wuvvum

Well my collection mission was a success, although I got there later than I'd hoped as the bus got stuck in traffic. Seller was a lovely chap and was nearly in tears as I drove off - sadly he lived in the upcoming ULEZ zone so it wasn't practical for him to keep it. I even managed not to get lost, unless you count missing my exit on a roundabout and having to go round again. I did however manage to drive down a road which was closed, and had to reverse all the way back up again. And I still hate driving in London. Loads of interesting stuff on the roads today - possibly the most Autoshite spots on the way down were Fiats Uno and 126 and NATO green Merc T2 on the A11 and a Lada Niva on the M11, but there were lots of Triumphs (including a slightly scruffy Spitfire towing a trailer tent) and various hot rods and old Yanks, plus a tidy Minor and an early '30s Alvis. On the way back I overtook an immaculate cream Bedford J-type and a bright orange Y-suffix Merc T1 camper, a battered early Mk2 Astra in metallic bronze went past in the other direction, and approaching the Norwich southern bypass I passed four youngish lads in a lowered Honda Shuttle. Beat Drive It Day into a cocked hat.

Wow. He must have a penchant for lift-off oversteer...

Is the Stanza yours as well? I don't think I recall that one.

I will shortly be heading out to catch a Megabus to That London, 'cos I'm classy like that. Actually the Megabus is quicker to Stratford than the train, due to bank holiday weekend engineering works, as well as being a shitload cheaper. I will be picking up what will (all going well) be serving as my transport to Shitefest in a couple of weeks. I'm slightly apprehensive at having to drive a slightly shonky old car in London - something I haven't done since I delivered the DAF to wor Kenneth a couple of years back - but fortunately the seller lives but yards from the North Circ, and then it is but a short hop to the M1 out to the M25, so my exposure to London drivers should be relatively minimal. Then all I have to worry about is the look on the neighbours' faces when I pull up outside my house.

Aye, brings the tone of the neighbourhood back up a bit after the bumperless Civic.

Is that not against EU rules on free movement of goods? (Not that the Mediterranean countries ever pay more than lip service to EU regs anyway.)

What you need to do is convert it to RWD and fit a Peugeot 403 engine.

That's a bummer - if it'd had running water you could have moved in.

Nope - it's a DOHC / common rail update of the old four-headed monster which powered the Rover 825D / Chrysler Voyager etc. It's more refined and less laggy than the old engine, but just as much of a twat to jump start oddly. Doesn't shit its injectors or fuel pump every 10 minutes though, so has an advantage over the Duratorq in that sense.

I've never had any reliability issues with either of mine. Build quality is flimsy and the gear change is horrible, but the engine is a well-proven VM unit and doesn't seem to be particularly troublesome.

It's Strumpshaw Steam Rally this weekend. A traction engine has just driven past the office.

What you need is an LDV Maxus. Plenty of those for under £1.5K, and they don't rust like Transits either. The body panel dent if you sneeze within 10 feet of them, but you can't have everything.

I think the Northstar shut down cylinders when the engine was at risk of overheating, rather than for fuel economy purposes. Previous to that there was the 8-6-4 engine which used to shut down cylinders under light loads, but that was nearly 40 years ago. And it didn't work.

That is a common affliction on these hallowed pages.

That's novel - I don't think I've ever seen a fuel filter made out of black tweed before.