BXing on the Solent

[Kitch]

Some BX movement......

It's officially, DUG has been sold I'm using the smiley as I'm not sure whether to be happy or sad. I won't namedrop yet, suffice to say I'm sure the car won't disappear altogether.

Further to DUG, I've also decided to sell The Red Shell, mainly for personal reasons. Again, I'd love to see through my ambition of fixing it up and getting it back on the road, but the reality is life is getting too hectic and too busy, and I need to cut some ties. So I made the decision of offering it up for sale as a going concern, with all the bits needed to do what I was going to do. If someone snaps it up, great! If nobody does, there's a chance I'll go back down the breaking road with it, though that's not concrete at this stage, though it's a serious possibility. I've got cars scattered all over the place, as well as having the GT to sort and my TVR which is in bits. The Red Shell and G-SEG are both on borrowed land, and I could be instructed to move them at any time. It's like one of those little worries in the back of your mind that won't go away, and what with the kids, the house needing tarting up, BAH needing a small rework next year......I haven't got motivation or realistically the time to see to all this other stuff.

Once DUG's gone and the Red Shell has potentially found a home, I'll finish recycling what I can from G-SEG and I'll be back to being a one-BX man again. That idea is kind of appealing!




That's until a mk1 16TRS manual in red pops up.......

[electrokid]

I won't namedrop yet

Well - it's a very straight example and very nice and shiny - it would surely appeal to someone who enjoys polishing and buffing and the gleam that produces

[Kitch]

I won't namedrop yet

Well - it's a very straight example and very nice and shiny - it would surely appeal to someone who enjoys polishing and buffing and the gleam that produces

I think you might be thinking of a different car

Come to think of it, I don't own a gleaming BX!

[mat_fenwick]

it would surely appeal to someone who enjoys polishing and buffing and the gleam that produces

Doc???

[Kitch]

And it's goodbye from DUG! Left for its new owner last week. I'll let him make himself known, but suffice to say DUG will be well-catered for and is already being enjoyed by its new custodian.

[Kitch]

So DUG's gone, and the daily Saxos tax is up. There is a fair bit of work that needs doing on it, so for now I've SORNed it as I already have enough work to be getting on with in the shape of my Dad's GT, and the TVR, the latter of which is occupying a space in the workshop it really shouldn't still be occupying!

Saturday just gone was spent harvesting spares from G-SEG. The aircon loom and system are now fully removed, I just need to find a space in the garage to stow them until next year! Next will be the bodykit and internal wiring loom. Last will be hydraulics (they're all stuffed mainly, I'll just keep them for overhaul!) followed by subframes/struts etc. Then it's down to finding what decent sections of the body are left in case anybody including myself need spares. I know the fuel filler surround is pretty good, though the filler neck has rusted away

In terms of the Red Shell, I'm still undecided on what to do with it. I've come to a realisation - I don't have that much room to store parts. I have pretty much everything needed to turn it into a running car again, it's just the worry that I put all my rare/decent spares into it, sell it (I'd have to sell it, I can't have two red 16vs.....it would fail the wife test) and then it ends up in the hands of a breaker, after all my hard work and all my rare spares. Even at £700 (the price I put it up for as a complete 'kit' it's still mugging off things like unbuckled alloys, decent seats etc, and of course the engine/loom/gearbox. A couple of interested parties have surfaced though, so we'll see what happens. If I do end up breaking it, it won't be willingly.

[Kitch]

Potentially VERY exciting BX-related shinanigans happening on Sunday. I'm like a kid at Christmas at the moment!

[Vanny]

Sunday has pretty much been and gone, time to spill!

[electrokid]

C'mon then - tell us what's occurring

[Vanny]

I get the impression that Kitch got in quite late and covered in green, maybe we'll get an update tomorrow.

[Kitch]

I get the impression that Kitch got in quite late and covered in green, maybe we'll get an update tomorrow.

496 miles later (towing a big ass trailer miles) and having set off at 5:00am, I got back last night with the new addition:



I'll get some proper pics and details up later, but yes I had a messy catastrophe and was not in a good mood! Nov 1983 build date, Feb '84 registered 16TRS with 17k miles on the clock. It even still has the protective plastic sheets on the rear carpet!

It's now stashed in the garage where I will come back to it at some point in the future, once the GT is done.

But, yes a big deal. To me anyway, as it was an A reg, red 16TRS that started my love affair with cars, let alone BXs. I've always wanted one.

[MULLEY]

Nice one 17k on the clock, wow, its been nowhere.

[Tinkley]

Couple of new front suspension returns and off you go.....

Don't show this to Andy (of Andy's Autos) in Woking, it must be almost identical to one he used to run some years back (though that was a diesel), he'd go nuts for it.

Love to know where that one has been sitting. If you do all the rubbery bits, tyres, hoses etc it would make a great runner. I'd be tempted to put the later engine in for a bit more grunt, but what a peach.
Apart from the wonderfully faded red bumpers, that early red is a good strong colour, and does not seem to have chalked to much either unlike the later metallic red(s). The Mk2 solid red was a bit darker too, but I personally prefered that earlier colour. Now time was when the early blue ones (solid colour) were really difficult to shift....

Last time I saw one with 17k on the clock was in 2004!, a metallic blue 1.6 always garaged and mint. Went for 1k.

[Tim Leech]

That is fecking awesome Kitch, well done to you, a A plate Mk1 is ultimate BX points!

[Kitch]

Some more pics of the beast (now that the camera's online again!)








Still has all the original stickers etc, and even has the plastic protective sheets on the rear carpet! It's a bit of a wreck, but I'm still massively chuffed to have it. It's something of the realisation of a dream I've had for a while. As I might have mentioned before, this is the car that started it all:



When you're a very impressionable 5 year developing a very unhealthy fascination with cars, and then your Dad buys one of these after having had an Astra, you suddenly have a car with wacky switches, dials, looks and the fact it goes up and down. I was obsessed! I always promised myself I'd get a 16v, and I did 10 years ago. But I've also equally always wanted a red mk1 A reg 16TRS as it's the most important car ever, to me anyway. You could trace a thousand different life sequences back to that car, even my kids being born! This is a box ticked!