Got a call from a friend last week to say his partners' Clio automatic had just been condemned to £2500's worth of work! Don't know which garage she took it too but that sounds like crazy money, it only went in with brake failure.
Anyway, he asked me if I could look out for another car for her, then said the magic words " it can even be a Panda"
.
I explained that I possibly had a suitable vehicle, it was a Panda, and it was even auto ( he didn't realise they made them ), but it had been on SORN for the last month, I hadn't sorted the dodgy paintwork on the drivers wing, and it had what I believed was a noisy cambelt tensioner.
I emailed some pics over and got the anyway, "could I deliver it to Chelsea on Sunday?"
So guess what I was doing on my bank holiday weekend. Fortunately, I had a cambelt kit and a can of spray paint ready, so taxed it on the Saturday morning, changed the cambelt in the afternoon, rubbed down and painted the wing Sunday, delivered in the evening.
The wing didn't come out too badly considering, I'd have prefered to have two cans of paint so that I could have put more on and really polished it back, but it came out ok, certainly a vast improvement on before.
When I bought the car a little while ago some of you might remember that it would not initially engage gear without a few revs from the engine, but once it had it was fine for the rest of the journey. Well it had been laid up since Brooklands and the rest must have done it good, as now the problem has gone completely, all by itself. I had to move it a couple of times during last month, then quite a bit over the weekend (incuding taking it to London) and each time it drove perfectly. The previous owners had been to a garage who had diagnosed it needing a new gearbox at £1000! I think they had mistakenly thought that the noisy cambelt tensioner was a failing component in the gearbox, either that or they just couldn't be bothered to investigate it properly so decided, 'lets change all of it'.
Hilary is now the new owner and it will be living with her in it's own garage, soon to be heated, in Hastings. Hilary is quite a nervous driver so will only use it for short trips, therefore the 44,000 current mileage will increase at a very slow rate.
I've said I will look after it for her, so once a year I'm guaranteed a short holiday in Hastings, round about mot time.
Here's a couple of pics before it left for the seaside, good side only...
Early reports are that Hilary already loves it!
It won't be my last Selecta, that's for sure.
Anyway, he asked me if I could look out for another car for her, then said the magic words " it can even be a Panda"
.I explained that I possibly had a suitable vehicle, it was a Panda, and it was even auto ( he didn't realise they made them ), but it had been on SORN for the last month, I hadn't sorted the dodgy paintwork on the drivers wing, and it had what I believed was a noisy cambelt tensioner.
I emailed some pics over and got the
anyway, "could I deliver it to Chelsea on Sunday?" So guess what I was doing on my bank holiday weekend. Fortunately, I had a cambelt kit and a can of spray paint ready, so taxed it on the Saturday morning, changed the cambelt in the afternoon, rubbed down and painted the wing Sunday, delivered in the evening.
The wing didn't come out too badly considering, I'd have prefered to have two cans of paint so that I could have put more on and really polished it back, but it came out ok, certainly a vast improvement on before.
When I bought the car a little while ago some of you might remember that it would not initially engage gear without a few revs from the engine, but once it had it was fine for the rest of the journey. Well it had been laid up since Brooklands and the rest must have done it good, as now the problem has gone completely, all by itself. I had to move it a couple of times during last month, then quite a bit over the weekend (incuding taking it to London) and each time it drove perfectly. The previous owners had been to a garage who had diagnosed it needing a new gearbox at £1000! I think they had mistakenly thought that the noisy cambelt tensioner was a failing component in the gearbox, either that or they just couldn't be bothered to investigate it properly so decided, 'lets change all of it'.
Hilary is now the new owner and it will be living with her in it's own garage, soon to be heated
, in Hastings. Hilary is quite a nervous driver so will only use it for short trips, therefore the 44,000 current mileage will increase at a very slow rate.I've said I will look after it for her, so once a year I'm guaranteed a short holiday in Hastings, round about mot time
.Here's a couple of pics before it left for the seaside, good side only
... Early reports are that Hilary already loves it!
It won't be my last Selecta, that's for sure.
Last edited:
