With it unlikely that there will be any meetings to take the coupe to before May I took mine out just now for a last "essential" trip to buy some XL latex gloves before declaring it SORN.

I had been using it for the occasional shopping trip since the Autumn but with the worst of the winter weather on its way there was no point in paying the government about £25 a month to have it sitting unused.

This means that my back up car will be my now 41 year old X1/9 as its road tax is free of charge so no cost apart from insurance to keep it available for use.

Good decision. I like that your everyday car is way older than the coupe.

Unfortunately not so Frazer.

My everyday car is a 6 year old Vauxhall Meriva which has all the bells and whistles like heated seats, cruise control etc. which is nice to have.
It's actually much better than generally supposed, built in the Opel factory in Spain. One of the last pre PSA cars to be made.

Given lack of shows and the likelihood of upcoming shows both fiats I have will be coming of the road.
It sucks but that's the new world!

Me to did it today,
You cannot drive anywhere and no car events anytime soon, so it’s SORN

Joined the SORN club this evening. Probably should have done it back in October as it aint likely to be going anywhere until atleast April.

Maybe there should be a Coop SORN Register as it seems to the fastest growing group?

Mine has taken itself off the road again but officially is still on it!

I SORNed mine immediately following its last MOT in October 2020.
Have spent a small fortune on more welding and brake refurbishments, etc. I decided to lock mine away to keep her dry until the Spring.

Lockdowns permitting, I hope to re tax her in either March or April and arrange a couple of road trips to various parts of the UK.

So this period will help to progress the "to-do" list, Mark?

It should do Simon, but my recent attention has gone into the Spider 939 and home maintenance.
The Porto is all tucked up in the garage with a CTek battery charger and car cover.

Come the Spring, I need to get my wheels immediately re-tracked once it is taxed, as my local National Tyres Gloucester completely messed my tracking up when I had 2 new Goodyear tyres fitted to the front!
National Tyres claimed the tracking was completely out, showing me an error tracking report.
This caused me some alarm, as another tyre dealer had set up the tracking with Joe only days before, following suspension work!

I am resolved never to use National tyres again, as I believe the tracking report was just a rouse to cover up subsequently discovered scuff damage to one of my front wheels after they must have dropped it on their concrete floor.
Following National Tyres "adjustment", the car immediately pulled to the left and whilst National Tyres offered to re-track the car following my complaint, my trust in them is completely destroyed.
In the scheme of all that happened for everyone 2020, it is not worth fretting over and I will find someone else hopefully to track the car correctly again.

Up until 4 year ago I always drove every coupé I owned all the year round and always found them pretty good in the snow and got me home on some really bad winters when a lot were stuck on the motorway from Edinburgh to Glasgow.

So they always served me well on my commute however I was becoming unhappy subjecting them to salt eating away at them and ended up with a wee Abarth 4 years ago for the main miles and the coupé could stay tucked away in the winter. I feel pretty lucky to do so now and hopefully prolonged the life of a very solid coupé.

Providing the rear suspension is in good condition, as the car has fixed or non adjustable rear suspension you can get the tracking damn close with just the use of a laser level and engineers rule. I have not needed to do this on the Coupe yet but use this method on 2 other cars without needing to ever visit a garage or tire place.

Sorn'd club member!

Not used mine since i got it back from JBT for some work doing a few months ago. Now sat in my heated garage until April no doubt until the weather improves then out for new exhaust fitting and alloy wheel re-fresh. Pull it out once a week (Weather permitting) and run upto temp for 20-25 min & gets polished and cleaned constantly! (I have no kids!!)

Sorned mine in November when the MOT ran out as I know it needs some welding. As soon as it warms up a bit I'll get that done and take it for a test but probably won't retax it until March or April when and if the hillclimb season starts again.

I sorned mine In November and put it under a car cover to protect the bodywork as I've not been going out much especially since lockdown began. Done the usual disconnect batter, leave handbrake off, and put bricks in front of the wheels so doesn't roll at all. Not sure when I'll put it back on road. Earliest most likely April depending on situation.

Sorned since I Emilygrated to Berlin... can't drive it over here and not a lot of point paying 25 quid a month to park it. So it's in dry storage now...

Neil what's required to drive it in Germany?

Moving the steering wheel to the left side

For practical purposes I'd have to convert the headlights and meet the TÜV tests, and register and insure it over here. Given the history of mine I'd rather not bugger around with it; easier to get one over here that's already registered.

I can drive it over here for a couple of months in summer if I feel the urge.

Do you really need to convert to LHD? I believe that only RHD cars are allowed to be driven in Australia, but maybe 40+ year old LHD cars are ok? Need Boosted7 (IIRC) to confirm?

I have driven LHD cars here "Downunder".

As vehicles are registered in the State/Territory in which they are garaged, it varies with each one. Here in Queensland it is a 30 year old car that can be registered. A mate has a 131 Abarth Stradale and an original Abarth 124 Spider which are both registered, but then they are both over 30 years old.

Have a look here : https://prestigemotorsport.com.au/left-hand-drive-car-registration-australia/

Neil I'm pretty sure I just found you 2x 16v for sale in Germany for you

Dave G - I need to convert to continental headlights, and possibly other things required to get through the TüV test here. Then register it... best just to bring it over from time to time for its holidays!

Queensland is now 25 years. This could prove helpful, as I am an Aussie living in Canada and I bought a 20VT (that is sitting inside a Lancia Kappa) from the Netherlands in Nov 2019 and imported it into Ontario in March 2020. It looks like we will be heading back to Brisbane in the next 2 years or so. Hopefully there will be a short time period between when we arrive back in Brisbane and when my car turns 25 in July 2024.

https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/registration/register/left

Totally understand sorn'ing,

I hate to give the UK tax money. Period. But have not sorn'ed my coup-just in case it was needed.

Over the weekend, a strange orangey light re-appeared in the sky.
The snow had all disappeared, and roads which have been half a foot or more under water for much of winter were just muddy.

It was time to get the weekly essential shopping-in full lockdown mode of course. And it was time to fire up the Winter dormant Coupe. and put some essential fuel inside her.

I'd been running her regularly and moving her in and out of her garage as dry weather allowed. But she had not moved a few yards in months. Handbrakes left off. Air/con run each time she was fired up.

She fired straight away and I tiptoed through the back roads and on to the main routes- didn't rush her (had checked oil and fluids before starting and made sure no obvious issues since last time she was driven). The tyres were in need of a gentle mile or two to smooth them back out (fairly new rubber) and although willing- I kept everything gentle and let her get her first warm up. Suspension definetly needed some time to come back to life. Ditto the brakes.

Petrol station- and new fuel-and then the drive to the nearest "big" shop, allowed everything to get warmed through nicely.

An open bit of road beckoned and I could open her up a little bit - pulling well, if a bit surge-ish on full tap. Air/Con....hmm no cold air coming out. Shopping done- an easy cruise back -sun shining down. At least three groups of bikers, clearly out in a "pac". Several sport cars clearly out on inaugural spring shakedown runs.

With the five pot burble-visions of the "feedom" we used to enjoy entered my head.

Back to base-and a good wash, dry and left to sit in the sun for an hour before being put back in the garage.

Just a simple spin felt like a real escape from this current Lockdown. Role on Spring. Role on end of lockdown, and hope a few of you will get the itch to re-sorn, and take yours for that first shakedown run (lockdown allowing where you are). And hopefully spring is now just around the corner.

Lets hope we get some car time in 2021!


Now...time to get that A/c sorted out...for the 3rd time!

Regards

MM

That's a great feel MM, today I drove our project car 100 metres and even that was good, having not driven my own for a good while. Fingers crossed the border will re-open before too long to enable my trip down to pick it up.

The a/c pipework I'm beginning to think becomes susceptible to pinholing - my friendly chap has diagnosed this happening (right in front of his nose on one occasion) and raided the yards for Alfas which tend to use the same bore pipes, then jointed them in. The lower pipe he's replaced for a muckle rubber beast which will never suffer!

I like the way you class fuel "essential", and by implication "non-essential", the latter clearly being carte blanche for any random country blast

Looks like I'm bucking the trend and is still a daily runner. Due to care comittments up in Edinburgh it's done this run on a monthly basis sun, rain or snow - and I mean serious snow on 27th Dec through the Borders Every time I take it out I still get that buzz you're driving something just a wee bit special

Back up Abarth though is car goals if I can convince my youngest she needs the Fiat 500 in her life

Mine was a daily driver until respray earlier this month. It's back and looking lovely, with a few minor snags. I need to burst the bubble and get back out in it regularly. I love the car too much to save it for weekends only. For the time being, I'll go out when weather isn't too bad. I hate dirty cars.

Have fun everyone.

We need photos