More Bikes! My last bike was this Aprillia Moto 6.5 German ROTAX motor. 650cc 5 valve - 37bhp. I was going to convert it to a Rally Bike. I bought Rally Wheels and Forks (which I still have) just like those on the KTM below! I had already fitted semi-knobbly tyres and used to blast around dirt tracks up in the Ox Mountains just 3km from our home. As you can see this is probably the only bike that I never 'dropped'!lol I never make a profit on cars when I sell them on, but I have always made profits on bikes. This one I bought for 1500 in 1997 and sold for 3000 in 2007. BL00DY S0DDING PHOTOBUCKET! This is the bike I crave for. 11000 in 2005 but only for sale to riders with an International Competition License. I have seen adverts on eBay asking for 1000 just for the address of someone selling the bike.
Some cars! We did not take many photos. There are none of the 1963 or 1967 96 TSs. None of the 1965 Sport. None of either 99. None of the DAF 55 Marathon. None of the AUDI Coupe. None of the 99s. 1968 - ESCORT GT on Dunlops. This was the first car my family ever owned. We were pi55 poor, my da being an Irish labourer. The 'Derbyshire Canners', where he worked hauling steaming vats of peas around, closed in 1966, so he was out of work. I had to level school after the 1st year in the sixth form and joined Lacocks as an apprentice. In 1967, as a 2nd year apprentice, I was given very good jobs on the shop floor. At one time I was even an acting charge-hand setter on the J type overdrive annulus line. Laycocks paid me properly for the job I was doing and I saved every penny that I could. I raised enough to put most of the money towards this car and my parents paid the remaining 100, or so, on HP. In January 1968 I had 6 driving lessons. In February 1986 the car was bought and I passed my test in March. The lamp bar is from Hodgsons of Retford. They were the nearest Ford Plus Performance dealers. It was on Armstrong 'Adjusta-Ride' shockers and had a 4 into 2 into 1 manifold. The 4 into 1 manifold fell to pieces after the first rally! I knew sod all about cars, only what I read in magazines. I learned quickly. That car was awful. It rusted quickly. There were rust holes in the top of the front wings after just 12 months. I had to re-build the gearbox not long after in went out of warranty. The dashboard fell off as I was blasting down the M1. SCAREY! October 1969 - Michelin XAS tyres. Again I believed the magazine liars. These tyres were deadly in the wet. During magazine reporters' testing a new model BMW in Spain it rained. The magazines never mentioned this or that every BMW left the road in the wet. Some 20 odd years later an article in Motor magazine admitted that they had 'not told all of the truth'! But. It was the best thing that ever happened really as I switched to SAAB. 1971 - SAAB 96 V4 outside Lainey's parent's home. This was bought in January 1970. It was actually my parents car and I did not own it until 1974 when they bought a 99. My da had managed to get a job with the Derbyshire Ambulance Service so he was at last paid a decent wage. I was at university so had no cash to buy a car. Big gap here. There should at least be images on my 1967 96 TS and my 1965 Sport. No camera I guess!? I was so impressed with the 96 I wanted one badly. Gordon Lambs, in Bolsover, had sold us the V4 and Jim Wilkins, their sales manager, knew just what I needed. But there was no way I could afford 400 for a second hand 96. One day, in late 1971, he phoned my parents (telephone was free - Ambulance call outs) to informed me he had a 1967 TS coming in as part exchange for a new V4. I could have it for 250 if I took as it was traded in. I rushed home by train and bus. Went to see the village TSB bank manager. (I had my life savings in there all 39 of it!) What a great man! He was lending 250 to a student. Mind you I can't have been very good at paying it back as I recollect receiving one or two letters about defaults. Superb car. Wish I still had it. It was sold in 1973 for 350 to put the deposit on a house as Lainey's crappy mini was only worth scrap value! Only car that I have ever made a profit on. 1985 - Elaine's 1983 Golf Driver On a trip to Sweden in 1981 I had hired a Mk1 Golf 1600 Injection. (SAAB 96 production had ceased so no hire cars) To my knowledge this was a Swedish only model!? It was basically a GTI engine and box in a car with basic trims levels. Swedes, like myself, don't want tarty extras. Too much to throw away when you want to rally! I had to travel from Volvo, near Gteborg, to SAAB, near Stockholm. On the 500km trip it was a revelation! I really enjoyed it. These days the trip is easier as there are lots motorways. Back in 1981 there was no direct route on major roads. The good roads were north-south. The east-west roads were very often single track gravel through the forest. I had a large scale map on which I plotted a zig-zag route with as much gravel as possible. Now. Lainey wanted to replace her DAF 55 Marathon. It was too noisy and much too tail happy. With two toddlers it was a nightmare getting them and the carry cots or pushchairs in and out. I told her about the Golf and we went to Gilders, in Sheffield, to look at a White Mk1 Golf C 4 door. It suited her then needs nicely so she bought it. (We had a friend who was Spare Parts Manager at Gilders so we got the nod on good cars!) In 1985 when the kids were old enough not to need 4 doors she swapped it for this Driver. Smashing car! In 1988 Elaine went to Gilders again and did a swap for this 1987 ex-demo car. I was upset when we got it home to find that it had a PB engine, not an EV. I did not even know that they had swapped to PBs in September 1987! In 1994 Ruth's first Car was This Mk1 Driver. The photo was taken in Ireland in 2002 1985 - My last 96 rally car. It was a 1973 model and painted Lime Green like the Factory cars. It had an engine prepared by me. A competition clutch, competition exhaust, single downdraught Weber DFI carb. Bilstein Shocks, etc, etc, I sold it during the SAAB Owners Club annual shindig as well as all of the spare competition parts. 1986 - My last road 96. A 1976 car which I stupidly swapped for an AUDI Coupe. I wanted a 2 door 80 GTE but the idiots at AUDI UK only imported the 4 door, so called, 'Sport'! 1996 - Ruth's E reg GTI. I bought it from a breakers as a right-off. I resprayed it and fitted all of the naff G60 stuff. It is on some 'P' alloys awaiting the OZ Racing alloys to arrive. This thing had a sunroof, central locking, electric windows, top of the range VW Blaupunkt Hi-Fi, etc. 1998 - Ben's E reg GTI. Basic. He kept the car until 2006 when he changed to a VR6. Uber superb girl with her uber crappy Mini. We met at the Sheffield and Hallamshire Motor Club. She had a boyfriend who was also a member of the club but the stupid man hardly ever came with her. It took me a good 12 months to pluck up the courage to ask her out. I was scared that she would turn me down! She did not and we were engaged to be married within a couple of weeks. Mind you it took me ages to save for the ring!
No, but it sounds about right! Owned by a clock enthusiast now, who has a large portrait of himself up in the bar at the front - smooth eh? Used to be about 50 clocks on the same wall, a mistake to go in for a chat anytime near the hour! Man, that pic takes me back. My J3 teacher Mr Hayes (that's year 5 to people working in metric) had a V4, sun-bleached pale blue with a line of rusty spot welds or rivets down the sides. We asked him what they were and he looked into the distance and eventually said; "During the summer holidays I took a driving holiday in the Alps. Bandit country. Nearly got us..." We were properly impressed!