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Panda (Classic) Pickle the Panda.

Introduction

May I introduce my latest Panda, Pickle.









You may have seen him recently in the classifieds. He'd been sat in Matt's ( Matchbox) front garden for the last several months, but a new arrival prompted Matt to sell.

It's a 1995 1000clx with 42,000 miles on the clock. I'm sure Matt won't mind if I say it's currently a little scruffy. There is also no tax or mot left on him so this will have to be attended to.
I was attracted to Pickle simply because he looked to be a very nice late Panda under the surface. Matt had assured me that the only area of rust was on the bottom of the passenger door, and that the seats were in great condition. After checking around today I can confirm that Matt was dead right (y), the underneath is muddy, very muddy, but totally rust free.
Pickle also comes with a good service history, in fact he's the first Panda I've owned that still has it's handbook AND service book!

So the plan is to get him through the mot and give him a really good clean up, then see what we have. As he stands he looks very dull to my eyes, and I don't mean the faded paint, so all I want to do is throw alloy wheels and viper stripes at him :p. But I will resist until I have made him as nice and original as I possibly can, who knows, I may want to leave him just like that.

You know this idea of giving your car a name as if it were a person really didn't appeal to me at first, but now I try to do it if I can, it really helps to create the enthusiasm needed to look after it properly.
Pickle, by the way, was already named by Matt in view of his reg. no., I quite like it so the name will remain stuck.
Today was Pickles last day to get a free retest so I had optimistically booked him in for 4.00pm. At 1.00pm two new rear radius arms arrived in the post from David (Aquamarine) :worship:. David had kindly offered to lend me two arms he had coming but they didn't arrive with him until last Friday!

So I quickly fitted them and left for the mot station with time to spare, just as well as the main road was closed due to a fallen tree and I was sent on a six mile detour :bang:. Still made it with a little time to spare so Pickle now has a new mot, and tax.

Tomorrow a service and cambelt change, plus refit the original wheels and tyres as the new owner prefers them. :rolleyes:
 
See! I was right about the original wheels and trims!

However the alloys do give it a chunky off-road look, especially with the side trims and roof bars..

It turned out really nice, now if only someone could come up with a technique to repair those dozens of rusty Panda door bottoms that are spoiling so many cars, there could be lots more tidy Pandas on the road.

How hard can it be???
 
See! I was right about the original wheels and trims!


I'm not sure there is a right or wrong, it's whatever floats your boat, and in this case your boat is floated by the same stuff as the new owner. ;)

Well the original wheels were refitted today as well as a final service/cambelt and clean up, ready for the big day tomorrow. :)
 
I hope your buyer was please Vern! Superb job Vern. I hope you made a decent amount on it after all your expertise has gone in to it.
The combination of bright blue bodywork, orange/red seats, and lilac dashboard is not for the faint hearted is it? ! Classic Panda-ing at it's best!
 
I hope your buyer was please Vern! Superb job Vern. I hope you made a decent amount on it after all your expertise has gone in to it.
The combination of bright blue bodywork, orange/red seats, and lilac dashboard is not for the faint hearted is it? ! Classic Panda-ing at it's best!

Thanks Codge, he was very pleased :) and paid full price :):). I must admit while driving it over to him ( two and a half hours into central London ) I was wishing we'd kept it for Barbara and sold Oslo instead. Don't get me wrong Oslo is brilliant, but now winter is almost over a 2wd would be a more comfortable and economical drive for her. Hey ho, it's done now.

I forgot to mention, I was a little concerned that Pickle would fail the mot on emissions as the performance seemed a little blunt. Yesterday when I renewed the cambelt I found the old one to be one tooth out, so today was the first time he felt as smooth and lively as he should. (y)

Bye Bye Pickle. :wave:
 
I glad I don't have to part with Panda's to make a living :(

I'm sure the green fizz will make a grand runabout for Barbara instead :)
Exactly what I was thinking, I could never do it because I don't think I could let them go... I get too attached, I'm struggling to think about getting rid of the Punto, only had it a year but..... Must just think about the Panda that will replace it.... :)
 
Remember Pickle! :)

Well I had a phone call from the owner yesterday. His work is taking him to Scotland on a regular basis and he's finding that a Panda is aggravating his back problems so he's sadly needing to sell Pickle in favour of a more comfortable car.

He gave me first refusal on Pickle but I simply can't take in any more cars so I said I would mention it on here in case anyone was interested. I don't know what he's expecting for it, the conversation didn't get that far, but if you PM me I'll forward contact details.

If he still hasn't sold after a couple of weeks I'll suggest he posts an ad. in the classifieds. ( That should keep the Mods happy ;) ).
 
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