My latest aquisition (and shockingly, it's not a Vauxhall!)

[The Griffin]

That's a great garage you have there. A great read as well.
I bought an MR2 which I then raced in '05-'07. Fun cars, they were cheap back then but they were also rotten too. Good work finding an early good one.
MK3 daily, I ran one of these for 7 years, was my granddads, '95 M plate 1.4GLS. I should have kept it really as it was super reliable and so cheap to run.

Enjoy your collection.

[Pigeonrat]

Thanks all, much appreciated! Yes, I'm very lucky to have the garage...can fit six cars in it if I just drive them in, or seven if I'm willing to use the floor skates and put them hard up against each other. Power, mains water and basic heating too. Sadly it does not belong to me, I rent it - and, like everywhere within farting distance of Greater London, there's the constant threat of property developers wanting to build poxy flats on it I've been there five years and know my luck will run out one day.

Griffin - funnily enough, someone I know has just bought an MR2 shell to build into a race car. It was a white G-reg, and the rot (which he is now in the process of repairing) had to be seen to be believed. As you say, most were rotten 10-15 years ago so as soon as I viewed this one in the metal and saw it still had mint original sills and arches I jumped at it. The other one that tempted me was a B-reg in "Sherwood Toning" (two-tone green and gold), which I think is an awesome combination, but you could see it had been repaired before. And given how these rust, that always puts a question mark on them for me.

[Danny C]

Really enjoyed reading this, Paul.

All your cars are very interesting but I really liked the MK3 Astra. Proper bangernmics motoring. Love it!

[DarrenH]

another great update (although your diesel hate saddens me ) what could be more eighties than MPG being greater than MPH

been following a 944 build on retro rides (which for the last year has been just the engine) motorsport levels of attention to detail inside, well its impressive for the 80s anyway.

[Pigeonrat]

Thanks Danny, love a bit of "bangernomics", although at 28 years old I think the Shed is probably pushing through that and out the other side now, with the Astra G taking its place. My brother has one of those and I can be found driving it occasionally, so I do partake of that too!

another great update (although your diesel hate saddens me ) what could be more eighties than MPG being greater than MPH

been following a 944 build on retro rides (which for the last year has been just the engine) motorsport levels of attention to detail inside, well its impressive for the 80s anyway.

Sorry Darren I'm afraid 12 years of driving diesel vans does that to a person...the noise, the vibration, the smell, the tiny power band...the fact that if there was a pump in the land that didn't have the stuff smeared all over the handle I never found it. If it's any consolation the closest I got to enjoying myself was in the only normally aspirated diesel like yours that I had - a 1999 Movano 2.5D. Since it had no turbo and about 75bhp in a huge van with a surprising amount of grip, you could basically drive it flat out everywhere, just pitch it into corners with your foot buried, left foot braking, racing gear changes, no rev counter to spoil the fun! Even more amusing with a full load of fridges and washing machines on board. Unlike all the turbo diesels that followed it, it never went wrong either, in fact it seemed to thrive on the abuse. I should point out that I am apparently incapable of driving a diesel properly (ie. economically) too, and always seemed to get half the MPG out of the turbo diesels that my colleague did...yet the Shed gives me 45mpg+. Go figure...

Yes, the "TOP" (Thermodynamically Optimised Porsche) engine fitted to the 944s along with the V8 version in the 928s are definitely well engineered. They just feel it when you're driving, a very solid, smooth engine, everything casted nicely and easy to dismantle after 30-odd years with no seized bolts. To be fair to mine, the Porsche bits of it have been very good - pretty much everything that causes trouble on my car has a VW/Audi logo on it. A shame as I fancy a Corrado, but all the failing VAG parts on mine have really put me off.

Though I would make an exception for a UR-quattro if anyone wants to sell one cheap

[DarrenH]

Sorry Darren I'm afraid 12 years of driving diesel vans does that to a person...the noise, the vibration, the smell, the tiny power band...the fact that if there was a pump in the land that didn't have the stuff smeared all over the handle I never found it.

yeah! i quickly learned to start wearing those plastic gloves from the dispenser in the bin next to the pump! the accelerator should be renamed to adjustable top speed pedal, because it doesn't seem to matter how hard or little you press it.