I thought I better come clean first:
I killed a Mi16x4. (ducks for cover)
My defence is that the car was in a very sorry state:
With silver rear spoiler (non-Mi16) & front grill, a mixture of alloys, a re-spray that was past its best, interiour with chav steering wheel, holes left where once a 'rude-boy' stereo had been and an engine with a broken cambelt.
Also an 'Evo' style bonnet vent:
Apparently it once featured in 'Max Power'.
I much prefer cars to look standard, and not in the Chav'ed-up state this poor 405 has got to. To return it to its former glory would not have been economical.
I made sure that the rare mechanical parts went to good homes. All the bits did not find their way into a 205 (yes my 205 now beats with 16v). Forum say
I have another 'spare' Mi16x4 engine and the breaker I bought it off told me that he tried very hard to sell the complete car. Lots of people said it was very nice but no one stumped up the money. So he took off the engine/transmission and scrapped the shell complete with excellent leather seats. It was a real shame. But this is a story that happens all the time, just check ebay etc.
My daily driver is a ph 2 405 1.8 GLX (aircon still works!), its been family owned for all but 3 months of its life and has just clocked up 56k miles. I could have easily sold or scrapped it, but I plan to keep running it as its in excellent nick and has low miles. I still remember my grandad turning up in the 405 back in 1994, and the condition of it today is pretty much the same as 12 years ago!
So, I am not a 405 hater. I appreciate what an excellent car (especially the engine design)the Mi's were and still are, I just have given some of its components a new lease of life, which otherwise would be melted down for scrap metal. So dont be too mad.
Higgy.
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