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After seeing GMcD's for sale thread last night I found myself on the way to Glasgow this morning. As these things tend to go I found myself abandoning my trusty* Freelander in Barrhead and driving back to Dundee in a black Toledo with a TR7 engine. It's my second Tolly, my first one being a white 1300 RWD that I did a classic rally events in and briefly daily drove, but it succumbed to rust and circumstance. I've wanted another since. I've been a member here for a while, but have lurked mostly. Partially due to the shame of telling Kiltox I'd send him a spare hazard switch for his van but never sending it 😅 Sorry! The car drives really nice and is a credit to it's previous owners. There are a few niggles to fix as expected but I'm a really happy with it. I took it pretty easy most of the way, just sitting about 60. It's very capable of more but it runs nice and quiet at 60 and I didn't want push it harder till I've given it a once over myself as I don't think it has done many miles lately. Goes and stops really well, and handles very nicely. Seats are very comfy, and most importantly it is solid. Plans for the future: It's perhaps a little fumey inside the cabin, so I'll need to look into that. Fit new tyres - I don't know if any of the previous owners know how old these are but I can't see any date codes, so I'm planning on fitting new rubber even though they look good. There is a set of MG metro and a set of Sprint wheels at my Dad's (He also has a much rustier Toledo, and my old one was his before it was mine) that I might use, but I like the look of the steels so may stick with them. There is a rotational noise a bit like a wheel bearing or something which might just be old car noise, but I'll check them all out to be safe. Sort out a few little bits of rust. It really is solid though. The gearbox is as described, and not amazing, but it's fine for now so that's a problem for next year. Also as described, it runs a little hot, so I might do some fettling of the coolant system. Maybe remount the rev counter as it's a little wobbly, possibly down by the stereo, but that might be a bit too low. I think I have one from a dolomite that I might fit and relocate of the other dials below the dash. The speed under reads by about 13 mph, and I tend to use the GPS speedo in Waze anyway, so that might get shifted. On that note I need to sort out a phone mount. I'm torn about the headlights and black plates, I'll possibly switch them out, possibly not. While it is MOT exempt I might put it through one for piece of mind. I'd like to get a gearstick switch for the overdrive, but that is low priority. If it becomes a long term car, I'd like to paint it. I'm liking the black for now, satin black was always a plan for my old Toledo, but that never happened. Thanks to GMcD and his wife for the cup of tea, I'll come retrieve my Freelander from outside your house, honest!

It’s been a pretty bad couple of weeks for me lately, one of my closest friends died unexpectedly just over a week ago which was pretty devastating and is taking time to process. Then this last week, my older dog Vito was getting increasingly more ill day by day which culminated in multiple vet visits and then surgery Friday. We were warned that depending on what they found, it may be the case that we would have to make the decision not to wake him back up. When I had left him for tests that morning, I didn’t realise it was potentially the last time I’d see him alive. After a bit of processing and deliberation, I’ve decided both these things belong here, despite the tears and pain. The last two things I did with my mate were to get the boat running and take it out together, and then visit him to borrow a drill on the Saturday before he died and also have a good chat. I was in a foul mood that day before I saw him (my koi had died after the pond pump shit itself and I didn’t notice in time), but seeing him cheered me up and my last words in person to him were ‘I’m really glad to have come and seen you mate, it’s really cheered me up for us to chat’. I’m incredibly upset that he’s no longer here with us, and that he will never see fruition of the planned projects we had, or see my baby when it’s born next month. I don’t think I could have left things any better with him though, and I take a lot reassurance and peace from that. On to Vito then… after a week of misery for all involved and genuinely believing I was losing him, he’s now back home with us He’s still not quite himself, but he’s improving all the time and the vet expects a full recovery. At 10 years old I was worried we wouldn’t get him back from surgery, but 24 hours after the operation he was getting in the car and coming home. The puppy is even doing her bit and calmly keeping him company - I was expecting to have to keep them separated. Even though things have been really difficult lately, I’m still incredibly grateful for the way I left things with my friend and that I’ve got my dog back here with me safely.

Went to a car show in Biddulph yesterday, I didn’t manage to snap everything but I did take pics of a few… The Mk2 Golf was found in the local Sainsburies!

After all the fuck about with our landlord selling the house out from under us, we've finally been accepted on another house, subject to appropriate references. (That won't be a problem!) The relief is almost bloody palpable! In car news, the 500x is going back to Fiat on Thursday for a new key coding in under warranty (had to wait a month for the key to be shipped from Italy). The Ignis is still being boringly reliable in the way small Suzuki's are.

When you ring up always ask ‘I’m calling about the car’. When they say ‘Thankyou for Contacting Arnold Clark, press 1 for sales, 2 for parts...’ it may be a dealer masquerading as a private seller.

Oof

Local motoring venue had a classic tractor run departing from it today, so with my 2 year old loving tractors currently we couldn’t not go! Some great stuff there to be fair… One of the Marshalls had this to follow the run in… Which was epic! Have a video of some of them leaving, longer video available at some point. IMG_8317.MOV Also spent some time washing and polishing the Saab! The paint looks nice on the photos, and from 10 feet… but close up its 210,000 miles are starting to show. The bonnet needs a re spray really, and there are a couple of deep scratches on the roof. The boot leaked in heavy rain yesterday and I think I’ve found one of the culprit places… Shite… very rusty but under the boot lock, drains right into the spare wheel well. How does a bit like that even get rusty! Anyway, there are a couple more bits which are a little crusty too, it’s far from perfect, thankfully nothing structural. But… still the 9000 is the best all round car I’ve ever owned. And… thanks to a tip off on the Hubnut fans group on Facebook (don’t judge me) I scored this piece of Citroen memorabilia for £2 from a local junk shop! Bargain!

Make sure the seller has a baseless hatred of at least one sector of society and that they had just this morning sent one of their sort packing. They would much rather sell it to you.

i've spent around £200 over the weekend on a large box of XM bits i'm going to absolutely blitz it, sort everything i can i'm excited

I only get tyres recommended and approved by Harry Redknapp

Don't buy a Peugeot 107 as they are particularly bad just like all French cars. You'd be better off buying a Toyota Aygo as they're Japanese. Yes, I have heard someone say that before 🤦‍♂️

Let's see if this loads.... petal_20220911_091905.mp4 Eureka! It's running on 3 and has some mad exhausts, so does sound a bit rough. Weather/time/CBA-ness/not fixing broken mopeds permitting, might try and actually drive it later, just for the LOLs.

I now have spent all free time since Wednesday removing sound dampening mats. Even with electric tools, this took a long time and was a shit job. But it was worth it as I discovered a lot of surface rust, several old welding repairs and 2 rust holes that need to be repaired. This is how the floor looks now. And i start on the floor by the driver's seat, this has a small hole that is difficult to see in the picture, so I have made a circle around it. It also has a patch at the very back end of the floor And it is also clear that the floor here has been changed several times and it is clear where new floors has been welded in at least 2 places have marked them by arrows The floor behind the driver's seat has also been replaced atleast once and has also received another repair after this, which is at the bottom of the picture on the right. And then there is the passenger side. This side has clearly not received many repairs and the floor in front is solid. But the floor behind this has the biggest rust hole that I don't understand that I haven't discovered before. So it is clear that this car is anything but untouched and is really well used, but given its age and history and use, this is not bad. Now it remains to fix the 2 rust holes and the floor on both sides should probably have been completely replaced, but I don't have the ability to do that and I can't afford it either. But after fixing those holes and treating the rust and painting the floor, it will probably and hopefully last for many more years before it has to be fixed again..

Our last full day in Cortina so we took a few pictures. The first from our hotel. The ski jump James Bond came down in 1981! Then we went for a drive up a very high mountain. There are plenty of Panda’s here and still a few mk1’s about. Three in this picture: And another nearby Plus lots of expensive modern cars: We also had a walk to the top of the toboggan run which has been made narrower since 1962 as there would be no chance of driving a mk1 Cortina down there now! It looks like it has been unused since 2010, but will be refurbished for the 2026 Olympics. @danthecapriman I saw Scott again last night and again this morning, he took his Capri to Capri in 2019 for the 50th anniversary of the Capri and was the 4 th Capri to go on the island so I had it wrong. The next will be the 5th! I suggested to him we go in 2029 for the 60th anniversary and he seemed interested. If you came we could have a mk1, 2 and 3 which would be fantastic.

I repaired the corrosion on the black 93s OSR arch today. It was actually a bit worse than I thought, it had gone through in a few places however it was all on the lip rather than up top so I just ground it down, applied Vactan, pylon paint and top coat. It'll obviously come back but better than doing nothing. Welding it wouldn't make sense at this stage. 2 top coats applied: You definitely* can't tell. But as with all my fleet, the ten foot test is a pass: Later on I gave it a coat of wax: The subsequent rain let me take a gratuitous beading shot:

Turn up to see the car by being dropped of by a friend and wear dark glasses, hold a white stick in one hand and a labrador in the other. Assess the car by commenting the body work feels rough while running your hand along any near by wall. Also comment on the condition and smell of the upholstery while rubbing the top of your labrador. Insist on a test drive and if the seller refuses this indicates they're a bad person and probably haven't looked after the car properly. Walk away.

Good friend. Want a fly press before it goes in the skip? Sure. Shoe for scale! Madness!

Not a royalist by any means but watching the cortege going through Edinburgh on the telly and every disrespectful twat has their phone cameras up recording as it goes past, no heads bowed solemnly, just strikes me as being hugely disrespectful. It's not like it's not getting bloody televised

You mean the 710 cap ?

Used to get this all the time when I worked in the parts place. Someone would ask for a thermostat, you'd get them the thermostat. Do you need a gasket or any sealer with that? Errr, I dunno? Do I? Suppose so. What about antifreeze sir? Errr, do i need that then? Well, yes if you lose the water. Err, suppose so? That is £17.50 please. Can I get that TRADE mate?

Think I forgot to mention that one of the reasons I'm doing all this work on the floor is that I'm going to buy a new carpet kit to this so I don't want to have to take it out again anytime soon. I am considering buying this carpet kit from these https://www.tapis-deluxe.com/en/ If anyone has any experience with this company, I would like to hear it. But the carpet kit for these is quite comprehensive and will improve the interior of this a lot. This kit is also not that expensive and there are many colors to choose from. So this is something I'm looking forward to.

Ahhh

Game for a laugh... let’s hear your top tips when viewing a car Heres mine... ‘always ask if the mileage is genuine, if the owner says no then it might suggest he has wound the clock back with a drill’ Always ask if there are any rips or tears to the upholstery

Some nice finds there especially the Rockets Capri😎.The plastic Scirocco is one I learnt about when I was looking into this set I bought from a fete a few years back Unfortunately,there were no cars with it,but you can never have too many plastic cones or Greek road signs 😁

The crossclimate gods smiled upon me and cast a nail upon my tread. Fucking lazy builders. Went to Kwik fit: - Can you patch my tyre today? - Sorry, it's just me in today because most of the lads called in sick and I can't do any work on my own Fuck me. Spare slapped on but it's going in the opposite to the suggested direction. EML still on even after resetting the codes with a battery disconnect. It's pre-obd so I'm going to need some bare wire and 30mins to figure out what it's complaining about. Power feels up after the exhaust patch so that's very positive. Bonus minor fleet activity, 2 cars potentially on their way out. Pray for them. It's like escaping Auschwitz if a car leaves here not on a flatbed

I would only ever buy an accident damaged car if it had been in “excellent pre accident condition” as quoted in the advert. Check that 11 of the 12 photos are pretty ones of it before hand, with only the last photo showing it wrapped around a tree, that isn’t that important - look how nice it looked before hand.

Always look for evidence of the car’s previous use. Shower curtain rings or paper samples= sales rep. 1.5kg of uncut chang concealed in the door frames and a handgun= freelance chemist.

Whoever thought that power buttons on top of computer cases was a good idea clearly didn't live with cats. Half an hour's work in Blender gone. Little fucking wanker.

PT2 Attempts job -> gets stuck -> watches YouTube -> reads forum posts from 10 years ago telling you how there's only 1 mechanic in the world that has the tool to do the job -> fucks everything up -> drives to garage without any coolant -> overheats -> kippers the engine -> blames "scumbag" garage ... 🙄

After a lot of work, I have finally removed all the sound dampening mats in the Mercedes, now rust work is next.

Out again! Walked an hour from home, got a train to Edale, walked 3 hours up a hill and here we are. Not a soul for miles.

Been doing some more tidying on the Maxus this weekend. I finished undersealing the sills, and also tidied up the back doors with a lick of paint where needed, then painted the rear bumper in matt black. I still need to touch up a few more bits of the white bodywork and even then it's never going to be perfect, but it should make it look a bit more respectable. I've checked all the lights, fitted new wiper blades and refilled the screenwash, so it's as close to being ready for a test as it's going to get... I also got the Spacy running. I took the carb off last weekend, didn't get around to stripping it until Friday night though, it was actually fairly clean inside but the idle jet was blocked solid which might have had something to do with why it wasn't starting. Cleared that out after soaking it overnight in carb cleaner, put everything back together and the bike would fire briefly but wouldn't run. I actually seem to remember having the same problem last time I tried to start the bike which would have been last summer. To check whether there was fuel getting to the float bowl I undid the drain screw, and a steady flow came out so there was plenty of petrol there. Closed the screw, pressed the starter button again and the bike fired straight up. Odd, but I wasn't going to complain. Obviously the bike isn't MOT'd at the moment so I definitely didn't* put the bodywork back together and take it for a cheeky spin round the block. Everything seemed to be working OK, although I did have to top the coolant up quite a bit which I haven't had to do before - maybe it's just evaporated in the heat of the summer. Annoyingly the starter solenoid now seems to have packed up, after all the cranking yesterday - the only way I can start the bike now is to short across the terminals with a screwdriver. Today was lovely and warm. I went for a walk along the Bure Valley railway in the morning, then this afternoon I took the Mobylette and the 164 out for a spin up to the next village - in fact for both of them it was the longest run they'd had in many years, and both behaved absolutely fine. I've sort of got the lights wired up on the Mobylette now - the sidelight switch doesn't seem to do anything but the rear light comes on when I switch on the headlights, so that's close enough. I think it's the cheap Chinese switch pack I bought rather than my wiring. Main and dipped beam work fine though. I stuck the Carina up on the ramps this afternoon as there was an advisory for "underside corroded" on the MOT. I think the tester was being a bit over-enthusiastic - there were a few smallish areas of surface rust on the floorpan and a little bit round the rear trailing arm mounts. I'd bought half a litre of Hydrate 80 though so I grabbed a brush and splashed some onto the brown bits, which should hopefully keep them from getting any worse. In fact the most interesting thing for me about this weekend is that over the course of the weekend I have driven / ridden every single vehicle I own, which is something that hasn't happened in a great many years - this is the first time that all the members of my fleet have been capable of moving under their own power at the same time for longer than I care to remember. Obviously a lot of them still have issues, the Spacy and the van aren't road legal (although the van is still taxed) and I wouldn't trust the Spacy or the Volvo on a long run at the moment, but it's still nice to have a fully mobile fleet.

Whilst collecting a ottoman bed with this missus today and see this beauty hiding in the car park.. I'd love this beasty..

Remember to test the reverse lockout on the gearbox, by forcing it really hard towards the R whilst travelling at at least 30mph. There's two ways to test a handbrake. Don't go for the boring option.. Avoid MIchelin tyres, they're French and therefore unreliable. Ask if the sunroof leaks. If the say no, then ask "What if it's open? " You've caught them in a lie. Ask the seller to climb into the boot so that you can "visualise the loadspace better"

It's a shame to let this go, but I just wasn't using it. It's definitely gone to the right home though! Enjoy it 🙂

We're taking green Favorit on holiday in a couple of weeks so I'm giving it a bit of a service. Noticed the front tyres are getting a bit low. Looked at the price of new ones but decided I may as well use the Ronals I had in the garage that were previously on the Felicia. Not sure which ones I prefer. The black Team Dynamics go with the mass of black plastic on the car but I'm attracted to the shinyness of the Ronals like a magpie. They are actually nowhere near as good as they look in this picture. I spent an afternoon rubbing down the white powdery bits, repolishing and putting a bit of laquer on them. I think they have now become my winter wheels. Thought I might as well stick this picture in. I was parked here to go the cinema out of shot to the right but building behind is Southamptons fanciest hotel. You normally get a few fancy yachts here (I mean it's all relative, we're not talking Monaco or Cannes but fancy for Southampton) but the small one attached to that very tall mast has more kudos than all the fancy ones. Used for the Vendee Globe single handed round the world yacht race. Very niche and no doubt very expensive.

you mean........people actually go and view a car? wow i've always just immeditately transferred the asking price then worked out how to get it

Don't. Always buy a car blind, it's a fun and legal thrill.

Got back on the horse with diecast resto recently. This VW ambulance is going to be a Westfalia type job, hence the siren filled in.

I was planning on doing a big load of nothing this weekend, but I mentioned the toy fair was on and it was suggested I went, quite possibly just to get me out from under her feet! There's a distinct lack of 50p rummage boxes lately, several £1 ones though. Still, I found a few things I was willing to pay that for. This is the oddest - a plastic Scirocco Rockets XR7 I do have... But Capri and Merc SL I do not The seller of both Mercs also had some tidy fantasy Matchboxes But this sad Thames was at the bottom of a tat box First, and most expensive buy of the day was this Tonka TR7 for £5 What's that saying about repenting at leisure? Snapped up this Setra coach thinking the colour was unusual That's because it's a repaint - also has the rivet in a very strange place making resto harder

Currently sat at Auckland Airport, waiting to catch our flight back to the UK. Just an update that all miniature tat requested has been packed and is on it's way, too! Chucked in a few bonus bits, as well. See some of you in the coming weeks!

What do we want? TINY OBSCURE JDM HONDA BOXES! When do we want them? Honda Today - I had no idea these existed until now, but I must say I rather like it. Even if it does have a daft name. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175408253715