Lord Sterling

Chap looks like Michael Heseltine. A time when men wore suits, even on holiday and repairing cars, doing the painting.

Approved! You need to try out my 407. Also a 2.0 HDi but 136 HP. Need wheel trims? Might have some knocking around somewhere.

Here's a few I've spotted over time: Spotted in Selly Oak/Harborne border. Now since gone: Spotted in Harborne, not sure if its still there but certainly from around the 50s/60s maybe earlier given the language used: A non-motoring sign spotted in Bewdley but still old and interesting nonetheless.

Saturday 21st? I'm heading to Brum anyway so can pass by. Yeah, I still go to Mahmouds but I'm keen to check the car over after. Again, because of the amount of customers he has, sadly most of them aren't that bothered so long as thier car is repaired, so its a a precious balance of getting jobs done properly and fast at the same time as some jobs can block up ramps for days.

Oddly enough the "fault" on the Peugeot has now disappeared. I gave it a hard run down the bypass and up the motorway to Birmingham this taking a longer route. With the fault, the car oddly ran more "concentrated" when overtaking a line of moving traffic on a small dual carriageway the car flew, but despite the power, it still concerned me. Then whilst taking Ma shopping, when switching the car back on the fault just disappeared! I'm hoping it was just a blip otherwise it runs great. However, I will take you up on the offer of the regen say next Saturday if thats Ok? As I'll be using a little bit more now to pop into Brum a couple of times a week starting from week after next. The garage I was alluding to was Mahmouds. I feel that whilst most of the time, the work he does is good (the work he done on the Peugeot was tops, couldn't fault it) there have been a couple of times where the work wasn't up to standard. But then again, I guess my reaction was a little over the top. He is an absolutely popular garage and always absolutely rammed with customers. I still go there but make sure the work is done properly. There are a few minor things they do forget but being so popular I think sometimes he is a victim of his own success.

Kin 'ell. Another update in less than a few days? Today, I 'woke' (lol) up to a day of doong stuff down the unit. Initially I was going to do nowt more than remove the parts from my Mums old Micra to put the interior back up normally as it had been used as parts storage for around a couple of years. @fraser.innes.3 and myself agreed to give the KV6 Sterling's bonnet another tackle as it refused to open before Somehow it had freed itself off before I could tackle it with a crowbar, and with the bonnet open we had access to try and start the thing. We tried a jump pack but that didn't really work so a MASSIVE caravan battery was used as a jumped pack. Initially the Rover tried to start and had a lot of cranking but wouldn't fire. I remembered that I had actually run out of fuel when I last drove it up to the yard it was last stored at and had to have pushed up the hill with my Peugeot. So half a gallon of fuel later and some more cranking and the Sterling fired up from a long slumber. It wasn't as steady as it would have been before but it was enough to keep it moving. I popped it down the our mate Dave's unit as the jetwash was there, I gave the car a long overdue bath, enough to get most of the crud off it but not to my usual shiny polished standards. it looks cleaner than it actually eventually dried off to be. The car has got considerably rustier than when it was last in use. Outside storage hasn't been kind, so its a case of weighing up the options. The engine has had little work since I got it and has kept on going for me despite a holed radiator and cambelt roulette. The Micra will be getting some attention innthe form of a service. I'm looking at having the back of jigged out because of the damage, Dave is quite enamored by the Micra as he used to service many of them way back when. The interior has been cleared of the bonnet and bumper that lived in there for the best part of a couple of years. The KV6 has its battery on charge, more petrol will be got to at least get it regularly running and moving. Some work on a Rover finally. Bet you never thought that would happen. As a side note, on the way back home, the Peugeot 407 decided to make use of the new screen to chuck up a warning with "depollution system faulty" error message leaving the engine light on. Meh, I rarely use the car so it probably needs a good run up and down the motorway. L8rz.

It was run by someone else up until the current owner took the garage on. I've known the current owner for years way back when he was in actual Bridge Street, Cradley Heath (which is now West and Sons garage) I also worked for the owner for a year and regularly help out moving cars when I'm there.

'YND 1' Spotted this sometime back. Expensive playe, cheap car. A nice combination.

Did some small bits recently to the 407. Enjoy. Tyres: The car always had a mixture of tyres on it. I hated this and as the front tyres were beggining to harden and wear more, I got a couple of Michelin tyres shod up at the front now, the rears are to be done at the end of this month with some Michelins so all tyres match. Screen: Been the bain of my life since I got this car. All screens were £silly money, the ones I did purchase, despite being the same part number did not have Bluetooth connectivity or were the wrong ones which were sent back. Thankfully @iainrcz came to the rescue recently with a free screen so now I have a working screem with Bluetooth connectivity! Window: Passenger side windows couldn't always be arsed to work, my passengers seem to be unable to get the window down. Given that the window always worked well from the drivers side, I made a wild guess that the switch wasn't all that good, despite taking the switch apart and cleaning the contacts (they were very clean anyway) it made no difference. A couple of quid on a second-hand switch, arrived and now the window works exactly when it's asked to. Centre console lid: Some, few or even none of you may remember that I dashed a screw into my centre console lid when it refused to shut when I got the car. It did well for a while but then got quite loose. The lid stayed shut no bother but I decided to try and sort this once for all. I found a small piece of rubber which I fitted into the console lid hole where the screw had been. It shut and closed very nicely and was no longer loose its not pretty but does the job and does it well. Result. Gear gaiter: Yeah, so after the KNOB (yeah yeah) debacle. The gear gaiter was still a tad tatty. I could feel it ay the top where the fake leather had ripped and dug into my finger when changing gear. So a cheap eBay special (I really must learn) later and much difficulty of fitting, it finally got fitted and looks a bit better. Old gaiter: New gaiter: Fail: My drivers door squeaks from inside whenever I close the door or go over an bumpy road. This is annoying. I have some foamy-type packaging material that I've had for some years. The squeaks come from the window rail mechanism that is bolted to the door, but because of its location, it is very difficult to track down the the source of the noise exactly so I can pack it out with foam material. Another job maybe for next year when I can be bothered with it again.

Nice. Very nice old motor these. Once the very bar of success of the 90s rep (so long as it had an 'i' on the badge) Therr is a certain Scottish guy on the tube of You who loves these and has 2 or 3 Cavaliers amongst his collection of Vauxhall tat. He also has a Vectra B and an 'Or'megaa (Omega) manual estate.

Car of the future, from the past

My old Sterling was described on the V5 and MoT as "MULTI-COLOURED" Clearly 🙄