Just failed to sell my minty Triumph GT6 on eBay today. Nevermind kids. It's been massive fun despite now being totally broke. Even loosing has it's flip side - erm winning. In many ways it's been a big triumph for me. Even if I'm not laughing my way to the Leeds. I'm not going to go in to the detail now tho because I'm pooped. This is just a super dooper quick post to say what the heck, I'll be back, like Kim Jong Il with a new better than ever evil bra sniffing plan in the next 24 hours or so.
Quick thanks to some super fine folk in the Twitterverse before I go to bed and think about what I've done today / over the last two weeks. Cheers to: @webuyanycar, LINGsCARS, @perfectionvalet, @macchinaclub, the Wilson brothers - brother A and brother B to name just a few - there are countless more. More shall be revealed in due-course but for now it's a rap.
Have you ever searched for a gnome online? Not I. Not until today that is. A friend just posted a question on Facebook, he was asking if anyone knows where to buy a gnome. My instant reaction was "Gnomebase" - quite a few people "liked" that.
Anyway. So I went on my search for a gnome online. It's not as easy as you'd think to find the gnome you have in mind. You know the classic garden gnome. They're all plastic and novelty gnomes. Try scrolling thro 33 pages of gnomes on eBay and you'll see what I mean. The world has gone mad - GOOD QUALITY TRADITIONAL GARDEN GNOMES ARE NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND - it's like trying to find Osama Bin Laden in a haystack.
You can incidentally buy Gnome / Elf kits very cheaply for just a few pounds or less and these would make you look as much like OBL as you would look like a gnome or an elf or even one of snow whites seven dwarfs, even a smurf with a bit of blue face paint.
The long and the short of it is that if you're looking for the ideal Fathers Day gift don't bother with a gnome. Get yourself down to eBay before 3pm on Monday 9th May and snap yourself up my lovely vintage 1973 Triumph GT6 mk3. Not a plastic facsimile / pastiche of an original classic but the real sapphire blue real deal. It really is one of a kind. Happy shopping.
It's breaking my heart to write this post already and I've only just started. It's a tear jerker. I was made redundant from my last job late last year. I've been a full time dad for the past nearly five months, looking after my delightful little three year old Dotty and trying to give the lovely other-half time to get out there and set up her own trend research business - that appears to be going quite well.
Unfortunately being a full time pop doesn't pay the bills and I don't get paid for tidying up and putting away, doing the dishes, fixing up the garden or popping over the road to the Lower Red Lion for a cheeky pint of JHB (a rather fine Oakham Ale). Apparently I have to pay my way or face the music. That means helping out towards the mortgage, paying the bills, paying back the OD and credit cards, paying for a bit of childcare here and there, paying back the loan on the family car, bag after bag after bag of rocket salad, coffee, peanut butter and balsamic vinegar etc. Jobseekers allowance doesn't go very far. I have to get a job. Full stop.
In the short term I'm faced with the horrible reality that I have to sell my one true love, my pride and joy, my great escape, my baby - the Triumph GT6 Mk3 that I've held on to like a gecko to a wall for far too long (in the other-half's mad and unreasonable mind anyway). Farewell my love. Sniff sniff.
Here she goes... The old child to feed / can't stick a child seat in a vintage 2 seat coupe and whizz off on a family holiday with half a ton of rocket salad story. I'm not going to give the car away tho - there's a premium associated with my loss.
Firstly I need to keep the wolf from the door AKA drop some coins in the family purse and get the GF off my back - maybe paving the way for this years Le Mans trip (on foot if I have to) that is under threat too.
Secondly, whilst I'm at it I'd like to try and raise some extra cash to give to the Multiple Sclerosis Society in lieu of chickening out of the London Marathon charity run this year. Come on there's only one way to travel and it's not on all fours (how I would have finished the final 25.5 miles). P.S. My mum has MS - it's not just a totally random cause. Once I've sold my baby I may have to borrow her hot electric wheels tho!
Thirdly, as a jobseeker looking for work in the digital marketing area I may as well do something totally daft to grab some potential employers attention for a split second by making a big to medium even moderate splash across the interweb. Here's my LinkedIn page if that's you.
So to quickly restate my objectives:
Sell my car and make some quick n dirty cash to save my bacon
Make money for charity
Get a job faster than a speeding GT6
Tell me about that incredible 1973 Triumph GT6 Mk 3!
The technical stuff:
Triumph GT6 mk3 in stunning Sapphire Blue
2 Litre straight six engine - yes six cylinders!
Goes like a "scared cat"
Overdrive gearbox - drops in & out sweetly / in 3rd and 4th as is normal
K&N filters / Stromberg Carbs - all clean and mean
Twin pipes
Rock solid chassis - and tidy underneath
Four minilite alloy wheels / steel spare in the boot
Clean & shiny and tidy - in and out
About 70,000 on the clock - it's in the garage / I can't remember exactly
Full box of history - inc. original owners manual and MOT certificates
Fully restored seven years - have photos etc
A1+ / £9,500 agreed value by Triumph Sports Six Club in 2007
Once owned by someone called Benjamin Dominic Jolly - comedy coincidence
Kept in garage over recent arctic winter
Taxed till end of August
MOT to end of July
The usual box of various bits and bobs
Reserve price £7,000 + (including a charity donation)
+++ THE EBAY AUCTION STARTS AT 3PM ON FRIDAY 29TH APRIL +++ WATCH THIS SPACE / HERE YOU GO +++
More car history...
Dreams are made of cars like these. Check out the full res pictures of my baby on Flickr. You may have seen my baby on Google Street View - car thieves please note that it's currently securely parked up in a secret location (in a nice dry garage) and there are no tools kept in the back overnight anyway. It's also As seen on JY Classics - scroll down the page to see what monsieur John Yarnell, the Triumph boffin who sold me the car in the first place had the cheek to say in his customer's car gallery.
Actually below is a carbon copy of what trusty KY had to say about my car on his web 2.0 litre cars for sale page before I purchased it in part exchange for my rusty Triumph Spitfire. Bloody hell you should see what he said about the old spit - the cheeky b******d.
Word for word copy of John's original ad...
GT6 MK3 1973
Restored in 2003 (photos included) and looking stunning in sapphire blue with shadow blue interior on minilite alloy wheels, I have to confess to a short delay in advertising it as I've been borrowing it myself!
Excellent, powder coated chassis and good panel gaps all round. Sills and floor are as you would expect, perfect and no rust on the car to keep you awake at night.
Overdrive gearbox, Kenwood radio cassette with electric ariel, K&N air filters, stainless steel exhaust, immobilizer, woodrim steering wheel.
Now for the really good bit... 49,000 miles from new (no, not a misprint, forty nine thousand!) with history and every single MOT certificate to prove it. We've just checked with Carol Vorderman and she makes that an average of about 28 miles a week since 1973!
Keep it in this condition you won't loose a penny.
Even more car history...
Since buying the car in 2007 the blue goddess has been lovingly fully serviced by John every year. I've put on about 20,000 (yes Twenty thousand real miles!) and I even snapped it on the M25 reaching 66,666 miles. New horns - toot toot. The interior has been tidied up with new door cards, new glove box, and mounting for the stereo which has been updated to a Sony CD player / Face off thing that can take an aux IPod jack thingy. The front screen rubber and trim has been replaced. It's had a new head and new overdrive gearbox fitted surgically, again by John. The passenger side rear wing, rear bumper and back plate have been replaced again lovingly by John at a cost of something like £5,000 to the very good insurance company of the driver that bumped the backend whilst it was parked outside my house - perfect job. Just about every part stuck on to the engine has been replaced or upgraded including new high torque starter motor, new alternator, new electronic ignition - fitted in the distributor cap, new HT leads, new and bigger radiator, new shiny wheel nuts all round, etc etc. Stupid stainless steel bullet like wing mirrors have been replaced with more functional rectangular version. In the last few months I've completely stripped and serviced the carbs with a complete refurb kit from Rimmer Brothers - including new o-rings, gaskets, spindles, needles, with tweaking and balancing (OK it wasn't me. I used a proper mechanic known locally for his Stephen Hawkins like knowledge of these complex and mind boggling things - not called John - called Steve - a local mechanic without a fancy website). The bonnet has been tidied up by Steve and re-sprayed recently to remove a small but annoying dent in the bulge, a few stone chips and stress wear on the weak points where the bonnet flexes when raised. It's running like clockwork and sounds incredible. To quote the chap I referred to as a Hawkins "It goes like a scared cat".
Confessions: Very minor amount of surface rust under floor mats. Some minor paint lifting and chips that have all been touched up. Metalwork solid throughout though. Small area of paint discolouration on passenger side of boot that could do with dusting over. Small 1p size chip in top of passenger side windscreen - has not moved in 2 years and does not affect MOT.
The Triumph Sports Six Club (TSSC) valued my baby at £9,500 for insurance and rated it A1+ in 2007. Unfortunately the valuation and condition is non transferable but all you need to do is send in a few snaps and a description for your own valuation. You need to be a member of the TSCC to get a valuation for insurance. Membership costs around £40 a year and you get a sit-on-the-bog worthy monthly member's magazine too. Annual insurance with Footman James costs less than £200. Tax is about the same.
Considering the insane minty condition and fact that these babies are as rare as hens teeth I'd like to put £7,000 back in to the family coffers in compensation for you driving away in my dream boat car. In my mind you may as well be running off with my girlfriend. I'll be posting the car on eBay shortly - watch this space - and don't forget the charity bit - see below / it's important!
Owning a car like this costs about a million pounds a year to keep on the road so if you have that kind of cash knocking about you've probably got more money than brains / you are incredibly successful and very kind / or you have a very understanding girlfriend - one of the above anyway. Either way you can spare a little bit extra for a good cause too!
I'll be selling the car on eBay. I'm confident that I'll get the £7,000 which will be set as the reserve for my car but I want the car to go to a good home where it will be loved. Talking about love, I want to do something for my mum and people like her with Multiple Sclerosis too. I'll keep the £7,000 reserve price for the car in order to carry on living myself and every half penny above the reserve price will be given to the MS Society when I have received payment from the buyer / handed over the keys.
I'll accept bids on eBay (I will add a link here). Get in touch if you have any questions! Obviously the car goes to the highest bidder.
+++ THE EBAY AUCTION STARTS AT 3PM ON FRIDAY 29TH APRIL +++ WATCH THIS SPACE / BID NOW +++
Want to see my Triumph GT6 in the flesh and hear it roar?
See my baby stealing the show at the Royal Wedding Street Party that I'm organizing at the Lower Red Lion pub in St Albans on the 29th April. The car will be parked in the car park. Burgers and beverages will be available.
Alternatively IF ENOUGH PEOPLE ARE INTERESTED I'll drive her down to the Ace Café in North London for a lunchtime viewing one day after the Royal Wedding. Give me a shout and let me know if you are interested in looking at my GT6 and grabbing some sausage, egg and chips at the famous petrol head Mecca... Located conveniently just off the A406 at the bottom of the M1.
Get in touch!
If you have any questions please Tweet me @benferrier with the hashtag #buybensgt6, or leave a comment right here on my blog. If you'd like a private viewing please feel free to contact me by email - I'm sure I can do that too.
Just the job
Marketing jobs! Yes please. Contact me straight away so I don't have to sell my lovely car! If you give me a job that starts first time before the auction ends I'll donate half of my first month's salary to the MS Society - and keep the car.
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