Last week on Saturday i went to look at a special little nugget.
I immediately started planning on how to get her.
She has quite the history… She was delivered as a standard Cuore in 1998 and build into a Gino (even the interior) at a dealership. After that she went to the AutoRAI in 1999 (one of the most famous car shows/exhibitions) as a show model.
It was named the Daihatsu Cuore Classic. Later she was sold new to a lady named Ilona. After Ilona traded her in at the same dealership (for a Subaru Justy (Sirion2)) they sold her and lost track of her.
She’s been sitting for the past 10 years in a lot with other abandoned cars.
As you might have guessed already… I bought her (without properly looking her over ).
But (so far) i don’t regret it.
There’s A LOT to do to get her back in decent shape again. But first i’ll get the APK (MOT) done. After that the ‘‘restoration’’ begins.
My plans are nothing special. Basically just near show model condition again. No real mods or anything. I will mount a D-sport Copen rear swaybar and probably a stock Move front swaybar. As for anything else i don’t know yet. I kinda want to keep her as close to ‘‘original’’ as possible.
And also a special thanks to @Remconieuw for driving!
First thing tomorrow is changing one or two wheels and quick wash. Maybe i’ll do a oil change while i’m at it, otherwise i’ll it next week.
I’ll probably bring her away for a pre-inspection next Friday so i know what is wrong and needs fixed to get her back on the road.
She’s supposed to become my daily btw.
So wish me luck.
Last week (the day after i bought her) I gave her a well deserved wash. This was the second time in my whole life i washed a car by hand.
The first time was my first Gino.
She looks so much better already!
With some warm soapy water most dirt and moss came off without much effort. Still need to get a detailing brush to properly clean the grill and other nooks and crevasses.
Of course the interior got some love too.
Unfortunately i didn’t take many photo’s and some that i take disappeared.
I truly love this foaming all purpose cleaner. It can be used on literally just about everything. Paint, plastic, rubber, glass, metal and fabric etc. … It cleans it all.
Yesterday i wanted to replace the timingbelt and do a general service. oil, filters and plugs went well. But the crankbolt and 2 bolts for the belt cover didn’t wanna come out. So that’ll have to wait until i can legally drive it.
So instead of replacing the belt i decided to start trying to clean the engine bay a little.
And damn the foaming cleaner is even much better than i expected.
Washer reservoir before…
This stuff is a true miracle in a can!
Here i cleaned a small part of the valve cover, the ignition coil cover and the PCV hose.
Once i saved up a little i’ll buy a whole box, Maybe even 2 seeing how dirty the rest of the engine bay and underside still is.
Oh and she decided not to start anymore yesterday. The fuelpump gave up.
But luckily i should have a spare somewhere and otherwise i have a donor waiting to be torn apart.
).
have fun with it!
.