Hello everyone,
At the risk of being disliked because of my title, I thought I'll introduce myself. Now I am on the forums as I ended up with a Vauxhall Omega, I'll explain that in a bit. However, I'm more into Renaults on the reason that I like Renault Espaces (cue the laughter.) and I currently own 2 of them. Although those were my 4th and 5th car. One came from Autotrader which I spent about 4x more than I brought the car for, the other was brought on an internet auction site, I never looked at the car to begin with (work reasons), but I put in a bid and got the car, so far, its been less hassle than the other one! These 2 are mentioned on a different forum, that being
here if you are interested. On top of that, I also own a Renault clit which ironcally was my first car and I still own it.
Now onto myself and the Omega. I live in the south coast and I am a train enthusiast (hence nickname), I work for a train operating company mostly these days cleaning out trains (known as a turnaround cleaner) although I do a number of other tasks. Despite being a Renault fan, I have owned a few other vehicles, those being 2 corsas (a B and a C), a Ford Focus and an Audi A6. 3 I didn't really drive, despite owning them because they were for my family, 2 for my sister under hire, one for my dad again under hire.
I became an Omega owner around October 2014, for a grand total of £0 because it was my dads, he had the car since 2000 and under his possession, I've driven it and did quite like it - I just never imagined owning it. It became mine after I brought an Audi A6 (on finance) for him, to which in exchange, I got the Omega and he paid me off in April 2015 and it sat on the drive since and this year, I set myself a target of returning it to the road.
(click thmbnail to view a larger image)
The Omega is an S Reg Elite spec saloon from the factory, outshopped with the BOSE sound system, leather seats (electrically heated and adjustable) and as many toys you could get for it at the time, except 2. Self leveling suspension from the factory, cruise control from the factory, automatic gearbox (that I hate) from the factory, mated with a 2.5L V6, even has the original Elite 5 spoke alloys. And no, it didn't go into the police force, it was strictly a civilian only vehicle, which I guess makes it really unusual. The only bits missing? Car phone and Sat Nav, the latter I found in 2014. A civilian that lived in Bognor Regis anyway. It seems like he owned it for a year before trading it in at what was then Swan Renault, to which my dad picked it up and liked it a lot. £8k later, it was his for the next 14 years. It saw me from my school days to the railways and then passed to me later as I mentioned above.
(click for a larger image)
It hasn't come without faults, its knackered! Totally, the engine runs with misfires, the leather seats were best described fit for the skip (thanks to dog ownership), millions of scratches and dents, the last one my sister did on the gate post outside the house which has claimed many scratches on the cars. My clit, my sisters Corsa which had a nasty whack, my espace, limited to the door only, etc, the boot lid had to be replaced, the passenger side rear door had to be replaced and there is rust everywhere due to the salt air where the dogs get walked. To top it off, my dad had a minor RTA in it and damaged the front offside front, not forgetting the arguments he got into which lead to the scratches and dents.
So, you may wonder "if its this bad, what do you intend to do with it?", fix it and enjoy it. Refurb and preserve or at least restore it, with a couple of additions. The speakers and head unit might have to go in the future if the BOSE sound system starts degrading and the sat nav will need installing as I already have it, but thats about it.
On here, I intend to talk about my restoration from a wreck (nothing unusual!) to something with a little more glory, hopefully it will be a learning process for me as well as everyone else. And no, I'll try and keep the 3 Renaults out of it, unless someone specifically asks. Also, suggestions what I could do with a car given to me other than do something wacky or split it for spares would be nice.
EDIT: links don't seem to be working for some reason, or photobucket doesn't know they exist yet.
