My Mk1 1.2 decided to expire the other week there, and I was left car-less. As many of you will know, this cannot do, nor can owning something made after 2007. Therefore, I've been out and bought this.

Things it isn't: newer than my last one, in a colour I'd have liked, and most critically, it isn't functional either.

Things it is: better specification, has a longer MOT, didn't cost the earth, and has had a recent cambelt. Oh yeah, and it has knob in the number plate.

A belt? I hear you ask, one would presume I'd bought another 1.2 12v, but no, I've taken it one step further.

Yaaaaaaarp she's a 1.4 16v, baby! 100 raging ponies... allegedly. Goes like hell when it works at least.

Critically, it's a really clean old thing, with 87k on the clock. Dead posh too, with heated seats, heated mirrors, heated washer jets, ice cold air conditioning, alloy wheels, and parking sensors!

It's not far off being quite the minter I don't think, bodywork needs minimal attention. Interior needs a couple of trim pieces, etc. that I can take from the red one without affecting its functionality (more on this soon) but it's no more than a couple days' work.

As alluded to previously though, I'm having a couple of teething issues with this car. Yes, it was cheap (always important), but I didn't quite expect for it to lose all throttle response on the M6 and it has done a couple of times since then too. It's currently with my mechanic who is struggling to replicate the faults, but I've handed him a printout of the fault codes. It's either an earthing issue, an unknown vacuum leak (checked servo line and it's fine), or an ECU fault. If all else fails, either one of these three godawful possibilities can be sorted fairly cheaply as my mate down in Dumfries & Galloway as quite a few parts for these BBZ engines.

I've not got the modification bug for this one like I did for the red one, and I'm okay with that. Primarily I just want to make sure it's as good as it can be without deviating from originality if I can help it. Exciting stuff, I know.

You have chosen well.

Just the wrong colour 🤣

You must've gone a long way for that... Its a Deeside registration!

Not sure I could drive a Knob registration... 🤣

You could just buy this silver estate too, make a matching set

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19 minutes ago, skomaz said:

You must've gone a long way for that... Its a Deeside registration!

Not sure I could drive a Knob registration... 🤣

Bought it from Radcliffe! Started life supplied by Robert Eardley & Sons and went to someone in Sandbach who owned it for quite some time. I'm keeper number 5, but the last two have spent decent money before parting ways - not sure how to look at that yet.

Main thing is that it's tidier than my last one. I was going to put my own plate on, but I might keep the knob reg for a laugh.