Up Into Fourth
Posted 13 April 2019 - 09:34 AM
One does have to have a modicum of skill, otherwise it is not satisfying to look upon the result.
Engines, gearboxes, suspension, machining parts etc:, no problem; but bodywork, ugh.
However, I have become quite good at brazing up the holes that I've blown with the welder........................
Uncle Cooperman, Voted Mr TMF 2011
Posted 13 April 2019 - 10:54 AM
A little story about dealers, sorry 'stealers', if I may.
A few years ago my wife's good friend sent her young niece round with something for my wife. Her niece had a small child and not much money was driving a 1000 cc Mini of about 1979 vintage. I was home and remarked on how good her Mini looked. She said that it would shortly be going as it had an engine fault and the garage had told her it needed a new engine which would cost well over £1200. She said it was running very badly. She knew nothing of my interest in Minis.
I asked if she would like me to take a look at it and she said that the garage said the engine was 'knackered' and that they would give her a few hundred pounds for it as 'scrap, just for the parts'.
It went into my garage and it took me about 2 minutes to diagnose a burnt out exhaust valve. I asked her if she could stay for a couple of hours, so she stayed for dinner. I whipped the head off, replaced all 4 exhaust valves with good second hand ones, fitted a new head gasket, re-set everything including the mixture and ignition timing, both of which were way out. I asked her to take it 'up the road' and she said it had never gone as well as that and asked what she owed me. I think she was surprised that it was 'nothing' and she bought me a very nice bottle of single malt.
To think that the garage would have given her a very small amount, put in a valve and sold it on for a lot of money. The body was rust-free. I used to do the services on it after that in part-exchange for a few bottles of beer!
No wonder the motor trade has such a poor reputation.
Up Into Fourth
Posted 13 April 2019 - 11:00 AM
You deserve lots of "Brownie Points" for that.
One Carb Or Two?
Posted 13 April 2019 - 02:07 PM
A little story about dealers, sorry 'stealers', if I may.
A few years ago my wife's good friend sent her young niece round with something for my wife. Her niece had a small child and not much money was driving a 1000 cc Mini of about 1979 vintage. I was home and remarked on how good her Mini looked. She said that it would shortly be going as it had an engine fault and the garage had told her it needed a new engine which would cost well over £1200. She said it was running very badly. She knew nothing of my interest in Minis.
I asked if she would like me to take a look at it and she said that the garage said the engine was 'knackered' and that they would give her a few hundred pounds for it as 'scrap, just for the parts'.
It went into my garage and it took me about 2 minutes to diagnose a burnt out exhaust valve. I asked her if she could stay for a couple of hours, so she stayed for dinner. I whipped the head off, replaced all 4 exhaust valves with good second hand ones, fitted a new head gasket, re-set everything including the mixture and ignition timing, both of which were way out. I asked her to take it 'up the road' and she said it had never gone as well as that and asked what she owed me. I think she was surprised that it was 'nothing' and she bought me a very nice bottle of single malt.
To think that the garage would have given her a very small amount, put in a valve and sold it on for a lot of money. The body was rust-free. I used to do the services on it after that in part-exchange for a few bottles of beer!
No wonder the motor trade has such a poor reputation.
And I bet you enjoyed doing it as well.
I love it when you can make big difference just by following good practice using the stuff you've learned possibly over years
Uncle Cooperman, Voted Mr TMF 2011
Posted 13 April 2019 - 05:12 PM
I might have mentioned this before, but I was returning from an International Historic Rally in Belgium in 1990. I had my 1071 'S' on the trailer behind my Range-Rover service car which was full of spares and tools, and my BMW was being driven by two good friends who had been my service crew. My son, then 17, was with me.
We just missed the boat at Calais and had a 2-hour wait for the next one, so we got in line.
About 15 minutes later a left-hand-drive Mini 1000 pulled up right alongside us in the next line. It was on Swiss plates and was being being driven by a young guy with his girlfriend. They were off to England on holiday, but their Mini was really running roughly. We all offered to help and started checking it out. The mixture was very lean, so it was running hot. The plugs were not in good shape and the ignition was retarded.
We re-set the valve clearances, cleaned and re-set the points, put in a set of used plugs from our rally spares kit, set the tick-over, richened up the mixture and re-timed it and put some decent oil in the carb dashpot. The difference was amazing. The look on his face made my day!
The young guy sure 'lucked out' when he stopped beside our experienced Mini service crew. We all had a drink together on the boat and I think his opinion of the Brits went up quite a bit. We were happy anyway because we had got 7th overall and 1st in the 'up to 1200 cc' class. My driver was my best friend who had come over from California to drive my car with me co-driving. It was our first rally together for 25 years.
Mini Mad
Posted 14 April 2019 - 06:12 AM
I might have mentioned this before, but I was returning from an International Historic Rally in Belgium in 1990. I had my 1071 'S' on the trailer behind my Range-Rover service car which was full of spares and tools, and my BMW was being driven by two good friends who had been my service crew. My son, then 17, was with me.
We just missed the boat at Calais and had a 2-hour wait for the next one, so we got in line.
About 15 minutes later a left-hand-drive Mini 1000 pulled up right alongside us in the next line. It was on Swiss plates and was being being driven by a young guy with his girlfriend. They were off to England on holiday, but their Mini was really running roughly. We all offered to help and started checking it out. The mixture was very lean, so it was running hot. The plugs were not in good shape and the ignition was retarded.
We re-set the valve clearances, cleaned and re-set the points, put in a set of used plugs from our rally spares kit, set the tick-over, richened up the mixture and re-timed it and put some decent oil in the carb dashpot. The difference was amazing. The look on his face made my day!
The young guy sure 'lucked out' when he stopped beside our experienced Mini service crew. We all had a drink together on the boat and I think his opinion of the Brits went up quite a bit. We were happy anyway because we had got 7th overall and 1st in the 'up to 1200 cc' class. My driver was my best friend who had come over from California to drive my car with me co-driving. It was our first rally together for 25 years.
It is nice to read such stories. It restores a bit of faith in what otherwise seems a very selfish society.
Re your earlier post, I do think garages can prey on the fairer sex when it comes to car woes and mechanical issues...that sharp intake of breathe and a shake of the head, whilst tapping the chin. There still seems to exist the dated mentality in the garage trade (and many trades it has to be said..sorry to decent traders) 'they saw you coming' is a phrase too often used.
The flip side, of course, is when I send in my daughters to get discount.....works ever time. Lol 
Mini Mad
Posted 14 April 2019 - 10:10 PM
The garage in question was THOMAS CLASSIC AND MODERN in CWMBRAN. Im guessing a lot of you know it.
Well that's an eye opener, I'm sorry I mentioned them earlier!
No problem. Its fine. I thought they looked good.
I think guy is involved in the local mini scene too. Awful.
One Carb Or Two?
Posted 14 April 2019 - 10:15 PM
Well that's an eye opener, I'm sorry I mentioned them earlier!The garage in question was THOMAS CLASSIC AND MODERN in CWMBRAN. Im guessing a lot of you know it.
No problem. Its fine. I thought they looked good.
I think guy is involved in the local mini scene too. Awful.
Up Into Fourth
Posted 14 April 2019 - 10:22 PM
Probably is, if he is buying Minis for £200-00.
Mini Mad
Posted 14 April 2019 - 10:27 PM
Well that's an eye opener, I'm sorry I mentioned them earlier!The garage in question was THOMAS CLASSIC AND MODERN in CWMBRAN. Im guessing a lot of you know it.
No problem. Its fine. I thought they looked good.
I think guy is involved in the local mini scene too. Awful.
Yes, that’s how I know of him. He opened the shop for a club run up to Big Pit last year. Seemed genuine and the ‘in-progress’ stuff looked OK. I’m told he bought himself a £7k Breitling watch recently so business must be doing well.
Well, thing is it looks like some people have had a good experience with him. BUT, everything I've mentioned on here happened as it did, so I'll leave everyone to make up their own minds.
Whether the way he approached things with me is illegal - probably not. Ethical or fair IMHO - no way.
The overall impression I got from him was that he was trying to screw as much money out of the situation as he could.
You can't tell me he didn't deliberately not tell me the tow fee was £120. He knew damn well that it was a nice little earner for him.
To be honest, he done very little work for the money. I've had it back now and he hes pulled body parts off and chucked them in the back.
Who knows but Im getting the impression he may have overegged the estimate so he could offer to buy it too.
When I said, no worries, I'll pay and get it transported back he then threw his toys out of the cot and said it had to go that day. I bet he was surprised when a truck turned up that day.
Hes going to be more surprised before too long believe me....
I guess hes got to pay for his watch but I do wonder how often he behaves like this....
One Carb Or Two?
Posted 15 April 2019 - 08:47 AM
Hes going to be more surprised before too long believe me....
Is this something you can tell us about or do we watch this space?
Up Into Fourth
Posted 15 April 2019 - 10:23 AM
Hes going to be more surprised before too long believe me....
Is this something you can tell us about or do we watch this space?
Before something gets posted for all the world to see, that might later be regretted, my I advise caution.
Up Into Fourth
Posted 15 April 2019 - 11:02 AM
Well that's an eye opener, I'm sorry I mentioned them earlier!The garage in question was THOMAS CLASSIC AND MODERN in CWMBRAN. Im guessing a lot of you know it.
No problem. Its fine. I thought they looked good.
I think guy is involved in the local mini scene too. Awful.
Yes, that’s how I know of him. He opened the shop for a club run up to Big Pit last year. Seemed genuine and the ‘in-progress’ stuff looked OK. I’m told he bought himself a £7k Breitling watch recently so business must be doing well.
7 thousand pounds for a watch !!!!
Our gardener showed me how to tell the time by blowing the seeds off a dandelion.
One Carb Or Two?
Posted 15 April 2019 - 01:42 PM
Well that's an eye opener, I'm sorry I mentioned them earlier!The garage in question was THOMAS CLASSIC AND MODERN in CWMBRAN. Im guessing a lot of you know it.
No problem. Its fine. I thought they looked good.
I think guy is involved in the local mini scene too. Awful.
Yes, that’s how I know of him. He opened the shop for a club run up to Big Pit last year. Seemed genuine and the ‘in-progress’ stuff looked OK. I’m told he bought himself a £7k Breitling watch recently so business must be doing well.
7 thousand pounds for a watch !!!!
Our gardener showed me how to tell the time by blowing the seeds off a dandelion.
I dare say it's been exaggerated as with all rumours/hear-say, but that was my reaction. Diverging slightly - I have a couple of watches that cost a few hundred and I thought that was expensive enough!
Up Into Fourth
Posted 15 April 2019 - 01:58 PM
I don't own one, but I'm told that a 'smart-phones' includes a multi purpose time piece, and I expect that in the near future, it will actually tell you the time, if you say please ... so who needs a watch.
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