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Roadtrip. Caution: Austin-engined Honda, with sunroof.


flat4alfa

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Roadtrip. Caution: Austin-engined Honda, with sunroof.

 

 

An Ebay trigger finger episode meant something had to get collected

 

 

The Taxi was waiting in deepest Bedfordshire.  XJR, no less.

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Vauxhall Sintra spotted on the M3

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Breakfast on the A303

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While we still can.

 

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Obligatory Fry-up Pr0n.

 

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Arrived in Cornwall at a farm

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Greeted by this.  Can you see the that bonnet hump?

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Oh!  Towbar - bonus.  Anyway, the 1st purpose for this madness: Nightfire Red

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The 2nd purpose for this madness: not the typical 1.4 or 1.6, it's the donk descended from the Austin B-series. Hence the hump..

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Lush beige everywhere.  Purpose #3

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Not too leggy, everything working.

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Oh!  Period sounds

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Period ambiance aplenty.  Just look at that lovely shelf.  We need to bring proper shelves back.

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Obligatory Pez shot.   Almost put diesel in, out of habit

 

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Lunch is why you need a shelf

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Convoy home behind the XJR, feeling empowered by the hump

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This 2000cc engine gives 140 horses, so no problem weaving the hump around lesser mortals

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Along the A303 you see soldiers 

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And lush countryside

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And German motors

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Henges of stone, even

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And then came the contraflows and cones of our knackered Motorway network

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Looked in the rear mirror and I appeared to have lost that Jaguar!  Belter.

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Around the corner from home it got a swift wash before being presented to the Wife.

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She didn't like it.

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I love that interior. Nice car that - some better wheeltrims would finish it off perfectly.

 

Added alloy wheels to make it look a tad grander
 
Not that there was anything really wrong with giffer trimz
 
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Also set about transferring a set of Rover's finest beige leather seats and door cards I had spare, though defeated by 1) daylight, 2) a rusted-solid bolt through the floor that is way too close to the belt pre-tensioner mechanism 3) smoking it about too much instead of finishing the job
 
Wanged it on the classic multicar policy for £25, yet put a heap of miles on it already which - ahem - may skew the fixed mileage ceiling
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Ohhhh............T-series Class

 

Q. How can you tell when you have a T and not a M?  I'm not sure.

 

Otherwise, my untrained eye can tell quite obviously that it is not an O or a B.   But it does betray its lineage by the means of an oil leak like a B which might want scrutiny.   It also has a gruff place in the rev range like an O.

 

It's been a while - the last B-series motor I had was a Wolseley Landcrab with the early 3-bearing crank.  This Rover goes like a train compared to that old dowager

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How are the arches?

 

Arches?  Pretty reasonable on the offside.  Inner arches are perfect.  A stark difference to my other R8 which is 3 years younger.  This was the extent of what the flap wheel could find:  

 

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Will get that treated and I'm pretty sure there is still a quality rattle can of Nightfire Red in the shed.

 

 

On the nearside though, there has been an episode of a sill plate and some (tidy) wobbing and paint.  Not untidy though, and MOT history shows it was done years ago.

 

MOT runs to December.  I am not going to whine about either side though, not for a complete whole and running order Longbridge Honda British Icon achieved for the round bid at four hundred of the Queens' Pounds.

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Guest Lord Sward

Q. How can you tell when you have a T and not a M?  I'm not sure.

 

From the top;  Rocker Cover; much sportier on a M-series.  From the Bottom; Black Block = T-series.  Red = M-series. There were however 'hybrid' 2.0litres in some Rover 400s.  Block from T-series, head from M-series.  Rare as rocky horse and a real screamer.

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  • 4 months later...

Months move on and due to the lack of driveway expansion to accommodate my recent additions, I've got to let this one go

 

It's been a flipping great SBOD.

 

So good in fact, I've done way too much mileage on the Classic Multicar Policy.  Perhaps I need something less reliable...  As it looked at BL Day last month, when sat in by members of Trigger's Suffolk Massive:

 

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Since bought, leather interior moved over from spares donor:

 

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It's a beige dash car (which is what I wanted) to go with the beige leather, also in a matching body colour such as this Nightfire Red.  (Yes, I searched for a good few weeks for the right car to come up...)

 

T-series in this one, which is all I would ever entertain again having owned the range.  136bhp on the blueprint and it does go well, being a lightweight Eighties design.  Too well, annoying typical Motorway Audi Man aplenty

 

SLi, so has sunroof and windows and everything works, Usual banger-motoring niggles like an oil leak (undertray fitted) and it will need sparky stick to plate the rear sill for next ticket, but pretty good for its 24 years and not anything like so many of the pretty rusty examples left.  Ticket is to December and taxed and insured to get anyone home

 

The ex-WBOD 'spares' car can go with it if someone wanted to in a deal - that one is a rotter, but has lovely running XUD TD and in JRG

 

Will do a proper for sale thread later but putting it out there for now.  Bought eBay win for £400, added the leather and wheels, has a NI plate for hiding a prestige chods age; would like money back as the car is worth that to me on the classic policy as is a comfy and quick spare and will consider a donation to forum coffers as part of it

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How could your wife not like that?

 

An irrational fear that her husband might be enjoying his life too much ?

An irrational fear that it might not impress the neighbours?

An irrational fear that it might not be reliable because over 20 years old?

An irrational fear that it might not be London Compliant?

An irrational fear that it might be very polluting, that parts might be unobtainiable, that it might be shite in a crash, that it's red, that it has a Northern Irish Reg, that it........need I go on.

 

If you don't have a fail to proceed and it passes the next MOT with not too much hassle (money) she'll get happy.  I find it takes 12 months.

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Do other folks think sharpish too?

 

I need to fund some big bills on something else, so is a £7 ticket ok.

 

I wanted to get more for the car and T-series cars are getting thinner on the ground now.  They weren't the best seller when new, as giffers and leasers bought the 414 and 416 in K-series/D-series and the classifieds are awash* with those.

 

But I've had a few good turns recently and karma is king

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