What happened on Friday *warning excessive shite content*

[SambaS]

Made friends with the chap who bought my Samba Style and on Friday we went down to Ipswitch to collect his freshly restored 16,600 mile Talbot Solara Rapier.. I parked my Samba Cabriolet up in Northallerton at 7:00AM

 

The plan was to collect the Solara and drive down to FSO HQ to see Cyanide Steve and Ritchie G.

 

We were collected from the train station in an LPGd Rover 45 that had to be revved constantly on tick over to keep it running. This was the sight we were met with on arrival:

 

 

I didn't give the Talbots so much as a glance until after having a good look around this Cargo and Maestro Van combo!

 

 

Words cant describe the condition of the Solara even though at the time the trim had not been detailed.

 

 

 

 

 

After a chin wag we were treated to a look around at some of the guys collection, here are some pervy shots, it was difficult to get all of any of the cars in so I did my best, there were about 6 Citron GSAs but you'll have to take my word for it =)

 

 

 

 

After the final detour to thank the paint shop that carried out the work at around 15:30 we headed further South in the Solara. The ride and comfort of the car were exemplary as we held a steady 60 down the dual carriage way. Despite being off the road for many years the car never skipped a beat, although prior to it being driven down to have the work done it had a very thorough service and many parts replaced and or refurbished.

 

At about 16:30 the M25 ground to a halt, we assumed it was just traffic waiting to pay the toll on the QE2 bridge. It took us FOUR hours to cross the bridge as it transpired some twat with a handgun and brain malfunction decided he was going to scupper our, and hundreds of other peoples Friday night plans.

 

Had to make a sad phone call to FSO HQ to abort mission but the whole experience was made up for by being able to watch the sun set over Canary Wharf, but sadly my phone died by this point so I will have to get the pictures emailed over and retro post.

 

By the time we managed to turn back down the M25 North we were hungry, flap mouthed and I was very close to pissing my own very self so we stopped at McDonlds in Dagenham then Brewers Fayre for a mixed grill which I thoroughly enjoyed.

 

After the recharge at around 22:30 we set off for Yorkshire using only our inbuilt Northern homing device to escape London/ Essex/ The *shudder* South, as we drove some quite nice country roads headed for junction 26 the car seemed to have picked up some containment in the petrol, it miss fired for a while before seeming to cure itself.

 

Three miles West on the M25 no more than 2 feet inside a free recovery zone it died completely and would not restart. Minutes later a chap arrived in a van with flashy lights and phoned his recovery guy and we were taken to Balfour Beattie's customer service area by the nicest, happiest recovery man I've ever met "Kiwi", for coffee waiting for the AA.

 

At 1:45am too many coffees later a tired contractor arrived and diagnosed a faulty ignition module and had us on our way, he said he would follow us up the M1 a few miles to make sure we were okay and it seemed we were. Just as he pulled off and was out of sight the car broke down again and would not restart. It was at this point we decided a full recovery was needed and it took two more recovery contractors until 8:30am to get us back to Selby.

 

I was pleading with God for them to send a nice big crew cab AA lorry so I could lie down and sleep but no such luck and I could have cried when a dodgy old Sprinter turned up - - It is IMPOSSIBLE to sleep in an old Sprinter recovery wagon three abreast, no matter how tired you are, I managed to sleep for about three centimetres at a time until I jolted back to awakeness and repeat x 100

 

I was so tired I barely remember driving this Samara back to my home:

 

 

Made bed for 9:45

 

 

[Lord Sterling]

What a journey! Whats the story with the Salora, it looks an absolute HONEY of a car.

[SambaS]

It was destined for the scrapyard after the owner passed away not sure how its current owner and the person managing the estate got in touch but sickening to think it could have been another victim of COD like the scotish Polonez

[Novanick1]

lovin that lada! same for that horizon, what a awesome collection

[Mr Livered]

I've sometimes wondered what is actually on offer at those free recovery zones. Was it they who got you all the way home by virtue of being within the zone, or did you use your own breakdown membership?

 

Nice story (apart from the M25 debacle)

[Wilko220]

That is a proper tat collection story!

Lovely car.

[Split_Pin]

Grand story, the paint finish on that Rapier is beautiful.

[Faker]

Old Chrysler and Talbots fukin rule! That solara is outstanding. What else have they for sale?

[Joey spud]

Last Friday at the Dartford Tolls was truely shite,i was trying to get to a breakdown at junction 2 and it took me 3 hours to go 2 miles...

 

I used to work for a Pug/Talbot dealer in the mid eighties and a big service (2.5 hour/24000m) included checking/reseting the tappets.

This was a soul destroying task for a fresh out of training 20 year old as they never sounded any quieter no matter how much slack you took out of them...

[Mr Livered]

 it took me 3 hours to go 2 miles...

 

0.7 mph...

[Joey spud]

Yep sounds about right.

It kills your monthly figures too,i am expected to have an average travel time to each breakdown of 38 mins plus if i sit stationary with the engine running for too long it goes against my telematics / tracker score as wasting fuel.

 

I allways try and get as far away as possible from the M25 as a rule and hide.

[Junkman]

I'd say 180 miles between me and the M25 is close enough. However, if I really can't avoid it, I pack a survival kit for at least three days and that includes a sawed off double-barrel and a pack of 12-gauge.

[dollywobbler]

More heroics in the name of shite. The Solara and Samara both look lovely.

[Junkman]

The only thing I don't quite understand is why and how the Solara underwent metamorphosis into a Samara at the end.

[vulgalour]

Top content.

[SambaS]

I've sometimes wondered what is actually on offer at those free recovery zones. Was it they who got you all the way home by virtue of being within the zone, or did you use your own breakdown membership?

 

Nice story (apart from the M25 debacle)

 

Free recovery was to their local compound where there was a nice warm porta cabin and free tea and coffee! The rest of the recovery was through breakdown cover with Peter James, which in turn was passed to the AA, which was then dished out to contractors.

 

The only thing I don't quite understand is why and how the Solara underwent metamorphosis into a Samara at the end.

 

 

We were meant to drive the Solara to my Samba Cabriolet in Northallerton but the Solara was recovered to the home address of its owner who at 8:30 in the morning wanted to go to bed! So I was given a car to borrow to get home in, the Samara was available.

 

 

 

Old Chrysler and Talbots fukin rule! That solara is outstanding. What else have they for sale? 

 

 

 

The Samara, possibly an Alpine in time, at the restoration place potentially some things might be fore sale the Visa GTi, Samba, a few 309s, a C15 van.....

[Mr Livered]

Free recovery was to their local compound where there was a nice warm porta cabin and free tea and coffee! The rest of the recovery was through breakdown cove with Peter jJmes, which in turn was passed to the AA, which was then dished out to contractors.

So if you didn't have breakdown cover you would effectively have been dumped in the portakabin?

[SambaS]

Correct

[SambaS]

Ere dem missan pictchyaaaaz: