N19

Reminds me of when I first saw a sign saying "POLISH SHOP". I did wonder why a whole shop could be dedicated to Mr Sheen.

I bought the Mondeo about 18 months ago now, in the midst of a house move it proved very practical indeed for all the sundry trips to the dump, DIY, garage crap moving etc. At the time I also had the Bluebird off the road for some works. I had thought about selling once I'd settled in and the Bluebird was back, but then realised that a backup is essential and it's actually incredibly useful! It performs daily duties quite ably, although it's happiest on the motorway.

I should have known things were going too well. Having been called into work on a Sunday to put right some issues, I headed off in the Mondeo. It was not happy at all. Engine stuttering, revving but failing to provide power, really a struggle to do anything. Gave up and left it outside the local garage with the keys through the door after a nice text with the owner - manic week next week and no time to look at it. It's not the clutch (replaced last year, and the third-gear test gives a healthy stall). Idle is all over the place too. Haaaarumph! So the Bluebird took up the mantle adequately (although, with the exhaust still blowing, noisily). Looks like the centre section of the exhaust can be had for £70 or so, so I'll order one up tomorrow and hopefully change it at the weekend. I had a session of WD40-spraying on the bolts earlier, and I'll do a couple more during the week to hopefully make the process a bit easier on the day.

It's wonderful! It closes at 8pm during the week, and is open full days (9 to 6) at weekends. It's not my closest parts shop, but it about 20 mins drive away. Got me out of a few problems!

Mine doesn't! Perhaps that was only certain models?

One of the brake lights on the Bluebird wasn't illuminating properly. The bayonet holder was pretty mullered, so out came the fancy gas soldering iron. Bit of a mess in this corner...

Agree - very good price and last a decent amount of time. Don't look out of place on older cars either.

A few years ago I rented a van from a local firm. Not my usual go-to place, but this crowd were close to where I lived then, and I only needed it for a couple of days. When I arrived he took me out to the van, ordinary SWB transit, did the walk around, then tried to turn the ignition on. Nothing. Dead as a dodo. First offered to jump start it, then after protestations pointed to a medium wheelbase saying "I'll try that one instead". It started fine and I took it away. On my return a couple of days later he proceeded to ask me for an excess payment "because you got a bigger van than you'd paid for". Needless to say, I was not forthcoming. Oh, about 12 years ago I was with a friend who'd hired a Luton - the clutch was slipping wildly ("just rev the engine sir" went the rep). Protestations followed that we were about to fill the back with Stuff and then spend 5 days hurtling around various parts of the countryside, and that we didn't want to risk it giving out midway. "Well, it's not broken now sir so I can't replace it" goes the rep. Five minutes round the block later, and with an eye-watering smell of burning clutch, wouldn't you know but it's broken down and won't move at all (opposite a popular greasy spoon). The rep sighed heavily as he brought a replacement out (very quickly and from the yard, so it's not as if he didn't have one!)

One please!

I actually had a productive, enjoyable day without any real f*ck-it moments. This scares me! A run to the motorfactors produced an exchange caliper : taking the least broken fleet member There was a bit of faffing to get the old caliper off, and I'm always super wary of rounding off the unions. But an application of crack-it spray worked just before I threatened it with a blowtorch! Right, clean everything up, new caliper on, work in progress shot inc mandatory lucozade all back together, brakes bled, and behaving well. Hurrah! After a quick drive around town to check things were how they should be, I then went back to Watford to drop off the old unit for the surcharge refund. Seeing the state of the car and as time was on my side, I stopped to give it a quick jet wash. It'll need a proper wash down to remove some of the winter grime, but it now looks less mucky. Finally, back at the lockup as I'd got a brake light out, and there was the wrong lamp in one of the tail/fog lamps. So a bit of time spent checking and replacing and re-seating. Hurrah!

Driving home from work today and I can smell hot brakes. Hmm, that's odd. I stopped off at the lockup and can feel the heat coming from the o/s/f wheel... Caliper sticking, dismantled but it will only retract with a thump with a persuasion tool. Fiddlesticks! Naturally, this all happens around 6.30 once most of the motorfactors have shut, but Midnight Motors in Watford open late and should have a new caliper by tomorrow morning.

The Bluebird went in for MoT today. Hmm. That'll be a new exhaust then. And the sills are a bit crispy... # Could be worse.

A free day called for some frivolity - took the Capri on a 50 mile round trip around Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, nice to put some miles on it and weather isn't too bad. Back at the lockup, and I'm looking at options for the lift. I can't drive on/off it with the Capri as it fouls the low exhaust and diff. And the garage is too narrow to slide it from the side. So what I'm thinking is... ...make up some low timber ramps (imagine these, but up to 3/4 length of the garage). About 3" off the ground. Wide enough to reverse onto without being too precise. Hopefully that'll mean I can reverse in, the low ramps take me up just far enough to be over the lift, which can henceforth live in the middle on the ground. Sensible plan? Completely flawed?

Isn't that part of the reason that they aren't ever charged for - so they don't class as a stage carriage service and therefore avoid a heck of a lot of paperwork?

Very true. In 2019, I did about 6k miles in the Capri alone - at that time I lived in inner London (so most trips were by tube or bus) - didn't drive to/from work, the supermarket etc anywhere near as much as I do now. But the leisure trips were far greater in number - hopefully something we can look forward to next year. A lot of it with me is spontaneity, which hopefully will return a bit more!