BlingoAliSep 6, 2023
@BitchinRob @slirt @Basmitharts
Speaking of which, I saw our #Midas' aunt in Hunstanton today.
#MidasGold
BlingoAliAug 16, 2023

#MyCarHistory
(1/5) Around 2009 we had a family bereavement and a bit of a windfall. We treated it as a ‘most for our old age, a bit for us now’ occasion and I found myself with £3500 to invest.

On to eBay (sober!)… We had a sensible #Berlingo, we had a plaything #MidasGold. What did I need?

Shopping list
Wood
Leather
Cheap

What did eBay turn up 15 miles from home? A 1960 #Riley 4/68 in the most desirable Bermuda blue over cream colour scheme.

#ClassicCars #ClassicCarsOfMastodon #Cars

BlingoAliJul 9, 2023

#MyCarHistory
(5/5) 34 years and 136,000 miles later, she’s still with us. Recently back on the road after our house move and renovations kept her elsewhere for a couple of years and with a new distributor finally killing a persistent misfire, it’s good to have her back in the family.

But there’s still a few more before #MyCarHistory finally reaches the present day...
#ClassicCars #ClassicCarsOfMastodon #Cars #MidasGold

Show threadBlingoAliJul 9, 2023

#MyCarHistory
(2/5) On Saturday July 8th, 1989, a lowloader decanted our #Midas into a friend’s garage. It was a ‘15-hour build’, most of the mechanicals completed at the factory. We worked throughout the weekend and took it to be MoT’d on the Monday. The tester said that he’d have to fail the car but was just off for a cup of tea. If the headlight alignment was better when he came back…

Phone calls, paperwork, registration number!
#ClassicCars #ClassicCarsOfMastodon #Cars #MidasGold

Show threadBlingoAliJun 25, 2023

#MyCarHistory
(5/5) A slight dab on the brakes, down a gear, LOTS of gas, and we did a full 180 degrees to head back from where we had just come from, on the edge of adhesion throughout but totally under control. Then it was my go…

We returned to the factory. Harold looked at Beth and said, “OK. See how long it takes that grin to disappear from his face.” We took an order form home. “But did you buy one”, I hear no-one ask. Next time...
#ClassicCars #ClassicCarsOfMastodon #Cars #MidasGold

Show threadBlingoAliJun 25, 2023

#MyCarHistory
(3/5) By April, the softening-up process had begun to work and we were heading to Corby for a test drive. Nothing more. No no no.

As we searched pre-satnav for the factory in Corby, she spotted the car emerging on a test drive for the person in the queue ahead of us: “Oh! It’s gorgeous!”

MD Harold Dermott took her for a run first, emphasising rust-free durability, economy, cheap servicing and parts. Then it was my turn.

#ClassicCars #ClassicCarsOfMastodon #Cars #MidasGold

Show threadBlingoAliJun 18, 2023

#MyCarHistory
(5/5) A new master cylinder fixed it. For about a thousand miles. I slowed down, but we spent a good few more months together before I knew it was time to consider a replacement, as the bodywork was beginning to dissolve in that way that only Fiat and Lancia had really mastered.

By now I was divorced and working back in London. One lunchtime I went for a walk and picked a magazine up from WH Smith at Waterloo...
#ClassicCars #ClassicCarsOfMastodon #Cars #Fiat127Sport #MidasGold

BlingoAliMay 19, 2023

Forgive me, fellow #EV lovers, but I have strayed from the path.

After two years squatting in a friend's garage and then a couple of months waiting for a replacement for the 34 year-old distributor, my #KitCar has just been for a run! Only a 26-mile round trip to top up with fresh V-Power but…

Is there anything (affordable) that beats the sound and feel of a 1380 A-series gargling petrol at 6000 rpm as you pull for fourth?

She's been with us 34 years. We'll never sell her.

#MidasGold #Cars