Cars

To go along with my incredible array of vehicular history, I went to volkswagen once more, more specifically, back to the spanish built volkswagen partner, Seat. A 2001 Seat Ibiza Chill no less.

Again a little 1.4 – new shape, new interior, dash etc. This time with Pumping Stereo! Replacement speakers throughout! Dynamamt sound insulation slapped over every panel! Hand crafted stealth shelf! Rear wheel spacers! Climate Control!

This little fella was great, I got robbed by Carland for this one, because I had to get credit. The car was brilliant though – 40000 miles and £5000, absolutely immaculate throughout – and mega reliable to boot. Although my previous motor got killed (possibly by Jon), this one was a right proper one, and I did 30,000 miles in it, and also Maria (my girlfirend) learnt to drive in it (a bit).

Flogged it recently for about £2200 at 70,000 miles, which is less than 10 pence per mile. Not including credit robbery.

I would wholeheartedly recommend a Seat as a cheaper alternative to a VW, with equivalent reliability – they share engines after all, and all of the equipment is manufactured by VW anyway. It is built by spaniards, and as Maria will tell you, – they aint all bad!

Make sure you get one with low miles though – no more than 40k on the clock or you’ll have to do gaskets, cam belts, exhaust…brakes…..  no different to any other car really.

I quite miss her actually

Alfasud Sprint Coupe

What can I say about my little baby?

Lots.

I bought her for £400 in 1999, and then had to spend about 4 months respraying her by hand, using cellulose cans. This does not work very well. The paintwork was minging, faded, chipped and scratched, and looked marginally better byt he tie I had finished. The engine had sat for years in a garage. The rust had penetrated every pore of the untreated cheap italian steel. It was a nightmare of maintenance and despair, rotting from the inside out.

And I was in love.

1) Stereo.

2) Subwoofer

3) speaker pods + tweets

4) racing harness

5) steering wheel

6) Ansa exhaust

7) door lock actuators and remote alarm.

And then I just drove her. Miles and miles, everywhere, I gave up drinking just so I could drive my car everywhere. I had to take the indicator stalk mechaism to pieces because the lights starting going out. Think taking a watch to pieces with chopsticks, and a hammer, and you’re nearly there.

But with every beginning, follows an end. The rust got too much and we had to get rid of her circa 2001. Tears before bedtime. My fondest memories of teenage years were behind the wheel of this vehicle.

My very first car – a Peugeot 309 xe 1.1.

Bought in or around 1996 sometime, I shared this one with my mum – and it really was a good car: It only cost £1200 and it had only done 50,000 miles and was in pretty much immaculate condition. If I drove it gently, we could get silly fuel economy, and I and my friends would cruise around many a night, surviving on McDonalds and Chocolate Frijjs.

I christened her “y’bastard”, so I could simultaneously address her politely, and curse her for not starting immediately in cold weather (usually because I had flooded the cylinders.)

We went through a lot – me and this car, not only did I add the obligatory stereo, ampifier, and subwoofer combination, this one got a classy addition of aluminium footpedals and a racing style steering wheel. And a CB radio. Class in a can!

Many a night was spent rolling around in this little style wagon of plenty, with my friends (Andy Shep, Mark to the Gleds, Matty, and Dave H to name but a few of them).

I also had one of the most upsetting moments of my life in it, when I was hijacked by an assumed “friend of a friend” passenger who robbed my friends, kicked them out and forced me to drive around for 3 hours, looking for someone who’d buy my car. No shit. It’s an amazing sight seeing 5 police cars emerge from the five entrances onto the golf store roundabout on the A30 near Camberley; and getting shut off by them. Relief? I could have pooed myself right there!!!!

And that is the story of how the police got hold of my DNA!

This car later dropped its coolant, which I duly replaced with water, and forgot to add antifreeze before winter. After many years, the water simply froze, the engine had been split in two, and I drove it until the engine literally split and seized. Cracking car this – many great memories.