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When I wert naught but a stripling, the Citye Constables didst desport themselves in such antiquated vehicles thusly: But now, with much progress hence, do they discharge their patrolls in convyances much improv'd, viz: Lord, the changes I hath seen in mine lyfe!

Just become a grandad again 🙂 grand daughter no2, born this afternoon a wee bit early. 5lb8. Ella Rose. Got another 2 on the way!

Yes, it has happened! As the title revealed I finally own a Cadillac! And what a beast it is. What you see below is a 1996 Cadillac Sedan DeVille, Cadillac's FWD (!) Fullsize offering featuring the famous Northstar V8 (similar to that in my Olds Auroras). Yeah, the one blowing head gaskets left and right... I never really seriously considered getting one as the Rwd, body on frame Fleetwood is way more interesting to me (and even larger). With this DeVille coming up for sale literally 5 minutes from my GFs house, and with a deal to be had, how could I resist though? I don't have a huge amount of info yet. The car apparently stood in a garage in Sunderland for years before the current owner dumped it in a storage yard only about a year ago sometime around mot time. There it just sat until now, the yard is getting converted into self storage and everything must go. And boy are there some interesting cars there... The car clearly needs a clean, but with only 77k on the clock and a reasonably easy life it should clean up well enough. Had it run for a while, no signs of omghgf. Plans are to get it thoroughly checked asap, put an mot on (unless it needs a ton of work, which hopefully is not the case...) and then slowly restore it as I've done with my other cars before. More info soon! But wait, there is more... There may have been another car... More soon...

So aye, tis an Atco 12". Probably late 1950s, as I think by 1960 they'd ditched the cylindrical fuel tank. Ran when parked, spins but no spark, should be a fun wee project. The eagle eyed amongst you have spotted it in a garage. I have indeed acquired AN HOUSE, collected the keys yesterday. The rent would make a grown man cry and I had to move out towards Falkirk to get a decent place for the dosh but hey-ho, it's a big place for two... A garage for a 70s sized car and a driveway for three. Obviously I have a garden now so slammed "vintage lawn mower" into eBay and bought the cheapest one that was nearest. £10, 5 miles away, can't argue with that.

It is time. Time for breakfast, and more motorised bullshit.

https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1479072 Lagoon supertalic must be the nicest colour i've seen on any Rover.

Still regularly getting out and about in this thing - I moved it over to the shed the other day for a bit of fettling. It needs an oil change, and a rear wheel bearing replacing. Ill hopefully get that stuff sorted at the weekend.

If by "sensible" you mean "older than all my other old junk", then yes.

Small engine, green and rusty patina 🤔

wot no P6 3500?

He hasn't replied again yet

Had to.

Finally got around to something I've been wanting to do since the day the Cavalier arrived here. Introducing it to this. Which has to be one of my favourite tools out of any I've ever bought. The whole car needs a going over, but the engine bay in particular was particularly grubby which was making it absolutely horrible to work in. I mean for a 44 year old car it's really not bad at all, but it needed a clean. Before: After: I'd say that's an improvement. Couple of corners I missed, but it's just a first pass to knock the worst of the crud off and to make it presentable. Despite having unloaded about a litre of degreaser on it then spending half an hour attacking it with the pressure washer, she only went and fired straight up on all four cylinders. I didn't even need to go after the distributor with the WD40...I was well surprised. I then went and blipped the throttle, completely forgetting this car has a mechanical fan. At this point all the water that was sitting in the radiator fins ejected itself into the fan and utterly soaked me. Rookie mistake. The rest of the car was subjected to a similar treatment. It doesn't come across quite so well on the camera, but there was a fair amount of surface contamination everywhere. Also around all the window seals, badges, rubbing strips, in the gutters etc a LOT of moss was removed. The car in general looks a lot better for it. Plus I can actually hit it with the polisher and a load of wax now the worst of the surface contamination has been blown off. A question for those who know these cars. What's been chopped off down here between the bumper and radiator? I'm assuming a grill or something of some sort. The other thought was given that this car was originally an automatic would be a transmission oil cooler. Blew surprisingly little in the way of bits of paint or rust off all things considered. Though it does look like the lower leading edge of the nearside rear wheel arch for the bottom inch or so may well be made of black painted seam sealer...not entirely unexpected to be honest though on a car of this age. Now it's a little less gross I'll hopefully be more inclined to get some more jobs ticked off.

Merseyside Police Traffic garage. IIRC, @Pete-Mowned an ex Merpol RS2000 at one point.

A couple of weeks ago a photographer bloke got all his light up umbrellas and stuff out, and did a photo shoot of this chariot for a feature in Practical Classics magazine. I don't yet know when it will feature in the mag, but I'll let y'all know when I find out. I wasn't expecting to be featured myself, but sure enough, sporting work clothes and a general "well turned out tramp" look, the photographer snapped away. After an hour or so he was done, and I arrived at the inevitable conclusion that my photos will always look a bit shit compared with those done by a professional.

Right, let's quit it with the procrastination and get stuck into the brakes. Hmm...do I need to look at replacing this wishbone or is that gap by the upper ball joint normal? Shock absorber bushes are well past it - but the shocks themselves look pretty rough so I'll probably replace them as a set in the not too distant future. That's not an immediate concern though. Getting this sorted however is. Especially given the proximity of the subframe mounting bolt. That however isn't today's mission. Today's mission is brakes. Based on prior experience on other cars I wasn't looking forward to trying to shift the caliper to hub bolts. They're generally bleeping tight and given this car only has 44K miles on the clock entirely likely have never been off the car before. Having space to get this into the caliper retaining bolts definitely made life easier... Which meant that rather than two hours of swearing and whacking myself in the face with breaker bars the impact gun rattled the bolts straight out and I had the caliper off the car and in my hand in less than ten minutes. The outboard piston actually retracted pretty easily (thankfully as there's a pretty substantial lip on the discs - replacements are in the boot), the inboard one seems pretty well stuck though. I just need to have a look around and confirm which type of calipers these are. If they're readily available for sane money I think I'll just swap them out for new ones. I can always have a shot at rebuilding these into a set of good spares at a later date. If they're *not* available however I'll obviously need to go down that road anyway. Or more likely send them off to a professional to have them rebuilt...the additional cost is most likely well worth it in terms of saved time. Plus I'd need to pick up a few tools I don't currently own too if I were to have a shot myself.

I’m a fan of the Consul/Granada Jam Sandwiches. But then again, I would be.

What could be more iconic and classic than Austin Rover’s finest?

GMP had a thing for Capri 280is in the early '80s.

volvo 850 t5r estate

That's a Jankel. I worked for Essex Police, many years ago, and visited the vehicle garages at Boreham once or twice where the Essex Jankel resided. It was based on a really big American Ford truck, an F-350 possibly, with a diesel engine and left hand drive. The Jankel rarely went anywhere as all sorts of special permits and so on were needed to drive it; I seem to recall that it was reserved for armed response too. The name 'Jankel' may be familiar to some: it's the same Jankel, Robert, who was behind Panther, Panther Westwinds and the RJD Tempest.

Todays purchase

Wolsley 6/90 for Sunday afternoon film chases Dodge Monaco for Saturday afternoon TV chases

Not perfect by any means but my take on if Matchbox did a Westfalia camper version. Couldn’t accurately cover the siren void so I made up an imaginary vent/air con/aerial type thing for the roof.

Boring work has been continuing on this, mostly adding yet more cavity wax and clear wax where it’s visible. Didn’t take pics, cos, it’s boring! Also got the two footwell kick panels fitted back in… then had to remove them because I forgot to connect the earth wires for the interior lights first!🤬 refitted them again now though. Took the grill off and stole @captain_70s idea of using a silver permanent marker to restore the faded ‘FORD’ logo in the middle. Looks much better now so thanks for that one! Then while that was off spent a ridiculously long time trying to get the stupid bonnet release catch spring thing back into place under/through the slam panel. One of those jobs that was incredibly frustrating trying to get it to fit right. Then refitted the release hook and cable. Everything works perfectly which is good. I then decided the original bonnet spring and latch mechanism were not in keeping with the current state of the car! So I bought a new old stock replacement which is like new in that anodised gold-ish colour. Hermes decided to take 13 days to get it to me so it needs fitting and adjusting yet. Then that’s the front end finished and also means the car can be driven without the bonnet flying up. Pics to follow as I forgot to take any. I also decided to spend a few days cleaning out the garage and laying a new floor since winters on the way. I’ve put down some rubber/foam type tiles on the floor just to tidy it up and keep it cleaner in there. They’ve got grip mouldings on too so shouldn’t be slippery. Loads of old rubbish and empty boxes of parts binned too, and there’s very very little left to actually fit on the car now which is a relief. Its not the best garage ever but it’s all I’ve got for now. It’s dry and safe for the car though which is all I need. And… How was that for a spooky prediction!

Just to expand on a point made in the comments about the Jankel, I have driven various police cars whilst being paid to do so! They weren't the real thing, mind, just civilian stuff used for clerical duties but they were police cars of a sort. I had a basic driving permit as part of my job, which gave access to such gems as a Smart car and, most often, a Ford Fiesta. The Fiesta was a basic dark blue one on an X or a Y with five doors, the 1.3 pushrod engine and no power steering. The lack of PAS made it very difficult to drive, for me at least, because it was fitted with the steering wheel from a power-steering car; presumably Fords had standardised the wheels by that point. Anyway the steering wheel was small in diameter so applied very little leverage to the steering column, making it almost impossible to steer at low speeds. I have driven much bigger cars without power steering but, crucially, with appropriately sized wheels and haven't had a problem. Nicer than the Fiesta was a plain (unmarked to the uninitiated but the then police parlance was 'plain') Vauxhall Astra turbo diesel in silver grey. It was a mid-2000s modern Astra rather than the 'classic' one, and it wasn't a bad car. The engine was very smooth and quiet for a diesel but the trade off was a lack of power. It seemed to handle all right, but was marred by uncomfortable seats, a weird gear lever and the infamous Vauxhall flick down and spring up indicator stalk. Better still was a plain blue mark two Focus diesel estate. It was supposed to be a CID runabout but ended up being used by all and sundry because the local CID never seemed to go anywhere. The telly would have you believe that being a detective is all action, however the reality is that it's principally an office job. Uniformed officers do pretty much all the arresting and a lot of the routine enquiries; CID's role is to trawl through the evidence, interview suspects already in custody and wade through endless paperwork. They do leave the station now and again, but only for certain enquiries and not often enough to need more than one or two pool cars. Those are basic specification; CID doing anything with blue lights and emergency runs is pure fiction, in real life if they needed to catch someone they'd use the radio and send an area or traffic car after the miscreant. Incidentally a DI is the equivalent of a senior manager. A police station in a medium sized provincial town may have one or two, but they won't investigate run of the mill crime as they appear to in detective dramas. Their real job is to run the CID office and to provide liaison with the upper ranks in uniform and in major investigations. The latter are a sort of travelling circus who show up if something serious such as a murder happens.* All the cars were per manufacturer specification except some had police radios fitted. *How did I find all that out? Let's just say that the building only had one smoking area...

Took the LTD along to Mavericks car meet in North Wales this evening. Luckily there were a few other yank tanks for me to perv on. I've fancied a Kia Magentis for ages. It's probably bland AF, but it looks quasi-American without having all the drawbacks (e.g. LHD, doesn't fit anywhere, bullshit handling, low MPG).

Damn those neoliberalists. [/yes oui si]

Because it's a basic necessity and shouldn't be a commodity

I think the Tyre Fryer is my favourite out of this motley selection

The real culprits behind the economic situation around the world will be very happy that you're so quick to blame your fellow proles.

Awesome to see little bits of brian still progressing! speaking of Mk12E's this photo popped up on facebook today which as well as being quite a nice photo in itself, is also quite fun in that, not only is it a picture of a K suffix Mk12E of which only about 320 where made but I know that examples from both blocks, both a CPC-H Model 67 and PEV-K Mk12E are known to still survive amazingly! so this photo could be recreated with a surprising amount of accuracy which would be quite fun to do! and also amazingly thats not the first time CPC443H has been pictured! (its "just" a Model 67 not one known to survive or anything sadly, so the statical chances of it randomly being pictured twice is quite something!) oh and as a Side note @Datsuncog I was speaking to the chap who has UOI and clarified, it was 15 cars not 50 which fits better into how many Model 70s I know roughly where issued to NI and the general survival curves of Model 70's in ministry service

Lunchtime fun ahoy. Yes, another automotive grab 'n' go - this time, a Majorette Toyota Yaris Mk1. It's a fairly well proportioned thing, capturing the 3-dr lines very nicely. I bought this one new from Tesco around 2006, I believe - they were selling off their Majorettes for 49p as they must have been discontinued stock. I bought two of them - one for a friend who ran an identical pre-facelift 3-dr at the time, and was mildly bemused when I gave it to him - and one to keep for myself. It's nicely understated - for years, Majorette annoyed me by producing really interesting cars but insisting on painting them in really lairy colours, or with daft graphics all over them. Apart from the slightly squiffy rear lights overprinted in red, this remains resolutely factory, and appears all the better for it. One thing I will say: I wish they hadn't bothered with the opening bonnet. It's nice to give a toy car that extra bit of play value, but it's such a small separate casting that the shut line is very obvious, much more so because of the separate plastic headlights. The engine is in fact quite detailed, though hard to see. Underside is also well rendered in part - not sure what the big blank rectangular area's there for, but the bits between the wheels are decent. I liked this for its ordinariness whenever I bought it, never suspecting that within a few years I'd come to know one very well indeed...

Just to prove Brian has not been forgotten but rather put on hold due to life becoming too hectic, I finally managed another very small step. The tailpipe expansion chamber is now made and ready for brazing.

The fabulously named Norton Interpol The Norton Commander The BMW R80 The Honda Pan European And the legendary Honda Super Blackbird (you’d have to be Barry Sheene to outrun one of those)

They do tend to be on the rare side, certainly; but there's one charity shop in Barrow that I always check because a few years ago I scored properly in there. A Dinky Holden sedan in fair condition and not one but two 1950s Dinky lorries! One Foden, one Guy, both flatbeds, and in almost matching liveries, blue cab/orange flat. Both also in fair condition. Total expenditure: two whole English pounds! I won't be "restoring" any of them.

Keepin' it local... Not as everyday a sight on the streets of Belfast as they once were, but still plenty of PSNI Land Rover Tangis in service. EDIT: bet there'll be loads around tomorrow, since Charlie-Boy's coming to town to take a look at his inheritance...

My cleaned up suspension had started to rust after just one week so I decided to give everything a thick brush coat of waxoyl to seal it. I keep seeing ads for that lanogaurd stuff and wonder if it would be any better than waxoyl brushed on once a year. I did still have a bit more welding to do on the offside in the shape of the lower quarter repair panel and the last bit of the inner arch. It actually went in really well. Instead of doing a continuous welded seam on the outside where the repair joins the quarter panel and introducing loads of distortion and extra work I have just tacked it on with a handfull of welds on the inside of the quarter instead with no distortion. It's not as if it's a critical structural panel.

We are away to Fuerteventura tomorrow for a week, just realised it's 15kg luggage allowance not 20 as it usually is, my unpacking is akin to a scene from "The Martian" when he's stripping the spaceship to shed weight Why the fuck have I packed 15 t shirts ?

Yeah, the Mercury was a favourite of a very young 500tops. 😂 I didn't have a rug like most of kids my age. My play mat was the side of am old wooden packing case that my old man painstakingly painted up in a similar vein to the rugs; Car parks, roundabouts, zebra crossings, double yellow lines et al. All done when he was working backshift in Devonport Dockyard during the Falkland's conflict!

Back to the gearbox for a bit. Previously I couldn't get this remnant of the speedo drive off of the end of the mainshaft. The knurled bit. So I bought this mini puller. It is designed for alternator bearings and the like but as there was such a small gap between the remains of the speedo drive and fourth gear I couldn't get the jaws of a normal puller in there. This has two threaded pins to hold the jaws together but these were too close together to fit over the end of the mainshaft so I had to use a cable tie instead. It took a couple of attempts but bingo... Then I started cleaning the roller bearings that had fallen out of the layshaft from the bottom of the gearbox. These. But also there were a couple of split collars and four shifting plates. Three of those would have fallen out of the 3rd/4th synchro hub when I took the back plate off. But the other one... ? Also two of them are a bit chewed up. The split collars are the thicker ones from either between 1st/2nd or 2nd/3rd. But this might explain the problem as without them the gears can move up and down the shaft a bit. Not much but enough to cause the noise I heard as it felt like it wasn't quite engaging or not quite letting go. This could have been the problem. Another problem is that the good layshaft has the circlip and retaining ring for the needle rollers missing at one end. The other shaft still has them but has lumps missing out of several teeth. Old shaft with circlip and retaining ring and needle rollers. And the other old shaft with none of the above. The circlip groove is clearly visible. I reckon it was running like this as there is no sign of circlip or retaining ring anywhere in the gearbox. The needle rollers couldn't fall out as that end face butts up against a thrust washer but they would have an awful lot of end float and it would explain why some of the rollers were a bit shorter with slightly chewed ends! I think I shall be taking these to a friend who has a background in engineering and many special tools. I have various circlip pliers but none of them are going to work on this. So now both gearboxes are in a similar state of dismantlement I am leaning towards rebuilding the original box. This will of course mean removing the engine again and splitting it from the new box and putting it back on the old one. But I am faced with the option of rebuilding this one... Which is sitting in the front of the garage angled up towards me with lots of natural light. Or this one... Which is only accessible through a hole in the bulkhead at an awkward angle with no natural light. It'll be more actual work but I sense a lot less swearing when trying to fit split collars and holding synchro hubs together if doing it outside the car.

Twice the promise, it seems!

They're presumably wanting a premium price, but not to the extent of emptying it of their cr*p!

Wow. Vera. I am nothing if not predictable.