Some years ago I bought a 1964 998cc Mini Morris Cooper MK1 that was tarten red with a black roof in colour & was some what boy racer-ed up with alloys, bucket seats, engine modifications, roll cage, aftermarket mirrors etc etc.
Having bought it my father said it had surely been re painted as although there was a red and black one when new in 1964, the colour was a different shade. My father bought one new in the same year in almond green/old english white roof & wheels.
Due to this I contacted DVLA to find out for sure & at my enjoyment my father was right, but also the original colour was the exact same as the one he bought new all those years ago.
I set about totally stripping the car & revitalising it back to its original condition & specification. OK it took around 12 months & the rolling shell was at the paint shop for 4/5 months but is was worth it for the end result.
For the time afterwards it was a joy & pleasure to own & run but then the time had come where I wanted something more refined as well as larger.
This is where I made a BIG mistake.......LOL !
I put a for sale sign in the window & within days the car was sold to a guy who although had the funds to buy it, I later realised he new nothing of what he had bought, as in only a month later I saw the car back with big alloys, big aftermarket mirrors, a loud exhaust the bumpers replaced for later ones.
While some of those modifications could be returned back to standard, the mirrors could not as the original car had no mirrors fitted to the door side.
Some years have gone on & now & again I wonder if that car is still going now & if so what does it look like.
It just goes to show, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder !
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Heh heh redils... one of the prettiest cars I ever owned was a Renault 18 GTX estate in pale silver with brown glass. Got it from a trader in Dagenham for £2000 and my father's low-mileage but drum-braked khaki Marina 1300 coupe.
Although the car looked just right in its factory livery once the doors had been properly aligned and the cracked headlamp replaced, the trader had thought it a bit drab and stuck red and blue go-slower stripes down both sides, to truly appalling effect. His own car was a stripe-bedecked fat Ford Mustang, and before I had left Dagenham a tyre fitter had worked out for himself where my car had come from, and confided to me that the trader's local nickname was 'Flash'. Fortunately the stripes came off without damaging the paintwork and I threw them away as soon as I got home. A passer-by immediately splashed some fairly harmless pink paint on the car, traces of which I was careful to leave when I cleaned it off. The joys of metropolitan life...
It was an extremely good car too, rapid, comfortable and economical. Renaults are great.
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"It was an extremely good car too, rapid, comfortable and economical. Renaults are great."
Well said, m'Lud. Two of my seven Renaults were 18GTX estates: with a 2-litre engine in a body designed for a 1.6, they went like a bomb. That was a particularly good example of a petrol engine with excellent low-down torque. I should think the current Laguna 2.0 DCI estate is quite similar; if they held their value better I'd consider going back to Renault.
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The GTX was particularly plush.
I had to make do with a GTL Estate with the 2.1 diesel. Rare in those days, but great pull. But the engine was a heavy old lump and hung out in front of the front wheels, so understeer was the name of the game! Comfortable, though, in the old French way.
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If you know the reg. no. type it into the Vehicle Enquiry side-tab....
www.taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/?SKIN=direc...v
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If you know the reg. no. type it into the Vehicle Enquiry side-tab.... www.taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/?SKIN=direc...v
Thank you Hamsafar for that link, Gosh I will hope I can find some old picture's tucked away in an old box somewhere to reveal the registration number.
If I do I will post my findings,
Thanks again, redils
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I saw my old E30 BMW 318 a while after I'd traded it in.
Big wheels, accident damage, ironing board spoiler bolted to the bootlid and various other indignities.
Ina way, it was like seeing an ex girlfriend on a street corner, swinging a handbag... :)
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I saw my old E30 BMW 318 a while after I'd traded it in. Big wheels accident damage ironing board spoiler bolted to the bootlid and various other indignities. Ina way it was like seeing an ex girlfriend on a street corner swinging a handbag... :)
Good One Ian, LOL !
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