Buckley’s deals on wheels
Is a new-found interest in private numberplates a dangerous prelude to taking up golf ? I hope not, because I have recently started to look for a plate for my Fiat 130 Coupé, having decided that the one the DVLA gave it years ago is too boring. As usual, the budget for this is on the floor, so I’m not expecting to pick up ‘MB 1’ or ‘F 130’ for a song. I’d be quite happy with something shorter and sweeter: still with an ‘M’ or an ‘N’ on the end to date it appropriately as 1974, but just the one numeral. The sad thing is that 25 years ago I had a 130 Coupé that came free with a fantastic four-digit plate which I frittered away in a deal.
Meanwhile, I have been fighting the urge to go and look at a Rover 2000TC locally, having discovered the joys of Facebook Marketplace. Not even a long chat with former C&SC contributor and P6 guru Chris Horton could put me off. In fact, Chris tweaked me up on the idea even more, and by the end of the phone call we had decided the time was ripe to grab one ‘while they’re still cheap’. The trouble is, they aren’t really, and certainly not when you’re old enough to remember a time people were literally giving them away.
Talking of freebies, I may be about to inherit, from somebody very much still alive, a Citroën Xantia Activa – because it no longer complies with the dreaded London ULEZ. I have already taken possession of my stepson’s old 2001 VW Golf GTI, too. I quite fancy the Xantia, but I don’t really want the Golf and attempts to swap it for something more ‘classic’ have so far proved fruitless (a lady with a Renault 16 didn’t even reply). So it’s back to Facebook Marketplace, where cars of the Golf’s ilk attract people who call you ‘buddy’ and offer less than half the asking price.
The Audi A2 is still going well, and I even got my first wave of acknowledgment the other day from a fellow owner. I was called out in the Audi by my friend Fredrik Folkestad recently, to help with his DKW Schnellaster (C&SC, January 2013). The choice of an Audi rescue vehicle seemed appropriate, but we couldn’t find the A2’s towing eye. Given the Audi’s usefulness and its 70mpg potential, my wife’s conviction that we should have one each is probably not such a bad idea.
Finally, I suppose I should admit to having acquired yet another Lotus Elite, a 501 this time (no power steering), which has been sitting in a neighbour’s garage for 37 years. I’m not sure what its future is at the moment, but if it comes to anything it will hopefully appear in Our classics.