The new news 24 thread

[grogee]

Just seen this tweet, thought of @LightBulbFun

[HillmanImp]

Flat battery on the Nissan. 

Its okay, I can just open the door with the key can't I.... 

Feck. 

This is the only door with a keylock too. 

Got ImpJr up on the roof but its too soon after easter and he couldn't get his fat arse through the gap. 

So I looked online to see where the bonnet release was as I can't remember, and thank fuck its on this side. 

Managed to reach in with a wheel nut wrench  and pull it to get the bonnet open. 

As the van is on the drive it's not ideal for a trickle charger so have been looking at a dashboard solar charger.

Has anyone experience of these and any suggestions?

[tooSavvy]

This is headed for bean tins....

https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/223954/1990-mazda-626-off-head?page=1

Sad 😕

[dome]

37 minutes ago, HillmanImp said:

Flat battery on the Nissan. 

Its okay, I can just open the door with the key can't I.... 

Feck. 

This is the only door with a keylock too. 

Got ImpJr up on the roof but its too soon after easter and he couldn't get his fat arse through the gap. 

So I looked online to see where the bonnet release was as I can't remember, and thank fuck its on this side. 

Managed to reach in with a wheel nut wrench  and pull it to get the bonnet open. 

As the van is on the drive it's not ideal for a trickle charger so have been looking at a dashboard solar charger.

Has anyone experience of these and any suggestions?

I've heard tales of folk sticking 12v to the car via a side repeater or the like to get enough power to unlock it. I've never tried it though...

[wuvvum]

London achieved.  Saw some geese.

[wuvvum]

Final train of the day. 

[hairnet]

4 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Station car park modernshite. 

aban. doned.

[320touring]

All hail the mighty Rexton! 

Many thanks to @Lacquer Peel for his excellent Clio moving services.

 

First up, collect the super shiny and fully metal burd's Clio 172 from @GingerNuttz. First time seeing it in the flesh - it looks fucking superb!

Take it to where the 182 was sitting after disgracing itself by blowing a power steering line.

Remove 172, swap with 182

Drop 182 at tame Clio fettler

It's in the queue and will get done.

 

Then take up as much car park as possible whilst going for lunch.

Been a good wee day TOWday🤣

[wuvvum]

Collectioned. 

[bigfella2]

Renaultsport Heaven right there. 👍

[ruffgeezer]

 

52 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Collectioned. 

Blimey,  I'm just reading this issue of Car Mechanics from November 1996...

Well bought.

[High Jetter]

I bet it was a bit* more than £100, despite looking a bit ropey in places.

[sdkrc]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

Collectioned. 

That is fucking superb

[RoverFolkUs]

On 4/26/2023 at 9:36 PM, UltraWomble said:

https://classicoilsshop.co.uk/gtx-classic-10w40

Castrol GTX in proper tins.

🤔

...

...

...

...

😄

[loserone]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

Collectioned. 

Dibs please 

[danthecapriman]

Had a weird but funny one today!

Sat indoors and the door bell rings. 
Look out the front window and there’s two young kids at the door, must have been 12 or 13, something like that. 
Answer the door and they’re really nicely spoken polite kids that have been passing by for the last few months on the way to school. 
Turns out they’re both really into cars, and old cars in particular! 
They’d seen the Mercury on the drive and wondered what it was and were wondering if they could have a look at it! 
One of them asked if it was a Lincoln, which he was actually very very close to being right about. Since they seemed so interested and keen I opened it up and let them have a sit in it and take a few pics. 
They were absolutely over the moon!😁

It’s actually so nice to see the younger generation get excited about stuff like this! Reminds me of how I was at that age. Maybe, hopefully letting them have a proper look will spark a lifelong interest in cars. Hopefully it’ll be those kids looking after these old cars in the future.  
Im a bit surprised they had the balls to knock the door tbh, but fair play. Hopefully that’s not something that gets them in trouble some day though.

[eddyramrod]

Not so much at home, but certainly at shows, I was always happy to let the youngsters sit in Huggy.  As you say, that little experience might just give one of them the bug (or nurture it, because it sounds like it's already taken root!).  Maybe in 30 years one of them will remember that eccentric old bloke with the big green car, find you, buy the car off you and restore it!  If we're still allowed to do such things...

[tooSavvy]

When I was about 9, I saw an old gadger down the bottom of our street with his garage doors open and he was polishing his car..... Hmm, 'lookinn cool, thinks I'..... Bold as brass I asked what it was and if I might look a little closer??

Nice as 9pence, he was.... Only an ffin Holbay Rapier, in silver.

*Yep, didn't know it was a Hunter estate underneath [then...] 🤣🤣

🚙💨

[wuvvum]

And home.

Fuck me, what a drive!  What a heap!  I need a drink and some Paracetamol...

It actually made it back fine, although it needs some looking at.  It's an absolute twat to drive in traffic because it isn't idling properly, and very few of the dashlights work.  Also the speedo is comically optimistic - 85 on the speedo corresponds to 62 on the sat nav...  It has a few other issues that I'll try and look into tomorrow, including a couple of interesting noises that it developed on the way home, but hey, it was a cheap (by today's standards...) Renault 4 so I expect it to need some loving.  It's MOT'd until June and after then it'll be exempt anyway.  The seller spent a lot of money having structural welding done so it should be rather more solid than the 6 even if it is cosmetically (even) rougher.

Plenty of interesting stuff on the roads too - unsurprisingly seeing as it's a sunny Bank Holiday weekend.  The R4 got plenty of looks as you'd expect, and I got a thumbs up (which I returned) off a bloke in a floppytop E30 on the A1M (M11 was closed so got diverted) - that was one of two convertible E30s I saw on the journey.  I also saw two Alfa 8Cs, which was impressive as I've never seen any until now.  And at one point on the M25 I had a black Ferrari either side of me - a 430 Spider on the right and a 400i on the left.

Dinner now, then bike ride to collect the 107 from the station.  Then sleep.

[richardmorris]

2 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Had a weird but funny one today!

Sat indoors and the door bell rings. 
Look out the front window and there’s two young kids at the door, must have been 12 or 13, something like that. 
Answer the door and they’re really nicely spoken polite kids that have been passing by for the last few months on the way to school. 
Turns out they’re both really into cars, and old cars in particular! 
They’d seen the Mercury on the drive and wondered what it was and were wondering if they could have a look at it! 
One of them asked if it was a Lincoln, which he was actually very very close to being right about. Since they seemed so interested and keen I opened it up and let them have a sit in it and take a few pics. 
They were absolutely over the moon!😁

It’s actually so nice to see the younger generation get excited about stuff like this! Reminds me of how I was at that age. Maybe, hopefully letting them have a proper look will spark a lifelong interest in cars. Hopefully it’ll be those kids looking after these old cars in the future.  
Im a bit surprised they had the balls to knock the door tbh, but fair play. Hopefully that’s not something that gets them in trouble some day though.

Our first family trip to france in 1979 , when I was 7, there was a couple with a green Morgan at the same hotel . I was obviously looking at it (things being unheard of in wales at the time ). Owner let me sit in it for a bit. Passion for old cars certainly helped along there.

[Vince70]

It seems to be the week of MOTs for my fleet,  as it was time to put my immaculate E36 Ti through the ticket.

I needn’t have worried though, as she went straight through without an advisory, although on the the journey over,  I did get a slight shake from the steering, which disappeared after about 10 miles, which I put down to a flat spot on one of the tyres, as all I have done in a year is about 500 Miles and 45 miles were for the MOT.

Then on the way back, I had to stop off and repair my Girlfriends son’s yellow mini R50 , as it had an SRS light on and I also pulled a dent out the roof which came out perfect with a big suction cup, plus fitted some new speakers for him.

I will also need to fit a new lcd  in his rev counter and  fit a new cigarette lighter socket plus a new interior light,  as the circuit board inside has a dodgy solder joint.

A new light is  so cheap, though it’s not worth my while trying to find my soldering iron, so all in it should cost about £25 to fix everything.

 

 

[richardmorris]

23 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

And home.

Fuck me, what a drive!  What a heap!  I need a drink and some Paracetamol...

It actually made it back fine, although it needs some looking at.  It's an absolute twat to drive in traffic because it isn't idling properly, and very few of the dashlights work.  Also the speedo is comically optimistic - 85 on the speedo corresponds to 62 on the sat nav...  It has a few other issues that I'll try and look into tomorrow, including a couple of interesting noises that it developed on the way home, but hey, it was a cheap (by today's standards...) Renault 4 so I expect it to need some loving.  It's MOT'd until June and after then it'll be exempt anyway.  The seller spent a lot of money having structural welding done so it should be rather more solid than the 6 even if it is cosmetically (even) rougher.

Plenty of interesting stuff on the roads too - unsurprisingly seeing as it's a sunny Bank Holiday weekend.  The R4 got plenty of looks as you'd expect, and I got a thumbs up (which I returned) off a bloke in a floppytop E30 on the A1M (M11 was closed so got diverted) - that was one of two convertible E30s I saw on the journey.  I also saw two Alfa 8Cs, which was impressive as I've never seen any until now.  And at one point on the M25 I had a black Ferrari either side of me - a 430 Spider on the right and a 400i on the left.

Dinner now, then bike ride to collect the 107 from the station.  Then sleep.

My parents first new car was a white Renault 4, it failed its first mot when the floors fell off the sills. They did I think get some money back from Renault.

[danthecapriman]

4 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

Our first family trip to france in 1979 , when I was 7, there was a couple with a green Morgan at the same hotel . I was obviously looking at it (things being unheard of in wales at the time ). Owner let me sit in it for a bit. Passion for old cars certainly helped along there.

That’s exactly what I was thinking when they asked. 
If it’d been some gobby oik I wouldn’t have entertained it, but they were so polite and enthusiastic I just couldn’t say no! You could just tell they were little petrol heads in the making so I thought I’d let them see it and get in. 
I think we should give kids or even adults like this the experience when we can. Not only to be nice but hopefully encourage what is a great hobby and one that’s running a risk of dying out if it’s not encouraged. Besides that, not everyone can have these things so it’s nice share it sometimes with others.

[brownnova]

3 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Had a weird but funny one today!

Sat indoors and the door bell rings. 
Look out the front window and there’s two young kids at the door, must have been 12 or 13, something like that. 
Answer the door and they’re really nicely spoken polite kids that have been passing by for the last few months on the way to school. 
Turns out they’re both really into cars, and old cars in particular! 
They’d seen the Mercury on the drive and wondered what it was and were wondering if they could have a look at it! 
One of them asked if it was a Lincoln, which he was actually very very close to being right about. Since they seemed so interested and keen I opened it up and let them have a sit in it and take a few pics. 
They were absolutely over the moon!😁

It’s actually so nice to see the younger generation get excited about stuff like this! Reminds me of how I was at that age. Maybe, hopefully letting them have a proper look will spark a lifelong interest in cars. Hopefully it’ll be those kids looking after these old cars in the future.  
Im a bit surprised they had the balls to knock the door tbh, but fair play. Hopefully that’s not something that gets them in trouble some day though.

I’ll bet they’ve taken ages to build the courage to knock on. Fair play to them. 

[brownnova]

34 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

And home.

..

This is properly superb! R4s are ace. 

I saw a white one parked up by the garage I usually use today, I said I might have to pop in and try and buy it, the wife game me a withering look… but she knows I’ll probably try. 

[Mally]

I once came upon a couple of kids peering into my dads CF Camper Van.

It was brand new and posh for it's time. I knew them slightly, and their dad well, so I let them have a sit inside.

3 months later it was broken into and the Radio and a distinctive clock stolen.

A while after that their dad gave me a lift.

Strangely he had an identical clock in his very old Mini.

I said nothing, but had to bite my tongue.

[Ghosty]

3 hours ago, wuvvum said:

I also saw two Alfa 8Cs, which was impressive as I've never seen any until now. 

That would be an absolute how the fuck moment, as they didn't even make a thousand 8Cs.



Are you thinking of 4Cs?


 

[LightBulbFun]

23 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Collectioned. 

thats superb! tbh I was expecting this collection caper to be some sort of suitably shonky more modern car, an old BMW Mini or K11 Micra

cant say I was expecting a Renault 4, did not realise there where any left still in autoshite price range (that still have a floor)

 

the only foreign car supplied by the DHSS on the Invalid vehicle scheme  (issued because of being uniquely adaptable due to the dash gear change and some other small details)

also so my mum has told me in the past quite common in Israel back in the day as a governmental or military staff car of sorts (I cant quite recall the exact details, but she said they where always a few running around, and always white)

[wuvvum]

1 hour ago, Ghosty said:

That would be an absolute how the fuck moment, as they didn't even make a thousand 8Cs.



Are you thinking of 4Cs?


 

That's the one.

[wuvvum]

1 hour ago, LightBulbFun said:

also so my mum has told me in the past quite common in Israel back in the day as a governmental or military staff car of sorts (I cant quite recall the exact details, but she said they where always a few running around, and always white)

White Renault 4s are used as official transport for heads of state too.