37th time lucky: Palladium goes for a drive

[Three Speed]

I think it means there's water in the fuel filter.  Needs draining / changing.

[anonymous user]

It looks like it's telling you to change your face mask.

[barrett]

Obviously haven't changed the filter yet, but I've done a couple of thousand miles in this already (even working from home I seem to drive quite a bit. It's a 120 mile round trip to see my missus) and I still really like it. It sprung a little lhm weep but I'm not too concerned yet. When (if) I ever have some money I'll chuck it in for a proper service, but it does canny eat up the miles and I get an extra 200 miles per tank over the estate...

...speaking of which, it was sold and collected today by somebody on this forum who drove it back to Bristol - or at least he tried, I've no idea if he made it or not but he arrived with lots of bottles of water to keep the rad topped up. Anyway, that's the first successful car sale I've had in ages so I'm fairly pleased and hopefully it  will live on to waft another day.

[barrett]

Just by pure chance I found this brilliant photo of a London traffic jam in 1926...

But hold on, what's that?

It's the 1924 Small Car Trials Palladium Speed Model!! It's so rare to find period pics of Palladiums that I haven't already seen, so I was pretty thrilled to find this. Driver wearing appropriate headgear.

My car is having its headlamps rebuilt at the moment, with re-silvered reflectors, painted bowls, new bulb brackets, polished rims etc... just a small job but it's one more to tick off the list. Also the new fuel tank developed a small weep so that's been rectified and the tank has been re-painted, ready to be fitted again.

[egg]

Amazing spot. Looks like that's on the Embankment? 

Chap in the car on the right is trying to work out what it is

[barrett]

I think he's jealous of all those empty seats! Interestingly, the car to the right looks a good 10 years older than anything else in the picture, probably just pre-WW1. I wonder what it is? Clearly a proto-Autoshiter keeping an old banger going against the odds

[barrett]

Well, this was unexpected. A week ago I spotted a post on the Humber Sceptre facebook group from a chap wanting to buy a manual o/d Mk2 in silver with red interior. This was the car his grandfather owned, and one of his earliest motoring memories. As you might image from facebook, all the responses were pub experts saying 'YOU'LL NEVER FIND ONE THEY ARE TOO RARE JUST BUY ANY COLOUR AND SPEC YOU CAN FIND!!' and others like 'SILVER AND RED MANUAL? NO CHANCE IN HELL M8'.

Obviously I took great pleasure in explaining I had one in exactly that spec and, although it wasn't actually for sale, if it went to a good home I'd be happy to let it go. Anyway, he turned up yesterday and paid the full asking in cash and took it away. He seemed genuinely emotional to find a car just like grandad's. I honestly didn't want to sell it, particularly as it was so close to seeing the road, but he happened to catch me on a day when money and space seemed more appealing than a lump of mouldy old Rootes Group stodge.

Obviously now I'm in that very dangerous position of having some money in my pocket and some space...

[mk2_craig]

Sometimes you just have to do these things eh? Shame you weren’t able to see it through but like you suggest, as one door closes another will open. 

[barrett]

He's just sent me this! Seems like he's not hanging around!

[loserone]

Send him here!

[Cavcraft]

LOLZ if he drops a red top in.

[barrett]

Today was my first real road trip since lockdown begun. Is there a better way to eat 300 miles in comfort and speed than a TD Xant?

[barrett]

This guy is going great guns! I'm deffo gonna invite him back to just fix all my other cars. He's done more in two days than I managed in two years ffs

[barrett]

Errr.....

[wesacosa]

Nice. I really must own a BX one day , preferably before Saddiq Khan tries to charge me £12/day to drive it outside my own house next October

[hairnet]

barrett loves merde

STATUS - CONFIRMED

[lesapandre]

55 minutes ago, wesacosa said:

Nice. I really must own a BX one day , preferably before Saddiq Khan tries to charge me £12/day to drive it outside my own house next October

But...if the rolling historic status for cars persists to 2022 and beyond it will be an exemption for early models.

[wesacosa]

11 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

But...if the rolling historic status for cars persists to 2022 and beyond it will be an exemption for early models.

good point, love the early ones but suspect a bit out of my price range

[barrett]

I definitely didn't need another shit old car, but I have been keeping an eye out for a BX 14 for ages. They hardly ever seem to come up, but I spotted this one at a reasonable price, reasonably near. I realised it was an AS member's car, and we came to an agreement where he would do most of the work needed to get it MoT'd. Went to collect today but due to a big smash on the A27 I missed my pre booked MoT slot so had a slightly nervous drive back to my office on the back roads. I wont be able to put it in for a test until next week so it's just gonna have to sit for a few days - I had such a great fun drive back I really didn't want to leave it behind though!

It's a 14E, so mega basic with no frills whatsoever, and the 1360cc carb engine with manual choke, but it's a Preview special edition which means GTi interior and... that's it. I'd actually prefer a scratchy, squidgy mid-spec interior as I'm not a huge fan of these seats, but hey ho. 

Anyway, it's been ages since I drove a BX and I forgot how much I like them. So much fun on twisty b-roads, and this is the most lightweight model out there, with no PAS, so it's super responsive and genuinely great fun to drive. Lets hope it doesn't need too much to go through a test as I really want to get out there and put some miles on it.

[dollywobbler]

Nice. Has KruJoe still got his BX Preview somewhere? I was amused by the poverty spec but sporty seats. I recall him sleeping in it at Shitefest 1.

[vulgalour]

Jealous.

[loserone]

Interesting, does that make it basically the same engine as my 205GR, but with a bit more room and magical suspension? That sounds marvellous, bet it's a hoot to rag silly!

[lesapandre]

13 hours ago, wesacosa said:

good point, love the early ones but suspect a bit out of my price range

Try France when it reopens. Loads about. Some really nice ones. They don't have much of a classic following there at mo. 

This is minty and 2000€ with CT...down near Cannes. Unachievable at mo - plenty on LeBonCoin all the time.  Car just has not much following. There are old bangers for a few hundred € too.

Voila...

J'ai trouvé une annonce qui devrait vous intéresser sur leboncoin

https://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/1859337090.htm

[Fabergé Greggs]

3 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Try France when it reopens. Loads about. Some really nice ones. They don't have much of a classic following there at mo. 

This is minty and 2000€ with CT...down near Cannes. Unachievable at mo - plenty on LeBonCoin all the time.  Car just has not much following. There are old bangers for a few hundred € too.

Voila...

J'ai trouvé une annonce qui devrait vous intéresser sur leboncoin

https://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/1859337090.htm

My god that’s lovely 

[HMC]

Lovely. I like the idea of playing musical chairs with the seats and trim that Citroen had there.

I would have probably pushed for the “stealth” edition. Although to be truely stealth it would have to have an an alternative, vague and meaningless special edition name. 1.9 16v mechanicals, no options, no body kit, and a bland colour. Sign me up.

[barrett]

Well this just happened

no, I haven't bought a Freelander

Hmmm. It's black. Also the driver's side window is stuck down, along with a few other elctrical hilarities

But it's black! More news when I have figured out why and whatfor...

 

[barrett]

Just popped over to Peacehaven to buy some interesting photographs of Vintage cars taken in the 1950s, including a couple of the Palladium not long after it had returned to the road, complete with the home-made front wings. There were about 900 photographs from one photographer in albums, and I'd have loved to buy them all, but had to settle for a dozen of my favourites.

[wuvvum]

On 10/16/2020 at 9:43 AM, lesapandre said:

Try France when it reopens. Loads about. Some really nice ones. They don't have much of a classic following there at mo. 

This is minty and 2000€ with CT...down near Cannes. Unachievable at mo - plenty on LeBonCoin all the time.  Car just has not much following. There are old bangers for a few hundred € too.

Voila...

J'ai trouvé une annonce qui devrait vous intéresser sur leboncoin

https://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/1859337090.htm

If you're going to buy an early povvo spec BX from sur le continent, you really should go the whole hog and track down a BX11.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

On 9/17/2020 at 11:32 PM, barrett said:

This guy is going great guns! I'm deffo gonna invite him back to just fix all my other cars. He's done more in two days than I managed in two years ffs

Yer man's not hanging about there!

[barrett]

Had a quick go at cleaning up the latest heap today. Was pretty grotty before...

 

 

Marginally better now

Still no idea what the plan is. Needs the non-operational driver's window sorting and then in for an MoT I guess. If it fails big time it'll be moved on