The new news 24 thread

[vulgalour]

Well there's a Calender nominee in there if I do say so myself.  Bean are a fascinating and still much loved company, surprisingly, a friend of mine lives/d quite near to where the Bean factory is and while he's not really into cars he was delighted to tell me about them and I learned something new.

[Jim Bergerac]

Love the look of the Scimitar on those (Dunlop?) alloys. I prefer them (heresy alert!) to the Slotmags used on later cars.

[Lord Sterling]

That is very interesting. I sometimes used to pass by the Bean Road industrial estate, I always wondered why it was called 'Bean'. Now I know. Thanks.

[The Moog]

It looks like the xsaras heater matrix is borked. Interior smells of coolant and is misting up more when the heater and ac is on.

 

Is there a bodge on these? I assume the car is assembled around the matrix like most cars

[Richard]

I used industrial strength radweld type stuff, from a commercial motor factor, on the Xantia. It seemed to do the trick for the rest of the car's life.

[The Moog]

Cool will try that. Seems to be at least a days work and for 400 quid motor isn't worth it

[vulgalour]

You mean.... all those days I've wasted on my £450 car haven't been worth it?  I'VE BEEN LIVING A LIE!

[The Moog]

depends whether your car has soul or not. A 51 plate xsara that is own by other half certainly doesn't have anything to sell to the devil inorder to play the blues. In fact the best it can do is pan pipe versions on lady gaga

[worldofceri]

BREAKING NEWS!!

 

New Luxo-chod purchased!  Epic* tat-collection thread some time after tomorrow morning when I can haz tax disc.

[wuvvum]

I am also on a chod collection mission tomorrow (again).  I'm going to be dragging my sorry arse out of bed at 4.30 in order to catch the 5.50 train to Mansfield (no real reason to get up that early except that the train ticket at that time was 6 quid, any later and it jumped to 24), to pick up what will quite possibly be the most dismal car I've ever bought (and I've owned two Volvo S40s).  I'm still not entirely sure why I bid on it, other than it was cheap.  It might well be offered up on here at cost price in the very near future.

[Sloth in a bowl]

 what will quite possibly be the most dismal car I've ever bought (and I've owned two Volvo S40s)

 

I don't like the way you think, unless they were Mitsushitty engined in which, 'carry on'

[phil_lihp]

what will quite possibly be the most dismal car I've ever bought

 

Diesel pov-spec Mk5 Escort?

[wuvvum]

I don't like the way you think, unless they were Mitsushitty engined in which, 'carry on'

 

Yup - 1834cc of pure misery.

 

To be fair, I wouldn't kick a T4 out of bed.

[barefoot]

I have spent a disproportionate amount of time the last two days trying to tax my 944 online, looks like a visit to the post office on monday as nothing seems to want to play.

[trigger]

My dad tonight agreed to lend me the money so that I can get my Cortina resprayed which pleases me greatly, the hard part is now finding the right body shop to do the work although I do have a few contacts that seem happy to do the job.

 

The downside will be that I'll have to sell the Civic in the Spring to that I can pay my dad back.

[HMC]

^Didnt reallise the paint wasnt that great trig, I always thought it looked really smart in the pics!

[cort16]

Does it need a full respray or can you get away with just doing the front?

[Lord Sterling]

Rab C Sterling is booked in on Tuesday to have its top and bottom ball joints changed. Hopefully that'll get rid of awful creaking sound its making on the nsf wheel.

[trigger]

It's a 20 yarder, it looks good in photos but up close the paints faded off, it as a number of dents and lots of patchy aerosol repairs.

 

Does it need a full respray or can you get away with just doing the front?

Sadly not, as the paints so faded that the front end would stand out like sore thumbs plus I have the dents I want to sort at the rear. I might as well bite the bullet and just get it sorted once and for all.

[trigger]

You can see some of the patchy aerosol marks in this photo.

 

[oman5]

^that's still a fantastic looking car. the rostyles really suit it too. *sigh* it seems like only yesterday you could pick an mot'd one up for £250 quid.

[The Moog]

V5 for transit arrived so I can get it sold on. Also ordered Forte Stop which according to FCF is best fix for heater matrix as it doesn't clog other things up. Fingers crossed that will work.

[sporty-shite]

Puma had been running a bit ropey since I bought it, but on the last few days, it had been missing like a pig. Got my mate to plug it in and it came up with coil pack. Euro Car Parts on the way home, coil pack, leads and NGK plugs and it's like a different car. Well chuffed.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

We've had a lot of rain over the last week, so I turned my attention to weatherproofing. 

 

[phil_lihp]

I'm not sure whether this is a Grumpy or Grin thing so I'll put it in here.  I put an old book on eBay and it sold the other day for £1 plus postage.  Now, the postage section states: United Kingdom.  Fair and simple?  I thought so.

 

I went to put the parcel on to Parcels2Go along with some other bits I've sold and was surprised when it only gave me one postage option for the buyer - £22.  I realised their address was in Northern Ireland.  I checked the Royal Mail website and it offered a £12 option as the cheapest option as it was classed as a small parcel.

 

I emailed the buyer with this:

 

_____________

 

Hi,

Please can you provide a UK address for this to be sent to? As per description, postage is to UK only at £3.50 - it will cost a minimum of £12 to sent it to ROI.

Thanks,

_____________

 

 

The reply has me lost for words.  I just don't know what I should say to this, I seem to have touched a nerve but I am not entirely sure how.

 

_____________

 

I've no idea why you gave me the postage for another country which has no connection to Northern Ireland where I live except their illegal claim on this part of the United Kingdom. I paid UK postage because I am in the UK and it says United Kingdom on my postal details provided to you by ebay. If I lived outside the United Kingdom,ebay wouldn't have let me pay postage for the United Kingdom.

Can I tell you that it's the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,not the United Kingdom of England,Scotland and the Principality of Wales. You gave postage for the UK,not Great Britain and even though some people here don't recognise our Union,Royal Mail still operates here and still has the Queens Crown on their badge.
Your's British Til' I Die,

_____________

 

That's quite a rant.  I'm not sure if she thinks I'm somehow responsible for the division of Ireland?  It's a bit before my time to be honest and frankly I'm not bothered whether she was in NI or Algeria, it's still going to cost more to send.

[skattrd]

As the buyer states Northern Ireland is in the UK, so a Belfast address is a UK address - it's kind of what the fighting was about.

ROI is Southern Ireland or Eire, NOT Northern Ireland.

[phil_lihp]

Ah of course it is, my mistake there, not sure how I didn't spot that.  Typed the email in a rush and didn't think, still not sure the response was warranted though.

[HillmanImp]

LOL. He will probably cover his bedroom in his own excrement and then go on hunger strike until it arrives.

[ShiteRider]

Tell him you'll go to confessional, to absolve your sin......he'll love that.

[phil_lihp]

I sent a very polite email ignoring the ranting, apologising for any offence caused by the typo and offering to either send to a mainland UK address for the original amount, send it to their address if they stump up the extra (rather pointless on a £1 book) or I can just cancel the transaction.

 

The reply I got was even longer and angrier, I haven't even read the whole thing.  Another polite response sent.  All this over a £1 book!  I've said I'll try taking it to the PO on Monday to see if they'll do it for a lower price.

 

Edit.  And now I've had a short, polite little email to say thanks.  What on earth...!