goosey

Me, last night, 7.10pm: No Autoshite, what am I gonna do?!
12 yr old daughter in a derisory tone: Get a life?

Off t'interweb.

Possibly the most flowery language I've ever seen in a used car advert...
I reckon he sat there in the dark and wanked himself off as he wrote that...

Little and Large Show...

Thanks for all the comments everyone.
The luxo-barge turned out to be much better than I expected - I bought it sight unseen in France and met the owner at night initially in a station car park - I'd also paid for it upfront by bank transfer.
Sometimes you have to follow your instincts.
But...
It's diesel so ok on fuel for what I want.
It's big enough to take camping and sleep in. It is enormous - and seems much bigger to drive.
It's virtually one owner from new - was owned by someone in Paris in some ritzy arrondissiment. It has lots of history but little that is old. It's just been fully serviced and had new brakes
It also has it's FIVA papers and is historic registered in France as a 'voiture de collection' - so runs on black and white plates and is CT'able every 5 years only.
I'm intending to use it both in France and the UK - I want to find out about it's possible ULEZ exemption because of it's FIVA status - but initially I'm using it out of the UK.
These big old Japanese cars drive like US cars - it's big, wallowy and slow but the diesel has a wall of torque and is great fun to pilot. It's done 350,000km and is not perfect - there is some rumble on the front suspension for example.
It's 'fully loaded' - with more trinkets than I have had time to investigate - but the switchable overdrive on the auto is nice.
I did about 80km last night to where I am staying and it seems fine. You'd not want to push it hard on a wet road though. Driving a virtually 40 year old car for the first time on roads I did not know was interesting...but it looked after me like a big old friendly dog.
It had been for sale a long time - and the very nice owner admitted last night I was the only person who had shown an interest - so much for the desirability of off-beat cars eh.
There is a lot of 2nd hand and breaking parts about in France so I should be ok.
So there you go. France is full of interesting cars. Go buy one.
I will post more pics when I decompress from this excursion.
And the reason for the complex entry to France was I was looking for a way to avoid Eurostar's prices and miserable London experience - and it worked. London to Paris was £40 by mixing the modes - and I had a nice day out.
Parfait mes amis.

The dash at night - good night folks.

Trains, planes and...automobiles.

New shuttle bus from the new Port Terminal at Calais - dropped me in town. Met some US tourists doing this new route Calais has set up.

Time to fire up my French phone...and #### UK operators and their roaming.  
And a coffee...the bars of France and their owners are always great  - nice welcome here. Superbe mes amis.
Next Paris...

New tyres fitted….. Falkens all round. Previously it sported 4 different makes of tyres. Now sitting on a ramp at the exhaust fettleing centre to find out where the exhaust blow is coming from 

Waiting for a train….. avec demented furry idiot……
Looking suitability pensive….😱

So clever...you have to be confident to drive a coach in here...

Nice large flask of tea - hoping I'm not going to need sympathy.

Pomme du terre photographique
Metro Rover 114 in Slough £400
https://www.freeads.co.uk/uk/buy-sell/motors/classic-cars/39176286/rover-metro-automatic-14-gs-for-spares-or-repair/view

"A journey of a thousand  miles begins with a single step" - Chinese Proverb
"A journey to collect a Cedric begins with a visit to the launderette" - South London Proverb*

It's going to be a case of Trains Planes  Buses and Automobiles.
I'm off to Dreux - France tomorrow by an unconventional route...insurance arranged and car paid for...what could possibly go wrong - will keep you posted.
Fingers crossed the car is OK...
*my washer has packed up

Back on the road thanks to a Conny-spec 75 with hand controls. Previous owner was a proper old gent. Slight corner scuffs and a couple of Giffer trim remedies but it seems to be a goodun.
Just getting used to it and being back driving after 3.5 months. My withered shrimp fists can cope okay with the hand controls, but I've been using the throttle with my foot (brace means that I can't move my foot across to the brake) and the hand control for the brake... Unfortunately my knob was hewn from a different species of plastic tree than the dashboard so it clashes horribly. 

Dogs approve. 

Wheels 4x108 ford, Peugeot, Citroen.

Try this website.
https://portal.speedyspares.co.uk/
On the left there is a menu covering Avengers. It is not the easiest website to view. It is stuck in the 1980's 😉

Jesus Christ...

Caught up with the latest episode of Jonny Smith's Late Brake Show, which features Radio 1 Breakfast host Greg James who has been a hero of mine for a very long time, mostly because he comes across as properly down to earth; and it continued here too. Greg recently picked up an E34 M5, which they tootle about with for the episode, but it seems he's also an 80s/90s Renault fan boy and if anyone has a B reg Nissan Sunny that they want to offload it might be worth a slide into his DMs... Overall a very calming and enjoyable 40 minutes of content.

It was about 45 years ago that I had the first of my Avengers, you're lucky that I can remember that much 🙄
Although, at that time I worked in a Rootes dealer Parts department - parts availability was great - then 😄

Quite straightforward to get mechanical parts. Brakes are standard Lucas girling affair - and with the underpinnings being the same as the later Sunbeams  there are plenty of parts hoarded by people that have raced or rallied them.  The owners clubs have had some parts remade - and with the Avenger being made in South America up until the 90s there is still a good band of enthusiast's .  They're easy to maintain - great fun to drive if looked after properly - and it's only rampant rust you need to look out for in the sills jacking points inner wings and front chassis legs.  Straight out of the box from new they were a nicer drive than an Escort. A hugely underated car now due to the brand being washed up in the tide of the Rootes Chrysler Talbot PSA  mix up.

The aftermarket Selmar alarm, probably.
I certainly can't remember my old Avenger having that.

have we had this yet ?

https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C1656307

First time AS buyer - currently on train from the North of Scotland to Newcastle to buy a lovely Citroen Xantia from a user here.
Costa, disappointing toastie, and we are off. Girlfriend has came along - not sure she has appreciated the chod I am buying though! Extra pair of legs to push 😉
 
 
 

Peugeot 407 irmscher 2.2HDI | eBay
And now over to Len for his score in 'Council estate bingo'

'Great effort with the random wheel, muddy tyre/s, broken fence/metal in the garden and house numbers sprayed on the bins. Unfortunately, though, the trampoline and other shit is in next door's garden and the lack of broken washing machines and freezers scores you down a bit'