Today I bought...
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 6,326
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From: Ulaanbaatar
Today I bought...
My A8 is my prized daily driver, but it has been used increasingly for transporting crap around. The interior has been rammed with student stuff, household goods and loads of garden material for the tip, and the boot had a lucky escape recently when a 5 litre container of Dulux Brilliant White emulsion fell over, but was thankfully contained by the rubber tray...
I was becoming concerned that the A8's interior luck may run out, so there was only one sensible course of action to take - in order to protect the A8 I required an additional vehicle more suited to transporting the occasional load of crap and stuff.
Setting a modest budget, there was bugger-all that rang my bell... and so it didn't take long for my love of American vehicles to surface and online searches turned to Chevy Silverados, Suburbans and then... Astros.
I eventually found an Astro I liked. It's a factory window van, and not a 'day Van' with raised roof, hectares of polished wood, ruched leather and tat. 52K miles from new, Japanese origin and thus rust free and very, very tidy for a vehicle which will be 20 years old next year.
Quite a few toys which all work, with the only issues being knackered A/C (no 'just needs re-gassing BS from the seller - he advised the compressor was broken and it had been replaced with an idler kit) and a couple of minor body work repairs to attend to.
It has a 190 bhp, 4.3 V6 (essentially a SBC with a couple of cylinders removed) and a TH700R$ auto'. Not much in the way of add-ons aside from Boyd Coddington wheels, a 6" suspension drop front and rear and some stripes applied by a company in Long Beach CA. Not exactly my cuppa tea but wonderfully applied by airbrush!
I picked the Astro up yesterday morning from Southampton, and enjoyed a - surprisingly - very comfortable and quiet journey home of 368 miles. I set the cruise at an indicated 65 mph, and aside from a couple of 50 mph restricted areas, managed a pretty good 25.91 mpg (measured brim-to-brim).
Only one problem thus far; Mrs P has rolled her eyes so far back in the sockets that they may very well be stuck in that position...
I was becoming concerned that the A8's interior luck may run out, so there was only one sensible course of action to take - in order to protect the A8 I required an additional vehicle more suited to transporting the occasional load of crap and stuff.
Setting a modest budget, there was bugger-all that rang my bell... and so it didn't take long for my love of American vehicles to surface and online searches turned to Chevy Silverados, Suburbans and then... Astros.
I eventually found an Astro I liked. It's a factory window van, and not a 'day Van' with raised roof, hectares of polished wood, ruched leather and tat. 52K miles from new, Japanese origin and thus rust free and very, very tidy for a vehicle which will be 20 years old next year.
Quite a few toys which all work, with the only issues being knackered A/C (no 'just needs re-gassing BS from the seller - he advised the compressor was broken and it had been replaced with an idler kit) and a couple of minor body work repairs to attend to.
It has a 190 bhp, 4.3 V6 (essentially a SBC with a couple of cylinders removed) and a TH700R$ auto'. Not much in the way of add-ons aside from Boyd Coddington wheels, a 6" suspension drop front and rear and some stripes applied by a company in Long Beach CA. Not exactly my cuppa tea but wonderfully applied by airbrush!
I picked the Astro up yesterday morning from Southampton, and enjoyed a - surprisingly - very comfortable and quiet journey home of 368 miles. I set the cruise at an indicated 65 mph, and aside from a couple of 50 mph restricted areas, managed a pretty good 25.91 mpg (measured brim-to-brim).
Only one problem thus far; Mrs P has rolled her eyes so far back in the sockets that they may very well be stuck in that position...
it is weirdly desirable.