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Rover 75 spares or repair £175 - needs to be gone by the weekend if possible.


purplebargeken

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  • 2 weeks later...

As some of you may have seen on Ken's other thread, a deal was reached between myself and PBK, in which he has ended up with my old Mk2 Astra and I ended up with this.

 

As I was working in London on Wednesday, it was what I deemed to be the perfect time to merge work with leisure. I would be able to go down by train, deal with the work stuff and then waft back to Suffolk without having to deal with the public transport bollocks caused by the slightly nippy weather we have been having lately.

 

It was a superb idea and it was looking like it was the right decision when I went over to North London to acquire my transport for the evening. All of the trains heading to my destination were either cancelled or delayed.

 

When I arrived I was met by the sight of the once familiar Astra, now in much more capable hands, and Ken. After a nice, but freezing catch up I went on my way and settled in to what I thought was going to be a rather quiet and refined journey back from London. For most of the journey it was, the A12 was quiet and I was happy just pottering along. Of course I did get the obligatory shot for every collection.

 

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It was going swimmingly, until less than one junction away from my destination, I hit a patch of black ice, wrestled to regain control of the car and spun off the A14 into a ditch.

 

Thankfully snow, gravel and dirt are some of the softest things you can crash into when you depart from a dual carriageway, and I was surprised to find myself completely uninjured considering what had happened. I also couldn't believe my luck when less than two minutes after the spin when a traffic officer found what was left of myself and the 75. Not long later the car was recovered (and didn't look too damaged) and I was given a lift home.

 

The next day I called the recovery agent and was disappointed to find out they wanted to charge £250 to release the car. Not a great deal considering the car itself was £175. At this point, it became apparent that Bornite Identity was right earlier in the thread when he said "some cars do not want to live".

 

However, after a further phone call today, it was made clear that I was given the wrong information the previous day, and that it would be £170 to get it out. Still not cheap, but just about justifiable (especially as they would charge a £75 disposal fee if I left it with them). We were on for take 2 of the collection.

 

At the yard, I was greeted by the sight of the 75. Unfortunately no photos were taken, as the yard was going to close soon and we had to be quick if we wanted to get it out today. After a look around, I was stunned to see that the only real damage was that the front right tyre was torn off the wheel when I went off. Everything else seemed alright, so we set about changing the wheel and getting out before the snow got any worse. The result?

 

post-20228-0-61334500-1520038787_thumb.jpg

 

It seems to have come out of it alright. The tracking is a bit off, although considering that is all that seems to be wrong after spinning backwards into a ditch, I am going to take that as a win. The issue with the idle seems to not be as bad as it was before the accident, however that will be looked into over the next few weeks. However, for now the Rover lives to die another day.

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Have a look at the dash to see if the original owner specified the "self destruct" option. There might be a switch with two options "self destruct and do not self destruct"

 

See which setting this car has selected.

 

Sounds like you were pretty lucky though. There's going to be a lot more of this over the next couple of days as the roads themselves look clear-ish but there is a lot of ice about. Our road is almost normal now, or at least it would be if it wasn't for the coating of clear ice on the surface

 

Be very careful everyone!

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These tow companies are absolute bar stewards. I got towed once in edinburgh for a parking issue and the pound was less than a mile away. Was charged £180 release fee plus I had to pay a parking ticket they'd put on the windscreen as well - another £60. The car had only been sat for half an hour.

 

The worst of it was that when I went to collect they wouldn't give me the car without me showing them 2 forms of ID which was at home 50 miles away so I couldn't get the car out til next day meaning I was also charged storage.

 

I dont understand why if your car is towed you must show ID given when it was sat in the street having the keys is all you need!

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Starting to think the car is inhabited by the spirit of Marvin the Paranoid Android

 

"Here I am, brain the size of a planet, but my pipework is still brittle. Not to mention the inherent weaknesses of my top end gaskets and yet they still try and drive me in the snow. What did they expect would happen? Call that job satisfaction, because I don't"

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Nah, that's already been done!

 

Range would have been

 

SMALL - 1981 Metro with 850cc sidevalve engine

 

MEDIUM - Marina 1.8 VVC K Series

 

LARGE - Princess KV6

 

SPORTS - MGF 1.1 K Series

 

OFF ROAD - Freelander 1.8 B series

 

Yeah, pick the bones out of that German car makers!

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Nah, that's already been done!

 

Range would have been

 

SMALL - 1981 Metro with 850cc sidevalve engine

 

MEDIUM - Allegro 1.8 VVC K Series

 

LARGE - Princess KV6

 

SPORTS - MGF 1.1 K Series

 

OFF ROAD - Freelander 2.0 o-series/ prkins prima turbot + variable ride height hydrasag

 

Yeah, pick the bones out of that German car makers!

 

FIFY as an allegro has hydrasag for range  rationalisation and is better than a marauda in every way (except door handles)

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