Macscrooge

EDIT - Voting is live, links to the voting threads are here:
February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, January
I'm afraid a whole year has passed since the last thread on this, would anyone be interested in a February 2024 - January 2025 Autoshite Calendar?
I'm happy to run this again, unless someone else wants to have a go.  I admit I'm no graphic artist, but I can put things in envelopes and stick labels on fairly accurately.
I'll bump the nomination threads shortly, plop your submissions on those (remember that it's vehicles owned by a shiter in the month of the thread, but by all means nominate your own rammel). 
There are four months May, June , December and January where we are a bit light on submissions,   If you have anything that tickled your fancy from any months, but those four especially, please post it, the more the merrier.
Lastly, please can I have a show of hands as to who would like a calendar? Bung your name down with an expression of interest (and a quantity if you would like more than one).  Like last year, I'll borrow Brownnova's idea of a form to fill in to take address details etc, and I'll work out taking payment when I have an order total.
I'm happy to offer two types of calendar this year:-
A desk calendar, for those who have flat surfaces.  You know the type:
And a wall calendar, for those of you who have, erm...  walls Prices will be about £11.75 for the wall calendar and £8.50 for the desk one including postage, depending on order volumes etc.
Timeline:
Now until 18th January - submit photos, especially where the thread has only four or five photos Now until 23rd January express your interest if you want a calendar 19th - 25th January - poll for whose image gets on that calendar for each month, tactical/protest voting encouraged 26th January - I design* the calendar and get the files off to the printers 29th January - I collect the calendars from the printers and work myself into a frenzy getting them into envelopes 31st January - The postman spills his sack into your postbox 1st February - You get to mark off time in fine style*  
 

Allegro hatch.

2x wall for me please!

Updates!
During the time it sat it's acted as a home for some birds who've since grown up and flown off:

After a long time searching for replacement brake/suspension bits, I popped round one day to find that another bloke had brought in a Datsun truck with disk brake hubs, a reasonable master cyl and some other bits I can pilfer - that he's getting rid of entirely! He's going with S15 running gear and suspension on his so I now have a reasonable option after thinking I'd be out of luck.
Carb wise we stole some bits from the old Samara carb and adapted them to sort the linkage for the new 32/34 that allowed it to be fitted well enough - along with the previous adapter plate.
Set up all the kit and after some fiddling about, it now runs and drives!!
First ever drive after being sat for many years below:
Next will be brakes and aluminium tank, then onto bodywork and the engine etc in time.
After more reading on my options and ratios, I've settled on going with a PD130 mated with a Toyota W58 box using an adapter, into a Chevy C10/Blazer rear axle (same PCD)
This will be something that takes a little to get going through through the next few months, given I'm moving about and such but it won't be a particularly long time till it's driving about on the road!

Outside world: This plan makes no sense for too many reasons to list 
Autoshite world: This is a perfect plan
 

if we're allowed to nominate ourselves...

@Captain Mainwaring in the news 24 thread

Shameless self promotion to make November official Volvo month… 

I'll nominate this pic by @RetroShite in the news 24 thread

Collected. 

Thanks to @TheIsleofShite for putting this on the ebay tat thread.
Now to see if it makes it home. 

Many years ago my significant other had one like this. A 1.5GLX I think. A very sweet car - and well tooled up for the time. 

I seem to have had the honour of being zapped on the A38 by 500tops in his lazy spotters thread, so it would be rude not to make an introduction.
I thought my 405 mania had been cured by the blue one I've had for ten years now, a wonderful machine which has been relegated from daily driver duties to more special occasions, primarilly just to extend its life.  Trouble is, like an old pair of slippers its bodywork is getting pretty tatty and I was always unsure whether to just drive it into the ground or give it a full respray.  Whilst musing on this issue another 2.0 automatic turned up in Hampshire, seemingly in much better condition bodily and with the much prized factory sunroof, cruise and A/C (wouldn't consider one without these three now).
I did look at it early last year but couldn't make my mind up, mainly due to the fact the cruise or A/C wasn't functioning (unsurprisingly) and also because of the drab Sorrento green paintwork.  Not a fan of this colour at all, it needs sunlight to shine on it otherwise just looks a dirty brown/black.  However, the Peugeot Sun gods lined up a few weeks ago, the seller happened to be in Plymouth, with the car,  the day I texted seeing if he still had it.  A deal was struck despite me now having two 405s, a Picasso daily and Mrs Carlo's 206, and no off-street parking except a paid for garage.  Nonsense indeed.
It's a pretty good one.  Managed to sort the cruise myself with a new control unit, air con remarkably just needed a re-gas.  I've fixed lots of other little 405 foibles, well it helps having 20 years worth of spares accumulated. 
Now I've sorted the exhaust and put a fresh MOT on I think I'm going to stick it away in the garage for a few months and get some more usage out of the blue one, still prefer the colour. 
I find it that everytime I get another 405 I find it doesn't seem to drive quite as well as the one before; seeing as this seems to happen every time I think it must be down to being so accustomed to the way one drives, anything different seems multiplied.
 

A few arrivals from the last couple of days.
Another version of the Hearse from Disney's Cars,I don't really collect these but I just like this one
A box arrived today,1st out were these valuable collectors items.The green Bentley is actually quite nice
Tonka!
Matchbox trucks
Corgi TV/film stuff
Character cars
More Matchbox
A couple of larger bits
And finally,a couple of Austin A55's 😂
Of course, the larger one is a Lone Star Flyers Peugeot 404.I'd spotted it amongst all the others & managed to get the whole lot for less than I've seen the Peugeot for on its own.
It's a really nice model,& doesn't seem to be as common as some of the other Lone Stars
It does have a cracked A pillar,but it's hardly noticeable unless you open the door
Really pleased with this one 😊

Collected approx 4pm yesterday (went to view with a friend who needed something ASAP),  but I guess it doesn't count, was 10mins from the front door.
E320 CDI
134k
New winter avons
Everything works
Chap needed it gone as his wifes new car arrived the day before and he decided not to trade in his wifes car and sell his merc instead.
£850
 

Since then I've moved house again, and for the first time I have my workshop next to the house, and I don't work on Fridays. In theory, perfect to get this done, in practice I keep finding other projects, another Volvo Amazon, exhuming a barn find Lotus, including now a VW Crafter camper conversion.

Back at the start of the year I took a bit of time off and got the cab floors, front panel and structure all done.

The engine is now turning over on an Audi 80 starter (took a few attempts to find a starter that would fit, with the right tooth count) and I've got a spacer made up for the clutch release bearing so it can reach the pressure plate.


I'm really pleased with the track width of the series Landy axles on Wolf wheels, they're bang on for the cab. I will be fitting taller tyres, these 235/85/16s look right on a Defender, but the Laplander needs a bit more sidewall really, and it can only help the gearing.

I had a couple of days on it last week getting through some of the jobs I've been putting off for ages. I always seem to procrastinate with metalwork, but once I get into it I enjoy it.

When I scrapped off the rotten rear body, I lost 6 out of the original 8 body mounting points. The 2 remaining under the cab floors were rotten, so I had to redo them anyway. I wanted to keep the original brackets on the chassis, so have built these rear mounts, which I'll be bracing a bit more - but for now I'm happy! I've braced them to the cab structure for strength and they'll all sit on rubber mounts.
 


Then I sorted the rot on the bottom of the passenger door - this was the better of the two so made sense to start with this. I'll clean the welds up properly when it comes time for paint, but for now just a coat of weld thru to protect it. It's handy that the doors are just on basic gate hinges, so the doors lift off in seconds. Fully expect to use it without doors in summer!
 

 

 


Then it was on to the driver's door, the worse one! Ideally I'd have sourced a good replacement, but there are a few issues with that. These C202s were all built in Hungary using poor quality steel, whatever was available to the Soviets, and they only built around 2000 of these, so finding a good replacement or two will be impossible. The earlier Laplanders in the 50s and 60s were built in Sweden and are much more rust resistant, and were produced in higher numbers. The doors on these were a totally different pressing - the frames would probably fit but the C202 has those angular bulges on the doors and B pillars, which the earlier ones didn't. If I could find some better C202 doors, I'd be paying for a pallet from somewhere in Europe, and still have some repairs to do.

So with nothing to lose I started cutting rot out of the driver's door.
 
 
 
 
 
 


And that's up to date! When I'm back over there I'm going to finish the driver's door, then there is a day or two's work in finishing off the cab welding, it'll be back off the chassis and upside down for some of that. I have a machined spacer on the clutch release bearing now too, so the engine and gearbox will soon be mounted on the chassis more permanently. Not far off the point of starting to build it up - mostly from scratch as with the engine swap and not much of the interior kept, it'll be a fair task.

Anyone want to buy an Amazon, or two?

We’ll need a foundation story which dates back to King Solomon. Though in those days we were known as ‘Chariotshite’…

The 'Leninsky Komsomol Automobile Plant' which produced the Moskvich-2140. Photo taken in the late '70's.

Fleet count: 2
Breakdowns: 0 
MOTs passed first time: 2
So pleasingly dull, marred only by a bit of a pantomime ordering some Lexus suspension bits. 

Fleet count: 2
Breakdowns: 0 
MOTs passed first time: 2
So pleasingly dull, marred only by a bit of a pantomime ordering some Lexus suspension bits. 

Fleet count: 2
Breakdowns: 0 
MOTs passed first time: 2
So pleasingly dull, marred only by a bit of a pantomime ordering some Lexus suspension bits. 

Fleet count: 2
Breakdowns: 0 
MOTs passed first time: 2
So pleasingly dull, marred only by a bit of a pantomime ordering some Lexus suspension bits. 

Fleet count: 2
Breakdowns: 0 
MOTs passed first time: 2
So pleasingly dull, marred only by a bit of a pantomime ordering some Lexus suspension bits. 

We’ll need a foundation story which dates back to King Solomon. Though in those days we were known as ‘Chariotshite’…