So Sunday morning 11.00-ish sees me headed out, using SatNav as I am going places I have never been before.
I get to the given address, it is chilly out, frosty.
But the reception is not chilly.
What made me hit the “Buy it Now” button, is even smaller, and leaves me chuckling and feeling the madness completely consume my inner being.
This is too wrong, too right, I WANT IT.
Chatting with the seller and his mate, it is clear these guys live life fully, grabbing every day by the balls and shaking it vigorously.
You know the type….. the guy at school who would poke a wasps nest.
I wanted to be that guy, just that I never even came close to it.
So what have we got…..
5 Star Entertainment
4 Wheels - Only just.
3 Doors - OK yes
2 Seats - Albeit tight in there.
1……….?
The 1 of course is the biggest surprise.
1 CYLINDER - I kid you not. 160cc with CVT belt drive.
And it is small..
CANTA LX
But I am smitten…… we do the “Dollar Boogie” and seller asks me what I want to pay, I throw a price out…… He declines.
I ask him if he could deliver as that is another logistical issue. As I have no towbar, no trailer, no flatbed recovery, no Sprinter or similar van to try shoehorn it into for the trip home, that I know it has to make.
Yes, he can get a delivery truck and deliver.
I ask him if it starts, because the ignition barrel is damaged, the alternator belt is missing, and it looks pretty sorry for itself, much worse than stuff I have seen cross the scrapyard weigh bridge. .
“Yes, it starts” is the reply, but there is no fuel in it. Again I feel my heart drop, sounds like the sort of reply you expect……
Seller still eager, gets his mate to go find an empty 2 litre lemonade bottle and some pliers…….
Goes to his daily car, a Mazda 3 MPS (I did not know it is a performance model, you learn every day) whips off the fuel pipe at the injectors, cranks over the motor till he has 2 litres of fuel……
Dumps it into the diminutive fuel tanks.
Opens the fuel cock, choke, buddy on the throttle (This thing has no foot controls, only disabled use, hand controls) and pull starts it in the front of the engine bay.
THIRD PULL and it bursts into life, and promptly settles into an asthmatic idle……
Seller and his mate nonchalantly revs it a few times, while I stand there with a foolish grin on my face, wanting it at home.
Yup, now I know I have to have this thing.
Revving it up again, he is about to take it for a drive down the road to demonstrate it goes, when it splutters and dies.
So he tries to get it going again.
NADA.
So we get back to the price and I ask him how much he wants to deliver it to my house, postcode.
Seller says a price…….
I agree.
Delivery will be at around 4.00pm
Shake hands and I head home.
I had still not told Sally, just that I was going to look at “Something”
Back home, the rest of the day took a long time to drag by, and I continue with the Rezin Rockit fettling.
Eventually at 17.47 there is a text to say they just turned up my road…….
This is so that I can get in the street to film the arrival of the car……
When they arrive, I hear the Canta LX engine running on the back of the recovery truck.
Yup, he started it and drove it onto the truck and just to show it works well enough, had left the motor running.
I am grinning madly……
Seller takes it off the ramp, and
nickwheeler in his usual dry way is certainly underwhelmed………
But I don’t care.
I have my little thing, not sure what to call it, except what the factory called it.
More chat, and the seller and his mate leave, they delivered two cars and had not yet had lunch, despite it being 18.00 on a Sunday evening.
Closer inspection shows just how bad this thing really is.
But I love it.
Remember this question thread…..??
Still looking.
forum.retro-rides.org/thread/224020/wheel-challenge-narrow-wheels-offset
So Nick and I walk around, he is probably having a meltdown, wanting to whack me with a tyre iron for buying this thing……
Me……….?? HAPPY.
This thing is bad, really bad.
If you take the time to go look up the registration, you will see the full name.
Eventually I calm down, Nick and I push the little guy back into the carport, next to the Rezin Rockit.
It really is small.
In closing, all I can say is that I told a few people, and those who came to see it, like Fil Sparkplug and
craigrk both fell for its quirkiness and wanted it based on photos, and after meeting it in person, still wanted it.
More information as it unfolds.
Welcome to the latest madness at Grizz Towers.
It will be recorded and reported on my YouTube channel and probably on the blog, once I figure it all out.
