Torogo

The car sold to a mechanic colleague of mine whose wife agreed a comfortable auto box would ease her clutch leg pain. She didn’t immediately spot the 3L badge on the boot lid! He fixed the non-functioning dash lights, and moved it on to an enthusiastic friend in Wales for a respectable profit. The new owner ‘John’ plans to refinish the wheels, get a SS exhaust built, and the car Waxoyled Think he sees it as a keeper 👍

nah, sadly my ‘99 Aubergine (purple) is exactly the same, and has started at the N/S front of roof corner just the same. What I don’t know is if a coat of acrylic lacquer (aerosol) over the exposed base coat brings back some of the lost shine, and stabilises the edges, but I have no doubt the decline will continue until a full respray. btw, planning to take her to the Festival of the Unexceptional in 10days time, not that these cars are unexceptional, but definately under the radar - has one ever been subject of a retro review in the classic car press? I’ve not seen one!

Very well maintained low mileage example, recent major service from Honda. This is an opportunity not to be missed, any questions don't hesitate to message me.

My street also features the green/purple combo, though both 3l Coupes - the ‘99 purple is mine 116k miles, whereas the ‘01 Green on 62k is the one that inspired my purchase. Learned recently that the owner of the green one (since ‘04) had died unexpectedly, so his widow needs to find a new home for it. The car was mot’d in March, at same time as major service at Honda (belts, plugs, filters, fluids etc costing £1500.) Anyone on the forum know of anyone able to offer an exceptional Coupe a good home? Reckon anything over £2k would secure it.

Thanks Guys, appreciate that hot pinning is a repair option, but if the economics stack-up, I’ d rather put unmolested plastic back on there ahead of a full repaint - and a pilgrimage to H6 HQ no hardship in one of Honda’s finest!

My 3L Aubergine coupe has been in the wars a bit of late. A psycho BMW took out my O/S door mirror at a traffic calming pinch point (mirror crazed, case cracked), then a Volvo estate punctured the corner of the rear bumper by backing into it. With the roof and bonnet lacquer finally starting to peel after 22year I am grappling with the idea of a full respray (makes no economic sense, I know, but car’s too good to give up on!). I’m based in west Berkshire; does anyone have a good mirror glass/ drivers side mirror assy / rear bumper skin - that could be made available? Thanks, Torogo

...Booked for a re-run with Reading Honda on 30th Dec. Little Christmas treat for them to have a real Honda to play with! Will keep you posted 👍

...Turned up at 08:00 to be front of the queue to be told ‘they’d been trying to get hold of me’ as they didn’t have details of the car to order the parts against. Was all booked in 3 weeks back, and full details given then (or they shouldn’t have booked it!). The lady receptionist played the ‘my first week here’ card to stem my irritation, so as it stands they have the details now, but I’ve not been contacted with an alternative booking. I get that it’s a 22year old car, and the task won’t make them rich, but overlook the fact that we bought a car there just last year, so it could hurt them in the longer run. and yep it was the main franchised dealer for Reading (Basingstoke having closed a couple years back so their patch has grown) will try again at some point!

Heading into Honda Reading for my airbag replacement on Saturday. Hoping for the VIP treatment some have reported, but not holding my breath... any other members down here been thru the process there?

Thinking about it, you are right about the ‘sterling’ bit; had all the spec, but no need for badges. An auto would have suited my dad better; I recall he used to skip the even numbered gears -probably cut his teeth on the 3-speeders of the fifties! Still the Rover had the torque to handle it - beautiful car. meanwhile the trip to MIJ in the W. Midlands has been completed, and am delighted with the quality and appearance of the system; they plainly know their stuff, and I did stick with standard spec, so no rude-boy soundtrack or quad pipes. Car rubs very sweet, and was pleased with the spec-up in fuel economy associated with this longer journey - over 300 miles in the day and plenty left in the tank (it’s the most miles/longest journey I’ve ventured in a day since I bought her in November. the only slight bummer is that they used the electric mirror adjustment to crank down for reversing onto the ramps, and the ‘up motor’ appears not tho be interested so lane-changing on the M40 proved a bit hairy on the return (have since teased it back up manually, but if anyone knows the likely fix, I’d be keen to know (all is well with the drivers mirror, so it can’t be the switch!) finally Stu, you should have seen a paypal payment come through for £45 - just the forum advice on using MIJ for the exhaust saved me hundreds over the local ‘powerflow’ alternative, so a wee contribution to website costs seemed the least I could do! Did take some exhaust pics up in the ramp if of interest - not sure if I have upload rights, but happy to share 👍

My dad bought a metallic blue Rover 827 Sterling Coupe in 1992 from new, and ran that for about 10years. Lovely car, and doubtless one of the influences to my wanting a bit of that styling and luxury 20years on. Still saw a few around as recently as 10years back, but prone to scabby rear arches by that point. Come to think of it, I also visited Austin Rover plant at Cowley in the late 80s, and saw the 800s being assembled on a factory tour (on the north side of the site, as an enclosed conveyor/bridge linked the two sides of the Cowley plant, over the ring road, ahead of the BMW/Mini era. Am pleased his Lairdship is keeping the Rover corner of the Honda UK story alive 👍👍

MIJ quote just in at £450, so will be booking-up for a trip to the Midlands! Thanks everyone

Thanks for the quick responses guys, I’ve currently got a bean-can wired round the break mainly to keep the rear box supported - even without any exhaust paste I’m amazed how quiet the exhaust still is in it’s broken form! Ive dropped a note to MIJ as suggested by Stuart, cos for that money I’d be happy to drive the 2hrs to get a new stainless system on there - very aware that the exhaust is quite visible from the tail, and the existing one just lets the car down, whether made gas-tight or not. i guess having sold my ‘modern’ to run this not-yet-classic quality motor, I’m quite pleased to see values edging up, and to spend on improvements some of what I’m saving on depreciation. Six months into my ownership of this 22yr-old gem, and everything just keeps running right. A last crack at proper motoring before the Electrics take over the world! (The missus runs a Jazz PHEV, so I have a taste of the way the world is heading, and it’s not pretty!) Thanks for keeping us all on the road as our always rare Hondas get ever rarer 👍

According to Marshall Honda (Reading) the OEM exhaust system for my 1999 V6 is still listed, but one rear box on backorder to August. Total cost for the 3 parts is £650 plus fitting kit. Local stainless fabricator (Longlife, Basingstoke) has quoted £899 to make-up a suitable system!. Meanwhile my 22yr old system has finally rusted through on the bend forward of the rear o/s box. i dream of finding a fabricator to do the job for around £500 as referenced in this chat. I love the car, but hard to see the exhaust close to equalling it in value! Does anyone have an affordable supplier they have used? Not looking for anything fancy or noisy, just OEM spec would be fine. Would travel for the right solution. Hoping someone can help!