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Month long road trip


Saabnut

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Sticking this up tonight as I doubt I will have time tomorrow morning!

I am leaving home tomorrow on a mega road trip in my 30 year old Saab non turbo convertible (which has a blowing exhaust before I leave!). My direct mileage will be about 2200 miles but of course there will be a lot of running around so expect the total miles to be between 2500 and 3000 miles. WCPGW?

Itinary is Aberdeenshire, Carlisle, Weston Super Mare tomorrow.

Shitefest Friday to Monday.

Monday it is over to Crawley.

Wednesday Lemans

Monday back to Crawley.

Weekend after to Sheffield

Weekend after that Sledmere Rally, North Yorks

Then back home.

I will try to update this thread with any interesting spots, highlights etc but as I am on my own will likely be evenings. Should be fun*

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1 hour ago, Saabnut said:

Itinary is Aberdeenshire, Carlisle, Weston Super Mare tomorrow.

I'm sorry to hear that. 

(Clevedon one junction earlier on the M5 is a much nicer place to walk around the front on)

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So far, so good! Now at Weston Super Mare for the night (I will be learning to speak Hairnet!) the sun is out, it is warm and dry!

Left home at 0730 ish, arrived in hotel at 1615.

Stopped at Carlisle for fuel and to grab a sandwich. Then across Carlisle to pick up the new tent. Non stop from there.

Mileage today 516 miles. Not bad for an old 'un, and the car did well too!

No photos from today, the most interesting vehicle I saw on the road down was a pink Figaro. My Saab was the oldest car I saw all day.

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Excellent and good luck!

Did a very similar trip a few years back (Edinburgh-LeMans and back) in my MX5 but it wasn't for the race which meant I could drive the track (or part of it anyway.) A thoroughly enjoyable and incident free trip except being in a convertible with no air-con in a traffic jam in the middle of France at 30+degrees was pretty grim!

 

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Having been a cocky shite when posting the above, the exhaust fell off the Saab on the way back from the Classic British Welcome at St Saturnin yesterday. Got lower and lower until it started dragging 100 yards from the camp site. This morning a temp fix with tie wraps got it 30 miles from the 31 required to my shed here. Myself, my brother and a tow rope managed to mostly keep it off the ground where a permanent* fix was done with fence wire.

Back to camp with no problems, should* be fine

Mileage so far 1374

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Arrived without hassle at my next stop near Sheffield where the car will have a rest for a week or so. The fencing wire seems to be holding up fine and mileage so far 1959

A rough guesstimate so far would appear it is returning mid 30s to the gallon which cannot be bad for a fully loaded 30 year old car that has spent long  stretches at 75-80mph on French motorways

IMG_3739.thumb.JPG.988c91d1b7aa66a898ddfb88e572d178.JPG

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  • 2 weeks later...

After a 10 day rest near Worksop, I checked the tyre pressures as one loses a bit of pressure over time and it was off again to Sledmere near Driffield for the NECPWA rally. The exhaust was fine and no problems encountered. The Saturday evening included a road run through the Wolds to a pub for a pint and as it was a superb evening, it was top down and away as I had not covered enough miles! Photo at the pub:

1538934427_IMG_37521.thumb.JPG.50c2111de32229aa5f2407220541e19e.JPG

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And to bring this thread to a close, I am now back home. What a fantastic old car this is. Bought 10 years ago for £600, I have spent a total od £120 on parts (plus oil etc)  for it in that time and covered nearly 30k miles in it. During this trip it has carried 3 people plus tents etc to France, and taken me around the country, reliabley, comfortabley and in style. If anybody is looking for a practical classic, a non turbo vert like this in excellent condition can be bought today for 2.5k but prices are on the rise, and so they should be.

Some figures:

Total mileage 2567 miles. Oil used - None. Water used - None. Problems - the exhaust that was on it when bought rusted out the hangars, some French fence wire sorted it it at a cost of nothing. Average fuel consumption (Mixed driving, narrow lanes, main roads and motorways here and in France) 34.7mpg.

There is nothing I do not like about this car, so of course I had several offers for it over the weeks, but this one is a keeper.

1628178297_IMG_37531.thumb.JPG.db5401d06b4ac90520e69725927edba3.JPG

 

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