I know the good stuff is coming and I am so impatient right now. Hopefully this time tomorrow, we will have the fully serviced, new air filtered, noisy as an angry demon discovering his last red hot poker is missing and his next visitor is Adolf, beast home. The new exhaust is here. Well, I say here. It's in the loving hands of Triangle Cars.
I get the feeling this is gonna be a long entry so get comfy if you intend to read it in one sitting...
Lets press on for the moment with some highlights since the last update. This is how it works. I tell you what I'm gonna tell you. Then I tell you it. Then I summarise by telling you what I told you I would tell you whilst I was telling you it. So simple.
I've stumbled across mail order Vanilla instant coffe whilst trying to buy paint, wifeys car is finished (ish), found a cracking greasy spoon, found some not so cracking mould, exhaust turned up, found some seats, discovered why you should never use an iPhone on eBay, visit to the post office collection place, found some seats at last, rival teams donating, car left with Reg, dissapointment on bike front, ad space getting smaller and smaller, track action, outfits sorted, carpet soaked, Bugsplat amaze us and a new set of friends :) Theres a lot to crack on with and I cant type very fast so bear with me. You might be reading this faster than I am typing it so if you get in front of me I will try to catch up.
Alllllllllllllllllrighty then and most importantly, my name is Savage and I am a coffee-a-holic. I adore my coffee, to the level that I'm the only one who drinks it in the household yet we have 2 machines for it and a variety of instants as well. I hide my expensive stuff and those that pop round get the bog standard nescafe treatment. It's not something I'm normally proud of but I feel we have come this far together, I think we can share stuff. You're reading this and wondering how it can link into the story so far aren't you? Even if you're not, I'm going to tell you anyway.
As you may recall, wifelet dinked her car and sourcing paint codes was a nightmare. As I originally bought her the car through eBay, I went back 18 months or so and found the seller. I hoped (and sort of didnt) that it had been scraped before we got it and even more optimistically that having been scraped the paint to cover it was bought on eBay. It wasn't but in the purchase history through feedback I spotted that the previous keeper had bought coffee online through eBay... How weird is that?
So I looked up the seller and found they do a huge array of flavoured instant coffe for roughly what you would pay for Carte Noir for example, so I ordered a set of 4 tasters. Ooooh, I recommend them highly. The chocolate one is a little sweet for me, but the Amaretto and Hazelnut ones are divine with the vanilla really kicking it nicely. If you want the details, mail me and I'll send you the link. I posted a reference on Facebook a day or so ago to the coffee and strangely as I'm typing this, a FB friend of mine with the same name as my wife just commented on it suggesting chilli or mint coffee. May be worth a go. Cheers for the idea Mrs Savage.
As Lady BumpHerCar has had Julian repaired (ish) by me, I figured I can now show how much damage can be caused by simply "backing into" a skip. We have the impact shot, in progress shots, and finished ish shots. I use ish as I'm not entirely happy with the result but all sanding, filling, priming, painting, lacquering, and drying had to be rushed to fit in between rain and wind. I might finish it nicely in summer, but for now, here goes:
Another tangent I'm afraid but I do like to mention those people that make me happy. Right now it is a cafe called Blinkers in Waterlooville. Popped in there for a breakfast the other day and the food was flawless. Proper fry up, £5, fully loaded and stunning. Never happy, Wifelet moaned that our cups weren't from a matching set, but that was all she could come up with to moan about. So well done guys:
We have our good friends Mould and Bacteria back to stay. Over the last couple of weeks, wherever possible I've had the scumrunners door propped open for hours at a time trying to get rid of the moisture inside the car. Unfortunately, it just seems to stay, circulate and breed 'orrible bluey green fur everywhere. After extensive hunting, I've now found where the moisture is hiding and that's just behind the passenger seat. Like a mini swimming pool of depressing expletives, no amount of sponging out seems to be clearing it.
Plan D seems to have amused Gruff but he's done the shaking of the head when he realised it was what I'm honestly planning on doing. We have a carpet shop just down the road and they have a carpet offcut roughly the right size that is so beyond vile and kitsch, that I think it's cool. Picture an indian restaurant combined with an old peoples home and you're pretty much there. Yup, removing the original carpet and I'm going to use that as a template for a fresh lease of life on Juliette. The best thing about this is in a couple of days Gruff is back doing his Euro lorry driving thing and by the time he gets back, I'll have it done and it'll be too late for him to grumble :)
Surprisingly he grumbled very little when I managed to blag an exhaust system for very little money indeed. In fact the only comment made when I sent him the following picture was a text back "It's f*cking HUGE"
It is a little on the large size I must admit:
The car is currently snuggling up in the garage of Triangle cars and this is the last I saw of her:
It was originally booked in to have the work done tomorrow (Tuesday) but they finished off with the ABS problem I'm having with the Mondeo early today so I dropped it round to them today as they are servicing it, attaching the new big boy exhaust, swapping air filters etc over. Hopefully I will get it back early morning then I can go for a decent run (to charge the battery, not to blat it up country lanes for fun). On the downside, I had to jump start it again to take it down to them so it's still having battery issues. May need to invest in a new one, but see if we can do the charity blag on that maybe?
Hmmm, I told you this was going to be a bit of a long entry didn't I? Well, still going.
But at least there's been a few pictures. We all like pictures. I for one keep crayons in my bathroom so I can draw on the tiled walls whilst "growing a tail". Maybe you do to? Or not. Probably best not to use that phrase if you're writing a lonely Hearts ad: "My names Savage, I draw on walls with my own crayons". Obviously you would use your own name, but I still think you'd struggle to pull in a single reply. I saw a fantastic singles ad some time ago along the lines of "Multi-millionaire seeks stunning gullible female aged between 18-21". That was genius. Don't get me wrong, I'm married and as happily as married gets, but everynow and then I have a glance at the desperation ads. Makes me appreciate what I have. Too much time on my hands when the wife goes to bed. Thats what.
Where was I? For the first time, I made a series of notes before starting this blog tonight, and to be fair I havent used them at all and I seem to be rambling forwards happily.
Back on track now I think. As you recall from prior updates, I have been angling for a set of decent quality arsewear on the cheap, for a Mark 5 escort (the 4's and 6's wont fit without mucking about with runners and frames), preferably recaro's and even better from an RS2000 without the black / caribbean twist pattern but the simple grey affair. That is a bit of a niche request, and even more so bearing in mind that a decent set of front seats will go for anywhere between £100 and £150. Our budget is considerably smaller. How abso-bloody-lutely delighted was I when I was offered a FULL SET front and back in good nick, complete with door cards for the princely sum of £40! Yes £40, no, theres not a catch, just one of those sheer flukes that occasionally happen. Hopefully they will arrive in the next couple of days. Wooooohoooo. RS Recaro's for less than half price.
However, as you know, with all my good luck comes bad. But then again, this one falls into both camps so to clear confusion, lets start with a simple statement. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING OFF eBAY USING JUST YOUR MOBILE. I found a white hood cover suitable for the ScumRunner and the phrase "excellent condition" was used. The 1 inch pixellated photo on my screen did indeed look ok, so bought it (along with the wing mirrors) there and then. It arrived:
After nearly an hour of cleaning the beige / brown and in places black, it was indeed in excellent condition but would have been nice to be warned that it was in desperate need of most household cleaners before being white. Pain in the neck scrubbing that. However, Silver Cloud linings or some such phrase... It wasnt a scabby cloth cover, this one is white leather. Result!!!!
Unfortunately I missed delivery of the wing mirrors which resulted in my favourite greeting card being left:
As always, my heart sank at the prospect of attending the Royal Mail Sorting Office and their associated interbred pen wielding humourless monkey robot jobsworthies. I went there today, enough ID to acquire a mortgage if asked, the card on me, and every expectation of having to brighten some smegheads day up. I strolled in and saw not the first chuckles, not the second, but a new face. Hmmm, could be a trainee (in which case this is probably going to be hard work) or an experienced advisor (in which case it will be harder). For some reason, the fortunes of the gods have carressed this chap. He has brains. I showed him the card, he produced the parcel and that was it. No drama, no fuss, just a straightforward here's your parcel. Get in.
He was however busy with a colleague laughing at one of the posties on the phone. I have to share this with you as it is the funniest thing I have heard in ages, and this is absolutely 100% truthfull I promise: One of the bicycle posties has had to deliver to an area he doesn't really trust so has done the sensible thing and parked his bike against a railing and padlocked it up. When he returned to his bike, turns out, he has lost the key to the padlock and had to phone the depot to get someone out there to release his bike with bolt cutters!!!!
OK, we're getting closer to the end of this update, and I'm starting to get just a little tired now, so I will hurry things along just a little.
Team MidLife Krysis have thrown in £2 into our just giving fund. That is a rival team intent on raising money for their own team have donated due to this blog alone. If they can pop £2 in, then surely you guys can? www.justgiving.com/floppythrottle or if you dont want to donate to us then fine, donate to Team MidLife Krysis at http://www.justgiving.com/ScumrunTeamMidLifeKrysis but be sure to mention FloppyThrottle blog on the donation so they know it's come from us really and if we blow up, we can try and blag a lift in their Jag due to your kindness. We have kicked off their appeal with a £2 so we're evens at the moment.
Lets have a bit of a thanks moment here to those that I know have changed their facebook profile status to refer to us. So far thats only 3 people... Come on, lets up that number. Kim, Tim & Zac, I thank you for making the effort. If anyone else has then thank you but I haven't seen it so cant mention you.
Unfortunately, even with my sod it, lets have it attitude, we have veered away from the superbike idea. The only place we can get to do the conversion of both throttle bodies and Carbs from Car to Superbike on a sensible cost is a) way too far North and B) still way too high on the budget. As much fun as it would be to convert, it's just not happening. Alittle disappointment there.
On the upside, the launch night party is due to be announced shortly and all we know is that it will involve track action before we even leave the UK, so may have to budget for a fresh set of rubbers all round as I intend to "kick the arse right out of it" around any track provided :)
On the downside we got mailed the other day to advise where the official sponsors would like their logo's. We need to leave spaces: bonnet, front and back windows, Front wings, doors, rear wings. I'm not being picky here but that leaves our brand new white wing mirrors being the only place untouched. The mail did say they would try and work round sponsors so thats handy. Otherwise every panel on the bloody car would be taken up!!!
We have finally decided upon our outfits. We are entering this rally with the intention of being incredibly serious and raising awareness of the charity Dreams Come True and all that they do. The grown up way of doing things would be helmet, fire retardant race suit and that'd be it. But no. I'm not going to divulge what we are wearing until the JustGiving site hits £500, but needless to say, if we dont get pulled over by either the police or customs, they arent doing their job. I will be disgusted if we get through passport control or any border without being asked to "pull the vehicle over and walk towards me slowly".
As usual, please dig deep and dig now, update your facebooks, tell your friends etc...
We have been left in absolute awe of Team BugSplat (see link above right) and their new paint job.
Savage.
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