Lord Sterling's fleet of failure - Belgium spots and ill Vectra

[Pat Earrings]

5 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

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.

Yes mate just let me know which Saturday you mean and it shouldn’t be an issue at all.

ah yes I knew I guessed correctly.  He is a great guy however like you said, victim of his own success. I firmly believe one of his lads totally fucked up a Vectra I had sold on here which blew a head gasket shortly after, I’m in no doubt. I’ve never returned and sadly, won’t ever again. He just doesn’t have a good hold on his staff and frankly, I don’t think they are proper fault finding mechanics. More a case of if you know what’s wrong with your car, they’ll probably do a decent job but that’s it. 

[Lord Sterling]

11 hours ago, sims00 said:

Yes mate just let me know which Saturday you mean and it shouldn’t be an issue at all.

ah yes I knew I guessed correctly.  He is a great guy however like you said, victim of his own success. I firmly believe one of his lads totally fucked up a Vectra I had sold on here which blew a head gasket shortly after, I’m in no doubt. I’ve never returned and sadly, won’t ever again. He just doesn’t have a good hold on his staff and frankly, I don’t think they are proper fault finding mechanics. More a case of if you know what’s wrong with your car, they’ll probably do a decent job but that’s it. 

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.

[gadgetgricey]

Never used Mahmouds (which is weird as used to leave in the next street, Green Lane), but if you need another garage, I'd recommend Broomfield on main drag between blackheath and whiteheath.
Been going there over 20 years.  Pete's a really good bloke and knows his stuff.

[Lord Sterling]

So following on from a post last year about lack of aircon,  it had been correctly suggested to me that the lack of cold air or ultra hit air in the winter was down to a flap inside the airbox, this suggestion was correct as I took a look inside the airbox and low behold,  the bottom flaps are broken from the shaft.

So my worst fears are true, the job will require the air flow box to cut through. Great 😡 finding someone to do the job is going to be challenging, I don't have the tools, space or patience to do it myself.

In other boring news, I bought a replacement boot mat for it.  Car breakers are utterly useless, they never get back so f*ck it, I'll buy some cheapy boot tray.

Still waiting for my passenger side sun visor, the door has never been on presumably broken by previous owner.

The bloody thing will get 2 rear tyres tomorrow as the although Ok, are starting to crack and wear. 

[Lord Sterling]

Not a huge amount been happening here at Sterling Towers.

Had to vacate the old storage unit due to some complicated issues I can't be arsed getting into. However, luckily I managed to sort 3 x rented garages from Telford Council after kicking their arse when they didn't reply to me and allocated a garage to someone else.

(MK2 N-reg Sterling also garaged but not pictured, damn thing *just* about fitted in the garage with the number plate plinth removed)

I sold the KV6 Sterling as it was just too far gone for me to get around to sort out. I miss it but there are better examples out there. Did me proud for a good few years which ain't bad for a rusty old Rover with a leaky rad.

Done a couple of collection capers, picking up a Fiat Panda and more recently a Ford Focus estate which did me proud when moving a couple of crates from old unit to garage:

Finally sourced and fitted a parcel shelf for my 407 which has the optional rear blind after a bunch of failed attempts, the Peugeot 407 club on Facebook are utterly useless and after winning one on eBay from a breaker, the seller refused to send it to me citing delivery charges etc... called him a twat and neg'd his arse. I finally sourced one from Lithuania and even that took some argument to get it delivered.

Also, been using the roffle-win Micra, done absolutely bollock all to it apart from changing the front tyres and replacing the wheel trim that made a bid for freedom, cleaning it and using it occasionally to go to and from work. It desperatly needs a service, MAF-sensor replacing, exhaust re-gasketed a replacement bonnet and wing-mirror backing.

To be fair, as Ma_Sterling is recovering from a knee operation and probably won't really feel comfortable driving a manual, I'm on the lookout for a small automatic, sadly these have shot up massively in price.

I noticed my local restaurant's Clio was lookong sorry for itself, it had been a victim of a hit and run, so I sourced parts on the correct colour and repaired the it:

I also did a few other small jobs around the car, got paid and treated to a free meal:

Hopefully picking up a Suzuki Alto as another collection caper. May possibly be doing a deal on a Disco 3 2.7 TD but eventually looking to get myself in some sort of petrol Jag due to CAZ in Birmingham and Brussels, but before that I'll be using the Peugeot to go to Brussels again at some point.

[Split_Pin]

That was a good score in the Council lock ups, waiting lists up in my area of Scotland can be years. I'm glad you have a new safe place to store your Sterling now.

Winner on the meal too!

[Lord Sterling]

26 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

That was a good score in the Council lock ups, waiting lists up in my area of Scotland can be years. I'm glad you have a new safe place to store your Sterling now.

Winner on the meal too!

Yeah, I got really lucky with the lock-ups. Birmingham Clowncil sell off their garages and your waiting on the list for years, I think I applied in 2015, in the last few years they kept on sending me the "are you sure your still looking for a garage" letter, I got fed up and left it. I might also be privately renting a garage by mine soon as parking is an utter nightmare around here. It might be expensive but the convenience just outweighs the cost.

[Lord Sterling]

Right, I was about to put this in News 24 but just for the sake of completion I thought I'd ressurect this long dead thread.

Some, none or a few of you might remember that I used to have a Peugeot 407. Well one day, it decided not to start.

This rendered me having to take my Mum's Nissan Micra abroad with me for holiday, I can't say I was best pleased, but the stout little (roffle win) Micra did the job with aplomb. 

The Peugeot let me down, right after I had completed getting it as right as I wanted, new tyres, uprated items, servicing, renewed and replaced trim. Thanks for that car.

I managed to strike a deal to see the Peugeot off my hands asap. In the meantime I went and bought a Jag:

That lasted a few months until some arsehole in a BMW X6 happend to be barrelling up a road I was turning into 😡 😤

Again, this happened almost a week before I was due to drive abroad, I nearly cancelled my trip as I just couldn't be arsed with life, I literally shut myself off indoors for a week after. Thankfully @red5 came up trumps and lent me a petrol V6 Vectra to go to abroadshire in:

I've had one of these before but in Diesel flavour:

I did become quite enamoured with the V6 Vectra, that V6 exhaust note was too lovely to not have in my life, it sounds like an old 6-Cyl BMW 325i Sport or something. So eventually I bought it after I got paid out from the insurance quite a bit more than I had expected.

The Vectra was originally advertised as being 'tired', so after my insurance payout I decided to breath some life back into it.

So far progress has been a bit 50/50. Firstly the aircon. With summer approaching I thought it might be nice to actually have a vehicle that has actual working air conditioning, this is a rare occurrence for me.

I bought a condenser as that was what was needed, however, then a seized pipe was found and because the pipe is now absolutely unobtainable from anywhere, one had to be ordered in from abroad and even that was second hand. So what should have been a simple job has now turned into an ongoing expensive farce, however right fromnthe planning stages I always felt something had going to go wrong along the way and throw a spanner in the works, I wasn't disappointed. It just cannot be simple, ever.

It also now needs 2 new front tyres and rear brake pads which will be done this week.

Other than that, I did notice that some of the original door decals and centre cap decals were missing:

I noticed it after seeing this car on eBay which has them:

As unloved as it looked, I use it as a template as under all that grime it looks really clean and original. 

I picked up a couple of original Vauxhall 'V6' decals off a company and fitted them:

In the original picture of my Vectra above, you'll notice the missing centre cap decals. Finding these was a pain. They do them on eBay but they were either too big, too small or stupidly priced. I spotted a set of exact fitting domed centre decals for £35. Fuck that.

So I went to https://www.isaydingdong.co.uk/ who have a 'custom' page on their site. If you have a design of an old sticker/decal that you want doing, you can use the custom page, send in a photo with measurements and they'll do you a set for £very reasonable. I got a set of exact fitting decals for £9.50 delivered. When they arrived, they fitted exactly and as a bonus were in fact the same as the originals! 

Of course, if you all know me, you'll know that I cannot have a car and not have original floor mats fitted:

I got these including the mat fixings for £15 delivered. New mats, if they were still available would have been £70.

Another small thing that has caused me an issue is the rear wiper nut cap. I cannot honestly find one for love nor money. Again, eBay specials don't fit and have broken:

People who break these either don't have them "in stock" or want mega money, its a bloody Vauxhall, not a Bentley 😤

Anither thing I always do is get the keys refurbished. I need to get another one cut. I have a blank blade and a new shell with buttons but the PCB wouldn't talk to the car, I think I need a very specific PCB as all I need after that will be the blade cut and a chip coding.

Progress so far.

I do though fully intend on buying another Jag. 

[320touring]

Ooft, great update.

 

Brilliant effort by the Micra, shame re the Jag

 

But good lord, that Vectra estate has scrubbed up lovely. Top bombing!

[loserone]

Still amazed that Mrs L1s old car, a £59 ROFFLE, is still going.  Top work Mo.

[gadgetgricey]

37 minutes ago, Lord Sterling said:

 

 

Had you stopped for a Chippy or a Chinese, (Used to live round the corner)
Still miss there Chicken Satay

 

[Lord Sterling]

58 minutes ago, gadgetgricey said:

Had you stopped for a Chippy or a Chinese, (Used to live round the corner)
Still miss there Chicken Satay

I used to get stuff from the Chippy. Remember I once delivered to you from the Chinese in Old Hill.

[Lord Sterling]

1 hour ago, 320touring said:

shame re the Jag

I do intend to buy another Jag. I've got a couple of leads.

[loserone]

They'll be handy when it flattens it's battery 

[Schaefft]

Great shout on that decal website, this could come in very handy for some of the harder to find stuff.

[320touring]

1 hour ago, Lord Sterling said:

I do intend to buy another Jag. I've got a couple of leads.

When do you get to Glasgow airport? 😂

[warren t claim]

3 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

I do intend to buy another Jag. I've got a couple of leads.

I think that you'll need at least another four HT leads.

[Lord Sterling]

On 18/06/2024 at 18:57, Lord Sterling said:

I do though fully intend on buying another Jag. 

There ya go. Just for the sake of thread completeness...

New Jag is an XJ8 SE. A runout model with various bit and bobs chucked at it from higher-spec models.

Still a 3.2 and so on. But a much better car compared to my last one which whilst solid, was mechanically on its way out. On my previous Jag, the box jerked when selecting gears, the rear subframe was about to split, the rear rattled when going over bumps and it hesitated sometimes when accelerating etc...

This one, no such issues, all solid underneath apart from a small hole underneath the passenger side which can be patched up, oh an air-con needs topping up. Yeah, I've been moaning about air-con and go and buy a car that air-con doesn't work. But at the money, I could hardly complain. A big shout out to @Captain Slow for finding the car and introducing me to the seller etc...

And no, I'm not selling the Vectra either, I'll continue to run it as my main car. Why? Because it's useful, sounds great, is rare, ULEZ compliant, done some stuff already to tidy it up etc...

Enjoy.

[Split_Pin]

Solid progress, love the V6 Vectra. A few of my Vauxhall mates had them back in the day and although it's a bit Barry, a cone filter made them sound astonishingly good under load. One of their V6 SRis had '180' badges in the doors which I thought was correct as lower models had the BHP there as you probably know. But apparently it was just a daft mod and it should have said 'V6'. No idea where he got the sticker from as that was way back in 2008/9.

[Lord Sterling]

5 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Solid progress, love the V6 Vectra. A few of my Vauxhall mates had them back in the day and although it's a bit Barry, a cone filter made them sound astonishingly good under load. One of their V6 SRis had '180' badges in the doors which I thought was correct as lower models had the BHP there as you probably know. But apparently it was just a daft mod and it should have said 'V6'. No idea where he got the sticker from as that was way back in 2008/9.

Not sure if @red5 or someone else had stuck a sports exhaust on it or something  it sounds amazing, apart from that it is stock, normal filter etc...

I got the stickers online, I've seen a few Vectra B V6s and some of them have the red V6 sticker underneath. I spotted one above for sale and under all the dust it looked solid and original so used that as a template on how my Vectra should look.

[red5]

7 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

Not sure if @red5 or someone else had stuck a sports exhaust on it or something  it sounds amazing, apart from that it is stock, normal filter etc...

I got the stickers online, I've seen a few Vectra B V6s and some of them have the red V6 sticker underneath. I spotted one above for sale and under all the dust it looked solid and original so used that as a template on how my Vectra should look.

I did. 

No centre resonator iirc.. it sounds glorious.

[loserone]

14 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

New Jag

Looks very nice Mo.

I have wanted one of those for a while now, but I suspect the days of being able to justify something which suits long journeys but drinks like a fish are long gone.

[Lord Sterling]

Well, I'm now back in the UK having been abroad in the Jag. The Jag was an absolute winner on the journey there and back. Even in Belgium is was getting a LOT of admiring looks. The old dowager did me proud;

Waiting at Dover;

On board:

Nicked me Dad's parking space, can't be having it always living outside. 

This is actually one of the things I quite like about Belgium and Europe in general, when they construct new apartments/houses and/or other buildings, they think about the best use of space, there is an abundance of underground/basement carparks which are safe, space saving and keeps the car out of the elements.

Whilst there, helped my Dad with his Passat, it's a 2014 model 1.4 TSI (petrol) and I have to admit, whilst not a fan of VW products, his Passat kind of reminds me of it being an equivalent to a 1.3 Montego, a family saloon with a small engine.

Fatha_Sterling's Passat had various small problems with it, the bulb holder had burnt its own connections rendering him not having a functioning r/h tail lamp:

This same thing happened in my Peugeot 407, but the solution was simple here, simply purchase another tail lamp with bulb holder in place off eBay for something like £20 delivered which resolved the issue, simple and fast.

Unfortunately it wasn't that simple here, the local VW breakers my Dad knows were utterly useless, they literally had no parts for the Passat despite having recently broken one up for parts (so I heard) and tail lamps and bulb holders were STUPIDLY expensive, all other sellers online were located in Germany, Lithuania or France. eBay Belgium is useless for any used car parts, I don't know of there is some stupid law that prevents vehicle breakers from advertising on eBay? But you literally cannot find anything. Here it's relatively simple, although now very expensive.

My uncle, who's handy with a solder fashioned up a good bodge to get the lamp working again. I also stuck some white grease on the squeaky drivers door hinge (on a Passat that's just about 10 years old! Dafuq?)

Fatha_Sterling had stuck on his summer tyres which are on steelies, of course, my father being famously tight-fisted decided to buy the most horrible and cheap-arse wheel trims known to man, they literally were horrid.

I'd bought some from here in the UK, they were advertised as 16" when in fact they were 15". I opened a dispute despite seller stating no returns however, they have now excepted a return, so they'll be going back tomorrow. 

I opened an eBay.be account for Fatha_Sterling and we bought some correct wheel trims, from Germany, they arrived fast though and they honestly look great:

Here it is on winter tyres on some horrible alloys that were badly sprayed and made to look utterly cheap, again Fatha_Sterling hated the look and is after some correct VW alloys for it.

As alluded to in a couple of other threads, the Jag got some seriously admiring looks from people, I could hear them talking about it, one cleaner in a carpark in Woluwe Shopping Centre gave me the thumbs up as I was exiting the car;

I have seen one Jag of this shape in the wild earlier on this year in Belgium, and I know/knew of one for sale some months back, but that's it.

Jag also met it's grandad:

Lovely XJC 4.2, the alloys are nice too but jut out slightly too much at the back for my liking. 

I know in Namur there is a Jag enthusiast. The last few times I had been there, when I went in the Micra last year, I spotted a brown Mk1 (?) XJ6, then after that in April this year when I took the Vectra, I saw an XJS convertible. This year I went twice to Namur, both times in my Jag and hadn't seen anything so I'd given up spotting any other Jags until the very end as we were driving out of Namur back to Brussels, I spotted this on the side of the road:

Jaguar MK10 or 420G.

Still, Namur, whilst I was there;

As previously mentioned, this year, 2024, I've had nothing but issues with air-conditioning on both my cars.

The Vectra has been in and out of the old garage I used to use, the car was booked in for work in May and by August they were still no nearer to resolving the issue despite sinking £300-odd in condenser and pipe work.

By the end they admitted that because of the connection issue between pipe and condenser, the modification of the condenser had actually damaged it and I needed a new condenser. I literally couldn't be arsed at this point so I snatched my keys back and drove off, I deleted their numbers and jettisoned their cards from my wallet. 

In the meantime, whilst in Brussels, I also found out that the condenser was the issue with the Jags Air-conditioning:

It cost me another £70 to find this out but it also meant that I did have air-conditioning for a few days at least before the gas disappeared altogether again.

I wish condenser manufacturers would construct their condensers with something better than cheese and papier-maché.

Fatha_Sterling loved driving my Jag and admitted that he also loved big luxurious cars, it also reminded him of his old Rover Sterling, I think he loved that car more than I know. In fact, If I can get my one fixed, I'll give it to him. I know he can store it properly.

Mats 😳 floor 😐 mats 😕

In "mats" news, because you all know how excited I get about bits of carpet that are tailored to fit a cars' footwell (I barely get it myself, but hey ho) both cars now have a set of carpet and rubber mats. Jag already had its original mats but the sponge underneath is badly deteriorating leaving a load of dust, so I scored some rubber mats for it passing by Richmond in Surrey on the way home from Dover:

I also scored some original carpet mats for the Vectra, all others seem to have them (as in, those owned by enthusiasts) so I decided that mine needed a set too I found these from a breaker on eBay, rare to find:

It already has OEM rubber mats in it. Can't hurt to have an original set of carpet mats in it either.

So, what's next. Well, I leave a list here and we'll see if anything from here can be sorted;

Jag:

1. Stop taking so many pictures and get a condenser sorted.

2. Underneath needs some protection/lanoguard or something as there is surface rust, plus winter is coming.

3. New wings, I have a source for these already, just awaiting a reply.

4. Rear sunblind, again, I have a source for this. 

5. Fit some new front speakers as the originals are pretty shot.

Vectra:

1. Try to resolve the air-conditioning issue with someone a little more competent. 

2. Underside rust protection. 

3. Resolve oil leak, I am aware of the issue so I'll try and resolve it as soon as I can, oddly enough it might be helping to keep the underside a little less rusty up front.

4. Replace all tyres, the current tyres on it are a tad shorter than they should be, originals are 205/55/16, they are currently on 205/50/16, I like my originality.

5. Just use it. 

[Lord Sterling]

Some spots from abroad;

Englandshire on the night I set off:

Belgium:

Chaseracershite:

The bloke in this S-type actually passed me going the other way on the day I was busy taking brother to doctors and trying to help Fatha_Sterling with garage door lock issues. He looked uncomfortably inferior 😅 nice S-Type and just as rare to see here in Belgium, we don't appreciate them much here in the UK.

Spoke to the chap who owned this Renault 19. I privately marvelled at his garage that could fit 2 cars in tandem with space to open all 4 doors, again, something rare in the UK. The chap had done a light resto on his 19 and was to use it for shows/etc...

This Astra has lived on this street for the last few years I've noticed it. It's been on a SORN since 2014! It's a 1.9 CDTi so currently it wouldn't be allowed to drive in Brussels as Brussels is now fully a ULEZ/CAZ zone, so I reckon whoever owns it is probably driving about with no cover of tax/MoT and insurance.

There are a couple of UK-reg'd cars here in Brussels that are doing the same thing. When I last brought the Peugeot with me, I spotted a similar-aged Renault Espace driving about with no tax/MoT but not SORN'd either.

Spotted this Merc as I was on the way to sort the air-conditioning on the Jag. It was quite a small yard to turn around in, it shared the yard with this lovely specimen of Opel-shite;

Some of you *may remember this Mercedes:

It was parked in the overgrown field just over the fence a couple of years ago. Now it appears to be back on the road. 

I found out that this Volvo is owned by the chap who looks after the garages where Fatha_Sterling parks his car when at work, the garages where we had the lock issue:

WARME WAFELS

There is an abundance of W/C/S 124 Mercedes' here in Belgium, they are the most popular "oldtimer" car to have.

My brother loves these E30 BMW 3ers, his current boss is a Turkish lad who loves BMWs and owns a couple of 325is. My brother is currently on an apprenticeship to enter working for BMW as a specialist mechanic. He loves his cars and I hope he can make a something out of where I failed.

Forlorn RR, appears to have been here since about 2015. The house is belongs to a Belgian solicitor. Oddly enough, the RR has a Brussels registration (1-ABC-123, outside Brussels is 2-ABC-123 and "oldtimer" classic plates are 0-ABC-123)

Phone doesn't seem to always work properly when taking pics at speed 😒

Back in the UK spot, Concerto was an auto and the exhaust sounded like it was it had long given up. Seeing this near London, I half expected to see Victor Meldrew driving it, in fact the chap driving it wasn't far off.

[AnnoyingPentium]

On 18/06/2024 at 18:57, Lord Sterling said:

So I went to https://www.isaydingdong.co.uk/ who have a 'custom' page on their site. If you have a design of an old sticker/decal that you want doing, you can use the custom page, send in a photo with measurements and they'll do you a set for £very reasonable. I got a set of exact fitting decals for £9.50 delivered. When they arrived, they fitted exactly and as a bonus were in fact the same as the originals! 

 

Just caught up on this thread, the above quoted bit is also good to know, as my Vectra seems to make ejecting the centre badges an Olympic-level sport. 

[hairnet]

On 09/09/2024 at 00:48, Lord Sterling said:

 

 

 

WARME WAFELS

 

OOOOOFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

tell me that wafel wagon is near mons or kortrijk or charleroi or summat

[Imhotep]

My old man knows a bloke in Great Barr who does A/C. Apparently he’s not overly expensive either, I’ll have to ask my dad for his number for you. Also for me because the BMW no longer has any A/C at all. 

[Lord Sterling]

4 hours ago, hairnet said:

OOOOOFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

tell me that wafel wagon is near mons or kortrijk or charleroi or summat

Nope, Atomium, Brussels. To be fair, they're everywhere. I tend to go and have the ones made in small shops by shopping centres and the entrance to Metro stations as they taste better.

3 hours ago, Imhotep said:

My old man knows a bloke in Great Barr who does A/C. Apparently he’s not overly expensive either, I’ll have to ask my dad for his number for you. Also for me because the BMW no longer has any A/C at all. 

Cheers man, that'd be great. 👍🏼

[Lord Sterling]

What a past couple days these have been. 

Firstly as alluded in other threads, the Jag got a fresh MoT, it didn't like being sat about for a while and seemed content to be back on the road.

To get to this part, there were some obstacles that really weren't required, what should have been a simple 10 minute job turned into an hour;

I hadn't left enough fuel in the Jag the last time I used it, there was enough to get to the petrol station but life conspired and I ended up not using it as much as I wanted to. Starting it and running uo and down the drive made more fuel evaporate so I probably had *just* enough to roll into the petrol station but I didn't fancy that, so, it should have been, collect fuel can, fuel up, get back to Jag, refill, start and drive to fuel station, it wasn't...

I started looking for my fuel can that I normally keep in the cupboard downstairs, no cigar, it's gone, I suspect it went with the KV6 Rover Sterling whennI rescued it from some place I was keeping it at.

So, I now needed a fuel can, I too the Vectra to the petrol station only to be told "sorry mayte, sold out" so, I drive to the next town and thankfully found a petrol station that actually had them in stock but behind the counter. Fuel got and filled up so it was back to the Jag.

Jag got some fuel and was taken to the petrol station for refuelling, then to the MoT station for a test, which it passed, better still, with no advisories! I was well chuffed.

------

We come to today, one of the front tyres on the Vectra was starting to go bald, the othersode had been changed a few months back so is still pretty fresh, so I passed by a place located next to the Severn Valley railway viaduct and got a fresh tyre fitted to the Vectra, it's a landsail to matches the ones on the back.

Now it was off to Leicestershire, the far side of Leicestershire too, I'd been speaking to a lad on the Facebook Vectra forum who had some parts for sale, I'd agreed to buy a tailgate as it was the same colour as my car, the lad was really accommodating and I came away with tailgate and load of other free stuff chucked in too. Got this haul for £40:

Correct-coloured tailgate and rear bumper, lights front and rear, roof bars etc... 

The tailgate on mine is a bit rusty and very crusty under the spoiler. When the weather gets better, I'll stick the tailgate on (unless we have another driveway repairs meet?)

Then it was back towards Leicester city to drop off a steering lock for @stripped fred where my Vectra met his delightful K11 Micra. I have some mats for it at my garage so I can send these on if you want?

Then it was time to head to Telford to drop the haul off at my garage until I get time to fit them on.

Next on the list is a desperate wash and valet, then a 4-wheel alignment as I don't want to be replacing my front tyre too soon.

The Vectra has worked very hard today, parts hauler, bin (I felt really hungry and needed a sandwich and snacks) driving through a large portion Watling Street Leicester to Telford. I am absolutely done for and want a rest.

[hairnet]

21 minutes ago, Lord Sterling said:

 

 

 

 

^^^ parking thread obvs

mo yer some kinda bollix