BumbleBee approaching flight path

After a very long absence, caused by no-one's fault but fate who has stepped in on a number of occasions, I'm on the cusp (touches head) of reunification with my P&J who has been undergoing a severe, nay extreme renovation over 300 miles away at FCSS.

Joe has "thrown half the car away" due to the marabunta-type effect of Scottish road treatments over the years, and the ensuing inevitable metal weight gain has done wonders for Tata Steel shareholders. Two new sills later and seventeen days of welding have ensured a much-needed paint-over to cover not only new fabrications but thankfully several different broomy shades.

Added to this are refurbishments too many to list here at the moment but this morning I was allowed a preview that only real visitors to FCSS might have experienced recently.

But the story has it that she has been a petulant beast, mewling and puking her way through rebuild and re-alignment, perhaps with no intention of leaving her two-year temporary home, still remembering a time back in 2008 when she was rescued from London as a non-runner, refusing to start for weeks until a rat popped out of the airbox right in front of Joe's face and legged it across the fields of the former location.

Samsite999 bought her then after an initial restoration from a rolling shell with black and yellow paint, and later put her for sale just as I was caught up in the "ash-cloud incident" of April 2010. He was as good as his word though and kept her for me until I could arrange a three-train journey down to collect her, having immediately fallen in love with the daring colour scheme.

Even today though before this afternoon's MoT she threw a hissy and refused to start until some sorcery cajoled her into life. Armed now with a pass, the countdown is 10 days in which I call in all my loans to effect the big transaction.

During this long time I've heard about her from other owners, been lent a mate's VIS, worked on a project car (which is sick in one cylinder, likely needing piston rings), got more-or-less used to driving Mrs Ed's compliant little Seat Mii, walked and cycled.....so it's going to be quite weird I think.

Prodigal plus.

Great looking engine bay Simon, very jealous

Cam cover courtesy of Marius and I like the touch of changing the strut brace from red to black

Looking good Simon. I know exactly how you feel. When I eventually was with my Coop at Joes and saw my sprinty for the first time in all its glory, new paint and underneath was like a brand new car, I became quite emotional

Yes the black London rat living in the air box stopping it from starting
Amazing that I collected the car from Petticoat Lane Central London, A-framed it to my Mother's house in Kent, next day to the Grasshopper meet in Westerham and then all the way back to the old units in Bromyard where it continued to live for a further week

Excellent Simon looking great... cant wait to see you both in May enjoy the drive home

Looking good, but you'll have to clean up that bonnet release lever

Looks fantastic.

Well done Simon for persevering and not losing heart over the years, great to see 2 extremely well sorted broomies up in the north.
Class job Joe

You're right, wonder if anyone's done a howto

Well done Simon I suppose you'll be having a socially distanced reunion party soon ..

.... and horns.

Definitely, both on the list, princess and the pea syndrome

I wanted to make sure you had something to tinker with Simon

As long as it doesn't involve wiring.

A "scale" and polish might be more up my street


Anyway, in this era of struggling to find positives, at least the time it's spent at FCSS has stopped me from tinkering

Sorcery - is that what it was? Sounded like a lot of swearing and ranting from where I was standing. Words begining with Bs and Fs with the occasional 'car' or 'thing' as I recall

Looks and sounds amazing

You cannae whack a good euphemism Ryan

Great news Edinburgh!

I recall having the pleasure of seeing BB around 2 years ago when I was last at Joe's HQ. (which reminds me....I need to start thinking of the next work for Joe to do on my car!!!)

She was sitting there in his enclosed special projects hangar-along side finishing touches to Rossa, and Joe's track car. And a couple of other projects. Have to say Joe had her pride of place in the front of the hangar. Of course I recognised the mighty BB straight away!

A Unique car, she deserves the unique history she now has-rat and all!! And its interesting to hear of her still being fussy after all that work. I maintain that Fiat Coupes go all Italian, when you try and mend them or improve a fault.

Who would have suspected back then what last year was going to bring us all? And what a wielding workout Joe has given her! Enjoy every second of her when you collect her. Will be good to hear when you have her back with you!

Watch out Scotland!

Regards

MM

Haha, thanks MM.

Well today I've just been informed that the train ticket from Edinburgh to Birmingham I bought on 30th March (complete with number, barcode and booking reference) won't work as that service isn't running! In fact there seem to be no Avanti West Coast (formerly Virgin) trains running that day at all.

So they have refunded that part but I'm on for some compensation due to the hassle they've caused - it's clearly their fault and they've admitted it. Sleeves rolled up for a hard conversation later this evening....

Pity, a run in the Pendolino was really going to set up the day

I took a plane down to Bristol Simon, it was £30/40. Initially I was going by train but was well into three figures you don’t need this hassle when picking up your Coop eh? Best of luck.

Car is looking vibrant Simon.
Congrats on the new ticket.
Hopefully you get re-aquatinted soon once you've sorted the travel arrangements.

Fair point Jim but then you are starting from a lot further away!

Well, apparently Network Rail decided they were going to work over the first weekend in May but this info didn't get through to whomsoever it mattered

So after the full refund they've given me a 25% discount off my next Avanti West Coast booking, valid for a year, maybe extendable...it's a gesture, but just unfortunate there are hardly any Avanti services operating from Edinburgh!
They're mainly ECML or X Country (apart from Scotrail).

Ah well, think of the bigger picture

Dunno what you're complaining about, Simon. In Italy, no-one grows up wanting to be a train driver, right?

Neil

I'll happily get it for you, of course by the time it gets there it might not look quite as yellow as you remember, in fact it might look a little grey and not as powerful as you remember, in fact it might seem like a grey VIS in some light. Just a trick of altitude I assure you!

That's showing some enthusiasm considering it's 2+1/2 hrs away from you

Only trying to help, I'll be doing you a big favour as I imagine you would find the seats uncomfortable after you've donated your kidneys to pay for it!

Seeing as some twist of fate necessitated the removal of one of them two or three years ago the remaining one is priceless

Sorry to hear that, I'd definitely recommend another payment plan.

I'd considered an arm and a leg....

Easy jet are showing flights for £70-£150 Edinburgh....

Or maybe, all the local club drivers could "give her a go" and ferry it up to you driver by driver in short, 3rd and 4th gear hops...let us run her in a bit for you?

lol- enjoy picking her up sir!!

I think a few twisty A Roads after 30 mins behind the wheel when everything is warmed through and settled in, will be all that you need to feel the smile back on your face!

Regards.

MM

Haha MM, saw what you did there...good try!

Anyone in Penrith Saturday evening?

I intend to grab some grub from the Sandgate Chippy about 1830....

My coupé needs a run

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X14kC-sEH0I

Ha, that's amazing Neil!

For "big red bumblebee-eating plant" read FCSS

"Jonah of the railways" managed to get delayed by signal failure for 40 minutes before even reaching the border at Berwick-on-Tweed

Missing connection at Brum very likely by 2 mins for an extra hour's wait

This must be the 5th time I'll have claimed compensation on this route

Remarkably we made up 24 minutes! No little thanks to some generous lying time in a few stations being dispensed with.

Back to plan A

And, as I am 45 mins away, BumbleBee's parting petulance is to open one side only of the sunroof and er, not do it a lot of good

That was some day!

Ascertaining after some prodding about that the sunroof runner on one side had misbehaved beyond redemption, there was no alternative........change over the frame

So instead of leaving FCSS after a leisurely collection at 2-ish, it was after 1800 when the journey back started, the team of Joe Knighty and the Sunroof Kid having stripped BumbleBee down to exchange the sunroof frame (but keep the glass).

Back well after midnight...

I'd always wondered what the dark side of the roof lining looked like

Good to see the bumblebee is back in action

Thanks for rolling your sleeves up and helping yesterday Simon, an epic day to finish BB's restoration.

Happy days Simon.....

Typical of a coupe to put up a fight! Glad all worked out good in the end

Great news Simon.
Hope she is in fine fettle and well done to Joe and yourself for teamwork.

A six hour drive back was good going and I imagine, after a long day pretty exhausting. Hopefully though without further incident.
Mine's due some FCSS "glass work" and other fettling next week.