Amishtat

I'm starting to realize that Ford is a religion in the UK to say that the Mondeo and Focus are the best cars ever is ridiculous considering how many amazing cars there are. These 2 are mostly just boring means of transport and here they had and have among the shortest lifespans of any car.
I would say that the Volvo 240, 740 and 940 and Mercedes in W123 variants and W124 variants are peak cars. I still see them in daily use, just in my immediate area there are about 5 W123 and S123 in daily use all year round, almost 40 years after they went out of production. What these Volvo and Mercedes have in common is that they do most things well, they are reliable, well-built and long-lasting and are not a boring box on wheels. There is a reason the owners keep them.

Very late (J or possibly K registered) Morris Oxford VI in El Paso beige 

It still hasn't.

It still hasn't.

It still hasn't.

It still hasn't.

It still hasn't.

Four VWs in that picture. Can't see an Amazon.
Not when there's a mark 1 Escort parked there it isn't.

Four VWs in that picture. Can't see an Amazon.
Not when there's a mark 1 Escort parked there it isn't.

As a result of mistranslation,the Skoda Fabia was nearly foisted on the public as the Labia. In spite of the last-minute correction and consequent rebadging,to this day they can usually be found in the vicinity of a cunt.

Still progressing, just slowly! 
 
I’ve been running it up now once a week, it’s improving massively now it’s getting run and ‘used’. Very smooth and revs very cleanly and the starter has actually started to quieten down and working better too. No signs of any more of that rancid gunge in the cooling system either which is good. 
Aside from that I’ve been doing a few odd tweaks here and there, just getting it ready to go out on the road.
Today I’ve finished the drivers door card. Would have got them both done but ran into a slight snag that stopped me which I’ll go into later.
I’d already done the plastic membrane for both doors so next was the refurbished interior trims. Very simple, just those little plastic clips that push into holes in the door frame, same as all old Fords. I wish fitting the trims was as simple as it should have been but very few of my clips actually lined up with their respective holes in the door frame! The result of my door trims being refurbished but using ply instead of the original hardboard. As it was all cut by hand by the trimmer some holes were slightly too small so I had to keep trial fitting the trims, then very carefully use a chisel to open out the holes slightly until the clips sat in the right place to line up with the holes. It took ages to do and I must have had the trim on and off about a million times! Just one of those things though when refurbishing old stuff!
Got it on in the end. Next I used a bit of interior trim polish to clean all the dust off the trim from where it’d been sat so long. You can see how dusty it is in the pic. They shine up well, but will need several goings over to really get them nice.
 

 
Next job was the window winder and it’s little bits of trim, the door arm rest and the door handle trim.



The chrome trim around the handle was a pig to fit as the door trims are now ply… which is a fraction thicker than the old hardboard was so the trim was incredibly tight to slide into place. The good thing though is that it certainly won’t keep falling off like it used to! 
The arm rest itself is a bit loose at the moment, the door trim wood is slightly warped in the centre so I’ve tightened it up so far and hopefully the wood will settle into shape now it’s fitted and I’ll tighten the arm rest down tight then. Again, they’re a bit dusty and faded but should come up with some trim spray. 
I love how it all looks now, very basic trims for a basic car but few things are as cool as 70’s black interiors on a muscle car… or in my case a wannabe muscle car!
The other side couldn’t be done as I noticed a vital clip in the door frame was missing! This clip holds the arm rest at the top so carrying on would have resulted in having to strip everything off again later to fit the clip! 
Naturally this clip was unique to this purpose and I didn’t have any spare. God knows why it was missing, it was still fitted in the other door.
Couldnt find any original used ones but someone on eBay had made some so I just bought one of those. It sits behind the doors inside frame and is held on with two pop rivets (hence why it had to be fitted before anything else!). It arrived today so I fitted it, ready for the door trim etc another day.
Heres the new clip.

 
It fits just to the side of the L shaped pressing, you can just make out the new rivets and hole in the plastic membrane for it.

 
Here’s the other door trim ready to fit, and the back showing the clips and the holes I needed to elongate to fit properly.



Didn’t get pics, but I’ve also trimmed the door seal rubbers to size and pushed them on properly, and cleaned the two sun visor’s, as they’d got very grubby and mouldy in storage. Bit of cream cleaner and a sponge had them looking like new though.

Still to do then;
Fit last door trim and door furniture.  
Realign door striker plates to get doors closing properly. 
Fit tailgate lock seal. 
Fit tailgate interior trim panel. 
Fit two exterior door chrome trims. 
Tighten steering UJ pinch bolts and steering wheel centre nut. 
Bleed brakes once more, just to be sure! 
Change front anti-roll bar bushes for new polyurethane ones (got the new bushes already). 
Double check silly stuff like split pins fitted where needed, bolts on suspension etc are tight etc etc.              
I think that’s about it!  
 
    
 

Found this today, thought it was a Lone Star Impy but turns out it’s a Mini Dinky, which I’d never heard of. Supposedly is a Chevrolet Chevy, missing a tyre but at 50p I had to have it. 

With the allegro sold I now had a 1977 Chevy c10 and a Nissan micra on the fleet. 
 
I’m all for a noisy American toy but that micra. Actually I like k11 micras for their chuckability but decided I needed something a little bit nicer as my daily….
Hence I’ve sold the micra and bought a 1992  merc 220ce. In “Nutra” - named after a semi aquatic rodent. It’s metallic brown basically. Probably a very unusual choice in 1992, long before it was rediscovered by car buyers.
Its also been very thoroughly gone over.  All the stuff that rots or goes wrong has been sorted. 
 
Anyway here is the rodent brown merc coupe










 

Majorette Beetle...

...now has BRM wheels, a more period colour (and a deliberately not too shiny finish) and some detail. Interior is really nicely done with an era correct steering wheel and a suitcase behind the back seat. Of course you can hardly see all that now!
Chroming the headlight rims caused mild panic





Think it makes a great 1970s cal-looker (about three of you will have a clue what I'm on about)
Edit: sunshine!

Friday afternoon laptop shite, then...

...is of the smol variety.

Yup, Atlas reproduction of the Dinky France #1408 Honda S800 coupe.

One of my very first Market Tat purchases from quite a few years ago now, and one that I just couldn't part with during the disposal sale over the winter.

The detailing's ace, and like its real-life equivalent it's a wee gem of a thing.

How could you not love this?

These were a fearsome price a while ago, so I felt pretty chuffed to have picked it up for a fiver. Looking online now, you can have one delivered to your door for under £15 - so that's good news for me as I'd sooner not feel like I ought to sell this one!
Happy Friday, kids!

Not sure what happened to the thread which showed this old gem when it was in active use until recently? This thread will have to do instead I guess. 
Looks like the lot is up for sale. Talk about timewarp! Masses of potential for someone with skillz.
I found this property on the Rightmove Android app and wanted you to see it: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123897002