{"id":1833764,"date":"2026-03-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1833764"},"modified":"2026-03-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T21:00:00","slug":"riccis-garage-uh-oh-the-pajero-looks-brilliant-and-now-we-cant-sell-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1833764","title":{"rendered":"Ricci’s Garage: uh oh, the Pajero looks brilliant, and now we can’t sell it"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Renowned photographer Mark has been working with<\/em> Top Gear<\/em> for many, many years. When not taking photos he\u2019s buying inappropriate cars. Here he shares his addiction with the world.<\/em><\/p>\n

A few months back I shared an unusually sensible plan of tidying up my Pajero Evolution with the goal of selling it to help finish the R34 GT-R restoration. This was approved by Steve @ SR Autobodies who agreed to pause progress until it was sold, resulting in a rare moment of automotive zen. For one car must be sacrificed in order to revive another.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What\u2019s a Pajero Evo worth these days? Similar cars (without the Gucci OZ Racing wheels) appear to be around \u00a328k\u201332k, and with mine having a recent engine refresh combined with the complete respray, aiming for the \u00a330k\u201335k seems a fair middle ground. Especially as some people will be put off for it not being completely original. NOTE: those people are odd \u2013 these are still 30 year old Pajeros jazzed up with some Dakar bits after all.<\/p>\n

The problem is, when you\u2019re preparing to sell a car for large sums of cash like \u00a330k, you can\u2019t help but have a quick look at what\u2019s for sale at similar money. Just for research. And annoyingly there\u2019s some ruddy cool stuff out there. A Mitsubishi Evo 9 GT Wagon could almost be considered practical, but they\u2019re even rarer to find than a Pajero Evolution. That kind of budget will also get you an R129 600SL with a load of AMG parts… in Germany at least. Or if you prefer to go full lobotomy, there\u2019s an ex-supercar series Holden HSV racecar on RaceCarsDirect.com<\/em> for just \u00a320k.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Staying on track has never been my finest work. However, if Steve were to learn I\u2019d sold the Pajero Evo to buy another idiotic car rather than finish the GT-R, there\u2019s every chance I won\u2019t have an R34 in his workshop by Christmas. So, as tempting as this is, the plan remains the same: sell Pajero Evo, sink money into GT-R and Steve still likes me.<\/p>\n

One thing I didn\u2019t factor in was what happened next. Wayne @ Brooklands Automotive decided to send me some progress photos of the work they\u2019d carried out, and seeing all of its dents, dings and imperfections now flawless gave me the sudden urge to keep it. Its exterior has always let the Pajero down, but while that never bothered me before, seeing it undergo the full transformation into its \u2018best\u2019 version has rekindled my love for it once again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Do I really need to sell it? Every other Evo for sale won\u2019t be as nice, and it is only being sold to finish my Skyline, which in turn prevents Steve from murdering me. But drink in how good it looks already, and once those OZ wheels are freshened up it\u2019ll be immaculate. The only solution I can feasibly think of is to take on a horrid amount of extra work at great expense to my own health and wellbeing. So if you\u2019re in need of any \u2013 and I mean any – photography, do send your requests titled \u2018Don\u2019t sell the Pajero, take my money instead\u2019 to me immediately.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Renowned photographer Mark has been working with Top Gear for many, many years. When not taking photos he\u2019s buying inappropriate cars. Here he shares his addiction with the world. A few months back I shared an unusually sensible plan of tidying up my Pajero Evolution with the goal of selling it to help finish the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,237],"class_list":["post-1833764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-topgear-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1833764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1833764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1833764\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1833764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1833764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1833764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}