Practically Classics Forum

Oh here, it's the man himself:



Peter Wyngarde there, looking sharp as.

I do believe that's an individual we can all look up to as a role model.

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I started the afternoon by giving the car its weekly wash, much deserved after the trouble-free trek to Maidstone and back. Happily, it now takes much less time to clean because it's shiny so the dirt isn't so inclined to stick. Biggest job still to finish is cutting back the roof to get rid of the muck and oxidisation, I've nearly done this now. Once that's done I need to remove the black gutter rails to tidy and repaint those and eliminate some spiders that are appearing under the paint. Nothing serious, but if I do it now it'll stay not serious.


Next, the tailgate. I don't really like the factory badges on the Xantia so I've took them off. It made cleaning the tailgate that bit easier too, just got the bit under the lights to do now.


Then, it was going to be straight onto doing the arch but my brother pointed out that the slightly damaged cluster is now very damaged, along with some fresh scuffs on the plastics, thanks to someone reversing into me while I was at the supermarket. Not thrilled about this, I'm trying to look after this old bus. It's not massively evident when comparing photographs, but you can see in person that the black plastics are freshly scuffed and the lens has been pushed in as though the corner of a 4x4 bumper has pressed against it.


So that arch then. When I got the car there were some scratches to the lower bumper exposing the black plastic and some deep gouges in the arch. I'd already treated the metal to Kurust just in case. Colour match isn't too bad but I'm going to need to do a little bit of filling to make it perfect.


I've determined that the wheels are going to be changed. I think I'd rather have steels and wheel trims with a fairly smooth, minimalist design to them than the current wheels. If anyone has a set of steels with decent used tyres and trims I could be convinced to straight swap.

Other alterations I'm considering are a full size Rover 75 style rear number plate (I'll decide once I've mocked this up) and a black zebra/tiger stripe panel on the roof in homage to Stripey BX. Bugger, I think I've gone and got attached to this car.

Red Princess update this time.

Look, working dials!  The glare is standard Princess fitment.

 
Also...

 

 

 
A very lovely chap came out with a dalek and sorted the suspension out and relieved me of some hydragas pipes.  He also managed to get the carb to run a bit leaner and the engine to idle a little better and diagnosed the timing being just a gnats off hence the occasional lazy firing.  A quick tweak and we'll have the car running absolutely superbly.
 
Fitted a driver's door mirror but not a passenger one as I haven't all the bits to do it.  Doesn't actually need a passenger mirror for the MoT as the car predates the requirement.  Looks so much better now and rides much nicer too.  Hopefully it won't sink.

 
Few more items off the list which is now as follows:
Brake bleed - able to do this now I can get a jack under the car.
Earth chasing to resolve lights issue
Throttle cable to replace, existing one now sticking
Exhaust blow to resolve
Swap good tyres on
Power steering pipe leak to resolve
Rebound straps to reattach/check/replace
Renew thermostat and overflow bottle caps

Could we add "Straighten the rear number plate" to the list?

It would appear that luxobarge has CDO...It's like OCD but with the letters in the correct alphabeticle order as they should be!

Of all the things to point out in need of adjustment you choose the rear number plate. Not the wire aerial wrapped in electrical tape, nor the shot paint, not even the fact the gutter trims are missing and the dashboard isn't attached. The rear number plate. I'll see if I can find enough time to put a screw in to keep it straight for you

Don't you dare put that plate straight, it's marvellous as it is - and period accurate. (Says the bloke whose new daily drive was rejected and held back while the dealer sourced and fitted a fresh tailgate in order that they could redrill it to put the rear plate on true - sometimes, I wonder that I ever manage a number two at all).

A bit of duct tape should hold the number plate and save time looking for a screw! Our local BL dealer was most particular about having the number plates level, but that may not have been a national thing! One apprentice wasn't allowed to fit plates at all - even though it was normally an apprentice's job. Mind you, many dealers (not just BL) used to use self tappers, so they rusted and that made the panel rust too - and the plates would come loose. I can't remember which of my Golfs it was, but someone had put new plates on and, instead of using the VW-fitted plastic inserts, had drilled through the tailgate and put the self tapper into the metal. It might even be the Mk5!

Ford did that with my focus as I have personal plates on it. They put them on before I collected it but just put self tappers in to the skin rather than using the factory "captive" nuts that were fitted.
I only discovered 5/6 years later when I went to replace them. Fortunately no major corrosion, just needed a quick wire brush, a spot of weld, some stone chip then put the new plates on properly. Perk of the damage being behind the reg plate, no need to colour match the repair.