MOTOR-BLOG from Coventry

Yes folks, happy new year. I hope you all had a lovely festive holiday, or Christmas as it used to be known in less politically correct times.

I’ve made a few bold New Years Resolutions which I would like to share with you as I sit here writing this, drinking gin and watching the Darts. Who says blokes can’t multi task?

Okay, so here we go - some resolutions in no particular order:

Finish some of my damn cars this year - especially the 2000 estate and the Austin Cambridge (stop sniggering at the back there - the awful Austin could be finished this year, possibly)

Don’t get anymore damned cars, in fact get rid of some: the Lancia and Suzuki I’m looking at you both, and the Peugeot 106. Yes it’s economical but really - does it suit me? An LPG conversion on the Saab is the way to go.

Especially as it costs me more to isure the little Pug third party as it it does the Saab fully comp with all the trimmings - ’tis weird but true. When I think about how much I spend on car insurance each year it’s really scary - if you think way beyond the naughty side of a grand you’d be about there.  

Buy that Panther Rio and own a pre-war car (Austin Seven?) by the end of the year.

Yes I know I’ve contradicted myself, but such is life.

Get married.

Move house.

The last two are already in motion and that’s how I’ve spent my Christmas break - sorting out the flat and organising weddingy things. It’s amazing how much junk you can collect over five years and we’ve had everything out, and chucked a lot of it away. I believe we’re now into bin bag double figures and there is still more to come.

This has meant that I have found several items previously thought lost - including the front of the Saab’s radio. Oh the joy to have something to listen to on my 3 hour daily commute apart from the crashing of the worn ball joint and the grinding whine of the failing power steering pump.

Now I can drown out both of these noises with a combination of BBC Coventry and Warwickshire for local chat, Brummie and Leicesterion (or whatever they’re called) bashing and of course, most importantly local traffic news. To Catthorpe or not to Catthorpe - that is the daily morning question. Then I switch to radio four for news and chat before switching to radio two for the Wogan show - Janet and john stories, that’s all I need to say. 

The way home is Chris Evans drivetime all the way. The joy of having a radio in the car again - now I can’t hear the Saab’s mechanical woes anymore I don’t have to fix them for a bit. Genius.

Speaking of the Saab, it’s been doing sterling work shifting tonnes of books and other crap from my flat to its temporary storage facility at my long suffering mum and dad’s. So now they not only have to put up with two of my cars, loads of spares and other rubbish, they also have hundreds of books and magazines cluttering up their spare room.

The reason for mving is simple - our flat is great, but the area is not. Now that the local kids have grown from quite sweet yet naughty children into trainee teenage criminals, we’ve grown fed up of the constant hassle, noise, breaking glass and damage to our cars.  

Plus the kids in question seem to discovered a little thing called fire, and we’ve had the fire brigade around yesterday to put out some of their handy work. They set small fires then load them with aerosol cans producing some quite alarming explosions. They also light aerosols and spray fire at the cars parked in our car park, which is nice of them…

The last time one of our neighbours remonstrated with them, five minutes later the back window of her Ford Focus mysteriously shattered by itself. Hmm. Time to leave dodge methinks, I can’t be doing with this hassle.

Our cars have been targeted too - Helen’s Volvo in particular. It’s had its bonnet dented and scratched down to the metal by a projectile fired at it (they were targeting the windscreen but missed). It has many and various dents caused by stones, bottles and footballs, and ditto with scratches too. It also sports a fine collection of footprints over the bonnet and roof where the kids have been climbing on it.

I went out this morning to find footprints all over the spoiler and boot of my Saab too. Admittedly, it’s a tough old bird but call me old fashioned if you like, but I still believe that cars are for driving not for makeshift climbing frames…

 

I also noticed a new dent too, but this was picked up this morning while we were in Sainsburys. It looks as if someone has swung into the parking space next to me and clipped the rear of the Saab on the way in. Very annoying. Mind you, if it hadn’t been for fresh removal of the layer of dirt that perpetually covers this car, I wouldn’t have noticed the damage.  

 

Oh, and one more new years resolution - I promise to blog more regulary this year, although I seem to remember saying something very similar around this time in 2008…

Oh, and we’ve got another new car over Christmas. I won’t say what it is just yet as I haven’t picked it up, but suffice to say it’s not my usual sort of thing at all - it has a current MoT and is in great condition. Cheerio for now!

I live in quite a deprived area and in many ways this is quite an advantage. Firstly, most of the cars around here are old, dented and / or rusty, so no-one complains about my shoddy filler ridden aerosol can painted Inca Yellow Dolomite cluttering up the place - and no-one wants to steal it either. Secondly, there is a fine selection of inexpensive shopping options to tempt the hard earned moolah from out of your wallet.

For example, if you want to purchase cheap booze (as plenty of the residents around here do) - you’re in luck. Most of my local shops will retail you eight tins of wicked strength lager for £4.50. Not bad, especially if your choice of lifestyle requires complete loss of vision and mobility by ten o’clock in the AM. 

This is not so good if, like me, you don’t require early morning inebriation and just want to buy a Guardian and some croissants - neither of which can be found anywhere within a two mile radius of my flat. However, for the old car loving cheapskate such as I, there is a plethora of hardware stores just waiting to sell you some mind blowingly cheap tools and car related paraphenalia at seriously knocked down prices.

This morning I was tasked to go to our local Warehouse outlet (open to the public seven days a week and located only a five minutes walk from the flat) to buy the sort of goods required only at Christmas by Casa Campbell.  I’m sure you know the sort of place I mean - the Alladins cave that still sells C90 cassette tapes, lurid gold and purple filigree plastic tissue box covers and pictures with lights that change colour to make the waterfall on the canvas look as if it’s flowing. 

So off I merrily went clutching a shopping list including items such as greaseproofed paper, tin foil and casserole dishes (non stick if possible), which we would never buy at any other time of year. I did well - not only did I come back with all of the required items, I also managed to buy a twelve piece socket and driver set in impact resistant blown plastic case (£1.99), a Tow Rope (£0.99) a set of Jump leads (£3.99 - you never know..) and 4.5 litres of Comma 10W/50 mineral engine oil (for classic and older vehicle applications according to the Jug) for a bargain £4.95.

I also managed to pick up other assorted sub-99p priced goodies which I didn’t really need but seemed to good too pass over at such a low price. As a result, I don’t think I’ll need any more antifreeze or screenwash solution for some considerable time to come. I also came home with a selection of various bulbs of different wattage in both bayonet and Edison screw fitments - and a radiator bleed key.

Now I wouldn’t recommend anyone else goes out and buys these cheap tools. My new socket set is made of the sort of shiny silver metal which tears when you apply any pressure to in the same way a tool made of hardened marzipan would. Always buy the best equipment you can, and it will give you many years of fine service as well as preventing the inevitable knuckle / finger / wrist / forehead damage that occurs when a cheap socket set lets go whilst undoing a particulary stubborn nut. 

However, these bargain tools are good for occasional ermergency use, so slinging them into the boot of your car and forgetting about is a good idea. So if you ever have the misfortune of getting your car stolen / broken into or if it catches fire etc at least you won’t lose your best Draper / Snap On / Teng / Sealey tools as well. Just think of them as I do - disposable one-use only ‘get you home’ essentials that you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find lurking in your spare wheel well on a cold dark winters night in driving snow when your windsreen wiper has just fallen off…   

Wishing you an inexpensive tool filled and very merry Christmas from Motor-Blog.co.uk.