Ratdat Recovery

[jonny69]

Not done a long one, so mine is pretty lame in comparison to most. 200 mile round trip to get my hotrod. I'd never driven an open top 1920's car with 1930's lights, skinny crossplies, drum brakes and a flathead V8 before, so 100 miles on the motorway in the middle of the night with no recovery should have been fine, right?

 

Walking the London Underground with £4000 in your pocket is a little un-nerving!

 

Yeah, tell me about that one. For the car above I had to get out £6000 and the only HSBC near me in South London that held cash was the one that ALWAYS gets done over, the same one where my dad got done over outside for £10K a few years ago. So I'm at the counter and the teller announced through the window 'Ok Mr 69, I'll just pop down to the safe to GET YOUR SIX THOUSAND POUNDS IN CASH, I'll just be a minute' and scurried off while the queue built up. 'OK Mr 69, thanks for waiting, I HAVE YOUR SIX THOUSAND POUNDS IN CASH HERE. I'LL JUST COUNT IT OUT HERE... FIFTY, A HUNDRED, ONE FIFTY... ETC' queue still building 'I'LL PUT YOUR SIX THOUSAND POUNDS IN CASH IN THIS ENVELOPE, OK, HERE YOU ARE' and stuffed it though the gap. Same story as what happened to my dad. I'd practically shit a hole in my jeans by this point as there were about 12 people in the queue watching. Idiot bank. All I had to protect myself was the 12" steel pipe I'd shoved in my jacket pocket just in case.

[castros_bro]

This Kyrgyz truck didn't make it back but they promised me a "new" ex-Soviet "Cossack" Ural/Dniper from their hidden stock if I ever go to Jalal-Abad again.

 

 

This 4x4 Panda was going to the scrappy so was gratis and on winter tyres so zoomed UKwards in the winter snow from a Swiss alp.

 

 

 

The green Moby, also gratis, was found in a Belgium skip

 

 

Going the other way...the ex-purplebargeken moped should soon be in the back of the ex-Rusty_Rocket 106 diesel going to France-Spain-Portugal-Spain-Morocco

[forddeliveryboy]

I've done e few short trips -but perhaps the nicest was this.

 

Taking a  month long holiday (many moons back) on Kos -I found this. Cheaper than a rental I bought it and found it surprisingly reliable, so rode it home.

 

Added a week -but the journey was a lot more fun than flying.

 

Kos seems a lot closer, these days!

 

That's my idea of a perfect holiday. That bike looks lovely. I'm a sucker for anything with a boxer engine.

 

I'm thinking of buying a £150 veg oil-burning snotter, driving it to where there is the greatest concentration of rust-free deliciousnes and returning in the pick of the crop.

[scruff]

The furthest I've been for a motor of my own is probably Kidderminster!

 

Most of my adventures have been delivering to friends who now live abroad - two seperate trips to drop a Series 2 LR (on a trailer behind a Series 3) and a Stage 1 V8 (driven) to the Charente region of SW France, and a Series 3 to Kutna Hora in the Czech Republic.

 

Since running a beavertail I've picked stuff up from Belgium, France and Germany and just got back from a Wales-Scotland-NI-England-Wales-England round trip. 

[trigger]

I love the idea of cross continental tat collecting although I'm slightly put off by driving in another country as I've never done it before.

 

My BMW 1602 came from Brigg and the Cortina was Evesham which is about 170 miles away from Ipswich for both of them, It's not much but both cars had done no long distances for many years and both had problems (a blocked carb on the BMW and only one working caliper on the Cortina) which made for interesting drive home but it was all good fun and got me to know the cars better.

 

Do you remember a few years back when that volcanic ash was clogging the skies and planes were grounded?, well a number of stranded holidaymakers resorted in buying shite old bangers and driving home instead, those are the feckers i envy, I bet the drive home was more of a experience than the actual holiday was. 

[forddeliveryboy]

trigger, if you've driven round the M25 and over Hard Knott Pass then there's little in Europe which you'd find a bother. Lack of traffic is a joy, as is a car-friendly culture away from the big cities.

 

I once ran out of brake pad in a BX in France, couldn't find the equivalent of our motor factors but there was a Citroen dealer in a buiding so big so you see it from all over town. Was quoted almost £200 for them to do the job (ten years ago at least), so did it meself in front of their showroom having bought the pads from them. They complained, but couldn't do a lot about it once the wheels were off. Told them they shouldn't have been so greedy.

 

So, check brakes have some lining before you go - their hills are longer and often higher than ours.

[The Moog]

I have delivered scooters BX to Scotland from Londonshire. Then bought a volvo v40 from gumtree the next day and drove home back to London. Worked out cheaper than flying as i ended up keeping v40 until it was written off for £1200 about 4 months later

[hairnet]

kirkcaldy from manc for an audi gt 5 pot that was having its radiator changed (ahh it wa crusty when we were havin a look roond)

 

as i rocked up ootside the blokes house

 

got home without even checking the levels

 

wish i still had it

[twosmoke300]

Cornwall to croft racetrack nr Newcastle to get my old ts50x back. Worth every mile is a knackered boxer 1.9d van at 55 mph Max.

Running on veg , natch