Thursday 23 August 2012

Camping with the Capri


Camping with a Capri.....


I have until the end of this month (when the road tax runs out) to use the Capri, and so far have been using it as an every day car so far! Its a fab little motor and I have had no 'real' problems with it other than one...

So anyway, I got my best mates together, and proposed a night in the new forest, taking the Capri, a tent, drinks and food. It was a great night! We got there, set up and were drinking by mid-day. By 6pm I was off my face. We had a roaring camp fire and all was going well, we cooked, drank and played poker until the early hours of the morning.

During which time, our attention turned to the name of the Capri, all my cars have had names, and they are usually based on something funny or predominant about the car (e.g - I had a VW polo called minty). After deciding that she is a low riding, thirsty girl, with 8 previous owners we decided she was a slut, and were looking for slutty girl names. Candice, cindy, etc, etc.....

However, eventually it was decided that she is going to be called Michelle. Why's this? 

She is the Laser edition. And if you haven't seen this scene from dodge ball prepare to be educated.





Yeah the quality of that is pretty poor but you get the idea...


Michelle it is then.

Waking up to a warm august day, mainly due to being hungover and sweating from places I never knew existed, we packed up, showered, ate and got ready, all jumped in the car, turned the ignition and.......

Nothing.

Balls.

I had always been a bit suspicious of how quickly the car turns over when starting, at first I thought it was just a slow starter motor, or just an old car! But nope, turns out it was the battery, which had held out well until the one day when I really needed it. So there we were, car full of stuff, with four people over an hour away from home. 


After rather unsuccessfully trying to 'push start it' I walked around the camp-site to ask fellow campers for a hand, and this is where the Capri magic kicks in! The first bloke I walked up to said

 - "Your the chap with the Capri arn't you? Me and the missis have been talking about it! Lovely car pal!"
Me - "Errm...yeah! I love it!"
- "Yeah had one when I was a lad...I had the 2.8 mind..."
Me - (trying to still be polite, and bring the man out of his childhood memories) "Yeah they are nice....mines dead though, any chance you have some jumper cables I can borrow?

Long story short, the bloke didn't. He went the extra mile, tow started me with his own car, and then went for a quick drive with me in it for a trip down memory lane!

I really does blow me over what a little fan club this car has! Here is a picture of the car (when it started!) with the tow rope. 





Anyway, this was just a quick ramble to show what I have been up to! The next blog will be about the things that have already gone wrong/ been mended and what is going to happen to it in the upcoming weeks!

Stay tuned!




Wednesday 22 August 2012

Well I bought it... (excited rambling)

Following on from my last blog, I bought that exact Capri.


I may possibly be the happiest man alive. That dumb, white, 1980's piece of midlife crisis has actually made me happier than a lot of things can!

First of all, I think a picture is necessary...

You will notice, and its not something I ever really thought about when I was looking at cars, but she is a bit of a land yacht! Its longer than my dad's C class mercedes and bumper to bumper is about the same as a ford mondeo.... yet it only weighs a pinch over a tonne!

When I went to view it, the first thing I noticed was the rust on the front grill,  unfortunately this is from stone chipping that has not been dealt with in quick enough succession, in the pictures this looks quite bad, but its actually just a sand, fill and paint job! Not one panel on the car is rusted more than cosmetically! Which is fantastic! More so because the next thing I am about to tell you is pretty hard to swallow.

One hundred and forty seven THOUSAND miles. 

Near as damn it thats 6 times round the world at the equator!

THE POOR LITTLE LAND BARGE!

I was told by the owner that the engine is original, and he hasn't done anything to it other than change the oil regularly and knows that the head has been converted to unleaded at some point fairly recently. Having said that the engine isn't a write off, its quite a funny little thing to start, when cold it waddles for a little while making a great deal of fuss as you throttle it and try to get the automatic choke to kick in, but then one cylinder catches and SWEET MOTHER OF ALL THAT IS HOLY IT SOUNDS AMAZING! 

To sum up the viewing and buying of the car is this:

1, The body has cosmetic rust, there is no rust whatsoever around the windscreen, underneath, or around the A frames! WINNING! The car is solid, just a little tatty! So I want to correct this before the bloody tin worm infests anywhere else.

2, The drivetrain is good, albeit the engine is a little...used, the gearbox is smooth through all gears, and there are no groans or whines from anywhere in the car. There is a little oil on the bottom of the rear differential but I think that is just a weeping gasket, its something I will check shortly! The brakes are....well it has a peddle in between the clutch and accelerator, I am yet to find a use for it, because it certainly isn't in a rush to slow the car down! A good brake bleed and fluid change is in order me thinks!

3, The interior is all there, the seats are tatty, but I don't really care! Its an old car and I have seen 04' onwards hatchbacks with worse interiors! I am in no rush to get replacing anything, because everything is pretty tidy except the seats have a little tear here and there, and could do with re-padding. But is completely acceptable for me!

4, ITS A CAPRI. I know this is not what you should go for a car on, but its a lovely car, the lines are just right on it! And dare I call it...sexy? Ive had it about 24 hours now, and I have had six people come compliment me on it. When filling it with petrol (which is a story in itself!*) I got a wolf whistle! (Or rather the car did!) Its a joy to drive, and once the little niggles are sorted she will be a pleasure to own. 

5, I paid £700 for it. I COULD GET THAT IN RUDDY PARTS FOR IT!

I will keep updating as things are done to her! Anyway, here are a few more pictures of her sitting in the drive. I ate lunch in the garden today, just smiling at it! I really am that sad!

*The petrol cap was seized on....I don't think its been filled up since 1987!


Tuesday 14 August 2012

"When one door closes, another door opens." I knew I shouldn't have wasted money on this car.

Well here it is! The advert you have always dreamed of!


Found this little gem after searching ebay, gumtree, practical classics, etc, etc, etc...

First thing to do, and I hate to say this, but do your homework! Work out which car you want, then work out how much you can spend on buying it, then how much you can spend on running it!

After deciding that I wanted a MKIII Capri, I also decided to go for either the 1.6 or the 2.0 litre pinto range, rather than the monstrous and thirsty V6's. I want to drive this car quite often, I am also 21, and insurance companies like to wash their hands of anyone wanting to drive a car with more than 100 stallions under the bonnet unless you are of the grey, thinning hair type of people. 

So wanting to keep my premiums under £3800 a year (a genuine quote for a 2.8i!), I settled for the 74bhp 1.6, with a nice comfortable premium of just £280 a year, fully comp. Im a happy chappy! 

The second thing you need to do, is work out how much work you will to do to the car, now the one you can see in the above picture is the car I am actually going to view tomorrow! I haven't seen it yet, all I have to work on is that auto-trader advert. It seems to be in good condition, minus corrosion on the front valance and grills. From the offset I didn't want a complete restoration job, but a car that was a little tatty, didn't require total restoration, could be driven and was capable of becoming a beauty with my budget. 

I have worked out that four things could cost me big with this car

1, It has done 147,000 miles on the original engine. 
2, The front valance looks shot.
3, It has a tow hook....possible hard life? Caravans?
4, It has a sports exhaust fitted? Has it been ragged to within an inch of its life?

These are the four big questions buzzing round my head at the moment, along with the screaming child saying

OHMYGOD,ITSACAPRI!!!,JAMES, GET UP, NOW, GO BUY IT, ITS WHITE, ITS A CAPRI, ITS CHEAP, AND 3 MILES AWAY! 

DID I MENTION ITS A CAPRI?!?!?!?!


After suppressing this, and maybe even a cold shower, I wrote a check-list for when I am viewing the car tomorrow:

 This cam about after having a quick look at forums, and general second hand car buying tips.


Yes that is three pages, double sided.





Its about an 80 point check, and involves checking electrics, bodywork, suspension, drivetrain and so on...

I am taking a friend with me who has run and practically re-built his own landrover, so knows a little more about mechanics first hand than me! It is worth taking someone with you anyway, as they help to spot faults that you may not pick up!

Im am actually very excited about tomorrow! But I don't want to buy a lump of **** so next to each of those points on the list, I am going to either put a tick if its ok, or an estimated amount of how much it would cost to put that area/ item right, this amount can then be taken off to the offer price, or added to the budget of the car. Seeing as this is an £800 car anyway, I think I may struggle to take too much off as you can buy un-roadworthy Capri's at this price!

Anyway! Tomorrow I shall get back to you all either with or without a new car!

Wish me luck!

Monday 13 August 2012

Oranges and lemons

Since I was about 4 until 12 years old we lived in the Shetland Islands, which in itself isn't terribly interesting, but bare with me this does go somewhere...


Image Property of  model-marque.com
I was born in Dorchester, Dorset, my whole family comes from either Dorset or Sheffield, and we moved up to the Island of few trees and much wind due to fathers job. This meant one thing, many, many hours of being locked up in the back of a car, trolling from one end of the country to the other. I spent a lot of my childhood in cars, not to mention that my family had a small budget, so all auto repairs were done by my dad, who I watched take apart engines and put them back together with wide eyed 7 year old enthusiasm.

As a horrible side effect and I am totally addicted to cars, to the point where I bore people to near on tears. I always wanted to drive and therefore on my 17th birthday I was out learning ASAP! And now I am at the age where I can afford to buy a stupid stupid lemon of a car.

So how did I come to the decision of a Capri?

My perfect five car garage would consist of:

1, 1950's VW Split Screen camper
2, Austin Mini cooper (not that daft BMW)
3, Ford Capri, MKIII
4,1960's VW Beetle
5,Triumph Stag

I am 21. I am as near enough as is socially acceptable, unemployed, and I have only £1000 for a car. 

Well Capri it is then! 

I came to this conclusion about two years ago, and have been on and off searching for a Capri ever since... 

I would like to make this totally clear now, I have never dabbled in the second hand car market, I am no experienced mechanic, I just like cars, and want to bring you through the whole experience of buying, owning, maintaining, certain death due to aforementioned maintenance, and the joy of owning a car you have always dreamt of.