BL Bloke

I mentioned at the beginning of March that the renewal for the Rover 45 had gone up from £287 to £406 . After consulting the meerkats I got it down to £240, which means that the three cars I've renewed the insurance on this year have cost around £50 less than they did last year. 🙂

@Six-cylinder usually announces the FoD dates on his thread.

This is just over an hour from me so I won't have to worry about where to stay as I can go home. 🙂 Depending on how much chod I have left by July I could bring a different car each day. 🙂 A trip to Cosford or a train ride on the Saturday bot sound good to me. 👍

The renewal for the Rover 45 landed this morning, up from £287 to £406 . 🙁

The Saxo passed its MOT yesterday with a few advisories, nothing too serious though. Also, 23 months after clocking up 61K, this happened. As you can see it doesn't get out much, maybe it's time to move it on.

I had the renewal for the Fabia come through yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to find that it's gone down by £8 from last year. 🙂

Just dropped the Saxo off for it MOT. Fingers crossed.

Last Thursday I took the 205 out for a run as I wanted to clock up 3500 miles in it before the MOT ran out on Friday. When I got back home I stripped the fittings and trim panel from the driver's door to have a look at the lock mechanism. While it was off I gave the door pocket a wash to see if I could remove the discolouration on it but without success. Once the panel was off I realised that I didn't really know what I was looking for but it looks like the rod connecting the interior handle to the lock has been moved forward as the handle popped out of its mounting hole when the trim panel was removed. I did take some pics of the inside of the door in case anyone can give me an idea as to how the lock operates. I still keep thinking that I should have sold it as I don't have a good history with cars and lapsed MOTs. 🙁 I'm thinking of updating the for sale thread and seeing if anyone still willing to take it on. In happier news the Saxo has had its first wash since I bought it four and a half years ago and it had lichen growing on it even then. It does look a lot better, even though its battle scars show up more and the peeling lacquer on the roof got blasted off. It's going in or its MOT on Tuesday so hopefully it'll pass. I'll leave you with a shot of the driveway.

Yes, I do still have the 205. It was nearly sold but at the last minute my self sabotage kicked in and caused me to change my mind about selling because (a) it's probably my favourite on the fleet and (b) I felt that as the issues that it has had happened on my watch I should be the one to get them sorted. The potential buyer was understandably unimpressed by the decision but at the time it seemed the right thing to do, although since then I've realised that it wasn't. Last week it went to the local garage to have the driver's door lock looked at and although they got the door open they couldn't get the lock to work despite apparently spending 3 hours adjusting it, so now instead of not being able to open the door from inside or out you can now open the door from outside but not lock it and inside you still can't open it as it sounds like the linkage inside the door has been disconnected. They said it would 'likely' need new locks or the key and door. Tomorrow I might remove the door trim and look inside the door to see what they've done to it. The MOT runs out on Friday so I'm concerned about what to do with it after that date. 😕 As or the rest of the fleet, the Fabia went in for a service and MOT at the end of January. The EML was on when it went in but was off when I collected it. Twelve days and 50 miles later it came back on again. 🙁 On the 4th of February I'd owned the Rover for 5 years, since when I've done 5200 miles in it. A few months back I noticed that the Saxo's front tyres were both cracked and as one of them was an advisory on last year's MOT I booked it in for a new pair. Hopefully with the new tyres it'll pass its MOT when it goes in next week. It certainly handles better than it did on the old tyres, the steering feels lighter too.

Quick update. The insurance renewal on the Saxo came through a couple of weeks ago £107 more than last year. By going online an increasing the mileage from 3000 to 4000 I've got a quote for £4 more than last year so I've gone with that. The Fabia was 11 years old last week so has got slightly shiteier. 🙂 Lastly, the for sale ad or the 205 is up.

Time for the yearly mileage update. Going in order from low to high we start off with the Saxo, which did 596 miles, taking it to a total of 61803. It was SORNed at the end of August but I taxed it the beginning of the month and gave it a run out to Merry Hill. I was pleased to find that the sticky brake issue seems to have gone away, if only temporarily. Next up is the 205, which did 825 miles, leaving it at a total of 46881. As mentioned in my previous post it'll probably be looking for a new home soon. Runner up again was the Rover with 1122 miles, taking it total mileage to 36100. A few days earlier, however, this happened... which might not look significant but it meant that it has now done 5000 miles since I bought it back in February 2019. I've been thinking of selling it as it costs the most to tax and insure but as this year is the 120th anniversary of Rover cars I might keep it and take it to some shows, plus it's had more money spent on it since I bought it than the rest of the fleet combined. Finally, the Fabia did 2710 miles, which took it up to a total of 38567. It had a trip out to the FoD after Christmas where it was parked next to a proper car.🙂 So, another year over and all four cars did more miles than in 2022 and a total combined mileage of just over 5200, which isn't a lot. In fact the total mileage of the fleet over the last 2 years is less than 10.000, which some folk on here can do in a few months.

Last year I spent 13.5% just on tax and insurance. If I add in servicing, repairs, fuel and garage rent it went up to over 30%. 😲 Time for a clear out, I think. In other news, I was on the A456 in Halesowen earlier and saw a Class 09 diesel shunter on the back of a low loader, not something you see every day.

After nearly five months I reckon it's time for an update on the 205. Things haven't been going well. 😟 I made a partially successful attempt to fit the clips on the 205's rear valance. I managed to just about get the outer one to grip the bumper an valance as it's accessible from the rear wheel arch. The inner two seem to be inaccessible unless you get under the car or remove the bumper, neither of which I was comfortable with, so they're still in the bag. While I was around the back end I noticed that the panel on the tailgate had cracked down the one side, which has temporarily been stuck together with parcel tape. This got me thinking that maybe I should move it on and find a good home for it before anything else happens, and then, at the end of November ... the driver's door wouldn't unlock. 🙁 This problem started at Shitefest but I thought it'd sorted itself out. Obviously I was wrong so since then I've been stressing out about how much it'll cost to get it fixed and whether I should get it sorted and then sell it or sell it as is. 😕 Any suggestions welcome.

It looks like a nice example. My first car was a blue Austin 1300 2 door that I paid £150 for back in 1979. I'd love another one but like all the other BMC/BL stuff I used to own back in the day they're well outside my price range these days.

I had the renewal for the Saxo come through a few days ago, £334, up from £227 last year. After consulting the meerkats I have got a quote for £253 but as the car has done less than 1200 mile since the start of 2022 it might be time to find it a new home.

With a couple of days of this year to go mine is; Skoda Fabia - 2,710 Rover 45 - 1,100 Peugeot 205 - 825 Citroen Saxo - 596 (SORN for 4 months)

I didn't know there was such a thing as spider repellent.

That looks a lovely old thing, well bought. 👍

Good to see that this has been saved. 🙂

When your works pension pays £1050 a month paying out £140 a month less is a big difference. Plus the £140 a month doesn't include fuel or maintenance, just tax, insurance, MOTs and garage rent.

Bank Holiday Monday is the Classic Car and Bike Show at Chaddesley Corbett. Classic Car and Bike Show | The Swan Inn (theswanchaddesleycorbett.co.uk)

Today marks four years since I went down to that London and came home in a £200 Citroen Saxo. 🙂 To mark the occasion it came out of the garage for the weekly run to Sainsbury's. The front brake sounded better than it did last week so it might have just been sticking a bit due to lack of use as it's only done about 730 miles since April 2022. I really need to get the heater control working again though as it gets a bit* warm this time of year, which means I can't use it as much a I'd like. 🙁 In other news, the clips for the 205's rear valance arrived today. 🙂 Hopefully fitting them won't be too difficult. As I've mentioned before I could really do with reducing the fleet as I never meant to have four cars. The idea was to have the Fabia for my daily and an 'old' car for high day and holidays. I've worked out that if I sell the Rover, one of the smoll Frenchies and give up the tenancy on my garage I'd be around £1700 better off going by this years costs, which will of course be more next year.

While at the FoD the other week I picked up some 70's Matchbox cars that I didn't get ack in the day. Thanks to @richardmorris or bringing them along.

The Rover went in for the mot work last week so it's OK or another year and my wallet is a fair bit lighter. The rear wheel arch looks a lot better than it did in the previous post. The weekend before it was the Fabia's turn to visit the FoD, where it found itself next to @bobdisk's DAF. On the way down it clocked up 37000 miles, not bad for ten and a half years. While I was there I had a brief drive around the field in the Mk2 Daimler and a ride to the chippy in the back of the Rolls Royce. Thanks to @Six-cylinder and @Mrs6C for a great day, it was nice to see the fleet lined up. 🙂 Back to my fleet and the Saxo had a little run out last week. The o/s/f brake sounds like it's rubbing a bit, the front suspension clonks a bit and the heater still doesn't work but apart from that it's OK. Finally I found out which clips I needed to reattach the 205's rear valance so I've ordered some so I can get it sorted out.

I'm planning on coming down on Saturday. I can do some painting on the 404 if needed.