When battered old shite saved you because your newfangled tosh was broken

[Lord Sterling]

Seems to be the other way around for me. My Rovers have often blown up/been in states of disrepair so the faithful little 15-year old K11 Micra has always saved the day.

[New POD]

Over the last 4 years, my wife's mk1 MX5  (her second car) has been my saviour, on more than a few occasions.  

 

On writing off the my Astra, I used it to blast up and down the motorway, and visit potential daily drivers to replace it.

On loosing the insides of the gear box on the S40 I used it for a couple of long trips

On having the alternator go on the Honda.

[drum]

Our new fangled tosh isn't very new fangled. Just tosh. The '06 alfa is an alfa, therefore newish shite. Then we have the x reg A4 diesel estate that cost £650 and the '99 disco. The disco is a land rover, ergo unreliable. The audi and disco share an insurance policy, so are mutually exclusive on the usability stakes.

 

All this means the allegro or one of the series land rovers are very often pressed into service. The inevitable consequence of this of course is the ample use of shoe leather. Fortunately I can walk to work.

 

Like some others here, I have six roadworthy* cars and still have to hoof it occasionally.

[fordperv]

i had a phone call from a mate with a clitroen c2 gt it just wouldnt start, it was the typical bsi unit failure, he didnt have breakdown or the money to get it recovered to the garage he was about 2 days until payday, so ford capri laser to the rescue i hooked him up with the straight bar and took him to the citroen dealer for exact diagnosis, as i pulled into the entrance and you would think the windows of the place were flavoured with how many people looked like they were licking them to see the sight pulling in, i parked outside the entrance so everyone could see until the service guy told me where it needed to be dumped.

[dollywobbler]

A few years back, I'd somehow left myself stuck at home despite owning several cars. The 2CV must have been out of action, and my wife must have been out in the Mini. The stripey BX had stopped charging, and for some reason I thought it'd be clever to pull the alternator off. This now left me with a non-running BX (the battery was already flat). Perhaps it was blocking the 2CV into the garage.

 

So it was left to the monumentally shit Bond Equipe to get me to Peterborough and back and the wonderful world of Millfield Autoparts. Doesn't sound much does it? A 36-mile round trip on quiet roads. It was a monumental shit heap though, with doors that threatened to open at random times, wires all over the place, shit brakes, a knackered 1.6-litre six-cyl engine that drank a lot of fuel and produced no power, and a steering wheel that felt like it would come off in your hand. Gawd knows who MOTd it! I suspect it had been sitting in a damp garage for years before being blind-tested to enable it to qualify for the scrappage scheme (the only reason I bought it).

 

It did it too! I suspect it was the longest journey it had taken in years. The exhaust almost fell off on a typical Fenland road and it drank more fuel than a Winnebago, but I got back home with my alternator, fitted it and travelled to work the next morning in typical BX luxury.

 

In other news, the 2CV has failed to get me home once in 12 years and 80,000 miles. That's pretty dependable!