Our fleet

"twochevrons" (twochevrons) 09/01/2014 at 19:40 • Filed to: fleets, vw, volvo, mg

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My partner and I live in a tiny house with a single garage and no other off-street parking. Somehow, we have five cars – if anybody wants me to review any of them, I’d be glad to oblige (I’ll probably do one for the Volvo at some stage).

2011 VW Golf 2.5 – her daily driver, reliable transportation for when the remainder of the fleet have fits of temperament (which is a fairly regular occurrence).

1996 Volvo 850R wagon – my daily driver, alarmingly quick load-hauling beater. Spends a fair bit of time in various levels of disassembly.

1996 VW Cabrio – terrifyingly slow open-top beater. Great fun in the summer, but utterly awful for the rest of the time. Still, we can’t quite bring ourselves to part with it.

1985 VW Scirocco – barn find with only 35k miles, drives like new (when the fuel injection isn’t playing up). In storage until I figure out what to do with it.

1956 MGA roadster – beat-up and rusty but drivable, and a huge amount of fun. No heater, roof, seat belts or interior trim, but it puts a big dumb grin on my face whenever I drive it.

Spaceball-Two > twochevrons 09/01/2014 at 19:46

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I need this in my life. I love your fleet.

ly2v8-Brian > twochevrons 09/01/2014 at 19:48

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All nice. Definitely provide more, if you can/want on the Volvo and Scirocco.

twochevrons > ly2v8-Brian 09/01/2014 at 19:50

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Thanks! I wrote a bit about the Volvo (the story of its purchase was somewhat unconventional) in my first Oppo post earlier this summer. Nice to see the Scirocco getting some love, too! I'll have to drag that out and finish fixing it up sometime.

twochevrons > Spaceball-Two 09/01/2014 at 19:52

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Thanks! I'll keep that in mind when I figure out what to do with it – it may be for sale in the near(ish) future.

E92M3 > twochevrons 09/01/2014 at 19:57

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Nice fleet! Now I don't feel too bad about having 1 outside.

jvirgs drives a Subaru > twochevrons 09/01/2014 at 19:58

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YES

ly2v8-Brian > twochevrons 09/01/2014 at 20:02

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Ah yes I recall you story, very interesting. I like the look of that Scirocco, and it's good to learn about cars that are, less than common.

twochevrons > E92M3 09/01/2014 at 20:26

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Thanks! To be fair, the Scirocco and MG live elsewhere when I'm not driving or working on them (my wife's grandfather has a small hangar on a local airfield, and lets me keep them there), but I still admit that it is a wholly ridiculous number of cars for two people in our circumstances. No regrets, though.

twochevrons > ly2v8-Brian 09/01/2014 at 20:32

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Less-than-common cars are what I'm all about. Before I moved to the US, I had a Rover and a Citroën (hence the avatar). I've been meaning to write about them, too.

sellphones2493 > twochevrons 09/01/2014 at 20:39

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Any chance you'd ever sell the Scirroco?

My father's 57 and he never stops telling me about his Scirocco he had when he was younger. When he turns 60...

twochevrons > sellphones2493 09/01/2014 at 22:10

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I totally understand why he'd never stop talking about it. They really are fantastic to drive – not especially fast, but hugely entertaining. After all, it's a Mk1 GTI with some fancy bodywork, so everything that can be said about the GTI applies to the Scirocco as well.

I have indeed been thinking about selling it. It's cosmetically rough (no rust, but it has a few dents and needs a respray), but aside from a few fuel system issues caused by its long dormancy (it had been off the road for 18 years or so when I got it), the mechanicals are in great shape. I bought it with plans to fix it up, but it's been a case of needing time, money, and motivation, but never having all three at once.

I've been hesitant to sell, just because it's incredibly original as it is now, and I don't want it to become yet another modified Scirocco. But if you're okay with it needing some work, I'd be glad to let it go to such a cause. You can contact me privately at this same username on Twitter or Facebook if you're interested.

BTW: Love that S60R of yours. Buying my 850R earlier this summer opened my eyes to the world of fast Volvos, and an S60/V70R is definitely on my do-want list. Especially if it has the spaceball.

sellphones2493 > twochevrons 09/01/2014 at 23:02

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Hey, I actually just talked to my father - he had an '81 - the last of the original body style. With that said, I really can't do much until I graduate school and get a real job - so he'll have to wait until he's 60!

I envy your 850. I learned how to drive on my mom's 850 Platinum years back. I'm pissed he sold that in order for her to get a mildly disappointing 2002 BMW 325xi (since replaced by a 2009 Audi A5).

As for the S60R, I have no clue what I'm ever gonna replace it with when the day comes.

Spaceball for lyfe

twochevrons > sellphones2493 09/02/2014 at 08:51

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To be honest, I think that the earlier Scirocco is much better-looking, and is a much purer design. They're getting pretty hard to find, though – I've never seen one in person.

I'm so pleased with the 850R. It wasn't a planned purchase by any means, but it turned out well – it's rough enough that I don't mind using it as a beater, but it's nice enough that it's still thoroughly enjoyable to drive, and I just can't get over how fast it is. Sure, it's not especially quick by today's standards, but it's far and away the fastest car I've ever owned, and the kick in the pants that it gives you when it comes on boost never gets old.