Mind the Gap!!

Wheeeyoow!!  More excitement here than on (any episode of) The Bold and the Beautiful.  Apart from one of my daughters being a featured extra in a pop video and my other daughter singing on TV.  And me turning 50.

So-o-o-o, After being out of work for 5 months, and then embarking on the adventure of self-employment (going well, thanks for asking), I inclined my head, somewhat resentfully, to mainstream common sense, and decided that having TWO rolling restoration projects on the go at once was perhaps a little too foolish ambitious.

The market for P6s didn't look great, but the market for P5s looked better, so after much procrastination, I sold old Black Beauty.

A week after a rather misty-eyed farewell, I unexpectedly(?) found myself browsing the online carsales ads for old Rovers - and there, before my very eyes was a rather lovely P5 3 Litre - check the photos.  Interior, tick.  Exterior, tick.  It was advertised as a Mk3, but my investigation showed it to be the (much more desirable) Mk2c.  Black Beauty was a Mk2a, and the 'c' had some worthwhile improvements.

To cut a long story short, after detailed high-resolution photo inspection and a small amount of negotiation, and with full approval of my wife, I bought it.  Now christened "Vanilla Bean" or "VB" for short, on account of its colour.

VB arrived in Melbourne 2 days ago - I had her delivered to a specialist Rover garage (Lopiccolo Automotive in Richmond - Tony is a great guy) to have a bit of work done and for him to arrange Roadworthy.  The plan is to put her on club rego, now that Victorian club rego allows you 90 days per year driving.  Perfect.  I called in to check her out, and she looks every bit as good as the photos.  Guess how excited I am!

How about Lopiccolo Automotive's workshop!  P5 coupe, P4, P2 (I think), RR Classic and SIII Landrover - plus my P6.  How cool is that?

Anyhow, I magically found the money to buy the P5, so still have the proceeds of the sale of the black P5 to pay for work on both cars.  Currently waiting for suspension bushes for the P6, so when I collect the Roadworthied P5 (VB), I'll drop off the P6 for the re-bushing.

Then I'll just need to get the aircon on the P6 refurbed, and I think I will have two imperfect, but extremely serviceable cars.  I have done about 20,000 km in the P6 since I got it, and enjoyed most of them immensely

There was one thing though - the P6 is not designed for people of my stature (6'4" and 15 stone [100kg]), and driving it invariably left me with a locked neck or frozen vertebrae.  Good for my osteopath's cashflow, but not great for me.

W-e-l-l, I fixed that, didn't I.  It may not be beautiful, but the Toyota Supra (or similar) front seat now fitted has transformed the car for me.  Especially now that it has been professionally secured!

I can see under the rear view mirror.  The armrest is in the right place.  I can drive at least 500km without pain (not without stopping though - the fuel consumption ensures a healthy stop every 2-3 hours) - and I'm loving it.  And the sheepskin cover from the old seat more-or-less fits...

So - after the aircon, I might start looking at a few engine tweaks...

Oh YES - one other improvement, heartily recommended to any old car nut.  Get a Sat-Nav.  Mine gives me reasonable navigation, but a 100% accurate speedometer and really good hands-free on the mobile phone.  On the P6, it fits nicely out of the way on the front parcel shelf (although I did have to glue a bathroom tile to the rubber mat, so that the suckers had something to stick to - 80 cents well spent).

In case you were wondering. "Mind the Gap" was the 'gap' between the black P5 and the beige one :-)