Six Cylinders Motoring Notes

[Guest Hooli]

The Alfa specialist who has done the rear struts on the black 156 and now all the work on the silver 156 is primed and willing to take on returning our 1983 Giulietta to the road. The problem is that it is stuck in the field with the inboard rear brakes seizes on.

Hitch every field moped to it and drag it out like angry huskys

[Six-cylinder]

Hitch every field moped to it and drag it out like angry huskys

 

The problem is they are all broken!

[richardmorris]

Yes, all I need is someone to lay under a precariously supported car and chisel out the stuck brake pads on the inboard rear brakes! 

 

Maybe a Moderator could use this as a punishment instead of deportation to the colonies for some crime or other!

 

Various peoples managed to get the burned out altcit rolling. Brute force and ignorance!

[Six-cylinder]

Alfas will be Alfas!

 

Driving into Milton Keynes this morning to meet some friends for breakfast the black Alfa cut out on the H8 duel carriageway and glided to a holt on the grass verge. It turned over, coughed but would not restart. I called the RAC who could not find where the junction of V7 and H8 was so the town planners wasted there time making the main roads V for vertical and H for horizontal in numerical order! Eventually they worked out where I was and said it could take 3-4 hours and they would call me when the patrol was coming.

 

Not to miss out on breakfast I got my friends to collect me and we only got six roundabouts away and I received a call from the patrol-man to say he had found my car where was I!

 

The patrol-man plugged in his diagnostic equipment and found the inertia cut out switch had been triggered, reset it and it restarted. I don't remember hitting a particularly bad pot hole but there are so many around North Bucks maybe I just don't notice them any more.

 

The Engine management light is now on and his diagnostic equipment says air flow meter. The car runs fine so that is something for another day.

[Isaac Hunt]

Are the MK Grid System, does take a few folk a while to get used to it.

 

I've passed that test but still find it well hard to establish where one is at any moment in time, feck me there are some roundabouts that all look the same.

 

I think playing battleships as a lad helped my MK nav ability.

 

Strange FTP on the Aplfer but it looks to have passed the the SMBD test.

 

SMBD, proper Autoshite acronym is that.

[Zelandeth]

We had that on a mate's Jag once!

 

The switch on that is on the inside of the offside front wheel well above the pedals, buried under the dash.

 

He lost a wheel balance weight, which managed to hit the exact location where the switch was (there's a witness mark there) and trip it.

 

Thing is, when that's tripped in the Jag it deadlocks the boot (presumably to stop the battery flying out in an accident).  Sadly in the boot was both his jacket and mobile...in the middle of winter in northeast Scotland.

 

Took a few days to work out what was wrong with the car when it was *eventually* recovered.

[Six-cylinder]

Now 2004 and Mrs6C returned from the USA and what car did she want, a 1990 Volvo 740 GLE Auto estate of course. We still have it, marooned in Wales with a suspected fuel pump fault.

 

Back to running my 1985 Range Rover as my everyday car I took it for service to Towcester Land Rover specialist who said would you like another one! A beautiful 1988 3.5 EFi Auto in black with black wheels and blacked out glass. It's the weird colour scheme that freaked me. Every time you tried to operate one of these weird black controls, which are labeled in black on a black background, a small black light lights up black to let you know you've done it!

 

It was good to own and the only car I have ever had where people declined to tangle with you. A year later I returned for a job on the green Range Rover and Towcester Land Rover said we have somebody who would like the black one so I duly passed it on.

 

I fell in Love with the Renault Fuego when it first came out and even tried to buy one new. 12 years later I finally got my hands on one, a very low mileage 1981 Fuego GTS that looked lovely. I was a bit disappointed by the drive as it was a 1650cc when I had really wanted a 2 Ltr and the lack of power steering, when Mrs6C became paranoid about keeping outside I passed it on. Great car to look at.

 

Next was a motoring high light for me a 1994 Mercedes E320 Cabriolet. A friend bought it when working on Guernsey he drove it to the UK and I fell in love. When he left Guernsey he specially imported it to the UK so I could buy it. Driving around Le Mans in it, on race weekend was something else. I keep it for over 6 years.

 

I had told Mrs6C that if I spent all our money on a Mercedes convertible I would not need another car because the hood was so good but when winter came I just had to have something else. I love driving W124s so what better than a 1992 300E saloon for the winter Blue Black and beautiful.

[hairnet]

You are Phillipa vale aicm5£

[hairnet]

Convertible - you handbag

[Six-cylinder]

Remember I still had a Vitesse, I went to a Triumph show and for sale was a better Vitesse Mk2 convertible in white than mine at an irresistible price so I said to Mrs6C to crawl under it and she reported it was perfect! All this time I was concerned someone was going to beat me to it, as the seller was engaged in a conversation that seemed to be leading to a sale. All of a sudden the prospective buyer thanked the seller and walked away, I stepped in and soon had agreed to buy the car so the seller and I went to a quiet spot to count out some deposit money. When we returned the other buyer was standing there saying I only went off to clear it with my wife! That was nearly 14 years ago and we still have it.

 

Driving though Aylesbury to go to some friends for dinner I joked to Mrs6C that Aylesbury was a dangerous place as there were often cars for sale on the side of the road! As we left Aylesbury I gave her the all clear then we drove past a 1983 Renault 4 GTL on the grass outside a posh house. We turned round to investigate and it was a 32k car in great condition for a very fair price so we bought it there and then. We had to call our host to say we had been delayed by half an hour!

 

Having a friend who had a car sales business meant I often went to the Auctions with him to drive back has purchase, but just sometime I just couldn’t help myself and bought one myself. A sucker for Volvo 740s a blue green 1988 740GLE Auto saloon had my name all over it. I sold it to a friend who had bought my Mercedes 300E from me because he wanted to keep the Mercedes for best and use the Volvo daily.

 

1996 Volvo 850S 2.5 10v estate was another auction purchase because it was there and I liked it. Buying random cars is not a problem as long as you sell them again, which I USED to be quite good at.

 

 

1995 900 SE Turbo 3 door stunning car just how you want to own them 2 owners, full history. I can believe how many really nice cars I bought from Whitney auction. I go back to Whitney from time to time but they just don’t seem to have the cars that make me raise my hand any more.

[Six-cylinder]

You are Phillipa vale aicm5£

 

Explain? 

[Six-cylinder]

1997 Range Rover 4.6 HSE Looking for a nice car for myself a W210 E320 estate appealed and we started looking but was horrified how much rust 7 years old ones had and Mrs6C at how low spec they were mainly with grey interiors so I said we could always have another Range Rover. The negative was the fuel consumption 18 mpg from the black 3.5 EFi, 17 mpg from the green carb one and 16 mpg from the P38, I still had it 5 years because I liked it.

 

1997 Volvo V70 2.5 Auto another auction purchase and another good car but it was hard to sell because of the colour, even Mrs6C turned it down.

 

1995 Cinquecento S What I really wanted was a Sporting but this S came up and I had that it instead. Nearly a disaster as the head gasket blew, but turned out to be an easy fix and never gave any trouble again.

 

I sold it to a friend for his daughter and after a few weeks it would not run properly any more, turned out she had reversed into a bank and bent the end of the exhaust double!

 

2000 BMW 330Ci SE Auto Mrs6C fell in love with this car when a work college owned it. He had purchased it new and collected it from Germany and 6 years and 60k later she bought it from him. We still have it and it is only ever used for best.

 

1999 Volvo V70 T5 SE Auto The 330Ci was too good to use everyday so Mrs6C said she needed another Volvo estate and she would not have the Turquoise V70 I already had. We still have it and the only real fault is the EML light comes on, we have been told it is the camshaft sensor from the fault codes.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I bought cars from Witney car auction between 1988 and 1994. We knew the owners, John Bond Smith and Paul Kourelias, both proper motor trade geezers and a pleasure to deal with.

[Six-cylinder]

1983 Citroen CX2400 I/E Pallas Auto I spotted it come on E bay and put on a low bid so I could dream in the bath, 10 days later I owned it! Mrs6C was working away during the week so I had some explaining to do, luckily it was a good car that took us to Europe and it was allowed to stay. I hope summer 2019 I will return it to the road.

 

1978 Citroen GS Special fitted with 1299cc engine and 5 speed gear box. While long out of the motor trade my boss was car mad and it did not take much encouragement for me to top bid it on ebay, my boss even went to Grimsby with me to collect it. It needed more work that I was prepared to do so sold it again after 9 months in 2007.

 

That is not the end of the story we watched it get sold 3 times and then in 2013 it came up for sale again and Mrs6C insisted I buy it as it was now in a very sad state. We have sorted it out so it looks nice and drives well.

 

1970 Citroen DS Super working in an office where you are contractually bound to buy random cars for your bosses amusement leads to strange things like an odd car with a water pump gone in Blackpool! This time my boss lent me his trailer to fetch it and I soon had it running again. A rattle from the engine worried me so I sold it on declaring the fault, a year later I met the new owner with the car who said it was running fine.

 

1986 Citroen CX 2500 Familiale manual. I was at a Citroen show with my CX 2400 saloon and Mrs6C was in a long queue for a Pizza so I wondered off to look at some cars. I found an advert for a very cheap CX on another good CX and then it dawned on me that the car in the advert was this one. I rushed back to Mrs6C to get her out of the queue to look at this car, she would not budge and by the time she found me I was counting out the money I had bought along to buy spares! 

[Mrs6C]

 I rushed back to Mrs6C to get her out of the queue to look at this car, she would not budge

I had been standing in that queue for an hour! If you recall, the pizza was being cooked in a wood-fired oven in a Citroen H van... so it would have been rude not to partake...

[hairnet]

omg dreaming in the bath *finds mind bleach

 

gs want NOW (or a go in it)

 

hnnng (sploot)

 

ROFLCOPTER at teh familiale story - youse are as bad as each other

 

oh no in my sock ive found........mrs6c 100% worse than six cyl PHAKT

[hairnet]

 

 

$T2eC16V,!yUFIbsP4iGuBSc7NyI5LQ~~60_58.jpg

 

1978 Citroen GS Special fitted with 1299cc engine and 5 speed gear box. While long out of the motor trade my boss was car mad and it did not take much encouragement for me to top bid it on ebay, my boss even went to Grimsby with me to collect it. It needed more work that I was prepared to do so sold it again after 9 months in 2007.

 

That is not the end of the story we watched it get sold 3 times and then in 2013 it came up for sale again and Mrs6C insisted I buy it as it was now in a very sad state. We have sorted it out so it looks nice and drives well.

 

100000000000% hnnnnnnnnggggggggg - i <3 this car

[Tadhg Tiogar]

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1983 Citroen CX2400 I/E Pallas Auto I spotted it come on E bay and put on a low bid so I could dream in the bath, 10 days later I owned it! Mrs6C was working away during the week so I had some explaining to do, luckily it was a good car that took us to Europe and it was allowed to stay. I hope summer 2019 I will return it to the road.

 

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$T2eC16V,!yUFIbsP4iGuBSc7NyI5LQ~~60_58.jpg

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1978 Citroen GS Special fitted with 1299cc engine and 5 speed gear box. While long out of the motor trade my boss was car mad and it did not take much encouragement for me to top bid it on ebay, my boss even went to Grimsby with me to collect it. It needed more work that I was prepared to do so sold it again after 9 months in 2007.

 

That is not the end of the story we watched it get sold 3 times and then in 2013 it came up for sale again and Mrs6C insisted I buy it as it was now in a very sad state. We have sorted it out so it looks nice and drives well.

 

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1970 Citroen DS Super working in an office where you are contractually bound to buy random cars for your bosses amusement leads to strange things like an odd car with a water pump gone in Blackpool! This time my boss lent me his trailer to fetch it and I soon had it running again. A rattle from the engine worried me so I sold it on declaring the fault, a year later I met the new owner with the car who said it was running fine.

 

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1986 Citroen CX 2500 Familiale manual. I was at a Citroen show with my CX 2400 saloon and Mrs6C was in a long queue for a Pizza so I wondered off to look at some cars. I found an advert for a very cheap CX on another good CX and then it dawned on me that the car in the advert was this one. I rushed back to Mrs6C to get her out of the queue to look at this car, she would not budge and by the time she found me I was counting out the money I had bought along to buy spares!

 

At last, some decent cars.

[Zelandeth]

If you need an extra pair of hands for anything on the CX give us a shout.

 

My uncle had a white estate when I was a child which I found fascinating. Don't think I've seen one with the proper early dash in person since...

 

I used to have a mate up north who tended to buy all manner of random motors on a whim, used to be a laugh when I got the inevitable "Hey, I've bought a motor...can you give us a hand getting it home?" phone call, then taking bets on what it was - and what would go comedically wrong on the way home. Which actually was usually very little...though the coach dropping the rear windscreen clear out halfway up the A90 was interesting. I advise against instinctively taking evasive action to dodge something like that at 60+ mph in a coach. I missed the windscreen...spent the next five hundred yards attempting to convince the wreck of a Leopard I was piloting to point in the right direction again...but eventually succeeded.

[Six-cylinder]

If you need an extra pair of hands for anything on the CX give us a shout.

 

My uncle had a white estate when I was a child which I found fascinating. Don't think I've seen one with the proper early dash in person since...

 

 

 

I do need to get the damaged throttle cable off so I can send it to Speedy Cables to get it replaced. The problem is standing upside down in the footwell is a bit beyond me!

[hairnet]

hole in the floor

[Zelandeth]

I do need to get the damaged throttle cable off so I can send it to Speedy Cables to get it replaced. The problem is standing upside down in the footwell is a bit beyond me!

 

That definitely sounds like something I could assist with.  Can't surely be any harder than that fluffing cable clip on the Xantia's clutch...

[Guest Hooli]

It amazes me that as well as buying good cars you buy frogshit. It's like claiming to be a gourmet and being unable to resist KFC.

[Six-cylinder]

It amazes me that as well as buying good cars you buy frogshit. It's like claiming to be a gourmet and being unable to resist KFC.

 

Blame the parents as father had a Citroen GS as I came up to driving age!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I need to properly befriend someone like you 6Cyls. In my mind's eye I leave my crummy office job/mortgage life behind, and find someone with a field and lots of old cars that need fettling. I park my horsebo11ox on the field and spend my days sorting the cars out in exchange for some pocket money and a bag or two of groceries every week. Do it for a few weeks thenove on to a new place and different motors/people. Get a few 'regulars'. Bliss. Maybe when the HB is done I'll put an ad in C&SC ("get your fleet twiddled with by former Rolls-Royce Engineer") and hope to find a wealthy patron in France or Spain somewhere to keep me occupied over winters. Aaaahhhh.

[richardmorris]

I had been standing in that queue for an hour! If you recall, the pizza was being cooked in a wood-fired oven in a Citroen H van... so it would have been rude not to partake...

I do like the way we get both sides of the story here.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

I do like the way we get both sides of the story here.

Alternative facts?

[hairnet]

M blx being six cylinders biatch?

 

Chris he's good at tech recruit him

 

Richard - bent truth from Chris

 

Real deal from the boss

[richardmorris]

What we have learned so far is that mr 6cyl shouldn’t be allowed out on his own unsupervised with money but that Mrs 6cyl doesn’t exactly try and stop him. They’re a good match!

[Mrs6C]

I need to properly befriend someone like you 6Cyls. In my mind's eye I leave my crummy office job/mortgage life behind, and find someone with a field and lots of old cars that need fettling. I park my horsebo11ox on the field and spend my days sorting the cars out in exchange for some pocket money and a bag or two of groceries every week. Do it for a few weeks thenove on to a new place and different motors/people. Get a few 'regulars'. Bliss. Maybe when the HB is done I'll put an ad in C&SC ("get your fleet twiddled with by former Rolls-Royce Engineer") and hope to find a wealthy patron in France or Spain somewhere to keep me occupied over winters. Aaaahhhh.

When can we expect you?