JohnDeere

Shite wine from my Hungarian friend. The label sets out the specs for a mid-80s Lada 1500.

The Prelude of this parish is working again. To recap, the distributor borked itself just as it unexpectedly achieved a ticket from the ministry the other week. This was already the second distributor and had been kindly sent on by DW, but the bearings in its shaft shat themselves. Luckily a bloke on eBay is breaking two JDM-yo Preludes, and a new-to-me dizzy was procured for the quite pricey sum of £60 (though still cheaper than anything else I could find). Now fitted, timed and running sweetly again. I wonder what will break next? ABS still needs sorting. The Prelude had a little joke with me - the battery was completely flat, so put it on the charger, which caused the alarm to go off and the doors to lock with the key in the ignition. Cue search for spare key.

The Prelude rather unexpectedly passed its MoT (ABS light stayed out long enough to keep the tester happy - still needs one wheel speed sensor sorting). But -- literally -- as I pulled into the MoT station, it started making a horrible graunching noise and check engine light came on. MoT tester reckoned it sounded like it was coming from gearbox, Got home just now and relieved to find it was actually the distributor on its last legs. I had previously swapped this for the spare one that Dollywobbler provided - so suspect there's a reason this one was spare. Hopefully can make one good one out of the bits. Much as I love this car, it has an annoying habit of springing something new on you the day you fix something else (like the power steering leak that sprang the day I fixed the alternator last time...)

Our postman was back in an old Vauxhall Combo van today. He said the gearbox on the nearly-brand-new FIAT Doblo had failed after 30,000 miles so was in for surgery. The Pogweasel Pink Corsa has done 144k. "Doesn't say much for FIAT," said postie.

Missed this the last couple of months, will look out for the next round.

After much soul-searching (and offering it back to Barrett) I have decided to offer the Visa for sale. It can be welded for the MoT very simply, but I'm the sort of person who wants to do a job properly, and I haven't got the time and cash right now. Plus I'm leaning towards a car with triple the number of cylinders as a slightly more modern replacement that I can use day-to-day for motorway trips. I love this little car, but it needs someone with a bit more time (and a warm garage), who can look after it and take it to shows. (I'm not a car show person either). eBay listing now live: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/-/132247804897? And more pics and videos on my (work) website: https://www.highgreenmedia.com/visa/ Shiters terms available if there's anyone who'd like a go (PM me on price, as I don't want to influence the eBay price). Happy to deliver free in the Birmingham/Norwich/London triangle. Six-Cylinder, if you could mention to the various clubs that would be appreciated. Merci!

Where in Cambs? If round here (PE14), Crown Service Station in Outwell is highly recommended. They regularly do old stuff, and Stuart one of the testers is has an early Princess. Even though he did fail the Visa this week.

By chance I was sorting through some old photos this week and found some more of mine. This was '93, so only four-years-old (and starting to rust beneath that shiny BRG paint. Not the obvious choice for a 22-year-old, but it was way better than others in its class. And it had a leccy sunroof (but manual windows).

When I pick it up tomorrow, I'm going to take it to a place in Wisbech that someone (owner of an MG BGT from new!) recommended for bodywork and restos. We'll see what they say... I don't want to part with it if I can fix it, but don't want to leave it festering if I can't get it sorted for sensible-ish money.

All is not well in Citroen Visa land. MoT man has found rather too much flaky stuff (the first one on the list is the main problem)... Reason(s) for failure Offside Rear Suspension component mounting prescribed area is excessively corroded INNER WHEEL ARCH/SILL (2.4.A.3)Offside Rear rear brake binding (3.7.B.1)Nearside Front Headlamp not working on dipped beam (1.7.5a)Offside Front Front position lamp(s) adversely affected by the operation of another lamp (1.1.A.3f)Advisory notice item(s) Nearside Front Body has slight corrosion FLOOR (6.1.B.2)Nearside Rear Body has slight corrosion BUMPER MOUNT (6.1.B.2)Offside Rear Body has slight corrosion BUMPER MOUNT (6.1.B.2)Nearside Front Body has slight corrosion OUTER SILL (6.1.B.2) It needs the inner and outer sill fixing, along with re-fabbing most of both rear arches. That's on top of needing a replacement clutch, speedo sorting, and rusted brackets not holding on the rear bumper. Much as I love this car, I'm thinking about the options... (1) pay for a decent repair. Likely to be £500-1k. No point in bodging just for the MoT, and it's completely beyond my skills.(2) find a loving new owner who has the time and skills to do the work(3) hide it away somewhere and come back to it another day So tentatively I'm open to any interest here (and I'll try another couple of forums). Barrett has first refusal (I sent him a PM). Any other options/ideas/volunteers to do the work welcome too!

Catching up after being quiet on the forum for a while - sidetracked with life and other things. Have added my bit to the Fundrazr bucket. A question: are there any savings to be had (and performance/reliability to be gained) by moving hosting to a cloud provider like Amazon Web Services? I run my (admittedly tiny) Wordpress site in AWS and it's free for the first year.

(Very late update!) ... never like to leave an auto in D with the handbrake on...

Any older dizzler is going to be taxed (including low emissions charge schemes) into oblivion in the coming years, though could have a bit of a price leap when HM Gov does a diesel scrappage scheme in order to save the lungs of nuns. I'd buy a petrol Honda in good nick. Insurance and repair costs likely to add up far more than the difference between £30 VED and £100 VED.

Please don't put temptation in my way Would love to see some more pics though, just in case. I think this is the best of the big cits.. uber rare, not obvious like a DS, not crispy with "interesting" handling like a CX, and not a bit too conventional like an XM.

Try telling that to the poor sod stuck behind me the other week when I was in the Prelude. Put it in N at the lights (hate people who leave foot on brake). Lights change, whack it into D, try to pull off and lots of red lights on the dash. Having never stalled an auto before it took me a while to work out the right sequence to restart (luckily the Prelude doesn't have too many interlocks).