As some of you may remember a little while back my coop returned from doing the school run and spewed its thick, black, blood all over my driveway.

I cleaned up the mess and thought, "I really must sort the car out".

And then it sat for a bit.

And then its MOT expired.

And then a friend came round to give me a hand having a look, but his jack was leaking hydrolic fluid, so we couldn't jack it up.

Then the car sat for a bit.

Then the brake discs because as autum leaves.

Then it sat for a bit.

Then it grew a big tuft of gass round where the front N/S wheel was just on the lawn and the gardener couldn't reach it.

Then the battery flattened so that the central locking didn't work any more.

Then it say for a bit and, before I knew it, it hadn't moved for the best part of 4 months.

I finally bit the bullet and called the local garage I use and got them to tow the car away and fix it.

The oil leak turned out to be oil cooler pipes (which I think was pretty much everybody's first guess when I asked here) and, for the MOT, it needed new discs and pads all round, a wishbone and a new flexi-pipe.

The oil cooler, pipes, discs and pads came from Alternative Autos for a whisker over £400 all in and I picked the car up from the garage last night.

I've used the garage in question for a lot of years - it's a real back-street job, but they're good guys and I trust them.

However, there was still a lump in my throat when I asked "How much?" because my bill included:

1. Recovery of the car from my house
2. Remove old oil cooler and pipes and fit new
3. Fit new pads and discs
4. Supply and fit wishbone
5. Supply and fit flexi-hose (they had to put a new solid hose on as well because they couldn't seperate the old one from the flexi-hose)
6. MOT

When they said £345.95 (including VAT) you could have knocked me down with a feather. Top value.

I'd honestly forgotten how much I loved this car, I really had.

Long live Coupes.

Now thats a good price!

Gald to hear you will be enjoying your coupe again Andrew

That is cheap. I bet it is great to have the Coupe back though

Its a great feeling to get one back on the road, glad you didn't get your trousers removed by your garage!

Fantastic price that.

I brought the coop to work this morning and parked it in the car-park overlooked by my office window.

Big mistake, I keep stopping work to sit and stare at it out of the window and I think I might have to leave early so I can drive it home before rush hour.

Obviously absence does make the heart grow fonder.

Nice story. The thing that hits me the most if I haven't been in the Coop for a while, is the smell of the leather before you even turn they key or sit down. Something about it. Sportscar-ish. Mental-ish. Memory-ish.

Sort of makes you go Aaaahhhh! like that first sip of your first pint of the weekend...

great price, Rog changes the cooler too, so the pipe change job alone costs more than that