Date: Friday 30th October 2009. Location: Longbridge, Birmingham. The event: Fetching our fist ever club car from it's home for the last 9 years.
That little lot perhaps simplifies the job we had on a rather cold Friday morning. The car had two flat tyres and only one was holding air, while it was also effectively blocked in by a Tourer waiting for the crusher. Thankfully security were on hand and they were very kind enough to clear a way in to get at the car. Oh, and it doesn’t start, mainly due to an electrical fault (most likely the battery was defunct but the connections didn’t look too clever either) but I just remembered a security guard mentioning something about a fuel pump too.
Anyway, time for a few pics and some comments.
Here it is in all it's glory. Sort of. When you consider that this car is not just 11 years old but has also been used for the majority of its life 24/7 round two large factory complexes then it's done remarkably well to be in one piece. As you can see the transformation into a ZT also included ditching the original steel wheels for a set of alloys.
As it slowly inched up there was some good news - no big dents in the sills! Overall it's straight but looking tired
It was a bit of a squeeze getting on the trailer, not helped by the terminal tyre being on the front. Now, the more eagle eyed amongst you will spot something a little odd about the front. And I don't mean the projector lights which will be replaced for original units
Once again S525 hits the road. On a trailer admittedly but that's just detail. The journey to the batcave was thankfully painless.
And here it is, offloaded and wondering where on earth it has been taken to.
Remember I said it had been shod with alloys? I forgot to mention that this didn't extend to having a matching set. There's actually a simple reason behind this. With there being so much debris on the roads round Longbridge punctures were frequent - it was simpler to just grab a wheel and tyre instead of trying to get something fitted on a rim.
From the rear it doesn't look too bad. Note the MG plinth, which has above it a huuuuge MG badge. The bodywork is tired overall - just about every panel has signs of corrosion or dents - and there is evidence of it being Dover White too for some reason. However, the plate states the code as NNX so we can say pretty confidently that is should be Arran White.
Lifting up the bonnet shows a dirty but also healthy-looking K series. No oil marks, water leaks, not a drop of mayo on the dipstick before you ask. We'll know more when it fires up though.
The interior is not too good. Well, it's had a hard working life so in fact it's not fared too badly at all. The wheel is wrong of course and it also has MG dials which will need replacing. The dash has some scratching which will either mean changing it or repairing the lacquer. We may try the second option to see what results we can come up with. Now, if you were looking at the front end earlier then this next pic will pretty much confirm your suspicions.....
There! If you thought the car didn't have aircon then you had guessed correctly. This is one poverty-spec motor, with keep-fit windows in the back too. In this respect it's exceedingly rare now.
And that's about it for the moment. Over the next couple or so weeks it will have a thorough inspection to determine what needs to be done and we will then be posting up the information as part of a regular rebuild report. We will also be making some anouncements on how members can help in the rebuild, which we hope you will enjoy reading.