THE GUBBERMINT ALWAYS KNOWS BEST

[wuvvum]

Delivered the 166 to its new owner today - Craigcheetham of this parish. Been a long time since I'd driven it any distance, and I'd forgotten how chuckable it is for a big car. I'll definitely have another when I have a bit more space - will have to be a 3-litre V6 manual next time though.

 

After looking round some of Craig's collection of shite - Applejack Series 3 Allegro, very tidy Metro Clubman, 205 CJ and early (positive earth) P6, any of which I would gladly give houseroom to - I almost didn't get the train home as on the route between Craig's unit and the station there was an H-plate Justy for sale - I was soooo tempted, but it wasn't taxed (although it had a year's test) and I have nowhere to put it. I'm still half thinking about buying it and flogging the 106 though...

 

Got the train home, had to change at Ely and the connection was running 30 minutes late so I went for a wander (Ely is one of my favourite cities) and spotted a bright orange Dacia Logan with some kind of advert in Cyrillic script down the side, and while I was stood there staring at it a middle-aged woman pulled up in a light brown 1971 Mini 850 - spotless and original, just the way a Mini should be. Then up near the cathedral I saw an Audi RS2 - hadn't seen one of those on the road in years. I got pictures of the Dacia & Mini so will upload them once I can find the lead for my phone.

[Lankytim]

SAAB went off to its new home today. Very sad to see it go but all good things come to an end!

 

Next up.RED HOT Volvo estate ACTION.

[TimothyClaypole]

£148.00

 

 

Maybe worth getting a quote is you can get a further discount from some of the retards on Ebay.

 

Average on the first sold page looks about £70-£80.

[Spottedlaurel]

Delivered the 166 to its new owner today - Craigcheetham of this parish....

 

He bought my green Bluebird 2.0 off me (the one we went in down to Datman's to get my Laurel). Any suggestion or clue as to what happened to that one?

[cort16]

Does anyone know of any dealers that sell LHD cars in the UK? I guy at works uncle wants to buy a left hooker and drive it down to his villa in spain and as the guy what's got lots of cars I got asked.

He's got 6-7k to spend and wants something normal like a BMW or Audi (no yanks') so if it pops down there he can get it fixed. I've had a look but most stuff is chod or massively over priced.

[TimothyClaypole]

LHD are now stupidly priced due to this EU malarky.

[cort16]

I never really thought of that. I was looking at a pretty ropey 725d with 220k on it that needs work and it was bloody 2 grand.

[M'coli]

Went into Leeds for 2 hours on Saturday afternoon, and when I returned to the Cavalier and started it up, and realised that the vibration I'd felt driving into Leeds was the rear exhaust box trying to part company with the pipe. As I was picking up a friend (With whom I'd organised walking the 3 peaks on the Sunday) from the station in York, I tied it up with a bit of wire, drove through some heavy rain and got the car muddy on the A64 past the Leeds festival, picked up my friend, and headed home for a quick change of back box to a home-brewed straight through job I welded up last year.

[CreepingJesus]

Funnily enough, the last Cav I had (L-plate 1.8i LS) jettisoned its' backbox one day. Never bothered replacing it, it went over the bridge with said backbox in the boot. What a heap...

[TimothyClaypole]

Tim, what EU malarky?

 

All them foreigners coming over here taking our cars.

 

LHD was your average punters only hope for some a bit more expensive in the past but now you can drive anywhere you like without getting shot by the border guards they are priced at the same if not more than RHD.

[Rod/b]

Back in the UK for a bit, so this morning I hired a 10-plate Fiesta diesel thing for a few days to get around. It's done less than 30k but it already feels tired. And it's a gutless, plasticky bag of shit anyway. And they don't have filler caps either apparently.

[Pete-M]

Tim, what EU malarky?

 

All them foreigners coming over here taking our cars.

 

LHD was your average punters only hope for some a bit more expensive in the past but now you can drive anywhere you like without getting shot by the border guards they are priced at the same if not more than RHD.

 

I've been looking for something a bit tasty in LHD flavour, either a Range Rover Vogue SE on LPG or a fast, preferably 4x4 estate with a towbar.

 

Not found anything sensibly priced in the last couple of years. Country used to be littered in that kinda stuff.

 

I had a tidy Golf GTi Mk2 that I sold for buttons because it was a left-hooker. I could settle the debt crisis in Greece, Italy and Spain now if I still had it. Just with an Autotrader ad.

[Justin Case]

The family future-shite Almera went in for its annual visit to the garage today. Full service, new rear brake pads and MOT for the grand total of £180 after a year's completely trouble-free motoring . No advisories either, so it looks as if it will be worth keeping it for at least another year or so .

[Shep Shepherd]

The Volvo made a new friend today, in the form of Angry Dicky's lovely Austin A35:

 

 

I can't believe how gargantuan the former looks compared to the latter

[dollywobbler]

Blimey. A35 is GR8 4 NO PARKIN DINGS!

 

Had the BX out again for a quick run up and down the driveway. Have discovered that it is the fan switch that is at fault - bridge the contacts and the fan runs quite happily. Shot some video today, so I'll edit that all together a little later and will post it up.

 

Need to get the Range Rover interior back together at some point as well. Wonder if I can remember where all of the screws go...

[Lord Sterling]

Took Fatha_Sterlings P11 Primera out for a wash the other day, didnt realise how dirty it was, the interior was full of rubbish (Mostly caused by my little bros) the exterior was pretty filthy too, took it for wash and it gleams now, smehow giving it a wash inside and out somehow makes it feel better to drive. Bashed in some RHD P10 Primera mats, they dont dont quite fit exactly but they are better than cheapy jobbies that used to slip about everywhere, so they'll do the job until I can get my hands on some LHD P11 Primera mats.

[Shep Shepherd]

Took TV2 to my local garage in order for it to have its exhaust looked at after the tailpipe fell off somewhere between Magdeburg and Maidstone last week. To cut a long story short, due to the old system being heavily corroded, the car ended up having a replacement exhaust (Bosal) aft of the catalytic convertor, the total cost of which was more than some complete cars go for on this forum

 

I have no idea when or where the tailpipe came off, as I didn't hear it come off and its absence didn't engender any increase in noise or alter the note of the exhaust. I can only hope that it didn't cause any grief when it fell off. If it did, I sincerely apologise.

 

At least I won't have to replace the system again in a hurry. Not only that, due to the tailpipe finisher, the car looks like it has a performance exhaust now:

 

 

It sounds a little more sporty, too

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Blimey. A35 is GR8 4 NO PARKIN DINGS!

 

Seriously. The papers whine: "Parking spaces haven't grown since the '60s!". Buy a car from the 60s then! I haven't had to squeeze out of my car... uh, ever.

[Mike D]

I have just lobbed a deposit on this:

 

 

I've been after another pickup for a while and this one ticks all the boxes for me

[cort16]

I spotted that pickup on RR and thought it looked like an absolute bargain. Now you've got extra transport you can give me your 928

[Mike D]

928 will be back on its dog dish wheels later this week, and is now reduced to 2K ono Ebay beckons for it!

[cort16]

I really wish I could lay my hands on the money for the 928 as it's one of those cars on my list but I've already got 4 cars and because of that I'm very poor

[RoadworkUK]

Saw the weirdest Rover 75 I've seen in ages.

 

S805DEH. Weird; S-plate. It's certainly pre-facelift, old enough to have the little oval badge with the engine size under the front door.

 

Then, as I overtook, it's a left-hooker! DVLA says first reg'd March 03, 1997cc (makes it a baby KV6). Fun times.

[wuvvum]

The Solara hit 40,000 miles as I pulled up outside my house this evening. Not bad for a 26-year-old car.

[Guest]

928 will be back on its dog dish wheels later this week, and is now reduced to 2K ono Ebay beckons for it!

 

Hey! You're not the "selfish bastard" 928 owner who is giving Watanabe a hard time, are ye?

 

Nej. Mike D is epic. He gave me a cup of tea and some seatbelts for my Celeste the last time I went round. I really should pass them on to the new owner, now that they've turned up.....

[dollywobbler]

Decided to do a bit more investigating on the Rangie's heater. What a shite job this is! Decided to try direct wiring to the heater blower. All that did was make a vague ticking sound and make the wires I was holding very hot. Think we can say that the blower motor is kaput then. Not sure what to do now. S'pose that really, I should pull out the heater unit and replace it having got this far. But I'm already very, very worried that getting the dashboard back together is going to be nigh on impossible. There are a ridiculous number of different bits!

 

Of course, I think I'll have to drain the cooling system to get the heater unit out, as well as hunt for yet more impossible-to-get-to screws. Note to self, get better at buying decent motors and stop buying half-working shite!

[nigel bickle]

I had a bit of a 'moment' this afternoon, when the A frame 'failed' at 40mph. The wishbone lug (for want of a better name) on the n/s arm snapped off without any warning. I was couriering a Lancia Beta saloon home from South London. All quite hairy for a moment or two.

 

I managed to swop the ends around -using the fixing bolt (to the main A frame) to bolt the other end of the chain through the beam. Ternsion held the damaged arm into the main frame, enabling me to tow it 55miles home gingerly.

 

Time to find a good welder -and examine the other arm carefully!

 

Moral -dont buy a cheap A frame!!

[Shep Shepherd]

After a lot of faffing around this afternoon, The Volvo now has a fully-functioning instrument panel - including warning lights and illumination - for the first time in nearly three years, which will no doubt make it a lot nicer to drive at night:

 

 

I wonder how long this will be the case, though? Going by past experience, not long at all

[wuvvum]

Could be worse - at least it's not a 480...

[michiel]

Lancia Beta

 

Ooh, nice! Glad it didn't end up in a hedge...