Introduction
Figured I'd start a thread about my Panda, for no reason in particular. So...if you like random ramblings...(pictures at the end).
First up, how the car was when I got it, and the first couple o'months.
What is it?
It's a completely ordinary black Panda CLX. It's a 999cc, with a carb and points. Happy days. 34918 miles, when I got it.
Why have I got one?
Well, I've got an ongoing project with another car which has been off the road for some time. I was using a Saab 9000 as a daily (which was lovely), but it's a bit of a tank and not really suited to tooling about on tiny lanes. Lovely car though, will definitely own another some time
Anyway, I thought I'd look for something a bit more suited to daily use. I looked at a couple of random things - Polo Breadvans, AX's, and a two-tone Mk2 Fiesta (which, to be fair, was achingly cool) but in the end settled on a Panda.
I bought it blind, expecting a basket case - but was pleasantly surprised. All seemed well
Cruised back in the snow - turned out the heating didn't work so it was FREEZING, and the timing was off, but nothing scary. Hooray!
Anything done to it?
Not a lot. The interior is a bit odd / missing - a previous owner has done some creative interior work with DIY door cards and a back seat, there's no headlining, and it has been thoroughly caked in Dynamat. The missing interior is easy to sort, but I'm not keen on the Dynamat - although I'll leave it for now. It's pretty well stuck down!
The Dynamat, phat alternator / battery wires and odd squirts of expanding foam in funny places suggest some kind of epic sound system install in the car's past.
Most importantly, it's not rusty. A pleasant surprise, and means it's a keeper for the forseeable future.
Issues?
Apart from the ideological disagreements with the previous person about the Dynamat (I'd never do that for fear of it going rusty without me realising, but that's me), the thermostat and vacuum advance, the first few months of ownership were rosy.
I did the vacuum capsule, 'stat, changed the oil + coolant and gave it a tune up and took it to Snowdonia with a bootload of stuff and 2 passengers. All good!
MOT...
4 months down the line and it was time for the MOT...which is always a bit tense.
I stuck around to have a proper look underneath - amazingly good! The MOT bloke said it was one of the cleanest he's seem for a long time.
Picked up a couple of advisories - rear brakes were rubbish and front struts were a bit oily. Fair cop, I'd say. (Although I still haven't bothered to sort it out
)Good to go :slayer:
