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Well done ETCHY. It’s a funny one this, someone has clearly looked after it and it’s actually in good condition but some of the bodywork finishing is hilarious.

When this fully working Volvo Estate was last for sale both Mrs6C and I liked it. I tried to work out a narrative as to why I should buy it, but couldn’t. Now it is broken we have bought it!

Thread resurrection. As I haven't seen anybody from the circus since last October there was many hugs from every body saying they had missed me, when I met them at Haydock Race course to move everything to Norwich Showground. I've never had that much of a reaction before. They are a good bunch of people and there is rarely any problems between anybody. Going to be here for about 3 weeks and I have got a fair bit of work to do that would have been done if I had been there in Holland, 4 weeks Xmas New Year, Glasgow, 2 weeks, Haydock, 1 week so a fair bit of stuff to sort. Starting with 2 bunk wagons that have leaks when it rains. What joy, chasing leaks. The water system I had has been somewhat wrecked by those that didn't have much of a clue so there's a few days to get that back to how I like it. I knew that would happen but I've said that I need to show somebody how it's done when I'm not there. Which at my age could be at any moment, or if my ankle gets any worse then I'm going to have to give it up. There's been a few minor changes. A few different trucks, different performers, but not all, some new showgirls, etc. I shall leave you with 2 pic of my new circus 'rig'. One of where we are and a dizzel shot. If anyone wants to know what its like let me know. I'm sure you will notice a slight anomaly.

So… Douglas Adams once wrote “I love deadlines, I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by” Another chunk of time has passed. Another deadline has flown by… and the Nova is still sitting on the drive. A while ago I drained the tank, and bought some new fuel to put in. And then… nothing. A recurring theme. This weekend having spent some time on eBay I set to working out the running issues. I refilled the tank, and set to replacing ignition components. New plugs, leads, distributor cap and rotor arm. New fuel in and a dribble down the carb and it started straight up.., and died. Interesting that with the old ignition parts it used to take a few goes, that’s a good sign. With an helpful assistant I ran it for a minute or two on easy start by squirting into the carb, so that proves we’re not getting fuel through. Not sure if that’s the empty tank not having enough in it from two Jerry cans to prime the pump. Or something more like a seized fuel pump. In an ideal world I could do with it reliably running for next week… so will put a little more work in this weekend.

Or at least it feels like that now. So, I was on a walk and I found something so good that I had to reinstall Tapatalk just to do this. Absolutely no words, except for shite

Gaun like fuck.

Got a few hours modelling today. Had to fix a neighbour’s fence after yesterdays windy weather though! Gave the D series chassis a wash off then coat of primer. Mixer barrel and rear mud guards have been primed, wet flatted, washed, dried and sprayed grey. Then the cab has had its mirrors made up, given a coat of white primer, wet flatted, washed and dried before a few coats of maize yellow (not the Ford colour but a generic one). Did my usual trick of gluing the mirrors on before painting it. Again! But this time it won’t matter as the cabs going to be all one colour so they won’t get in the way like last time. They’ll just get brush painted black later. I’ll let the paint dry overnight, then check it’s not thin anywhere. Yellow paint can be a twat for that!

2004 volvo FH460 6x2 casino royale airbrushed show truck, eminox, tipping gear | eBay Mentioned: 'James bond casino royale themed airbrush artwork' Not mentioned: 'Play Your Cards Right' with Hitler

Someone will know the actual answer, but I suspect the last car to be fitted with a manual column change was the Nissan Cedric Japanese taxi. The taxi was based on the 1987-debuting Nissan Cedric private car and remained in production until, unbelievably, 2015! It was sold only to commercial clients, of course, and was equipped with various oddities to suit the Japanese taxi driver - including, until some point in the production run, a column-change manual gearbox: Quite when that feature was dropped I don't know, but other things about that photo suggest it's a fairly recent car. The radio is certainly nineties, if not early 2000s. Toyota's Crown Comfort taxi seems to have gone over to floor change for the manual somewhat earlier than the Nissan, so perhaps doesn't count.

One giffer owner since 2000. https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C1694448

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256426127868?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=iJTXwDImQzS&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=QgFU-n0cQLe&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I’ve been buying a few bits recently. Today I was pleased to get the obligatory Proton, which I wanted to match the 1:1 scale one on the drive I got the Civic too as I picked that up before I noticed the Proton. Some other bits I’ve bought lately: Welly boot included for scale and definitely not just general toddler detritus that I didn’t tidy away. I’m enjoying spending my pocket money on these rather than beer as my son loves them and we can both enjoy them together. I’ve stopped procrastinating over my model kits as well. Apologies for the crap lighting, but here’s my first body shell sprayed with primer, paint and clear coat. Lots of orange peel and a few dust spots, just like my efforts on the full size stuff 🤣 perfection is the enemy of getting things done though, and I’m happy to live with imperfections if it means that I at least finish a model. I can make better attempts once I have more experience, for now I’m just enjoying the process. I’ll paint the body trim satin black next, then proceed to paint the 50 million odd tiny parts.

Fantastic photo, really makes me want to buy this car. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/985766312847191/?ref=category_feed&referral_code=undefined&referral_story_type=listing&tracking={"qid"%3A"-2458237517851882414"%2C"mf_story_key"%3A"6628033610597276"%2C"commerce_rank_obj"%3A"{\"target_id\"%3A6628033610597276%2C\"target_type\"%3A0%2C\"primary_position\"%3A13%2C\"ranking_signature\"%3A3608211205039712098%2C\"commerce_channel\"%3A504%2C\"value\"%3A0.00046250598209644%2C\"candidate_retrieval_source_map\"%3A{\"6628033610597276\"%3A111}}"%2C"ftmd_400706"%3A"111112l"}

Maxima V6 "Wud" https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C1693995

Progress on Project Corgi Mini has been slow. I have painted the base. This is just one thin coat of brushed on enamel. The metal is showing through on the hard edges of the casting, so it might get a second coat. I am going to decide on that after the body has been done. The old tyres were loose and most had some damage from what looks like some reaction with some thinners or something. In my spare I have a fresh set of small earlier type tyres... which fit on the wheels nice and tight. Those tyres fill the arches nicely. The slow progress has been due to me not being happy with the roof. I have sanded it again and applied some model filler. I will give this a couple of days to go off before sanding. Hopefully a smooth roof will appear. In the meantime I have made a start of the green Vanguards Mini. This is the front end filed off so the vallance will have the correct curve. Removing the number plate left a bit of casting that form the rivet hole. Nice curve to the front end. At the rear there was just the large slot left in the vallance, so it was out with the epoxy for the rear... and the front. I have also filled in the rivet hole and will be shaping the epoxy to form the missing part of the gearbox casing. One thing on this Vanguards that I have always disliked is the way the roof colour does not reach the edge of the roof. There was also some imperfections under the white paint so it was sanded. The other thing for a Cooper Car Company car is the bonnet stripes go all the way to the screen, and to my eyes they looked a bit thin too. So it was out with the 3mm Tamyia masking tape to address those issues. The three piece method was used for the stripes to get the right width for the stripe. The roof just needed a piece to wrap around it. The result after the first session of removal of excess paint from the shut lines. The paint ran down those really well, but with a small paint brush and some thinners the over paint was gone. I also gave the grille a wash with very thin matte black to give it a better look. That's it for a few days whilst I left the fillers, paints and epoxy go off.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/196265538906?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=wtuPr3t5T16&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=QgFU-n0cQLe&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

OMG Seddon Atkinson | eBay 'Beware!! back to front gear selection on the Sed Atki’s, this means the standard H gear selection arrangement is the reverse. If you’ve only ever driven modern synchromesh or auto boxes, don’t bother bidding, it will break your heart…. ' As someone who once spent what felt like 17 years trying to change gear in one these in P&O Roadtanks yard, I can only agree.

Hey everyone I'm currently in Turkey having an operation on my downstairs, but enough about that....

Some (limited success) from the local outlets. Smyths was a waste of time again, old mainlines and only a few premium Hot Wheels lines, with all the sought after ones gone. Shit loads of those new Fast & Furious ones with, surprise surprise, not one Jetta to be found... Big Asda had a recent case in, for once the rummage bin hadn't been rifled through much so managed to find mint carded versions of the Proton and Civic, so the mangled ones I got the other week can be set free. I think everyone here has the Proton now? If not I have a spare, Was pleased to find the purple Skyline too, really like this casting although the first red and black factory original spec release is still my favourite, Unusual to have quite an intricate tampo print, and decent rear detailing too, Another sought after one, we might be about 6 months behind in Middlesbrough, but we're getting there... Tesco had the remnants of the recent Matchbox case in seen above, with the blue F-150, green Golf, Gold Mazda CX5, etc now all gone, but missed this the first time round. Much nicer than the HW Fiat 500 IMO, Still missed out on the Moggie though. FML... Went over to TK Maxx too. There were some new stocks of Majorette, though not to the extent that some of the folks on here have found. No Volvo estates alas. There was some interesting stuff though, in among the 2 pack trailer sets, there was the quite nice LR Defender and airstream caravan pairing that nearly tempted, a couple of colour-change editions, a few Volvo bulk tippers with special Volvo branded card packaging and was nearly tempted again by a MAN recovery truck with sliding bed and a Lambo on the back of it. But the clash of scales between truck and load made my teeth itch... So I got these in the end, Yes, to most it's a hideous modern blob, (to the point I had to zoom in with my camera lens on the boot badge to see which model of DS it is) but the reason I've loved Majorette for decades is the fact that they've always done normal, everyday stuff like this. And I like to think in maybe 40 years time this'll be posted excitedly on an internet diecast thread after being rescued from a Tat box like we would with a Majorette Alpine or Peugeot 604 today... Again, I'm probably more excited than I should be about finding a toy Ford Focus, but it's a MK4 and I've so far never seen one in miniature. Love the colour too, and being an ST makes it a bit spicy... Great detailing at the front, glazed lights, and the tiny badging is superb at this scale and price. And this is a bit of an unusual one. I have the previous shape Majorette Twingo, but this the first one I've got of this shape. I didn't know Majorette were also doing chase cars, but it appears they do. A Glitter effect chase car no less. And it does sparkle. Obviously not going to be worth big bucks like the Hot Wheels or Matchbox chase cars but it's a nice novelty.

Talking to one of the lads at work, he's in his late 20s. Mentioned how I bought a 106 S1 Rallye for £900 about 15 years ago. He was fairly gobsmacked. Loves em as much as I do. Then a couple of hours later, this drove past my window: Piloted by what looked like a fairly elderly couple (although it was quite dark so I hope I haven't offended anyone) I was in two minds whether to sprint after it and offer them £900 for their "Auld Peugeot" . Then I noticed the plate.... 03 is late for a rallye. Comes up as 1100cc on the DVLA, so it's a replica!! How dare they!

1992 Ford ESCORT DIESEL Diesel Manual | eBay I don't know how much a dominatrix costs these days, but even being made to wear Anne Widdicombe's apple catchers and a Liverpool shirt couldn't be as painful, embarrassing or expensive as eight thousand fucking quid on an Escort van. 'the engine is strong robust and fairly lively ' Fucking bollocks it is. They're about as lively as Jesus' knob.

Noted, I look forward to the fun and games that no doubt entails in due course! Today I continued my tradition of visiting Costco using the smallest vehicles I have available to me. Not as small as the Invacar, but it was the smallest vehicle I saw anywhere in the car park by a comfortable margin!

My favourite is this 356, bought off here a while back

Claire went to grab a coffee this morning, and took some pics.

Ma wants to go to the building society to "update these books". I try to avoid it by printing current balance from the website, but no, they NEED booking up to date. Gets to the counter, can you update these please? At this point idiot sister phones up to tell the latest story of there was this horse, and it did a really big shit, so Ma fucks off to listen to the cool story while I stand there with pass books. The dot matrix printer starts screaming. The queue of old biddies who want to open an ISA starts growing behind me. Scream scream. Oh, the book is now full, I'll just get a new one from the back. Queue tuts and starts waving sticks. Print print print. Oh, I need another book. Done! Er, she wants these other 2 accounts doing also. Biddies are now out the door, but other cashier is busy doing fuck all behind her position closed sign. It felt just like the time I got dragged to bingo, only without the collective muttering of cunt when someone won. 15 minutes later got out of there without getting lynched for Ma to say oh! it's the same as what you printed out. Yes, you've not earned an extra 5 billion pounds interest in a morning.

This is a really shit situation. It's servicing stop. A bunch of absolute shitehawks. I have plenty of information about how they operate, I've seen it first hand, I would absolutely support any efforts to have them put out of business. The garage in Enfield is the head office of servicing stop. Servicing stop take a booking from the customer for a ridiculously cheap service. Typically £100-150. Servicing stop then book the car in with a garage nearby to the customer and ask them to collect and deliver it Servicing stop ask the garage for a list of additional work.. if the garage refuse, then they will make it up as they go along and sell whatever they can anyway. Servicing stop will then phone the customer up at some point throughout the day and sell all of the above additional work. They will use scare tactics Crap marketing. Customer pays £85 (+vat!?) For a single fuel treatment, and then every service they book with them in the future they get one included. What gets put in the tank? A bottle of redex or similar. I'm being dead serious. Obviously 90% of customers probably never use the company again, so they've paid £100 for a lifetime subscription of fuel additives if you like when it's only 1 bottle on 1 service. They also do exactly the same thing with engine flush. As much as I would encourage this, their response will be "we gained authority from the customer to carry out to the works at the quoted price" We have done work for servicing stop in the past and I know exactly how they operate. A customer got stung to a similar degree as above, we confronted servicing stop about it and the above was their response They are absolute scum and I would encourage whatever recourse may be possible. See above as I wrote to horriblemercedes.. £100 labour refers to the initial total service that was booked. A "full service" which includes labour, the oil and the filter. The way they work is that they hook the customer in with a cheap full service. Then once the garage have picked the car up, they phone the customer and pressure sell the additional items. I can speak from a garage point of view here- They pay the garage just £7 for the fuel treatment which they charge £85 for (+vat) They pay the garage about £30 for the brake fluid change which they charge £165 for above(!) We do not see a single penny from the fluid too up charge or environmental charge. They are both complete SCAM additional surcharges! They do NOT contribute to fluid top ups or environmental disposal. Oil in included in the £100. They then pay the garage £3/litre for oil surcharge. The customer still pays £24.99 even if their car only takes 3 litres ... Oil is capped at £7/litre, which means it's virtually impossible for the garage to use the correct oil in some cases. It's not out of the blue. They have booked a service with servicing stop who are a middle man. Servicing stop are the shitehawks based in Enfield, they are merely a call centre. The garage is an innocent entity. They get booked to collect the car, service it, and deliver it. Servicing stop does all the pressure selling at extortionate figures, instructs the garage to do said extra work, pays them peanuts for doing it, and blackmails the customer into paying before they get the car back. It's crafty that they pose as a garage because they are not, they are a call centre. The garage will be based near the customer and will be completely innocent in all of this

Early start before work this morning, as I popped into the garage before I set off and laid a coat of primer onto the Puraflex layer - think this was a contributory issue with the Schultz and lanoguard not properly setting last time. Drove to work with a wonderful sunrise backdrop: Yes, I still need to wash it, but it has been an absolutely fantastic car over the winter. When I finished from work, I felt rough as arseholes, so I only popped into the garage to lay down some protective finishes in the OSF arch, courtesy of these two products: Fertan as a brand is highly rated as a rust converter so I'm hoping the stone chip follows in the same vein. Masked the important bits: And cracked on -Fertan on the underside, paint on the inner wing and the arch. Ended up doing two coats of each. Popped the IR light on to help speed up the curing time between coats, but it'll dry naturally now till tomorrow.

We believe the idler pulley failed and the result was the cambelt has slipped off. It was driving at slow speed and it just died. The car is now with our favourite garage and a cam belt and tensioner has been ordered ready for the work to be done.

WTF, another Dedra? https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/712965037692923/

A couple of new bobs in Smyths, Getaways 5 pack And some more 1:43s that might interest our Jap fans especially Tesco had the mix I found a few days ago in Ireland, a few in there I'd not been aware of Poundland had a load of silver Morrises and green MK1 Golfs! Taken them a while...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/176259732059?itmmeta=01HQNAMAQPV5ETYF3AFC1V5RY4&hash=item2909e6125b:g:VLYAAOSwaMRl3bvs

Tyne bridge from Gateshead. Possibly pre-war

Quiet evening today, I laid down a coat of red primer to all worked-on areas. Finally had a chance to use the IR heater! Helped dry the primer super quick. Added a layer of Puraflex on the seams and joins of wherever I was working, and left it to dry overnight. Working a small job on the sofa tonight - the VIN plate is pretty pitted and grotty, so a bit of time with a spare electric toothbrush and some metal polish might yield some results. It's not the fastest process, but there is a slight improvement. I'll keep working on it when I'm not in the garage. Still waiting on loads of bits to arrive in the post.

The sun was shining again today... I might have to give the white a second coat.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1425731108027293/

I know, I know I need to strike the word "YES" from my vocabulary!

New project truck has arrived, will I be joining the tax dodging, self employed pickup driving crowd (who clearly don't need a pickup for you know IT work etc) ....... Nope its a bit smoll.... I appear to have inherited a Tamiya monster truck, needs a new battery pack and a bit of fettling, Woot!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335277619832?itmmeta=01HQNY7JJJNR59CA21C4N9T0H3&hash=item4e101a7a78:g:7SAAAOSwsAVl3h6x

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/365854079655710/?ref=category_feed&referral_code=undefined&referral_story_type=listing&tracking={"qid"%3A"-2458237380377942524"%2C"mf_story_key"%3A"7256517021094400"%2C"commerce_rank_obj"%3A"{\"target_id\"%3A7256517021094400%2C\"target_type\"%3A0%2C\"primary_position\"%3A44%2C\"ranking_signature\"%3A3608211205039712098%2C\"commerce_channel\"%3A504%2C\"value\"%3A0.0002929377672357%2C\"candidate_retrieval_source_map\"%3A{\"7256517021094400\"%3A111}}"%2C"ftmd_400706"%3A"111112l"}

No, that's Violet. Claire is my fiancée No cortinas yet. I didn't know either, I'm glad though More spots

I've order a set of new Delco type calipers, pads and sliders. I've also ordered a starter motor, which leads into another issue, the retaining bolts are awol, so I'll have to try and find some. May have to ask my local Vauxhall main dealer (who'll no doubt roll their eyes when I tell them what its for). At least Vauxhall/Opel seem not to change their designs every year like VW, some parts on this are ridiculously generic, fitting cars built between 1980 and 2023 apparently. The bodywork repairs are a bit obvious but the actual work seems very good, actually wondering if the sill is ok, might just need a small section where the rear jacking point is located. The metal all around it and behind it seems solid and uncrispy. Dyslexic Viking; I'm not likely to forget about the Opel Kadett, my mum and dad bought one new on a B plate (1984) which I passed my driving test in. It was the more desirable estate/wagon variant but with the same engine and spec (or lack of) as this one.

I am pleased to report, that Simon and his Mechanic friend have made a start on getting LPD806D back into running order engine was seized, then un-seized, but its been discovered that water had been leaking through the engine cover at some point and has wrecked the Dynastart, but this is where Simons stash of Trysull cars and what have you came in handy as he was able to pinch a good looking Dynastart off an Invacar Mk12 and I have been keeping Simon up to speed with all the technical in's and outs' (I am fortunate enough to own a handbook for the AC Acedes) and I have also pointed him in the direction of @AdgeCutler's "posts made by him" page and his youtube channel which pretty much is a "how to completely restore your Invacar" guide https://autoshite.com/profile/29392-adgecutler/content/page/12/?type=forums_topic_post so hopefully before not too long now we might need the Hammond Acedes go for a ring-ding-ding down the road

Yesterday I drove up to my friend and fellow Triumph enthusiast, Mathew, in Norfolk. Avoiding the A14 roadworks around Stowmarket I instead headed north across country to Diss and then Thetford, through parts of its namesake forest. Aside from getting caught behind the occasional truck or tractor, the roads up there can be remarkably clear. And then across the fenlands remarkably wobbly where the roads have subsided. Hey-up, the car is for cruising at a comfortable rather than fast pace, and I do enjoy driving this car in that vein. The purpose of my visit ..aside from to see a nice fella, drink tea and eat bacon sarnies, and help him unload yet another GT6 body shell and chassis he'd recently bought, was to chose a colour . . . I'm a person who usually dresses in dark blue when I go out, and for the past 25 years drove a metallic blue Chrysler Voyager. Jaguar-Daimler did a beautiful metallic cyan (little-boy) light blue metallic, and I was very tempted to go for that. However this car's seats are ox-blood red and I don't think the red and blue are a happy compliment. And then again that lovely light blue colour is as common among these Daimlers as Triumph TR4's are in red. I went back and forth with what colour to choose, I like the black but I wanted something that was not so dark ..as it shows every finger print and every splatter of dirt and speck of dust. And not too grey (devoid of colour) and again common-place on the Jaguars. In the end - I put aside my favourite colours and tried to choose one that would best suit this particular car ..with its range of tone highlighted or deepened in shadows of its curvy shape. My decision, for good or for bad, was to look for a Terry Wogan beige ..metallic (aka gold). This, to me, would go well with the red seats, and it is quite unusual nowadays to see a nice n' shiny gold car. The Mk.II Jaguars and Daimlers were offered in gold with red interior ..and so I'd not be drifting too far from standard colour schemes, but on the other hand I was quite certain that Jaguar's 'opalescent golden sand' wasn't exactly what I sought. I had a very similar experience with my 1950's sunbeam motorcycle, which was opalescent silver-grey. But when I removed a rear lamp housing on that bike, to discover original un-bleached colour - I found it too bluish-grey It looked very similar to light grey primer. And yet the paint which had been exposed to the sunlight over many years had yellowed with age to become more of a nickel-silver. The bluish silver looked too modern a colour for a 1950's motorcycle. So I had the respray paint matched to the sun tinged colour ..and it looks fabulous ..and vintage. That's what I'm hoping to achieve with this Daimler. Not the paint maker's version of a standard gold, but my own mind's-eye version of what a 1960's Daimler ought to be. To tie this down - I'd bought five different tints of gold (mixed samples, each of 100mg ), and I posted those up to Mathew to produce car panel samples from which I might make my final choice from. He used Triumph Spitfire doors for those samples, which I could lean up against the car or lay flat on the floor. Of the five colours I had mixed ; two were Jaguar colours, another was from an American manufacturer, another from Daewoo, and then a custom colour (scanned from a sample card). The jaguar colours were the first I rejected. One was a tarnished-copper shade of gold, which I could well imagine an XK120 painted in. In my mind there are some colours which just seem to cry "art deco / late 1940's". The other Jaguar gold ..the 'opalescent golden sand, was almost silver but with a greenish-gold tinge. I think it would look good on an XJ8 or F-type. The three shortlisted you can see above in the sunshine, I turned at different angles to the sun, viewed again when it was cloudy, and yet again (below) placed in the shade of Mathew's dark grey Ford.. . . Of course the colours reflect some of their surroundings, and again look different under the LED strip lights in his garage. They look different on the telephone or computer screen. This is why I wanted to see car panels sample painted.. It's going to cost a whole lot of money to have this car painted, inside and out, and I'd really like to choose the right colour ..for me and for the car. I made my decision. We then looked at the paint can, to see which I'd chosen, it was the the custom colour. Mathew was not help because he likes the light blue metallic. Possibly, as a designer, my eyes have been tuned to see more subtle variation than others, or perhaps I'm just old and going colour blind ..and what I'm seeing as gold is to anyone else florescent rotten-egg green ! Anyway., job done ..and it was time for me to trundle home again. The Daimler's heater definitely needs some adjustment, but the engine's cooling system worked great ..as did the makeshift expansion tank. It was a good day, and I can only hope the car comes out looking really nice ..but only time will tell. Bidding you a good day Pete

some weeks later.. it's time for an update... Daimler / Jaguar heat box ... Carrying on from having cleaned off the surface rust, epoxy priming it and painting the outsides semi-gloss black, my next task was to replace the foam seals around the opening vent, on the box's underside. This is the one that opens up the air flow into the footwells. Then having refitted the non-standard fan motor (as previously described, with it sitting on a thick rubber washer) I proceeded to refit the heater matrix. The inside of the heater box had no padding for the matrix to sit upon, so I added sticky back neoprene strips. ..which I thought would be a good idea as there are no fastening to actually hold it in place, save the rubber water pipe connection and the heater valve connection. The heater matrix is now a snug fit inside its box with just the two pipe connections poking through the lid of this box. Next up was to refit (glue in place) the sound insulation pad which goes behind the heater box. This was in good condition and so reusable, as was the thick foam-rubber doughnut, which seals between the box and the bulkhead. I also re-cut the edge-frayed insulation pad off the front of the box to go on the end. Originally it was only half covered, but now as you can see I've extended it to also be under the vent-flap springs. Neoprene foam strip was again used around the footwell vent flap and around the tow round holes which feed air to the face vents. Because the car is going in for a full respray I didn't bother too much cleaning up the bulkhead. Only really wanting to get rid of the old and perished foam seals. They probably had a design lifespan of 10 years, so they had done well ..not least considering the heat and dirt of an engine bay. I also pulled out two of the heater exchange pipes. The one shown runs across the back of the engine. It's clipped to the bulkhead, and made of steel. There's some deep pitting from corrosion on the outside, and possibly as bad on the inside. I need to find someone who is handy with a pipe bender and have these remade in copper ... before they start to leak. For the time being however I just power wire brushed them, epoxy primed and sprayed them silver (rather than the original black. As my car will change colour from black to beige, I thought to see how it looked. Heater box back in place, although there's a bottom rubber mount missing. Getting a hand in this back corner to get those control cables under the clamp was a pain ..literally. And then getting the control bowden cable wires to work was hampered by the new pivot-clamps being faulty. As you can see the lathe machinist didn't get right into the corner, and so the cable's hole didn't clear the lever arm.. I've reused the old ones, which work fine. ^ The heater pipers and box is now back in place. The old heater valve I lost when I took it to the radiator repair shop, I thought they'd lost it but in fact I was at fault with this one. I had loaded the radiator and heater box into the Chrysler by its side door. When I turned up at the barn I'd opened the side door to lift things out and hadn't noticed the heater valve drop out. It landed on grass, which overgrows the edge of the concrete, so there was no sound. I searched the car four times looking for the darn thing, but found it pressed into that grass at the barn ..after I'd driven over it.! Hey-up my fault, and nothing to be done but to buy a new one. That's what you see fitted here ..which is why I happened to have new cable pivot-clamps - which didn't work. With the control cables in place - they don't work. The friction between it, the old cables and the levers inside the car is too much.. I've left for now, and will attend to them when I pull the dashboard out. Wiring yet to be done. All in all another five minute job which took well over an hour. The radiator and its cowl went back in okay, but the bolts which held the thermostat 's radiator pipe connection on were each too long. Although cleaned up, these are the same as were on there before. the gasket had disintegrated when I took it off ..looking as if it had been reused half a dozen times before. I made a new cardboard gasket and painted it with primer (the gasket that is, as well as the where the rubber pipe sits over the cast aluminium) and then of course cut the bolts 1/8" shorter. Beforehand I think the amount of goo on the original gasket must have doubled it's thickness. Job done. Engine bay looks a little tidier, but there's still a long way to go. The new-old-stock radiator being freshly repainted looks like new. That being new original, rather than new after-market tat.. And the heater box, all cleaned up and repainted, with new seals, but still with its wiring to be tidied up and new insulation to be bought and fitted. Btw Mk.II Jagwaars didn't have this insulation as standard. I'll also need to buy a new squirrel cage fan as my friend Mathew didn't have one of the size I need. I started the car and tested it, statically, and then in turning the car around (outside) and while washing the car. The fan is so efficient that I placed a thick T-shirt over the radiator grille and could see how it was being sucked in. Still in time it did get to the 50-degrees necessary for the thermostat to fully open. The water / antifreeze mix expanded and overflowed into a tray placed under the car. There's no expansion tank on these old cars and so the following morning, when it had all cooled down, the water level was down to the bottom of its filler tube. I don't like that. I want the water to be where i can see it. so time for a quick n' dirty mod . . . The only thing I could find to make-do was a plastic milk bottle, which I squeezed into a wedge shape besides the cowl, and sat on a block of foam on the chassis. A piece of string and a dog collar, and the weight of water keep it in place. I've now even drilled a hole in its lid for the overflow pipe to go through. I cut the palm of an old rubber glove as a seal around the cap. Such sophistication is surely befitting a Daimler .. It works ..exactly as it should. I can refine it later. Getting the car ready for road trials, included removed the defunct dangling horn and replaced the bumper. That's all for this post .. just a little more to come. Pete

Here's a small selection of plastic bodied Norev 2CV models I had out the other day. These have metal bases so they don't blow away in the wind. First up is a 1963 AZAM No rear quarter windows. These Norevs all came with a spec sheet for teh actual car... and came in boxes that could be slotted together to make a wall display. This looks like a Beachcomber, but it is a France 3. This car was a run of 2,000 built by Citroen to celebrate the French entry in the Americas cup of 1983. 1980 Charleston in two-tone grey. Great to see that they even put on chrome headlamp shells. Finally here's a couple of 1955 2CV Camionettes. These have the ribbed bonnet... and high level brake light. The rear doors open to reveal a detail load area.

Had to collect a greenhouse. Range Rover isn't as big as you'd think inside, I should probably have spent the money on a pickup for the way I do things! On the other hand not many 4x4s have the, er, pickup that this thing displays. A New Defender tried to catch me on the bypass and failed. And I suppose it could be pretty and fast. If I chucked £185,000 at a Cheiftain.

Our Panda 4X4 we brought for my Sister gained it's 2nd Mot with us Today.😁 Got some advisories to take care of but honestly can't grumble at all. Still puts a smile on my face every time I drive it!

Another day spent in the garage but I am making good progress. I started by coating the exposed areas along the nearside front and rear arches and along the sill. I gave the spare wheel well and the fuel tank a lick of paint where surface corrosion had taken hold. The windscreen posts looked nasty but turns out there was nothing to worry about. Offside first, I scraped off the plebs to find completely solid metal underneath. I lifted the windscreen seal with the plastic mixer that comes with P38 Isopon, which is ironic as the repair didn't need any filler. I will sort out the cosmetics once the paint has fully dried. Exactly the same situation on the other side. I prepared and sprayed the black bulkhead panel that will soon be almost completely concealed by the battery. Before removing the cam cover, I marked up the ignition leads. It took 30 seconds and could prevent an embarrassing situation come reassembly. The cam and valve-gear look very clean. Nothing to see here, certainly no sludge. I degreased the cam cover with paraffin. And painted the rusty bits with a high temp black gloss paint. Shame most of the cam cover will be covered up by the air filter housing. Speaking of which, the air filter housing lid looks awful with this repair. So I ripped it off. The repair patch was hiding a nasty hole. Does anyone have one of these? I put the paint and spray cans down and spent a bit of time tidying up the engine bay, specifically the inner wings and slam panel. The engine bay is remarkably free from rust. The more I look at this car, the more I believe that the mileage is genuine. Take a look at the front wing to slam panel seams, they are factory fresh. I don't think this car has even been involved in a significant accident. I've ordered more aerosol blue paint and a king size bottle of T-Cut. You know what's coming next. More next week.