The new adventures of Brownnova! Another Saab joins the fleet… 13/10/24

[High Jetter]

On 4/9/2021 at 8:45 AM, Tim_E said:

There's a rude joke in here somewhere...

Obs not found a match yet!

[brownnova]

14 hours ago, gm said:

 

@brownnova

Looks like he's done the bare minimum to get your old mk1 through an mot - I do like the red roof though, really suits the white car 

https://m.facebook.com/marketplace/item/907410903412346/?referral_code=bsg_newsfeed

Yeah, I’m a little peeved really. If he’d said he was going to do that I wouldn’t have sold it him. I know he’s got to make his money and that he has spent a fair bit getting to through the test but still, that wasn’t the reason I sold it to him. He had said he would either break it for spares or do it properly... 

But it’s not my car any more I guess! 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️
 

Unless I buy it back... 🤔🤔

[brownnova]

Looks as if it’s sold according to the listing! 

[gm]

6 hours ago, brownnova said:

Unless I buy it back... 🤔🤔

Nah, stick with the new one, you'd still have to spend a good few ££ getting the white one presentable. 

3 hours ago, brownnova said:

Looks as if it’s sold according to the listing! 

let's hope it has found a caring new owner who will put in the effort and make it nice again - I felt similarly sad when the moog had to scrap my red one but it was old and knackered  

 

[brownnova]

7 minutes ago, gm said:

Nah, stick with the new one, you'd still have to spend a good few ££ getting the white one presentable. 

The red one is actually a lovely example, so I’ll be keeping it! 

[3VOM]

On 4/8/2021 at 10:59 PM, brownnova said:

And yeah, I’ll be honest I wasn’t much of a fan of being under the car in the pit angle grinding... but I’ve done it once and still have all my fingers, so I’ll probably do it again. 

One more safety thing - if you are working in a pit, make sure you aren't sharing it with flammable material or heavier-than-air gases.

[brownnova]

Today I have mostly been.... 

A group outing was organised for our local 2CV club. So Mrs_b and baby_nova and I took to the Oulton park, for what would be my very first track experience! 

Much fun was had, although the car in front of me was somewhat slower than I wanted to go (no overtaking was permitted), and the video I took of the lap looked a lot slower than it felt! 
 

In other fleet news: 

I have decided that too much of my tinkering time is being spent fixing faults on the daily drivers, so the 9000 has gone to the local Indy for back brake pads.

Bonk the magic wagon is also off for a fettle this week to hopefully solve the rear wheel squeak which I think is also rear brake related as it disappears if you drove with the handbrake slightly applied.

The C5 needs front pads and then goes up for sale, and the 900 needs waking up and then selling too. But I can’t seem to coordinate a dry day and the time to do that! 

Meanwhile I used what limited tinkering time I had this week to repair the slightly collapsing drivers seat in the 2CV. I have a whole set of new rubbers (fnarr fnarr) for it, but today I just restrung some of the ones which had come off. 
 

Oh and my old MX5 has resurfaced for sale again! This time at an exorbitant price! Madness! 

[Garythesnail]

23 hours ago, brownnova said:

Much fun was had . ......... the lap looked a lot slower than it felt! 

I have happy memories of our young family being thoroughly entertained by four-abreast 2CV action  at Pembrey in the mid-nineties.

They were  literally leaning  on each other.

[brownnova]

This week I’ve been using the 2CV as my main commuting tool. No reason other than choice…

Only gripe is the fact that the windscreen washer has ceased to function.

The Pontiac got a use as a van when we collected a wardrobe, and the C5 has found favour again with Mrs_BN so has had a late reprieve from sale.

Main one I need to fix this weekend is the 9000 which seems to have lost an exhaust mount on the front half. I’ve had my second jab though, so let’s see if I feel up to it! 

[High Jetter]

And the race is on...?

[Cord Fourteener]

3 hours ago, brownnova said:

...the C5 has found favour again with Mrs_BN so has had a late reprieve from sale.

Boo hiss.

[brownnova]

This week in the brownnova fleet…

The 900 is gone, it needed to go. But it took a couple of hours faffing about in the blazing sun to get it mobile enough so it could go onto the trailer under its own steam (rather than its own smoke) as the power steering leak was now onto the exhaust, and liberating it from its spot in the corner.

Next on the to do list is sorting the 9000’s exhaust. Typically (in a heatwave) the 9000 is the only car with working aircon, and the exhaust mount has snapped or something so it’s making a hideous noise. At least I hope it’s that, or the noise could be something far more serious… and that doesn’t bear thinking about.

Then the Camper is in for MoT Wednesday before likely being sold. Getting additional seatbelts fitted is not as easy as hoped… so it’ll have to go.

And the 2CV Dolly is going to see a welding wizard for a price on sorting the holes in the inner wings.

Oh, and the Nova might even get a look in this week! 

[brownnova]

On 18/06/2021 at 20:38, brownnova said:

the C5 has found favour again with Mrs_BN so has had a late reprieve from sale.

Oh and this decision looks to have been reversed too! 

[brownnova]

9000 exhaust mount fixed… took about 20 mins and completed using 2CV exhaust rubbers- just use what you have lying around right? It now drives sans horrendous noises! Win! 

The bad news? 
The battery is goosed. Won’t even charge or be jump started of my jump pack. Had to use the one off the Nova. 
The aircon doesn’t seem to be cold any more 😢😢
The boot was full of water.

Currently drying out in the sun. 

[brownnova]

Awaiting the verdict from the man from the ministry…. 

[brownnova]

The man from the ministry he says YES! 

Very complimentary about the underside, as was the other guy. They see a few of these and he says they’re always rotten somewhere…. Except this one!

[Cord Fourteener]

What an appropriate fleet!

Saab with saab aircon and a camper!

[brownnova]

What best to do with a Saab that has covered about 15 miles in the last three months, and shat its battery…. Drive it to Gloucestershire for SaabFest of course!

A 25 mile rekkie run was done the day before to go and buy a battery, and all seemed well. So this morning we piled on and set off. Car ran beautifully and I remembered just why I love this car so much! It’s a gem to cover miles in.

Saabfest was cracking, loads of lovely and tempting cars! 

And of course two of our very own Saabnut’s cars… 

My personal car of the show? 

Had to be this brown 99 which was absolutely wonderful!!

[brownnova]

Back home now after a great weekend of Saabs and family. It was so good to be back behind the wheel of the 9000 after its few months off. I’d forgotten just how well this car eats up the miles. 

[richardmorris]

45 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Back home now after a great weekend of Saabs and family. It was so good to be back behind the wheel of the 9000 after its few months off. I’d forgotten just how well this car eats up the miles. 

Is that exhaust standard?

 

[brownnova]

Yeah it’s not a special one, think the angle makes it look like I’ve got a rorty tail pipe! 

[brownnova]

We had really been looking forward to this weekend… the annual 2CV camp to Carrog. It is always fun, plus it was a great chance to use our camper for only the second time… fresh from its MoT and new tyres. Trip there went well vehicularly. The Talbot which has barely done any miles in the last 12 months ran spot on all the way, as did the 2CV! 

One minor hiccup was that my daughter threw up all over the back of the 2CV 10 minutes before the campsite… when this continued through the evening we went home in the 2CV (it was only an hour away) leaving the camper there in the hope we’d make it back there next day. We ran home, but by the time we got home the throttle was sticking a little bit… inconvenient!

The following morning the baby seemed better, but the sticking throttle and the biblical rain (and the fact we would miss the 2CV run out) meant we decided to take something a bit more long legged for the run back. 

Take 2!

On loading up the Pontiac I discovered the most amazing dash light ever! 

The boot open light is an actual picture of the TransSport!

Anyway in true style the baby threw up all over the Pontiac too… however she seemed ok once we arrived so we stayed. The camp was… damp… 

Funnily enough the Pontiac got more attention at the camp than any of the 2CVs with a veritable crowd gathering as soon as they got back from the run.

It even got papped in this picturesque image

We made it back home so with neither vehicular mishap (aside from losing a wheel trim on the van) or vomit recurrence.

But it was definitely a bug not travel sickness… the rest of us have had it since we got back… 🤢

[gm]

On 4/21/2021 at 11:04 PM, gm said:

 

@brownnova

Looks like he's done the bare minimum to get your old mk1 through an mot - I do like the red roof though, really suits the white car 

https://m.facebook.com/marketplace/item/907410903412346/?referral_code=bsg_newsfeed

It would appear to be living up in Scotland now

 

https://m.facebook.com/groups/348509331965842/permalink/2250842795065810/

 

[brownnova]

I had heard it was up there… I fear for the new owner come MoT time… 

[brownnova]

Busy old weekend! First off to the FoD - where the presence of the Pontiac had been requested by multiple Shiters. One last hurrah in my ownership maybe I thought so set the cruise control to 70* and pointed it south.

And cruise we did… effortless waft from the 3.8 litres of burble… overtook 2 Lamborghini’s and got lots of attention from the inside lane.

It was such a wafty journey that I did it in one hit: have a blurry post journey photo. 

Off to the FoD where the Pontiac found a wedge shaped friend…. Mmm wedges… 

And some crustier friends…. Mmmm crust…. 

On the way back it was foggy… Chance to test the fog lights! Oh yeah! Fin this picture the fog is not evident. 

On to Sunday and I was tempted just to stay at the FoD again, but I forced myself out of bed at 6am and went to retro rides gathering, which turned out to be absolutely worth it. 

Until this guy turned in and ruined my “only Pontiac Trans Sport” thing i had going on. 

Still it was interesting to compare the two:

Whilst there the boot miraculously healed itself and now opens again! 

On from there it was to Henley in Arden for an off road driving experience which the good lady had bought me for a birthday pre-covid. And it was finally being redeemed!

I got to drive a modern Merc thing down steep drops and through water etc. Was good fun. 

 

Quick stop off at the parents to say hello and then back in one hit again. The Pontiac not having missed a beat at all in any journey. 807kms (about the number of miles the proclaimers would walk initially) and we averaged 26.5MPG.

But….

I don’t think I can sell it after all. I bloody love it. 

[hairnet]

pervert

 

[eddyramrod]

That's the same fleet I did my off-road experience with a week earlier in North Yorkshire!  I had the VW Amarok...

[yes oui si]

I saw a Trans Sport once. As a child. I've wanted one since. 

[High Jetter]

6 hours ago, brownnova said:

Mmm wedgies… 

Am shocked.

[Schaefft]

I completely forgot about it but the guy I bought my first Aurora from also owns a white Trans Sport SE. So if you are interested in owning two of them...