My old Mk1 Arosa Auto ~ Fernando

[Jowey]

Hi all. I'm Jowey
and im new to Sc.net
I live in Wellington,Somerset

I drive a '97 Arosa Auto
Named Fernando.

Let me tell you our story:


Fernando was a blind bid on ebay and turned out to be a decent runner
just very tatty.

I got intrigued when I read that the bloke bought it at 27K on the clock
it now has 110K'ish all racked up by him. serviced every 10k


Cd player
10 months MOT
3 months Tax
Bargain at £500'ish IMO

A few days later I got down to 'refining' the rear end.

Christ look at that arch gap

Then the more serious modding began.

Much better. Really enjoyed rolling like this through the tail end of summer.

 

[Jowey]

Then one wet evening before edition 38...

after a bit of surgery..

.. and amputation

Fernando was on the road to recovery

The wheel however.. was not.

 

[Jowey]

by now winter is fast approaching and I have mismatched wheels.. so the good ol' fail safe
of a brand new set of G60 steels saves the day

Winter means I can't be bothered to keep polishing the tired old paint. I figure the car is not worth a lot and a new coat of paint would keep me indulged a bit longer.
So I have started a transformation from Flash red. to a burgandy/claret red.
this is however taking me AGESSS because it is never dry enough, light enough or time of work enough to paint.

 

[Jowey]

have also been trying a few sets of wheels .. but had no joy yet.

So again the fail safe of G60 steels but this time with 15 and 16 wheel trims.

Most recently I have got a bit lacey.

sprayed Lacquer onto the satin. It gives a nice 'ghosted' effect. quite subtle but really eye catching.

and now I have another set of wheels to try .. but i think these may actually work.

 

[Boo]

Loving the roof Very creative and looks effective too What suspension kit have you got on the wee beastie ?

 

[Jowey]

Like I say.. it all pretty much started going down hill.

To get the turbines to fit..offsets of the new wheels are ET48 and ET15
a bit more commitment was needed.

the fronts needed to sit tucked.

Buffalo bill style.

And rears needed to be poked but cambered so the tops sit flushed.
Basically just poke the bottoms...
ye no SFW jpegs for that !
I'll leave it to your imaginations lol.

The shine was removed as the Satin paint coverage increased.
And uh the angle grinder put in some work because.. well coil-overs just aren't low enough.

see how this is suddenly becoming relevant to all of your interests ? :bow

 

[Jowey]

So now the front is dropped as far as I can get it to go.

Huge gap above the driveshaft is a nice bonus.
Have tried running without helpers in and it was crap.. waaay too harsh. :wacko:

So a bit of re assessment needed.

they'll do.

Adjusters at the back to seat the tiny spring.

and the cliché trial fit of set of wheels number 6?

Can you just tell this is going to work ? :wub:

 

[Jowey]

Crappy mirror blank

Project 'revised mirror blank' finally finished and fitted.
very happy with it.
Although a few imperfections that I might go back over.

test fit and rear camber angle calculated.

Decided 4 degrees negative would do it.

Then to end the day added 15mm spacing to the new cambered rear so the G60's
steels were sitting really quite nicely.

 

[Jowey]

Then finally tires on and stance mathematics paid of a treat.
Poke + Camber = Flush + Poke
Flush + Poke = 'hellaflush'
Hellaflush = Pus' :tu

bloody hard work getting them on..

Aggressive enough to suit the Arosa's squinty face
Lovely fitment
yet still conservative enough to not look too racer boy.

I was and still am so soo chuffed with them they are perfect.

 

[Jowey]

With the car looking just how I wanted it I hit a few shows and meets and
let those mythical people with excellent cameras take photos of my Fernando for my pleasure.

I consider this post to be the cars Highest point.
A bit of a new rat pioneer ? :blah

This Prompted an Ezine feature.
http://wideandlow.wordpress.com/2010/03/31/budget-****star/#comment-5

 

[Jowey]

Wheels day 2010 with BenG and Oscar

MONEY SHOT.

Then


disaster !

I sold it.

In favour of a BMW E30.


The car got slandered on Retro scene blog !

http://www.flickr.com/photos/retroscenemag/4485748045/in/set-72157623759369234/

Value is arbitrary !

 

[Jowey]

However I did sell it to a local lad and mate of mine who rocked fernando out
on image splits for awhile.

mean while the BMW drank the contents of my wallet on a daily basis.

So I got rid of it and bought a Corsa. :roflwtf

I really missed Fernando.

 

[Jowey]

I really wished I could be Fernando's babe again.
I didnt wana kiss
I didnt wana touch
Alejandro (the Corsa).


So I had to make him my babe again.
I bought Fernando back

Even rattyier than before.


Best dust the turbines off then..

By this point Fernando has been in (and out) of my possession for the
best part of a year and half.

Considering that a scabby budget spec Arosa Auto, Is to most folk; completely worthless.
(see retro scene blog comment )

I have to say that to me Fernando is worth his weight in gold.
Faultless car, that has offered epic fun and bags of charm.

121K but engine doesn't feel tired at all.
New disks
new pads
and gearbox rebuild

450 miles in my first week of re-ownership
epic.

 

[Jowey]

Turbines back on.

got bored.. So out came the rattle cans for
baby poo beige wheels.

No-one liked the autumn themed burgundy and burnt orange
and again.. I got bored of it.

By now I was eyeing up a 16v Arosa sport as my next car
and Fernando had a new home line up..

 

[Jowey]

So as a final hoorah.
and a good bye to Fernando.
I went to Bugjam 24 for the whole weekend.
Nice long drive.

This is probably the rattyiest point.

although not really played out rat-look

It is what I'm calling

'Kitsch racer look'


Kitsch look: A worthless, inferior,
pleasingly distasteful, melodramatic,
imitation of a style of recognised value.

Stuck him in the Rat'n'Rust..
Annoyingly:
I was parked along side that mega low
raised turret static dropped 'bucket-esque' mk1 g00f.

made me embarrassed to wear the 'LOWER IT.' splitter.

Again met up with BenG and he gave me the

Deck scrubbers arch of approval.

 

[Jowey]

Then as I prepped
Fernando for his departure to his new home..
A few sentimental photo were needed. :blah

Fernando has appeared on TV since me letting him go.
(On Sky, Motors TV - Bugjam extravaganza, look out for the repeats)

but yeh.

That is it.

GOOD BYE DEAR FRIEND

 

[CJRamze]

You let him go?
Son I am Dissapoint.

 

[MarkWales]

thats insane

 

[Tms]

Currently in possesion of a 97Arosa, How much did you lower this in the beggining??

 

[HalfOfZero]

Man, I loved this thread. Well, the first half anyway lol. She looked real smart then you got all rat on it
Funnily enough, last night I was talking about maybe having my Arouser resprayed, keep it red, just a slightly deeper, metalic red
..Alpha Romeo type deep metalic red lol