Well, it's time to make some plans I think. Being in a situation where (all being well!) we shouldn't have to move again for the forseeable future, for the first time I can start really considering some actually longer term plans for the fleet.
For the short term though, the plan is simplification. Currently I've got four cars - that's way too many.
[] Skoda. Will finish polishing the "leopard print" matt finish it currently has courtesy of a local hand car wash back to normality, throw a fresh thermostat in it and see if that sorts the intermittent overheating issue. If it does, I'll toss it at my local garage and hopefully get a year's test on it - after that, it's getting sold. If it doesn't sort the overheating issue - it'll be getting sold (cheaper, obviously) as it stands. I've just reached a point where I really don't want to invest any more time in it - especially as I already know that I'm probably going to be losing the best part of a grand when I sell it (optimistically). This car cost me a lot to buy, and has cost me a small fortune in "little bits and pieces" in the time I've had it. It's probably at the point now where the next owner will have a far easier time of it...but I've run out of patience, and for some reason just never really developed the attachment to it I'd hoped.
[] Saab. Much as it pains me, I think it's time for me to move on. I've owned the 900 since 2012, and put somewhere in the region of 20K miles on it. Other than the 107, I've never owned another car longer. She's getting to the point now though where she really needs some proper time spent on the bodywork to keep her in good shape for the next few years. It's work that needs more finesse than I currently have, especially as it requires sorting paint out in a few places.
Currently she's parked up in the corner following the spectacular failure of the cylinder head gasket. My immediate plan is to pull her out of the corner once the Skoda's gone and give her a very thorough pre-MOT inspection. If no major rust concerns have developed in the last year, I'll pull the head off and see what I find. Hopefully it will be a simple case of needing to clean stuff up and throw the new head gasket on, as it was "overdue" based on what I've heard of their usual life expectancy, and the engine has never at least in my ownership ever got even close to overheating.
If my pre-MOT inspection results in me poking holes in the driveshaft tunnels (the real weak point on the classic 900 in rust terms), or I find any real horrors when I pull the head off, she'll be sold on as a project. If I find no horrors, she'll be sold on as roadworthy with a year's test. Two nearly new tyres (£200 odd), less than year old exhaust (£300) and a two year old battery (£100) are in there for starters...
[] 107. Unknown. I need to talk this one over with the rest of the family and have a good think about it. The thing which is blindingly obvious to me is that now my husband isn't commuting by car, it's barely getting used. Most use it's seen in the last couple of months was me doing local stuff for a couple of weeks when the Lada's injection system was playing games with me.
It's also somewhat limited in scope as to what I can use it for. I can't really take the whole family (four adults, two of whom are pretty tall) any long distances in comfort in it, nor can I fit the dog or bikes in the back. Those factors, the fact it's barely being used, and is probably worth by quite a margin more than anything else in the fleet are all facts which might tend to make me think it's time to move it on.
[] Lada. It's safe! Once I've sold the Skoda I'll use some of the cash from that to get it into a bodyshop to get the new wings on and painted, and maybe tick a few other detail jobs off as well. Everything that car needs is really just "making it properly presentable" rather than life or death stuff.
That would leave me with one car. One car which while fine for local duties (I don't generally do many miles these days), is a classic that I don't want to use for every dirty job, and isn't an ideal companion for family road trips - especially ones with dog. So there will most likely be a more compatible vehicle number 2 bought to fill that slot. My intention is mainly for this to be an early Cherokee - though *if* I can find one that's both priced right, well specced and not utterly wrecked, I may also give serious consideration to a Rover 75 Estate. Likewise a Xantia Estate - though high specced, reasonably priced Xantia estates without interstellar mileages on aren't exactly a common sight - and I'm slightly wary of picking up another Xantia as the *main* car simply due to the less than stellar record Citroen have for parts provision - I also know I have a lot to still learn about them. It needs: Large enough boot that I can stick a German Shepherd in there for journeys of up to a couple of hours comfortably, air con so the dog doesn't cook on said journey, comfy leather seats, ride that doesn't destroy my spine, and to be at least somewhat interesting. Classy enough interior to feature wood is also a bonus.
That will leave me with the Lada, a *reasonably* sensible Daily Driver (okay...fine...dirty jobs or winter), and a potential slot for the longer term show etc vehicle.
[] Long Term plan.
It's an idea that's been in my head since I was about 12 years old, but I want to buy a vintage coach. I'm already 2/3rds of the way to having a bus driving licence, and fully intend to complete that in the reasonably near future. Even though if previous legislation is still in place, I technically wouldn't need it for the age of vehicle I'm looking at. Though I've had a devil of a time confirming whether that's still the case, and I know from when I last looked, that most insurers who will cover a coach want you to have a full category D license before they'll give you cover at anything like a sensible cost.
I'm actually very lucky in that unlike the vast majority of folks, I actually do have sufficient space to park something 12 metres long and 2.5 metres wide at home. What's more thanks to the layout, it should be possible without causing outright war with our neighbours.
The target vehicle for me is obvious - quite simply being the exact make and model that got me interested in the field in the first place twenty years ago. That means a mid to late 70s Bedford Y Series based coach with a Duple Dominant II body. Below is a very tidy example (I've saved and re-uploaded the images here as I've heard talk in quite a few places that Flickr may well be disabling hotlinking similar to what Photobucket recently did, so I'm trying to future-proof things. I've linked to the Flickr page so you can view the full size versions there.
Original over here
Original over here
While they're quite prone to rust in a few places (especially the rear body framework), I just don't think there's a better looking coach out there. I think the somewhat brutalist styling is a love/hate thing - likewise the fact that it's dripping with nearly as much chrome as a car from the 60s from the US!
In my case, mine will end up in Parks of Hamilton colours most likely - simply because I think that the black bodywork just looks fantastic offset by all the brightwork.
I'm very much aware that this isn't something that will happen overnight - this is a plan that will probably take a year or five at the very least to implement (let's face it - the vehicle I'm going to be looking for isn't exactly something you can find in every used car dealer these days!)...but I've made the decision that it will - all things being well...happen.
Top man providing details for the future too, really does one's nut in when you see a link to "this" only to find it's a dead link!
