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The World. As seen by Ceri.


worldofceri

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  • 2 weeks later...
34 minutes ago, Inspector Morose said:

Meanwhile in the present, it was my turn at the wheel this weekend. "collect a Merc from Newquay" it said. I wonder if I'm at the right place?

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I think I was.

What a spot! I've never seen that Alpine in Newquay before. Last few MOTs suggest why. Stunner! 

 

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  • 4 months later...

September 2018.

First thing Monday morning was a trip down to Reading for a broken mk5 Golf.  I forget the cause of the breakdown, but the owner had been recovered to a nearby garage.  The owner’s father – sounded like he would be footing the bill – wanted it taking to his preferred local garage to him, up in Warrington.  As is often the case in these types of situation, the despatching garage were not very helpful, hence the extreme-jacknife attitude required for single-handed loading.

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Couple of days later I headed up to Lincolnshire to collect this old Shogun.  Customer was a guy in Birmingham seemingly with a penchant for these things.

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The old Fens back roads have a distinct character.  Flat and straight with visibility for miles encourage you to press on, but then all of a sudden a series of alarming undulations threaten to pitch you into the adjacent dyke.

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Leaving the Mitsubishi in Brum, I nipped down to Fenny Compton in Warwickshire to pick up this ratty Porsche 914.  Destination was just a short drive to the unit of a guy I’ve known for many years who specialises in classic restorations, mainly of air-cooled VWs. 

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The following day I had a run out to near Kidderminster to pick up this Alfa Spider.  Collection address was a proper millionaire’s mansion.  I could drive right up to the house and swing the trailer round on the drive no bother, it was that massive.

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Destination was the Warwickshire Event Centre where Classic Car Auctions used to have regular sales. 

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The guy with the Range Rover and covered trailer was a London based chauffeur doing a bit of car transport on the side.

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September 2018.

Another Monday morning and this time, a run down to St Albans for this behemoth of a Volvo.  Recently purchased, it had developed some malady that required it to be returned under warranty, to the dealer.  In Preston.  A full day’s work there, but no dramas as it did, at least, run and drive.

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The following day was a ride around the Birmingham, area to relocate this Beetle.  Something of a family heirloom as I recall, the chap was moving it from a late relative’s house closer to home, with the intention of putting it back on the road.  Sadly, at the time of writing the DVLA still records it as untaxed since 1990.

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On the Friday I had a run down to Harefield to see the Lee, the machinery dealer whose acquaintance I’d made over the course of a couple of previous jobs.  He had a towable winching machine that he’d sold to a company in South Wales.  Although the route was a bit ‘out of my way’, it was actually quite handy that I’d be finishing up in that neck of the woods at the end of the week.  My friend ‘Lightning’ and I had entered the HERO Challenge rally in her Austin Healey Sprite.  As she lives near Neath it meant I was perfectly located for me to pick the car up to take to the rally base near Bicester.

I remissively failed to take a photo of the winching machine in transit.  A surprisingly substantial bit of kit, I do recall needing to engage low range to reverse up the buyer’s drive. 

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Delivery achieved, I nipped into Neath to pick up ‘Suzy’ Sprite and by early evening was parked up somewhere in a field near Bicester.

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The following morning dawned full of promise but sadly, our dreams or classic rallying glory were dashed by lunchtime.  A shattered clutch was our downfall.  Regular readers may recall that I had transported the Sprite to have the clutch replaced only a few weeks prior.  Make of that what you will.

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Fortunate really that I’d taken the Sprite up on the trailer. Ordinarily Lightning would have driven her to the event.  The experts from Maulden Garage obligingly rolled around on the floor for a bit while I photographed their backsides, but declined to change the clutch at the side of the road.  So I dropped the car to them first thing on Monday for further transmission fettling.

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30 minutes ago, Jim Bell said:

Pics in the last post arnt displaying for me, which is harrowing because I love updates of this thread. 

Harrowing for me too, since if there's one thing that stresses me out more than having to do a thing, it's having to do a thing twice.

Thanks for the heads up. Should be fixed now.

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