I would just like to say

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A few of my mates had the Old Ford’s, capris, xr2, xr3, all great motors. Cousin had a souped up capri too…terrifying at speed with him at the wheel😂 plain old me had old series that used to arrive about a week after that lot. They used to rip me to bits about its speed. I know Carterton well, went through Brize a fair few times. Good place. 😎
Happy days. The first car I drove was a Capri, white 1.3 base model if I recall (that's not counting when I was about 10 my dad let me move his Riley from the drive to the garage. I stalled it).
 
The suspension was modifed by removing the lever arm suspension and replacing it with the upper A-arm type thing from a Mini, a separate adjustable Spax shock was fitted. The lower torsion bar is retained and great for adjustment.
At the rear the shock mounting plates were turned over and swapped from side to side so that the shocks acted inwards. Again Spax adjustables.
I did buy a set of anti-tramp bars and a Panhard rod specially made by the company to fit, but have yet to get around to fitting them. But once on apparently they make the back end incredibly good.
I don't understand how not having an MOT meant it couldn't be recovered. Surely if they put it on a low loader it could have been in any condition? Someone must have moved it from where it broke down?!
Always thought a Santana would have been nice, not surprised you regret getting rid.
The now sadly deceased @Shippers had a nightmare trying to get his 101FC on the road, legally in Portugal.
Really sorry to hear about @Shippers, at times I've not been keeping up to date with what's going on and I hadn't realised this.

Yes the Santana was very nice but really it was very much a LHD series 3 with slightly different badges and rear lights. Series parts fitted it and I bought some from Craddocks and bolted them straight on. The exhaust manifold and downpipe was still on the left and consequently I was sitting more or less behind it, it didn't half get hot at times!

My broken down car is a long story which could get boring but key points - I called the breakdown people and they must have done a DVLA check and said its got no MOT so we decline to recover you.

I explained that I was returning from MOT (Portuguese ITV pre-import) and driving it under the auspices of the red fail sticker you get, rather than the green pass one. They said its on UK plates with no UK MOT so no.

I called some local numbers and one company said they would recover us to where we were going for €850. So I said no.

The symptoms to me said ignition so I thought it shouldn't be too hard to fix it but I did contemplate dumping it on account of above. As I said earlier it was worth about £200, 25 years old.

I found a local dealer and another recovery company who would recover it there, left it there for them to deal with. Managed to get a hire car to continue journey.

Returned later in Mrs. 6pot's car with the plan to drive back in tandem.

Paid and left garage but of course mechanics are often just parts fitters these days, they had plugged in the diagnostics which said something wasn't working and replaced that. They didn't look any further and half a mile down the road the same problem manifested itself, in fact I ended up pulling off the same dual carriageway in the same place as the original breakdown!

Now a dilemma. Phoned them and ranted but they close in 10 minutes, it's Friday, we've driven 250km to collect it, the PT red ticket now runs out in three days and the UK tax runs out in 5 days so not much time to get it done properly. I didn't want to drive it with both those run out.

Decided fùck it, I'll drive while I can and hope for the best. It was surprisingly OK and normal speed when running but did keep cutting out, Mrs 'shielding' me from behind said there were explosions coming from the exhaust when this happened, at one point I heard a roaring noise which puzzled me until I realised unburnt fuel was igniting in the hot cat like a blowtorch... It was a bit of a nightmare at times.

Stopped once to add a bottle of cat cleaner I had bought previously, didn't dare stop the engine, and went up a long drag in 2nd or 3rd gear to clean it out, I was dreading that hill in advance but amazingly got up it no problem. Got worse again when back down at sea level. Eventually nursed back to a garage I trust who changed the coil and its fine, except the exhaust was shot to pieces and the rear box burst open, so that was replaced as well.

Ironically it would probably pass the MOT now if the exhaust had a small leak all along which can mess the CO readings. That's if the cat and O2 sensor haven't been burnt to a crisp. The starter motor's probably aged about 10 years with the number of times I had to restart it on that journey.
 
At five ayem there int much workin of any kind tbh. Praps I needs a hall runner wif higher colour contrast to poop..
Or some dog nappies!
When one of ours got old and incontinong we used to travel with her wiv an hole cut ina kiddy's nappy for her tail. Under her coat you couldn't tell.
Got some funny looks in the motorway car parks when we were changing her, but who cares, we loved her to bits.
But I do feel for you having done it at least twice! The light in our hall over here can only be switched on from either the front door or the back door so I couldn't see it till I moved across, too late! Yes, I know bad design by the house builders. :rolleyes:
 
Havin a nickle weekend away. They has a Brocante, or outdoor (flea) market, near us now and again and we're going to have a couple of nights in the local hostelrie to accommodate. Herself finks its a bit fancy whereas I'd say is mostly just second hand stuff (an overpriced tat). There can be innerestin bits all the same and pearls to be found by she wif the loup. Nuncle Ernie has kindly supplied part of the float anorl.

Wishing you all a most pleasant weekend.
Is this in GB or frogland?
Cos in Fland a Brocante is most certainly not a flea market, it is basically an outdoor antique market where they may be flogging off the hard-to-sell stuff a bit cheaper. But your missus sounds like mine cos she too finds good stuff among the muck and rubble!

Have a lovely time!!:):)
 
When it gets launched the ad-men will have you believing it will transform your otherwise dull life, into one where you will be irresistible to the opposite sex, have a fab family, exclusive leisure time, and all the other things you will still not have after the dealer has your cash 🤣
Exactly what they said last time round then!!! 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
 
Driving a Capri was scary, but it is was joyful. You needed wider tyres for the rear or ballast especially for the 3.5. a mate of mine in Carterton near Witney at the time loan me his Capri 1.6 lime green. Whatever he did to it, was a nightmare to drive under thirty, it shook the steering as you drove around the 5 roundabouts Swindon.
Used to have to go there a lot as a rep, the magic roundabout, remember it well, and one of my cars was a Capri 1.6. The gear box was flipping awful with a capital F.

I've already told you all about the time I was once in a 3 litre Capri and got chased by the police, in a 2.5pi. In Bath.
Got away with it too, they never found us!!!
🤣🤣🤣
 
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