Monday 14th December 2015
£100K Garage: Matt Bingham
A pick-up and van can deal with the practical stuff, leaving the Lotus and the TVR for fun!
Previously owned : Ford Escort Estate Mk3, Renault Laguna 2.0 16v, Saab 9000 Turbo, Ford Ranger 2.8 V6, Mitsubishi Delica, Subaru Legacy BG5 Twin Turbo, Subaru Legacy BH5 Twin Turbo, AP1 Honda S2000, EP3 Honda Civic Type R,
Currently own : Audi TTS Roadster Mk2, Volkswagen T5 Shuttle LWB
On the shortlist : Mitsubishi Evo IV, V or VI, Skyline R33 GT-R, Porsche 911 (964), BMW M1, Audi R8 and many more!
Lotus 25 replica
Cost : £29,995
Balance : £70,005
Why I chose it : "Let's start with a Lotus 25, of sorts. I stumbled across this purely by accident. I'd want some single-seater action in my garage and this certainly looks like it would fit the bill. Sadly, I'm not old enough to remember the days of Jim Clark tearing up the tarmac throughout the 60s, but from what I gather from watching old footage and listening to what others have to say about him my assumption is he was the best yet. Yes, there might be better bang for your buck but, let's be honest, if you're dreaming big, why not dream that you can be Jim Clark on your morning pilgrimage round some Scottish B-roads?!"
Cost : £21,995
Balance : £48,010
Why I chose it : "What can be said that hasn't been said already? A £100K garage favourite and for good reason. Just look at it! The shape is beautiful; the noise is spine-tinglingly good; and the roof comes off for those rare sunny days. Granted, it has its flaws. Mission control has a less complicated launch procedure. The interior is bonkers. It probably has less safety equipment than a car from the 19th century and, for want of a better word, it breaks. A lot!
"But who cares about that? I just know that every time I was to open my garage door and find Trevor sat there, he would put a smile on my face. This fine example seems to have a good bill of health with FSH and I really like the colour!"
Volkswagen T5
Cost : £22,995
Balance : £25,015
Why I chose it : "I can't imagine life without one now. Before anyone points out it's plus VAT, I have factored this in. This particular model might not look the best out there but it's close to my dream spec for a Transporter. It's a Kombi which in most cases avoids the commercial speed limit. It's a T32, which I believe has the heaviest payload for all the stuff I want to move! It's got 4x4 for the snowy days. It has captain seats up front. (Sitting in a shallow pool of piranhas would be comfier than a passenger T5 bench seat.) It has a tailgate, not barn doors for a nice place to sit while putting my snowboard boots on or having a fine Italian coffee when I wake up from camping. It's also surprisingly quick, with 180hp under the bonnet. And it has a tow bar! They're just so versatile. A very nice looking T5 for what I'm after. It might seem a little steep but the T5 doesn't depreciate much. The roof scaffolding would have to go though."
Cost : £7,995
Balance : £17,020
Why I chose it : "When living in Canada a few years back, I had the pleasure of driving the wilderness in 'Betsy', my Ford Ranger. She was a b*tch! She just didn't have the same belief and confidence in me that I had in her. Maybe I was being a bit ambitious with my new found love-hate relationship with off-roading! Nevertheless, I loved her and miss her dearly. So a 'shop truck' has been on the cards since watching my first episode of Fast 'n' Loud a couple of years back. Since there's hardly a plethora of shop trucks in the UK, I settled on this one. A fixer-upper! It's reasonably priced and has somehow passed an MOT. Looks like a good wee project to get stuck in to. It would be useful for transporting myself and the mountain bike round the glens but would also turn heads cruising down the beach boulevard. The paint would stay original; just a sand, clear coat and a bigger block to be sourced eventually."
Nissan 200SX Touring
Cost : £9,995
Balance : £7,025
Why I chose it : "This could be the most fun car I've driven. When a friend asked if I'd like to buy his, I had to take a test drive. It was, at the time, the fastest car I'd driven, due to the modifications. The seating position was perfect and the gear throw was like nothing I'd experienced before with a short-shift kit. Unfortunately, this one got away and it has since been a car I've longed after, but I've never got around to sourcing a good one. This advert is slightly vague but a S14a with 34,000 miles is pretty hard to come by these days. It has the Touring Pack with the leather seats, which is a bonus. I like the slightly menacing front end yet the way it can blend in innocuously. It's got quite a spicy price tag considering other marques in this range but I know it won't disappoint."
"The remaining budget would go towards the VAT as mentioned for the T5 (around £4,600) and some mods for whatever I see fit to tackle first. Let the keyboard annihilation commence."