A...Granada,s i lusted over a 2.0 twin cam,...when petrol was a damn sight cheaper,then one day whilst passing a local garage,in 2000, i spotted one on the Bargain basement lot,..It was a,1987 Ghia,Auto, model,5 door hatch,top of the range,electric everything,leather interior,electric seats front and rear, trip comp,wood dash and door checks,alloys,it was 13 years old and minted with only 38,000 miles guaranteed,the price on the window was £999,Whilst i was drooling the salesman came over,asked if i was interested,I,d actually made my mind up before he appeared, and after a brief discussion,about it,he told me it had only one owner from new,and that it ran like a swiss watch,i asked how long the MOT had to run, and he said it only had 2 months left,..and 1 months tax,on hearing this i hesitated,a bit,..He said if I took it as is, he,d give it to me for £600,On hearing this,I said I,d take it,..now you might think this odd,but up to This point i had,nt heard it running,..I was so over awed by the luxurious interior,and its over all condition,..suffice to say i went ahead and bought it,paid for it there and then,I was given the documents and a folder full of receipts for work done over the years,
He gave me the keys and i got in and started her for the first time,She started off the key without hesitation,..and did indeed run like a Swiss watch,I was over the moon,and drove out of the lot,I drove approx 10 miles,then heard a Beep,Beep continuous sound, and stopped immediately wondering what was wrong,a red light was flashing on the dash,my initial reaction was Panic,..until i saw that it was the on board computer telling me i needed fuel and that i had enough left for approx 10 miles,Phew,panic over,I drove to the nearest petrol station,and put 5 gal in,whilst there i thought i,d better check the oil and water levels,On opening the bonnet, and looking at the engine,..I nearly had a heart attack,..this was not a 2.0,twin cam,..it was a monster V6 2.9,..that would,nt pass a petrol Station,in town without going beep,beep,..my initial shock turned to a grin,as i realised what a powerful motor i had,and,although it drank petrol whilst driving around town,it was surprisingly quite good on the motorway,where 350 miles was achievable on a full tank,...£55,..but in town it would,nt do more than 200 miles,A month later I took it to my local MOT station,for an MOT,whilst i was waiting for it to be done,I heard the mechanic say to his mate,"here come and have a look at this"his mate went over and they were looking at something underneath,my curiosity got the better of me and i went over,and asked if there was anything wrong,The mechanic said,No,far from it,..its like a new car under here,and he pointed out the newish stainless exhaust,the new brake pipes,new discs etc,etc,..It passed the MOT test,and off i went,as happy as the proverbial pig in....when i got home i looked at the name on the logbook and was able to get the persons number from directory enquires,I phone the previous owner,explained that i,had bought their car,and asked him about it,.It turned out that the car had only ever been used at weekends, and sat in their centrally heated garage,whenever it was,nt in use,and that no expense had been spared over the 13 years that they had it,I asked about the mileage and was told that it had 37,800m on it when they traded it in,I thanked the guy,and sat back grinning like a cheshire cat,..I kept the car for nearly 3 years,until petrol prices started to rise, then i got rid of it,..i swapped it for a 1.7 Volvo 480 es,
big mistake,.....but thats another story,
