Ricci's Garage: uh oh, the Pajero looks brilliant, and now we can't sell it

Renowned photographer Mark has been working with Top Gear for many, many years. When not taking photos he’s 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 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.

What’s a Pajero Evo worth these days? Similar cars (without the Gucci OZ Racing wheels) appear to be around £28k–32k, and with mine having a recent engine refresh combined with the complete respray, aiming for the £30k–35k seems a fair middle ground. Especially as some people will be put off for it not being completely original. NOTE: those people are odd – these are still 30 year old Pajeros jazzed up with some Dakar bits after all.

The problem is, when you’re preparing to sell a car for large sums of cash like £30k, you can’t help but have a quick look at what’s for sale at similar money. Just for research. And annoyingly there’s some ruddy cool stuff out there. A Mitsubishi Evo 9 GT Wagon could almost be considered practical, but they’re 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’s an ex-supercar series Holden HSV racecar on RaceCarsDirect.com for just £20k.

Staying on track has never been my finest work. However, if Steve were to learn I’d sold the Pajero Evo to buy another idiotic car rather than finish the GT-R, there’s every chance I won’t 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.

One thing I didn’t factor in was what happened next. Wayne @ Brooklands Automotive decided to send me some progress photos of the work they’d 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 ‘best’ version has rekindled my love for it once again.

Do I really need to sell it? Every other Evo for sale won’t 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’ll 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’re in need of any – and I mean any - photography, do send your requests titled ‘Don’t sell the Pajero, take my money instead’ to me immediately.