And here I am!
Yes, it was my one.
I did sell it to Lee on a
"buy-in-now" ebay auction.
I also offered it up for sale on here first.
The history with the car shows that it was serviced by St.
Leonards Motors in Hastings, from new, throughout it's life.
And in fact I had a rubber bush or two replaced,
and that dealer gave me the life-time service discount that they promised for the car when new.
.
.I don't think they expected it to last so long!
35% discount on all parts and labour, a bargain!
It was faultless, as I'm sure it still is.
Even original radio.
And it was one of the very first UK cars on the road,
the chap purchased it from the Birmingham motor show where they did a launch event on it.
He got blue because in the queue to sign up for one he noticed everyone ordering the alternative silver
(iirc),
so he just blurted out
"blue" to be different.
The colour was not popular and discontinued just three months later,
which makes it rarer.
He originally purchased it for his wife.
She used it for three years but sadly died.
He kept the car in her memory, just taking it out for the odd run round the block,
and polishing it every Sunday.
But serviced according to schedule.
In year 18 they finally decided it needed a new set of tyres because the side-walls were cracking!
He used a Merc for his own use, so this car was sentimental value only.
He moved into a old peoples home and the car had to go.
What I paid, and what Lee paid is irrelevant.
It's what it's worth now that matters.
If you want a mk1a,
not restored, 100% genuine, then you don't have much choice!
I have loads more pictures and the article.
If anyone is seriously interested then drop me a line.
For the record,
I went to over to the Smart Roadster Brabus Coupe,
which I loved
enough to write a site all about it:
www.roadstermodelguide.co.uk.
But I always secretly wanted a Lotus Elise.
Now I'm over at SELOC with my Lotus Elise, which I also love, but one day I'll be able to afford to run a Smart too.
I still advise people who want a good little sports car to try and find an MR2 MK1.
I tell them to avoid the MK2
(sorry but I didn't like my mk2).
If they have more money, I advise the Smart Roadster.
And if they want a cheaper Lotus, that is still a Lotus, then the VX220.
And thanks for attracting my attention to this.
Finally, the reason I sold?
I never really used it.
I ran around in a MK2 instead.
This car went into my garage, was polished a lot, taken to the odd show, but stood idle.
Driving it was sort of a pleasure, but I was always worried about picking up a stone chip!
Since then, I've driven my cars just for pleasure,
I don't worry too much about the odd chip on my Elise
- it's more about driving.
Having a show car wasn't for me.
It's nice but it isn't that nice.
