1. Other things...
  2. Shed 1

Shed 1

Just a couple of words about my first car, the World's Best Ever J-Reg 1.1 Litre Ford Fiesta...*

* Ok, probably not - it was held together with gaffer tape and rattle-can paint, but it was better than taking the weekly bus to the shops =o)

Some knob-head getting into his 1.1 Fiesta ;o)
Some knob-head getting into his 1.1 Fiesta ;o)

So, many years ago, when I was taking driving lessons, Ma and Pa Greyhead spent a not-inconsiderable amount of money on a first car for me.

After much searching of Autotrader, we settled on a 1.1 J-reg Fiesta which, at the time, was about 7 years old, and which I would be able to pootle around in/try to break the land speed record on the public highway, once I'd passed my driving test (n.b. I never once broke the speed limit, ossifer, and you can't prove otherwise. So there...).

Shed 1's interior, with alcantara and pleather Recaro seats, shiny silver bits, and dodgy heating
Shed 1's interior, with alcantara and pleather Recaro seats, shiny silver bits, and dodgy heating

Having passed my driving test, it only took me a surprisingly small amount of time to discover Lad-Car Magazines (TM?) like the locally-produced Fast Car, which ended up with Shed 1 being fitted with an array of engines and interior upgrades in its life.

Shortly before being sent to the great Breakers' Yard In The Sky, Shed 1 was fitted with a 16V 1.8 litre engine, 15 inch Mondeo 5-spoke alloys, Woo Sung Ditch-Finder tyres, a dashboard transplant from a newer car, and a Recaro interior which had been re-trimmed in blue alcantara centres and black pleather outers by a small re-trimming company on Bromley Common (ps: if they're still going, they did a brilliant job on the seats and doorcards, and I would recommend them to anyone; if they're no longer trading, they forgot to re-trim the sides of the seat-back cushions, so I ended up with fancy modern-looking seats with old-man-tweed trimmings if you looked closely enough :D ).

I miss Shed 1, but I think Shed 4 embodies the things about Shed 1 that I truly loved, and which I still feel are most-important in a car today; I wanted a car which was nice to sit in, and nice to enjoy a drive in - without crashing into a ditch because I'd forgotten to tighten some important bolt or other the last time I took everything apart because I was bored on a Sunday and Halfords was open...

 

The stupidity continues: Shed 4