Jump to content

Memoirs from the Hard Shoulder: bASeman's Spot of the Year award.


BorniteIdentity

Recommended Posts

  • BorniteIdentity changed the title to Happy Anniversary "Ford Sierra bASe" - Some good news!
6 minutes ago, Skizzer said:

Yup, my phone always takes great pleasure in reminding me what day we collected it!

C9E6FB5A-A9ED-4BE9-95B9-2EF1AF159B50.thumb.jpeg.e4f13bf25718ce8a03ac8097be84a9c2.jpeg
 

Great to see it fully ticketed and still in rude health, and only slightly better cosmetic condition 😉

I'm delighted to see that scab behind the rear number plate, as I don't remember it being there forever. It's now holed (brilliant) so will get wobbed up with some plop in the next few weeks and a quick spritz of anything that's appropriately red.

Every year or so I buy another one of those air fresheners, so it always smells the same.  Soppy I know, but it has a really distinctive smell to the car - and I rather like it.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excellent news. I remember sitting in the back of this car, sheltering from the rain that was a major feature of Shitefest ‘16. 

The can of Forte engine treatment on the old garage’s shelf also made me chuckle, I knew the people who pushed a similar snake oil named ‘Fortron’ when I worked for Hartwell group in the late 1990s.  They were prime bullshitters as you can imagine, as well as stereotypical ‘Sarf Efricans’.

Well I say SA, they were actually a couple who left England in circa 1965 ‘because there were no opportunities’ and then returned to the U.K. in 1996. 

They never did give a convincing explanation for their return from the land of plenty, presumably because they didn’t want to say out loud ‘we were scared of the natives now they are in charge’. 

Anyway, I digress. Long live the base!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

I will butcher one of my inflators so I can use it straight on a battery.

No need, get an inline female socket for the 12v plug, some cable and 2 crocodile clips. Few minutes work and you can have the cable any length you like (within reason, obs)

Great news otherwise, seems you found a great new garage. Get the Mrs some sarcasm pills for her birthday (yep, you can get them online)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's easier than that.  If you're concerned about the crash safety protection you've gained and have no 12v socket, acquire a manual footpump.  You'll hate every psi you're forced to squeeze into the tyres and that hate will melt away the padding until you look like a wirey hormone riddled teenager in no time.  That or land you a visit to the GP to fix your now gammy knee.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

It's easier than that.  If you're concerned about the crash safety protection you've gained and have no 12v socket, acquire a manual footpump.  You'll hate every psi you're forced to squeeze into the tyres and that hate will melt away the padding until you look like a wirey hormone riddled teenager in no time.  That or land you a visit to the GP to fix your now gammy knee.

Could you provide an instructional video? Seem a bit arduous to me :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another long termer returned to the road this weekend, with my beloved Avensis SR being given a clean bill of health (and me being given a not unsubstantial bill).  The garage was closed all Easter weekend but, with time on my hands, I decided to collect it using the spare key.  A fool proof plan that allowed me to get it at my convenience (it's 50 miles away) and enjoy the weekend racking up some miles.

First problem, I can't find the spare key anywhere.  ANYWHERE.  The garage even checked explicitly on the phone "do you have the spare and does it work?" to which I replied with the standard blasé "yeah yeah it'll be fine".  The problem I have is my mind doesn't map where I put things down.  It's just something I've learned to accept, so rather than ruining a day tearing my house apart, decided to take the grey courtesy key down to collect the car.  "It'll be fine" says I, certain that I've done it before without the alarm going off.

You can imagine what happened next.

I'd also, in the excitement of the afternoon, forgotten to take my phone with me - so I couldn't even call the garage owner on his mobile to beg him for a remote key.  The alarm on this car is absolutely deafening; I'm used to loud noises (wearing headphones far too loud each day) but this is on another scale.  It made my ears pulse with every shrill WOOOP it let out.  Many men came out from neighbouring units, puzzled to see a man apparently stealing his own car.  Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity (but was more likely 10 minutes) it stopped and peace was restored.  The car started and we began to head home.  

It drives beautifully.  As it fucking should considering the bill and the works that have been carried out.  All new ARB, control arms, TRE, bushes etc blah.  There isn't a single clonk or bump or thump or noise, it really is a new car.  I drove home with a headache and my son too frightened to speak in case it went off again (!).  I also drove home very slowly as there wasn't enough petrol in it, but there was no way I was repeating the "Chorus of the Alarm" at any petrol station on a Bank Holiday Friday.

The journey home was uneventful until we got to my road when I could hear the most horrendous fucking noise you ever did hear.  At first I thought it was a Tractor coming the other way pulling a trailer along - an horrendous metallic dragging sound.  "Nope" says I - "That's my car".  A few minutes later and I realise that the front wheel is the perpetrator.

 

 

Nice.  

Brakes aren't something I generally fuck about with, so stuck the car in the naughty corner and ignored it.  

Quick chat with the garage this morning who are both sincerely apologetic and also bemused.  It had two QC road tests and was "perfect".  We discuss dropping it back for an hour at some stage, but then moved onto what I might be able to do. 

The solution was actually really simple.  Because they took everything apart to paint it up, the backing plate has obviously gone back on in a slightly different place.  A bit of bending and prying (and amateur swearing) seems to have it back in place and no sound effects!

So, there we are!  There are now just over 60 of these rare SR models left on the road and I'm pleased and proud to have done right by this one.  Next year it will need some paint here and there but, in the meantime, I'd like to get it over the 270k mark this year.

2009719553_WhatsAppImage2021-04-06at13_11.57(1).thumb.jpeg.45125582dc90a44b1b32a5e377c701fa.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Dan302 said:

For me this is what Autoshite is all about. Keeping a car on the road that most people would have got rid of years ago. It's so so good to see an old Avensis treated so well ❤

Seconded. My OH moaned about the amount that Henry has cost me in the time I have had him until I said it works out to about 8.5p a mile in terms of running repairs, servicing etc. A lot cheaper than the depreciation on some new bland Eurobox. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/28/2021 at 8:08 PM, BorniteIdentity said:

In completely banal news, I got totally sick of needing three arms to put anything in the boot of the Sierra and thought “FUCK IT” - my poor head has had enough - “let’s fit the new gas struts I bought 3 or 4 years ago”. Out fell the most complicated, Engrish instructions you’ve ever seen. Straight in the bin with those and went in like a Bull in a China Shop.

One side done in 2 minutes, so I tried to break my own record the other side. 28 seconds. 

Now I’m annoyed I didn’t do it sooner, so have ordered a set for the Escort. 

Amusingly the boot opens at 257MPH now too so it’s not your head you have to look out for anymore; it’s your chin. 
 

D57E98F1-C509-48F8-8D43-6451249D59D3.thumb.jpeg.e9659cda59e71cf6c351b1625e305293.jpeg

Sierra must have been conspiring with my BX.  It's clocked me on the chin hard enough to make me see stars twice so far.

Really do hope to see this car in the metal one day.

The Avensis really is a testimony to how good cars they really were (Likewise the Carina) and how with proper maintenance that they'll just run and run - and that just because a car has a high mileage on doesn't mean it has to feel like it's about to fall to bits.  Everyone who drove my first Xantia with its 212K on the clock was absolutely gobsmacked when I told them the mileage - they all guessed 50-odd K!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Great news on the Avensis. Certainly thinning out around these parts.

Sadly this SR in the same colour has been scrapped, its last MoT expired in 2017.

2000 Toyota Avensis 2.0SR

 

Yes, shame about that one - it's the only other Purple one I've actually "seen" (other than the brochure which, from memory, had one in it).

Interesting comment on Pistonheads about mine

Quote

I used to work for Toyota in Derby building these, The SR was built at the factory in Derby and then transferred to Toyota GB who changed the badges, wheels and put a rather nice Sony stereo in I think?

I used to travel to the export ports for Toyota in the Uk and in Europe so had many (20?) of these as company cars qas we were only allowed to put 6000 miles on them before they went into the dealer network. Never let me down and have had 1 Toyota in the family ever since (which have never let me down either) 

I'm rather fond of it (as I think I've probably conveyed) and am looking forward to getting a bit of paint on it next year and generally improving things here and there.  If an SR came up I'd likely buy it for parts (I should have done this with one that was on Facebook in January for £500)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you’ve an old car of that age it’s always worth picking one up to break, you’d be amazed how handy it is having a spare starter motor or a spare alternator sat on the shelf at home as and if you need it.

That said I’ve a shed full of bits of Mk2 Mondeos and Focuses that have met their fate in my hands that I’ll not use now. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

Isn't £500 for a whole car cheaper than the exhaust you need? 

The one in the fb ad looks like a shed though... You want one with damage or terminal issues somewhere so your not tempted to do another save... 

One picture, bloke only wants calls, Bradford, I suspect he's the sort of person I find impossible to deal with.  It'd just be nice to have one with all the right coloured panels as well as the right bits.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Just read the advert. £1000 and no MOT? Are they having a laugh?

I think it's more "ambitious pricing" than any kind of stand up routine.  The catalytic converter will see him half of the asking though at the moment which is sometimes a problem.  Sometimes people are just bloody clueless though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...