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Wow, so pretty much you're all dragged in by the 12 Cars In A Year thread. I must admit that i'm a bit surprised that you think this one is better, sometimes when i write it i wonder if it works, if it's flowing nicely. I wonder if i flit from car to car too much which makes it all seem a bit dis-jointed. Or is that the appeal, sort of a lucky dip type thing, you never know what you're going to get. I thought the 12 cars thing worked better because every month it was a new ride and you'd get the whole story by the end of the month(ish). I was very surprised at the populariity of the 12 cars thread, and i am surprised by how popular this thread has become. These two threads were the first things i'd written since my 40,000 word dissertation on Hot Rods and Hot Rodding that i wrote 20 years ago, and that didn't go down at all well as i remember! Thanks for taking to time to let me know your thoughts and opinions guys. So, you may well be wondering why i asked, well... Are you about to embark on 12 cars again? In a nutshell, i am thinking about it. I thought about it last year as well, but i wasn't sure how i was going to do it, and make it any more interesting. To be fair, i'm still not sure, but i am working on it, and i have a few ideas. Like i said at the end of the thread:- do i miss it? Yes, i really enjoyed it, i liked writing the posts about the different cars, i liked driving them about, and i really enjoyed your input, and reading your thoughts, it was just brilliant. When i started i never had any idea that it would attract so much attention, i had no idea that so many of you would be reading it, let alone bookmarking it. The thing that is my biggest worry is ofcourse the idiots that infest the Bay of E! Obviously I know they are still out there, and i expect to encounter them from time to time. But that is my biggest hurdle, i want good easy transactions on ebay as they should be. I didn't count on the frequency of the encounters, or the mind-numbing stupidity of some of the inhabitants of the By of E back then. I don't have to get annoyed at the consistent levels of imbecility shown by ebay buyers, which I did in the 12 cars one! lol, You don't have to get annoyed at the consistent levels of imbecility shown by ebay buyers!? The frustration this caused me, and the stress levels of some of these encounters really was a struggle sometimes. Infact sometimes i really thought that i should just forget the whole damn thing and get a new hobby like cross-stitching or something! This is probably my biggest concern if i do happen to do it again. To answer a few more of your questions, Cycling thread also excellent, though i wonder why Klunkers? I hoped it was to do with Klunk from Dastardly and mutley in their flying machines! Why My Klunkerz, sadly it has absolutely nothing to do with Dastardly and Mutley, i'll go into it in a bit more depth in my Klunkerz thread at a later date if you like. PP my vaugue idea of the cars you own man has dropped since you sold the fox bodies, the p100 and the escort van! VW Caddy, Chev-su, streetka, Pontiac, Barracuda, Mustang, Firebird, Proton, Talbot.. man how do you keep track of all the keys haha! Keeping track of the keys is pretty easy...  I have a board with hooks on it. This used to belong to the small company i used to work for. It was put up in the early seventies, and had a hook for every van they had, 12 in total, when the company closed it's doors for the last time in 2006 i took the board with me. It has the original company vans registration numbers abover the hooks, and thought that as a bit of a keepsake, and a bit of history i'd take it, back then i had no idea that i would fill the key rack with all of my personal cars, let alone end up with more cars than they ever had vans at work!  The thing is, to anyone else this is just a worthless piece of chipboard with some brass hooks screwed in, and some Dymo lables above the hooks. But to me i can remember looking at this board as a child in the seventies. I remember the sight of all those keys hanging neatly on the hooks. I remember the smell of the workshop that the key rack was hung in. I remember being there with my Dad, and seeing all this stuff, riding in the vans, and this simple bit of chipboard with hooks brings it all back to me. My dad saw it hanging in my pantry once and he asked me where i got it, i told him that when i was leaving, when it was over, i just kinda unscrewed it, and took it with me. Even he couldn't understand why, but he thought it was kinda cool that i have it. Pity they didn't have more vans! I don't want to add more hooks to it, so obviously i've had to double up on some of the hooks lol. Talbot? The one gone or is there another one? Wasn´t this very thread the 12ciay thread originally? Nope, the 12 Cars In A Year thread was it's own thread. I started it about a month after starting this one! I obviously had gotten into writing, having said that though,i then pretty much neglected this thread all year. I'll probably neglect it again if i try the 12 cars thing again! As for the Talbot, you are correct @automatik it is well and truely gone, as davidpallister said, the new owner then painted it chalk board black with red wheels, then tried to demand his money back because a 30 year old car wasn't in immaculate condition and had a few niggles.. then put it up on e-bay! I do still however have my first car, a blue 1979 Chrysler Alpine, plus a green 1977 Simca 1308, so basically i have two Alpines left after selling the beige one. The '79 Alpine i am hoping to get around to restoring sometime after the Carlton (which i havn't touched in four months) is finished. The Simca is very very rusty, and is really only of use as a parts doner. if you ever want to rehome the Ertl A team van by your boiler, drop me a pm  Sorry, this belongs to Pistonpoppet the younger who bought it about a month ago at a car boot sale, apparently its staying in her "Tonka" collection. I think most of us are glued to your threads due to being so jealous that you have such and understanding other half. She has her moments, but yep, i got pretty lucky with mrs Pistonpopper, and to think i nearly let her slip through my grasp three times! A lot of her friends ask her how she puts up with all the car buynig madness and she says that she'd much rather i come home smelling of petrol and oil than of some cheap girls perfume! Charming! I'd like to think that if i were in the market for other women i would like to do better than some cheap girl lol. Mind you, you've got to wonder what kind of girl would want to go home in some of my cars lol! Anyhoo, lets leave it there by saying i got lucky with mrs Pistonpopper, and with anyluck she wont go anywhere, or atleast, she wont go anywhere without me! Keep you fingers crossed for me fellas, somedays i'm sure i'm only one car away from going too far. Although it has to be said that she does enjoy the bouquets of flowers every time i buy something! Even the lady in the flowershop asks me what i've bought this time, and sometimes i've not bought anything, i've just decided to buy Mrs Pp some flowers, to, y'know, brighten her day or something. I'm waiting for you to sell the pickup lol. Umm...     Which one exactly? I'm guessing that the cull will take some of these at some point, but i like them all, and i like them all for different reasons. Time will tell, and no doubt you'll read about it here. As i said before, thanks for taking the time to read, and write in my thread, the input i get from you chaps makes it as enjoyable to me to read, as hopefully it is to you. Without your input my thread would be very dull, so thanks for helping out. As for a re-visit to buying a car a month, like i said, i'm working a few things out, but if i can get down to single figures in my car collection before the end of the year, then i really would like to have another go at it. It was fun doing it the first time around, so maybe... Anyway, i'll let you guys know here first! Stay tooned!! |
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Wow! After seeing this thread many times I've never read it until this weekend. Many hours and a lot of laughter later I'm now up to date with your car adventures. I really enjoyed reading it and admire your enthusiasm towards old and sometimes not very desirable cars. Loved the Talbot, I would of liked to of restored that, shame I wasn't on this forum when it went up for sale. Looking forward to more write ups in the future, especially the Carlton.
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May 18, 2017 23:43:09 GMT
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Welcome along turbotechnics , i hope you continue to enjoy my little thread of mindless babble as i hap-hazardly bumble through the world of automotive ownership and adventure! So, an odd thing happened the other day. I logged on to ebay (nothing odd there) and had a very irrate email from a man (again, not really that odd). It pretty much said, when are you coming to collect your car, except it was perhaps phrased in a stronger type of language. I sat there and thought to myself, What car? What is this fool babbling on about, I am trying to lessen the fleet, not add to it. He must have this wrong, i've not bought anything... In ages, must be a mistake, perhaps i'd better just check my purchase history, incase i've been sleep buying or something...  Hmm, oh dear, it looks like i've won a Honda CR-V... I wonder why i would've done that to myself i thought. At 48, am i even old enough to own a car like this? I yelled to Mrs Pistonpopper who was busy in the kitchen doing womans work! I said, do you know anything about a Honda CR-V? She yelled back, Have we won it? I said, er, well i dunno about we, but i certainly have, i'm presuming that you put the bid in? Yeah, she replied, i put the bid in a couple of days ago, but i heard nothing back so i figured that i didn't win it. I said, you didn't, you bid on my account, I'VE WON IT, is this some sort of punishment for something? YEAH, came the reply... Hmm, i wonder what i've done (or not done for that matter!) In the end, after wracking my brain for about five minutes i had to ask what i had done. I really had no clue! So i yelled out, so what did i do? YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW!!? Bellowed Mrs Pistonpopper. Hmm, by the volume of that, i reckon it must've been pretty big, i really couldn't think... Time ticked slowly by, and in the end i had to admit that i knew not of what i was accused of doing. So i said, nope, sorry, i've got no idea? Was it big? WAS IS BIG? Boomed the reply, yeah, kinda!! You remember about 18 months ago? (I struggle to remember 18 minutes ago!) Umm, maybe i said sheepishly, still trying hard to think what i'd done, who i'd talked to, what i may have bought. She went on, When that guy came to look at the Citroën XM you were selling. Oh yes, i replied. Mrs Pistonpopper went on, what happened? Well, i said, as i remember it, he was more interested in the Rav4, and he ended up buying that instead. There was a brief pause, while Mrs Pistonpopper filled her lungs with air to yell back to me, NOT THE RAV4, MY RAV4!!! Oh i see, i replied. She carried on, So i thought that a year and a half after you said you were going to buy me a replacement for it, i figured that it was about time... And now you have, Thanks!! When can we go and get it? I dunno i said, i'll have to try and find my Tartan blanket and carpet slippers first, but we ain't going anywhere until i get my dinner, so GET BACK IN THAT KITCHEN WOMAN!! I bellowed back! Dinner eventually came, and i think Mrs Pp had probably put just the right amount of arsenic in mine to give it that little kick! Delicious! After dinner i rang the owner of the CR-V, apologised for not contacting him sooner, then asked if it was ok to come down straight away to collect it. He said that would be fine. I got my carpet slippers on, and jumped into the Chev-suzu. He was pretty pleasant once i'd handed over the funds, and done the paperwork, so before long we were heading home again, with "our" new toy.  I say "our" in quotation marks like that because once home i decided that i would take it for a bit of a spin myself to see what it was like. When i suggested that i drive it, it was made pretty clear that it was only "our" car while i was buying it, and now that it is home, it belongs to Mrs Pistonpopper! She has set out some rules, and they are as follows... I am not allowed to:- Sell the CR-V. Drive the CR-V. Modify the CR-V. I am however allowed to:- Pay for the CR-V. Tax the CR-V. Insure the CR-V. Maintain the CR-V. Yipeee... Lucky me! However, it would seems that i can actually drive the CR-V, if, and only if Mrs Pistonpopper is with me! So i have had a quick go. First impressions? Pretty much what i thought when i saw that "we" had won the CR-V. This is a car designed for the elderly! It's biggest failing in my opinion is this though, it's just OK, It doesn't do anything badly, and it's pretty inoffensive, but similarly it doesn't do anything particularly well, or shine in any areas, it's just OK, and it's OK at everything. This is the worst thing a car can be in my opinion, it feels soul less, and without any personality at all, there's nothing to hate about it, but there's nothing to love about it either, it's just... OK.  Yup, does exactly what it says on the tin... Like the sticker says on the window, it's OK... Obviously at some point soon i shall take it for a little spin-a-rooney solo to see what it's like properly, and i shall report back once i have completed my mission... Well, that is unless Mrs Pistonpopper finds out i've been driving her new car that is. If you don't hear from me for a while, i'll be under the patio! |
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PP i dare you to sell the CRV..... 😈 noooo! Haha 😂 tbh I'm impressed mrs PP let selling her car lie for so long, i woulnt have seen the new day sun if id done the same!
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Last Edit: May 19, 2017 10:50:55 GMT by s1105117
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Am i really sad for knowing that I knew she was still miffed for you selling her Rav4? I knew that was going to be her reasoning!
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96 E320 W210 Wafter - on 18" split Mono's - Sold :-(
10 Kia Ceed Sportwagon - Our new daily
03 Import Forester STi - Sold
98 W140 CL500 AMG - Brutal weekend bruiser! Sold :-(
99 E240 S210 Barge - Now sold
02 Accord 2.0SE - wife's old daily - gone in PX
88 P100 2.9efi Custom - Sold
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riggs
Part of things
Posts: 74 
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May 19, 2017 11:03:52 GMT
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I have to say well played by Mrs Pistonpopper! Agree not exactly the type of car I would want, but if it's her cup of tea I see it as an improvement over the Rav4! - What's she been driving since?
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May 19, 2017 11:04:27 GMT
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Oh, i reckon the board for hanging keys is awesome, gotta love a slightly odd thing with a cool history ☺ shame you havent got one of the vans though!
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May 19, 2017 11:56:54 GMT
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Another brilliant episode, made me smile, good start for the day! Thank you! Somehow I have to think either of Tim Taylor being not allowed to drive Jill´s Healey or that movie featuring Keanu Reeves and Al Parcino... I read it as a Fawlty Towers bit...probably influenced by the fact I've recently discovered that Netflix has it, but it works quite well! |
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May 19, 2017 16:39:59 GMT
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Somehow I have to think either of Tim Taylor being not allowed to drive Jill´s Healey Ha ha, funnily enough you're not the first one to point out the similarities of my life and the Taylors life on Home Improvement, funnily enough i've just come in from work, and taken off my shirt (don't get excited) because i've been working outside all day, and its raining! Actually had big old hail stones bouncing off my bald head at one point! They stung a bit! Anyhoo, here's my shirt in the washing pile waiting patiently for mrs Pistonpopper to come home from work and do the washing!  Well i can't do it... Womans work! Crikey if she reads that i'm in for it lol. Anyway, wasn't that the episode when Tim wound up taking the Healey then getting stuck in traffic, and a picture of him drving the Healey ended up in the newspaper? I miss that show, it was damn funny. There was this one time when we were at a family type gathering, and i think it was one of my Aunties said to Mrs Pistonpopper how did she cope with living with me. Thats love for you, my Aunty actually asked her this, but then my cousins, and Mrs Pps friends also wondered. Anyway, her response was that it's a bit like living an episode of Home Improvement, Top Gear, and Roadkill all rolled into one!! I'm not sure if thats a compliment or not, but she followed it up by saying that in the whole time we've been together, she's never been bored! That, i think probably is a compliment. SmokeEm , i reckon you're not just reading my thread of babble, you're studying it! Could've given me a heads up lol. PP i dare you to sell the CRV..... Seriously, this would be the end of the thread... I'd be so dead they'd bury me twice! shame you havent got one of the vans though! Who says i havn't?  This is actually one of the first vans i had when i started working there. A mk2 Ford Escort van, and dare i say it, this is in worse condition than my mk5 Escort van! I bought this off the company in about 1990. I drove it around for a bit, until it ran out of MOT as i remember, then my Brother decided that he wanted it for his first car, so he had it. Put a lot of work into getting it through the MOT. Then he drove it around until the mid to late nineties, then he got involved with other stuff, so parked it up, to fix it up later. It still patiently waits. To say that it's pretty bad would probably be the understatement of the century! I really don't know what he's going to do with it, but it needs to be moved soon, and my feeling is that when we try to move it, it will probably break in half!  I have to say well played by Mrs Pistonpopper! Agree not exactly the type of car I would want, but if it's her cup of tea I see it as an improvement over the Rav4! - What's she been driving since? Yep, well played indeed. I'm not sure it's better than the Rav4 to be honest, atleast that had something about it. (i've been toying with the idea of buying myself a Rav4 lately, but i think that might send her over the edge!) As for What she's been driving since, well, my cars, mostly the Mustang... I must admit that it is quite nice that she's got her own car again, it's nice to be able once again to jump into my car and not be greated by this every time.  She's got quite a talent, she can get it so the gauge doesn't even register. So that the first thing i have to do is drive to the petrol station! Apparently filling the car with fuel (and paying for it) is mans work! I read it as a Fawlty Towers bit... To be fair i do have quite a few Basil Fawlty moments, the other day while struggling with the Carlton i really did feel like going off, getting a branch and giving it a damn good thrashing!! |
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Pistonpoppers MotorJournal.johnthesparky
@johnthesparky
Club Retro Rides Member 6
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May 19, 2017 18:18:15 GMT
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shame you havent got one of the vans though! Who says i havn't?  it's this sort of thing that makes this thread awesome! |
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May 19, 2017 18:59:34 GMT
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You could because of your genius in letting it go green now get about 20k for that van as a barn/garden find |
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May 19, 2017 19:54:24 GMT
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shame you havent got one of the vans though! Who says i havn't? Hahaha! awesome buddy! why, it wouldnt make sence if you didnt have one really would it?! even though I dare say its possibly worse for wear... I would naturally strongly advise against selling the CRV, this thread is too good to sacrifice you!  though perhaps you would only be killed once if it was staged to look like you sold it...?  My missus says exactly the same thing about filling her car btw. I get told to drive it to work, so i can fill it up, or i need to move it to get at something and see its empty.. been known for me to decide on balance it would be better to push it based on the fuel level! however her recent pièce de résistance with fuel being this. swmbo telephoned me up to see where i was, I said I was at Sainsburys. "oh good, I'm on my way home from work i will see you there in ten for a bit on my way back. meet me by the petrol station" oh good thought I, i like sainsburys coffee! nope. she drive onto the petrol station forecourt, doesnt get out of her car, passes me the filler cap key out of her window, infroms me to fill the car up! I do as i am told, return her the key to be greeted with " oh thanks sweetie, it was empty, see you later!" and she drives off! not only does this mean no coffee, I have to pay for the petrol!!! |
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Last Edit: Jun 13, 2018 9:46:55 GMT by s1105117
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May 19, 2017 20:09:45 GMT
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The crv won't win any quirky competitions but it's whisper quiet vtec, auto shift to 4wd in the mud and fab remote boot opening make it a winner in my mind. I have had a few 4wd second cars and the crv is a great cheap offering. The reliability alone makes it worth a grand. Change alloys to mk 2, and enjoy the picnic table. Oh and buy 12 cars again please
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riggs
Part of things
Posts: 74
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Women have a great knack for refusing to refuel.
We're down to just 1 car at the moment with her using it mostly, I have it every Tuesday which is nice, however the last 2 Tuesday's I have been greeted with the petrol light, no great harm but yesterday when I turned the key to be greeted with the light and the curse word's came out of my mouth in front of the kids, I had to make a point of it.
In all fairness this is also the woman who called me when she thought I was 120 miles away to tell me she had a flat tyre, when I told her I was actually <1 mile from her she asked if I could come and change it in the rain, she then complained that the space saver wheel on her car would look bad so could she take 1 of my alloys (both same car at the time) - somehow I think she knows more about cars than she lets on although the time she called me as the clutch had gone in her car was really fun, when it turned out the pedal was stuck behind the floor mat...
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Davey
Posted a lot
Resident Tyre Nerd.
Posts: 2,348
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I am also the house professional fuel delivery expert..
Quite often i get given the keys and told its empty.
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K11 Micra x3 - Mk3 astra - Seat Marbella - Mk6 Escort estate - B5 Passat - Alfa 156 estate - E36 compact
Mk2 MR2 T-bar - E46 328i - Skoda Superb - Fiat seicento - 6n2 Polo - 6n polo 1.6 - Mk1 GS300
EU8 civic type S - MG ZT cdti - R56 MINI Cooper S - Audi A3 8p - Jaguar XF (X250) - FN2 Civic Type R - Mk2 2.0i Ford Focus - Mercedes W212 E250
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May 24, 2017 10:28:01 GMT
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to be fair, my mrs uses her car for work a lot so is pretty clued up. There was one time i remember, I took her car for it's MOT (passed 1st time, Pug 307 with 160K on the clock, yay), the following morning it wouldn't start. Why? petrol too low (we had a sloping driveway back then), I didn't even look at the gauge the previous day, just assumed that knowing I was taking it in for it's MOT she would've made sure it had enough in the tank. Lucky it didn't run out mid-MOT!! Would've looked like a right knob!!
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May 24, 2017 23:38:42 GMT
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It is quite good to know that i am not alone in being fleeced by our ladies when it comes to fuelling up! To be fair to Mrs Pistonpopper she has got a lot better. Many years ago when her daily was a 1990 Thunderbird i would get frequent phone calls that went like this. She would just say, the car has broken down (again). I would say, why, whats wrong with it? She would say it just wont start? I'd would come back with, does it turn over? Yes she'd say. I'd then say, does it have any petrol in it? She would then say, usually very angrily, of course it's got petrol in it! I put twenty quids worth in it the other day, it's got gallons! Now, at the time we lived about 10 miles from the nearest town, and when you put £20 worth of petrol into a V6 Thunderbird, then preceed to drive it like your trying out for a NASCAR team, £20 worth of petrol doesn't go too far! So i'd arrive with a can full of go-go juice to a very grumpy mrs Pistonpopper. What do you think the first thing she would say to me? Nope, you're wrong, it wasn't hi honey, thanks for leaving work and coming to help me. It was, you wont need that, it's got gallons in it, the damn stupid thing is broken! So i'd say, just humour me, as i tipped it in. Once i had emptied the contents of my fuel can id say to her, ok, give it a go! That Thunderbird would start every time with just the slightest flick of the key! She would then look at me angrily, and i would say to her WOW, petrol, the magic elixir!! You need to have this in the tank to make it run! Those big buildings by the side of the road with the canopies and the pumps, they're petrol stations, you need to visit them occaisionally to keep the thing going. You'll need to go to one now, and put more in! Keep going well, keep going Sh... By then i would be chewing on the mud/gravel/tarmac/rubber mix being thrown up at me from the rear wheels of the Thunderbird as she roared away! She was very angry lol. But that was a long time ago, and both her driving style, and her temper have mellowed somewhat now! As for tyre changing, and roadside type maintenance riggs A long looooooong time ago i had a girlfriend who lets just call for the sake of this thread, The 'Wicked Witch of the East'. Not because she was nasty or anything, it was just she looked like The Wicked Witch of the East from the Wizard of Oz, although it would be fair to say that she wasn't green or anything like that, she may well have had flying monkeys though! Anyway, The Wicked Witch of the East had a lovely XR4i. One day, when we were out in it, and she got a flat tyre, so, she pulled up near a phone box (remember them?) that hadn't been vandalised, and started to phone the AA. I said to her, what are you doing? She said calling the AA, my tyre is flat. So i said, get on and change it, by the time the AA get here, we could have it changed, and be on our way. She said that she didn't know how, and did she look like a mechanic? I said no, you don't look like a mechanic, but you do kinda look like a tyre fitter! She wasn't very happy with that remark, but got out the car to give it a go. She really had no clue as to where everything was, she didn't even know she carried a spare tyre! So i showed her where everything was, and then loosened the nuts with the almost pointless wheel spanner supplied by Ford. She then, after being shown where to put the jack, and how to use it, jacked the car up, took the nuts off, took the wheel off, and put the new wheel on! Tightened the nuts up, put all the stuff back in the boot, wiped her dirty hands on my lovely clean white shirt. Then got in the car, and we headed off to our evening out. She wasn't happy with me not letting her call the AA, or not doing it for her, but she was very happy with herself, for being able to do it for herself. On our next date (yes, i know, i was as surprised as you guys that i got another date!) I gave her a couple of presents. One was a pair of riggers gloves, so she doesn't get her hands dirty should she need to change a tyre, and the other was an extendable wheel brace, to make it easier for her! Almost 30 years later she is still carrying the riggers gloves, and extendable wheel brace in the back of her car! How do i know this? Well, needless to say our relationship didn't blossom like you might hope, but it ended a matter of weeks later, but our friendship has now lasted nearly three decades! I must've done something right lol. Anyway, after that i always encouraged my girlfriends to learn how to change a tyre for themselves, and even though Mrs Pistonpopper does struggle with putting petrol in her car, she does know, and can indeed change the tyre in her car shoud she need to. Taking this further, once the Pistonpoppets started primary school, i taught them also how to jack up a car, and change the wheel for themselves. Admittedly they couldn't lift the wheel themselves at the time, but atleast they knew what to do, and every once in a while we have a little training session so that they remember what to do. Pistonpoppet the elder at 12 years old can now lift the wheel on fairly competantly, and Pistonpoppet the younger can manage it on anything with small(ish) wheels and studs poking out the hubs rather than bolts that you screw into them. As a side note i have also shown them how to check the fluid levels, and how to top up the oil, water, and yes, the petrol! These things i think are simple things that everyone should be able to do. Speaking of wheels, Pistonpoppet the younger help me change the wheels on the Proton the other day. Although it was less than a month ago when the Proton got a set of wheels that previously called a MX-5 home. I still wasn't 100% sold on them, and although they fitted they had massive spacers to clear the hub. So when a set of wheels showed up on ebay with a buy it now of £40 or best offer, i cheekily offered the guy £20 which he accepted! I picked them up that very evening as i didn't want him to change his mind!  I had a set of these on my own XR4i back in the day, and i really quite liked them, and even still have them, but they're not the right stud pattern for a Proton! So with the help of Pistonpoppet the younger the other evening we went from this...  Which i think looks quite nice... To this...  Which sort of made me think that the new wheels are the wheels for the car. To this...  Which i think looks far better! Anyhoo, for Pistonpoppet the younger and I to change the four wheels took just under 25 minutes, not too shabby for a 48 year old fat bloke and his 8 year old daughter i thought. However much like the outgoing MX-5 wheels, two have fairly good(ish) tyres, and two have pretty much had it...  One of the tyres that is well past its use by date is this one, so i'm not going to tempt it, and so as i've got no real driving about to do in the Jumbuck at the moment i shall have the worst two tyres swapped for the best two tyres from the MX-5 wheels by the weekend hopefully! This will mean that every corner will have a different brand on it, but it'll have to do for now! Lastly, and sticking with utes if i may. I have decided that the time has come to sell the Caddy. It's been good, and i've enjoyed it, but the culling must continue, and it needs to find a new home.  Hopefully re-homing this won't be too difficult as ever since i bought it, atleast once a week i've come back to it to find a note stuck under the wiper blades saying if you ever want to sell this, give me a call, or that sort of thing. Well, i've kept all the notes by my computer, and i've kept them in order from the first one i received on the top, to the one that i got last week, which is on the bottom. (See above pic!) There's quite a lot there written on various scraps of paper, business cards, receipts, even a bit of Izal toilet paper (if you can call it that!) Nice! Tomorrow morning i am going to start phoning the numbers on the various bits of paper, starting from the top, and working my way though the pile, i wonder how far through the pile i get before i have a buyer? |
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riggs
Part of things
Posts: 74
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May 25, 2017 10:17:44 GMT
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Glad to hear the poppets are being trained well!
I started to teach my 5 year old some basic car stuff, she changed an air filter after I loosed the bolts, she handed me almost the right sockets when swapping the suspension but she shows a good interest especially when asking how the brakes worked, so I feel confident shell turn out ok, although she wants me to paint the Puma pink, possibly why I haven't touched it in several months...
Caddy should fly out, dare say an owners group on facebook would get a good price...
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Pistonpoppers MotorJournal.johnthesparky
@johnthesparky
Club Retro Rides Member 6
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May 25, 2017 12:43:35 GMT
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I've done similar with my kids, Tom enjoys it, hence the Fugitive build. Ella comes over all girly, which infuriates me.... so she has been told if she wants help to buy a car then she has to learn the basics! Good work, I bet the top of the pile with be kicking themselves if they've bought something else |
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May 25, 2017 16:21:50 GMT
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So at 09:30m hrs this morning i picked up the telephone, and dialled the first number. The phone rang for quite a little while, but as i was just about to hang up i heard, "Uh... Hello?" I have a feeling that i may have got somebody out of bed! Hello, i said, you left a piece of paper with your phone number on it on my car about six months ago, i am thinking about selling it, so i thought i'd give you a call. "Ok", said the voice, still slightly dazed and confused, "Er, what car is it?" I said, it's a Volkswagen Caddy. Quick as a flash the guy said, "Is it a blue one?" He sounded much more awake now! Yes, i said, its a... Before i could finish my sentence i was interupted by "AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrgh!! Goddammit!! I've just bought one! A red one." Fair enough i said, well, have a good day. "Wait, WAIT!" came the reply "Can i come and have a look at it?" Sure, i said, when do you have in mind? "Well, i dunno, said the voice, i'm about four and a half hours drive from you, so the weekend?" Ok i said, what day, and what sort of time are you hoping to arrive? There was a short pause, and then he said, "I dunno, i'll phone you back, please please don't sell it until i phone you back!" Ok i said, if i don't hear from you before this time tomorrow though i will offer it to someone else. "Ok" He said, "But you'll hear from me again today!" We said our goodbyes and hung up. I figured that now was as good a time as ever to go out and get a few snaps of the Caddy just incase someone does actually buy it. So with the rays of the large golden orb beating down on my bald head i decided to head out and take some photos. I stumbled across a place a couple of weeks back, and i thought that i'd go there and try to take something a bit better, on a better camera than the one my phone has.  I thought it was a good location, and i think my pictures have turned out ok.  I think this one is my favourite one. I'm guessing the boom is to load grain into a truck or something.   It was at this point the telephone rang, I answered, and it was the guy i'd spoken to just two hours before hand. The voice on the other end said, "Can i have your address please so that i can work out where you are." Ok i said, and gave him my address. "Great!" He said, "If you're about tonight, i'll come tonight!" OK i said, i can be about tonight, what sort of time do you have in mind? " 'Bout half five, sixish?" Came the reply. Crikey, i thought, this guy must be keen, ok i said, see you then, bye!  So as i sit here writing this, and cooking Pizza for the Pistonpoppets and I to eat for dinner tonight, i am wondering if this guy is going to show up at all. And if he does, how much will he offer me? Or how much shall i ask him for? And actually now that i'm thinking about it, do i really want to sell it? This little ute has got under my skin a little, and to be quite honest i really like it. Probably far more than i should do! But i guess if he is actually on his way, and he does actually turn up, and even has money with him, then really, i have to let him have it. Its the right thing to do.  I've just got to keep telling myself that lol... Maybe he wont turn up... Hopefully. Arrgh! I'm so confused lol. I guess we'll know by the end of the evening! |
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Are you about to embark on 12 cars again? In a nutshell, i am thinking about it. I thought about it last year as well, but i wasn't sure how i was going to do it, and make it any more interesting. To be fair, i'm still not sure, but i am working on it, and i have a few ideas. Like i said at the end of the thread:- 
do i miss it? Yes, i really enjoyed it, i liked writing the posts about the different cars, i liked driving them about, and i really enjoyed your input, and reading your thoughts, it was just brilliant. When i started i never had any idea that it would attract so much attention, i had no idea that so many of you would be reading it, let alone bookmarking it. The thing that is my biggest worry is ofcourse the idiots that infest the Bay of E! Obviously I know they are still out there, and i expect to encounter them from time to time. But that is my biggest hurdle, i want good easy transactions on ebay as they should be. I didn't count on the frequency of the encounters, or the mind-numbing stupidity of some of the inhabitants of the By of E back then.
I don't have to get annoyed at the consistent levels of imbecility shown by ebay buyers, which I did in the 12 cars one! lol, You don't have to get annoyed at the consistent levels of imbecility shown by ebay buyers!? The frustration this caused me, and the stress levels of some of these encounters really was a struggle sometimes. Infact sometimes i really thought that i should just forget the whole damn thing and get a new hobby like cross-stitching or something! This is probably my biggest concern if i do happen to do it again. To answer a few more of your questions, 
Cycling thread also excellent, though i wonder why Klunkers? I hoped it was to do with Klunk from Dastardly and mutley in their flying machines! Why My Klunkerz, sadly it has absolutely nothing to do with Dastardly and Mutley, i'll go into it in a bit more depth in my Klunkerz thread at a later date if you like. 
if you ever want to rehome the Ertl A team van by your boiler, drop me a pm 
Umm...
it's this sort of thing that makes this thread awesome!
though perhaps you would only be killed once if it was staged to look like you sold it...? 
