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New wheels - Fantasy Green Skoda Fabia 1.4 OHV


stilo_active

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I meant to post this before Christmas but totally forgot. My 216 decided to take a sabbatical from working at the end of November, so a mate of mine said "I've got just the car for you". Only problem was, he was in Chatteris, I'm in Cornwall. At that point, you were allowed to travel, and he lived in a Tier 2 area which meant green light go. So, me, the wife and the 9 year old phone screen goblin piled into herself's Rover 75 diseasel and headed for Chatteris. 

Arrived at the destination after an uneventful drive in the Rover. Remained socially distanced, had a chat and drove off, wife and son in the Rover, me in the Skoda. Now, before we go any further, let's talk a bit about the car. 

It's a bottom of the range, mingebag basic Fabia Classic. It's an estate, fitted with the old Skoda OHV engine that was around when God was a slip of a lad. What's amazing is someone walked into a Skoda dealership, specified this trim level, ticked Fantasy Green on the order form but obviously thought "Classic" trim level may have been a bit mean. True, it still has exercise windows and independent locking but the original owner must have said "Oooh we're a bit flush this week Gladys, let's live a little" and selected a CD player and air conditioning from the options list. 

A pretty uneventful drive home, except the temperature gauge didn't work properly which, like my old Felicia, turned out to be the sensor in the thermostat housing. So a new thermostat and temperature sensor fitted and all is well. The only other issue is some vibration from the front end. Otherwise drives fine. Rover also made it home with no issues. -m636pz.thumb.jpg.5e713a2ebbc9eaf947f0385e31437d6f.jpg

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Some git had nicked the F from the badge, so I fixed* it accordingly. IMG_20210117_164733.thumb.jpg.8ffbe89ec95f00ec705aa25025988ae2.jpg

Look at that powerhouse

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The day after we got back, everywhere got moved up a tier so wouldn't have been able to get it any other time. Then of course, ERMAHGERD LERKDERN happened. I've named the car Listerine. IMG_20201220_094800.thumb.jpg.6eba4af3fac498aa44f4c3e1c89fb3b9.jpg

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13 hours ago, fatharris said:

You know I bloody hate Skoda's, but you're happy and unlife the Alfa, this has an actual floorpan under the carpet I imagine so that's always a bonus emoji16.png

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk
 

Skodas aren't necessarily my first choice, but I do like Favorits, Felicia and the miserably specced Fabias. 

I do miss the old Flintstones 156.

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I spent a fair bit of back-to-back wheel time in both flavours of 1.4 petrol about 15 years ago (my wife had the 16v, my mother in law the OHV) and the old plodder was nicer in day to day driving.  The 16v went well but only if you wound it right up; there was bugger-all low down torque.

Do they have any obvious faults at this advanced age?  I hardly see them day to day, but I assume that’s natural attrition at work.

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  • 2 years later...

I still have this old bus as it happens. It's been a dependable old hack. Back in January it had the timing chain replaced. Partly because @twosmoke300 kept putting amusing advisories on my invoices but also because it was unbearable to drive the bastard thing. 

It's a useful and quite endearing old hack. Unless it majorly shits itself on the MoT later on this year, it'll be here for the foreseeable.

Some up to date photos of the Labia, but first off, a couple of photos of all three motors of the Renowden household. 

 

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  • 1 month later...
9 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

I think you mean, it's wheely good? I like that one has it's seat belt on, but would worry about the others if I were the driver in a head-on incident.

Despite the looks, everything was secured in place with little room for movement. Plus plenty of padding behind the front seats, too. 

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