The new news 24 thread

[messerschmitt owner]

Trig

Glad it looks as good as it does. Well chuffed those wings are soooooo good.

[fordperv]

Trig the cortina looks the sex it's giving me feelings that I can't control

 

I need a cortina in my life

[darkfour]

The local Chrysler/Dodge dealership is celebrating 40 years of business and today they a small event with "Big Daddy" Don Garlits and couple of his race cars in attendance. Took the opportunity to take along the '67 Dart despite being far from a show car.

 

His first car was a new model Challenger with a Viper engine, the second was Swamp Rat XII. He started both up, the Challenger was loud but when the rail started it made sound like a Prius.

 

 

Not easy to see but you sit behind the rear axle with the differential between your knees. Best hope that pumpkin holds out, otherwise the family jewels are history.

 

Driver's view

 

I've got a video of the car being started but it's over 400 MB and have yet to find somewhere to host it.

 

 

[trigger]

Thanks for the kind words everyone, I'm really pleased!, There's a few little bits that someone fussier would pick up on, mainly where I've been polishing it in the past the wax has reacted on the boot lid with the new paint and on the top of a rear 1/4 panel, The garage said they painted that bit 3 times to try and remove it but it kept coming back! Still you'd be hard pushed to see it plus there's a small dent on the top of the N/S wing which they missed but it was a £2000 paint job, not a £5000, for the money it looks perfect!.

 

Me and my dad started work on it around 11.30 this morning, I haven't got many photos as dad kept telling me off when i pick my phone up but by 5.30pm it was looking like this...

 

 

What a transformation! we had a few problems, mainly getting the wiper arms out of the scuttle as a arm had dropped inside and a few earthing problems with the old lights but mostly it was easy enough.

 

 

 

I've refitted all the door cards and took it up the road for it's first drive since October, what a head turner!, I got pestered at the petrol station my a deaf man which was hard work though!

 

Tomorrow I'm fitting the chrome arch trims and if i can find some clips the wing badges also then I'll have to decide weather to fit the white pin stripe again or not.

 

 

[beko1987]

I quite often do 90 mile round trips in my 1.0 at erm 'motorway speeds'. No diesels in soz.

What's the mpjeez? Needs to be better than 29 at 60 grandadding along. Went to the tip earlier, and freebird came on as we left. Might have scared my mate showing him how much you can throw an xm around! Munched shit loads of fuel though

[M'coli]

Trigger, that Cortina's lush.  Can I have its babies?

[M'coli]

New heater matrix fitted to the 205, £33 inc. vat from GSF.  The first good news is it's not spilling coolant into the footwell: the second good news is that it hasn't really improved the heater itself, proving that a new heater matrix before the winter would have made shag-all difference to how cold the car felt on the way to work, so I wasn't unnecessarily not changing it to make the heater better.

 

The bad news is that the bleed valve in the heater top hose seems to have detached itself from the top hose and is spinning around and leaking ever so slightly.

[dollywobbler]

Pride of Longbridge was pretty huge this year. My foot hurt so I limped off early in a bit of a huff. Nice to meet those I did meet! Sirion performing well. I suspect it is no longer achieving 60mpg... Great fun!

[wuvvum]

Well the Scenic has now completed a week of daily duties and is yet to go bang.  It has thus beaten the Laguna into a cocked hat and is now hot on the heels of the 406.  I don't actually mind the old thing, despite the minging colour and the horrible snatchy brakes (which seem to be a running theme on that particular era of French cars).  Computer says it's been averaging 51.5mpg so far, which isn't bad going for a 7-seater people carrier.

 

I pulled the Rover of Doom onto the driveway today to give it a hoover out, which it needed badly after sitting full of crap in a muddy car park for the better part of two years.  I also found a packet of upholstery wipes and got rid of the mould on the steering wheel boss and rear seatbelts.  Then I thought I'd take it for a quick run round the block, but when I got to the end of the road I thought "fuck it", turned right instead of left and ended up driving for 25 miles.  That should have got rid of the rust on the brake discs anyway...  It's still gutless (I still reckon it's the cat), but I do like driving it even so.

 

I also extricated the Spacy from hibernation in the back of the van, and stuck the Bali in there in its place as I thought having four bikes on my patio might be seen as a bit excessive.  I haven't got round to starting the Spacy yet as I'd nicked its battery for the Beluga, but tomorrow if the weather isn't too bad I'll get it going and take it for a spin.  If everything seems shipshape I'll book it in for its MOT, and then I can start using it to run to work on, which was the intention when I bought the thing nearly two years ago. 

[RobT]

I spent three hours today cleaning the Cavalier as the bodywork was rank, don't think it's ever been polished and all the trim was encrusted with moss/dirt. It looks a lot better but will never be good as it has too many dents and the rear arches are a bit crusty. Photos to follow tomorrow as my camera battery is flat.

[vulgalour]

Went to the Triumph clubhouse and saw a very early Bone Equipe and a BROWN Acclaim which was great.  Nearly died from noise, vibration and exhaust poisoning in the GT6.  Suffered a stonking headache that bordered on a migraine for most of the afternoon and spent most of it asleep when we got back, but I think the GT6 just added to an existing 2 day headache rather than causing it.  Feeling a bit better now, but NEC tomorrow is off as I'm just not up to another ordeal in the GT6 which, lovely though it is, will not do my head any favours.

 

Also been window shopping for Heralds and Mayflowers.  Don't worry, I can't buy either, though there is a very tempting Herald estate with black wheels on eBay at the moment for £500 in my watch list 'just in case'.  Work on the 6 is slow, MrDuke has been very busy with his own business concerns and it's looking less and less likely that I'll make Shitefest the more I try and sort out my own situation and try and avoid spending my slowly growing savings.

 

Things are probably on the up, I just have to be very mean to myself for a bit longer so that I can get enough money put away to move house.  Also, I have no transport at the moment as beige Princess now has an expired MoT and the red Princess hasn't had an MoT since 1997 or thereabouts and isn't ready for one just yet and the two Omegas I have access to aren't exactly well at present.  Legs it is then.

 

Oh, and the Twitter issue was a lack of Service Pack 3 on my Windows XP installation, that's now fixed.  Unfortunately, my computer cannot run Carmaggeddon:Reincarnation because it isn't a high enough spec and doesn't run Windows 7, but then I haven't been able to afford to upgrade this machine for quite some time now.

[Wilko220]

+1 on Trigger's Tina. It's a really attractive and eye-catching colour, brought out even better now.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Today I actually used Autoshite advice*.

 

 

It wasn't entirely successful,so I used a screwdriver and tin snips on one of them.

 

 

The locker was the only one that wasn't knackered, Chrysler Quality*.

[vulgalour]

I've not made this request before, but I'm seriously interested in this Triumph, can't seem to get it out of my head in fact.  Is there someone in the Bexhill area that could take a look and report back?

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251501915663?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2648&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

[nacho man]

My cousin is a bit of a "wheeler dealer" which is amusing. Anyhow he rang me up to come look at a xr2 he has just got in.

 

 

He was just putting the badge back on after giving it a machine polish. It's ace 65k, could be 265k as no history apart from mots for the last few years. No rust anywhere and four good Pirelli p600's clean oil and filters so Shirley been looked after??

 

 

Picture makes it look dirty but it is mintola inside and even the cvh is quiet!!!

 

All for 900 quid.

 

P.s he is the doctor number 2 so will be sold for 2000 plus!!! Why can't I be doctor number 2.

 

I would buy for 2000 and sell for 900.

[wuvvum]

The S60 sold this afternoon.  Rather sad to see it go, but needs must.  I'll probably have another fast Volvo once I've got a bit of money together again - might go for a V70 next time though.

 

The Spacy fired up first push of the button after its six-month hibernation - I wouldn't have expected anything less from an old four-stroke Honda tbh.  After topping up the oil I took it for a run round the block, which it completed successfully - the rear brake is pretty much non-existant but I think that's due to the cable having come unclipped somewhere along its run rather than anything more sinister.  It's also idling rather high, but that should be easy enough to sort.  I'll have a play with it over the bank holiday, weather permitting, and hopefully get it ready for its test.

[Mr Lobster]

In twenty two years of car ownership I have never had a car with aftermarket spotlights.  I do however have a pair of Ring spotlights sat in a box in the garage and a Renault 4 thats not brilliant in the dark.

 

So this afternoon....

 

 

I'm not 100% convinced tbh, so they might come off yet. Anyone any thoughts?

[Lord Sterling]

Today I have been mostly cleaning a Daihatsu Sirion, the Sirion is in fact a company car on loan to one of the houses. I don't know how long the firm have owned it for but it is the only vehicle at our particular outlet place that is owned by the company. The rest of the cars are leased Fabias.

 

The Sirion looks as if it's never been cleaned so it was good to blast a hose at it. I have also been cleaning another Fabia which has also never seen a bucket and sponge. The other Fabia was left at ours whilst it's driver was off delivering his Fiat Marea to his girlfriends. The Fiat was also valeted by me before it was put back on the road.

 

I will upload a picture here as soon as I can find a computer that actually works with PhotoFUCKET.

 

Meanwhile you'll have to do with this, it's exactly the same colour as this Sirion albeit a bit battered and without the nice wheeltrims and silvery side stripes:

 

[anonymous user]

Managed to free off the clutch on the A35 today and took it around the block for a short run.

[DVee8]

Mr L that Reno 4 is lovely and i would keep the spots

[Skizzer]

Mr L that Reno 4 is lovely and i would keep the spots

+1, they really suit it. Yellow bulbs for the jackpot though.

[DVee8]

Mr Lobster can we have more photos of this lovely van?

[Cavcraft]

Any thoughts?

 

Yes. You have a seriously classy van and the spot lights just make it better.

[richardmorris]

I have just overtaken an Aston Martin Vanquish in the 2CV   - was he surprised  77mph on the satnav and the speedometer needle wedged against the plastic stop! To be fair I don't think he appreciated it so he put his phone down and shot past at about 90. Did a little tweak to the mixture screw yesterday and it seems to have worked . Still waiting for the merc. to be fixed, but at least it's booked now for good Friday and Saturday.

[HillmanImp]

I agree the Cortina looks ace. Very jealous.

 

Question is now that you have done it up and its looking nice how long before you go mental and sell it to buy something half as good for the same money?

 

We all know it's going to happen. 

[Mr Lobster]

Mr Lobster can we have more photos of this lovely van?

 

Certainly can

 

Renault 4 F6 by Mr Lobster, on Flickr

 

Renault 4 F6 by Mr Lobster, on Flickr

[DeeJay]

Love the optional spoiler.

+another to keep spots.

[Mr Lobster]

Looks like the spots are staying then

[MrDuke]

I have just overtaken an Aston Martin Vanquish in the 2CV   - was he surprised  77mph on the satnav and the speedometer needle wedged against the plastic stop! To be fair I don't think he appreciated it so he put his phone down and shot past at about 90.

This always makes me chuckle, because it makes no sense. OK, so you were probably maxed out in the 2CV, but it's happened to me in every car I've owned.

For example, if I overtook someone similar at 75 in the Xantia, they'd be compelled to blat past me at 90. Well, the Xantia could go over a ton, so what exactly are they proving? If they hung back, then floored it and came past me at 130 or more, then I could understand the point they were making, i.e. that they could go far quicker than me (they'd still be a twat, but at least there's some logic there). But overtaking 'on principle' is just hilarious.

[Shep Shepherd]

I CAN HAZ WENTWORTH:

 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volvo-940-estate-Wentworth-2-0-Turbo-2-Owner-Long-Mot-tax-/291117199521?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item43c7eff0a1

 

Collection thread next weekend, or something.