Weird Car’s weird cars! ‘I DON'T LIKE THE ALLEGRO SO I'M GOING TO DAILY IT''

[Weird Car]

New condenser arrived in the post this morning, I’m going to have a go fitting it with a new coil tomorrow or Wednesday, I’m planing on taking her on a little road trip this weekend so fingers crossed that’s my issue

[Weird Car]

Had a spare few minutes to swap the condenser out today but was short on time so couldn’t test drive her, she started fine though, fingers crossed for the weekend 🤞

[Weird Car]

So just got back from our little weekend away at the FoD

 

I picked up Audrey from Chichester on Friday afternoon mainly to test that the condenser that @calebaaront and I replaced had fixed the backfiring issue which it did thankfully.

we set off from Portsmouth at 7.30 am  on Saturday With Caleb in his Suzuki Baleno acting as rear gunner, But not before I could steal ‘borrow’ a coil off his Trabi ‘just in case’ 

we had our first pit stop at Sutton Scotney services on the A34 for breakfast and petrol,

 

both us and the cars fuelled we continued our journey north

both cars were running brilliantly and continued to drive brilliantly all the way there

 

nothing bad to report except me realising I had forgotten my charger cable for my portable phone charger after we’d covered over 100 miles.

 

it was really nice to see all the cars together and even nicer to see how Chris had been getting on with my old Peugeot 404, I even managed to have a quick drive around the field for old time sake

 

 

speaking of drives round a field, Caleb let me have a go in the Baleno, which was also quite fun

I noted it had very long gearing but over all a good an car

I’m not a big camper as a rule and much prefer hotels but figured I’d give sleeping in the Austin a go as anything is better than a tent imo, here’s the ‘bed’ I made up on the rear bench, 

pretty comfy as things go but the inability to lay fully stretched out was mildly annoying, 

still, Audrey had some pretty cool company 

 

The trip back was even more uneventful than the journey there handed it without any drama, I’m really proud of the Austin it was just over 260 miles covered and a tank and a quarter of fuel which isn’t too impressive by modern standards but for a 59 Austin that had been sat quite a while I think it was good going! 

 

 

 

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, Weird Car said:

with my old Peugeot 404, 

I somehow missed that nugget. Much intrigued!

[LightBulbFun]

2 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

I somehow missed that nugget. Much intrigued!

could say it was not found?

(sorry)

[Weird Car]

So I think the 4000 miles in 2 months hasn’t been too kind on the Getz, it’s started playing up in the wet, running on 3 then back to 4 but back to 3 under hard acceleration , it’s only when it’s cold, when it’s warm it’s fine, it’s annoying because sometimes when I’m running late I haven’t got time to just sit and wait for it to get to temp I was just going to ignore it as I’m getting rid of the car soon but it’s been getting worse and I don’t think it’s going to be worth much in its current state , I’m going to make a trip to the scrap yard next week and grab a coil pack to see if it’s the issue

[MorrisItalSLX]

That sounds similar to what happened to @tooSavvy’s Getz.

 

[Weird Car]

7 minutes ago, MorrisItalSLX said:

That sounds similar to what happened to @tooSavvy’s Getz.

 

Yeah similar to my troubles, I’ll have to check the plug holes for water

[Weird Car]

So yesterday was a busy day, I drove the Getz from Chichester to chesterfield where it now awaits collection from its new owner and picked up our new family wagon from @RichardK my partner has been hinting at getting a bigger car for a holiday abroad next year and with 2 teenagers and 7 small dogs a Hyundai Getz or Rover 75 Saloon wouldn’t cut it, so here we are! 

 

What a beast! 
plenty of room for everything we need, and LHD for continental holiday! We still have the Rover 75 for daily duties thankfully 

I’ve got to tickle the arches with my welder before the next mot so keep an eye out for updates on that but for the money I absolutely love it! 

[brownnova]

4 minutes ago, Weird Car said:

So yesterday was a busy day, I drove the Getz from Chichester to chesterfield where it now awaits collection from its new owner and picked up our new family wagon from @RichardK my partner has been hinting at getting a bigger car for a holiday abroad next year and with 2 teenagers and 7 small dogs a Hyundai Getz or Rover 75 Saloon wouldn’t cut it, so here we are! 

 

What a beast! 
plenty of room for everything we need, and LHD for continental holiday! We still have the Rover 75 for daily duties thankfully 

I’ve got to tickle the arches with my welder before the next mot so keep an eye out for updates on that but for the money I absolutely love it! 

So so glad it’s stayed on the forum! It really is an excellent family car, we had loads of adventures in it and my kids loved it! It’s even surprisingly economical! One of my favourite cars I’ve ever owned. If you have any questions about it I’m only a PM away. 

[Weird Car]

Took Bonk to a local car meet today and even found another K plate Pontiac, I’m definitely loving this car, it just wafts around with so little effort.

[somewhatfoolish]

Adventures in a Dustbuster; to be continued!

[High Jetter]

Well bought! Glad it's staying in the fold.

[danthecapriman]

I didn’t realise you’d bought the Pontiac!

And your not far from me either so maybe I’ll get to see it someday.

[Weird Car]

To bring it back to the Austin, she’s actually not been out in a few weeks as I’ve been so busy with work and family life but today I decided she’d be the steed for daily errands, first port of call was a post office trip to send the Getz keys to @comfysofa

even though she’d been sitting for about 2 weeks she fired right up into life and ran rather happily.

next port of call was the late night shop run, I tend not to shop in the day if I can help it, the large crowds in supermarkets usually overwhelm me and I forget what I came in for. but again no trouble for the Austin, I did note the alternator belt was slipping slightly with all the lights on so it may need to be adjusted.  All in all though it was nice to get her out for the day and remind myself how nice to drive she is.

I also had a letter from the DVLA saying they were processing my application for a V5 and should be issuing one on the 26th of September.

[Weird Car]

So the plan when I first bought the Austin was that after resolving a few issues she’d be my daily driver but after getting together with my partner and taking on 2 teenage stepdaughters the prospect of transporting them around in a car from 1959 with no seatbelts or crash protection didn’t seem too enticing but this week we didn’t have the girls to worry about as they’re spending time with there mum so my partner and I took that as an opportunity to daily the Austin, so far we’ve done about 150 miles since Saturday, and apart from a couple of misfires and the horrifically heavy clutch she’s been performing perfectly, so far we’ve been shopping, been to the beach, taken her to work and it’s only Tuesday lol.  

 

it’s been really nice to potter around in an old car again, I’ve missed the simplicity. 

[Matty]

The trabant must have something to do with you surely?

[calebaaront]

30 minutes ago, Matty said:

The trabant must have something to do with you surely?

The Trabi belongs to me! I'm actually @Weird Car's brother. I keep it at her's due to there being not space for it at my girlfriend's place 

[Matty]

Sweet little things. I spent a lot of time in them as a child. Which in fairness might explain a few things 🤔 

[Weird Car]

So sadly our week of using the Austin as a daily has come to an end, apart from blowing a headlight on the way home from work last night she’s been faultless. 

Nothing beats a late night cruise in an old car.

Sensible shopping shuttle 

 

it’s so crazy how fat modern cars have gotten!

 

picked up my parter from work today in the DustBuster, I don’t think it looked too out of place with the other buses lol 😆 

[Matty]

Brilliant

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, Weird Car said:

So sadly our week of using the Austin as a daily has come to an end, apart from blowing a headlight on the way home from work last night she’s been faultless. 

Nothing beats a late night cruise in an old car.

Sensible shopping shuttle 

 

it’s so crazy how fat modern cars have gotten!

 

picked up my parter from work today in the DustBuster, I don’t think it looked too out of place with the other buses lol 😆 

Why the end, tho?

[Weird Car]

19 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Why the end, tho?

Because I don’t feel comfortable taking my step kids out in it, I’m a square I know but I’d rather them go in the Pontiac or Rover, luckily we didn’t have the kids this week hence why the Austin came out to play but it’s just not a practical/safe car to daily on a regular basis 

[High Jetter]

Ah, I see. Yup, can't argue with your logic, but hope it still gets used.

[Priory]

On 7/15/2023 at 8:24 AM, Mr Pastry said:

I used to deal with Collector's Car Parts in the olden days, Howard Robinson, who was quite a character but certainly had his head screwed on.  It was the complete Aladdin's Cave and you had to wipe your feet on the way out, but he was unfailingly polite and helpful and had an amazing range of stock.  I'd be surprised if he was still going.  It would be interesting to know.

Hi, just to let you all know, that Howard of Collector Car Parts is still alive and trading from home, the telephone numbers still work to check if he has the part you require for a British car.

If you have ever dealt with Howard, you will know his knowledge of old British cars is like Google.  Unfortunately he has not entered the computer age.

I was drinking with him last night and having a laugh.

[Weird Car]

I had the morning to myself yesterday so the Austin came out again, this time to Port Solent Car Meet in Portsmouth. Where she got plenty of positive feedback and I was surprised to see another A55 Cambridge, this time a 1958 floor change 

 

 

 

 

Then in the afternoon the Pontiac was tasked with ‘TRANS SPORTing’ the family to the pumpkin patch which it did quite happily, I’m actually quite surprised at how little fuel it uses.

and the family seem to love it 

 

 

[brownnova]

11 hours ago, Weird Car said:

I’m actually quite surprised at how little fuel it uses.

Yes, this always surprised me! I think my best brim to brim calculation was 31 mpg on a run to the FoD and back! 

[Weird Car]

1 hour ago, brownnova said:

Yes, this always surprised me! I think my best brim to brim calculation was 31 mpg on a run to the FoD and back! 

Definitely a keeper on the fleet if it gets 30+ mpg on a big run, I want to look at the tracking soon as it’s pulling slightly to the left and the front edge of the tyre is wearing down way more than the rest, besides that it’s been great! You definitely did a great job maintaining it! 

[brownnova]

19 minutes ago, Weird Car said:

You definitely did a great job maintaining it! 

I did barely anything to it to be honest! 😬😂

[Weird Car]

So I was just looking through my old photos of cars I’ve owned in the past and I noticed I had owned a few 206’s 1 SW and 2 hatchbacks, unfortunately I never took a picture of my 1st hatchback but I owned it in around 2011/12 it was a red 1.1 base spec 3 door with the grey bumpers a little digging on google and I came across this pic of an identical car

looking a bit closer shows it has a boot lock with a key, nothing unusual about that but looking at my silver hatch shows it to not have a key lock i also don’t think I’ve ever seen another 206 in person with a key lock

 

 

so thinking back to it my red hatch in 2011 definitely had a key lock because I specifically remember snapping the key off in the boot, so purely for my own interest I’m trying to figure out when they changed to no key lock, I believe my red hatch was a 1998/99 on an S reg which would have made it a really early car, was it maybe a press car only thing? I’ve seen a very early 206 at the Coventry motor museum without a key lock, do any 206 nerds have an answer? I know this has literally no importance whatsoever but I’m just curious as it seems like a strange thing to just get rid of, I mean if your central locking mechanism dies on your 206 you have no way of getting into the boot 🤷🏻‍♀️