I'm really lucky to have an old cortijo over in Spain as a holiday home. So I have the sun, cheap living & peace & quiet. However I'm a tinkerer & a fidget so I can't sit out in the sun sweating, it's just not me.
So for the last few times I've been over I've been on the lookout for a project to keep me busy & out from under the wife's feet.
The vehicle doesn't necessarily matter as it's about the spannering not what I'm spannering.
I've looked at an old citroen ami, seat 128's, jeep cherokee, even a tuk tuk but they either have loads of unpayed tax or there too far gone or the seller wants far too much. They think they're worth gold because an English man wants it.
So this time round we were out for a drive looking for a local bar & I saw this 3 door sierra parked in the corner of a garden in a villa.
Made a mental note of it's location & went on to find the bar. We had a bit of grub & I got chatting to a guy at the bar about cars in the area.
"I know a guy selling a sierra" he said.
So numbers exchanged, pleasantries passed & off I went.
Today I went for a look.
Totally rust free, never had a welder touch it & no sunroof.
The underside has dust or red sand over everything but I couldn't believe how tidy it was. A dent from a trolley jack & folded sills from many a poor jack location.
All glass intact, no structural damage & it's basically complete. The front bumper is a bit lob sided so maybe a broken mount.
It has a few trim pieces missing from the interior, but easily obtained in the UK but the dash has no splits in it & I think the original twin knob radio.
The engine is a 2 litre with injection & a 5 speed box. Mileage is difficult to verify but I think 102,000km but could be 202,000!!
A new battery tray has been welded in but the paint match & finish is rubbish.
It needs Valve stem oil seals as it has a puff on cold start, crank pulley seal & a sump gasket so I'll probably buy a complete gasket set in the UK & bring it over next time.
The clutch pedal feels a bit stiff but the car has been sat up for a while.
It needs a gearbox mount & an exhaust as this has been bodged too many times.
The wheels will go in the infavour of something a bit more retro.
The paint is bad, but I'll deal with that once it has a new itv (Spanish mot).
The only issue here is modified cars or a pain to register as every mod needs to be garage approved & signed off, but I'll hopefully get around a few issues.
I know I said above, it could have been any car but I genuinely really like this car.

 

Looks like a really nice car! You don’t see much 3 doors around these days, it’s mostly sapphires. Too bad they changed the rear lights, it has sapphire rear lights in which looks strange as they stick out at the top.