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Stories of collecting a vehicle
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Rick
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Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 22778
Location: UK

PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:17 am    Post subject: Stories of collecting a vehicle Reply with quote

For some reason most of the old jalopies I've had over the years, have not been runners or within sight of an MOT certificate. So that usually entails a lengthy trailering escapade.

One car that was MOTd, unusually, was the beige A40 Somerset I bought 6 or 7 years ago. That involved a swap for a red BMW 535i, quite a smart old girl, E28 shape, and rapid too. Erindoors and I set forth to Yorkshire in the BM, to meet the owner of the A40 and do the swap. This took us over t'hills, through Holmfirth and over to where this chap lived.

The A40 looked presentable enough, so the swap was done. One perfectly running BM, for an A40 with unknown mechanical condition.

All went well on the return trip, at least for 30 mins or so, enough to get us to an increasingly windswept, rainy and barren piece of Yorkshire countryside. It then decided to cut out and coast to the side of the road. Light was fading rapidly, and the mood inside the A40's cabin was non-too bright either by the umpteenth engine-less coast to the side of the road. Each time it would fire up again after a few minutes delay, but the battery was beginning to wilt and there was no sign of a starting handle.

Forays under the A40's bonnet yielded no improvement in the mechanical integrity of this BMC motorcar, and my sanity, for swapping a running car for one that patently was not keen on the idea, was being severely interrogated by this time. Towns and villages were few and far between in this area of countryside, and neither of us owned a mobile back in those days.

Handily I was in the AA, and decided that the most sensible thing to do would be to call them, as soon as we found any sign of habitation.

Eventually we approached the summit of a hill, and coasted to a halt once more. Visible at the foot of the hill on the other side was a small village, so erindoors pushed the A40 the final few yards to the top of the hill, and we coasted down the other side, coming to a halt near a red phone box. The AA man was called, and we waited patiently as the rain beat down. 30 mins or so later he arrived, and carted us home swiftly and in the warm.

It took a replacement of all the ignition components to cure the running problem, although it did also have a propensity to overheat, and when the rear wheel flew off, I called it a day and sold the thing on...

RJ
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Rick
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Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 22778
Location: UK

PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 9:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

talking of collecting things, I stumbled across this interesting ditty today, about a bloke and his oversize military vehicle

http://www.cmvt.org/marksimm

RJ
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pigtin
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 9:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Towing with a trailer usually contributes to my worst nightmares, so when I used to go to shows back in the 90s I modified the front bumper of the 10/4 to take a QD 'A' frame arrangement.

We attended shows for years using this method but, a word of caution, not all old car steering systems lend themselves to this practice, and the rules of "unbraked" trailers apply.

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t103/donthebat/Towingthe104onanAframe.jpg
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xkjaguar
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 11:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

2 experiences of mine come to mind

1. i bought a Ginetta G26 in maidenhead, mot'ed taxed etc
got to the bottom of the m4 off slip at newbury and the prop shaft disintegrated and came through the floor between the seats

made me jump!

2. bought the 450 slc in essex and went to pick it up on a trailer
unfortunately i decided to use the saab instead of borrowing the ball and chains 4wd

now 2 and a bit tonne of car and trailer being towed by a fwd 2.3 turbo is not ideal, the front end was so light that every time i accelerated the front wheels would spin so it was a very slow trudge all the way back to gosport
also despite only averaging 40 mph i still managed to return the impressive fuel consumption of 12 mpg!!
(plus the front tyre were knackered by the time i got there)
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Rick
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Location: UK

PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 4:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

trickiest tow job I ever did was with a mate's Lada Riva, collecting his Lotus on a huge trailer from S Wales. Anything over 38mph on the motorway and the whole lot would weave terrifyingly. We drove back through the night, stopping at every motorway services to recover a little from the ordeal..needless to say they were closed so we had to sit on benches outside

R
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chimpchoker
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 11:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

when I got the mini it was only about 150 yards away but we live at the bottom of a steep culdi sac and the wheeled frame that it was on was very flimsy. The front of the body was put on the tail lift of the hire van and the back was strapped to an engine hoist. while the tail lift was raised the engine hoist was also. It was then a case of let it slide forward and fasten it down.

The reverse was when we got home.

The jag came a bit different. I got a recovery firm to pick it up and drop it off for me. 250 yards, 18 minutes, £120.00

Mind you the bloke earned his money as we live on a corner at the bottom of the culdi sac and getting a recovery wagon lined up to drop off a jag with two flat rear tyres was an effort. Then it was a case of getting the jag shunted back and forth to enable it to get lined up with the garage. All in all it took 18 minutes to pick and drop and 1 hour 20 to shunt it manually back and forth. .... and we only had two lazy swines of neighbours hwo watched from the other side of the road!!

Still feel a lot more enthusiastic today what with the new job and all... I've decided that as we were living on a pittance last week then any extra money can be stored for the jag, after all we didn't have the money last week.......
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Brian M
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 8:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

In 1999 I had been running Rover P6's for several years and one Sunday morning an elderly Gentleman knocked on my front door "I've got an old Rover that has been in my garage for 23 years, would you be interested?"

As he only lived 500 yards away I said I would take a look during the week, but expected to find a pile of rust on flat tyres with a moth eaten interior.

After we cleared the weeds from around the garage door and got the door open I was astonished at the condition of the Rover P4 60 and decided immediately that I would have it.

It was on axle stands, highly polished, the underside had been painted with engine oil every year, the exhaust had been removed and kept in his loft. It had been put in the garage in 1976 when the brake master cylinder failed.

After some negotiation a deal was agreed and with the help of a friend we set about the recovery.

This pic shows the car on his driveway out in the fresh air for the first time in almost a quarter of a century.



For a 500 yard trip it wasn't worth a recovery lorry, but the trip was 200 yards up hill and 300 yards downhill to my house. We formulated a plan. Using my wife's BMW the uphill bit was easy using the Rover's handbrake at the one junction. At the crest of the hill I used that last bit of braking left in the handbrake and we transferred the tow rope from the front of the Rover to the back and used the BMW as the stopper.

One push through the open door of the Rover and we were underway and I cruised down the hill and drove straight into my garage!

A total replacement of the braking system, all hoses and fluids, new petrol tank, tyres and battery and it sailed through its MOT a month later. I used the Rover as my every day car for two years before selling it to a guy in San Antonio, Texas.
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Rick
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Posts: 22778
Location: UK

PostPosted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 6:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

coo that Rover looks like a beauty! amazing how things turn up right on your doorstep isn't it - saying that, I'm still waiting Very Happy

Rick
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pigtin
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 8:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Having been a car owner since 1957 (when I owned a succession of appalling bangers) I have had several "hellish" experiences towing.
Probably the worst was in 1958. My grandfather had given up driving and in the depths of one of his outbuildings was a Morris 15/6 he'd had converted to a shooting brake (just after the war when such things were fashionable.)
I acquired this vehicle and it turned out to be a load of crap, the final straw was when it let me down on a date and as a result I lost a perfectly servicable girlfriend.
Some months later I decided to return the beast to grandpa to save having to pay him for it. The car would not run and the battery was flat so I fitted four bicycle lamps on the corners and having secured the services of a 'mature' lady friend of the family to steer it for me set off in the dark, in the depths of winter along 20 miles of dark country lanes.
My towing car was my, newly acquired, 1931 Humber Snipe (bought for £3 and a Standard Big 9) and it hardly noticed the weight of the Morris but I had to concentrate because it was raining and the headlamps were dim.
When I was within a mile of grandpappys I sensed that something was wrong...The Morris had not been there for some miles and three miles back along the road, in the middle of a junction; I found it. The batteries had run flat on the cycle lamps and the poor lady was close to hysterics.
I went on to have many more rotten experiences with the Humber; but that's another story.
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chimpchoker
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 10:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

......and no doubt lost another servicable friend......
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pigtin
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 12:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Probably lost more than one with the Humber, it used so much fuel I coudn't afford a social life.

Don.
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