Jason's Blog

Well I picked up the TR6 steel wins from Hertford yesterday, not as scabby as I had anticipated. Tyres are all ancient and decaying, three of the wheels were painted in silver hammerite and the fourth was scabby. So I whizzed the angle grinder with wire wheel over them all and slapped on some of Screw Fixes finest "hammer finish" silver paint and you know what? They look crap but hey! They are wheels and will soon get some tyres on them if I can stop fannying around and decide on a size. I originally thought I'd just stick some cheapo tyres on, run around on them and then when finds allow I would put some nice wheels on and sell off the TR6 rims. Now. I think I might settle on 15 inch rims and put some decent tyres on that I can swap over onto the new wheels when I get them. Now, what can I fit on standard TR6 steel wheels? They've got 185s on them at the moment so I was thinking 195/65 R15 Toyo Proxies, same tyre as on the Vitesse. I've been really pleased with t...

Well after a good 60 hours awake I am finally feeling human again. Watching the news footage about Terminal 5 and hearing the reporter whinge on that he had to wait 20 minutes to check in I just wish he was with me in Delhi - four and a half hours to check in and get through immigration (security was a 5 minute job) and that was to get out of India! Never mind, it was a good trip and I only got Delhi Belly once, which was a bonus :-) Whilst out of the UK I managed to buy a 2.5 PI, some TR6 wheels, some replacement phone parts for my daughter (who wrecks mobiles with ease), a 2000 worshop manual (for 99p) and an almost complete PI system (again a bargain - £20 inc postage). I had no end of financial access issues, couldn't get into my bank accounts, had credit cards locked "you need to unlock the car in a UK cash machine sir" right, that's convenient when I'm thousands of miles away! The daftest thing I did was to get a little confused with the decimal point in the...

It's amazing what a few beers and a PC will produce - one set of TR6 steels procured from 5000 miles away. I just have to collect them, hope they are straight :-) Right now for some ditchfinder remoulds and we're mobile until I can afford those Compomotive ML competition spec wheels I like with some decent rubber. Oh and I have to sell the Vitesse when I get home too. Fun fun fun!

Well there it is - forget the wheels, they are MOT specials.......although.....no! I will be strong, it won't have Stag alloys. It's a bit of a sleeper, I'll not reveal the spec just yet, suffice to say it's all Triumph, none of your modern silliness here. I can't wait to get stuck into the car and start using it - I know I'll get the nagging pain in the ear from the wife that I will have to sell the Vitesse in order to make way for the PI but that's just part of life's rich tapestry. Anyone wanna buy a PI Vitesse?

Using my considerable planning skills I find myself in India during the Holi festival, the Hindi festival of colour this weekend. I am invited out on the weekend to participate - apparently I have to wear a white shirt so people will throw coloured powders at me. Later I can go and have a speciial drink called thandai which will help me enjoy the festival even more because it is prepared using bhang, basically cannabis! So it's trip out time with a dope shake for me - well you've got to embrace the culture haven't you!

Well sort of... OK I'm having cash flow difficulties. You see I've been in India for a fortnight and I'm here for another couple of days. Internet access is flakey to say the least, the offices are all locked down and I can only access a few sites. The browsers won't allow scripts, hotmail and eBay are blocked (as are a few more obvious "recreational" type sites I'm told). So the long and the short of it is I've managed to buy the car remotely from India, pay a deposit on my business expenses and hopefully I'll be able to shuffle some money to that account to balance the books before the biriani hits the punka wala. So I'm not yet the proper owner but it's nearly completed - so near and yet so far. On the subject of finances in India, today I have learned that Tesco Finance will lock your card if you're abroad and you get the pin wrong (or the Indian machine loses a connection as I think happened). Helpfully you can unlock this at an AT...

Well there she is on La Carerra Caledonia last year, looking damn fine and by the time that photo was taken, running OK. Yes I've made a decision or rather circumstance have made the decision for me. A price has been agreed with the owner and my people are talking to his people :-) For those who voted and expressed an opinion via email etc, thanks - the results were 42 votes cast 78 % said buy the PI 21% said keep the Vitesse 1% said the Blogger pole machine can't count So, that's sorted then, well not really. I've still got to sell the Vitesse so if any one's interested let me know. There's plenty of specification options to sell it and I'd like to get circa £4k, whether that's achievable or not remains to be seen. It's a bit of a "specialist" car so I'm happy to feel my way through selling it. Whilst I'm away in India for most of March you might want to have your say on wheels for the PI, it's got scabby steels on at the momen...