Because I neglected HJ's advice to change the transmission oil when I got it - I didn't even look - my chav Ford Escort's gearbox became noisy a couple of K ago, grumbling final-drivishly around town in the higher gears. For a while the sound would vanish at open-road speeds, but last time I went to Sussex there was a full-blooded howl on the power at 70, which only diminished a bit on the overrun.
Last week I ordered a second-hand gearbox from an internet breaker, £100 delivered for a 60,000 mile box. It arrived when it was supposed to at the garage round the back where the Aussie mechanic put it in with a new full Ford clutch kit for £225.
The car had become rather tiresome to drive. Now it is nice again in its chavvish way. It cost £250 a couple of years ago, and has had one front suspension arm and the cambelt, total cost about £400. It isn't super-economical but it isn't thirsty, about 30mpg in London and pushing 40 on the road. It isn't fast but it's quite brisk. I wish I had HJ's access or Murphy the Cat's transport budget, but being who I am I am enjoying cheap real-world motoring, something that is getting more difficult if you aren't an engineer. My days of doing radical auto surgery in the street are over thank goodness.
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Up until about 3 to 4 years ago i did every thing on my cars as i get older i can't raise the get up & go to do anything other than oil & filter changes
Half the fun of Classics to me is having a good old tinker under the bonnet, still get kick out of working on them, but the more modern motors don't seem as mechanic friendly somehow
But i must say Lud i've not started to use the word "chav".... Yet! don't think this word applies to Classics!
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Of course mm we'd all love a set of watchmaker's tools and the Type 35 Bugatti to go with them in a heated garage with a bar and piped music... that's why I harshly called this real world motoring.
You're right about modern cars being less mechanic-friendly of course. You knew where you were with a carburettor. My Escort does something that is apparently common in modern electronic Fords, which is revving too fast sometimes for 10 seconds or so when you stop. From a thread in technical matters I know what thing to take off the inlet tract and clean out - its name escapes me for the moment - but I don't know how to get a gasket for it without the hassle of going to a Ford garage, so I keep putting it off.
Did you see the thread on chav cars? HJ said rather rudely I thought that Escorts were chav cars. Well, so be it! I'm not ashamed. I've driven some very bizarre machines in my time.
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Did you see the thread on chav cars? HJ said rather rudely I thought that Escorts were chav cars. Well, so be it! I'm not ashamed. I've driven some very bizarre machines in my time.
Ah yes i remember now Lud here in Sudan they have there own form of chav too, but mainly confined to old Bedford & Austin trucks!
I approached a ornately decorated Austin truck and started taking photo's the proud owner/driver was chuffed i said ah Austin very good British Truck, to which he replied yes but it have Mercedees engine!.... You can't win 'em all!
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> Ah yes i remember now Lud here in Sudan they havethere own form of chav too, but mainly confined to old Bedford & Austin trucks! I approached a ornately decorated Austin truck and started taking photo's the proud owner/driver was chuffed i said ah Austin very good British Truck, to which he replied yes but it have Mercedees engine!.... You can't win 'em all!
Ah yes, proper true third world radical cobbling. Actually that reminds me of a story from about 1960, hitching in Spain, can't remember what make the lorry was but the driver, a political dissident and heroic drinker, emphasised the origin of the replacement engine: Perkins. Very good English diesel, he assured me feeling perhaps that I looked a bit too arty to understand.
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Some people call it inverted snobbery. I feel the same driving around in my not actually that bad Almera where my colleagues have a Toureag (drank too much, so he got a Vespa to commute) and an 4.2 Audi. They're happy, i'm happy, but i could leave the car unlocked and still find intact in the morning, and in those lane merge moments, the other car always lets me in. And it doesn't cost £400/month to lease/HP it. Anyway, i'll get told off for banging on about the Almera, it's becoming the new Mondeo TDCI.
I'd love a 300C though. In black. Maybe next year.
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mare, I would worry about your partner. The fiance of my wife's cousin bought a Voyager 3.3V6 a few years ago to replace a BMW 318 to cart around his four kids. I told him to buy the diesel, as the V6 would drink like three Oliver Reeds. He ignored my advice and found the car so thirsty that he bought a motor bike for the daily commute.
I regret to say that he is now buried and the cousin remains single, for one reason only - he was on a bike when had he been in a car, he would not have even attempted the manoeuveur that got him killed.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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