Squire's voitures

[treehugger]

A lot of these cars (if they aren't rated at silly money) get punted around, people have good intentions but life health money family get in the way. Many years ago my elder cousin was given a rover p4, saw it in their garage. He was off long term sick but loved classic cars. Couple of years later it moved on, he had done nothing with it bar maybe wipe it.

[mercrocker]

It is possible to preserve a car for later (or somebody else) but not by parking it on a front garden, filling it up with shit and giving folk who could save it the fob off.

[slowanimals]

I'm not clever enough to post a link but there's a video on YouTube of a banger driver attempting to hiab an A60 off a driveway and it folds at the A-pillar as soon as the chain goes taut. That Humber is horribly rotten, at least you're getting the decent bits off before sweeping the rest up

[paulplom]

About five or six years ago we tried to get a mini from my mates grandad's garage. It had belonged to his dad who died of cancer in about 1986. The car had been parked up because it was rotten in the 70's. It was a very early mini with the door hinges on the outside and an very early plate with three letters and three numbers iirc..
We tied it do the van and tried to pull it out in reverse. The car just pulled in half and we just dragged the back half out. We rang the scrap man and he came and got it with his hi ab.
I remember seeing where his dad rip had bodged the sills with 2x2 wood and news paper. I had a good look over it and there was nothing at all worth saving.

[fried onions]

Ferrous metal. I've been doing the more interesting things on mine but always on my 'must do' list is having a good session on the underbody. It's solid but needs protecting, although I try not to use it in the wet and its garaged. Now I've done all the interesting things I wanted to do, I must really get out the wire brush, potions and paints for that tedious and labour intensive task. It's like a trip to the VD clinic - nobody wants to do it but you can't keep putting it off.

[mercrocker]

I'm not clever enough to post a link but there's a video on YouTube of a banger driver attempting to hiab an A60 off a driveway and it folds at the A-pillar as soon as the chain goes taut. That Humber is horribly rotten, at least you're getting the decent bits off before sweeping the rest up

The Riley I referred to earlier wasn't lifted like this but winched (with the emphasis on inched). It still broke in two.....

[slowanimals]

That's the one! I quite like the idea of that poor old Cambridge sticking two fingers up to the chap in its death throes. "Fuck you, you don't get to race me"

[slowanimals]

And I was wrong, it's a strap not a chain

[fried onions]

The Allegro was in need of a super service. The time interval rather than mileage was the deciding factor, although I had covered just 3,000 miles since the last oil and filter change, preferring to do it at that figure rather than the specified 6,000. But the alternative interval is six months, and that had elapsed many moons ago. I cleaned and gapped the spark plugs, which showed the mixture to be a little rich, so adjusted it accordingly. Changed air filter, which are getting harder to find through motor factors. Removed CB points but they were in good condition so cleaned them and re-faced and set the gap. Oiled the distributor and gave all ignition parts a wipe over. Checked alternator drive belt tension. I exclusively use Miller's Classic Mini Oil in this engine because it has special properties for the gearbox in sump. I had recently ordered a tin because I thought I only had part of a tin in the garage, but it turned out I had several tucked away with varying quantities in each.

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Good design for excellent accessibility makes service and repair a pleasure rather than a chore. Only the distributor position is awkward on A Series engines, it being rather low down and almost horizontal. With only one quantity of oil to drain on the car serving for engine, gearbox and differential it really is commendably simple and must have been nothing short of a revelation when it debuted in the Mini in 1959.

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I had to replace the original engine a few years ago because it developed a top end knock, and I still haven't stripped it to find out. That's because this engine, from a scrap car, has been excellent, using no oil to speak of. It had 20,000 more miles on it than my original one, and I must've put around 14,000 more on it since fitting in 2015.

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I wish I'd taken more from that car but I wasn't in the right frame of mind that day, nor was much more usable. I bought the whole car for I think £120 but just removed the engine and a few other things and left the remains there.

Anyway, back to today. The car has been serviced and is running well, but years of living outside and use in all weathers is taking its toll on the structure. I really need to sort the rust out before its too late, and I owe it to the car because it has been a good servant to me.

Humber news, I decided to buy some bling for it in the form of an exhaust tail trim, because the replacement exhaust was too short for my liking. Soot could deposit on the bodywork and bumper so I found a trim that would not only extend it but deflect the emissions downwards. This has the added benefit of keeping my trousers clean when I am at the back of the car accessing the boot with the engine running.

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I never usually bother with extravagances like this but must concede it really improves the appearance.

[Hooli]

You need to learn how to make a cup of tea lad, you forgot to put the teabag in that one.