Macscrooge

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’…

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

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

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

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

Go on then, I’ll say it.  Nice Bristols. 

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

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

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

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

We've got our own code, and generally we've got each others' backs. 
Do we need a special handshake? 

It used to have one back in the day,   it took me over a year and a half to get in and that was only approved because another member sorted it out with owners for me. 

I was offered this last month by a work mate
It is a French-registered, UK right-hand drive car.
French registered because he lived in both the UK and France where is mother and better half still live.
He lives in a huge 7.5t camper van on a corner of a farm for £50 per month.
The car is hanging.