of July 1998 as first reg - does this mean that it was registered in a different country, or is the registration that Porsche show the time when they deliver the car to the dealer?

Troublesome yet rewarding.

I really should sell it. But I'm not going to.

Very cool. What has it cost in total to get to this point? Anything left to do?

None of my Porsches (Inorite?) have a first reg date on the CoA, just the build date.

And there are often mistakes on certificates.

Did you get any back story to the car?

There were a load delivered to other European countries bitd to take advantage of EU VAT rules then shipped here, lots of early 2000s cars are Cyprus spec for example, but South Africa isn’t in the EU, obvs.

Beautiful Range Rover!

Looks good in the leaves.

The chap I bought it from said it was South Africa spec, he didn't know if it was ordered as that then shipped straight here- the Cypriot cars (I had heard) was a way for a non-OPC to buy an rhd car for U.K. Delivery- I had wondered if something of that nature happened here.

Just got this via Car&Classic:

Hello,
I am looking at another car this morning. My max budget is ｣8k. Would you consider this for your car before I make a decision on anything else this weekend?
Kind regards
James

Timewaster.

Say you’ll take £5k. I bet you still never hear from him again.

I said I'd consider 8, but he'd get none of the spares. I also bet he'll never come back to me.

In related news, a chap from Norfolk made a trip down exclusively to see the car, spent more than an hour on the phone with the mechanic who has looked after it for the last 9 years, and whose most recent text said he was "85% there" has gone totally silent on me.

Got the A6 for £3300 plus fees. 78k on the clock full service history. My mechanic has serviced it from new.
Pleased.

Work undertaken so far has included:

• New heater matrix £40
  
• Dash out and dismantling of heater box to replace blower motor with aftermarket kit from USA £160
  
• Upgraded heater blower resistor pack £50
  
• New front fog lamps £30
  
• Oil and filter change £30
  
• Air filter £10
  
• Expansion tank £20
  
• Coolant flush £20
  
• New steering column lower shaft assembly and universal joints £40
  
• Replacement ABS ECU £30
  
• New rear bumper end caps and fittings £50
  
• Other exterior and interior trims, lights etc £50
  
  

Of course I have saved a packet on the above by doing all of the work myself. I'd estimate the labour would have been somewhere around £1.5-2k?

The previous owner treated it to a basic respray, new tyres all round, new vented and cross drilled discs and decent pads all round and the 3.9 V8 is very strong indicating a rebuild at some point in its past.

Needs

• New driver's seat recliner motor
  
• New driver's door window lifter channel
  
• Repairs to off-side front inner wing
  
  

The poor old thing has 202,000 miles on the clock and so is a bit rough around the edges. I didn't want anything too nice as it lives outside on the street.

I committed to buy it unseen on the basis that the £2.6k I paid was not much above scrap value for one of these. I was pleasantly surprised to find the thing was actually a viable runner!

Even the interior isn't too bad for such a high miler:

Of course it would need a full restoration to make it 'nice'. But then again it would make a lot more sense to buy something like this to start with:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1990-LAND-ROVER-RANGE-ROVER-VOGUE-EFI-A-AUTOMATIC/222685512223?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

I really like it, I'd want either the blue or the green - not a fan of the red one.

I think the 1990's are something of a golden age for cars - modern enough to be reliable, old enough to be analogue.

I was chatting to one of the writers from 911&Porsche World and he was saying that (in his view) the 996 is more similar to the 964 than it is to the 997 in the way that it drives - which I thought was interesting.

The 997 has PASM/eGas/etc etc, very much a modern car (despite the chassis being, ultimately, the same as the 996).

90's cars are still relative lightweights in comparison to the post 2,000 stuff, also.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volvo-850-R-Manual-Dark-Olive-Pearl-1996-/263284952927?roken=cUgayN

It's the width. 997s are rare as narrow bodies so most people's experience of them is as an S, whereas with the 996 and before most of them are narrow.

The wider cars have wider wheels and tyres, usually bigger wheels too and the wider front track means they turn in less neatly and generally feel less nimble.

Ah, that makes sense.

I tried the magic trick of filling the 850 up with petrol, but the chap hasn't suddenly called/sent a text/etc.

PJS5NJ63

p....
Wrong textbox?

It'll make sense to some people on this thread.

Meanwhile, the struggle is real: http://911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=123877

I've given up the struggle of looking for a ULEZ replacement for the Grand Espace.
I've dropped down to two wheels.
Photo tomorrow.

Fire extinguishers are worth an easy 50bhp. Have you considered a cosmetic stainless roll hoop for another 25bhp?

I'm painting the seat backs body colour, does that count?

Are you going to lacquer them?

Answer carefully.

It's the same paint as the exterior, which I believe is lacquered- so I would think yes?