RichardK

Sad day, my 480ES has been collected, but the number of £325 tax cars we have is excessive so some have to go.
It is staying on the forum, but I will let the new owner reveal himself.
Update:
@robinmasters has now revealed he was the buyer of the 480.

Tail light surrounds now match.

Have been to the post office today to see whether we could get the tax changed to historic, but as I had pretty much expected it looks like I'll need to contact the DVLA directly regarding that. The only date which their computer brings up is the 1999 import date, and there's no option available to them to change the tax class.  Sure that will be a barrel of laughs to sort.  Will need to wait until a day where I'm feeling particularly patient.
The Trabant as of yesterday has now officially ticked over 1000 miles since arriving here in December.  
Edit: Front mud flaps have now also been fitted as I got tired of them getting in the way in the garage.

Did find some crunchy bits in the underside of the offside sill which will definitely want remedial work before next winter.  Looks like a very old patch which has reached the end of its useful life.  Nothing that's imminently terrifying, but I suspect if my MOT tester had prodded the area I'd have been left with a hole to fix.  Plus one drain hole is definitely bigger than the one on the other side of the car.  On the plus side it's about as easy a repair as you could wish for so I'm really not bothered by having found it.  Par for the course on a vehicle of this age which doesn't look like it's ever had anything beyond a couple of running repairs before, and will be properly sorted in due course.

We all know these little ambulances, I think...

Many years ago (1984-90) I worked for a local produce wholesaler in Southport, and among the vehicles I drove for them were two T25 diesel pickups, A369 GFV and C279 KCK.  I actually remember the second one arriving in early 86.  Now... I can't think of a readily accessible model in any scale, of the T25 as a single-cab pickup.

So I made my own!  I've been working on these, on-and-off, for several years, entirely from memory.  They are, of course, the ambulance cut down.

The pickup beds are the two halves of a small-scale plastic artic trailer, chopped to length.  

Signwriting is by Fineliner pen.  It's not perfect but a damn sight better than I'd be able to do by brush these days.  Those phone numbers were correct, but no longer exist as shown.

Yeah, it's a 535i manual, seller mot'd it for me last week.
I've not had a chance to use it yet but will probably have a go tomorrow.

If they are 2 cheeks of the same arse, then Galloway can only be what you find in between them...!

ooh if there is a chance it will live on I will do what I can to help. 
 
Managed to avoid the bus and walked between Glasgow Queens St and Glasgow Central. First time I have had to do this and the app said bus when it is a 2 minute walk!
So now on the final train I hope

The stupid thing is these bands were based on CO2 for emissions reasons – and all the free VED DPF-equipped diesel shitboxes that pump out more NOx and particulates than any V8 petrol beast are still getting free or cheap road tax - and a new car made with zero shits given about CO2 because ££s is £180 a year after the high first few year rates.
Most Euro 4 petrol cars are cleaner than even the latest Euro 6 diesel in real terms 😕

The stupid thing is these bands were based on CO2 for emissions reasons – and all the free VED DPF-equipped diesel shitboxes that pump out more NOx and particulates than any V8 petrol beast are still getting free or cheap road tax - and a new car made with zero shits given about CO2 because ££s is £180 a year after the high first few year rates.
Most Euro 4 petrol cars are cleaner than even the latest Euro 6 diesel in real terms 😕

The stupid thing is these bands were based on CO2 for emissions reasons – and all the free VED DPF-equipped diesel shitboxes that pump out more NOx and particulates than any V8 petrol beast are still getting free or cheap road tax - and a new car made with zero shits given about CO2 because ££s is £180 a year after the high first few year rates.
Most Euro 4 petrol cars are cleaner than even the latest Euro 6 diesel in real terms 😕

The stupid thing is these bands were based on CO2 for emissions reasons – and all the free VED DPF-equipped diesel shitboxes that pump out more NOx and particulates than any V8 petrol beast are still getting free or cheap road tax - and a new car made with zero shits given about CO2 because ££s is £180 a year after the high first few year rates.
Most Euro 4 petrol cars are cleaner than even the latest Euro 6 diesel in real terms 😕

There's definitely a good argument to say that MPs are underpaid for their responsibility and paying them more but banning them from third-party activity would significantly improve our democracy.  An MPs salary is the same as our household income which, whilst significant, doesn't strike me as excessive given what they are expected to do.

The stupid thing is these bands were based on CO2 for emissions reasons – and all the free VED DPF-equipped diesel shitboxes that pump out more NOx and particulates than any V8 petrol beast are still getting free or cheap road tax - and a new car made with zero shits given about CO2 because ££s is £180 a year after the high first few year rates.
Most Euro 4 petrol cars are cleaner than even the latest Euro 6 diesel in real terms 😕

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/654884
Yes, the PT Cruiser is absolutely horrible to tax – for just 240g/km and a car that has done 14,000 miles in 16 years at current rates it would have contributed £11,440 in tax.

When a 2010 Citroen/Ford/whatever HDI or VW diesel could have covered 150,000 miles and cost nothing while putting out serious levels of pollution (and it's worth bearing in mind the DPF doesn't really clear pollution, it cleans up the tailpipe until the car is at extra-urban speeds then dumps a shitload of it in the countryside).

The stupid thing is these bands were based on CO2 for emissions reasons – and all the free VED DPF-equipped diesel shitboxes that pump out more NOx and particulates than any V8 petrol beast are still getting free or cheap road tax - and a new car made with zero shits given about CO2 because ££s is £180 a year after the high first few year rates.
Most Euro 4 petrol cars are cleaner than even the latest Euro 6 diesel in real terms 😕

The stupid thing is these bands were based on CO2 for emissions reasons – and all the free VED DPF-equipped diesel shitboxes that pump out more NOx and particulates than any V8 petrol beast are still getting free or cheap road tax - and a new car made with zero shits given about CO2 because ££s is £180 a year after the high first few year rates.
Most Euro 4 petrol cars are cleaner than even the latest Euro 6 diesel in real terms 😕

The stupid thing is these bands were based on CO2 for emissions reasons – and all the free VED DPF-equipped diesel shitboxes that pump out more NOx and particulates than any V8 petrol beast are still getting free or cheap road tax - and a new car made with zero shits given about CO2 because ££s is £180 a year after the high first few year rates.
Most Euro 4 petrol cars are cleaner than even the latest Euro 6 diesel in real terms 😕

The stupid thing is these bands were based on CO2 for emissions reasons – and all the free VED DPF-equipped diesel shitboxes that pump out more NOx and particulates than any V8 petrol beast are still getting free or cheap road tax - and a new car made with zero shits given about CO2 because ££s is £180 a year after the high first few year rates.
Most Euro 4 petrol cars are cleaner than even the latest Euro 6 diesel in real terms 😕

Acquired one of these lately.

Looks a bit “unhappy” to my eyes. 

Pininfarina design and build apparently. Presumably this one wont feature in future glossy portfolios of their work.

Familiar focus vibes from the view out front. 2.0 duratec/ manual. Its a bit flat in a car this weighty (think its about 1500kg) but its quite a comfy cruiser to potter about in.

Having been with both in the past I can confirm that the AA are considerably less shit than the RAC.

Fun fact.They were also sold as the Peugeot 4008 and Citroen C4 Aircross.Not in the UK though.Though we did get the larger Outlander based 4007 and C Crosser.

Well that didn’t go well!
On the way back from Flowers Farm the Sigma temp gauge started rise but as I was on a dual carriageway with no hard shoulder I carried on the 2 miles to the first layby. When I stopped there was steam wisping from under the bonnet.
The AA arrived and diagnosed a split water hose to the oil cooler. He had the right size hose and soon fitted a bit. Unfortunately when I went to restart the Sigma it simply pushed water out of the radiator and the diagnose was head gasket. He towed me to FoD on his dolly.
After all I have said about the service of Recovery firms the AA after a shaky start trying to contact them were great. The roadside patrol turned up in 40 mins was helpful and fixed the original problem. When that didn’t work he towed me to the FoD and then took the wheels I was carrying for @Flat4 and me home.
9/10 with the 1 point lost for the hard time trying to contact them 4 times, listening to all the spiel and press 1 for a long wait, 2 to be cut off..........

A few more pictures of the “car”…
The day of arrival:



First job:



A new home:

After much rabbithole-diving, a decision to move to 145/80R10 radials rather than the OE 4.00-10 crossply wheelbarrow tyres:

 
Bought a spare wheel that matched the four already on the car, and passed the odd spare on to a mate for his trailer:

 
Significantly more tyre: 


 
Land-Rover makes it look small:


But the original size tyres are even smaller:


Some space required:

 
Better:


 

Hopefully there’s going to be some regular progress as the weather improves. 

How's the inner wing/bulkhead/plenum interface?
I remember a very impressive Nova resto on the blue forum and it was that three-layer fiddly area near the A-pillar that seemed to be the utter bastard of a job.

Win!

Thanks ^ got some goodies in the post via a slightly convoluted deal involving @RichardK and @2110, as the former listed a bunch of partwork cars which the latter bought before I'd spotted these among them. Luckily a deal was agreed and they arrived while I was out working yesterday














The Mrs has also bought me one I've been hunting for for quite a long time, ETA tomorrow...