I've finally got my paws on a mk1! It's a 1981 343GL manual with 53k on the clock. It's tidy, but not immaculate, but it's a 26 year old car! It has that awesome old car smell. It drives very nicely, and I love it to bits already. It came with tax and test, and I better not say how much...but I definitely owe Steve(P) a pint or 10 for finding it for me. The owners simply wanted a good home for it. I promised to look after it
I drove it 300 miles from its former home to the Uxbridge Auto Show, then back home to Lincoln via Nottingham.The eventual plan is a repaint in white with the R-Sport blue/yellow stripes (the paint is quite badly worn), and a conversion to being a 343 GLS R-Sport- i.e. swapping to a 360 drivetrain, dropping in the B200 lump and the carbs, and adding all the mk1 goodies I've been collecting. Having said that, all of that is some time away. I have other things to be finishing first. However, the car came along (and it's not a common occurance!), and I simply had to have this one after missing the bronze one.
It'll go into storage now, probably coming out for a few weeks just before the MOT runs out, assuming the salt is off the road in March. I'll put it in for an MOT, but not try too hard if it fails - I have too many cars on the road already. I expect to be working on this in earnest in a year or two.
cheers
James
