Might be about to have a falling-out with my MOT station...

[Diver Fred]

When I think back to some of the cars I learned to drive or drive around in, your Landy seems like a minter. Mrs Mottie-to-be nearly lost a handbag out of a hole in the floor the footwell of a Corsair I once owned!

Mate of mine and his girlfriend were enjoying the pleasures of the back seat of his first car, a Renault 4, when the the piece of bodywork that held the fixed end of the torsion spring failed.
When they told the story later it was good for a laugh until we realised what could have happened if it broke when cornering hard on that side.

 

[Avocet]

And, of course, all these old cars were nothing like as safe as current ones, even BEFORE they got as decrepit as they were when we used to drive them!

Many years ago, I was towing an old Austin A40 to the scrapyard. My mate was sat in it and I was in the towing car on the other end of the rope. For a laugh, I thought I'd accelerate hard to put the wind up him, giving the tow rope something of a snatch. (I t was a pretty stout tow rope)! Next thing I saw in my mirror was his face disappear and his feet shoot up. The floor was so rotten, the front seat mounting bolts had pulled through and he was on his back in the rear footwell!

 

[Avocet]

Just an update on this for anyone interested. It went for its retest on Tuesday and passed! There's a new "advisory" that has appeared, telling me about some "corrosion on the rear subframe but not seriously weakened". That'll do for me! They must have decided to cut me some slack on the 10 working days thing and not count Saturdays.

 

[carmanmemoranda]

Just an update on this for anyone interested. It went for its retest on Tuesday and passed! There's a new "advisory" that has appeared, telling me about some "corrosion on the rear subframe but not seriously weakened". That'll do for me! They must have decided to cut me some slack on the 10 working days thing and not count Saturdays.

A good result.
Just don't sell it

 

[Avocet]

No, there's no real prospect of that. For starters, it means the world to my dad, who was really down in the dumps at the prospect of it having to be scrapped, and apart from that, they've stuck their neck out a bit for me, so I'm not going to stitch them up. It'll get its L-plates slapped back on and the lad can carry on learning. He's got his test appointment in February (100 miles away!) and once he passes, it'll be uninsurable anyway. At that point, it's likely to get broken for spares. Aside from the rust, there's too much other stuff that's not right. The viscous coupling is getting tight, I think there's a bearing on its way out in the transfer box, the propshaft bearings are getting a bit noisy, and it needs at least a driver's door! There are a few irritating suspension squeaks and a horrible harshness around 1400 RPM that I've still to investigate...

 

[carmanmemoranda]

No, there's no real prospect of that. For starters, it means the world to my dad, who was really down in the dumps at the prospect of it having to be scrapped, and apart from that, they've stuck their neck out a bit for me, so I'm not going to stitch them up. It'll get its L-plates slapped back on and the lad can carry on learning. He's got his test appointment in February (100 miles away!) and once he passes, it'll be uninsurable anyway. At that point, it's likely to get broken for spares. Aside from the rust, there's too much other stuff that's not right. The viscous coupling is getting tight, I think there's a bearing on its way out in the transfer box, the propshaft bearings are getting a bit noisy, and it needs at least a driver's door! There are a few irritating suspension squeaks and a horrible harshness around 1400 RPM that I've still to investigate...

Sounds like a typical land rover to me

 

[johnny2007]

Sounds like a typical land rover to me

 

[HERTS P&D]

A good result.
Just don't sell it

Or drive it!



Andy