Post by danta22 on May 17, 2010 8:47:52 GMT
Goo to see the TEC is still going after all the years i've been away. I'm going to join the club once its june 1st! Sounds a bit tight but...
Thing is i don't even own a Toyota - i have an immaculate standard 1988 peugeot 205 1.9 GTI and a tuned 1996 Cinquencento! - let me explain, and i should warn you now, the following may make you feel quite ill...
Back in 1998 I had just finished at art college and having got my first job i really needed a motor. Being a big design enthusiast with expensive taste and no money, what hope did i have of finding a suitable vehicle?
A friend in my local one night who was sales manager at a toyota garage told me he had a 'mad old celica' that he'd taken on a p/x from an ecentric old guy and that it was immaculate but needed to go (it was clearly confusing him) and was mine for a grand...so next day, intrigued by his description and unable to place the car, there i was just for a look with my grand in pocket just in case.
And there it was - 1976 1600ST TA22 NTL51P in sky blue. A quick look round revealed it was pretty much spotless and NTL51P was mine.
The car ran like new and I spent lots of time and effort on her (£1000's welding underneath!) until in 2002, with a better paying job, i got silly adolescent powerlust and decided I wanted an ST205 GT4. Having found the right low mileage and owner car, I asked my mechanic friend to come with me for a sanity check before handing over 6000 readies. He gave it a double thumbs up and it was homeward bound, with him driving TA22 and me following in GT4.
This is where it gets sick...
It's a wet Saturday morning in Glasgow following a pretty late Friday night and i'm following the mechanic as i don't know this part of town. About a mile from the garage and i'm still getting used to the feel of the GT4.
We approach lights just turning to amber and mechanic is going through - i'm staying with him...his back wheels are over the line already....
then last minute he changes his mind and stops dead - i slam on and (ABS???) slide my new car slowly and squarely into the back of my old car!!! Its a 1second timewarp and the car is locked on the bumper of the old one, no steering, no brakes, just a silent, slow-motion glide into the gleaming chrome bumper in front.
TA22 is sold at a reduced price to keen buyer it was promised to (very light rear damage, easy fix) new car goes straight to the bodyshop for £1000 of repairs to crunched front end and even though it comes back like new, it's the beginning of an ill-fated relationship ending with GT4 being written of in a head-on caused by a drunk guy coming round a blind corner on the wrong side of the road.
So here I am, 10 years on and STILL thinking about my TA22 and my bad decision/luck, so i've decided to start the ball rolling to get another. The first step is to join this forum, then to join the club, get involved again and keep my eye out for a suitable car - a project would be ok once i can find garage space - i'd really like to do something up subtly with some nice wheels and slightly lowered, and an upgraded engine - things i always planned to do, and should have done, to NTL51P, but instead off i went misguidedly chasing BHP and losing a soulmate as a consequence...
Funny really because my dream was always to make a TA22/GT4 hybrid, but not that way!!! I can laugh now but i was seriously depressed at the time.
So thats my tale, good to have made the decision to put it right instead of just mourning NTL51P - hope she's still out there making someone happy.
(sniff)
So like I say, i don't have a toyota at the moment, but i'm working on resolving that - if anyone happens to know of a suitable car that needs a loving (and this time eternally faithful) owner, please let me know.
Look forward to meeting you all on here and maybe at a show once I'm a fully paid up member - maybe even with car too!!!!!
cheers, dan
PS I have another story about a 1966 Fender Mustang guitar - think i'll go and find that forum while i'm in cathartic mood.....
Thing is i don't even own a Toyota - i have an immaculate standard 1988 peugeot 205 1.9 GTI and a tuned 1996 Cinquencento! - let me explain, and i should warn you now, the following may make you feel quite ill...
Back in 1998 I had just finished at art college and having got my first job i really needed a motor. Being a big design enthusiast with expensive taste and no money, what hope did i have of finding a suitable vehicle?
A friend in my local one night who was sales manager at a toyota garage told me he had a 'mad old celica' that he'd taken on a p/x from an ecentric old guy and that it was immaculate but needed to go (it was clearly confusing him) and was mine for a grand...so next day, intrigued by his description and unable to place the car, there i was just for a look with my grand in pocket just in case.
And there it was - 1976 1600ST TA22 NTL51P in sky blue. A quick look round revealed it was pretty much spotless and NTL51P was mine.
The car ran like new and I spent lots of time and effort on her (£1000's welding underneath!) until in 2002, with a better paying job, i got silly adolescent powerlust and decided I wanted an ST205 GT4. Having found the right low mileage and owner car, I asked my mechanic friend to come with me for a sanity check before handing over 6000 readies. He gave it a double thumbs up and it was homeward bound, with him driving TA22 and me following in GT4.
This is where it gets sick...
It's a wet Saturday morning in Glasgow following a pretty late Friday night and i'm following the mechanic as i don't know this part of town. About a mile from the garage and i'm still getting used to the feel of the GT4.
We approach lights just turning to amber and mechanic is going through - i'm staying with him...his back wheels are over the line already....
then last minute he changes his mind and stops dead - i slam on and (ABS???) slide my new car slowly and squarely into the back of my old car!!! Its a 1second timewarp and the car is locked on the bumper of the old one, no steering, no brakes, just a silent, slow-motion glide into the gleaming chrome bumper in front.
TA22 is sold at a reduced price to keen buyer it was promised to (very light rear damage, easy fix) new car goes straight to the bodyshop for £1000 of repairs to crunched front end and even though it comes back like new, it's the beginning of an ill-fated relationship ending with GT4 being written of in a head-on caused by a drunk guy coming round a blind corner on the wrong side of the road.
So here I am, 10 years on and STILL thinking about my TA22 and my bad decision/luck, so i've decided to start the ball rolling to get another. The first step is to join this forum, then to join the club, get involved again and keep my eye out for a suitable car - a project would be ok once i can find garage space - i'd really like to do something up subtly with some nice wheels and slightly lowered, and an upgraded engine - things i always planned to do, and should have done, to NTL51P, but instead off i went misguidedly chasing BHP and losing a soulmate as a consequence...
Funny really because my dream was always to make a TA22/GT4 hybrid, but not that way!!! I can laugh now but i was seriously depressed at the time.
So thats my tale, good to have made the decision to put it right instead of just mourning NTL51P - hope she's still out there making someone happy.
(sniff)
So like I say, i don't have a toyota at the moment, but i'm working on resolving that - if anyone happens to know of a suitable car that needs a loving (and this time eternally faithful) owner, please let me know.
Look forward to meeting you all on here and maybe at a show once I'm a fully paid up member - maybe even with car too!!!!!
cheers, dan
PS I have another story about a 1966 Fender Mustang guitar - think i'll go and find that forum while i'm in cathartic mood.....
