The new news 24 thread

[Mr_Bo11ox]

1300 quid to insure a small family car, WTF is that about then? Is your mrs a regular crasher?

[beko1987]

1300 quid to insure a small family car, WTF is that about then? Is your mrs a regular crasher?

 

Nope, no accidents (that we got the insurance involved for anyway)

 

I put it down to her 0 no claims discount. She has an introductory offer, and next march will get 5 years no claims, so holding out for then!

 

Can only find the cost breakdown of the ZX and Meriva, so different costs but:

 

ZX - £427.27 fully comp. XM put the policy up by £200 a year, so guessing £627 now

Meriva - £1127.37 fully comp

 

Haven't received a cost breakdown for the XM yet, it was in the renewal docs for last year.

 

So twice as much to insure a woman-mobile than a turbo estate car that could easily smash through a bus stop full of children

[messerschmitt owner]

Jeepers. That's a lot of insurance. My fleet is costing me around £200 a year, unlimited mileage, agreed value, euro breakdown yadda yadda and I've got a fault claim (even though I wasn't the one driving at the time, it was my policy). Mind you, I'm not sure I've ever owned a car worth £15,000!

this covers you for perhaps 4 tops!

 

Mine is

 

Messerschmitt

Bond Minicar

smart roadster - a tad modified (80bhp to 121bhp, plus lowering, etc)

2 x Citroen XM

Fiat Punto cabriolet

Fiat 126

Peugeot scooter

Leyland Sherpa

Berkeley

Mochet

Citroen Dispatch Combi

 

12 vehicles over two locations, with full breakdown cover and low excesses! it's not so bad then!

 

It'll come down putting the smart on off road cover and removing the Sherpa soon.

[dollywobbler]

Yup, at the moment, BX, 2x2CVs (even though the green one is off the road), Merc.

[Skizzer]

Rover failed its MOT on the expected things, plus corroded and unbalanced front brakes (fair enough - it's been standing all winter apart from the odd movement up and down the drive) and the headlamps which have gone cloudy. Matey at the garage reckons the headlamps will polish back with some cutting compound though; sadly the same is not true of the brake discs.

 

Not too bad really, so the old girl will live to waft again.

[coalnotdole]

I have more projects than time to attend to them, Have a very limited amount of space and all my money is currently committed to the coupé so I really should not have bid on this.... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271207477175

 

I wasn't really expecting to win it and now have to A get it home, B Store it and C find time to work on it...

[outlaw118]

Doesn't look THAT bad....

(famous last words)....

Good luck Chuffer!

[trigger]

This afternoon i went to see the chap who I used to work for when I was 14-17 back in 1994-97, He's lovely chap but a bit of a hoarder, I haven't been to his house since I left working for him but having walked into his kitchen 15 years later, nothing had changed.

 

Down the bottom of his garden was his dad's old Morris Marina 1.7 HLS, his dad died in 1990 and he left it under a shed in the orchard which plans of building a kit car, which never happened, it's only covered 36000 miles!

 

1980 Morris Marina 1.7 HLS Estate by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

1980 Morris Marina 1.7 HLS Estate by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

1980 Morris Marina 1.7 HLS Estate by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

Manky! He's still got his 1988 35000 mile Orion 1.6i Ghia in a barn which was the reason went to see him, it's been off the road over 8 years now, sadly he's not keen on selling and said he's been told it's worth £1000, I'm not so sure.

 

I was also pleased to hear the old Morris Ital Van which he had when I was there is also still about and in a barn but needing work, that's only done 41000 miles and i said I might give him £200 for it depending how bad it is now, He's also offered me a J reg Sierra 1.8 LX but I'm pretty sure that's rusty now and it's been outside for a while.

[Cavcraft]

Shit wiring on 306 estate finally examined. It had chafed to bollocks where that plug thing is on the o/s/f door. My lad got busy cutting wiring and redoing, so now (because it's French) we have central locking again (not including the n/s/f door) but the windows fuse has blown so that's for another day. I'll be well happy with working windows, it's crap and embarrassing without them.

[retrogeezer]

So I bought this Cavalier that was described a few times as 'mint' but was far from what I would call mint. O.K, it is solid and not as pink as most but it does need a good bit of work to get up to my standard of mint.

 

One of the sellers pics:

 

 

It was described as not being pink, but it is 'quite' pink.

 

The fella said the arches were not 'frilly or visibly rusty', they are and he proceeded to flake off a 2 inch long strip of paint from the near side at the viewing. They are however solid so just need treating and painting. The centre console and drivers seat are pretty grubby too but will all clean up and I will buy some new gaiters from the bay to tidy it up.

 

There are a few bumper scrapes and a few small dents here and there, don't get me wrong, it is nice and loads better than most, just not 'mint'

 

It drove home fine but will take some getting used to after the Bluebird. I thought I would check the plugs/oil etc earlier and 3 of the plugs were loose in the threads! I'm surprised it was running so well, they are now tightened up!

 

I also hit a few bits with some polish, mostly the o/s rear quarter up to the fuel cap, the tailgate and half the bumper which I thought may not come up but it is so here are some pics:

 

 

 

[binhoker668]

I finally had enough of my lazy ways at the weekend, and decided to attack the 405.

So with some sunlight beating down on my sinewy limbs, I set to work dismantling the door (electric window only partially works, and then you have to help it up), and the passenger's side of the the dash (heater/blower hast been kaput for yonks - yes, it died again).

An hour later, I put it all back together again with a flourish, safe in the knowledge that my hard work had had ABSOLUTELY BUGGER ALL EFFECT.

Ok, maybe the window works a WEE bit better.

But the blower?

Jaysus.

It has become my nemesis.

I DID fix it before whilst up round Volksy's yard, but when it died again, it was clear that it was the end.

SO.

Today, in a fit of pique/misplaced positivity, I purchased a 1998 Xsara blower (which I have decided looks almost exactly the same) on ebay, and I AM GOING TO MAKE IT FIT, AND IT SHALL WORK, AND ALL THE CHILDREN WILL BE SO HAPPY.

Having never posted in News 24 before, I decided that this would be my time.

I shall inform you all of my victory once the post has come, and I have an hour to spare.

To celebrate this, I shall find somewhere to purchase a new 'inside the door frame button that makes the interior light go on and off'. And fit that too.

Hurrah, and good luck to me.

The end.

Chris.

[Cavcraft]

Gah, the more I see of that Cav the more I wished I had the money to buy it when he was selling it. Appreciate what you said about it not being as 'mint' as he described, but that still looks really nice.

[retrogeezer]

Aye, it will clean up a treat Billy, you are welcome to pop round to have a look whenever you want mate.

[dollywobbler]

Mayors don't all swan about in Daimlers these days then? This one smashed his shite Vauxhall into a Tesco.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-22629557

[greengartside]

I thought I recognised that Tesco Express in Bury St. Edmunds - I used to visit that one quite a lot when I lived on that estate.

[Spiny Norman]

Strange two-headed man by the door.....

[dollywobbler]

Strange two-headed man by the door.....

 

That's quite normal in those parts.

[barrett]

The Maestro is already BROKEN again, what a fuggin' nightmare! Can't wait to sort the Standard out and start using that instead (though it will inevitably just break as well).

 

Put the engine back in the Peugeot Quadrillette today after the clutch finally got rebuilt last night, and now the steering has gone all weird. Has about twice as much lock to the right than to the left, and the steering is now ultra twitchy and sensitive. Took it all apart again and can't find anything wrong with the thing. Really bloody annoying. MY boss was planning on driving it 120-odd miles over the weekend so hopefully somebody can figure out what's wrong with it before Friday.

 

ALL OLD CARS ARE SHIT etc

[barefoot]

In other news...

 

Saw an old advert on the Scirocco forum for a strut brace, forty quid plus p&p at cost.

Communicated with the seller, offered to drive over and pick it up and finished the pm thusly - £40?

Fucker came back with £43

I queried it & he said it was a drink in it for him!

Surely there's 13 drinks in it for him anyway.

 

I told him that I'm not prepared to pay ten per cent over the asking price and I'd look for another.

Have I got twat on my forehead or what?

[skattrd]

barefoot - what brace is it for the Scirocco? if it's front lower then I may have a spare one in the garage ...They're also plentiful on ebay for less than £40

[barefoot]

Cheers, I've got a bottom one and its brill.

I just fancied a top one and this seemed ideal.

I'll have a look on eBay, thanks for the tip.

[Skizzer]

Hey Trig, I reckon Volksangyl would have that Marina gleaming in a weekend if you let him loose on it.

 

Rover is now road legal again, and running like a sweet thing . I plan to roll around in it for a couple more weeks then offer it up for sale. Brace yourself for a bargain.

[holbeck]

Some of you may remember I bought RobT's BMW a couple of weeks ago.

So far, I'm loving it.

 

At time of purchase the oil serice light was on, if only for the lack of means to extinguish it.

 

Anyways, feeling very pleased with myself I managed to get hold of the correct thingy to cancel codes via the 20 pin plug on the engine.

 

008 by holbeck251, on Flickr

 

Less pleased now, as the service light is still on even after a pronlonged period of try it with engine running / not running etc.

 

The internet says there are some rechargeable batteries in the instrument pack wich may be flat if the service light cannot be reset. Arse!

 

Any advice would be appreciated

[Negative Creep]

Sold the Yugo to Nigel Bickle. Would have been nice to have gotten it on the road myself, but there was just too much stuff going on outside the world of cars to make it viable. On the plus side I am enjoying alternating between the Corolla and Merc as the daily mode of transport. Completely different to drive but I'm yet to decide which one I prefer

[retrogeezer]

todays shenanigans were to remove the front seats for a clean and hoover/clean the rest of the interior, it all went to plan thanks to the advice on the cav forum about taking out the seats with the pre-tensioners. It's a much nicer place to be now and I got to use armor all for the first time in well over 10 years! New gear and handbrake lever gaiters are on order.

 

Before:

 

 

 

 

after:

 

 

 

[Cavcraft]

We used to spray Vauxhall handbrake and gear knob gaiters with Halford's cheap black rattle cans

[retrogeezer]

The gear lever one loses bits of black every time it is used! I also greased the shaft thing underneath and the gear change is far nicer/smoother than it was.

[kinkersaab]

We used to spray Vauxhall handbrake and gear knob gaiters with Halford's cheap black rattle cans

 

 

.... Me too. And occasionally the black parcel sheves that used to go purple with sun damage.

[Mike D]

I caught my tea with the BMW last night..

 

Unfortunately it was rendered inedible by a plethora of light bulb, plastic and a marinade of concentrated screenwash

 

Thankfully it only took out the headlight, headlight washer and the plastic trim below it, and the lights aren't xenons, so eBay should come up trumps for fixing it for not too much

[shedvan]

^^

 

Is this really how it all ends? Glad I kept those Acme receipts.