Zel's Motoring Adventures...Volvo, Renault, Rover, Trabant, Invacar & A Sinclair C5 - Updated 13/11.

[Zelandeth]

Today was very much a game of two halves.  Also can be read as "discovering the pitfalls you need to watch for when painting."

Picked up the new paint, got the gun ready, loaded up with an actually carefully measured 5:1 mix and did a quick test panel.  All looked good.  Regulator settings still seem well off the mark, but the spray looks good so I'm going with the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" approach there.  Let's not make myself work.

Things were actually going well up until about the 80% mark.  Though dear fluffing hell I need to tidy my garage up.  Trying to move around a car covered in wet paint in there is damned near impossible just now.

At that point something odd happened... suddenly the volume of paint I got out of the gun increased by a factor of about ten it felt like.  It was very visible when that happened from the cloud and the change in sound.

Best guess I have (also pointed to from the visible evidence) is that I'd not done a good enough job of mixing the thinners in and I pulled in a pocket that was very thinners rich.  Sadly this resulted in it looking like I'd dumped a bottle of thinners over the roof and offside door.

Am I disgruntled?  Not really.  It's a learning experience and I'd far rather make these mistakes on a car that's this cosmetically challenged with relatively cheap paint rather than respraying the Xantia or something like that where the final finish is far more critical.

So I'll definitely need to give some areas another coat, but we're looking close to a point where I'm going to feel I can call it good enough for now on some areas now.

Pictures hopefully speak a thousand words...

The target here is to get to a state which you'd not immediately think looked scruffy if you saw me driving past...and it feels like we're starting to get there.

Here's the two shots where there's evidence of my "paint flow anomaly" which I'll need to resolve.

Nothing a quick rub down to smooth out the resulting runs and a recoat can't sort though.  Will have done a decent job of sealing the surface at least.

 

I don't think I'm being too forward in saying that I think TPA is looking a heck of a lot better than she did a couple of weeks ago.  Just a shame I didn't get this done before the FotU!

I've not bothered masking the indicator surrounds up front as they're badly perished and will be replaced shortly.  Likewise the lock on the engine cover - it's seized beyond all redemption so will be getting changed.

I'll be getting a small brush out and doing a few details by hand.  The edges of the door frames you can't see with the doors closed (I can't be bothered taking the doors off or masking the whole interior off!) for one, and applying some "steel wheel silver" to the engine cover hinges and the air intake grill.  Wheels will be getting hammered metallic black (one is already done) as well.

Then next up will be sorting a few items on the snagging list I think.  High on that list is to get the dash out to sort some wiring "repairs" I've seen which I don't like.  The screw terminal strip which is carrying the full primary circuit current (including battery charge I believe - so theoretically up to 35A) which I really don't like.  The ignition switch gets quite warm too, so I'd really like to get some relays fitted to take the strain off it.

...Or I've been spending too much time working on PSA vehicles with their self destructing ignition switch contacts and it's made me paranoid!

That's obviously the ideal time to get the switch for my heater blower fan wired up as the dash will be out and I'll have the soldering iron and heat shrink out.

Feels like I've made more steps forward today than in a while though.

Oh...and yes, I'm very glad I bought the proper mask.

Much prefer that blue paint being in the filters than in me.

 

[LightBulbFun]

Looking very good to me! im very excited for the final outcome of things  

also at the last picture of the filter

"Bluetooth your doing it wrong!"

[Zelandeth]

Definitely feel I'm somewhat getting the feel of this now.  Got the spray gun working nicely within a few minutes today, and it behaved perfectly throughout the whole loading of paint.

I think we're pretty much at the stage now where I'm happy to more or less to call the paintwork "good enough for now."

The aim has always been to get the car into a state where it looked like a somewhat scruffy but well loved creaky old classic car rather than something which looked like it had literally just been driven out of a scrap yard.  That's a state which we're getting towards now I think.

The bodywork will be seeing professional attention at some point in the future - but it shouldn't be a barrier to the car actually being used in the real world now.

Here's a bit of before & after fun.

No, it's not fantastic...but it's a means to an end.  I want to use the car...and hopefully this should scream "there's no way this is road legal!" slightly less loudly at any passing traffic police having a bad day that might otherwise see me as a target.

The engine cover and doors might want another coat ideally as they're still a bit patchy.  Realistically I'll get a better finish on the doors if I lay them flat for the last coat anyway.  The rest of it I'm calling done for now - at the very most I might throw one more coat on.

Tomorrow's task will be to pull all the masking tape off and put stuff back together.  The interior is still half full of blasting soda too, so an interior clean will also be on the cards.  Keeping fingers very much crossed that the paint hasn't found its way in through too many gaps as I'd rather not have to go over everything with the thinners!  I did throw a sheet over the seat at least though...so hopefully that will still be black.

 

[LightBulbFun]

TPA really has come a long way such amazing work really is a testament to your skills  

it makes me very happy!

I very much look forward to seeing her "buttoned back up" and on the road

(if nothing else so I finally have a good overview picture to replace the one in my survivors list thats horribly out of date by now!)

 

[dollywobbler]

Great stuff. Are you sure you can't make it to the National MicroCar Rally? Because parking next to TWC will also make TPA look a zillion times better...

[Zelandeth]

10 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

Great stuff. Are you sure you can't make it to the National MicroCar Rally? Because parking next to TWC will also make TPA look a zillion times better...

It's really a "will have to see" situation just now.  Still waiting for the blasted throttle cable (ordered on the 8th) to arrive for one thing.

Secondly is just that I'm having a really poor couple of weeks health wise so trying to plan a trip to an event that far off really feels beyond my mental capacity right now.  It's a three plus hour and 120 mile drive (probably a good deal more actually as that figure is just plucked from Google...one return trip of 17 miles each way is the furthest we've gone so far and that wasn't without carb issues...so it just feels a bit of an ask.  I really think a few 30 or so mile runs need to be completed without anything falling off or misbehaving need to be done first.

Would also need to figure out accommodation as I'd otherwise need to turn around pretty much as soon as I arrived to get home at a sensible time.

Really annoying I can't have my other half just follow along with the van...it would feel eminently more doable then and would solve the accomodation issue.  Sadly the only other driver in the house nowadays is terrified of driving anything more than five years old and has a major freak out if in a car without active collision avoidance, adaptive cruise control etc...so piloting a 30 year old van ain't gonna happen.  I think he's terrified enough of being a passenger in it, much less driving it.  Having lost half the drivers in our family to health issues in the last few years is a royal pain.

[LightBulbFun]

11 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Really annoying I can't have my other half just follow along with the van...it would feel eminently more doable then and would solve the accomodation issue.  Sadly the only other driver in the house nowadays is terrified of driving anything more than five years old and has a major freak out if in a car without active collision avoidance, adaptive cruise control etc...so piloting a 30 year old van ain't gonna happen.  I think he's terrified enough of being a passenger in it, much less driving it.  Having lost half the drivers in our family to health issues in the last few years is a royal pain.

Frustrating that I don't have a full licence as thats something id be up for doing, esp as I would love to be at the NMR myself but I dont currently see a way of it happening as its just too far for me to do on public transport etc

granted if I had a full licence id be taking REV  down to the NMR ideally  (assuming I could get her road legal by then!)

[Zelandeth]

Starting to look a bit more like a car again.

Got a bit of overspray to remove from the rear tyres.  I did initially mask these off, but having to move the car back and forth during painting made that awkward.

The little "nick" by the offside tail light (bit of masking tape had peeled away creating a paint shadow) has been touched in by hand now.

Annoyingly, when I spilled a bit of paint (actually the jar of thinners I'd been using to clean the spray gun) early on in the process I managed to spill that *in* to the offside headlight.  So that will need to be changed at some point...as I don't rate my chances of getting a paint run off the reflector without wrecking the silvering.  On the plus side, the lights were dirt cheap.

Really need to get a new set of number plates ordered as well as they have both lost about 95% of their reflective backing.

[LightBulbFun]

very awesome stuff  

 

40 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Really need to get a new set of number plates ordered as well as they have both lost about 95% of their reflective backing.

 

im not 100% sure what sort plates TPA would of had originally, luckily REV is still on her orignal plates so I have a good idea what Invacars from about that time would of worn, but I dont have much for 1973 AC Model 70's

I do have this I think fairly period picture of UPB262M, maybe the Number plate gurus can tell us what it is exactly, and then you can get a set made up for TPA 

(I still wonder where the above picture of UPB262M is from exactly, I know where I found it on the internet, but they dont say where they got the picture from)

[Zelandeth]

Wouldn't surprise me at all if these are the original plates.  They're matched to each other and are extremely weathered...hence now being transparent.

I'm not kidding...they are honestly transparent!

Don't think I've seen a plate do this before.

The front one I've sprayed the back of with white paint so the blue doesn't show through so much.  The rear has delaminated enough though I dare not do that.  They're really fit for nothing but scrap though (well no... they'll go on the wall in the garage obviously).

Given the fact that acrylic plates are so much cheaper I imagine they would have made use of them whenever stock allowed.  As AC were producing things other than the Model 70 it wouldn't surprise me if they switched over while Invacar might have continued using up their existing stock of older style plates for longer.

Will probably just go with another generic plate as was originally fitted, though I would by lying if I said the pressed ally style like REV has didn't have some appeal too.  They're fluffing expensive though as I recall.

Either way I'll need to order them in as that's the only option for getting the correct typeface...and I'll be damned if I'm putting post-2001 typeface plates on!

[LightBulbFun]

interesting  did they have acrylic plates in 1973? I figured the plate style would of been some sort of pressed ally or some sort of backing with raised lettering

again one for the Number plate gurus like @MorrisItalSLX or such  (but TPAs plates always looked fairly modern to me)

and heres a picture of UPB262M from more recently, it looks like she retained her original plates

she is 370~ cars ahead of TPA, so a good question is TPA style of plates something thats newer or older then whats UPB?

 

side note I did a bit of research the other day and the TPA-M block is I think the second to first M suffix block

(I THINK there would of been a short block before it but im not sure, they switched to M reg on the 1st august 1973, and TPA-M block starts at TPA581M which was first registered around the 20th of august I think, block ending with TPA780M for those wondering)

[MorrisItalSLX]

28 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

did they have acrylic plates in 1973? I figured the plate style would of been some sort of pressed ally or some sort of backing with raised lettering

again one for the Number plate gurus like @MorrisItalSLX or such  (but TPAs plates always looked fairly modern to me)

Acrylic number plates first came in the late 60s in the form of etched letters on a black background with an aluminium backing (pictured below)

Moving into the mid 70s, the decal letter plates start appearing, but these had sharp corners (as with the above picture) and sometimes an aluminium backing depending on manufacturer (Cpt.70s Acclaim is a good example of this). These plates are made of a rigid acrylic.

The 80s brings on the rounded corners and more flexible acrylic. This leads me to believe that TPA’s plates are probably from the 80s or 90s. Judging by the LBF Model 70 pictorial archive, the originals were probably of the pressed variety which have a habit of loosing the reflective coating with age (pictured below) which is potentially the reason they were replaced.

This could also be complete bollocks and they are original, what does the text on the bottom of the plates say? There could be a clue there.

[LightBulbFun]

very interesting  

that really early acrylic plate is very interesting, I don't think I have seen one like that before  

question is now, who would of been the supplier for AC, aka who made plates in the Surry area? 

would of it they used Tippers South end plates like what Invacar used or someone else?

because the old AC plates look similar to what's on REV and other invacars, but the digits don't look as "raised" as they do on the Invacar plates

which makes me think that maybe they used a different supplier...

[Zelandeth]

Interesting, guess they are newer replacement ones then.  The only text on them is "BS AU-145a" in the lower right corner.

[Fumbler]

Those will be recent plates then.

[Zelandeth]

With the paint stripping, sanding, soda blasting and painting that has been going on over the last couple of months, TPA's interior was in a right royal state.

Now I'm not always that fussy about the state of the outside of a car, but a grubby interior will drive me spare in no time flat. 

I'm honestly embarrassed to have had to display the car at the Festival of the Unexceptional with the interior in this state, but I just didn't have time to deal with it before that event.

We've some time now though, so let's sort it out.

You think rubber floor mats, you think "easy to clean."

Like hell they are...the ribbed texture does a fantastic job of capturing every bit of grime and even with a brush attachment on the vacuum cleaner (I know we have one collector of vacuum cleaners on here...so for them, it's a horribly abused early 90s Goblin Rio 1200...which despite having been to hell and back still works immeasurably better than the new fangled nonsense in the house) it takes ridiculous amounts of scrubbing to get clean.

I've not discounted the idea of carpeting the floor in future.  Nothing showy, would just be a dark neutral coloured cord carpet, same as I'll probably line the roof and transmission cover with to cut down on noise.  Now we've got several of these cars, mostly in better shape that mine, among us I'm a bit less reticent to make small improvements like that.  Especially keeping in mind a possible long trip next year.

Speaking of long trips - I will NOT be able to make it to the National Microcar Rally.  The date clashes with a family birthday, and I'm very much required at home on the Sunday as a result.  Saturday isn't an option as I've a dentist appointment 75 miles in the wrong direction from here.  So it would be at least 1600 in the afternoon before I could get there, even being optimistic about travel times...and I wouldn't be able to stay overnight as I'm needed as of Sunday morning here.  So just not happening sadly.  Definitely an event I'll keep in the calendar though for next year.  Invacar convoy anyone?

After a couple of hours scrubbing the interior was looking a little more presentable.

I don't think the doors had ever had a proper scrub down of the inside surfaces judging from how grubby they were.  Not sure how that managed to dodge my initial cleaning!

Better now.

The area inside the "door pocket" is another area which might get the carpet treatment in the future - not least to reduce the tendency for me to find up with glass fibres embedded in my knuckles when putting stuff in there.  Any reduction in drumming would be a coincidental bonus.

I really wish I had a wet and dry vacuum cleaner as the driver's seat could really do with the attention of one.  Though given how warm it's forecast to be over the next week I'm considering just taking it out and hitting it with the pressure washer and leaving it in the sun for a few days to dry.

A couple of the cushions in the van lack removable covers too, so it would be really helpful for cleaning those.  Oh, and the velour door cards, the driver's one is a bit grey at knee height.

While I had the cleaning supplies out I took the opportunity to give all the glass a good polish to help get rid of any remaining overspray (it got under the paper in a few locations).

This windscreen wiper blade does look much more in keeping with the stylistic period of the car.

Given how much the sweat was pouring off me today (the garage is actually one of the coolest places in the house in the summer due to the lack of windows) and we've got a local forecast of 32C tomorrow, I can't see me getting much done.  Might see about getting the silver paint out to touch in a couple of details.  Engine cover hinges and air intake grill being the main targets there.

Really looking forward to getting some driving done again...will be interesting to see how much psychological effect knowing the car is less scruffy at a glance will have on me...reckon it will make it feel far less stressful for me as I won't be silently having to remind myself that the car really is roadworthy, irrespective of what it may have looked like.  Bit less shy of showing people the interior now it's less of a tip now.

If I don't immediately die of heatstroke when I step out the front door of the house I may see about refitting my throttle cable.  I've soldered my bodged end onto it now, so am declaring it good enough to serve until my package of new cable eventually materialises... assuming it ever does.  The end is very slightly frayed though, so not 100% certain it will be possible to get it back through the liner... we'll just have to see.

Enjoyed getting to do some interior valet work though, I always enjoy that sort of thing even though it's something which a lot of folk hate doing.

[LightBulbFun]

Looking good to me  

one of the things listed on the spare parts list for all the spare parts we got with REV and Dolly is "interior trim panels" im not 100% sure what these are given the Model 70 does not really do Trim in the first place!

but I suspect they might be the head lining and B post lining that was introduced with the March 1976 revision of the Model 70 Mark B

if they are your welcome to them to fit to TPA, im pretty sure Both Dolly and REV are complete there, and it would an actual Model 70 part  

IIRC the floor matting is fairly generic stuff you can still get today (I Think @egg mentioned where you can get it from when he drove JBY503J)

so might be worth just replacing it all with new martial? on the carpeting front I heard stories of people fitting carpets to theirs back in the day and they usually ended up quite soaked, so might be worth double checking TPA is properly water tight and will stay watertight over time before fitting carpets

[LightBulbFun]

55 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Definitely an event I'll keep in the calendar though for next year.  Invacar convoy anyone?

forgot to mention, funny you mention that As I happen to be listing to Convoy currently

 

(Also yes that would be epic can you imagine how many people we would confuse the crap out of as well )

[Zelandeth]

She's reasonably weather proof now.  Though living in a garage it's less critical than in some cases. 

Not too bothered about pre-made trim panels when a bit of carpet will do just fine.  Happy enough for those to be left for folks who are more worried about keeping things perfectly correct in the car.  Plus if I do get carpet lining going I'll want everything to match.

[Zelandeth]

Managed about half an hour outside before retreating inside due to passing out becoming an increasingly real hazard.

Offside rear wheel was target number one.  This had lost a lot of paint while on KPL due to a leaking brake wheel cylinder.

Painted and back on the car.  Sorry, forgot to get a photo at the intermediary stage.

Next up was the grill covering the engine cooling fan air intake.  This was originally bare aluminium, and if I'd realised how easy it was to remove I'd have just taken it off before painting the engine cover...every day's a school day!

It was a bit tarnished anyway so a quick blast of alloy wheel silver wouldn't have gone amiss anyhow.  While I had the silver paint out I used a small brush to touch in the hinges on the engine cover silver too.  Small details, but they all add up.

That photo does a good job of showing how knackered the rear plate is.

I may switch those hinges out for chromed ones at some point for no reason other than because I can...and so they would match what is on the front.

One thing I cannot seem to find for love nor money is the little metal cap for the number plate light...I know it's in the garage.  Somewhere.  That is the extent of my knowledge!

[LightBulbFun]

Looking good

TPA is looking very smart now

I also have to say the colour your painting her is much better then what you had from the spray can  

(or at least it looks that way from the photos!)

(number plate thing reminds me I need to look at getting some fresh screws for the plates on REV as I don't want to lose them due to 40 year old plastic screws failing)

[Zelandeth]

The colour is pretty much identical to what was in the cans, think it just looks better as the whole car is the same colour now.

She doesn't look bad from a distance, still scruffy as all hell close up.  You have really lucked out in that regard with your one.

Thinking I'll probably give the gutters the silver treatment as well, should just help break up the otherwise unending wall of blue.  Not sure if they were originally painted or not - mine were, but I know there's been damage repair carried out on the roof so reckon it was done then.  More masking to do, but at least it's just straight lines for the most part so not too fiddly.

[Zelandeth]

Throttle cable refitting was an utter fail.

Turned out that having now soldered my end onto the cable it wouldn't fit in the twist grip any more.  De-soldering it to adjust then made the previously crimped on end fall off.

I then managed to drop the back part of the twist grip and watch it disappear down behind a pile of stuff in the garage.  Retrieval of this took about half an hour.

I decided to call time at this point before I made things any worse!

Literally as I was walking back inside though I got a notification from Royal Mail saying that my package from China (which I have to assume is my throttle cable kit) has finally been received and is now passing through the UK network...so hopefully I'll have the bits in hand in the next day or so to properly change it anyway rather than bodging things.

Still kicking myself for not just bailing on that order and reverting to an actual UK based seller rather than one which just has UK in their name...never dreamt it would take so long to arrive.

[Zelandeth]

 Took some measurements today for future reference if I decide to go down the route of adding carpet of trimming any areas.  Roof is the obvious one along with the shelf on the transmission cover.  The purpose there is twofold in that it would both help with sound deadening and help stop stuff sliding around so much.   Lining the roof should do a lot to help dampen the general echoes in the cabin.

Front bulkhead is probably quite bad for drumming too as it's one huge flat surface.

Would probably make sense to do the floor and front bulkhead in one section.

Not putting too much thought and time into this right now as there are way higher priority tasks...just interesting to plan for what might be future improvements.  Most carpet rolls are 4m wide I believe so need to factor in any wastage to the calculations for how much would need to be bought.  That's why I'd not consider anything with a graphical pattern on as matching it so everything was pointing the right way would probably be hazardous to my sanity.

I imagine a 2m strip from a 4m wide roll should do the job and give you plenty of room to play with even if everything was done.  Just a shame there are some very rusty fasteners holding the roof on as that would be so much easier with it in the ground.

[busmansholiday]

Carpet roll ends are the way to do it. Usually a range of colours at quite a decent price. There's an MGB (that I no longer own) that looks quite* presentable.....

[Zelandeth]

Difficulty there (based on my having had a quick look around a couple of shops here today) is that I've a very slim selection of carpets which aren't way thicker than I'd really like or with directional patterns.  Nothing they had in the "bargain ends corner" were anything like what I'd be looking for.  Did spot a couple of options for my office though...

A lot of the types I was expecting to find appear to have gone out of fashion.

The main target I'm looking at for the floor at least is only £4.99/square metre anyhow, so is hardly going to break the bank for a couple of metres. They apparently usually have a lighter grey as well which I'd prefer for the roof, but they were out of it today.  Black for anywhere other than the floor would just make it too claustrophobic I think.  Floor would be the first target though, not least because the existing flooring is pretty knackered.

Given my throttle cable package passed through a distribution centre in Heathrow yesterday, hopefully my throttle cable will arrive tomorrow.

[Zelandeth]

Well that's sodding annoying.

Throttle cable finally turned up today.

Annoyingly what appeared to be the smaller barrel shaped cable ends in the tiny fuzzy pictures attached to the listing are actually cable end ferrules (on the left)...the ends are the larger ones (on the right) which are utterly useless for this application as they won't fit in the twist grip.

I am now rapidly becoming hacked off with this.

Sod it...this afternoon I'm fabricating a solution to getting the cable attached to get the car mobile again...then will look to get a proper one ordered from one of the UK based specialists I've been pointed at since the original order was placed.

[LightBulbFun]

all cars have 1 or 2 bits thats always a PITA

and with Model 70's it seems to be throttle cables and the lack of captive nuts...

(although luckily I have not yet had to battle the later yet!)

if you still have issues with the throttle cable later on, the offer of borrowing the spare we have to get you moving still stands if you want it  

 

[Zelandeth]

As you might have been able to tell from the language of my earlier post, I'd had enough of this nonsense with the throttle cable.  I actually had sufficient cable in my hands now that was in a serviceable condition rather than frayed horribly at the one end...so all that was in my way was having something to fit the twist grip.

The issue I had was that the barrel type cable ends I had were too big.  While the length was correct, their diameter was about 50% too large, meaning that it couldn't fit in the retainer in the twist grip.  In fact even just wedging it in next to the retainer wouldn't work either, the cable end was too bulky to allow the clamshells of the twist grip housing to close.

A bit of measurement however showed that it would fit between the actual handlebar and cover...just not with the twist grip in the way... what I needed to do was make a new location for the cable end to sit in.

Ten seconds with the grinder...

Which allows me to do this.

Essentially using the old cable holder as the thing to pull the new cable end.  Plus side is that this hasn't touched the original cable holder so if I get hold of the correct part I can just slot it in in future.

With the new end soldered onto the cable everything was put together and it worked.  Action still isn't great so I may well change the cable outer as well at some point, but it is actually working now.

Which meant I could finally get the car out of the garage.

Answers on a postcard for the best way to shift overspray from tyres?

Before heading out though I made a point of properly setting the CVT belt tension - spacing the pulley centres 10.25" apart as per the manual (I'll probably find I've remembered the value wrong now) as I was pretty certain the belt was too loose when I was last out.  It was very snatchy moving off from a standstill and sounded like it was flapping around a lot at speed.

Still a bit juddery moving off from a standstill, but definitely better.  I suspect the engine/gearbox mounts I have are a bit last their best so may look to replace those at some point.  It does to some extent seem to be something they are a bit prone to though from what I remember seeing.

Drive is definitely happier though, *far* quieter, especially at cruising speed.  Much less of a noticeable shunt when coming off the power too.  Several points while out today I was having to back off the throttle due to the 60mph speed limit rather than due to running out of road or other traffic. 

Fuelling up has shown us nearly touching 30mpg on that last tank - half of which was prior to fitting the new pulleys, so it's definitely heading the right way.  Not expecting to ever see particularly great figures locally as MK is murderous on fuel economy because of there being a roundabout every 0.9 miles.  Would be nice to see over 30mpg though, which hopefully we will on the next tank.

Obviously had to snap a few photos while out and about.

The heavens did open at one point, which revealed two things.  Firstly that I owe this windscreen wiper which I'd expected to be a useless bit of shiny tat for display purposes only, an apology.

It actually works perfectly fine, in fact quite a bit better than the modern one it replaced.

Secondly, even when the surface is horribly rough, you still get water beading on new paint.

At least I now have a few reasonable "stock" images of TPA I can throw at people when they ask what a Model 70 is now.  Obviously I'll need to re-take these once the new number plates arrive though.

...And back home after all the excitement of an actual run.

I'll need to find an excuse to head out of town shortly so I can properly assess how the drive is behaving.  Definitely seems far happier now though and there wasn't anything which felt like it gave me cause for concern during the drive.  Never mind nothing actually falling off, it didn't feel like anything was even in danger of falling off this time.

Looking at those photos now it is slightly hard to believe that's the same car that arrived wedged in the back of a Transit van about a year ago...

She's undergone a bit of a transformation I think it's fair to say!

[RayMK]

If the paint on the tyres won't come off with reasonable abrasion, why not lightly spray them matt black after checking for effectiveness on an old tyre?