What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread

[Bobthebeard]

In the past, when I only owned one old car I found that I would get bored with it fairly quickly, sell it (at a loss usually) and purchase another desirable* old car. The time between purchase and desire for a replacement varied, but was usually around 12 to 18 months. Now that I have three driveable and road legal old cars I find each one refreshing and interesting to drive after using one for a week or so then using another. It's like a 'new' car every time! Plus it saves the hassle of selling 'em and keeps me interested and happy with all of them!

[phil_lihp]

Mildly amused to see a local auto spares shop (which seems to be permanently stuck in 1985) trying to get rid of some old Haynes manuals they've probably had on the shelf for 30 years plus.  The spines are faded from the sun almost to the point of being unreadable but for a new low price of £2.99 you can have one of about 40 manuals covering models such as the Datsun Cherry, Datsun Violet. Fiat Strada, Yugo 311 and Morris Marina 1800.  There are plenty more but they don't seem to be shifting, oddly enough.  They're sticking to their guns for the modern stuff that's still as common as muck though, you'll pay a full £15.99 for a Rover 213/216 manual which does not yet qualify for their stock clearance.  Give it another 10 years though and that too will be a bargain.

[nacho man]

Won some brand new speakers which fit inside the factory covers on the 306 for a tenner of eBay as he wanted 15 quid postage so put people off, but was 2 mins away from me fitted them today and sound a millionty times better than the knackered old ones.

 

Charged the battery on the Williams had it running for a bit and decided to take up out quite road to free it off as it's been standing since I bought it, our road is 99.9999% of the time mega dead, got to the top to turn round and there are two cop vans full of well police men, looking at me as I am there turning round in front of them with no tax or insurance, after I had just gave it some up the road, in my scruffs with a funny hat on which makes me look like a hooligan.

 

They just ignored me.

 

I quickly hid it round the back of the house expecting a copter in the skies with its searchlight on the scanning the street.

 

[Mr Livered]

Two vans full of old bill, they must have been on some kind of operation and not interested in checking for traffic violations.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Probably got a tip-off about a fuggin doughnut sale or something on your street

[Bobthebeard]

Two vans full of old bill, they must have been on some kind of operation and not interested in checking for traffic violations.

Most likely just the Sarcasm Squad staking out Mr Bollox last known whereabouts. I wouldn't worry about it really.

[philibusmo]

This has been a good weekend.

 

Spent Friday night through to Saturday morning out on the piss where I got happily smashed and met a really cute polish girl who was very taken with finding an English man with even a little grasp of Polish.

 

Found out Saturday morning that during the night I had lost my keys, including the one for my car. Spent the morning faffing about getting the spare set from home and getting back to the car before it got a parking ticket, this did not make me grin at the time, however later that day I called the police station on the off chance they had been handed in, and they had, so I had my keys back Saturday afternoon.

Once home I found the post had arrived, including a letter from HMRC which I opened with dread. Turns out I have been taxed too much for the past two years and am due back £939, I hope to spend this very unwisely.

 

Additionally I went to finish getting the last couple of odds and ends before Christmas and Tiverton was on great form being as weird as possible. Someone had got two reindeer in and got a Johnny Vegas look alike to dress as Father Christmas, this. These two reindeer were shitting constantly and without any hesitation, Father Christmas was scaring the children and when I walked past the pop-up Santa's Grotto in an abandoned shop up the road, it was so grim it looked more like Santa's Crack Den, complete with a miserable looking, pot bellied, chain smoking elf stood outside. Up the road there was the site of two vaguely human life forms being arrested for nicking from Pound Stretcher and the local Big Issue seller who was having a very animated conversation on his iPhone. I think Tiverton may be the most misery inducing and yet also hilarious town in the South West.

 

Today I at-last managed to fix the XM which is now no-longer leaking LHM at an alarming rate. I've fitted the winter tyres as well so hopefully that should now last without any other major incidents until the Lancia is road worthy.

[Bobthebeard]

^^

Most staff in the shops in my local town look totally pissed off! Staff dressed as elves and santas but with faces like a slapped arse. Told to do it but hate it.

Christmas 2013.

Hohohoho

No one has any money and making them wear silly clothes or antlers doesn't really help!

[vulgalour]

I don't know why he made it, but I'm really happy that Minolman did.  I now have a new avatar and it's ace.

[Tayne]

On 22/12/2013 at 11:09, cort16 said:

i can't remember posting that ^

 

[cort16]

Yes although I did fall asleep on the train. When I went up to Glasgow there was a guy who'd been asleep on the train from Ayr to Glasgow, back to Ayr then back up to Glasgow again. At that point the Police went on the train to try to wake him up.

[minolman]

I don't know why he made it, but I'm really happy that Minolman did.  I now have a new avatar and it's ace.

I used to collect loads of old petrol and oil 'automobilia', ok, so it was sometimes half rusty, grubby and generally qualified by the wife as shite, but I loved it. I remembered the "Valvoline" logo on a can in a flash of recall when you posted about benjyp10's Yugo Van and your oil stain award, hence the rip off of the oil can logo

You're welcome - ho ho ho.

[outlaw118]

My chums in this band have a new song and video out. It's loud and growly/shouty, and it rocks in a very heavy way.

Go on, have a listen.

[HillmanImp]

Just been driving over the tops past Howarth and it was snowing really heavily. 

 

 

Was well cool. 

[M'coli]

This has been a good weekend.

 

Spent Friday night through to Saturday morning out on the piss where I got happily smashed and met a really cute polish girl who was very taken with finding an English man with even a little grasp of Polish.

 

IIRC, this is exactly the scenario discussed in my second stint in the Dukes of Fronterra at the Mongfest... :-D    Good luck!

[warren t claim]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6rY1-pbeNM

 

Fast forward to 1.30. Here's a Nova punching well above its weight and the language from the crew is a bit NSFW but hilarious.

[Station]

Finished the Nippa in time for MOT tomorrow - engine change, fix exhaust, new balljoint covers, and repaired holed rear sills, etc.

New engine runs great - old one tapped like a mutha which I thought was normal. Obviously never had an oil change in it's life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Minimad for using his garage and help.

[vulgalour]

That's the first not-white-or-silver Nippa I've seen and it actually looks really neat.  Graphics are especially excellent.

[dangerousdave]

what always makes me smile is when someone goes in to the next lane at red lights to beat me away from them when they turn green the look on their face when I beat them away because they assumed my range rover is a diesel not a v8

[dollywobbler]

Car insurance renewed. £267 for the year, covering the Sirion, 2CV and Disco. All unlimited mileage, all agree value (really worth it on the Sirion!), all with full european breakdown cover and for some reason, the Sirion gets homestart too! The 2CV and Disco don't. Not sure why. Thanks Peter James!

 

Handily, an invoice for £230 of work came in the same day I had to renew. Not quite a break-even, but not too bad.

[Tayne]

.

[cort16]

267 fotr all three cars? Bloody hell, thats not bad is it? Are you allowed to use them for commuting etc?

[dollywobbler]

Yes, can use for commuting, though I don't commute currently anyway.

[skattrd]

From what I understand how they work out these mixed modern/classic policies is:

They charge the std premium for the newest car, then everything else is charged a basic premium (£20-30 a year) as if it was a classic.

As the Sirion is DW's newest car, that is what they use for the base premium, and assume is used most.

 

When my newest car was my Daihatsu Mira, which they classed as grp 1, my policy was very cheap (under £500 for 8 cars). When the Volvo S80 was the newest car my premium was about £300 more than when it was the Mira. With the VW boring as my newest/modern the premium is half way between the two. What the other cars are doesn't seem to affect the price of the policy, just the newest, which is quite handy when you have silly/fast/imported motors. You just need to make sure anything you buy is older than your current "modern" ... I plan to get a Volvo T5 at some point, it just needs to be older than the boring.

[Mr Livered]

Who are you with Skattrd?

[ShiteRider]

No works do this year, due to last years four figure bar and the fighting.

So to compensate we all got a £500 bonus.

[skattrd]

Who are you with Skattrd?

 

Peter James, but I was with Footman James until recently.

I'm not sure who else does these mixed classic/modern policies apart from those two companies.

[Mr Livered]

Sorry for the barrage of questions but why did you switch Jameses from Footman to Peter? Was it just a lower quote or something else?

 

Just asking as I'm currently considering getting some quotes elsewhere. I've been with the same broker (Peter Best) for years and I'm very happy with them; I'm just aware that loyalty/inertia can be jolly expensive over time.

[skattrd]

I switched from Footman james to peter james purely for money, cheaper quote and slightly less admin fees.

 

This year PJ quote was considerably cheaper than FJ. If the quotes were close I would have stayed loyal to FJ as I've been with them for years, but it wasn't, the initial quotes were £200 apart, so I switched.

 

Admin fees: FJ charge £20 admin fee for making changes to the poilcy, whereas PJ charge £15, not much, but when you change cars 3-4 times in a year it adds up.

 

One thing I didn't mention is that the PJ policy takes in to account NCB, whereas the FJ policy doesn't.

[vulgalour]

Always, always check the market when it's renewal time, if I hadn't then I'd still be paying Admiral a lot more than I pay Adrian Flux and at renewal I'll likely end up with Peter James who wanted me to have a bit more NCB and driving experience before they'd offer me anything competitive last time.  Biggest issue I've been having is getting the Princess insured on a regular policy without a second car, most seem to want to automatically class it as a classic and insist on me having a second car rather than just access to one.

 

I've not even checked insurance for the 6 yet, I'm just assuming small, old, French and tiny engine will equate to classic second car status and therefore be nearly nothing to swap places with the red Princess.