dave j

Once off loaded….

Well, the ferry was an emotional experience - key lowpoint was out overtired 2 year old just wouldn't go to sleep, and kept getting up, and wanting to wander about. I totally understand that, she'd been sat in the car seat for nearly 11 hours at that point.
They all eventually fell asleep, leaving me to stay too wired to follow them.

We got out of Dieppe ferry port around 0515, and immediately happened along the Alpine factory 😁

Didn't realise just how poor the lights got after the beam deflectors were fitted, they were like bloody candles!

Thankfully, a reinvigorated MrsH had planned ahead and filled a thermos of tea, which was still piping hot the following morning!

Can tell the British influence in the Rover, it was practically made for this purpose!

This only worked on the French roads, which were impeccable, with only two potholes observed. Belgian roads are a different kettle of shitey fish altogether.
Entered NL, and took a quick photo whilst adding to the PC.

And triumphantly arrived 45 minutes later at my destination, staying with my brother @chatsharris and his wife who has recently had a baby.
The Rover was absolutely faultless, it worked an absolute treat the entire time and I definitely made the right call to take it. Even the seats that were a bit firm at the beginning, became supportive in the end.
PC: 7, with one false start.

Unhelpful 🤨

Well, I’ve agreed to buy the Mini for £500 as long as I can get hold of a trailer to get it home. 
 
I’ve also bought another car specifically to roffle non profit just because it was cool. What’s happened to me 😂

Sorry been a bit busy to add a proper move update earlier, so…
Moving day went really smoothly! My dad reluctantly agreed to tow with his Freelander so I hired a trailer for the day (£60 Rothwell Trailers). Both 309’s behaved themselves so it was straightforward to load and unload them. We took our time since there was no rush to return the trailer, but we had it back in only 3hrs which I thought was pretty good going.


Feels good to have cleared the drive at my old place so I can progress that towards sale. It does make my current place look a bit scrapyardey but hopefully the neighbours don’t take too much offence. I chose to hide the knackered gold one up the back facing away so as to be the least of an eyesore possible. I’ll get some car covers too.



I’ll be taking a break from these while I prep and arrange the sale of the old house but once done I should be in a better position to tackle some of my car projects in earnest .
-Steve-

Now this is nice, will I keep it longer than a week? Who knows...

Eight years ago today this turd landed at mine. Tomorrow I will apply for historic tax and, judging by the complete lack of progress on the Mini, proceed to use it over the next few months. 

Both the other cars in this photo since sold and scrapped, the house SSTC and and my lovely friend Emma has moved onto a better place. Then again she lived in Hemel, so a move to Strangeways would have been a positive move. 
Happy bASe day, fellow motorist. 

We did a buy today . 
wcpgw

A spot from Westlondoncarspotting that's worth a share here.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C4FhXe-or5M/

Slow drive down. The M25 was horrendous. However, a collection has occurred. I'm in love already!
 

Hi there morrisoxide, yes I still have the 924. I had to take it off the road at the end of last summer to save some pennies but it’s ready to roll when I sort my finances out. Actually that’s a small fib, it needs tyres desperately and a bonnet catch return spring but that’s all. It’s still as rough and ready as ever but it’s a blast.

 

-Steve-

Hi,
I’ve been aware of the brown forum for many years, but generally hung around on another well known blue hued forum, sort of on and off anyway. Most of my ‘fleet’ (if you can call a collection of long term broken cars that) is probably more at home on here but my most recent car tinkering finally pushed me over the line to sign up on here.
Ya see I’ve been spending a bit of time recently poking and tinkering with the longest standing, many years abandoned, heaps in my collection and I suspect this is the only place I might scrape some interest in what is basically a hopeless cause. Said heaps have been abandoned rotting on my drive for 17 and 19yrs respectively, but the house where they languish is going on the market soon so their existence hangs precariously in the ballence. Friends and family have been telling me to scrap them for about a decade now so their calls are almost deafeningly loud now. It would certainly be the sensible thing to do.
For reasons beyond common sense I want to move them to my current house which means making them mobile again. I mean ‘mobile’ as in I can load them onto a trailer and preferably drive them up my short but annoyingly steep driveway, not as in make them ready for the road. 
Anyway, so what do you make of these two beauties?



Artefact 1 - The gold one - 1989 1.3 XL special equipment
This was my first car, bought by a much younger self circa 1999. I saved up the £600 by working weekends in Burger King while doing my A levels. It was well used and abused until 2005, but it’s been parked up ever since. It was retired as a fully functional car on 109k miles, I just replaced it (with a 34k miles 1.3 mk6 Escort I bought as Cat D salvage and returned to the roads). It donated its windscreen to the blue one around 2009 after vandalism so it’s been open to the elements for a while too, it’s become home to some ferns growing in the carpet.
Artefact 2 - The blue one - 1987 1.3 GR Profile
This was my mates car for a year but he donated it to me when the MOT ran out, in 2007 according to the MOT history. The original idea was to fix this one up using the gold one for spares. After a couple of years ignoring it I did drag it to an MOT test in 2010 which it failed due to much more rampant rust than I had given it credit for, it’s sat ever since.
So what ya thinking of doing with them I hear you say! Well, the gold one has probably (though not certainly) had it’s day as a regular 309, but I’m sentimental about it and have a very harebrained idea for it in the back of my mind. It might never happen but I want to hold on to the possibility, so the goal is to just move it and sling a car cover over it. The blue one however is calling out to live once more, I want to get it back on the road. I’m better skilled to weld it back up now than I was back then, and once the old house is gone I should be blessed with more time and lower outgoings which should help. I just kinda fancy fixing it up a bit, I want to feel the mighty power of the Simca rattle box engine and savour the rolly polly handling on skinny tyres once more. But firstly I just need to move it so I can achieve priority no1 which is to get the old house up for sale.
There you go lots of waffle, I’ll post about where I’m up to and what I’ve got stuck on soon, if anyone cares.
-Steve-

Some quick pics of the Shad as promised, Mr WC already wants to take it out in Convoy with the Guy Arab when that’s back on the road so expect some Rolls and Bus action soon, I also took it to work this morning and managed to attract a crowd almost instantly mainly from my colleagues who were probably wondering if the CEO of First Bus had just showed up for a random Audit 😆
I’d like to give it a really good wash and detail very soon as it got absolutely filthy from the drive home yesterday 

Evicted the Zed from the garage today,  and then washed her to remove the accumulated dust, she's overwintered there as she is soluble in Scottish winters ❄️☃️
The Spitfire then took pride of place in the garage, two new rear shock absorbers were fitted with not too much of a struggle - a block of wood and a large hammer helped things along.
Next things to do to the spitfire, are to adjust the handbrake and then see if I can jury-rig the viscous fan coupling, 'cos it's getting increasingly noisy these days.
After that, maybe some cosmetic improvements to some rough areas of paint.
I'm only five months into retirement now, so having time to do things, is still very much a novelty to me.
 

dont worry, I found myself in the right head space and after a couple hours of deliberating exactly how to go about things, I have made contact, and alls going swimmingly  I appreciate the advice on what to say but its not that I dont know what to say or anything like that, its just the social anxiety/overthinking part, unfortunately I am not sure how else to explain it, but that is one of my foibles I guess, it took me 6 months to work up the courage to knock on the door of my neighbour who owns the Rover SD1, despite the fact I have known his wife since I was born!
 
anyways, the Son has been most kind and thankful for the contact, he says he has all of his fathers old pictures and slides in storage, that it will probably be some time before they can be got to, but he thinks theres a fair old chance there will be a picture of REV in there, so thats very exciting! 
and he has very kindly given me a couple pictures of TJN back in the day at Silverstone to share here, which is really awesome to see and have  

Just a note to say that my dad passed away this morning. He is at peace now. I will miss him terribly.

Detailing

It's taken too long,cost too much,pissed me off on numerous occasions,failed on two stupid items,but finally this shitbox has passed it's test and is fully road legal for the first time since 2012.

Appropriate badge...

 
 

Door handles have ECUs now and can have firmware updates. 
 

Quite the morning!  I had a client meeting in Ely which is always a pleasant jolly.  Once completed, I decided to take a middle-class deviation to Waitrose for a Bear Claw pastry and orange juice following a productive appointment.
Then, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye.  I was so excited, I abandoned my car in a bus stop and forgot to put my handbrake on in a fluster! 


Communications were sent to @Skizzerand @Cheggers, with whom - via Whatsapp - we share our love of the unloved.

Things then took a very quick change of direction as I pulled into Waitrose

This is the best thing I've spotted in years. Actual years.  A Pre-facelift MK2 Granada 2.3 L in full 'Euston Films/Minder' condition and spec.  Just. Simply. Amazing.


These still look so bloody good.  I wanted it, there and then.  

I've had to come home for a sweet cup of tea and a lie down.  
PS - this is a maximum 2 hour car park, so it's definitely being used.  Fair play to them too.

As some of you may have seen in my thread, I spent the last couple of days nipping down to Worcester and as a result REV is now parked on my trailer outside my house in the North East of Scotland. How the hell did that happen? Pull up a chair to the fire, help yourself to a dram, and I will tell you  
Over the years on AS I got to know Dez on here, then on the winter zoom meets during Covid and I have met him once at the FOD. During this time (Dez, you might want to look away here, I will tell you when it is safe to return) I found Dez to be young and enthusiastic, especially about Invercars which it became obvious is his passion, to the extent he can become a pain in the arse about them, but that is Dez (you can look back now). When Dez got the chance to buy REV, I was one of the ones who advised against it due to his physical limitations. He ignored me  and I was wrong. Whilst owning REV has done nothing much for him physically, mentally it is the best thing he could have done. It has given him something to focus on, and I would go as far as to say Dez is now probably the leading authority on these things, and a by product he has become profficient in dealing with DVLA, and he has helped me out several times over the years.
Once Dez had got REV running and completed his chip run, it became obvious REV was far from in good health and fortunately he listened to advice and the true hero of all this @red5 stepped in and offered to sort it. I met Sam today, a true gentleman, and he told me what he had done to REV and believe me it is far more than I could have done! Sam did all this inbetween teaching and having a life and whilst having to wait 5 months for carb bits etc. All that is left is the kingpin on the technical front and a few other jobs which whilst relatively simple will take a great deal of time, which understandably Sam no longer has as life has moved on.
Around Christmas time, Dez became a bit frustrated, after all he passed his driving test 2 years ago and has not driven since. In his usual enthusiastic all in manner he asked about a car he was thinking of buying. A lot of good advice was given, and frankly, a whole heap of nasty comments were made at Dez. I was surprised by some people, and several of the worst offenders have posted on AS how they sometimes struggle with their own mental health yet fealt it was perfectly acceptable to pile in on Dez. I will not name names, nor say anymore on the subject, but  some of the people involved should be ashamed of themselves. Enough of that, at least some good came out of it.
A few days later during a zoom call, Dez MAY have mentioned Invercars once or twice and in discussion agreed with the good advice given that he did not need another car, he just wanted REV back. The piss taking I think annoyed me more than Dez, I am old and realise we need to encourage youngsters into the classic car game if it is going to continue. I told Dez that when I retired at the beginning of March, if it was OK with him and Sam, I would bring it up here and finish it off, probably not to such a high standard but with the quiet roads up here, a few miles could be covered before he got it back in a hope of improving reliability.
Whilst this was being organised, my ace mechanic Duncan, one of only 2 people I trust to work on my Cobra, approached with a problem he was having with a car he has owned since 1982 not showing on DVLA despite him having a V5. I contacted Dez, he said it was because it has been archived and it should be possible to wake it up. Dunc asked if Dez would do it for him, which he readily agreed to. There then followed a long argument between Dunc and Dez over how much it would cost, with Dez refusing payment and Dunc insisting! To cut a long story short (much too late, I know) Dunc is going to sort the Invercar, Dez is going to sort his registration and I have managed to help 2 friends. I think that is worth doing!
Anyway, some more pictures from today:

Had a top afternoon at the beach in Looe and then up some footpaths around the river.  Amazing how there are flowers everywhere, this whole place is 6-8 weeks ahead of home moving into spring.   Also although the roads are nice enough, they are so, so busy.  Must be grim in the summer with the tourists.

I'm calling it a day.  Not making ends meet any more, unfortunately.  I did send a message out to all my clients, including many on here that have used me regularly and/or recently - apologies if I missed anyone.  I'll still be on the forum (mostly lurking) and haven't discounted making a comeback at some point, but I just don't know yet - all the balls are very much up in the air at present.

Its damp, its seen better days. Partly derelict. Used for weddings. 
And a church