Re: Yet another "what should I buy next?" type of thread..
Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2018 6:39 am
so you didnt buy the dicso? how about this?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264070840053
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264070840053
Practical Classics Magazine fansite
http://practically-classics.co.uk/forum/
http://practically-classics.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6617
which has me concerned as anyone with experience of importing from Japan should know that the grades are based on arbitrary and somewhat subjective factors that tend to vary from one house to another, so a car rated 4 at Okinawa, in the dry, salt-free south, could be a 6 at Hokkaido, whose northerly location means that salt is every bit as likely to have eaten the car as any of the southern English roads would have been, meaning that anything which has survived the salt is graded disproportionately highly for that. Though it's still true that even the Northern cars tend to be better cared for so something that's not especially rot prone here could still be a good buy, provided it has BIMTA papers, a genuine deregistration certificate and no signs of anything beyond the slightest hint of surface rust on replaceable suspension and steering components. Yes, it's also expensive but so are clean, UK market examples and where a car is mirrored in its UK market version, maybe with slight differences in trim levels and options, then at least the insurance folk won't ramp up the premium for a Japanese import, as long as it's not being bought for hauling a large caravan or a car transporter, in which case the Japanese market only frame plate will need to be replaced with a UK version that's stamped with towing weights and a global VIN.this car being rated grade 4 in the Japanese used car grading system.
I would admit that my grey 144DL was less than exciting, but the similar profile of the blue 142S and the green 244GLE? Both of them were about as exciting as it gets with clothes on. As for the early T5s, only the Saab 9000 Carlsson, an example of which was once owned by a mate, offered as much fun in a slightly plain shape. That Swede was far quicker than the same fella's V8 Rover engined Cobra homage car and it had the brakes to rein it in.
It's not mouth soap that I need: Tell you what, you can have the girls and I will have the car, plenty of room in a boring Volvo to.............