It happens. Done one this morning, 150 miles. Stuff enters your head so here it all is.
This thread could be a bit like a blog, or a tweet, but with multiple bloggersr or tweeters.
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Decided today I am mimsing in my old age. Dawdling along at 60 - 60mph max down the A1. It pays tho. got 47 mpg out of a tank last time. I am saving myslef over 5 quid a fillup, thats a couple of cups of coffee down cafe nero. Traffic does seem to have slowed down these days, less speeders.
40mph? its silly that lorries have to do 40 mph on a very safe very straight A road, huge queue behind the truck. Its daft.
Why is there miles and miles of the A1 coned off after the Black cat roundabout? nothing has been happening for months.
Ah I see the Tunnel is open again at Hatfield.
M25 very heavy round the western section, not seen that foir ages.
That BMW is blasting down the M3 M25 slip going to try and cut in front of me he at the very last moment evenm tho there is barely any gap, yes he does.
I bet he goes all the way along the inside lan and try to get out late at j11 where the inside lane goes off. I will toot him and abuse him if he does.
He does, cant get out cos no one will let him. has to stop with me behind him - Huge blast of horn, wind down window loud cry of BANKER with appropriate gesture. Everyone ends up abusing him.
large Funeral in Addlestone, 4 dark chustnut horses in full regalia pulling a black coach. Bet its travellers. Yup, coach followed by 6 black limos, and a mix of white transits and black S classes, must have been a mile of black tie wearers.
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>> Bet its travellers. Yup, coach followed by 6 black limos, and a mix of white
>> transits and black S classes, must have been a mile of black tie wearers.
>>
I hope the funeral director got the money up front.
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Very limited motoring today. Drove the Jowett about 15 ft out of it's bedroom onto the drive to do the tyre pressures...all down to about 20psi. Got a show tomorrow at Tatton Park in Cheshire......should be dry with a good hard surface.
Been to some muddy ones over the years !
Sorted a few scratches which showed up in the Sun then put it away.
Local road which we use almost every day is closed at our end for 10 weeks. Preparatory work for the Airport extension of the Metrolink, I think.
They've started removing nice mature trees from the central reservation cos of getting the overhead cables in. Bid outcry about the trees but the road was built for trams in 1929 and they never came.
Still very leafy, though, as the park fills one side of the road.
Nice and hot here in Arcadia. Gave the garden bench some stick after lunch.
Six new cars arriving next week for the car club. I have to distribute them around the city and bring the old ones back for collection. Will get them delivered in two lots so as not to upset the neighbours.
Ted
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Been to Stratford upon Avon and back today, fairly easy journey, 200 mile round trip, beautiful weather, not much to report otherwise.
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Pottered over to a customers house this morning, very pretty place, half of an old hospital, has scale. Easiest of easy jobs on a Jag XKR conv, beautiful car in every respect, annoyingly birds seem to be dropping really corrosive junk on it which is marking the paint.
It sounds awesome too, wish it was mine.
Traffic seems very light even at 7:30am, not a queue anywhere on the A-roads heading to Northampton, all so quiet, pottering along at 55, getting my economy up.
Quickl blast across the countryside to do a tidy up on a TT V6 and then home again, cant be bothered to hurry, theres nobody about mid-morning at all.
Saw one of my very wealthy customers today taking a basket into the Co-op - 30 million and they still shop there, maybe not so different afterall, car needs doing though, should get a call soon.
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Been to Johannesburg and back this week. Plenty of time for random thoughts when sleep might have been more welcome.
- Some South African drivers make Zero's BMWiste look like a nun. Alarmingly close together at speed with seemingly random lane changes. Lots of bent metal on view - passed people clustered around recent accidents on every journey.
- The new Gautrain built for the World Cup is much smoother, quieter and more relaxing - and cheaper too - even if (to British eyes) the conspicuous guards on every train and platform raise more fears than they allay.
- SAA's A340-300 economy class is surprisingly tolerable, even for someone my height, in that the seat in front can recline fully without quite touching my knees. But I had an empty seat next to me each way, so I wasn't fighting anyone for shoulder space; a full flight would be pretty grim.
- South African brandy and Tanqueray gin go down very nicely, and SAA is pleasantly liberal with both.
- Boardwalk Empire is excellent entertainment, even if the airline version has a lot of unexpected silent words. Will be seeking out a boxed set because I suspect it looks better on a screen of more than ten inches. I might even learn to tell the minor characters apart.
- Likewise Invictus.
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Drove all over Cornwall yesterday in my new car ~ www.flickr.com/photos/43576259@N04/5790294543/
bought a nice Afghan rug for the cottage, er indoors bought some foxgloves to plant - crikey I said, they are in every blimmin Cornish hedge at the moment!
Tried to buy some pine bedroom furniture but most of the pine shops seem to have gorn TU, so I'll get it from here ~
www.pine-oakfurniture.co.uk/c/Bedroom/
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>> Drove all over Cornwall yesterday in my new car ~ www.flickr.com/photos/43576259@N04/5790294543/
wel wel well, you old dog. Welcome to the lancer estate pack!
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 3 Jun 11 at 16:49
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>>wel wel well, you old dog. Welcome to the lancer estate pack!<<
It's a long time since I've driven a car this good!
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Set off for work. Drove up through the village at a moderate pace, reached the NSL signs at the top of the hill (or close enough to them), double click on the downshift paddle, 3rd gear, and nailed it. 55mph appears in no time, Click up a gear, 4th, reduce the revs to give myself time to think clearly.
Noted the traffic up ahead in the valley. None. Good. Approach the first bend, hair still on fire, a nice constant radius downhill left hander. Out to the lines, on to the brakes hard, double click down to 2nd. Start gently on the steering, easing off the brakes, tyre's have tightened up, wind on enough steering now. Get on the throttle, hard, just before the apex (trust me) and we're off. Click 3rd. Illegal speed. Needle keeps climbing, the "loose licence" marker flashes by on the speedo. Click 4th.
Hard down to the bottom of the wee valley, cover the brake for the dip, click down to 3rd gear hard on the throttle and starting up the other side of the valley. Turbo working overtime here, it sounds good.
Mimser ahead just past the sweeping left hander at the top of the hill, off the throttle, slot the shifter back to the auto position...
How i get to the motorway every day :)
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Skoda, that must be some detour you take to get to the M8 - assume joining at Newhouse?
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Not really Bobby, it's 6 and half a dozen time wise, if not distance, but i prefer my route to the sat nav's which is through the village and almost always constrained to 40 on a busy NSL out to eurocentral, the latter leaves me sad inside :-(
:-)
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If going through Eurocentral, watch out for the traffic police - have been a lot of rush hour activity recently.
I struggle to hold the car at 30 there!
And note all the approaches to the roundabout at Holytown are now down to 30 limits as well!
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I'm so annoyed !
My son showed me his car this morning (Astra Mk4) - he went out last night locally parked up in small market town for a couple of hours and returned to find some absolute git(s) had vandalised the car: Ripped off the rear wiper, tore off the drivers mirror housing, and booted in the front wing and nsr door....there is trainer footprints on the 2 side windows but thankfully they didn't manage to smash those.
Had to take him to work as it's illegal (I think?) to drive without drivers side mirror - unsafe though even if it's legal.
Drove to scrappie (8 miles) , they had the wiper arm (fiver) but only had electric adj mirror housing (quoted me 15 quid) and his is manual. Told the guy I might be back.
Drove back home and spent 30 mins on the phone to about a dozen scrappies - nobodys got one.
Back to scrappie for the leccy mirror and surprise (not) it's now 20 quid - I stand my ground and make to walk away and it's mine for 15.
It's green tho' and the Astra is silver but I have primer, silver spray and laquer thanks to previous scrapes and it's now painted and drying in the sun waiting to be fitted.
The Haynes manual says to replace the mirror housing first remove the door card to gain access - rubbish, who writes this stuff? , you simply prise off the inner cover (3 clips) and unscrew the 3 screws 5 minute job.
The body dents are saucer sized (or about size 7 trainer to be precise!) , paintwork is undamaged, but the dents are across the fold line running along the car - I'm wondering if these are too big for the mobile Dent Doctor type firms - anyone hazard a guess?
J
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...I'm wondering if these are too big for the mobile Dent Doctor type firms - anyone hazard a guess?...
My guess is probably.
Does the metal memory effect come in to play here?
At one time it was easier to pull out a dent if you got it dealt with in hours, rather than days.
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>> My guess is probably.
>>
>> Does the metal memory effect come in to play here?
>>
Ok thanks
J
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Came up to London this afternoon. Both front tyres about a mm to go before illegal, and the left one has a rounded outside shoulder from being run soft too far too fast. It had started losing air fast but didn't look it. Repaired, balanced, it still loses a bit of air and one has to check and adjust it before any proper road, and every day or two anyway. Nevertheless the thing drives as normal give or take a tremor at speed, perhaps from the other wheel. I told herself insouciantly that the new ones might cost a hundred quid. Actually it's £160 - 210 for the pair depending on (proper of course) brand.
Zero's 47mpg even mimsing at the limit makes me green with envy. I did several impatient, heavy-footed overtakes to remain at the limit which won't have helped. My thing's consumption will be in the low to very low thirties though. Hacking round the great Wen won't help. And half an hour crawl at 0mph up Castelnau on the way in, made the fan cut in. I don't like that. And this evening after getting thoroughly cool it sounded and felt a tiny bit crotchety there for a moment.
There's a very clean indeed 1500cc 120,000-mile Almera by the road down by me. Says £950 in the screen and 'service record' whatever that may mean. Herself wants a motor and I have a mind to give that Almera a closer once-over, drive it and if convinced offer the guy 500 if it's still there next week.
Belt and braces, never a bad thing.
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>> i115.photobucket.com/albums/n297/penfro/DSCF1178.jpg
>> Guess where.
>>
Alarms go off when I try to access it!!!!!
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Not here - copy the problem over to computing.
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>> i115.photobucket.com/albums/n297/penfro/DSCF1178.jpg
>> Guess where.
That'll be the N Yorkshire Moors. Have you been to Whitby for a big haddock?
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Guess where.
Yn Sir Benfro efallai ?
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Getting at least 45/47 in our SEAT Alhambra 1.9tdi SE. I think the 6th. gear and cruise control helps to conserve fuel by stopping the gradual "creep" in speed, particularly on motorways.
BTW, the A1(M) was blooming chock-a-block today with queues and concertina like stop & go. YUK.
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>>Both front tyres about a mm to go before illegal, and the left one has a rounded outside shoulder from being run soft too far too fast<<
"It aint necessarily so" (as the song goes), if it was due to low pressure both shoulders would be worn.
>>There's a very clean indeed 1500cc 120,000-mile Almera by the road down by me<<
I kept my 1.8 SE auto Al-mera for over 4 years, which is a long time (for me!)
... Great car, dats why I kept it soooooooooo long.
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>> if it was due to low pressure both shoulders would be worn.
They may be perro. The inner shoulder is hard to see properly on my car. I don't think there's any tracking or other suspension fault. I would have felt it.
I will take your comment on the Almera as encouragement. But I won't be in a big rush. I suspect this is a good moment to find decent motors not too dear, and there will be others out there. Nevertheless if it's still there next week I may take a noncommittal further look.
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>>I suspect this is a good moment to find decent motors not too dear<<
Webuyanycar offered me £1800 prior to seeing my 05 jobbie it but, I got £2800 for it in px for the Lancer.
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>>I got £2800 for it in px for the Lancer.
That looks a nice spacious car, Dog. Decent colour, too.
I hope your house move went to plan.
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>>That looks a nice spacious car, Dog. Decent colour, too<<
And it drives mighty fine too :)
>>I hope your house move went to plan<<
Thanks C/S - I'll be 'writing' up a report of my/our experiences just as soon as I get a round tuit.
:)
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A select few, us Lancer Estate drivers, men of taste. ...
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>> A select few, us Lancer Estate drivers, men of taste. ...
>>
I can think of another reason why there are only a few of you. :-)
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>>I can think of another reason why there are only a few of you. :-)<<
I thought that too :-)
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>> >>I can think of another reason why there are only a few of you. :-)<<
>>
>> I thought that too :-)
At least he is working a cab rank far away from mine.
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>>A select few, us Lancer Estate drivers, men of taste<<
Afirmative!
I've owned 4 Mitsubishi cars over the years, Sapporo, a little Colt, an L300 van, and now the Lancer,
All were 100% reliable.
Mine has the Invecs-11 transmission, which is based on Porsche's Tiptronic,
I drive it mainly in slushbox mode but I do use the semi-auto mode for descending hills.
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Jacks,
Prettiest car I ever owned really, although not the most genuinely stylish, was a Renault 18 GTX estate, silver with chrome roof rails and brown glass. Went well too.
I parked it once in an alley off Brick Lane. I was working near there in a magazine office. My instinct was to park tight up against the wall with the car's offside, but then I thought of pedestrians so moved it out a foot.
When I came back some toerag had used leverage from the wall to push in both pretty, but fragile, door panels on the offside. Nearly broke my heart. Bunch of damn baboons, human beings.
Oh, and someone deliberately twisted the rear wiper one night in a picturesque Sussex village with a good pub, near where I live now. The miscreant was well known to everyone there, an Olympic sportsman and nasty loony of the first water.
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To persist with the real theme of this thread:
For the first time since we moved to the country, the timing of yesterday's run to and through London went absolutely impeccably, without the heel-kicking and time-killing, frantic attempts to make it across town too late and make mobile phone calls on the hoof, or both, that have characterized our increasingly old-yokel-like confrontations with the capital. We were on the dot everywhere, the crawl up Castelnau pereventing us from being too early at the Gate to pick up a friend on the way to Islington and Kentish town. At the best pub in the world, in a way, at the bottom end of Kentish Town Road my SiL turned up to borrow my chainsaw. Although tempted we didn't start it up in the street and he strode off through the crowds towards his motor looking a tad alarming (he is a brawny chap although extremely reasonable in fact).
We are staying at SiL's modest pied-a-terre among the Regency squares and streets on the edge of Islington. The severe elegance of the Regency houses here appeals strongly to something deeply buried in my memory. Most likely the opinion of my parents who liked Georgian but sneered at ornate Victorian architecture. Of course they were formed in the modernist years of twenties and thirties. For most of my adult life I have been in rebellion, wallowing in the lush Neapolitan decadence of my long-time manor, overwhelmingly Victorian, down in the Gate. Now in my seventies I am coming aesthetically to heel.
This building isn't Regency though but very new. Like Fort Knox to get in and out, two security pads to open the door to the block and the outside iron grille, all internal flat doors shut with the same heavy clonk of deadbolts smacking into place.
Parking a bit of a pain though. For the five hours on Saturday morning (£14 at a meter round here I think) I had to lay out a row of five elaborate scratch cards on the facia. Could have wasted one all-day one or an hour by putting two three-hour ones, but to do five hours the only way was one 3 hour and four half-hour scratchcards.
And missed the midnight deadline for yeterday's congestion charge, which we incurred, making it 12 quid these days, as well as having endless hassles paying on line. If you don't live here it's like climbing a mountain even when you have all the advantages we still have thanks to our friends and relations.
Down across town to my old manor later this afternoon. I may try to see if my carnival connections are in camp yet. Yee-hah!
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"Now in my seventies..."
How's your sex-life out of interest?
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Comme-ci comme-ca. Always was though. I have long suspected that almost everyone's is.
To put it another way, I'm not complaining, but nor do I feel inclined to boast, strut or compete. I have known people who did and they could become a bit tedious.
Of course I'm not talking about badinage or bad-taste jokes which I don't usually mind. The whole subject has huge comedy potential as you yourself are clearly aware BBD you old onanist...
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I thought your Sister-In-Law was seeming a bit butch.
Got it sussed now, sorry!
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Out on the wife's Kwaker to go to the Co-op Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogery-chwyndrobwllllanfairtysiliogogoch, got there quicker than you can say it, along the back roads and little lanes. Good customer service. The old A5 between Llanfair PG and Gaerwen feels like an old Fench Roman road, straight as die - wondered how touring on a 650 to the continent would be....stereotyped a chap in a Toyota 4WD Japanese import MPV thing, dead right as it turned out. Must clean the car tomorrow...
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>> a chap in a Toyota 4WD Japanese import MPV thing
Had to move aside to let one of those pass us about a mile up the Miners' Track the other week. Hmmm. L reg gold Shogun IIRC.
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Today's journey saw me moving the other two cars to get the Jowett out this morning.
Me biker mate came round at 0930 in his plumber's Bentley and we set off for the Classic Car show. Only 15 miles so I took the back roads once I'd escaped the City and just pottered.
Got through the gates at Tatton Hall and straight into a standing queue. Fifteen minutes doing 10 ft at a time behind an ice cream van and suddenly it just cleared....don't know what the problem was although there was a guy trying to start his Mk2 Jag further down.
Found the Manchester Historic Vehicle Club display and was put in the middle at the front between a vintage Humber and a Triumph TR3.
Went to spend some money on coffees. I bought a wing mirror to match the offside one I had on the car and some coloured insulation tape.
The club stand won an award and after we had a fish and chip lunch sprawled on the grass and another scout round, we left at 1600.
Came home the faster way, saw 75 on the M56 and arrived home with good oil pressure and temperature.
All told, a very good day with no mud for a change. Nice hot Sun. The car's tucked up in bed now and doesn't even need a wash.
Ted
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>>I bought a wing mirror
And I bet you don't fit it to your door! ;>)
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Ted, you are a fortunate and happy man, or ought to be. I wish I had been richer or less idle or both. Then I might own an example of the only proper, modern, radically-engineered Continental-style car made in this country in the fifties. Also the fastest, best-handling 'mass-produced' car of its class made in this country at that time.
Killed off by the vile suits at Austin-Morris (and perhaps Ford or Standard-Triumph... I don't think GM had anything to do with it but I bet they were pleased) helped perhaps by poor engine oil in those days and its allegedly fragile bottom end (I know yours is all right Ted but you know how to look after a car. Most owners don't and most owners never did). Later they ran its successor organization moronically into the ground.
I would say it served them right, except that some bunch of venal carphounds who are their linear successors have just pulled some scam that has paid them millions, out of the vast desert of rubble that used to be BL.
The British sometimes seem incredibly undeserving. Indians are better these days, perhaps.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Sat 4 Jun 11 at 23:20
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Very true Armel.....As Montague writes in ' Lost causes of motoring '.......................
' Better to go out in a blaze of glory in a Jupiter than to be badge-engineered into oblivion '
I did consider fitting the mirror to the door BT. It's quite a jump from a daily modern to having to look at a 4" round piece of glass about 4 ft in front of you.
I'll pop it in the wing for now but if I come across some better wings I may put the mirrors on the doors, they're quite ' period ' , for safety's sake !
A small gutter clip on for the offside might have been an idea...should have thought of that when I was there......there were some for sale.
NiteNite all.
Ted
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saw a jowett today , at 10.40 heading towards luton airport. i thought wonder if thats ted. sems not. just a thought i had
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Just (literally) back from a 750 mile round trip to Cornwall for a family do - here are two less than random thoughts.
One - If you are a member of the Doncaster chapter of the Harley owners club, I guess you have to be bad, but when seen on Friday afternoon, their idea of bad seemed to be keeping half a dozen bikes line astern in lane 2 of the M5 whilst lane 1 is empty for miles. Is it because they steer like oil tankers ?
Two - veteran bikes - we're talking 50's 60's Triumphs and the like - can they do more than 45 miles an hour, 'cos if they can and you're going to spread half a dozen out over 150 yards of the A30, can you try and wind them up a little bit - may be to lorry speed so that the lorries trying to overtake you done cause a tailback that last for miles
Bikers - what a lot of speed hungry rebels, eh ?
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Up and down the M11/M25 and M20 at the weekend produced a question for us.
Motorhomes in abundance mostly with a small car in tow for use at the destination.
In lorries the propshaft has to be disconnected for towing so does to these cars too?
Judging by the age and agility of some of the motorhome drivers it made an intersting picture thinking of them nipping out with a bungee and a spanner when they arrive!
Pat
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The small car on tow is usually FWD, so no - it has no prop shaft.
But that raises another interesting point. The Odometer is electronic. I presume the towed car has its steering lock off, but not turned on, so wont be clocking up all these extra miles?
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Nothing to stop you towing a rwd car, provided it's not a slush box automatic.
I'd want further info before towing a DSG or semi-automatic.
But most cars behind motorhomes are ordinary manuals, so no problem towing in neutral.
Not sure about the odometer, perhaps it's not activated when the ignition key is in what we used to call the accessory position - enough to release the steering lock, but not to fire up everything.
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>> provided it's not a slush box automatic.
What's the reasoning behind that?
Thankfully the beemer's never needed a tow but i'd probably not have thought twice about towing provided it was in neutral.
I know on the range rovers, P38s anyway, there's a spare fuse in the fuse box which gets plugged in to a specific port, cycle the ignition and there's a message comes up along the lines of "transfer box in neutral". It means you don't have to undo the prop shafts (from the car's manual).
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...What's the reasoning behind that?...
The automatic transmission fluid is not pumped around the box because the engine's not running, but the box still spins if it's rwd because the propshaft is spinning.
The result is the box is being turned over with very little oil where oil needs to be and will seize.
It takes a while, so towing it for a mile or two is no problem, but any further and you'd need to disconnect the propshaft.
Last edited by: Iffy on Tue 7 Jun 11 at 12:07
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That's right, Iffers.
No rigid bar, rope or suspended tows for autos unless it was the driven wheels that were off the tarmac, either on a hook or a spec lift.
Although it was generally safe for a few miles at a slow speed.
Another aspect of motorhome tows..........my pal called on his way back from holiday with a huge 3 axle Hymer. Behind it followed a Smart on an A frame.......but not the sort that turned the steering.
As he drove away I saw the Smart's front wheels were shimmying from side to side as it tried to go one way and got pulled back into line, only to try and go the other. He hadn't realised this as his year view camera looked over the top of the Smart.
I wonder if front tyre life was reduced considerably by this motion.
I also thought Smarts were autos but I may be wrong.
The Hyner was later destroyed by fire in France. I know not the fate of the Smart.
Ted
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Smarts are automated manuals, except the ForFour which had a standard clutch/manual gearbox set up. I think.
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>> The result is the box is being turned over with very little oil where oil needs to be and will seize.
Makes sense. Duly noted for future :-) Can't describe how annoyed i'd have been with myself if i'd done that without knowing.
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It is possible to push start an auto, but you need to a little speed to do it.
Get it rolling at 10mph or so, stick it in drive, kickdown hard, and it may start.
To achieve this speed, the temptation is to tow it.
But when the engine fires, it will leap forward, so it's the easiest thing to ram the towing vehicle.
The handbook for my old Rover suggested pushing the car with another vehicle, using an old tyre as a buffer.
Sturdy cars, those old Rovers.
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>>It is possible to push start an auto, but you need to a little speed to do it.
We tried that once, got up to about 30MPH, but the thing still wouldn't turn over.
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>> >>It is possible to push start an auto, but you need to a little speed
>> to do it.
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>> We tried that once, got up to about 30MPH, but the thing still wouldn't turn
>> over.
>>
It depends very much on exactly which automatic gearbox is fitted.
Some gearboxes had a secondary oil pump driven by the output shaft, specifically to allow push starting and/or towing. There would be a number of one way valves in the valve block to prevent the oil from either pump simply driving the idle pump as a motor, and some switch over valves to re-enable the primary pump if the engine started.
As an example, the AP automatic transmission fitted to some minis had a secondary pump. The 722.3 and 722.4 gearboxes fitted to some Mercedes cars had a secondary pump, but, this was deleted during the production run, so, my W124 doesn't have one, but, earlier cars do.
So, it is possible, but, I think the number of new cars fitted with a secondary pump must be small - are there any?
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I remember reading in a car magazine many moons ago somebody tow starting an auto and they had to go over 50mph to do it.
Wouldn't fancy it myself...
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My thoughts have mainly been a lot of swearing, because of one of the roads into Didsbury is shut and that is my preferred route. Now means I have to stick in traffic with all the Audis cutting through to use the M56 and M60.
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Random Thoughts on a journey - Zero
