I appear to have bought a car!
I biked to Nottingham to collect this, which nearly killed me as I’m so unfit, so frankly as long as it moved under it’s own steam I was keeping it regardless whether it was as described in the EBay ad or not. It was a runabout the garage owners lad had been using for a year having purchased it from a pensioner who had owned it from new. It has been cleaned and polished and apart from a few rust blisters didn’t look too bad. The price was £301, they took pity on my sweaty knackered appearance and knocked a quid off and showed me how to fold the seats down to get my bike in the back. “You do know these are curse word, right?” were the seller’s parting words. I drove it back home and a few things were apparent. There was no petrol in it, 4th gear and reverse are but a few microns apart, although the graunching noise of missed changes meant everyone moved out the way. It drives really nicely! Light, wheel in each corner kinda feel, rubbish brakes and a bit bouncy. The front suspension needs a regas but it has been that way for ages looking at the old MOT advisories.
The engine is smooth and quiet, it has a choke which means there’s a carb lurking in there somewhere, I know nothing about spannering but I do know a small oil leak from the rocker cover dropping onto the manifold might need looking at.
All fairly good underneath, new exhaust too, and the tyres aren’t too bad. There has to be a catch…
Patina, not rust, right?
All good here. 40k on the clock, no idea what the caravan symbol on the dash means. Wind up windows confused my kids when I got it home but they love it. The missus went a bit mental until I lied and said I hadn’t bought it and was just looking after it for a friend. She'll go even more mental when she finds out what I'm going to do with it.
This is a work of art. “Auto reverse” is a godsend, I don’t know about you but I’m tired of having to eject cassettes and turn them over, with touches like this I don’t know why Rover went bust. Check the typeface on “40 watts” – very futuristic. Anyway, the stereo lights up but doesn’t work. Perhaps I do know why Rover went bust. 'scuse the pensioners dandruff and pubes in here, I'll clean it later if I can be arsed.
Parting shot. It’s now festering in the yard at work while my co-driver and I make plans for a one-way roadtrip in it. The shopping list includes: Sumpguard, spotlights, roofrack, jerrycans and a vintage British Leyland motorsport paint scheme. Budget for all this is about 75p plus whatever bits I can take off and flog before we curse word off to Africa in it in November.
Who likes the sound of "The Harris Mann(k) to Casablanca rally" ?
I biked to Nottingham to collect this, which nearly killed me as I’m so unfit, so frankly as long as it moved under it’s own steam I was keeping it regardless whether it was as described in the EBay ad or not. It was a runabout the garage owners lad had been using for a year having purchased it from a pensioner who had owned it from new. It has been cleaned and polished and apart from a few rust blisters didn’t look too bad. The price was £301, they took pity on my sweaty knackered appearance and knocked a quid off and showed me how to fold the seats down to get my bike in the back. “You do know these are curse word, right?” were the seller’s parting words. I drove it back home and a few things were apparent. There was no petrol in it, 4th gear and reverse are but a few microns apart, although the graunching noise of missed changes meant everyone moved out the way. It drives really nicely! Light, wheel in each corner kinda feel, rubbish brakes and a bit bouncy. The front suspension needs a regas but it has been that way for ages looking at the old MOT advisories.
The engine is smooth and quiet, it has a choke which means there’s a carb lurking in there somewhere, I know nothing about spannering but I do know a small oil leak from the rocker cover dropping onto the manifold might need looking at.
All fairly good underneath, new exhaust too, and the tyres aren’t too bad. There has to be a catch…
Patina, not rust, right?
All good here. 40k on the clock, no idea what the caravan symbol on the dash means. Wind up windows confused my kids when I got it home but they love it. The missus went a bit mental until I lied and said I hadn’t bought it and was just looking after it for a friend. She'll go even more mental when she finds out what I'm going to do with it.
This is a work of art. “Auto reverse” is a godsend, I don’t know about you but I’m tired of having to eject cassettes and turn them over, with touches like this I don’t know why Rover went bust. Check the typeface on “40 watts” – very futuristic. Anyway, the stereo lights up but doesn’t work. Perhaps I do know why Rover went bust. 'scuse the pensioners dandruff and pubes in here, I'll clean it later if I can be arsed.
Parting shot. It’s now festering in the yard at work while my co-driver and I make plans for a one-way roadtrip in it. The shopping list includes: Sumpguard, spotlights, roofrack, jerrycans and a vintage British Leyland motorsport paint scheme. Budget for all this is about 75p plus whatever bits I can take off and flog before we curse word off to Africa in it in November.
Who likes the sound of "The Harris Mann(k) to Casablanca rally" ?
- it's going to be fun.
