vulgalour

I'm at the other end of the scale, business size wise, but even I'm noticing things are a bit fucked up. This has been the worst year I've had I think ever, incredibly unpredictable income swings from month to month. At least I'm seeing what looks like a proper seasonal sales pattern this year, but that's followed an almost completely dead November which isn't normal at all. Since the shutdowns of the pandemic, spending habits are very peculiar and the patterns I could rely on previously I no longer can. Amongst my regulars there's been a common theme of cutting their usual spending so they can help prop up friends and family whose cost of living has become more difficult. Things like big showy original commission pieces have become a real rarity, most of my sales now are smaller impulse purchase items and sticker prints. People *want* to spend, they just can't because there isn't enough money in their pocket.

... and even if you do get the unit cost down, you've then got the challenge of getting any amount of money out of the Yorkshire-style grip of your average Maestro owner.

Today the weather was absolutely stunning. Got my tools out to crack on with the sill repair on the Princess, really the only difficult bit of welding (that I know about) left to do, everything else is minor cosmetic things like wheel arch lips that are easier to deal with. Just lately the car has been letting off a faint whiff of petrol. It always has, to be fair, throughout my decade or so of ownership. I kept looking for leaks and wet patches and couldn't find any, the lines and tank were always dry so I always put it down to Old Car Stuff. That meant I didn't worry about it too much today when welding up the sill. I had already replaced the very trailing edge of this sill some years ago, that repair is still sound. The damage is along the rest of the sill for the bottom inch or so. It looked frilly but more alarmingly is that when I actually cleaned it up the outer and inner sill weren't attached which only became apparent as I started removing the rusty strip. The cause of the rust is that in the past before I got the car, someone cut the original outer sill off but left the bottom inch of it attached to the inner sill. Luckily, the inner sill is still really solid so no need to do work there, and it explains why there was nothing to see needing repair underneath the car. They then slapped a new sill over the top of everything and didn't attach it very well along the bottom edge. They also didn't put any protection inside the sill. How it's lasted as long as it has I don't really know. Some years ago I salvaged an outer sill from an orange Princess I used to own that was too rotten to save. Fortunately, it had a brand new outer sill attached on one side which ended up being a perfect donor for this repair, what was left being just long enough and the right section to match what I needed. It took me longer to clean the original outer sill off the car than it did to prepare the patch and then I set to welding it in. Still going smoothly I made a start grinding off the knobbly bits of welding since I was having to do this laid on my back so the welding looked pretty ugly, and the petrol smell was getting quite strong. I still couldn't see anything amiss, there was just some water dripping out of the drain at the front... wait.. what drain? I very quickly downed tools. While the car was jacked up with the nose down, the front hard line had started to drip fuel at an increasingly alarming rate. All of the hard fuel lines on this car have underseal on them, have the entire time I've owned it, and it's been through numerous MoTs with no bother on this front. Today was the day it failed. Once back on the level the leak slowed and then stopped, which was a little odd. It was now too late to finish the grinding and any pinhole chasing so I threw some paint on and ordered some new copper fuel line, rubber fuel line, clamps, and pipe bending tool all of which came to about £35. One job I did want to do is drop the fuel tank so I can refit the rubber grommet around the filler neck and repaint the filler pocket properly. It was a job I was saving for another time but since I'll be replacing the whole fuel line I might as well do it at the same time and then I'll finish the grinding and welding on the sill once I know things are fuel tight again. I feel like I've had a bit of a near miss today with this one.

Hecking sun came out! Princess has assumed the position so I can trim away the frilly bits of the sill. Cause of the frill is someone in the past had left the bottom inch of the original sill still attached to the (remarkably solid) inner sill and then just slapped a new outer sill on top of it all. No protection inside this sill either, I'm astonished it's lasted this long without bigger issues really. Just having some lunch and then we shall glue it all back together again.

Let's go back to that time I did the valve adjustment on the Maestro, got Covid, and then decided to redo the valve adjustment properly in the snow while I was recovering. Fun times.

@GMcD that's some impressive sculpting since they don't seem to have used any supportive material to help create the sheets of wob.

Looking for more on that Multicruiser (and only finding that one Multicruiser and shots of it when it was looking decidely healthier, which makes the current state of it very sad), stumbled across this photo. I cannot think of suitable words to describe the action.

We'll just have to see. If I get stuck with it I suppose I could speak to my insurer who were apologetic about keeping me waiting for recovery for so long so maybe they'd help out if it comes to it. Just got to wait and see really.

Automated online thing for the appeal so I've submitted that with a photo of the car being lifted on to the recovery truck that also shows the recovery company's details on the side. Even though that's about as good proof as you can get that the car was recovered and not driven out, I'm still expecting them to tell me it's not enough and I need to pay the fine. Which I obviously don't intend to do because that would be absurd.

Highview Parking, as predicted, have sent me a parking fine for exceeding the 3 hour limit at the retail park. Hilariously, their photo of the back of the Princess shows it leaving on the back of the recovery truck. I reckon this is just an automated thing really, I was there for four hours and eleven minutes which is about four hours longer than I intended to be. At least I've got proof via my own photos, my insurer, and the breakdown company that I wasn't actually parked but had, in fact, FTP'd. They're going to try to fine me £100 (or £60 if I pay now!) regardless aren't they? This isn't going to be one of those things where a human being looks at the situation and goes "oh yeah, extenuating circumstances, no fine." is it? That'd be too much to ask for in 2023.

GLWTS not that you should need it with this one since all the usual BX problems have already been attended to over the last few years by various owners.

You'd be amazed what some insurers will invalidate a policy on, at least apocryphally speaking.

New battery cables fitted and a new throttle cable fitted and we are back in action. Fun fact, Austin 18-22 throttle cable works just fine for the later Princess models, which I thought it would since it's the same carb, bodyshell, and pedal box even though the engines are different (B series in the 18-22 instead of the O series in the Princess). Now I just need a few nice days and some free time to collide so I can get on with proper cleaning and welding repairs where required. I should probably put some fresh fuel in too, what's in it looks like Irn Bru and the fuel gauge needle is almost in the red.

That's a fair price given BX values these days and their increasing popularity in classic circles. Stick an MoT on it and you should be able to double the asking price, these are out of banger territory now and a sorted one even in base trim is desirable to more than just us lot. Definitely don't sell it until the spring at least, they're getting to be a more popular choice for car shows so you want to hook on to that market if you can. I'd definitely buy it back if it weren't for the fact I'm skint and don't need a diesel, it was an astonishingly capable car if not particularly fast.

I might have driven an S series Montego, whatever was in @Captain Slow's blue one... or did I drive that car? I can't remember, it would have been a long time ago if I did. Only S series Maestro I've driven was @skattrd's white auto which while a super car otherwise definitely put me off the idea of owning an auto Maestro the gear change in it was weirdly brutal.