For Sale: 1985 Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk2. £SOLD

*Update now sold*

Fancy a Golf GTI but don’t want to wedge £30,000 on a new one? Good news- you’ve come to right place because I’m selling my GTI. Albiet it isn’t a new one, so the asking price a little less.

“Often imitated but rarely bettered, the Mk2 Golf GTI still remains the longest lasting and best handling car in its class.” Top Gear

“The Mk2 GTI Golf- ask any expert they will tell you its one of the all-time greats.” Fifth Gear

So, up for sale is my 1985 GTI, possibly one of the earliest Mk2 GTIs still on the road. This car is in daily use without ever letting me down and has even been driven across Europe last year without missing a beat. Admittedly the above quotes are not about my car, but it gives you a picture that these cars are loved (by the press at least.)

It is in reasonable original condition, but this won’t be winning any competitions at Volkswagen shows- those kind of cars are selling for 3x the price (like this one.) But it does have a tow-bar in case you need to take the speedboat to the coast for the weekend (I don’t have one of those.)

Lots of photos below. Leave a comment if you want to view it- which I would encourage. Or call, tweet etc etc, thanks. £1,650.

The details:

1985 Volkswagen Golf MkII GTi 3-door

Chassis Number: WVWZZZ192FW608151

Registration: B876 YFB

Colour: Silver

Interior: Rainbow

First Registered: 13/05/1985
Mileage: 149,000
Last Service: 148,352

MOT Expiry: July 2013
Tax Expiry: August 2013

Optional Extras:

• Pirelli P-Slot wheels (caps are missing though)
• Steel sliding sunroof
• Electric windows
• Passenger side exterior mirror
• Green tinted glass

Good Points:

• Earlier type 19 car
• Rainbow interior in good condition with no tears, rips etc.
• Fitted with an up-rated high-compression MK3 Golf 2.0l engine.
• 4-month MOT and just under 6-months tax.
• Good clutch and brakes.
• Original glass with etchings.
• Fully serviced in Dec 2012 (oil, filters, spark plugs changed etc)
• Good tyres with plenty of tread left.
• Steel security plates around the door locks.
• Drives very well and has been totally reliable.
• Recent paperwork/bills.

On the downsides, this is a 28 year old car and some of the bodywork reflects that. There isn’t a body panel on the car that doesn’t have a small bump or scratch or some rust, but these can be fixed pretty easily. The bonnet could do with a re-spray and the heater stopped working last month. The boot doesn’t lock and the rear wiper has stopped working too (I’m told this is common and easily fixable.)

Plus the electric windows are a bit slow and could do with a hand time-to-time, and the headlining is sagging a little bit at the back.

1986 BMW E23 for sale (now sold)

SOLD (15/02/12)

Ever fancied owning an old barge that makes you feel like the baddyest of bad-asses from Ashes to Ashes? Or even Lock Stock? Of course you have. 

Here’s your chance, as its time to sell my car. It doesn’t get driven nearly enough and Islington Council are starting get a bit over-adventurous with their parking pricing policies.

I also need to fund the purchase of a new motorbike.

A boot big enough for at least a couple of tied up gangsters AND golf clubs.

Not too many of these left now: a 1986 (the ’77-’86 E23 shape) BMW 7 series, in excellent condition with new tyres, MOT until July and Tax until March.
It also has an unopened first aid kit, in case you need some 1986-vintage antiseptic when you’ve done your best Vinnie-Jones-in-Lock-Stock impression on your passenger. I’ll even throw in a sheepskin coat.

Call, email, tweet me etc if you’re interested- all inspections welcome.
It’ll also be going on AutoTrader.

1986 BMW 728i (E23)
130,000 miles
4-speed auto

Service history, MOT history etc

No rust, excellent condition
Full blue leather interior
Electric windows

Electric mirrors

Electric slide/tilt sunroof
Power steering

Cruise control
Central locking
ABS
Factory rear blind
Full on-board computer including check control
Air conditioning
CD/ USB player
All original windows with number plate etching (no smashes etc), original number plates, dealer stickers, tool kit, first aid kit, etc.
E38 750i alloy wheels (non metric)
New tyres (less than 1,000 miles wear)

Bad points: The air con works only when it wants, and there’s a long scratch on the bonnet which can’t be seen in the photos but isn’t a massive problem to get fixed. There’s also a Phil Collins CD under the passenger seat that I can’t reach. That will come with the car.

I should have really cleaned the bird muck off the window.

MOT due July 2012. No advisories on last test.

6 cassette-tape holders, in case you really are still living in the 80s.

Last.fm and SoundCloud stickers add at least a quid to its value.

Double yellows don't matter. Not when you're Gene Hunt.

German first aid kit. Vorsprung durch Technik, etc.

Leaving Last.fm

After just over 4 years, 3 different job roles, 7 desk changes, 19,281 sent emails, 10,547 unique tracks and 2,036 unique artists discovered*, and 27 advertising team members, today is my last day working for Last.fm.

I’ve never been much of a Facebooker, Tweeter, blogger etc, but I thought jotting down a few thoughts on my time at Last.fm would be a good way to start. So here goes…

On a grey September day, the rear entrance to Last.HQ is quite a depressing sight. Even on a sunny day like today, it has to be one of the sorriest looking buildings in London. But to me, and the 150+ others who work there now and in the past, that has never mattered, because the stuff that happens on the 1^st floor of this building is amazing. The ideas, the passion, the work-ethic of the people in this building is amazing.

For me Last.fm has always been a very do-it-yourself kind of place to work. When I joined, everyone was crammed into the north office, and space was pretty limited. New starters were (and still are) expected to just get on with it. My working space was by the kitchen table, just in front of the fridge. The ads team’s working area was the kitchen. It was pretty chaotic and I felt a bit in the way, especially when people were trying to eat, but it kinda felt like that was the normality.

I’d been introduced to most of the team, including a chap called Felix, who was busy fixing the door to the gents loo. It was around this time that it seemed the press were pretty eager to speak to founders of this company I now worked for and here I was in a small kitchen, 3 metres away from one of these founders fixing a busted bog door.

Then Eye Of The Tiger was blasted loudly, someone called Matt was dancing around excitedly telling me to press F5 on my profile page, I got a welcome handshake, a red icon, and there: I was officially on-board.

It was also very much encouraged to go to the local pub, The Arthur, after work. I liked this encouragement. I felt this was the kind of place I wanted to work.

I’m very lucky to have worked with so many interesting people who all have such focus on what they are doing, a shared love for the company, and like to go the pub a lot too.

I’ve only just realised that it is very rare to be able to walk around town with the logo of the company you work for to be plastered on your T-shirt, and really feel proud about it. Not many people can do that.

It is also very rare to work somewhere where even the hardest days don’t really feel like proper work. Late, late nights, early mornings and weekend work have never felt like proper work. It has always been challenging, sometimes frustrating, but not really felt like work. Lots of working people spend their mornings waiting for lunch, then counting down the hours for leaving time, 5 days a week… It is impossible to think of that situation at Last.fm.

Another rare thing is for your place of work to be more like a giant playroom than an office. When I showed some friends round for the first time, they were stunned. Stunned at the arsenal of Nerf weaponry, people playing Halo on the projector, bottles of beer everywhere, a drumkit, a skateboard lying around, a big toy dog, table-tennis table, a pub pretty much on the doorstep, a fucking ballpit!

It is a fantastic place to work and I’m really glad to have been part of it, especially as it was my first ‘proper’ job.

And even though Last.fm is such an enormous presence on the web that millions of music lovers use daily, I still quite like it that most of my family don’t really get it; they still just assume I work for some East London pirate station.

But after 4 years, I think its time to try something new.

I will miss Last.fm and the people there a lot. I will miss the car parking space, I will miss the chance to shape Last.fc into the world-class team is so nearly could have been, I’ll miss the cool email address, the free Ribena… I could go on. And I am really looking forward to all the cool stuff that will be released before the end of the year.

Thanks to everyone, especially miadellocca, miles, and hyperchris01, plus juliasven, spencerhyman, and dundez, who all inspired and helped me, endlessly.

See you at The Arthur.

*sideb0ard dug that up, cheers!

The Sunshine Underground- Nobody’s Coming To Save You

2009: The year in the life of the modern working man

About 2 years ago, a chap called James Bridle came up to my place of work on a Friday to talk about a few things. One of the things he mentioned was that he has published a book of his tweets.

That inspired me to do a similar thing with the collective emails between me and my friends for the entire year 2009. These are utterly uninteresting to anyone but the 13 people who contributed, but its a nice document of our lives when we should have been doing a bit more work. I’m no publishing expert but thought it would be worth having a go.

Constant copying and pasting of long-forgotten emails into InDesign got pretty boring after a while. But I made lots of charts and noticed lots of trends for each month, and included things like links and attachments, so it is more than just an email diary.

It took forever to finish, but I think it was worth it. It is split into 2 books for the first and second halves of 2009. They are roughly the size and weight of the Yellow Pages.

98,719 words, 2,935 emails, and 1,074 pages later… it got ‘published’ last October. The printer was baffled I’d gone to the effort, but my friends appreciated it. Two of my old university graphic design chums did the covers, where each of us are on the front and back.

I wish I’d taken more photos of the books, as I lent them to one of my friends and they’re most likely a bit battered now being used as a beer mat now.