The new news 24 thread

[M'coli]

Eddie's fine, I see him cropping up on faceache occasionally: I believe he's back in the UK. Once that Metro van has arrived, then there will be all sort of posts!

[Lankytim]

I HAS WASH CAR ALSO. Took the Disastra to the local ARC automated car wash place. They have a special 99p offer on at the moment, but I splashed out on a £1.79 wash. Seemed to have done a reasonable job too, getting all the brake dust out of the hubcaps. Just the job for the coming winter nights when the motor gets covered in salt and I CBA to wash it.

[Guest]

SCTSH_ANDY has been on the phone saying the battery in the 460 is gunted and flatter than a witches' tit on a Dutch pool table.

And the insurance runs out on the 13th.

 

GRRRRRRRRRR.

[CreepingJesus]

15 year old tube of Hermeshite FTW!!!

 

 

Did some stat changing myself. Wouldn't normally be anything to write home about, but this time the shitty O-ring seal which came with the ECP cheapo stat decided to liberate some steam from my engine. Quite a lot of it actually. The old stat's C-section seal and a liberal quantity of said orange goo kept the steam where it ought to be. Sadly I need to change the coolant now, 'cos it looks more like wee than the bright yellow nuclear effluent it was. Some cost saving that was.

But still, recent good results from a 15+ year old bottle of Colour Magic, and now 15 year old Hermeshite isn't to be sniffed at - restores the cheapskatery balance.

 

 

I wud allso lyk to applie for Idiot Of Teh Weik Award:

 

 

For pulling the trigger of the LPG nozzle, before the collar was fully secured thus granting me a lovely cold burn, which is sort of nicely peeling, one week later. Lesson learned!

[DodgyBastard]

Watched a diesel nearly explode earlier!

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY9EGlp3 ... e=youtu.be

[wuvvum]

The Alfa 75 went today, to a chap who came and looked at it four weeks ago. Had a few delays re collection, but he kept in contact and turned up today with the agreed price in used 20s. Part of the pissing about was because he had originally arranged to have the car towed home (he's in Luton), but the recovery bloke had put his back out and couldn't do the job. So he came up in his 156 with his brother-in-law (to drive the 156 home) and nephew (to programme the sat nav), jumped in and headed for the A47. I was highly dubious, especially when he said he didn't have breakdown cover, but I had an email from him about 3 hours after he left mine saying he'd got home OK, which was good.

 

Some of the proceeds will need to be spent on bills, but I'm keeping a bit aside - the other evening I went to the garage my mate works at to see if they had any tyres for the front of the 400 (they did, as it happens, so the 400 now sports a Federal on the offside and a Toyo Proxes on the nearside, in place of the worn-out Arrowspeeds it had when I bought it), and they had a car sat in the corner which caught my attention. I registered my interest with the boss, got a message from my mate last night that the car was now up for grabs, spoke to the boss this afternoon and agreed a price. Just got to wait for the previous owner to drop the paperwork off and it should be heading my way. It's interesting and French, and something that's been on the want list for a while - more details to follow once it joins the fleet.

[Spiny Norman]

Watched a diesel nearly explode earlier!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY9EGlp3 ... e=youtu.be

 

Excellent! That guy's braver (or stupider) than I'd be to stand beside the engine bay when it's going off like that.

[Richard]

What kind of car was it? Just when I thought I was going to be able to identify it the Zafira got in the way.

 

For pulling the trigger of the LPG nozzle, before the collar was fully secured thus granting me a lovely cold burn, which is sort of nicely peeling, one week later. Lesson learned!

 

Is the Volvo LPG powered then? Also I've cocked up attaching the nozzle in various ways but I've never managed that yet. Was the hood missing? Lesson learned indeed, and in the best way- by somebody else.

[meshking]

I was going to say its a cmax, but then I noticed it has roof rails. Megane estate, perhaps?

[sporty-shite]

I was going to say its a cmax, but then I noticed it has roof rails. Megane estate, perhaps?

 

I thought Megane or Laguna. Would make sense.

[cms206]

It has come time to say that I no longer have the shittest car in my street. The ex Sam Glover 745 has been outshat.

 

 

My neighbours have apparantly raised eyebrows that something so utterly rancid is not mine.

[meshking]

If you wouldn't mind nipping out with some tippex and adding some apostrophes to that heap it would be much appreciated.

[dollywobbler]

If you wouldn't mind nipping out with some tippex and adding some apostrophes to that heap it would be much appreciated.

 

Oh yes! Perhaps you could leave a Grammar Police Penalty Notice on it too.

[trigger]

What a heap!

[skattrd]

Maybe I'm too old to get it, but why has a ruined Polo got blue ovals stuck on it?

[RedSparrow]

My God. It reminds me of that bit in one of the Alien films (I forget which one) where she finds the experimental clones of herself and one of them can just whisper 'kill meee, kill meee'.

[vulgalour]

If it were just a red Polo with white wheels and a Starkers and Crotch decal this would be excellent but as usual with rat rides, they've gone too far and spoiled it.

[dollywobbler]

This boring post entirely sums up the Bluebird experience. I went out to see friends last night - bit of a late one, didn't leave the pub until 1am. Bit damp weatherwise, very cold, so steaming up in full effect. Car obviously starts with no problem, HRW is quickly doing its job but the best thing is the heater blower. On setting 4, recirculate, it produces more hot air than the House of Commons. It's brilliant! I'm used to asthmatic Citroens, so this really is a novelty. But an entirely dull yet useful one. That's what the Bluebird is all about. Dull but useful.

 

What lets the side down is that there is a bank of warning lights just below the main instrument binnacle, which is entirely obscured by the wiper stalk. The main beam one meanwhile is obscured pretty nicely by the steering wheel. I find that especially annoying on a car where they've spent so much time working out fine detail in other areas - like the lovely rotating control for the variable intermittent wipers that includes a slider.

 

In other news, I drove a BMW Z3 today and very annoyingly found it really rather pleasant. That's pissed me right off. T'was only the four-pot as well.

[vulgalour]

Took the cover off the Polo today and stared at it for a bit, trying to make my mind up on his fate. Turns out, I still don't know if I want to keep the car, but I do know I don't want to scrap him, I'm going to focus on getting him MoT ready and see how I feel once he's road ready. Going to take my time with it and buy a Maestro in the meantime, switching the insurance policy from the Polo to the Maestro. That way, I get the best of all things with no added expense... in theory... and I'll end up with four cars (Polo, Maestro, crashed Princess, donor Princess) which was never the plan.

 

This is how you end up turning into Mr Bickle or Mr Boll, isn't it?

[dollywobbler]

Yup. Start of the slippery slope. I'm staring at my driveway of vehicles thinking 'how did this happen?!"

[messerschmitt owner]

Yup. Start of the slippery slope. I'm staring at my driveway of vehicles thinking 'how did this happen?!"

Ditto

[CreepingJesus]

Is the Volvo LPG powered then? Also I've cocked up attaching the nozzle in various ways but I've never managed that yet. Was the hood missing? Lesson learned indeed, and in the best way- by somebody else.

 

No, 'twas not the Volvo (altho' gas would be ideal for it), 'twas a dual fuel Daf XF I get to play with. The pump was the one at the Gleaner station in Cowdenbeath, which will be about the ony thing in Cowdenbeath which doesn't have a hood(ie). I was in a big hurry, and couldn't have had the collar round right. So when I pulled the trigger, it blew the nozzle back out at me.

There hasn't been the idiot proof system yet designed, which could defeat my idiocy.

[Craig the Princess]

Yup. Start of the slippery slope. I'm staring at my driveway of vehicles thinking 'how did this happen?!"

Ditto

 

And they you move house and think, where the hell do I park all 18 of the buggers? Luckily the new house is in rural Norfolk so there is plenty of space and few people around.

[ashmicro]

Drove the bag off a Z3 2.8 some years ago around Duncrue Industrial Estate, Belfast. I'm 5 foot 8 and 9 stone, and I nearly got thrown out of it when it suddenly found grip. That's what I get for not wearing my seatbelt! I liked the car, but bought a C36 AMG instead (from the same chap).

[vulgalour]

Thankfully, most of the houses I've been eyeing up for purchase around here have driveways, often with single garages at the end, with enough space for 3-4 cars and easy access to the back garden where there's space for another 6 cars, sometimes more if I want to sacrifice the whole plot to rusty old heaps.

 

This is the ideal, my grandparents used to have a Blue Star Garage. Can you imagine turning that into a house? Hopefully it comes with the collection outside again.

[dollywobbler]

I nearly got thrown out of it when it suddenly found grip. That's what I get for not wearing my seatbelt!.

 

Funnily enough, I did almost exactly the same thing. I was wearing my seatbelt and it never lost grip in the first place, but I did create enough G-force for it to actually hurt.

 

Moments earlier, I'd created enough G-force in the 2CV for the ignition wiring to come apart. That was embarrassing.

[Pete-M]

Been getting insurance quotes today for a friend of mine. She's 31, clean licence, been driving for 14 years or so, lives in a slightly shit post code (decent enough area, but it's lumped in with somewhere that was a car crime hot spot in the '70s..) rides a motorbike and has 5 years car NCB and similar for her bike, works as a precision engineer.

 

Wants Fully Comp on something reliable and cheap to fix. Must be reasonable to drive and capable of motorway work. No Corsas or Renaults.

 

Quotes as follows.

 

Peugeot 106 diesel = £1000.

Fiesta 1.25 Ghia / Zetec = £1000

Peugeot 306 TD = £1200

Golf Mk2 1.6 Driver = £645

Ka = £695

Golf Mk2 GTi 8v = £850

Micra 1.0 = £900

Impreza WRX = £6490

Polo 1.4 = £850

Golf Mk3 1.4 (NO) = £690

Jag XJR = £1660

Fiesta Zetec S = £1710

 

Go figure.

[Tayne]

Is this because if the EU ruling that insurance companies can't charge different prices for men and women?

Are these figures much higher than last year?

[Pete-M]

She didn't have a car last year, but her car NCB is still ok for a couple of months.

 

It has gone up since her last insurance, but her bike insurance has dropped by more than the car ins has raised.

[STUNO]

Thankfully, most of the houses I've been eyeing up for purchase around here have driveways, often with single garages at the end, with enough space for 3-4 cars and easy access to the back garden where there's space for another 6 cars, sometimes more if I want to sacrifice the whole plot to rusty old heaps.

 

This is the ideal, my grandparents used to have a Blue Star Garage. Can you imagine turning that into a house? Hopefully it comes with the collection outside again.

 

Leave the upstairs garage and put a window from the bedroom. The ramp will also be great for starting cars in the morning! With a fully concreted front yard the view will be spectacular when you buy enough to cram it full.