The new news 24 thread

[Angrydicky]

That 10 tourer is gorgeous! I'd love to have a look around that place, in fact if I was wealthier I'd like to buy the business.

[Richard]

Slightly alarmed by how close the postie wanted to park next to my cars this morning, especially given the state of his van!

 

 

The front bumper is held together with zip ties while most of the rear bumper seems to be missing.

 

I once saw a postie take out a Sherpa van that was boxed in at the depot. He dragged it right along the side of another Sherpa so hard that the second one was leaning right over on the bump stops.

[Mr Livered]

I was talking to our local (Dartmoor) posties the other day. They come and drink tea leaning against the Aga in the village post office. They were complaining that they're expected to keep their vans for ten years, with minimal maintenance on offer in the meantime.

 

However I'm not sure that fully explains the truly abysmal state their vans all seem to be in...

[catsinthewelder]

Our local mob have an utterley knackered LDV Maxus in Pogweasel pink with great big rusty gashes down the side of the roof,  the accidental ratlook is somewhat enhanced with welsh signwriting showing that it was a cast off from somewhere west of here.

 

I'll try and get a picture at some point.

 

The collection of Vauxhall Combos that they buzz around in display a variety of experimental new colour schemes though the one that I fixed for them (gear linkage fell off) was in the standard colours.

[dollywobbler]

Our postie has been testing a Land Rover 90 recently. Just what a Postie needs. Something hideously uncomfortable, that's a pain in the arse to get into and has the turning circle of an oil tanker. He doesn't like it.

[jonathan_dyane]

I've treated the Vectra to a set of part worns and the tracking done (the inside of the drivers tyre was rubbing the inner wing at full lock due to the last idiot who did the tracking not bothering to do it with the steering centred). Drives a lot better now without the remoulds which actually had some portions of tread missing.

 

I'm going to change the oil and filter, diesel filter and having inspected the brakes while the wheels were off front and rear brake pads. Still enjoying it but can't wait to get rid of the window tint mind!

[anonymous user]

Our postie has been testing a Land Rover 90 recently. Just what a Postie needs. Something hideously uncomfortable, that's a pain in the arse to get into and has the turning circle of an oil tanker. He doesn't like it.

But at least you should still get all your parcels from Harrods bills through when it snows, out there in the wilds.

[dollywobbler]

We did anyway! Our usual postie (not the one with van/parking issues) simply parked his Combo at the end of our driveway, and trudged through the snow to reach us and deliver the mail. He's a top bloke. Mind you, we've not had snow that bad since 2010.

[Barry Cade]

Scored a nice pair of VISE grips today, still attached to the track rod end of an Astra in for an MOT. Sweet

[cobblers]

I put my 106 in for a test years ago and got a load of laughs and my 10mm ratchet spanner and chonko moley grips passed back to me off the handbrake cable. They had been there for a couple of months!

[jonathan_dyane]

Last year at MOT I found that my ebay Rover 620D had mole grips clamping off a brake hose at the rear which was no longer attached to it's brake calliper. *How I Laughed.

[vulgalour]

Liquid crystal radio/trip computer display in the Toyota has been fading for the last couple of years and finally got to the point you couldn't see jack. Anyone know why this happens? Anyway, managed to score one on the Bay for a tenner plus post and half an hour of dismantling the centre stack on the dashboard and all is visible again.

 

I gather the contacts get mucky somehow and an LCD display can be reinvigorated with application of a normal pencil eraser on the contacts until they go shiny again.  I don't know if this is true in your particular situation, but it is what I have been led to believe and I have seen it work on a SAAB and a Xantia.

[dugong]

I am losing the will to live sorting the Amazon out. Monster aggravation. 

[The Moog]

Xantia has decided to reward my decision about its future by sticking on its nsf caliper. Brilliant.

How easy is it to rebuild the calipers with front handbrakes? Kits seem to be about 30 quid

EDIT: Ebay has rebuilt ones for £25. Not worth the pissing about to fix the current one. Just need to check they work with Estates as they had larger discs. Although think that is just the Caliper Mount that was bigger.

[Ratdat]

Ran the Cherry Europe in for it's test this morning which is sailed though (fairly obviously really!). Yes, that's right... the most expensive car I've ever bought and it came without any MOT! I wasn't overly concerned as having seen the condition I didn't really think it'd be an issue getting it through. It's actually the first time I have driven it. It feels quite stiff and new but goes pretty well and sounds great when given some beans. I meant to take some nice pics whilst it was out but forgot to take my camera. Duh. 

[trigger]

Great news, look forwards to seeing more photos of it!

 

 

My daily Focus is still being rubbish having problems starting, engine malfunction warnings and tyre pressure system warning lights coming up, it goes into the garage tomorrow so I'm expecting a big bill which I could do without.

 

Bloody modern cars grumble grumble...

[ruffgeezer]

Is the Cherry Europe similar or the same as the Alfa Romeo Arna?

[HMC]

Been using the 504 as a daily since the tax disc arrived last week. Colc lobbed a fresh battery on it just before i picked it up and its a ready starter, though from cold accompanied by an industrial revolutionesque amount of smoke, a bit like an old deltic in the clagging thread!

 

Went up for a jog on the moor this morning, held up a school mum charging about in her range rover sport as I climbed a long hill on the way up to dartmoor. Its quite a relaxing drive with a decent amount of torque from virtually idle.

A bit bleak high on the moor but the brilliant heater kept me insulated from the cold wind.

 

[phil_lihp]

Love the patina on the 504, it wears its mileage well all things considered.  I know the hill you mean, always ended up leading a convoy up there at holiday times in my 1.0 Citroen AX back in my student days when it was loaded up with all my worldly goods.  

[Ratdat]

Is the Cherry Europe similar or the same as the Alfa Romeo Arna?

 

Essentially the same. They came off the same production line in Italy and the only different parts on a Cherry as opposed to an Arna, are the badges front and rear, the centre caps on the wheels and the steering wheel centre. They look like a Nissan but actually ARE an Alfa Romeo rebadged as a Nissan. Bizarre.

Most of Europe only got them as Arnas as intended, but the UK and Spain breifly got them with Nissan Cherry badges (Spain only got GTi's...about 300 were sold there).

[MrDuke]

It's always baffled me exactly why Nissan and Alfa decided to do things that way. The world could have had an Alfasud with bombproof Japanese engine & running gear, but oh no.....

[Inspector Morose]

Yeah but they would've rotted quicker than...oh wait.

[Ratdat]

It's always baffled me exactly why Nissan and Alfa decided to do things that way. The world could have had an Alfasud with bombproof Japanese engine & running gear, but oh no.....

 

They couldn't. The car had to be more than 80% Italian components to qualify as locally built rather than an import. The Alfasud needed replacing with something more modern looking and Alfa were skint and couldn't afford to design anything new. By using the Cherry body, they saved themselves a whole lot of development cost and time, meaning they could get it to market faster. 

 

There's actually nothing really wrong with the car itself. It's better built than an Alfasud, as well as faster due to it being lighter. It's also better equipped. The boxy styling was modern and not far removed from other Alfas of that era such as the 33, 90 and 6 but part of the problem was that it just looked too similar to the Japanese product, also on sale in Europe. I think if they had used the B11 Sunny hatchback body, which wasn't sold outside of Japan they would have done much better in that regard.

 

Incidentally, everyone thinks this car was a failure right from the off, but it wasn't. Early road tests are very positive and initial sales strong. The first year here, when it was only being sold as a Cherry (no Arnas until '85) Nissan were selling more Cherry Europes alone than Alfa were selling cars in total. Something odd occured after about a year of sales. The media who had been so positive about it, turned on it and the negative press caused sales to plummet. 

[cort16]

£92 to insure the Cortina for a year full comp, social and commuting. I can live with that.

[Skoze]

I just found the owner of the X-Pack Capri my dad built in the 80's. Made contact about 4 years a go then lost touch again, have just tracked him down and am waiting oh so impatiently for a reply. 

 

I'm gonna do literally everything I can to get it back on the drive. 

[Skoze]

NEWS JUST IN

"Hi Matt, Sorry to hear about your dad. I do still have the car and she hasn't moved much in the last 15 years, shame but life, kids, etc all take over as working and spending all of your money on cars is a rich persons or a single persons lifestyle and I am not either of those anymore, never was rich..

 

Doesn't look quite as pretty as the attached pic at the moment as slightly dismantled but is still in as good shape only covered with huge amounts of dust, but always dry and rust free and up on stands. Nothing a wash and polish wouldn't put back to the above.
Happy to talk anytime."

 

Well, here we go... 

[trigger]

Good luck!

[dollywobbler]

Meanwhile, Catsinthewelder's BX has passed the MOT, so hopefully we can do some diesel swappage next week. I've still got loads of BX parts knocking about, and I'm looking forward to a return to quirky, angular motoring.

[scruff]

Yes yes yes Matt, awesome news!!!

[vulgalour]

Good news, Mr Wobbler.  I still have the parcel shelf from stripey and a new backbox with pipes attached that I bought but never got as far as fitting if they're of use?  I might have some other BX nicknacks too that you're welcome to.  Could bring to Shitefest Cymru.