What would you buy & why?

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Grumpy Northener
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Re: Yet another "what should I buy next?" type of thread..

#11 Post by Grumpy Northener » Tue Mar 14, 2017 11:04 pm

[quoteChris, that 1952 car has to be cheap at under £5k :o , which certainly leaves plenty of space to purchase and adapt an auto box from something Japanese, RWD and fairly modern. But is a sub-£5k Javelin really going to be substantially rust free and is its interior likely to be salvageable?][/quote]

John from what I can recall it's a nice solid car - the interiors came up pretty good - mine is still wearing its original 65 year interior - not perfect but serviceable - all pretty straight forward to sort - headlining's tend to go on them but very straight forward - I keep a master pattern and no windows to remove to fit it - providing the shell structure is solid it's a very fair price - if you get serious and like the sound of it I don't mind going and having a look at it for you
1937 Jowett 8 - Project - in less pieces than the Jupiter
1943 Jowett Stationary Engine
1952 Jowett Jupiter - In lots of peices http://Jowett.org/
1952 Jowett Javelin - Largely original
1973 Rover P6 V8 - Original / 22,000 miles

GHT
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Re: Yet another "what should I buy next?" type of thread..

#12 Post by GHT » Wed Mar 15, 2017 6:45 am

VW vans have a low floor:A bit short on interior space, unless your name is Dr. Who.
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JPB
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Re: Yet another "what should I buy next?" type of thread..

#13 Post by JPB » Wed Mar 15, 2017 9:26 am

Chris; thank you. A car that started as a rank outsider suddenly becomes a viable option!

GHT, I've owned an aircooled VW van, a 1970 "loaf". That van was solid, mechanically perfect and very well looked after but was a complete ba5tard and represents one of the worst periods of my entire life thus far. The late Mrs and I travelled the entire coastline of the country from the Solway firth clockwise to the border on the A1 just below Burnmouth in that van one summer and it was horrid to drive as a result of its flat steering wheel combined with limited legroom vertically, which made it quite literally painful if driven for longer than a few miles at a time, with my knees splayed as that damned wheel meant that I couldn't tuck my legs up by my head as I used to do in my Thames Trader to drive that almost comfortably.

But I guess the VW was always going to appear in this thread so thanks for getting that out of the way, so clearing the path for alternatives that I may not have driven or owned yet. Not that the ideal candidate has to be something I've not owned previously, it's just that I like the idea of trying new (to me) makes and models.
8-)

:idea: Has anyone owned or driven a Barkas by any chance? Being blessed with a 2 stroke engine, these would at least allow for clutchless gear changes once on the move thanks to the freewheel mechanism and that's an argument I'd happily take to the DVLA if necessary!
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

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Grumpy Northener
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Re: Yet another "what should I buy next?" type of thread..

#14 Post by Grumpy Northener » Wed Mar 15, 2017 10:07 am

Has anyone owned or driven a Barkas by any chance? Being blessed with a 2 stroke engine, these would at least allow for clutchless gear changes once on the move thanks to the freewheel mechanism and that's an argument I'd happily take to the DVLA if necessary!
John - Not driven one but I know of one and it's for sale cheap - not seen it but it belongs to Theo Gillam who is one of the longstanding freelance writers for PC - can find out some more details should you wish
1937 Jowett 8 - Project - in less pieces than the Jupiter
1943 Jowett Stationary Engine
1952 Jowett Jupiter - In lots of peices http://Jowett.org/
1952 Jowett Javelin - Largely original
1973 Rover P6 V8 - Original / 22,000 miles

GHT
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Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 3:09 pm

Re: Yet another "what should I buy next?" type of thread..

#15 Post by GHT » Wed Mar 15, 2017 3:28 pm

JPB wrote:
Wed Mar 15, 2017 9:26 am
But I guess the VW was always going to appear in this thread so thanks for getting that out of the way, so clearing the path for alternatives that I may not have driven or owned yet. Not that the ideal candidate has to be something I've not owned previously, it's just that I like the idea of trying new (to me) makes and models.
Actually I'm with you on VW vans, they might build strong reliable, if somewhat boring cars, but until they went into partnership with Mercedes and shared van design and build costs, their commercial small vans were way behind the opposition. I ran a fleet of them back in the 1980's. What a bag of nails they were.
You seem to have reached your choice with Chris' help, but for future reference, and for anybody else, there's a place that sells commercials by auction, whether it's a van, a crewbus, an ambulance, or camper, you will likely find it there. It's a dispersal site for fleet operators, so you have to have your wits about you. White van man, by definition, isn't the most fastidious of drivers. Here's the link.
https://www.auctioneers.co.uk/for-sale/ ... oC3QXw_wcB


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JPB
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Re: Yet another "what should I buy next?" type of thread..

#17 Post by JPB » Wed Mar 15, 2017 6:28 pm

Grumpy Northener wrote:
Wed Mar 15, 2017 10:07 am
...

John - Not driven one but I know of one and it's for sale cheap - not seen it but it belongs to Theo Gillam who is one of the longstanding freelance writers for PC - can find out some more details should you wish
Yes please! It may be totally the wrong size to fit me comfortably but unless I have information from an actual owner of such a thing, including an idea of how much effort is involved in pushing down the clutch (I can supply the fish balance for that if need be), then I'll only spend the rest of my life wondering what could have been.
One modern car is sufficient thanks. ;) But in terms of older stuff, commercials are of interest.
I can see myself ending up with another older Toyota replacing the one I just sold, their commercials are all available with factory auto options and if the UK version has already rotted away, I wouldn't hesitate to buy another import given how positive my experience with the daily car continues to be.
So I also have my yahoo.jp proxy agent looking at average prices realised by these over the past few years:

Image

See the low floor with high roof proportions? That's why the bB works as my daily car and also why a Mitsubishi like the cute small one above would fit the bill as a second, occasional use vehicle.
But a Barkas would be cool too, IMHO, even though they're probably common by comparison to '60s Japanese stuff.

Worst case scenario? My next door neighbour's drive has recently sprouted a Beetle (automatic) where there was an empty space. That car is on sale at a shade over £400 (no, I didn't miss a zero, that's four hundred!) and it has a year of well earned MOT, new tyres and is fully functional. I could add value to that.
But it's an old VW so something is almost sure to fall off or catch fire if I buy it. :|


Rich, thanks for those. I would find getting down into a R25 quite painful at the moment but they are fantastic cars, however the daily car should ideally have something significantly older to keep it company, I'm thinking that "too new" should mean anything built since 1990, which means that it would be possible to avoid ECUs, fuel injection and the usual excess of complexity found in today's motors.

Trouble is, I'm receiving a great many solid suggestions both here and at a couple of other fora that I visit and consequently, my mind is now at its maximum capacity with the overflow alarm on the verge of sounding. That said, more weirdness would be good.
8-)
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

rich.
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Re: Yet another "what should I buy next?" type of thread..

#18 Post by rich. » Wed Mar 15, 2017 8:23 pm

one car i have always fancied is the mazda bongo friendee.. who could resist that?? meanwhile i will continue in my search for the ultimate wierdness ;)

kawasaki kid
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Re: Yet another "what should I buy next?" type of thread..

#19 Post by kawasaki kid » Wed Mar 15, 2017 8:46 pm

I owned a Ford Freda for over nine years - only sold it because the kids grew up and then I bought a Mondeo estate. :D

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JPB
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Re: Yet another "what should I buy next?" type of thread..

#20 Post by JPB » Wed Mar 15, 2017 8:57 pm

:thumbs:

The Bongo Friendee/Ford Freda is a good van to drive, I enjoyed the one I tried though there wasn't really enough legroom and the seat was as high as it appeared to go, leading to my adopting that knees around the ears position yet again, but even the better examples I saw had seen some welding action relatively early in their lives, even when they were from the hot, salt-free southern areas of Japan. Not that many Bongos are left out there, these days, most of them are in the stock of UK dealers who seem to shift them easily enough, though if I wanted something that new, I'd go for the 4x4 Hi-Ace of similar age as it's not so likely to rot and options include an indoor shower, just the job for cleaning up after an energetic dogg walking session I should think.

Keep weird s**t coming please, if you look at a tall car, small van or similar and think "Man, that's hideous!" then chances are it'll appeal to my taste.
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

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