This is a story that started about eight months ago when my brother and I were looking for a suitable project car for us to prep, ready for his 17th birthday, and a hopefully inevitable test passage.
Looking into insurance – that prime consideration for any young driver, it appeared that a retro was the way forward, specifically the Morris Minor, proper Mini and the Beetle. We ignored all of these and trekked to Cambridge to buy a 1984 Porsche 924, which I was tasked with checking over and driving back.
Being a Porsche fan, this was no great chore and just reminded me why I like these cars so much. Not quick, but spritely enough to have fun in, and really balanced handling with brakes that work pretty well for something that 30 years old.
Anyway, roll on a bit, my MGF (bought off here for about 50p) had gone and royally stuffed itself and was beyond economic repair, so having broken and scrapped it I was left with a spot on the drive and nothing to tinker with.
I tentatively hit the classifieds, and on our old friend eBay I found my next toy; A dutch import 924 2.0l complete with non-running status and left hand drive. Perfect!
After a chat with the owner, I established that he’d bought it over in Holland, driven it for a bit, got a job in London, moved, spent some money on it, broken it, then left it on his drive. After viewing some high res photos of it, I retired to the pub, bid on it and won the auction.
I paid the bloke by paypal (seems weird to do that on something as big as a car), and found a nice Pilipino gentleman to deliver it from London to Leicester for £130.
I was pleasantly surprised with what I’d bought (this hasn’t always been the case – step forward the rusty 944 I bought from a man down the pub, a story for another time). He wasn’t lying – it didn’t run. But it wasn’t down to the fuel pump like he thought, but more the remains of an 80’s alarm system. The paint is fairly recent, and there isn’t any rust on it, the interior is fairly tidy and it all seems good mechanically. Here it is...
Shiny engine:
Funny temp gauge and original radio:
And what could this be???
More later...
Looking into insurance – that prime consideration for any young driver, it appeared that a retro was the way forward, specifically the Morris Minor, proper Mini and the Beetle. We ignored all of these and trekked to Cambridge to buy a 1984 Porsche 924, which I was tasked with checking over and driving back.
Being a Porsche fan, this was no great chore and just reminded me why I like these cars so much. Not quick, but spritely enough to have fun in, and really balanced handling with brakes that work pretty well for something that 30 years old.
Anyway, roll on a bit, my MGF (bought off here for about 50p) had gone and royally stuffed itself and was beyond economic repair, so having broken and scrapped it I was left with a spot on the drive and nothing to tinker with.
I tentatively hit the classifieds, and on our old friend eBay I found my next toy; A dutch import 924 2.0l complete with non-running status and left hand drive. Perfect!
After a chat with the owner, I established that he’d bought it over in Holland, driven it for a bit, got a job in London, moved, spent some money on it, broken it, then left it on his drive. After viewing some high res photos of it, I retired to the pub, bid on it and won the auction.
I paid the bloke by paypal (seems weird to do that on something as big as a car), and found a nice Pilipino gentleman to deliver it from London to Leicester for £130.
I was pleasantly surprised with what I’d bought (this hasn’t always been the case – step forward the rusty 944 I bought from a man down the pub, a story for another time). He wasn’t lying – it didn’t run. But it wasn’t down to the fuel pump like he thought, but more the remains of an 80’s alarm system. The paint is fairly recent, and there isn’t any rust on it, the interior is fairly tidy and it all seems good mechanically. Here it is...
Shiny engine:
Funny temp gauge and original radio:
And what could this be???
More later...
...that temp gauge is a bit of an oddity though?
I should probably sell mine to fund the running costs on my Boxster but I it's fantastic fun and a joy to work on so I'm going to hang on to it.