It's not all doom...
Aug. 7th, 2016 01:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edwardsA lot of posts lately have been about emotions. It's like all the things that make an EdwardS an EdwardS have been hidden, perhaps because it seemed like it had become a one-track record.
So aside from all that stuff (which I will reply to people about later now life is calming down), the music and cars have not been forgotten. Mostly cars.
I bought a Jaguar XJS project in August last year. It had dumped all the coolant, allegedly had a blown head gasket. V12. Head gasket.
V12.
Head gasket.
But it seemed solid and stuff. It got ignored for a few months because every time I opened the bonnet and looked at the engine, I cried a bit and ran away. In April though, I had a friend at work wanting to see it so the plan was, put water in, wait for steam from the exhaust. There was no steam. There was no steam after 40 minutes. However, there was a stream of water coming from a pipe union that had detached.
Reconnected, the car sat happily. So it was driven around the farm. It still didn't show any signs of a blown head gasket. Took it for an MoT. It passed. From "head gasket project" to "roadworthy" in 10 minutes with no costs...
Thing is though, it's a V12 Jaguar. I'm not a British car person. They rust, they're badly made. So I put it up for sale...
And actually made a profit that almost covers losses on some other stupid things, like the VW New Beetle I bought partly to let someone learn to drive that turned out to be shit. Entropy hit the rest of the cars, though, so I got rid of some, and now I have a replacement.
The XJS:
I did about 800 miles in it, which at 17mpg was "enough". 17mpg though? I should get something far more sensible, right?
Doh! Well, at least Mercedes are reliable, right...
*sigh*
Actually it works fine. but it does, er, about 17mpg. The thing is, it is a V8-powered beast that is carrying a good tonne more than it needs to to be a conveyance. Yes, it can move quickly, but even at 70mph, it's got to carry more weight for the same result.
Fortunately, a solution may have appeared. Technically interesting and made by Mercedes, so well within my comfort zone, cheap enough that if I don't like it, I can just put it in a corner of the garage as a "historically interesting" car, and definitely not trying to carry too much weight to move one person and their shopping around. Arguably I'm not reducing my fleet unless I get rid of the hearse and long-term project (as in, haven't done anything with it) Renault Twingo, but I don't feel so much pressure to reduce as "rationalise") - and I'm down to six cars now, with an end goal of four.
Six currently:
1993 Mercedes 500 SEC - for long drives and ridiculous comfort, but useless in town, can't park it anywhere, does single-digit MPG in urban congestion. It needs mild restoration, but it cost about £90,000 new in 1993 - my first 3-bedroom house, for comparison, cost £41,000 in 1995.
1998 Mercedes SLK 230 - needs no explanation, I love this car and won't part with it, but it does need some time off the road to refurbish the interior and service the gearbox, and ideally, replace the front wings and deal with any rust.
1993 Vauxhall (Eagle) Statesman Hearse - this is not long for this world, it's going to fail the MoT this month on extensive rust and is such a design that repair would be insanely expensive. If it does pass the MoT it will get one Whitby.
1997 MG F - completely, utterly rotten.
2002 Renault Twingo Mk 1 - a car not sold in the UK, cute, minimalist, LHD proper French simplicity, except being a 2002 it had a more sophisticated engine than I expected when I took it on with a blown head gasket. I might fix it yet.
And incoming, new economical car from 1998.
What I'd like to end up with.
SLK - because. SEC - because it's a classic and needs restoration and saving. Economical daily car, which will probably be a Mercedes A-class (again) or C180 Estate. The incoming economical car can be forgotten if I don't like it. And ideally, I want a Mercedes 500SL again - 1989-1992 model. That's unlikely though, but if there's one thing this year has shown me, it IS possible to save for a goal - even if that goal is misguided and stupid. The other thing I've decided is that apart from random, long-term, potentially profitable or low stress projects, I am sticking to Mercedes cars only. Even if they're from a period of bad build quality, I still understand how to fix them.
So aside from all that stuff (which I will reply to people about later now life is calming down), the music and cars have not been forgotten. Mostly cars.
I bought a Jaguar XJS project in August last year. It had dumped all the coolant, allegedly had a blown head gasket. V12. Head gasket.
V12.
Head gasket.
But it seemed solid and stuff. It got ignored for a few months because every time I opened the bonnet and looked at the engine, I cried a bit and ran away. In April though, I had a friend at work wanting to see it so the plan was, put water in, wait for steam from the exhaust. There was no steam. There was no steam after 40 minutes. However, there was a stream of water coming from a pipe union that had detached.
Reconnected, the car sat happily. So it was driven around the farm. It still didn't show any signs of a blown head gasket. Took it for an MoT. It passed. From "head gasket project" to "roadworthy" in 10 minutes with no costs...
Thing is though, it's a V12 Jaguar. I'm not a British car person. They rust, they're badly made. So I put it up for sale...
And actually made a profit that almost covers losses on some other stupid things, like the VW New Beetle I bought partly to let someone learn to drive that turned out to be shit. Entropy hit the rest of the cars, though, so I got rid of some, and now I have a replacement.
The XJS:
I did about 800 miles in it, which at 17mpg was "enough". 17mpg though? I should get something far more sensible, right?
Doh! Well, at least Mercedes are reliable, right...
*sigh*
Actually it works fine. but it does, er, about 17mpg. The thing is, it is a V8-powered beast that is carrying a good tonne more than it needs to to be a conveyance. Yes, it can move quickly, but even at 70mph, it's got to carry more weight for the same result.
Fortunately, a solution may have appeared. Technically interesting and made by Mercedes, so well within my comfort zone, cheap enough that if I don't like it, I can just put it in a corner of the garage as a "historically interesting" car, and definitely not trying to carry too much weight to move one person and their shopping around. Arguably I'm not reducing my fleet unless I get rid of the hearse and long-term project (as in, haven't done anything with it) Renault Twingo, but I don't feel so much pressure to reduce as "rationalise") - and I'm down to six cars now, with an end goal of four.
Six currently:
1993 Mercedes 500 SEC - for long drives and ridiculous comfort, but useless in town, can't park it anywhere, does single-digit MPG in urban congestion. It needs mild restoration, but it cost about £90,000 new in 1993 - my first 3-bedroom house, for comparison, cost £41,000 in 1995.
1998 Mercedes SLK 230 - needs no explanation, I love this car and won't part with it, but it does need some time off the road to refurbish the interior and service the gearbox, and ideally, replace the front wings and deal with any rust.
1993 Vauxhall (Eagle) Statesman Hearse - this is not long for this world, it's going to fail the MoT this month on extensive rust and is such a design that repair would be insanely expensive. If it does pass the MoT it will get one Whitby.
1997 MG F - completely, utterly rotten.
2002 Renault Twingo Mk 1 - a car not sold in the UK, cute, minimalist, LHD proper French simplicity, except being a 2002 it had a more sophisticated engine than I expected when I took it on with a blown head gasket. I might fix it yet.
And incoming, new economical car from 1998.
What I'd like to end up with.
SLK - because. SEC - because it's a classic and needs restoration and saving. Economical daily car, which will probably be a Mercedes A-class (again) or C180 Estate. The incoming economical car can be forgotten if I don't like it. And ideally, I want a Mercedes 500SL again - 1989-1992 model. That's unlikely though, but if there's one thing this year has shown me, it IS possible to save for a goal - even if that goal is misguided and stupid. The other thing I've decided is that apart from random, long-term, potentially profitable or low stress projects, I am sticking to Mercedes cars only. Even if they're from a period of bad build quality, I still understand how to fix them.
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Date: 2016-08-07 09:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-08 09:47 pm (UTC)