Missy Charm

And a Spanish gearbox, nice!

Ooh lovely. What sort is it?

It's a Saab not a Skoda...

Vermiculite: the breakfast of champions...

Today I have replaced both headlight bulbs, dipped beams, and the rear wiper blade. Dedicated readers will know that the old wiper blade had split, as well as there being an intermittent fault with the nearside dipped headlight. I have been told that the light problems could relate to the bulb, so I have replaced it and the other one to see what happens; start simple and work up, as usual. The car has also been checked over and cleaned inside and and out. Not a bad day, although the remote key battery might be on the way out.

Surprised the Kombi sold by Bonham's went for so little. Is the market saturated, do we think? I like the things, but have always thought of them as being too expensive to bother thinking about. Perhaps prices have declined.

Glad you're all right and that the fire didn't spread. Do you know what caught yet?

Threw HIM the keys? Did you go and view the car during the week, in that case?

Is that a Ghia? Very nice. 1.25 Zetec is a fab engine; my mother had a Fiesta so equipped, albeit manual, which was very nippy. Totally reliable, too. There's nothing wrong with the 1.3 pushrod engine, I've had one. Nothing right with it either, mind.

An automatic Fiesta? That's got to count as 'specialist' material, surely... Nice thing, though, and I have always liked the ones with clear plastic grilles. What engine is in there?

Shoe wanker...

I'd imagine the 36 mpg quoted applied to the manual gearbox version - still impressive, though. Studebaker were oddly pro manual for an American car maker.

I crashed a Citroen Xsara Coop when I was much younger, although it wasn't my fault (honest!). Someone pulled out of a side road and I had a choice of hitting the other car, which would have been an horrendous disaster, or attempting evasive action and hoping for the best. I picked the latter, whipped round the front of the offending motorist in a manner worthy of Neo dodging bullets in The Matrix, and immediately thereafter crashed the Xsara into a ditch. The car at fault got off unscathed and, of course, hightailed it as soon as the driver had realized what had happened. Some people.

I like to run mine up to the redline now and again, just to remind the engine of what it is capable of doing. I'm sure the car feels better for it... Revving up is a nice reminder of the good old days, too, when you'd give it enough welly to encourage the secondary choke to open in the carburettor and then listen to it backfire on the overrun.

MOT passed, serviced and good to go for another year. Filthy inside and out because time of year and rear wiper blade has split (the horror). Onwards!

That's right suckah! That whip is an Elgrand, Homie. Yo' hear me? An E to tha L to tha G-R-A-N-D Elgrand! All ma homies drive Elgrands coz we be ballin'. Peace out, playas.

That's incredible! I got the impression it was clever from the original photos, but didn't realize it was that clever. Thank you for providing such detailed photos and shows that you really have got a quart in a pint pot. Useful information for those considering improvements on their own plots, too.

Geo Metro convertible? * *or possibly Suzuki Swift as they were the same

Your garage and workshop are enviable too! Are there two buildings arranged in an L shape, or is one a carport adjacent to the original garage? You've got a lot of useful floor area in a fairly compact space, by the looks of things.

This is fab. Is it a Jago or something?

The two door was sold in the UK and was probably a bit cheaper than the big one. Apparently it was one of the first cars to have an on board diagnostic port.

U WOT M8? I can't be bothered to check, but surely those Fiestas didn't cost that much new!

The Metro remnant looks like an objet d'art from a hipster craft beer bar or somewhere equally dreadful. All three cars in the latest photos are lovely, by the way.

Hello. I've never liked the crossing either! Well that's not fair; I think the tunnel is interesting and very much like the views from the QE2 bridge (albeit they were better when the refineries were still there), but not the traffic. Really wouldn't to have to use it regularly, but used to cross relatively regularly to see a relation in Kent. Do you live in Essex, then? I do, but north rather than south.

Wouldn't be seen dead in that...