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Dec 15, 2021 20:52:01 GMT
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Got pulled over for speeding in my mini once (couldn't help it, it sounded awesome). When the cop looked up my details he said "you know this hasn't got mot?" "Er..... no?" Turned out it had run out 2 weeks before, I'd got the month wrong. He said he could see it was a good clean cared for car and it was clear I'd made an honest mistake, got a producer and got it sorted. There's also a story about getting a written off car home from a bodyshop but I won't go there..
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cjhillman
Posted a lot
1979 Capri (Rolling Project) 1985 Escort mk3 (Daily)
Posts: 1,588
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Dec 15, 2021 21:10:32 GMT
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Following on from cjhillman thread on fear of breakdown, I started thinking about times I've driven stuff that I really shouldn't have. Back in the eighties a mate mate had a 3 litre Capri, which later became mine. He was offered another as a spares car by a work colleague, which was in North London, so we went to have a look. It was a complete rotbox, the wings were flapping loose, the rear suspension was collapsing and the big ends knocked like there was someone in the bell housing with s sledgehammer trying to get out. With the bravado of someone in their early 20'a, I said ' oh it'll be fine, I'll drive it back to park Street, a journey of about 15 miles. Halfway back the Police passed us, twice Both officers stared, and then burst out laughing. They never even pulled us! We made it back ok, but that was it's last trip Not sure we'd have been laughing about it nowadays! Haha I didnt think my last thread was going to be so popular... pleased i've inspired you comfortablynumb I might as well carry on the Mk3 Capri thread. My current one is probably the sketchiest thing i've driven on the road (until I replaced all the suspension and brakes). The MOT said it needed an inner tie rod... it actually needed Top Mounts, front struts and rear springs as it wouldnt go in a straight line. Along with a load of other problems I fixed this could be the main reason for my last thread although, its never actually broken down on me Nice car now Drove my Dads new to us Triumph Spitfire 1500 home from Glasgow to Stoke-on-Trent. Never driven one before and we thought all the bulbs in the dash had blown... turns out a lot of them were just dim. A few weeks later noticed one of the tyres suffering from hideous dry rot!!! It also broke down nicely on the M6 leading to nearly getting smacked by an artic lorry.
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Dec 15, 2021 21:25:54 GMT
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Think some behaviours in times past are deemed far more reckless and frivolous now than there were at the time.
....driving a Sierra with no doors, bonnet or lights to a friends house in the village...a slick shod race car between houses because getting the trailer out was too much hassle...moving a banger raced ford cortina with the boot lid scraping and sparking on the road.
Such things weren't unusual in the village, a local sidecar racer was often known for testing his outfit around the streets(without a pillion either😲), likewise a 250 Superkart racer did similarly..none of which you could do without incurring the wrath of local authorities, readily supported by video evidence of concerned residents.
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2014 - Audi A6 Avant 3.0Tdi Quattro 1958 - Chevrolet Apache Panel Truck 1959 - Plymouth Custom Suburban 1952 - Chevrolet 2dr Hardtop 1985 - Ford Econoline E350 Quadravan 2009 - Ovlov V70 2.5T 1970 - Cortina Mk2 Estate 2007 - Fiat Ducato LWB 120Multijet 2014 - Honda Civic 2.2 CTDi ES
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Dec 15, 2021 22:02:45 GMT
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Think some behaviours in times past are deemed far more reckless and frivolous now than there were at the time. ....driving a Sierra with no doors, bonnet or lights to a friends house in the village...a slick shod race car between houses because getting the trailer out was too much hassle...moving a banger raced ford cortina with the boot lid scraping and sparking on the road. Such things weren't unusual in the village, a local sidecar racer was often known for testing his outfit around the streets(without a pillion either😲), likewise a 250 Superkart racer did similarly..none of which you could do without incurring the wrath of local authorities, readily supported by video evidence of concerned residents. Your not from the Highlands are you my sister in law said she once saw the front half of a transit van being driven on the road up there!
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Dec 15, 2021 23:23:06 GMT
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Several spring to mind for me. We'll start with the 1970 Mini that I bought for parts in 1994, to which I gave the nickname "Basket Case". It was 25 years old, and - how can I put this politely - the years had NOT been kind. The front floors were rather crispy and the crossmember the seats bolted to had rotted away from the inner sill. When you sat in the car there was a rather alarming amount of flex. The sills were an amusing mixture of underseal, newspapers, lots of rusty bran flakes and had the structural integrity of toasted marshmallow. Oh and did I mention the brakes? There weren't any. Well, not that worked anyway. Now, as I had already taken what I wanted from the car I had no intention of putting it back on the road as it would have been a nightmare and hideously expensive. What I needed to do was get it to the breakers' yard. So my mate Bob gave me a tow behind his Mk2 Granada 2.3. We used a bit of rope round the subframe. No working lights, no footbrake, the worry that my big butt was going to fall through the floor. Of course the amusing thing was that I was having to slow the thing down using the handbrake and only the handbrake. It was only a mile or so, but remains one of the more challenging trips of my driving career. How we didn't get stopped at 7pm I will never know. We dumped the car at the yard with a scrawled note on it stating they could break it up because it was a proper POS. Rewind a few months to when my friend was driving to London for an important appointment at an Embassy and did I fancy coming along for the trip? Yup no problem. So the next day he turns up and says he's got a sickness bug (he was BAD), so would I mind driving his Dad's car? It was a cold February morning and peeing down. Did he mention that the reason he had his Dad's Mk2 Astra was because it had been hit by a scaffolding pole that had fallen off the back of a truck and he was going to fix it at his mate's body shop. Where had the pole hit the car? The top of the windscreen and roof. That's right, directly above my right hand on the steering wheel. The rain came in through the large HOLE, yes a bleeping hole in the windscreen, which also had cracks wherever I wanted look. Got my friend to Newbury Park (70-odd miles) where we parked up and eventually I got him home later after his appointment, in MORE rain. Turns out that although I had drive other cars cover on my insurance, this only works if there is a valid policy on the car you're driving. Which there wasn't apparently. I was one lucky boy that I didn't get stopped because they had every right. It looked terrible! Finally, I give you the incident with the Mini 1275GT and the diesel spillage. I was driving to work one drizzly morning and there was a part of the country road which was a 90-degree right hand bend. I always approached this with caution due to the camber, and the fact that the road surface was never that nice. Anyway, at 25 or so mph I suddenly did a complete 180 degree spin to the other side of the road where I hit the kerb quite hard. The guy in the house opposite came out and told me there was a diesel spillage (and boy could you smell it). The car seemed undamaged other than a slight scrape to the nearside rear wheel. Oh, and the fact that it suddenly had about 15 degrees of positive camber. Given that I was about the same distance from home and work, I took the option that work would be better, and drove the rather oddly-handling car the remaining 8 or so miles to my place of work. I then called the AA and "booked" a recovery truck for when I finished for the day. I got the local garage to replace the rather bent radius arm - they were a bit worried that they might have to charge me the exchange surcharge, but they somehow managed to get away with it , presumably by burying it at the bottom of the box with all the other exchange items in it...
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I once rescued a Citroen 2CV Dolly from a local driveway where it had been parked up by a student for a couple of years after the MOT expired. I gradually did it up, and it passed the MOT. One day shortly after, I was giving it some beans around a car park with my brother on board, when the car suddenly felt odd and the steering went rather stiff.
We got out to take a look, and I realised the chassis had buckled underneath the bulkhead - quite a common rust area on these, and the whole car was like driving a banana (albeit a Rhubarb & Custard coloured one!)
Drove it home a few miles rather gingerly after that...
Another time, I had to rescue a Ford Ka that was stuck in the middle of Canterbury with a flat front tyre. It was absolutely chucking it down with rain, and the car's spare wheel was missing, so I drove it about 5 miles to the workshop on its rim, which got some odd looks at the graunching noise going on, but it made it!
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Dec 16, 2021 17:08:51 GMT
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A mk1 escort van that a fella offered me when I was a tyre fitter in 1986, he’d seen my lovely mk1GT and assumed I’d be interested in the Mexico engined van he had Think it was roughly £150 I paid the man left the keys and was gone……the floor was non existent and the rear spring hangers were not really there…I decided to drive it home the one mile to my parents house no mot no insurance, yes I know but I was young and stupid ! And already had four points for no insurance when I drove my mk1 around our close So the van was a dog no chance of an mot or insurance but I got a producer as you did back in those days I can’t explain fully but I got away with it and have never ever driven without cover or mot
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Last Edit: Dec 16, 2021 17:10:17 GMT by Mercdan68
Fraud owners club member 2003 W211 Mercedes E class 1998 ex bt fiesta van
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Dec 16, 2021 17:46:06 GMT
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Showing off in the snow I handbrake turned into a hidden kerb, putting the rear wheel out of whack. Needed my car, carried on driving it, tyre shredded few miles from home a few days later. 18, idiotic and inexperienced. I knew I'd curse word up to the extent I told noone, bought a rear beam and took it to a garage noone uses instead of my regular guy. That taught me a valuable lesson.
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Dec 16, 2021 17:58:11 GMT
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Late 1960's, stopped at traffic lights holding my mini on the footbrake. Pedal went slowly to the floor as the fluid seeped out of a rusted through brake pipe. I drove the 10 miles home with only the handbrake.
A couple of times I've driven several miles with a snapped clutch cable. Start the engine in gear & carefully match speed/revs to change gear.
An "enthusiastic" gear change in my Matra Rancho (wish I could find one now) left me with only 2nd gear to drive 40 miles from Bognor Regis to Farnham. I put the car into the auctions to get rid but later found it's a common fault and easy fix.
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Last Edit: Dec 16, 2021 17:59:14 GMT by minijohn
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Dec 16, 2021 17:59:27 GMT
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My brother bought a mk2 escort estate must be the best part of 30 years ago, but it was really rusty, but the mechanicals were good. Anyway being the idiot i am I said I'd drive it the 20 odd miles of twisty country roads home. Testing the engine as you do I even managed to get the Speedo to 90mph once too, it felt a bit wobbly but I figured how bad could it be? Well we arrived home safely and a couple of days later we removed the oily bits and thought we'd tow it to the scrapyard. The trouble was the next day when we turned up at my brothers lock up to tow it away the damn thing had broken in half during the night. I guess it was being held together by the engine and gearbox! To think I'd driven it home pretty fast over some pretty rough bumpy, and twisty roads only a few evenings previously, I reckon someone upstairs was clearly looking after me that night.
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Dec 16, 2021 21:31:54 GMT
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A mk1 escort van that a fella offered me when I was a tyre fitter in 1986, he’d seen my lovely mk1GT... Any pics of that Dan? My dad once owned a bright red one.
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Dec 16, 2021 21:41:42 GMT
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A mk1 escort van that a fella offered me when I was a tyre fitter in 1986, he’d seen my lovely mk1GT... Any pics of that Dan? My dad once owned a bright red one. No mate green one reg OYK 220L Thing was hanging !
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Last Edit: Dec 16, 2021 21:43:44 GMT by Mercdan68
Fraud owners club member 2003 W211 Mercedes E class 1998 ex bt fiesta van
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Dec 16, 2021 22:44:26 GMT
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Are you sure it was a GT? DVLA says it was a 1098cc.
Interestingly, BMC also used a 1098cc size in the A-series, very similar power outputs too...
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Dec 16, 2021 22:53:31 GMT
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Except a 1098 Mini always went a lot harder than a 1098 Escort.
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Dec 16, 2021 23:26:07 GMT
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The 165kg difference in weight may have had something to do with it, the equivalent of two people...
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hopeso
Part of things
Posts: 340
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Dec 16, 2021 23:26:57 GMT
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When I was 16 in 1976 I bought for £30 A MG Midget and kept it in an old ladies wooden garage near my school. One afternoon after school whilst still in school uniform I drove it about 7 miles to another town with 3 other school mates in it. One in the passenger seat and two sitting on the back deck holding onto the hood frame. No licence, no MOT, no tax and no insurance. I got stopped by a local policeman on a bicycle who asked me for my driving licence. I told him that my dad kept it for me whilst I was at school. Hi reply was "I suppose he keeps your MOT, tax and insurance details too does he?". I was told to get the car off the road and never let him catch me out in it again. I suppose it was the height of the troubles here in Northern Ireland and the police had more important things to deal with!
Never took it out on the roads again!
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Dec 16, 2021 23:29:01 GMT
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What became of it - still stuck in the garage?
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hopeso
Part of things
Posts: 340
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Dec 16, 2021 23:42:56 GMT
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Unfortunately not, it was wrecked driving around the fields before sold for scrap. We were young and innocent then. No harm meant but no thought for the consequences either.
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Not my picture, but recall seeing something similar on the way to wimbledon with a banger being towed...the rope snapped at a crossroads and the driver fired it up and drove on to the stadium!
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2014 - Audi A6 Avant 3.0Tdi Quattro 1958 - Chevrolet Apache Panel Truck 1959 - Plymouth Custom Suburban 1952 - Chevrolet 2dr Hardtop 1985 - Ford Econoline E350 Quadravan 2009 - Ovlov V70 2.5T 1970 - Cortina Mk2 Estate 2007 - Fiat Ducato LWB 120Multijet 2014 - Honda Civic 2.2 CTDi ES
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Are you sure it was a GT? DVLA says it was a 1098cc. Interestingly, BMC also used a 1098cc size in the A-series, very similar power outputs too... My other car was a gt the van was a cobbled together build with a 1600 x flow and questionable parts fitted My gt was fyr 593J and followed by akk 299k a Mexico rep Boring I know I remember most of my reg numbers
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Last Edit: Dec 17, 2021 7:18:25 GMT by Mercdan68
Fraud owners club member 2003 W211 Mercedes E class 1998 ex bt fiesta van
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