Carl1981

Honestly, think you probably came out better with the AX GT, i love the way those things drive

they were good fun to drive, Low grip at the rear, direct steering and a brilliant gear shift.  They also have a Motorsport heritage too which makes them cool
Yes the Ford Tax is a joke and they are not worth the money for sure but I don't think they are any shitter compared to any mid 70s mass market B car and better than a lot
Disclaimer: May be rose tinted spectacles as it was my first car 

Good sleuthing. Sad truth is you're probably better leaving it as it for re-sale!

Don’t know whether I’ve made it look better or worse but here we go. Took the door card out, pushed the top part out by hand and then got a block of wood and a rubber mallet to get as much out from the lower part. 
 
It’s certainly still very uneven but it’s not so caved in now, bit less noticeable. 
 
Also took the blower motor out, it seems to be the actual fan making the noise so will likely just replace it. Have put some oil on the bearing tonight, will let it soak for a day or so then plug it in and see if it’s any quieter first.
 
Before:



After:

its probably just me, but i always think the ambassador looked bigger than a princess. i know its essentially the same size, but it must be the boxyness?

Got spotted in the wild a couple of days ago, because it's Facebook I didn't know until someone mentioned it over on the blue.  Here's a FB link for those that do:https://www.facebook.com/groups/UKBarnFinds/permalink/2120459284978188/
 
And the photo for those that don't.

 
Because I'm one that doesn't, I can't see all of the comments.  What I could see were at least more positive than usual without so much of the outright rudeness this car normally attracts on Facebook, so that was nice.  Building up a nice little collection of spotted-in-the-wild social media posts on this one now, totally oblivious to the joy/rage it induces in others.

Well its very nearly Rover and out on the filler...... St jude..... The final little details just need sorting. Firstly the end of the filler were it meets the main rubbery hose. The end is completely smooth and which means it wont take much for the hose to pop off, which is a bit undesirable! I cannot flange the end out as the hose only just fits so the next option is to kind of Christmas cracker the end... Basically narrow the section just behind the end by cutting and welding (how else) create a waist if you see what I mean so the hose clamp has something to grip.  Sort of like this .......

Not exactly pretty (or very well in focus!) but it appears to work, well it past the yank test! 
Post yank test picture.....

Next stage the extra mysterious pipe work is rather lose and rattly (on the original pipe its all in steel and welded together, cant do this as I am using copper for the extra), I don't think that is a great idea. I decided to create a bracket that I could fit P clips to, so that I can secure the extra pipeage.   

Final bit of chopping was caused by the Subaru filler cap. The cap actually catches slightly on the hinge of the filler door. Fortunately the hinge area has some excess plasticky sections, which I duly trimmed down. Now it all fits. 
So what does it need to finish this part of the project? Well some paint on the filler neck, careful deletion of the  word Subaru from the cap and a couple of new rubber hoses and then I can decide which bit of the car to sort next as I have now decided to try and get it through or at least to an MOT.
 

Sorry, but these people @wuvvum and @sierraman 's brother are surely winning at life?
Escort to Allegro VDP = win. You'd be beating the girls off with a shitty stick. "Can I try out the picnic tables, oh PLEEAAASE" 
Escort to Lada = win. You've gone from decadent Western frippery to robust Eastern common sense. You're advertising your socialist credentials and again, the knicker elastic should be snapping on every street corner. 

I love how HMC’s example looks exactly like how a slightly shabby one would have looked circa 1989. Including the Capri wheels bought off an unknown geezer in the pub for £40.
Three streets away from said pub, there would be a Capri sitting on bricks. 

I know a bloke who bought a four door old Ford that was supposed to be a good ‘un. 
Best of luck!

Which cost more to buy the Shadow or the Escort ?

of all the cars I ever owned this is the one I'd love one more drive of

Growing up there was one of these down my street. a 1.3 GL 4 door. Aged 10 you could keep your ferraris etc, what i really wanted was one of these. I absolutely loved them.
Back then they were cheap first cars (around 1990) couple of hundred quid and scrap it when the mot was up. That is assuming it hadnt dissolved already, or been crashed.
Then a strange thing happened. They vanished overnight and then slowly they started getting expensive. By the time i started driving they were not mega expensive, but just hard to find.
My route to a mk2 escort was avoid 2 door (££££££) avoid uk RHD (££££££ plus most heavily welded or rotten)
So here we have a solid LHD import 1.3GL which is being delivered next week…

 



 

 

 

 

The Ambassador is one of the craziest BL decisions. The Princess was the model least in need of replacement, yet they changed every panel where a simple facelift would do, and left the Allegro, Maxi and Marina that did need replacing to soldier on with nothing more than cheap facelifts. So little they did ever made any sense.

Interesting hearing about real life maintenance of block paving. I've considered it here a few times but haven't pulled the trigger as we may move at some point in the next few years. I'd never really considered it was quite so high maintenence to keep it looking good. Maybe tarmac is the way forward 🤣

Spot on! 1959 93b 

Looking forward to see what the dream car is for a man that has an AC Cobra.
 

In typical fashion today I have another blood letting at the hospital (I am being cremated in instalments to see if I like it before booking the main event) so today is also my new to me dream car is being delivered. As I sit awaiting my appointment in the oncology waiting room I have just had a text saying it has arrived at my friends in Perth. My friend is going to store it for me whilst I make room in the shed. 
 
I am going to ask for a big bore pipe to be installed so I can get out of here and head south ASAP. 
 
Excite!

Happy react for dream car.
Sad react for oncology involvement.

Rare to see a Galaxy / sharan/ alhambra these days

Christ almighty was that a fight getting it back in. A helper would have been very useful in doing it. I really did not want it taking nearly two days to do. I had the weekend to myself and I really wanted to get on with my Midget. Right now I have a backlog of things left to do in the house and not going to get any more car time this evening.
Also these bastard clips kept falling apart. They go into the metal body work and the trim fixing screw goes through it. The threaded nut thing kept falling out and into awkward places. Usually as I just got one side in then the other side fell out. 

Also discovered the screw cover on the jesus handles acts as a prop when open to stop them closing up. Neat little bit of design there.

 
Anyway it's now in and fully tightened up. Definitely not a job I'd be in a rush to do again.
Colour is obvious different but it's a million times nicer than it was. The headliner is more ivory (even though it was supposed to be beige) and the standard type you usually get in lighter coloured interiors. I'm sure the other trim pieces could be had (or redone) in ivory to make match as it looks like standard VAG light coloured interior. Beige in the Golf I think was a one year option and very rare anyway.
As is, is certainly not horrendous though and a million times nicer than it was. At the very least it's nice not to have it raining foam into your hair every time you close the door. 
 

Great work, that man. It's almost like they want to live...

This is brilliant!  I love a 309 and am looking forward to seeing more and more progress on these two.

You know all these people with decrepit cars on their driveways and when anyone asks about them the answer is "I'm gonna get round to doing it up one day"?  Well you, sir, have gone and done it!

Got to say i’m really glad @Weird Car bought it as having younger people prepared to get stuck in with old cars is fantastic. And this isnt, say, an allegro, its a rolls royce silver shad! Looking forward to fun road trip / general updates!
For me this is what enjoying older cars is all about, id happily put a flamethrower to all carcoon / dehumidified air chambers. Driving is living imo.

My guess is a citybug, 107/C1/Aygo.