HMC

It failed, not disasterously, and i knew about the brake pads. Im wondering about the gas analyser and if it can be adjuated in settings if a vehicle is running on lpg? they didnt seem too alarmed by any of it.

I had lined up a replacement for DOY through facebook, but ended up being scammed for £100 . You live and learn. Also at this time i offered the whale to 2 shiters that had expressed interest in it, but were not in a position to take it on. All of the above means by default ive still got it; its in for its mot tomorrow. I predict a fail. After spending out on new tyres and now an mot ill be in the position if it oweing me too much, which pragmatically means im going to stick with it- for now. Good bits? the tyres. The parking brake. Umm, the glass? clutching at straws. Bad bits? the drivers seatbelt sometimes is slow to retract, and sticks. The SRS light seems to have been wired up to cycle with the ignition but in such a way as to not be properly in sync with its purpose. Maybe some sort of defeat device? Rust is noted in the mot advisories. The front bumper is damaged from its life as a wannabe lowrider previous life. Is that a sharp projection i see? There seems to be an oil leak; im going to power wash the underside and hope. much of this is probably down to the testers discretion. We will see!

DOY news The fan speed was all over the shop and would randomly stop, i decided the regulator was malfuntioning; and bought a repro resistor/ regulator. It seemed to fix it but today the fan was happying whizzing away and the vents were also doing wierd stuff. Im beginning to think that the control panel isnt quite right. £70 ish second hand. This benz still has a malfunctioning fuel sender as well, so although its being progressively sorted, quite a lot was broken when i bought it. I had the novelty of filling with LPG; turns out its a 60L tank and it cost under £60 to fill.

@Marina door handles Ive got a soft spot for endurance racing too. I have to hold my hand up also as i had no idea this existed. My personal obsession is le mans and anything on the 1960-70s sportscar / prototype calendar. I would have loved to be around then, with relatively easy access to the pits and paddock.

Most ropey mercs i sold were exported; a merc can be broken in lithuania and parts be sold all over europe through e bay which can be a good earner, as well as the other baltic states and russia. I remember a guy from Africa bought a 190e i had and when he came to take it away he wanted to buy both my w123s and also a w124 estate and a dreadful 560sec that was dissolving into the ground. In the end @Des bought that in about 2012 iirc. the cheapest road legal 560sec, but also the ropiest.

As has been touched on, when values drop numbers drop- but in later life it might not be mot failure and mechanical failures etc but export and a new life in asia/ africa. So low survival might actually mean high regard for rugged dependability on foreign shores.

Likely ownership profiles as well- the relatively high percentage of cityrover survivors- most ive seen have had very easy lives- quite often 30k on the clock- perhaps long term giffer ownership? the sort of misguided ones that bought them new. (disclaimer - i had one and like them)

Pope john pauls mk2 ford escort?

I bought a ford rs2000 the other day at tesco (hot wheels)

Theres a lot of old mot advisories for rust; im hoping the tester was a bit trigger happy and its not like the bismarck underneath- we will find out in a week!

Eagle eyed shiters may have noticed id put a for sale thread up for DOY and then deleted it. It was crunch time as the mot is out on the 18th and it was a question of selling or mot’ing it. Id spotted a nice looking b5 passat estate v6 tdi manual for £not much locally, with a long mot. Despite my best efforts to buy it (it was such a decent price there was no point haggling) but turned out it wasnt possible. I wonder if the seller hand been forced to put a for sale ad up by a spouse but didnt actually want to sell it. Or something like that. Anyway ive also sold the jag and so this bloated benz saloon is now my only car and due for its mot test in a weeks time…

Id love to take a k11 micra over and wring its neck there. I have no idea why as presumably when i crash id probably die. Would an autoshite trip be of interest? take something unsuitable over and do a lap, its the ultimate version of the sf14 welsh test track.

@Junkman come back!

suzuki x90?

I went in about 2006 in my father in laws then 2 yr old b5 passat. I Didnt go onto the ring itself, just pottered about finding places to watch. I suppose it wasnt my car, and id probably end up crashing. My fave spot (since levelled off somewhat) would be “flugplatz” scene of many iconic (and scary looking) photos. I got lost and couldnt find it.

Ex richard branson aquada?

Ssangyong Rodius?

Espace Globe ellen mcarthur?

Trident clipper?

Had a really productive spurt on the w140 today. Finished fitting the new headlamp switch, and set to sorting the duovalves (as the ventillation system was permenantly stuck on hot) Nicht gut!!! My diagnosis was made as if i hit the existing duovalves with the jack it affected the cabin temperature, so made an educated guess the fault lay there. I have previously revived others by cycling between hot and cold and tapping the valves. no dice this time. Von nix kommt nix (slang) I used a merc breaker on e bay ive used before (no point buying another broken one so using a trusted source is handy) and thanks to the mb parts numbers he was able to confirm it was the right bit. Alles in ordnernung. A erm, DUO of duovalves, earlier. After a bit of minor surgery, including swapping the redundant stub seal over, i put everything back together You can see bits of the LPG install there too. Anyway after putting it together i tested it and it was working brilliantly but- the passenger side temp control was changing the drivers side, and vice versa. Verrukt!!! I had replicated the plumbing as was but either that was wrong (the former owner presumably had been messing with it?) or possibly the electrics on the dash console had been messed with and put together wrong. I went to see if i could swap the connectors over, left to right , right to left but the loom wasnt long enough so presumably they were correctly sided. I then swapped the 2 lower outlet stub hoses over (the opposite way round to how it had been) and that sorted it. Immer besser! TL:DR- the heating system is now working properly, and it seemed to had been both broken and bodged.

There appears to be a skeleton in the blue vehicle if you zoom in. Is that a mini windscreen on that middle vehicle? 🧐

Probably true! 😂

Disclaimer: this is not a “nice” car - a lot of is broken, the leather seats are all scuffed up, and its down as “salvaged” on the v5. So using a luxury car as a mobile skip isnt as reckless as it appears. That all sounds awful, but it does mean its carefree motoring. In the jag i think about where to park; in DOY just park wherever.

DOY news: Its currently looking even more like a beached whale, dragging its ass about as its full of plasterboard and wood bound for the tip tomorrow…. One eye on the mot next month, i replaced the switch for the lights. It was broken internally and wouldnt allow the rear fog lights to be switched on. Ive also taken delivery of the auxillary coolant pump/ heater valve that im hoping to fit tomorrow so i can have cool air in the car if i want to!