RE: Goodwood, etc. Wide bandwidth

["Ian J Haseltine" <Jim_Haseltine@msn.com>]

Graham,

I'm going to echo Phil Payne's comments - my 88 MB has NO space under the 
bonnet - even checking the connection on the oil pressure sender has to be 
done when the engine is cool unless you want a burnt arm, I tried wearing 
thick overalls and couldn't get my arm in there. The first job I did was to 
remove the cam and timing belt covers for repainting - I didnt know what I was 
letting myself in for - the cam cover wasnt too bad, but the timing cover was 
a different story, just about the whole front of the car had to be removed, 
grille, headlights, auxillary radiator, power steering pump. The job took the 
best part of day, not counting the paint drying time. 

Ditto about the costs - I started looking seriously for an Ur quattro (2 years 
ago), before that I'd been thinking of picking up one of the occasional 
salvage examples (I've seen 4 in the last three years). I looked at cars 
priced from about 3k upwards and theres an awful lot of high-mileage 
over-priced cr*p out there. Some people have bought a supercar for the same 
price as a three year old Sierra, serviced it like a Ford, fitted pattern or 
just wrong parts and want to sell at a profit because its a 'classic', and a 
lot of dealers arent any better. Really, the state of some that I looked at 
left me thinking that someone was trying to take the p*ss. In the end, I was 
quite lucky. Just as I'd decided to go back to a dealer for a 88 in not too 
bad condition with just over 100K miles for 9K, another went on sale 2 miles 
from where I work. The owner was a fast car freak, had spent a fortune on it 
(cam, turbo, brakes, manifold etc) and was selling because he'd ordered a 
Calibra turbo - sad man. The car had 85K on the clock and I got it for 9K. It 
was miles better than anything else I'd seen but even it had been bodged in 
places.

Having said all that (sorry about the BW), some of the parts are quite cheap, 
as long as you know where to get them (German And Swedish and Quattro Sports 
are pretty good) oil filters and brake pads at Escort 1.6 prices. OTOH a 
headlight will set you back about GBP120 and VAG labour charges are on another 
planet (GBP40 an hour locally).

But - you forget all that when you get behind the wheel!


Jim Haseltine
88 Ur quattro