The new news 24 thread

[trigger]

I won't go into too much detail here but my sister sells new cars for a large dealership, recently a young lady ordered a new car but there was a few weeks wait and as the mot on her trade in was running out they offered her a brand new Punto courtesy car to use, she rang them the other day to arrange collecting the new car and returning the courtesy car back and whilst in conversation mentioned she marked the body on post but it was only a small mark.

 

Imagine their shock when she brought the car back a few days ago...

 

[twosmoke300]

Couldnt someone have given the ax a bump start?

[cms206]

Off during the day today so I popped past a local tourist attraction 'cos it's only just along the road...

[Cavcraft]

/\

FUCKING LOL @CMS!

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, stupid and co went to tow my lad's car back today. There was a massive oil slick underneath so even starting the engine was out of the question. Not being 'down the kids, yo' I totally failed to realise the best way to be in the car being towed is to have your sunglasses on (despite it pissing down and being really grey) and your stereo on full tilt. Oh, how I didn't laugh as my clutch tried to set fire to itself and sat there with his brakes on! Anyhow we somehow got home intact, the jury will be out next week on his car but 'never mind, I'll just go out and buy a brand new car instead, something cool like an Audi'   

 

 

 

[Lord Sterling]

^^^ LMAO @ CMS

 

Best thing I've seen in a while. I reckon we should start a Savvy photo competition/craze just like how 'Wollarding' became popular.

[dollywobbler]

DW, Metrobus eh? I might know one or two things about those if you need a hand! I'd suggest a National would be more up your street though, as you've driven one before and, anyway, it's the Autoshite bus of choice! Might know one or two things about those too!

 

Chance to play buses? will travel, have tools!

 

The Metrobus feels more like the bus of my younger years, though thinking about it, Nationals transported me to and from school and then (the same buses for the same company) the night bus to get home from the clubs. A single-decker may make more sense - there are a lot of low trees around here, though a chap in the village copes with his AEC RT (former London Transport). 

[Inspector Morose]

You don't trip over Nationals like you could a few years back, they're getting very thin on the ground now. Even a good few of the ones that initially made it into preservation have shuffled off their mortal coils now. Thinking a bit, there was an ex WMPTE mk2 National in peril up in Scotland not too long back. It was all painted back blue and cream and everything. Don't know what happened to it, maybe CMS might know? It was DOC41V.

 

All this talk of RTs and stuff makes me want to move in the Welsh direction!

[Craig the Princess]

Couldnt someone have given the ax a bump start?

 

You would have thought so, the police were a little busy so that was understandable but a picture of getting a jump start off a fire engine would have been something.

[greengartside]

Went to have a look at a K11 Micra on Monday. Spent a couple of hours trawling through various A-roads and Hertfordshire countryside until I finally found the place, in the arse-end of nowhere. Garage looked tidy enough (converted warehouse I think) - plenty of exotic motors of which my whole year's wage wouldn't cover. Bloke drives the Micra from 'round the back' and I nearly choked on my cup of coffee. Dents everywhere and it looked like something had been smashed across the roof which was probably why it was so cheap. That and a knackered spare wheel (from a massiver kerbing incident?) put me right off it. Yes it was a cheap car but I've got to transport SWMBO and Baby GG around soon and I'd rather be a bit more choosy while I've still got the chance. So that put me in a right foul mood.

 

I'm still on the lookout for a K11 Micra in 5 door flavour if anyone knows of one going?

[Lord Sterling]

Green - Theres usually plenty of K11 Micras for sale around here in Birmingham. I'll keep my eye out for any I pass by.

[greengartside]

Ta very muchly Lord S...

 

..oh on the way back I saw Daverapid in his lovely little Skoda trundling along the A505 near Duxford - made my journey a little better!

[holbeck]

BMW passed MOT! Only required adjustment of washer jets.

[vulgalour]

Just returned from Casa Watanadugongabe out in Stockportia and can report that the Princess is being alarmingly okay, eating up the miles with no worries at all.  My headlights are adjusted completely wrong and illuminate approximately 2 feet in front of me.  Got to see the Peugeot 305 and can report it is awesome, looking forward to that one being back out in the wild.  I also got to say hello to the horses that live nearby, made me realise how much I miss doing stable work, the only job that's ever got me out of bed willingly before the sun rises and in the middle of winter for zero pay, it's pretty rewarding stuff.

 

Today feels like it has been a good, if tiring, day and I have an extra 100 miles under my belt to make up for the 2 months of inactivity from sphere failure.

[dollywobbler]

In utterly non-shite news, I've been penning some thoughts about the Nissan Leaf. http://classichub.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/nissan-leaf-the-full-review/

 

In shite news, the dates for our Scottish Holiday are fixed and I think we've decided to take the Sirion rather than the 2CV. Yes, leaving the 4x4 at home seems wise. The cottage we're staying in is about 580 miles away from here. We'll be covering a lot of miles then. 

[dollywobbler]

That sort of area. No idea exactly where. I just said "yeah, sounds good. Book it." That's my usual approach to holidays. I'm sure it'll be fine. This'll be our first proper 'get away from the house and stay somewhere that isn't a field' holiday in over three years. The bus fund is depleted before it was even started!

[Micrashed]

Working for the next couple of weekends....

 

So jumped in the MicraShed & got the 8 foot Christmas Tree...

Remember - Christmas is all about the baby cheeses

[HMC]

Im impressed that you managed to fit an 8 foot xmas tree in the micrashed!!!

 

Looks like changing gear was a prickly experience!

[wuvvum]

Today I have mostly been collecting a Renault Laguna from Sheffield.  Here's a rubbish phone picture:

 

 

I was actually supposed to be collecting it yesterday, and dragged myself out of bed at stupid o'clock to catch the 06:52 from Norwich as the seller was going to work at 12.  Unfortunately the rubbish East Midlands Trains class 158 locked its brakes on just south of Wymondham, and we sat there for an hour and a quarter waiting for the next train to come along - once the two trains had been connected, the brakes then released for some reason, but by then it was going to be too late so I got off at the next station and headed home.

 

Today's journey went rather more smoothly, and was memorable for the fact that I got my first ever ride in a Pacer.  It was just as dreadful as I'd hoped - slow, noisy, uncomfortable, rattly, bouncy.  Proper trainshite.  Made my day.

 

The Laguna isn't particularly interesting - it's a 1.9 DCi, notable only for being, after 420 assorted cars and vans, the first one I've ever owned with a six-speed gearbox (not counting various Reliant and Rootes products with overdrive on 3rd and 4th, and the daft CVT Primera with six preset stages), which gives a nicely relaxed 2,000rpm / 70mph cruise.  The little 1.9 engine seems to cope quite well with the high gearing, and I pulled off several overtaking manoeuvres in 6th.  I have no idea what the power output is, but it seems to have plenty of grunt for such a small engine.  It's a Privilege, so it has climate control and half leather seats, but no cruise or satnav.  Seems to be pretty good on diesel so far. 

 

It needs a few bits doing (it's an 11-year-old Renault) - it's suffered from the usual rear wiper failure, the tailgate catch needs looking at, and I think the tracking needs doing as it's a bit wandery at low speeds.  It was cheap though, and it's tested until next May so I'm going to run it around until the MoT runs out or something terminal goes wrong, whichever comes first (place your bets now...), and then flog it for the gearbox.

 

Disappointingly little in the way of tat on the roads today - I did see a very tidy white omglateregistrationmadness F-plate Mk2 Cavalier on the M1, and an R-reg Rover Sterling fastback overtaking a line of traffic on the A17, but that was about it.

 

So overall, a rather dull collection mission, but worth doing just for the trip in the Pacer.

[MrDuke]

Im impressed that you managed to fit that much cheese in the micrashed!!!

 

EFA

[Lord Sterling]

an R-reg Rover Sterling fastback overtaking a line of traffic on the A17

Ooh! For a second I thought you'd seen me until I re-read 'Fastback'.

 

I saw quite a bit of shite myself today on the way back from work. I saw a White Mk2 Fiesta, an R-reg Merc E200 and some old 50s/60s Volvo N85 truck thing sitting in a yard in Walsall near where I work.

 

Tomorrow, my Sutton Coldfield dwelling 800s will be moved to their new barn, hopefully I can clear out the garage tomorrow and leave Monday as a nice day off. I shall try and take pics when my Rovers are together. Later on, maybe in a few weeks, the 820e will also join my other Rovers. But I'm in 2 minds whether to book it in for an MOT and drive it to Worcester from Telford or simply have it recovered. I might just plump for the latter.

[Micrashed]

and a knackered spare wheel (from a massiver kerbing incident?) put me right off it. 

 

I have spare K11 Rimz as far as the eye can see - all free, for gratis and for nothing if you desire.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I was just about to drive from Wisbech to stoke today in my van when i noticed the front tyres were ABSOLUTELY FUCKED, with steel cords not just visible but worn right through! I was well ashamed to have let them get so bad and as penance went straight to the nearest tyre shop and allowed them to bum me for 160 sheets for a pair of budget tyres and a tracking job. I've never had the tracking done on the Doblo and it was a flipping mile out, I'm now hoping I'll coax one or two extra miles out of every gallon.

[Honey Badger]

Nice bright morning in Badger towers today.

 

Decision was made to clean the cars after the 2nd coffee of the day, 4 surprisingly enjoyable hours later both Hondas are clean, waxed, sealed and pleasingly spangly, fuggin ace I thought as I sat down to watch the footy and glance occasionally out of the window at the gleaming cars on the drive.

 

All was at peace in the world as I drank beer and "enjoyed" West Brom Vs the toon on the box.

 

Till I got up to go for a piss.

 

Massive back spasm, sciatica and much swearing, spending the next 20 minutes on the floor trying to work out if pissing myself is a better idea  than attempting to climb the stairs in agony, if Mrs Badger hadn't come home early to help me up the pissing myself option might have won, I could always have blamed the cat for small* damp stain on the carpet.

 

Instead of a night on the lash with the lads, I've spent all night flat on my back in bed watching shit TV, can't even see the cars from my bedroom window.

 

Cars can stay dirty next time.

[wuvvum]

You did well to get on a Pacer Wuv, I'm no train expert but relatively few routes round here still seem to include them. Even the crappy little backwaters seem to get a Sprinter of some description.

 

Every time I've got a connection from Sheffield or Doncaster there's always been a few Pacers rattling in and out, and I've always waited with bated breath for my train, only to see, as you say, another fugging Sprinter pull up to the platform.  When I saw the Pacer pull up this morning (it was a chugger service from Sheffield to Leeds, stopping roughly every 400 yards), I may possibly have let out an audible "Yesss!" - fortunately there wasn't anyone standing close enough to hear.

[catsinthewelder]

Get your pacer action in soon chaps, they'll all be DDA'ed out of service by 2015

 

Fleet news here is that the BX is clean-ish and judders under braking, I'm hoping this means that the shitted up rear brakes are working rather than they are broken and it also has problems up front.

[ruffgeezer]

Sold the Ax Vts, now to perfect a time machine and go back to buy Skattrd's Rvr...

[dollywobbler]

This low-res shot in no way confers how much better this pair look for a wash. The 2CV appears to gave tar spots absolutely covering the nearside front wheel and panels. Time for more scrubbing (after lunch). 

 

Should be getting a full set of winter tyres (Avon Ice Touring - very aggressive pattern!) fitted to the Sirion tomorrow, ahead of our Scottish adventure later in the month. Would a full set of tyres fit in the boot?

 

Yes! Sort of. Did have to release the rear seat backs and move them forward an inch or so. 

[trigger]

Yesterday my dad fitted a few speedo cable on the Civic for me so today I decided to make the most of a dry afternoon and took the old girl for a drive, I do enjoy driving the car, it's so easy to drive for a 40 year old car and it's very peppy, easily keeping up with the modern traffic.

 

I took a few photos whilst I was out in some of the surrounding villages.

 

 

This old bus is a cafe of some kind, I've past it a number of times on the A14 but never stopped there before.

 

 

 

I found this village garage too still complete with it's old pumps, they had old Duckhams signs up too.

 

 

 

I ended up at a old boarded up water works nearby, I've taken a few photos of my cars here as it's quiet and it's a interesting background i think.

[HMC]

Really atmospheric pics, trig. Could have easily been taken with it as a new car at a country garage!

 

Whenever fatha_trigger is mentioned I picture  a chap in a flat cap changing a wheel on a vauxhall ventora being helped by very young trig jr!

[trigger]

He hasn't changed much! Mind you today it was my turn to wear the flat cap. Keeping it real homie!