Introduction - 6 months late...

[Mark1]

Hi Everyone,

I have been a member since August 2014 but have never taken the time to introduce myself properly.

I have wanted a MK1 since i was at school and my mates dad had one in 1987.

I had been visiting the forum regularly for about 6 months and finally bought my first MK1 in September last year.

Here she is -

2544

No plans to restore at the moment just enjoy and drive during the summer months.

As I am not planning to complete any unnecessary work at the moment I fancied a project and couldn't resist the car that Ian advertised last weekend so an impulse buy late last Saturday night saw the purchase of a restoration project for the coming months -

Here she is -

2545

I will no doubt asking lots of questions over the course of the restoration and look forward to meeting you on the road at some point too.

Mark

[BIGBOYZJUNK]

Nice one and welcome to the club!
That mk1a looks a treat

[mk1 dal]

hi and welcome , im not a fan of the sky blue car it looks a shed :lol: what a find she looks stunning get some more pics up of it . I have a question for you , as your front bumper been painted or is it original reason for asking mine needs painting and i don't know if it should have the Toyota logo on top of the bumper . I put a logo on when i brought it but i'm not to sure it should be there on a early mk1 . Thats a very good buy and will be stunning car when finished , my first mk1 was a mica blue t bar love it .

Gary

[Vistalite]

Evening Mark, welcome to the club.

Unless I'm mistaken, I believe that your sky blue car was the one that was for sale on Gumtree for £1500 was it not? I went after it at the time and was an hour too late!

Jonathan

[Mark1]

Nice one and welcome to the club!
That mk1a looks a treat

Thanks very much, I have been following the thread on your car - very impressed, it looks fantastic.

[Mark1]

hi and welcome , im not a fan of the sky blue car it looks a shed :lol: what a find she looks stunning get some more pics up of it . I have a question for you , as your front bumper been painted or is it original reason for asking mine needs painting and i don't know if it should have the Toyota logo on top of the bumper . I put a logo on when i brought it but i'm not to sure it should be there on a early mk1 . Thats a very good buy and will be stunning car when finished , my first mk1 was a mica blue t bar love it .

Gary

Gary,

Thanks very much for the comments - I will post some more photos when i get the chance.

I thought that the lack of the Toyota logo on the front meant that it had probably been resprayed at some point. I have had a look today and am unsure if it has or not - It wouldn't be obvious to me, if there is anything that would indicate a respray let me know and I will look again.

I have been following the progress of your MK1a too and it looks great

[Mark1]

Evening Mark, welcome to the club.

Unless I'm mistaken, I believe that your sky blue car was the one that was for sale on Gumtree for £1500 was it not? I went after it at the time and was an hour too late!

Jonathan

Hi Jonathan,

You are not mistaken - I knew that I would have to move quickly when I saw it advertised on Gumtree. The gentleman who sold it did say he'd had quite a bit of interest in it once we had come to a deal.

I bought the car without seeing it as it was located 560 miles away from where I live.

[Vistalite]

Hi Mark

I kept a photo of the advert to remind me and it had the same wheels, which is why I knew before you even replied.

2549

At least it has gone to an enthusiast, but if you ever wish to part with her then please put me first on the list!

incidentally, because I lost out on your one, I ended up buying a one owner, 28k miler T-bar to compensate, although I was and still am after an earlier version like yours.

Jonathan

[cchrysos]

hi and welcome , im not a fan of the sky blue car it looks a shed :lol: what a find she looks stunning get some more pics up of it . I have a question for you , as your front bumper been painted or is it original reason for asking mine needs painting and i don't know if it should have the Toyota logo on top of the bumper . I put a logo on when i brought it but i'm not to sure it should be there on a early mk1 . Thats a very good buy and will be stunning car when finished , my first mk1 was a mica blue t bar love it .

Gary

Hi Gary.
I have had 3 early mk1a models and all had the toyota logo on the bumper.

What about the tucked away white one...what has that got?

[cchrysos]

Welcome Mark.

I have a sky blue one just the same as yours. A rare beast! I searched for over 3 years to find one.

I actually know of one more in Scotland but it needs a bit of welding work.
I near
Y bought it from a guy who has had it tucked away in his garage for year but it was too far for me to go and see as the guy was not sure he could roll it out of the garage.

I only came across 10 in this colour in the last 5 years and 3 are scrapers, one needs a repair, one was written off and four are on this forum (including yours)

Does yours need much work? Looks great.

Enjoy!

[mk1 dal]

Hi Gary.
I have had 3 early mk1a models and all had the toyota logo on the bumper.

What about the tucked away white one...what has that got?

black Toyota logo mate

[mk1 dal]

So that puts us at 6 sky blue cars possibly left in the country and 3 running cars in the club ( the lad with the club name sky blue had his rear ended at the lights , i saw this car on a club run wales i think stunning car but now sadly dead ) . might be time to get the white car on the road and stop using the blue car on runs .

[cchrysos]

If keep the blue one going mate :-)
There was one other guy who bought one just over a year ago...you may remember he saw the car at his girlfriends neighbours house every day...took a chance and asked the guy to sell...and he got it for a song! It was in a very small article I a. Classic car magazine last February.
Not seen him on here for a loooooong time but that would make it four running cars in the club.

[dylbie]

There's that one in the scrappy that looks like a sieve! :)

[Mark1]

Hi Mark

I kept a photo of the advert to remind me and it had the same wheels, which is why I knew before you even replied.

2549

At least it has gone to an enthusiast, but if you ever wish to part with her then please put me first on the list!

incidentally, because I lost out on your one, I ended up buying a one owner, 28k miler T-bar to compensate, although I was and still am after an earlier version like yours.

Jonathan

Hi Jonathan,

I noticed you updated the thread on the "28k miler" earlier tonight - that's a great car, I would love one in that condition with that kind of mileage.

I will let you know if I ever decide to sell.

Mark

[Mark1]

Welcome Mark.

I have a sky blue one just the same as yours. A rare beast! I searched for over 3 years to find one.

I actually know of one more in Scotland but it needs a bit of welding work.
I near
Y bought it from a guy who has had it tucked away in his garage for year but it was too far for me to go and see as the guy was not sure he could roll it out of the garage.

I only came across 10 in this colour in the last 5 years and 3 are scrapers, one needs a repair, one was written off and four are on this forum (including yours)

Does yours need much work? Looks great.

Enjoy!

Hi Chrys,

Thanks for the welcome.

I read the thread describing when you finally found one in this colour after searching for so long, I think most people would have given up long before..

It become quite apparent that this is a very popular colour..

Where about in Scotland was the one you thought about viewing?

"Does yours need much work?" - before I answer that I better admit that up until now my mechanic skills/experience has been servicing my own car and changing break pads and discs so when I mentioned earlier that I would be asking lots of questions I meant it.

It needs the timing belt replaced which I plan to tackle shortly
Few issues bodywork wise that will need sorting and some of the panels could do with a respray.
As far as structurally, it looks good to me and nothing alarming has become apparent, however, as stated I am not an expert.

I serviced it last week and will be doing a coolant system flush in the near future too.

The plan is to just drive it as it is for the moment and try and enjoy using it in the nicer weather.

Mark