Ownership Verified: 2006 Ford Mondeo - Bangernomics Daily Hack

Wait...So scrapyards have whole new-ish Mondeo leather cabins lying around?
 
Yeah, the cars are nearly worthless, I mean, look how little I paid for mine. They're mostly ten years old now, and injectors and flywheels are expensive when they break, so they get scrapped. Here's a quick pic of my local yard when I was there in January (stripping the leather interior from a 2006 Passat for my Austin seats), this was just one row, and look how many Mondeos it contained. There's four five in this picture, and there was a further four in the rest of the yard I can think of, plus one had just arrived, and this is a small yard for a town of just 25,000 people.

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When I was last in, there was a 2005 Ghia X with full leather, which I'm hoping is still there. If not, I know some of the yards in Carlisle have Ghia X's Mondys in. Full shopping list for me is wooden wheel, fwood trim, new gearknob, full leather interior (heated and cooled preferably), and whatever else I can get for cheap.

Edit: Actually, looking at that pic, I wonder if that Tonic blue is still there, and if it has a good bonnet... mine has a nasty rusty mark where it's been closed incorrectly and the catch has reverse dented it...
 
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That's an RX-8 up there isn't it? Black one in the middle. :cry:

Also I think I can see a 6th Mondeo in that photo, right at the end in the second layer. It's just missing the front bumper. :p

The scrapyards around here are nowhere near as good, I haven't seen stacked cars at them for years.
 
That's an RX-8 up there isn't it? Black one in the middle. :cry:

RX8's are about as reliable as a BL car made of cheese. 300 cars on ebay, about 20 are spares or repairs because the engines are shite.
 
That's an RX-8 up there isn't it? Black one in the middle. :cry:

Also I think I can see a 6th Mondeo in that photo, right at the end in the second layer. It's just missing the front bumper. :p

The scrapyards around here are nowhere near as good, I haven't seen stacked cars at them for years.

I think you're right! And yes, that is an RX8 up there.

It's a proper yard, and I love it for that. Turn up with some tools, pull off what you can, try and find the man, and give him some cash.

In other news, I gave the car it's first quick and dirty polish this afternoon after getting home from work. Just over an hour spent on it, and it looks a wee bit better. Hoping the weekend will give me the weather and time to thoroughly clean it.

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RX8's are about as reliable as a BL car made of cheese. 300 cars on ebay, about 20 are spares or repairs because the engines are shite.

The fact that the SCCA explicitly has classing rules for RX7/8's that have been swapped to regular engines but allows NO other wrong-manufacturer swappage outside of dedicated race machines should tell you something.
 
So yesterday I got down to the yard in appalling weather, and spent ?20. For that, I've got myself some genuine Ford front floormats (I turned down the rears as they were under 4" of stagnant water). They're currently drying after being scrubbed very hard and wet vaxed.
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A leather armrest, as mine being a low level facelift had an uncomfortable plastic thing.
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An owner's manual, and an internal boot release switch I need to fit. (Currently the only way to open the boot is using the button on the key, not great).
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Some executive fwood, with the much nicer chrome clock with white face. This looks SO much better than the awful silver painted plastic it had, with the crap grey clock.
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There was a full leather interior in reasonable condition there, but I didn't rescue it this time. The rear seat belt had been cut, which is an issue because the rear seat belt is integral to the seat, and cannot be replaced. Do I run around with just front leather seats? It's not like I have rear passengers anyway... I've still got a new gearknob, wooden steering wheel and leather handbrake to source as well. Sort of tempted by the Ghia doorcards with fwood trim as well.

To round-up, here's some of the Mondeos in my local yard. The pictures are awful because it was my terrible phone which took them, and it was pouring down. Hence the reason I couldn't be bothered to photograph them all.

This one has the leather:

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This lower one donated my fwood:

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And this delightful pool of open water on the left gave me my floormats:
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Haven't updated this in a long time...

Cars now at 158k miles, and going strong. It's had it's first service in my ownership at home, courtesy of my father. New filters all round, and rear nearside spring replaced which cured the banging I had mistakenly thought was bushes. Otherwise, nothing much. I drive it 150 miles a day to and from work, and it's a tireless workhorse. After that scrapyard trip, I went back and got those rear floormats, and the full Ghia X leather interior from that pre-facelift car. The rear seatbelt can be changed after all, if you make a small incision to the rear of the seat; and this is the result. For ?50, it's a lot comfier and better looking.

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And yes, cleaning perforated leather out of the scrapyard is the worst job on earth. Using mold killer, leather cream, a needle, and a whole week. They're still not perfect, but I don't think they'll kill me now. (Well, they've been in other a month and I'm not coughing up anything yet...)
 
You paid 50 Quid for a full leather interior?

What the fuck, UK?
 
You paid 50 Quid for a full leather interior?

What the fuck, UK?

Yeah. Rural scrapyard, the parts aren't worth anything for him, if anything stuff like interiors are just a problem when it comes down to selling the metal. Hence the low price to help him get rid of fairly worthless stuff. Even in great nick on eBay, an early Ghia X interior like this will struggle to make over ?100.

ST Reacros are a different story though, ?300+ depending on colour, ?500-700.
 
upullit do full leather interiors for under ?100, which is cheap. ?50 is a bargain.
 
I can attest indeed to what a bargain this thing is. Andeh was kind or foolish enough to let me join it around some of the best roads Cumbria has to offer and it's an utter hoot. Doesn't pull or handle quite like Ice's A4 but then it's bone stock and a few mods could turn it into a serious contender. Major controls are still drum tight and if anything it has a better chassis than a stock A4 of the same vintage.

And for ?850 and some elbow grease it's a better bargain than anything the Top Gear boys ever secured on a cheap car challenge.

Downside? It's shit in a crosswind.
 
I've never really looked for them, I guess a fair handful still yet, although they will be reducing in number in the yards now, as they have dropped off the roads. Anything you need?

The grilles and tail lights are hot items over here. Tail lights especially if they have the harness.
 
Just the regular black plastic grilles? I imagine the mesh ST170 ones are thus even more desirable in the US? (I presume that's because you have those orange lights on US market cars?).

Are the tailamps the same between 3dr and 5dr? (Did you even get the 3dr in the US?)
 
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