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I didn’t need it as I’ve lots of old chod knocking about, but I saw this low mileage beauty on Facebook as I was looking for a cheap car for someone as their first car. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw a Mk1 Punto and it’s only done 49000. It’s clean as a whistle and apart from the short MOT and flat paint plus an oil leak from the camcover gasket it looks spot on. I picked it up for £450 which in this day and age seems good due to high scrap prices and just wondered if there’s anything to look for on an early Punto. I wouldn’t mind but I’ve since found out that my other half’s son found a car the other night and doesn’t need a motor now lol. I guess it will do as my station car now and I think 6 cars is enough lol. It drives well though and even came with a nice Bluetooth pioneer head unit that’s been professionally plumbed in.

Stopped at Tebay It's a vegetarian.

First mode of transport:

Time for an update! The aim with this car has always been to make it a reasonably comfortable daily driver, or at least something you could use as one. It's hardly been on the road in the last 12 years or so (maybe more) and this is partly because niggly faults haven't been sorted and jobs haven't been done right. It's also suffered from some shit modifications - to my eyes, anyway - and one of things I couldn't live with was this: No, not the swingball. The daft exhaust which some people refer to as 'wheelbarrow handle' type. When I was 17 I would have thought it was ace. It's really loud and snarly, but I'm 52 and just feel like even more of twat than normal making a noise like a bomber. Plus it's as boomy as you'd imagine on the motorway. Now sold on FB and replaced with this much more civilised stainless 'Stag' style jobbie: Still makes a decent growl but much quieter and uses the original exhaust mountings. I had to weld a bit more 2" pipe to the centre section so that it met my front pipe, but seems like you can MIG stainless perfectly happily. One of the original rear mount straps was still attached and usable. I made the other out of a piece of Land Rover axle check strap I had in stock. No pics, but the OS front overrider was falling off. Found it was cracked and broken so glued it back together and bolted the bumper, overrider and quarter panel back to the car properly, as it was hanging on by two bolts and a cable tie. Bodging twats. Gotta love em. The interior was a problem for me with this car from the start. The dash support, tunnel cover and knee pads were missing. The original seats were junked in 1998 for a hideous pair of what looked like cream leather ones, then changed again for vinyl buckets a couple of years ago. The buckets were OK, comfy enough but without much back support. They also wouldn't slide back and forth properly, probably because they'd been badly fitted. I decided to go back to original, and picked up these locally for too much money: They were as rank as they look. The driver's side frame had rotted through at the front right and the recline mechanism was seized, so I bought another two knackered black vinyl recliners for not much ££. The base foams were OKish, but the driver's seat had to be stripped completely anyway so I set to it and reduced it to the knackered frame on the left: Scrap, really. Luckily I had a good drivers' side frame from the black vinyl pair. I cleaned it up and welded the fabric tensioner bar back on: Meanwhile me and Mrs D set about restoring the houndstooth covers. Yes, those really manky knackered ones. New ones are about £500, so it's a good job Mrs D is handy with a needle and thread. I found a pretty good passenger side houndstooth seat base locally for a fiver, so replaced my own houndstooth base with that one and used the fabric to repair a mess like this: The seat back foam on the drivers seat was shagged: so I spent £50 on a new back foam from http://www.parklaneclassics.co.uk/index.htm and we got on with rebuilding the seats. The passenger seat back had been attacked by a cat which had used the base as its bed, but it started to respond to cleaning: Mrs D used some fabric to match and recover the damaged upper panel, and eventually we had it ready to fit: Getting the bucket out was a total cunt. It wouldn't slide, so I couldn't get at the bolt heads and had to grip them with moles and gradually loosen the nylocs. Filled the four superfluous holes in the floorpan with rubber grommets and worked out where the original seat would have mounted. Now slides and reclines as Triumph intended. Drivers' side took half the time once I knew what I was wrestling with: As you can see, they ain't perfect, but they're usable and comfy which is what matters to me. And they didn't cost £500... Here's how things used to look: Next exciting post - replacing the missing bits of interior

Just left Edinburgh Waverley in my correct reserved seat. Some freeloader was in my seat until now. Forward facing window seat, woo. No guesses on the car yet? I know several people already know what it is though.

I hope it's all going well. Forts and Prayers lads. Forts and Prayers. Please deliver this man safely from his journey equipped with a new old car which is horrible, in jizzers name Arm Men. Please allow it to be a bargain with extra money off if the radio won't work in jizzers name Arm Men. Please hold him safely away from the big yellow taxi and the big orange taxi and fortify his balls so that they may be emptied of piss only twice on the voyage homeward in jizzers name Arm Men. By the dim dashboard glow of the farter, the bum and the holy boat. Arm men.

Further to my gearbox woes I got the van in the garage and it turns out to be a 4 speed not a 5. I did ask the seller what it came out of and he said he thought* it was out of a phase 2 van. Probably out of a phase 1 which had 4 speeds. Anyway, it works and I'm not so bothered about losing 5th. 4th is longer geared on a 4 speed so no big loss. It's the longest it's been off the road, 5 weeks, in the 22 years I've had it.

Post lady has been this morning! Bless her!! Neither of my new job-lot boxes are here which sucks but… Youll all be pleased to know the UK’s population of Dinky Lincoln Continental’s has gone up by 1. I’ve been after the blue & white one since I got the copper colour one a while back but they don’t seem as common here, so I (definitely overspent because postage!) bagged this rather nice one from New York of all places. Nice to repatriate one though. One more to find to complete the set - the metallic blue with red roof version. But I’ve never actually seen one. Yet.

My view for the next several hours.

A colleague with a 16-plate Audi A3 often tells me that he'll never buy a French car because they're unreliable. This evening, a small queue had formed on the way home from work. I thought perhaps there were some temporary lights in place. Got to the front of the queue and saw my colleague's A3 was the cause of the obstruction, just sat there with its hazard lights flashing. It turned out his state-of-the-art dual-clutch S-Tronic gearbox decided to completely lose drive and he has no breakdown cover. I towed his car back to the yard using my unreliable 25-year-old French car. Only just got back home having dropped him off at his house.

Despite saying I couldn't go, I managed to get a job in Cornwall finished yesterday in time to get back for the Brentwood toy fair. As usual it's big but most things were hugely expensive. A full report may have to wait as it's been a very busy afternoon and the evening isn't looking much quieter. Here are some random pics of stuff I saw I think these are made by the same company (Imperial) that made my Sand Digger copies with the sticky roller underneath Not seen this school bus variant before George voice controlled van? Tin plate..or was is plastic? Rico (?) Seat was amazing One of several very strange Batmobiles Plastic Crapi Talking of plastic

fun day in Berlin today . Second time driving a Trabant, shitter than I remembered. Tempted with that one on eBay now

50p in local charity shop. It was in a box of the usual modern Chinese rubbish, I felt since it had survived at least 40 years in such good nick it merited saving from further abuse from children! I remember Initial vans from the 1980s, there were everywhere in city centres. Initial were really big in laundry services (like the old roller towels in public conveniences).

My new years resolution not to buy anymore diecast toy cars is going well* It is a cracking little thing though!

Oh Balls. As mentioned on the grumpy thread, I managed to poke a hole in the sill of the Merc. It's MOT is now out, so I need to get going with the welder to get it sorted. This was what I did: Which doesn't look *that* bad. But, as anyone who has done repair work knows, the rust is going to be worse than that. I also knew that on the last time I jacked the car up on the jacking point, the sill crunched and compressed in quite a bit, so I was expecting rot. Removal of the wing liner and the sill liner was needed, as the liner wraps around under the sill. Theoretically that should give protection to the sill, but I have a feeling that actually it holds a fair bit of mud behind it: Arch liner off, wing trim piece off, door outer seal off too. This is not looking good. I can *feel* the crunchiness. Sill guard off now too.. and surprise surprise, there's a fairly large hole under it: And to be honest, that welded repair around the jacking point does not give me confidence. This car has had a repair on this side floorpan before now, and I'm not hopeful for how well it was done.. The welding quality is good, but the fabrication and general quality of the repair isn't so clever. There's going to be galloping rot in here... Yep, there it is. That is not good at all. It extends further up the sill too. Several hours later, 2 cutting discs later and half a Henry vacuum cleaner full of jacking corrosion later, I have this: I also found that I had a completely and utterly saturated foam sound deadening under the carpet, and had to remove the passenger seat to get access to everything. I did wonder why I've been getting damp on the inside of windows that takes forever to get rid of.. that might be the explanation why! The inner sill has been rotting away merrily for a few years now, and is in desperate need of actual repair. It's quite a mess. From the inside of the car... this is the passenger footwell/inner sill, and quite a hole: Fuckitty fuck fuck fuck. Still, I now have a new welding torch, a fresh reel of 0.6mm welding wire and a complete sill pressing, so it's getting repaired. See what tomorrow brings. For amusement value.. there is so much shite in my garage at the moment, I can't get the car in fully, so it looks like this: Single garages are crap. I dream of a decent workshop.

I'll take this opportunity to briefly hijack this thread and post a picture of my parent's old navy blue Carlton CDi auto. D registration, so like @sutty2006 's it was one of the last of these boxy Carltons to roll of the Opel Russelheim (spl??) factory floor before the new Omega A based model. I got to drive it a few times when I passed my driving test. Not the nicest looking Carlton at the time but I loved that car.

You too, thanks for lending me a pound after I skinted myself - I literally spent every penny I had on me. Final 80p had been spent on something for @flat4alfa

Charity shop pickings

And two of my recently acquired truck trailers, minus their tractor units have now regained suitable ones. Corgi Major Bedford S to go with the repainted original style Carrimore trailer. Just waiting on a replacement trailer pin for this one. And a Dinky AEC for the car transporter trailer. Yeah, ok, it’s not the right livery but this army surplus version is in really nice condition. Just need to find or make the missing ramp for the big Dinky.

Hours later i arrived at the bottom of the pass, Up we go! The road was as rough as a badgers arse! An interesting drive up with a bit of turbo lag on the steep bits. Arriving at the top and it was pretty much a white out. Snow covering the roads and overall not worth the hassle so i spin round and headed back down which is certainly better than going up it. From there i headed toward fort william which is about a 2-3 hour drive. I would regularly check out some of the beauty of the surroundings. I stopped here for 40 odd mins. I climbed up and Sat on the edge of the roof of the car with a bag of cashews to nibble on while i listen to the water flowing. Big warm coat and hat on feeling cozy. It was a slice of Bliss.

Today started late, no real reason i was just so comfy and decided to stay in bed. I had stayed at Croft 17 in ullapool and while it was 75 quid for the night it was spotlessly clean and nice. The host was very pleasant aswell. Compared to the other options in the area it was the cheapest and id recommend it to anyone. After checking out a jolly a few miles down the road see me at Corrieshalloch gorge. Very pretty and even with a misty drizzle it was a lovely place to stand and sip my morning coffee. Leaving there i headed towards the applecross pass , stopping of to take in the scenery as i went. Found a dam, wandered across the dam.

Is this one of those cars that…? I think it might be Yep, looks like it Be the king of Rufford Ford👍 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185732368345?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=I1hC0ueJTT-&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=y9xs1hiVQ9O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

This is a thing of such exquisite beauty that it makes me weep tears of joy Look at this brilliant dashboard https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404083740536?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=hnjblycjq-u&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=y9xs1hiVQ9O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/916029039764011 You just know this is in his rented lock-up and his better half has found out.

Dining table.

Sod the plate and the tacky badge, it has a special button for roundabouts!

An actual Mini Metro, before it became a Metro https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394380648096?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=iysaw3dtric&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=y9xs1hiVQ9O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Having yesterday made the first backing plate, for behind the lower wishbone's chassis mount, today I made the other for this side. . . ^ the wishbones are reversed in this photo, ie the front one is to the left and the rear on the right. The 2nd backing plate I made (again from recycled steel) is much the same for either, and both are 4mm thick ..to replace the skimpy washer(s). The front-bottom wishbone bush has been dismantled, cleaned out, lubricated and reassembled onto the replacement double-stud bracket. These bushes have a spacer tube inside them and so I've torqued the nut to 30 ft.lb. The joint now pivots freely and smoothly but it is not slack. The rear (black) single stud bracket is bent and twisted ..just because it can be I guess. , and it's very tight to move. I pulled that apart and its poly bush is excessively worn, both the spacer tube is a loose fit on the through-bolt, and the polybush is a loose fit on the spacer. . . ^ I've decided to bodge it (..until I get replacement polybush) and have used a wrap of coke tin around the through bolt and a double wrap of coke tin around the spacer tub. Suitably lubricated and reassembled onto the double-stud bracket, the slack is gone. But it's another re-do-it task on my perpetual job list. Moving on, encouraged by the postman delivering the replacement bottom fulcrum pin & bush kits . . . ^ TR-GB part number SS7 for the TR4a-6. I was pleasantly surprised to see the weather caps with o-rings included ..which weren't in the photograph on their website ..and which I forgot to order. So for under £42 (for both sides) including delivery it seems good value. As other companies are charging double this figure I guess theirs are stainless steel &/or a brand-name polybushes. These metal bits, including the spacer tubes are bright-nickle-plated, but with Copaslip on the through bolt, lubricant on the bushes, and waterproof grease smeared over their outsides - they ought to last the week out ..after all it is Friday today. Reassembly time . . . ^ I lubricated the inside of the weather cap and fitted the o-ring is fitted into it, and then the polybush goes through it as illustrated. The polybush, with captive weather-cap is then an interference push fit into the end of the wishbone arm. It goes in but needs a bit of pushing. I did this by placing one of the large plain washers, supplied in the kit, on the edge of the work bench with the bush face-up on that (so as not to buckle the flange of the cap) and then pushed the arm down onto it. ^ repeat with weather cap, o-ring and polybush on the other side of the arm, and then insert the through-bolt with spacer tub and end washer. You may note that the spacer tub is not all bright and shiny and new. That's because the new one didn't fit on the bolt, so I'm re-using the old ones. The new through-bolt is a tad larger in diameter than the old one ..which might be attributed to its nickle plating ? However, the new bolt is tight fit into the bottom trunnion, whereas the old bolt (with no plating) was a little loose. Thankfully the old bottom fulcrum pin came apart with its spacers undamaged. ^ ensuring I got the arms the right way around, and the right way up.. I assembled them onto the upright's bottom trunnion. Note ; the large plain washers (supplied) are in each weather-shield cap. These I lubricated with turbo-gel against the polybush and with waterproof grease on their outside faces. The through bolt, and the inside of each spacer tube is of course liberally coated with Copaslip. ^ I tightened the nut until the arms were able to pivot on their bushes freely and smoothly, but neither too slack nor too tight. There is no slop in this assembly nor any binding. Turning the through-bolt, so the flat of its head was flat to the disk, did adjusted things so I adjusted things several times over until I was happy with the tension. I also fitted an extra washer under the nut ..to get the split pin through the castellation, without compromising that tension. The split pin was too long so I cut it to size before locking everything up - Job Done. ^ before refitting the front suspension assembly - I wanted to clean the threads of those top fulcrum bolt holes. The suspension in the meantime was playing dead on the workmate To be honest, by this time I had had enough. It was quarter past three and on this dull day - getting dark already. After a week of it ..on just one side of the car - I'm tired of being filthy dirty, slimy with grease, crawling under the car, laying down on cold paving slabs, and in general doing (..or part doing) a whole list of jobs that I feel ought to have been right on a car that came back from a professional chassis swap. Gripe over - I'm just a little too tired for this sh.... One last effort . . . ^ a task that I'm sure would be easier with two persons ..preferably anyone but me ! Literally kicking the trolley-jack to maneuver the suspension into place, I first loosely fitted one of the top fulcrum bolts. At this conjuncture the bottom wishbone is just hanging down. Dropping the track rod end back into place helped as an arm to lever the hub around, to swing and shove the bottom wishbone brackets into the chassis mounts. ^ with a huff and a puff - progress ..the bottom wishbone brackets sitting flat against their chassis mounts. OK.. that'll do for tonight. These brackets are now double-stud type, with sensible (..IMO ) backing plates and new nyloc nuts. And the bottom outer fulcrum is no longer seized. The suspension now swings up n' down easily and silently. I wonder if, without all those joint being seized or overly tight, I'll now need new dampers ? Bidding you a good evening, and a great weekend. Pete

fortunately i keep a spare at my sisters, very fortunately there is a front and a back door key on that bunch ! unfortunately, there is half a kit car piled into the front porch as i never use the front door that was fun* hopefully i haven’t scratched it too much. now I'm in the house, i got to the garage, grabbed some tools and extracted the tragic remains of the key now it’s time for a beer

I'll put my hat in the ring to do it, consider me a backstop if no-one else has a burning desire. For the record though, I think worldofceri's photos would be quite entertaining just for the variety of chod that graces his trailer. I appreciate that my post count isn't as high as some of the old guard on here, and you might have reservations about sending me money, I can assure you that I wouldn't run off to EL Salvador with the proceeds. @brownnova roughly how many calendars have dispatched in previous years? I've not got a handle on if it's 20, 50 or 300? My neighbour is a postie, so I can avoid winding up the RM by giving them to him with a pack of beers.

I hope it's a Lancia Dedra with no second gear and a leaky wheel cylinder.

MOT'd but barely driven in the last few years. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204215299477?hash=item2f8c2e2d95:g:Tw4AAOSw61Jjwpff

G-Wagen then? I'll go more obscure. Ssangyong? Big one.

Vanguards used to make Rover models.

I hope they've trained that dog to rip those hideous N.I cover plates off it Lotus Carlton barn find rare classic | eBay Is that the real ID badge? It looks like it was made using one of those penny squashing machines on Blackool pier.

Simca with sporty front fogs https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/195546244905?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=nHk6o4M1S9m&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=y9xs1hiVQ9O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

MG Maestro being sold by serial chod botherer https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255920324316?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=dK2tyTpvQea&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=y9xs1hiVQ9O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Several things happened. First was already on the news Fred. Daewoo, good for another year. Actually impressive its given me two advisory free passes. So to celebrate. It sprang a leak in the radiator. I just need to order one. Been checking and topping up the coolant. Got a weeping rocker cover gasket to replace too. Again, will be done. Have found some Nova six dials. Yay! Less gooder... The printed ribbon/circuit on the back is not good at all. Like it's had it. Which is also properly NLA. Cannot find one at all. Might see if I can cobble something up. Got a good lead on a lad who might have dials AND a much better Mk2 SRi blue interior. I had planned something else. But I already have the same interior and it'll be easier to make one good interior out of two. Lastly. I'm trying to tidy up my workshop space. Amazing at how much crap you accumulate over the years.

What a beautiful and magestic sight. AS 290 gang grows.

Delighted to have the Senny back with the straight 6 sounding sweet again with the noisy water pump replaced. Warm inside too, without steam! Have been using it today for normal duties and intend it to be my weekend car until spring, subject to extreme weather: Pleased to find the radio still working and it’s playing cassettes without eating them, so far! Driving beautifully, a good day today🙂

Good to finally meet Rich today! I bought stuff from this stall, he did me a deal on three boxed Superfast. Note the white Corgi Escort to the right of the first photo, it's an RS1600i which I've not seen before. I got a photo, will get them on here later once I've been through my bag of goodies/tat.

If you need to be told, then you probably should not be driving in the first place.

Where most remaining car spares shops are quite small and rammed with stuff in every corner, most Halfords have the same amount of stuff in a shop the size of Tesco's.