Saab 9000 Aero

The ongoing drama of my Saab 9000 Aero has been something of an irritation – you may recall that I lost it after leaving it with a garage in the south for repairs… And when it was recovered, I found the windscreen surround was absolutely knackered, and the interior had suffered from the ravages of a being lived in by a local cat…

Well after a couple of long weekends it’s beginning to look like a car again. I’ve repaired the screen surround, repainted the entire area, taking great attention to make sure all the rust has been cut out and plenty of anti-corrosion treatments have been used all over. When the screen went in, I made sure it was done properly, and the job wasn’t rushed.

Then, once it was all in, it was a case of ensuring that I left the car a day before moving it, and reinstalled all the trim around it.

And now it’s in one piece again.

The paintwork still needs sorting, and I suspect I really need to push the party responsible for its poor storage – something that I am in the process of now. But it’s good having the old girl back, and after some private ground running, I am still impressed how quick the old thing is.

Glad I listened to all those people who persuaded me to stick with it.

Saab 9000 Ecopower and Aero (the one in front is for sale)

SD1 is all finished and ready to go at MOTEST

Well, finally, the time for remote updates and telling how much I am looking forward to driving my SD1 in the future is over. As I write this, the car is sat on my drive, the tinkling sound of gently cooling metal a reassurance that I’ve finally begun to live the dream by actually driving the car…

It’s been a long journey, and at times, it’s been a pain, but I really do think it was worth it.

I actually went to collect the car from MOTEST Farnham yesterday, and on the train journey down, had plenty of time to reflect on the drive back. The day was sunny, the skies blue, and for me, it looked like spring had finally come. There were niggles and doubts in my own mind – mainly over the fact the car hadn’t been run very far in a very long time. And I’d accepted that it was likely I’d not make it home.

When I made it to Farnham, it was good to meet the guys who’d made the SD1’s return to legality. They’d literally sweated over getting things right for me, and the job list included a carburettor rebuild, new brakes all round and all manner of other little bits and pieces. They commented that it was great that everything they needed (including the smallest grommet or gaiter) was still available new from Rimmer Bros – something that they wouldn’t have thought possible for a car so old…

Anyway, after I’d had some pictures taken, and chatted to the local press, it was time to drive home. I was confident that we’d do okay, although clearly, I’d be listening closely for any untoward noises or rattles. After firing it up and drinking in the soundtrack, we were underway – tentatively.

By the time I’d made it to the M3, I’m wearing myself back into SD1 ownership. The driving position and visibility are first rate, and the steering is phenomenally impressive – direct and full of feel, and able to give the SD1 a wieldiness you’d not associate with a car of its size that’s almost 35 years old.

Taking a breather at Toddington services

The engine is pulling well, and cleanly, there’s a satisfaction to be had from tooling along in the outside lane, while other drivers look, stare and smile. Obviously, the world’s moved on since my last SD1 a few years ago, and they have now slipped comfortably into genuine classic car status.

For mile after mile, the SD1 rolls on. The M3 and M25 are taken in their stride. All gauges are reporting nothing abnormal, there are no unwelcome noises, and all is good with the world. I am finally bonding with the car that I bought so rashly five years ago.

Heading north on the M1, I decide I should take a quick breather, and make a splash ‘n’ dash stop at Toddington. Once back in the car, I set back off… and as I rejoin the M1, there’s a cough, a splutter and it stops dead. Ah, no. I had been expecting this, but had been seduced into thinking we might be okay.

The AA take a look and can't fix the fuel problem

To cut a long story short, it’s Relayed back to Northamptonshire, and today at lunch time, we tow the car to Edward, Octane’s unofficial tame local mechanic near the office. I leave it with him, and wonder whether I’m going to be buying a whole load more stuff.

As it happens, I needn’t have worried. He diagnosed the problem as a faulty oil pressure switch, and ended up replacing it. Job done.

And tonight, I’ve driven it home, and think that it’s fantastic again. I guess there are going to be a few more teething problems that will need to be ironed out now the car’s being used again, but tonight’s drives have convinced me that the whole exercise has been worth every second of my time.

It’s going to be fun!

Rangie rescues Rover... off to the local garage

Before I sign off this one, I really must thank those who have made this possible: Andy Jones (for selling me the car), Brian Gunn (for working out my parts list), Alexander Boucke (for getting me set up in Poland), Rimmer Bros (for supplying the parts), Graham Rimmer (for the use of his Range Rover and trailer), John Ball at MOTEST (for getting it roadworthy), and of course, Jerzy and Monica for making it all happen. Oh, and Mark Evans for egging me on to do it in the first place, and setting me a deadline!

Bangernomics Bible

It’s always good reading James Ruppert’s stuff, so when he flagged up that the new Bangernomics Bible was out, I had to grab myself a copy. James said to me that he doesn’t think that I need this book, but I really do beg to differ.

Bought in the dark? Check
Bought in the rain? Check
Bought sight unseen from eBay? Check
Bought without haggling? Check

Yes, so all those things you really shouldn’t do when buying a new banger, I am guilty of. So I did take time reading this book, and enjoyed learning the way to actually buy cars.

If you’re in the market for a new old car, then this book is £9 well spent. Not because it teaches you anything you don’t already know – because it doesn’t. What it does do, though, in great clarity (and rather amusingly) is guide you through the processes step-by-step in such a way that buying that banger becomes a clear process indeed.

So I’ve taken it all in, now I am going to see if I can I can actually follow the ‘Bible and get myself a car without breaking all the rules I tell everyone else to follow.

One wonky Metro bumper

The Rover Metro 1.4LD continues to chug along through what has been a challenging winter with only one failure so far – a failed glow plug. Bangernomics dictates that I really shouldn’t spend the money fixing it, but I probably will, as it’s a pain in the neck to start in the morning at the moment.

More seriously, someone ran into the back of it a few days ago. Nothing major, just some inattentive prat in a Peugeot 206, who said he wasn’t concentrating. We were waiting to enter a roundabout, and he just banged right into the rear of the poor car.

Irritatingly, when asked to swap insurance details, he looked at the damage to the Metro and said ‘there’s nothing wrong with that…’ when he clapped eyes on the wonky rear bumper. He also looked distinctly unapologetic – almost as if it’s not his fault that he can’t drive for toffee.

So, I am left with a dilemma. I don’t know so much about insurance, as I have not claimed since sometime in the mid-18th century, so don’t really know what’s going to happen. I know that the car’s going to be written off as there’s some damage, but at the same time, it still runs as sweetly as it ever did and still costs pennies to run. To lose this car would be a shame – but at the same time, to let contrite Peugeot driver go unpunished would also be a shame…

So, if I claim, and they say it’s all going to be too much, and offer to write it off, will I end up losing out? The trade value of this car is £0, but then, trying to replace it like for like clearly is going to cost money. I’m obviously not going to accept the first offer, that much is sure, but when they come back with a sensible figure, will I then be able to buy the car back? After all, it’s still usable.

I somehow fear that I’m going to come out of this worse off, and none of this was my fault.

ALFA Romeo will show the sexy Ford Focus-rivalling Giulietta in public for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

It’s a make-or-break car. Lordy, how many times have we heard that before?

Thing is, how many times has it been proven right..?

Fiat Group boss Sergio Marchionne has already gone on record to say Alfa Romeo is currently not cutting the mustard. It’s the weakest brand in the giant Fiat Group portfolio – and, when you consider that also includes Chrysler and Lancia, it’s quite a dubious honour to hold.

Alfa Romeo is unbowed, though. It’s going to take its final chance and damn well make the most of it – with a product-led recovery that will be centred around the Giulietta.

But can Alfa do it? My mind swifts back to another ill-judged pronouncement of leadership intent to drive the PR guys up the wall. Yes, Bernd Pischetsrieder, on the eve of the Rover 75 launch at the British Motor Show back in 1998.

Forget the car, muses Keith Adams on the brilliant AROnline: Bernd ensured that, with pronouncements such as ‘short-term actions are required for the long-term future of the Rover Group,’ the chat of the launch was not of 75, but of the health of the firm building it.

So recounted motoring writer good guy Steve Cropley to Adams; ‘…we were all a bit stunned,’ he said, ‘both by the content and timing of what Bernd Pischetsrieder said. We had all been feeling pretty enthusiastic about the 75 and the unveiling had gone well… it seemed bizarre, even grotesque, that the company’s top man should choose to undermine the moment so thoroughly.

‘He deflected the media from praising the car the way they would naturally have done, deflated the workforce who must have been on a high, and introduced a degree of buyer uncertainty that could have been avoided.’ No wonder the reaction in the firm was one of gobsmacked amazement.

Shoot forward a decade and a bit, to the Giulietta, to Marchionne saying ‘Alfa has been underperforming for some time’ and ‘it’s our problem’ and we ‘have to rethink our objectives and be realistic with ourselves,’ to cue many pairs of eyes on Alfa in Geneva.

Will he complete his ‘doing a Bernd’ in Geneva? I’ll join the throngs during the press conference next month and find out…

Land Rover App out snow

Rover 200 makes the 95 news

How Ford would have made a Rover

[Source: Richard Aucock]

SD1 on the ramps at MOTEST

There has certainly been plenty of progress on the Rover SD1 project since the last update. You might remember that I’d trailered the car down to MOTEST in Farnham to get a few little jobs for the test done before putting it in for its first MoT since 2004.

Well, the boys have certainly been busy! The car is looking in great shape now, though, and the words of wisdom I’d received from several people about not driving it home seem to have been borne out. Because here’s what MOTEST have done so far…

Rebuilt carburettors
Fit new brake calipers
Replace brake pipes
Install new brake shoes
Bleed and refresh the braking system
Fit a new brake compensator

Can you imagine doing a 120mph emergency stop on the Autobahn in a car that needed that lot doing?

I suspect that once it’s done and an LPG kit is fitted, this going to be one fine daily driver. Really, really can’t wait!

MOTEST's ex Austin-Rover technician working on the new calipers

The rear showing new handbrake linkage, pipes and back plates

AC 3000ME the latest addition to AROnline

I’VE been busy tonight. Had a close encounter with an AC 3000ME earlier in the week and remembered just why I liked them so much. That’s why, instead of going to bed, I did some scribbling and added its story for your reading pleasure… I know, I have no life.

It’s the usual story of failure and missed opportunities that overshadow a wonderful product – and that’s why it absolutely belongs on this site. Besides, after all the email beatings I’ve been getting about making the MINI our Car of The Decade (a decision I stand by given the bigger picture), I thought you’d enjoy a story about an automotive loser.

Don’t get me wrong, I adore the 3000ME, and, given the chance, I will own one sometime in the future. Gotta keep telling myself that.I’ve also added a bunch more cars to the ‘Other Cars’ section of the website, which you’ll find by clicking the link to your right. Nothing that wasn’t on the site already, but stuff that probably needs a more regular airing.

Anyway, take a look and enjoy some fascinating stories about the likes of Argyll, Midas (below) and Trident, which fit so neatly alongside the more established offerings from DeLorean, Rootes and, er, Ford.

Enjoy!

With the Rover 3500 back on terra firma in the UK and in the safe hands of MOTest at Farnham, it looks like I have another project to sort out in the coming months. Back in 2008, I put my Saab 9000 Aero in for a repair which, although complex, should have been done reasonably quickly.

Unfortunately, following a long and horrible story which I won’t bore you with right now, I’m left – two years down the line – with the car in rather a worse state than it was when I left it and with what looks like a fair bit of work to do on it.

My question, then, would be – after seeing these pictures – is there anyone out there who can recommend the services of a good welder who fancies having a crack at that bulkhead panel? Alternatively, should I be more sensible and break the car, keeping all the shiny bits, and find another 9000 to fit them to?

Frankly, I don’t have the energy for another project right now and just looking at these pictures depresses me somewhat. The picture at the top shows what it was like in the long hot summer of 2007… ah, the memories.

Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated!

I can already sense the barrage of criticism we’re about to receive for this one but, in choosing the MINI (2000-2006) for AROnline’s Car of The Decade, I’m looking at a number of factors.

However, before you comment, read the full article and look at the picture gallery…

Early R8 looks tidy and original, and makes the perfect banger

Following redundancy last year and my nearly new Passat 2.0TDI going back, I found myself looking for a second-hand car to keep me mobile. After the usual trawling through the weekly inkies such as Auto Trader, I came upon a Rover 214 on eBay that was literally a few miles up the road in leafy Surrey. 

The car was a Silver/Tempest 214SLi on a G plate with a few hours to go and one bid at £102. The car had a dribble of tax and a few months MoT and, going by the pictures, looked fairly tidy. There was a contact number on the advert so I called to ask a few questions to put my mind at rest before I committed to buying a 20 year old banger. 

Following a lengthy call to a lovely old lady, it transpired that the only reason the car was being sold was because she had recently been widowed and her late husband had left, in his passing, a fairly decent motor pool comprising of a Mercedes E-class estate, a Harley Davidson Soft Tail and a newish Hyundai. 

I felt confident in bidding, tapped away on the keyboard and left the system to do its bit. A few hours later and for the princely sum of £150, I was the owner of a G plate R8 shape Rover 214. Seeing the car in the metal, I was stunned to find it was pretty much as described and mechanically superb though the interior was a little sad. The car had been used as nothing more than transport for three dogs, one of which was a long haired retriever. The roof lining was falling down, the parcel shelf was missing and the rear door cards had been half eaten. 

What impressed me most though, was the huge fat A4 envelope for every bill, every MoT, every bulb, nut, screw & wiper blade going right back to the car’s initial purchase. All of it in date order, even the MoT advisory sheets were lovingly stapled to the Test Certificates. Oh, and to cap it all, the original Rover/Phillips branded radio was still there. Funds were exchanged and I drove the 10 miles back to my house in the dark and the rain. The car was not a happy one, it coughed, barked and hiccoughed whenever you tried to plant the throttle, so I guessed that I would be investing a few quid into the car. 

The next day I went out on the front with my mug of tea to see what I had bought in more detail. A quick inspection showed me that the plugs were a bit grubby and the butterfly in the throttle housing was caked in gunk. Armed with a small wire brush, an old toothbrush and a can of carb cleaner, I cleaned up the plugs, the throttle valve and fuel injector. According to the paperwork a new water pump and cambelt were fitted a very short while back so I took the liberty of removing the belt covers to be sure. The car had, in fact, only covered 350 miles in the last two years under the previous owner. 

A few hours worth of tinkering and fettling followed and I was back on the road to see if she ran any better. The car still seemed a bit lazy, though many times better than before so I threw a good dose of Red-Ex into the tank and took to the local A roads for an Italian tune up. A couple of hours worth of high revs in 2nd & 3rd started to make a difference. After a week of ragging the life out of her, she stopped smoking, the idle became stable and the zingy nature for which the K series is reknowned for came back. 

A parcel shelf and roof lining (the latter not being a job for the faint hearted) were sourced for a total cost of £20. Door cards were also found, though sadly not a perfect colour match, for a cost £15. The clutch was biting at the very top of the pedal and owing to it being the original with 110,000 miles on it, I sourced a brand new Valeo kit via eBay for £38 including postage and fitted it. All in all, I now have a car that drives far far better than your average 20 year old jalopy. 

Indeed, so confident was I in the car,that I gave her a quick check over and put her in for MoT when the old one expired and she passed with only 1 advisory item, that being an ageing outer CV boot. In nine months the car has covered 13000 miles and, in that time, has required no coolant and only half a pint of oil. The 1400cc 16 valve unit has never had the head lifted since new according to the wad of paperwork, runs like new and returns well over 40 mpg on the open road. These early cars had very stiff engine/gearbox mounts so the engine is always vocal, especially at high speed but the note is not unpleasant. 

There you have it, then,  my 20 year old car that’s more than proved itself in nine months of daily and hard useage. It’s my third 214 over the years - I previously owned  ‘94 and ‘95 214SEis. I’m, in fact, no stranger to Rovers: other drivers over the years include a Marina, an Ital, 2 Montegos, three Maestros, a bubble shape 216, a 620ti, a Mini 1100 and a Metro with only the Ital being a troublesome car. 

The  sadly inevitable demise of Rover was a shame but many proud owners and websites like this will keep the spirit alive!