So I have been out cars
for a few years, family life, house move and a daughter with an interest in horses meant an L200 Barbarian took care of daily duties.
I have bonded really well with it and in my 55 strong car history it’s the one that has stayed the longest. It combines family practicality, durable interior which when tending to horses on a daily basis is a god send! It has all the gadgets and gizmos that most German cars have and is generally a very practical family car.
I struggle to find a reason to move it on, however the petrolhead part of my brain just isn’t satisfied and with a little bit of money in my account, thoughts turned to a little ‘tinkering’ project I could keep on the drive and enjoy a drive out in with friends, few trips to some shows and hopefully not lose me a whole heap of money.
I looked at various different possibilities, looking at AutoTrader to see what performance cars were dropping in numbers but weren’t so fragile they would need to be kept in a garage/bubble and only used on sunny days.
I am not really sure how I stumbled upon my choice but I started to look at 8L S3’s, there numbers for sale nationally are nearly down to single figures, few videos cropping up on YouTube suggesting values might go the right way in time so it was a possibility. Condition and price varied massively and I really wanted a ‘unique’ colour so Imola Yellow, Nogaro Blue but when I saw this on eBay I knew it was the one.
Little geography issue led to some early negotiations and a deposit being paid on the basis that my GCSE Geography put the car in Wales. However post deposit being paid Wales turned into Northern Ireland and before I know it I am looking at flights to Belfast and Ferrys back to Liverpool.
Excited and nervous I booked it and found a willing friend to jump in with me.
So this morning we left Bristol airport at 07.00hrs, landed in Belfast at 08.15hrs, jumped in taxi, down to socks to meet seller (gent) for 08.50hrs, deal done and in the queue to load onto ferry at 09.10hrs!
It’s been a wicked day out, lots of presale stuff cleared out the way beforehand so just a case of having a quick drive, check over and away home we go.
The car is great and exactly what I was after, has enough cosmetic bits for me to be getting on with whilst enjoying it at the same time.
I have bonded really well with it and in my 55 strong car history it’s the one that has stayed the longest. It combines family practicality, durable interior which when tending to horses on a daily basis is a god send! It has all the gadgets and gizmos that most German cars have and is generally a very practical family car.
I struggle to find a reason to move it on, however the petrolhead part of my brain just isn’t satisfied and with a little bit of money in my account, thoughts turned to a little ‘tinkering’ project I could keep on the drive and enjoy a drive out in with friends, few trips to some shows and hopefully not lose me a whole heap of money.
I looked at various different possibilities, looking at AutoTrader to see what performance cars were dropping in numbers but weren’t so fragile they would need to be kept in a garage/bubble and only used on sunny days.
I am not really sure how I stumbled upon my choice but I started to look at 8L S3’s, there numbers for sale nationally are nearly down to single figures, few videos cropping up on YouTube suggesting values might go the right way in time so it was a possibility. Condition and price varied massively and I really wanted a ‘unique’ colour so Imola Yellow, Nogaro Blue but when I saw this on eBay I knew it was the one.
Little geography issue led to some early negotiations and a deposit being paid on the basis that my GCSE Geography put the car in Wales. However post deposit being paid Wales turned into Northern Ireland and before I know it I am looking at flights to Belfast and Ferrys back to Liverpool.
Excited and nervous I booked it and found a willing friend to jump in with me.
So this morning we left Bristol airport at 07.00hrs, landed in Belfast at 08.15hrs, jumped in taxi, down to socks to meet seller (gent) for 08.50hrs, deal done and in the queue to load onto ferry at 09.10hrs!
It’s been a wicked day out, lots of presale stuff cleared out the way beforehand so just a case of having a quick drive, check over and away home we go.
The car is great and exactly what I was after, has enough cosmetic bits for me to be getting on with whilst enjoying it at the same time.
