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Always wanted one of these…. Viewing tomorrow….

Nearside sill is just as bad as the other, so the whole lot was chopped off. Nice rusty layer that had been needlessly added for special bonus points. Chop, hack, etc. Inner sill built back up in stages. Centre sill prepped. Then welded on. Remaining welding jobs: Fill in the floor where it attaches to the inner sills. Cut off rear arches. Remove back axle and start cutting out the inner rear aches. Rebuild the rear arches. Attach outer sills. Repair the boot floor. Repair lower door skins (will probably leave this until well into the future). After that, it's stripping the underside, painting and seam sealing everything, then on to dismantling and rebuilding the suspension. Then refitting the interior and engine.

Hi ShitterZ. "How do mate, do you fancy an old motor?" A few weeks ago I had a call from my Dad. It's a bit of a convoluted story but the short version is that his friend has been asked to clear a house belonging to a distant relative who was in his 90's and recently died. The relatives two sons both live in New Zealand and just want the house cleared so they can sell it. Apparently there's an "old car" in the garage that hasn't been outside for 25 years or so, it's a Citroen but nobody seems to know much about it so I won't know for sure what it is until I get there and open the garage doors and all will be revealed. Whatever it is it's got to go so I'm taking my towing dolly and an air compressor to inflate the tyres. It's travelling a couple of miles across Birmingham to my Dads house where it can live on the drive until I decide what to do with it. I'm setting off down to Brum tomorrow and will update the thread with plenty of images of "the grand reveal"! Anybody taking bets on what this old shonker is going to be?

After a bit of a car buying hiatus, I've truly went above and beyond. First is this 1986 Ford Capri 1.6 Laser. I've always wanted a Capri and decided now was finally the time to get one. It's in pretty good nick. Just need to get the bonnet painted but otherwise it doesn't really need much. I was really torn between a V12 Jaguar XJS and the Capri but I definitely made the right choice. Which brings me onto the next purchase. With my 190D's impending MOT failure, I needed something to drive to work whilst I sort it out (rear suspension needs renewed entirely), so I was on the lookout for something cheap, reliable and economical. I ticked the cheap box at £1400 but I veered significantly off course on the other two with this Jaguar XJ40 3.2S... Really I think this was a bit of a bargain....

Not shite related at all but fuck it, I passed my Pensions and Retirement Planning RO4 exam today. I've been studying for it since January and failed my first attempt at the end of last month. I set my brain to malkie and after 2 weeks more studying, some last minute cramming at the skatepark on Saturday, last night, in the car park and some more before I started the exam I ended up with 70%. It's literally the hardest thing I've ever had to study for, even moreso than my Uni dissertation. Simply because the knowledge would not stick to my brain. I'm never studying again 😂

Assuming you have four of them, if you pop one at the bottom of your black wheelie bin each time it's emptied they'll be gone by Christmas.

We've all seen Chrysler 300Cs converted into Bentley replicas, but this is a new one on me - some cunt has tried to convert this one into a Rolls Royce Phantom. Certainly had me fooled*.

It is a lovely thing though. A few odds and ends to sort here and there but a 300+ hp V8 that’ll do over 35mpg on a decent run? That sounds like a bit of ok.

You! Yes you! Come here! Well, somebody's dropped that. (I think every damn part of this has been dropped at some point). Removed that and the burr. Improvement seen in that 4th changes by itself when it's hot now; 1-2 only if you lift off the throttle. It's late now, given up for tonight. However, that's a big improvement. I'll get to the bottom of it one way or another. It will gearbox properly.

I cannot compete with that. My record was three and a half hours from Widnes to Southampton. That included a lunch stop at Corley services. The weapon of choice was an astramax. I had a 3 phase welder in the back that I needed to use on site. Due to the somewhat hectic nature of the drive when I went to use it it was fucked.

I used the ‘new’ BX a little more today. My Fiancé had her piano lesson in eastbourne and so I suggested we take the dogs and go to the woods on the way home. I went up near Beachy Head to enjoy the view and listen to the radio whilst waiting for my partner. The dogs started out in the boot, but slowly spread out… I need to get a dog guard. With the dogs returned to the boot we collected my partner and went for a walk. Lowering the suspension fully is handy for encouraging the dogs into the car, they can very nearly just step in. I had a better chance to look over the car once we were home. I knew the bodywork was fucked, but the previous owner kindly polished the car before I collected it and left most of the polish on: A microfibre cloth took most of it off, but some needs more effort on it and also all the plastics have been polished too - any tips for getting polish residue out of black plastic greatly appreciated. looks better* with the residue mostly removed at any rate There’s an impressive level of random damage and bodged repairs to the bodywork: I had a bash at setting the park position of the wiper, then realised that part of the mechanism is flapping in the breeze. I will probably borrow* a mechanism from another BX for now. Other observations are that I need to adjust the clutch and check the boots on the steering rack as one seems to have slipped free at one end. On a tangent, my partner sent me this picture and reminded me that in 2020 at about this time of year we were busy collecting BX number 1: It came with a better condition bonnet and wings, I may swap those on during the week if I have time although it does feel a bit like pissing in the wind. Plan for this car is to chuck it in for an MOT in the next couple of weeks and go from there, just doing the bits it needs to stay roadworthy. I may attack the paint if I get bored, and have a go at heat gunning the bumpers as I’ve never tried that before so interested to see what the results are like.

Back to the workshop today. Got all the paying stuff out of the way so time to have a look under the new toy. Brand new 20” Uniroyal Rainsport 5s all round? That’ll do… Broken fog light? That was in the original ad, although no mention was made of the brand new replacement in the back. Now for the elephant in the room…the lack of suspension at the front. Nearside? That looks ok… Let’s have a look at the offside. Ah. Right. That may* be a bit beyond a roadside repair…. 😳😂😂

Some progress made on the Maxus this weekend, in that I took it round to my welding mate to get the two bits on the inner sill patched up. While I had the van up on ramps to slap underseal on the new bits of metal I also rubbed down and rust treated the other rear brake pipe - it didn't fail the MOT but looked a bit manky. When I give the welding a second coat of underseal I'll also run a fingerful of grease over the brake pipe. I've also tightened up the handbrake. The bottom ball joint and the track rod end however continue to resist my efforts to remove them. While I was round welding mate's we tried putting a spanner on the TRE lock nut and then jacking the other end of the spanner up with the trolley jack. It started to lift the van, then the spanner broke. Fuck me it's on there tight. The bottom ball joint taper also still won't come out of its socket. I actually wound the nut back on to the end of the taper bolt and then got the jack on it and jacked the van up so the entire weight of the front end was on the taper. It didn't budge. I belted the shit out of the wishbone with the lump hammer to see if that would shock it free. Nope. So it's back together again and I'm trying to think if there's anything else I can try before giving up and asking the garage to do the work. I gave the Mazda an oil and filter change this afternoon. It obviously hadn't been done for a while, but to my surprise the old oil filter actually unscrewed by hand - which was a relief as it was going to be awkward to get my BFO pliers in there and I couldn't find my strap wrench. So it now has a sumpful of nice clean 20w50. I also chucked in a bottle of STP stop leak stuff that I've had in the shed for ages - it might help slow down the leak around the rocker cover, we shall see. I finally got round to changing the battery for the remote in the Peugeot key - the remote locking has been getting more and more temperamental. It'll now unlock from the other side of the car park, which is a definite improvement. I also found out that the spare key will quite happily unlock both doors via the keyholes - the main key will only do the passenger side, despite being ostensibly the same key. Useful to know if the remote locking ever packs up. As it was a nice warm (for mid October) evening I went for a ride on the Mobylette. It was running well today - it had been bogging down a bit when pulling away last time I used it but it was fine this time. I don't think the throttle slide is quite opening all the way though, I'll have to tweak that at some point - it seems to be maxing out at about 38 on the flat when it used to do more than that (although admittedly that was 25 years ago). Then I went for a (push)bike ride to the beach. It was starting to get dark by then - they'd even switched on the lighthouse. Big ole moon on the way home too.

Paintwork is mint, interior is mint. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/746033566477856

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/434610334786878

Took the AX for a first drive yesterday and overall pretty good. The ride is very crashy as expected as it has lowering springs on the front. Went past my tame Citroen fondler who gave it the once over. The lowered springs have been fitted because new standard diesel ones seem to be NLA, and my friend noted that they are causing problems, with a CV boot having become detached and more worryingly, the brake pipe clears the driveshaft by about 1mm, and shows sign of being in contact from time to time. He thinks diesel 106 springs should fit, so going to look into that, but it is being relegated to emergency transport mode until the brake pipe is away from danger. On the motorway heading to collect the AX, I had a bit of a moment when a lorry pulled into the second lane in front of me requiring an emergency brake, at which the trailer showed its lack of brakes by pushing the hyundai sideways across the road! Eek. So today I decided to have a look see what is going on Wheels off, I could not get the hub nuts to move, apparently they should be torqued to 260lb ft and as these have been untouched since new 14 years ago, they were F tight! Whent to see a friend and borrowed his 3/4 drive socket set which had a 46mm socket. That and a scaffold pole got them moving, although considerable effort was required. With those off, the drums were easily removed. Inside, everything seemed to be free and moving but I have never seen 4 sets of shoes with zero friction material left! In addition, the cables are seized so I have ordered a complete overhaul kit. Probably overkill, but at £265 delivered it should provide another 14 years service.

I never know when to stop. Replacement shock ready to fit… And fitted… Resulting in this… And also no fault codes or error messages… Just got to decide which wheels to go with now…can’t make my mind up between the 19” five spokes and the 20” BBS. Thoughts?

Wee update: I've done over 300 miles now in the month I've had it, and I'm still absolutely in love with it. I fitted a new alternator, as the quite new one fitted failed, leading to an FTP when I went give my pal a shot and she immediately stalled it. My calculation that I had just enough juice left in the battery was way off, but thankfully I had jump leads was going again in 10 mins. My Freelander burst a turbo pipe and is going into the garage for that, yet another wheel bearing and MOT when I'm only holiday next week so I wanted the Toledo drivable, therefore I just bought a new alternator off ebay for £50. Taking the old one off I discovered the nut holding the terminals on was AWOL, so I might be able to fix the old one and have spare. Finished sorting that this morning and took it to get some new Uniroyal Rainexperts fitted. The old tyres had plenty of tread, but in addition to, or because of being old AF they were utterly terrifying in the rain - locking all 4 wheels was hilariously easy. The gearbox sounds like a skeleton orgy, but I've sourced all the bits for a Dolomite Sprint gearbox swap (box, axle, prop, gearbox tunnel, overdrive gearknob) which will happen next month once I have time to pick them up from down south. I've done a few little bits like tightening up the mirrors so they don't point at the pavement every time you shut the door, fitted a phone mount. After a few bleeds and checking temps with a laser thermometer I'm pretty sure the cooling system is running fine. It handles excellently for an 70's runabout. Always amazed with these that I'm driving semi conservatively being aware I've got a NCAP rating of instant death, but then realise I'm going about the same speed I would in a modern car. However the back end crashes badly over bumps in town. It might just be how it is, but I want to give the suspension a good going over to be sure. Current theory might be the mix of soft suspension or polybushes, or tyre pressure being too high - I've got them all at about 30 or 32. Steering could be a bit more direct, particularly at motorway speeds but once again it could just be me driving too much modern shite. TODO List, partially as a reminder to myself. Sort cooling system New Tyres New alternator Wash it Refit old headlights with H4 bulbs in place of LED lights. I have the bits, just need time. Fit sprint gearbox Fit an overdrive light I can actually see while driving, as I've done round the swallow roundabout a few times in overdrive wondering why it's lugging 🙄 Sort out the rust on the jacking points (It's just surface rust from jackstands taking the paint off I think, so I want to nip it in the bud) New engine mounts Smaller steering wheel Service it and check check the carbs are tuned properly Give the steering and suspension a good going over, then get it aligned. Sort out some winter storage (I've got a few options, but not secured anything yet) Longer term / maybe List: Fit sprint speedo, rev counter and make a panel for aux gauges below the heater controls Find & fit seats with headrests Fit battery cutoff switch Fit a new fusebox and relay box Add a thermostat switch to the fan wiring, but retain the ability to switch it on manually Give the wiring a tidy Fit rear seatbelts Fit spotlights Fit Brantz trip meter in case I decide to do any classic or night nav rallies. Better stereo & speakers, either retro looking or hidden. I think I can tuck some 6x9's under the dash but I've not measured it up yet. Maybe even a sub in the boot just for a laugh. I've tasked my Dad to search the shed for parts, as we have most of the bits already. New tyres, and road muck to shame me into washing it. Super high security steering wheel lock, GPS speedo on the right and phone mount where the rev counter used to be on the left.

I've mentioned it a few times to the facilities manager but she's an absolute simpleton. In summer, they bought 4 portable air conditioners to cool down the "meeting room" area which is some massive glazed atrium area, and they just had them stood in the middle of the room pumping the heat out of the back, directly into the room. When this didn't have the desired effect, they bought two more air conditioners and opened all the windows as well. Had them running like this all summer.

Thank you. It is very hard and little things make it harder. Many years ago we were on holiday in Ireland. My dad had a Honda Legend at the time, the good looking one (1993 I think) but the battery died and the local garage had never heard of such car, so would take a while to order one in. I had the Senator at the time and he thought it was beautiful so I said he could use it until his battery was sorted. I wasn’t bothered as I just wanted to drink and have fun. He said it was the most comfortable car he’d ever driven and used it for a few days until the new battery arrived but after a couple of days was annoyed that my £5k senator was a better drive than his £20k Legend. Anyway, because my Dad loved my Senator and it’s the only car I have that he ever drove, I have decided to pump some money into it. Watch this space!

Been a few years since these were last pictured together. Had a switch around at the shed the other day.

The shiter’s Mclaren F1. Get it bought!

We've had a young Robin visit us in the garden for a few weeks now. He comes morning afternoon & evening. It was very young when it first came with barely any orange on its breast. Now has matured. Will eat out of our hands. It likes dried mealworms, bits of suet, cheese & also fruit cake. If you sit out he just comes and hops about. Also likes to sing along to Jazz Fm ! Makes me smile😁

Perhaps slightly* less likely, but you'd win AutoShite forever: Especially if you got it running with fresh fuel and a quick flick of the starting handle, then drove it home.

Ooooooh Matron, I’ve had a crisis! Those seats look like all of the best things in the food world:- butterscotch flavour Angel Delight Hash browns Cheesy Wotsits I need to look away now before I get a thick repeater. I think we’ll all have to pull our socks up now, unless someone is going to pull a LHD Allegro with no seats out of a hedge in South Africa, weld it up with pigeonshit, piss into the brake fluid reservoir and drive it whilst standing up across Africa, onto the ferry, across Europe and back to Cleethorpes where it’s put into daily service as a school run car, the title is going to our man Rocket88 oh and get it bought, please!

The 2Cv is the only model car I've kept since childhood. I remeber being very impressed with it as a kid, but it is a bit crude up close. It has actually become a book-end in recent years after being packed away in a box for ages. I love all the 'bits' on it - the separate overriders, indicators, door handles etc. All very fragile and nicely done - they do make it incredibly difficult to keep dust-free though, so apologies about the state of it It's got really pliable true-to-life suspension which seemed like a real novelty on a 1:18 car. I had various Burago and Maisto things, and a couple of more expensive models, but none had working suspension apart from this. The bonnet is 'locked' shut with a tab on the number plate, which you push in to release it (actually quite similar to the real thing) and the engine is quite passable The interioe is basic but recognisable as a 1960s 2CV. Apologies for the dust - if I saw somebody else post this I'd make some pretty harsh judgements about their cleanliness! You really can't get in there through the open roof and keep it clean though. It really needs a bath at some point. This is the closest I've looked at it for a long time, and it's definitely not a 'great' model, but I have fond memories of it which I suppose is why it's survived so long. Presumably the DS is now worthless, maybe I should finally pick one up?

hope my shed turns out half as good as yours

There's some calendar worthy pics! I fired both of these onto Car and classic before I start any major work on them. I can't imagine anyone will want them...

Test fit. Went well, just need to roll the arches a bit.

I went to collect a small set of shelves from a house on normal local estate, I could not believe what was sitting outside a nearby house.

Shops here have been selling Christmas decorations since the end of August... I forgot to post my regular annual Supermarket rant about festive goods this year, but looking back through my phone I can confirm that Sainsburys was already stocking seasonal foodstuffs on 16th September. With a best-before date of 6th October on their mince pies. FFS. (I know. I know. It's me.)

Not quite a deep-dive as I haven't really got the time, but a bit of lunchtime internet searching brings forward some other 1990s Solido Prestige 1/18 models: Karmann Ghia looks nice, if maybe a smidge plasticky. Renault 4CV - I remember a local model shop selling this one. Think it came in hard-top, canvas roof and rally versions. Not a car I've any strong feelings for, however. I do like this Renault R4L, however. Very like CogSr's example owned in the mid-70s- same colour and all, though don't think his had a full-length sunroof. The DS still looks pretty good to me, but then I've never seen one close-up. Shut lines for the doors maybe aren't the best, it's true. Beetles - 'Cochinelles' - came as sedan or cabrio with hood up or hood down, as I remember. My Beetle had whitewalls too - something I've never really liked. I think they were plastic rings popped onto the rubber tyres - I took them off and turned the tyres round to make it look more 'real'. Licenced 'Herbie' version was available too, with enlarged rear window but other bits not quite right (bumpers etc): Rally versions and assorted police versions seem to exist too. This was the same as my 2CV: Less dust-catching, as the blue version seems to have had the hood rolled shut. Seems that the casting also appeared in various special edition finishes, like Dolly, Charleston etc: Ferrari 356 Spyder is one of the Italian supercars I've got a bit more time for. Seems to have come in red and also in yellow. Early Fiat 500 with rear-hinge doors looks suitably cute. 1955 Cadillac Eldorado in suitably lurid colour scheme was one I remembered. Something tells me this was also available with licenced 'Elvis' stickers on it - or maybe I'm confusing it with the Corgi Thunderbird. This casting came with both Rolls Royce and Bentley-grille variants, and with hoods in both 'up' and 'down' positions. The Mini came in a wide range of colours and decor, including some fairly generic rally versions: This was the same as my Type 2 Kombi: Also available as a panel van, in various liveries: And in this 'Peace and Love' horror: I don't remember ever seeing this Citroen Type H in the range, but it seems to be of the same era: The prestige range also had a large number of pre-war US vehicles in it, including this 1934 Ford V8 commercial: I can remember getting mildly obsessed by these for about a month in 1992 or so, and then never bothered with them again. They came in a wide variety of liveries and as pick-ups, box vans, tankers and tow-trucks. By the time I worked in the same model shop about four or five years later, there were still loads of these commercials in the stockrooms upstairs. I don't recall ever selling any in the years I worked there. It also came as a V8 roadster too, using the same base/wings casting but a different body tub: Unusually, Solido also produced this one as a mild hot rod version: Sticking with pre-war, the big Bugatti Royale was in the range for a fair while too: Looks a bit plasticky too - but seemingly Solido started making these models in the 1980s, so some by the 1990s some of these castings may have been showing their age (a bit like certain Bburagos of the same vintage). Older boxes look like this: The Rolls Royce/ Bentley, Eldorado, VW Beetle sedan/cabrio, and the Ford V8 Roadster and Commercials seem to have been originally released in this style of box. The '90s releases seem to have been an effort to model more of the classic 'people's cars' such as the Citroen 2CV, Renault R4L, Austin Mini, Fiat 500, VW Kombi, Renault 4CV. Granted, the DS was always quite an expensive motorcar, as was the Karmann Ghia and (more overtly) Ferrari Daytona. Seems that Solido then introduced more 1/18 scale French modern classics into the 2000s with new packaging, plus some contemporary models: And now they have quite a lot of nice things... But I can't see myself collecting 1/18 stuff again, sadly. They just take up too much space!

In life it's important to be yourself. Unless you can be Burt Reynolds in the Cannonball Run

They love to be be green, they built a pretty sizeable wind turbine at the end of the carpark. Worked great for about a year until the big warehouse on the adjoining plot was complete, which blocks all the wind. Rather than sell it or move it, it's just been stood there useless since 2006.

Very easy fix for this: You find out who has to pay the energy bill and explain to them what is going on. Very shortly thereafter there will be a decree that if anyone changes the valves from setting 2 (or whatever works) they will be personally responsible for the Gas bill. I've had similar battles in the past with people who have absolutely fuck-all understanding of thermostatic control, TRVs, energy consumption etc.etc. In one company there was about 40kw of electric heaters on under peoples desks, with windows wide open "for fresh air". I explained all this to our MD, who realised we were spending well over a grand a month on electricity, which was quite literally going straight out the window. He spent about £5k on a recuperative heat exchanger system for the office (which draws in fresh air, heating it with the warm stale air on the way out) and banned under-desk heaters. Paid for itself in under 6 months and the office was far more pleasant to be in.

Because by and large we agree with her? Why haven't the English seen through David Cameron Theresa May Boris Johnson Liz Truss yet?

Time to leave the mountains then, and we follow an old Merc through the hairpins. A quick stop in Monaco as we leave the Riviera. My take away from Monaco is it's busy, crowded and expensive. It wasn't for me. Obligatory photos: And obligatory photo of the Insight as we get on to Italian soil. From here we drive diagonally across North Italy on our way to Venice. By this point my partner was sick of me asking her to photograph every shit car we see, so I just about managed a Panda and a 500 that was opposite the apartment we rented for a night. A little bit of Venice: From Venice we head to Croatia, and I'm fairly sure this spot was in an Italian McDonald's carpark. You can get bacon and cheese on your fries in Italian McDonalds, and beach towels for some reason. Croatia was a bit nice: It was a nice quiet spot so I proposed to my partner here, happily enough she said yes: Croatian Skoda: Possibly the smartest thing I've seen in my life - the supermarket we went to in Croatia has a walk in fridge where the beer and soft drinks are kept (unkown tourists included for scale): From here there wasn't too much excitement, mainly motorways through Croatia and Hungary as we travel towards Slovakia: Hungarian McDonald's stop: Hungarian McDonald's spot: Hello Slovakia, I see you are looking after your border with Hungary: Safely at mother-in-law's house in Svaty Jur: And the main mission objective now in sight - collect puppy!! I think my Slovak spots will have to be in part 3!

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.

To test your dolly....

Tonight I made a start on sorting out the Camry after its MOT fail. There's loads of shitty bits of welding to get on with.

No….. the big block… 2.2

More excellent Marrakesh shite today. The Fiesta was almost pristine from what I could tell!

I purchased a serpentine belt for the 545 weeks ago. However I couldn't fit it because somebody had been there before me - and broke the bit of tensioner where the T60 slots in. I had to cut the old belt off just to get a socket on the bolt which secures the tensioner. You can see where the old one was mullered. Not much room. It's all fitted now - ran the engine for a bit and the belt didn't try to flee.

Yeah, seemingly the fact that he had an identical car hidden in his garage fitted with a non-compliant extra fuel tank, radar jammers and fake police lights, plus a set of false Irish plates in his house, was not enough to convince a jury beyond reasonable doubt that it was definitely him driving, and not just a series of bizarre coincidences. Without a detailed ANPR pic clearly showing him behind the wheel for the CPS to present to the court, the circumstantial argument appears to have won out. I still reckon he's a bell-end. TL,DR: "Some bigger Irish boys did it and then ran away, your honour."

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/nsu-ro-80-braun-h-kennzeichen/2237539206-216-1807

Took the valves out again. That's definitely the problem. I didn't go hog wild with it but the compensator backs onto the shuttle which pushes the valve via spring pressure into place. Then it's getting stuck. It got stuck when I tried it on the bench. Cold, it's super smooth. Hot it's still problematic but can be encouraged to shift by blipping the throttle.

A new royal family, a grey coloured Tranny We are the family A new royal family, a grey coloured Tranny We are the family I feel beneath the paint there is a wobskin suffering with tons of Isoponing I feel beneath the paint there is a wobskin suffering with tons of Isoponing No method in our madness (yeah) Just primer on the bumper (yeah) No method in our madness (yeah) Just primer on the bumper (yeah) A new royal family, a grey coloured Tranny We are the family A new royal family, a grey coloured Tranny We are the family And even worse you're petrol and your colour scheme is shite down below those daft arches your wheels are out of sight And even worse you're petrol and your colour scheme is shite down below those daft arches your wheels are out of sight Ford trasit 1988 auto sleeper camper van project | eBay

And back home. A massive thank you to Jamie for flogging this to me for £not much at all, especially considering he failed to mention all the bits in the boot to rebuild the front suspension at some point along with replacements for all the broken bits and the full set of five 20” BBS split rims, all with practically brand new Uniroyal Rainsport5 tyres that in their own right are probably worth more than the asking price. TL:DR Highly recommended seller 👍👍

First stop on our way down was Champagnole. No chod spotted from the hotel window, just the trusty Insight resting in the shade: An evening wander reveals the first spot, at the end of the high street: Champagnole was an overnight stop only, the next leg was a run to Nice with a lunchtime stop in Geneva. Whilst descending the mountains towards lake Geneva, my brake fluid (that I should have swapped out) was obviously struggling as whilst trying to keep up with the locals on the twisties I started to experience some brake fade that made me nearly shit my pants. Mountain respite for the Insight: There was an amazing view here, and a handy bench to sit on whilst your brakes cooled down: Brakes rested, I gingerly drove down to the lake and on to Geneva. From here we head South... and arrive at the hut we were renting in the mountains near Contes. I found a channel that was showing near constant re-runs of a show about car restorations, so that was me sorted for downtime: Our first day out was a trip to Villefranche-sur-Mer as my partner reckoned the beach there would be calmer than the main strip at Nice. She was right: No real chod spots, but I did enjoy seeing the busses that had been chosen for the hairpin streets of the town: The next day we went for a mooch around Cannes. There was more chod here: What happens if you combine car design, drugs, and wicker I hear you ask: Nice next then, time to leave the Insight in a safe corner and spot some more chod, starting with the space in front of us: I was excited about the 323 coupe, and as it pulled forward I was treated to the additional excitement of a Laguna: My Shogun Sport's French cousin: Not too shabby this Nice place: And with that, it was time to pack up and head off on the next leg of the journey: The Insight is great on fuel, but it can feel a bit* cramped with all your holiday shit in tow. Due to the number of photos, I think this is going to be a 2 part special. Stay tuned!

MOT and tax sorted. Finally back home after 4 years away.