General Silly stories

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General Silly stories

I was at work last night and the other night bus driver thought it would be funny to park his bus up blockign the car park exit (he finishes 2 mins after me so i had just parked my bus up and jumped in the panda) i ask him to move he says no whilst havign a fag (guess he though he was being funny) the look on his face as i turned the car around and dove off the edge of the car park down the extremely steep hill onto the depot ground was quiete funny, naturally i fliped him the bird as i drove out the depot ;)

he has a 1.4 mk2 fiesta that he thinks is fast as **** :yuck: he got upset when he couldn't lose me on friday night :lol:
 
My brother's car is a Yaris. Geddit? Rolf Yaris. Rolf Harris. :p

Anyway, I was a bit lost whether to put my account of this week in Panda Endurance or here, I think here is more suitable.

First off, though, the Panda made it, didn't miss a beat, and had been getting about 350-400 miles on a tank of juice depending on the speed. On the way up I took things nice and easy and decided to chop the journey up over two days. Stopped in Strathaven near Kilmarnock for the night after averaging about 80, there was barely any traffic on the Sunday and the roads belonged to me and Rufus.

2nd leg was fine, got to the ferry way too early and got a bit bored in Oban. Took Rufus round some hilly lanes which was fun and passed the time away.

At the port.

For those unacquainted with the Isle of Mull, the road network is either typical two-lane (one for each way) fare and there's quite a lot of single track road too. Having a narrow Panda helped enormously, indeed I nearly had a crash! The road was a gravel track, was doing about 35, car came round the corner in the middle of the road, braked firmly-ish and locked up so had to resort to pumping the brakes and sliding past the car. On the left were rocks, on the right a car, I squeezed through the middle and I honestly cannot believe how on Earth I didn't hit anything.

Other than this it was bloody good fun on the island, some wonderful roads there and also on the way to oban.

There was also one occasion where I thought I broke my Panda. Was coming down some single track and a car was waiting on the left hand side to let me past, the road looked clear so I carried on at about 30 and thought nothing more. BANG! I drove over some sort of stone thing on the side of the road, the landing was so hard the car popped out of gear. Stopped and had a look and, er, everything was fine mechanically and everything is still working fine now.

Passing place. Very useful.

Other than that, things were trouble free. Although an absolute heap of stuff happened today. First on the way to the ferry I witnessed an old man in a Laguna Estate drive into a ditch. What happened exactly I don't know, he might have fallen asleep. Either way he was fine after a bit of reassurance although the police took far far too long to do make an appearance. I had to leave some poor guy from Shropshire to look after him while I dived on the ferry.

Lovely roads.
When back on the mainland things got sillier. There was a surprising amount of traffic which meant slow progress, after a while I was following a silver Astra. We, along with about 10 other motorists in front were following a caravan. We came to some roadworks so I, admittedly very cheekily, overtook the whole queue when it was safe and waited for the lights to change. They did. I went. Very quickly. Safe, though, big empty roads by that time. Anyway, the Astra after a few minutes came clogging up behind me like there was no tomorrow. I turned right at a junction soon after and went for petrol, and he popped in too. Didn't know what to expect, maybe an expression of shock that a Panda can do 90 odd miles an hour. It was this in a way. His words were "You better be counting your lucky stars that I'm off duty." My heart sank, I felt terrible and indeed amazingly lucky.

From then onwards it was plain sailing. The motorway wasn't too bad apart from around Junction 21 (M6) and in my boredom I mostly did 85-90 all the way home. From leaving the ferry on the mainland at about 12 I got home at half 6, with two stops and a bit of a queue in the aforementioned bit of the M6.

All in all it's been a great week, and I'm very proud of my Panda. There must be thousands of flies splattered on the windscreen. But just look at the roads!

I think that's everything covered. If not, I'll add stuff as I remember. :p
 
Me very very green with envy at that (post Goodwood holiday blues would be the main reason :( )

Looks like you got really nice weather, I'll take it you got your top down and your Wayfarers on? (to quote 'the boys of summer')

and 85-90 no probs? (Juppy's a bit old and a bit low gear'd for that) and I need my selecta box to last another 40k so I don't ask Asbo to do that much either!

Glad you and rufus enjoyed (or survied depending on your point of view :D ) your hols.

So whats your next 'panda adventure' then?

Jim
 
Yeah when I got on the M6 at the top going through Carlise, Lancaster etc I was on about 85% throttle and left it to it. 85 felt good, 90 felt a bit shrill but certainly not painful. So yeah, no problems. But still it was a one off and Rufus isn't going to be seeing those speeds for a good while now.

Next adventure... hmm! Not quite sure. Certainly can't live up to Mull though whatever I do.

Panda needs a wash! Absolutely rotten.

Time for work. :mad:
 
next time you go for an adventure, let me know, as i need to get away, and i fancy testing the panda (just had magnecor leads, k+n filter, magnatec oil, and can now do 105 mph without harming engine/box)

(speed quoted above were done on private airfield)
 
christopher watson said:
next time you go for an adventure, let me know, as i need to get away, and i fancy testing the panda (just had magnecor leads, k+n filter, magnatec oil, and can now do 105 mph without harming engine/box)

(speed quoted above were done on private airfield)

Out of interest, have these modifications made any difference to the insurance, if you've declared them? I think the filter would be the only one that needs declaring...

I guess if it's a selecta you've got the extra 100 ccs or so helps quite a bit. On a straight road mine indicated 95 at full pelt, but as I think I mentioned before it was pretty dizzy revs wise.

Thanks for the kind words, Steve. :)

I have a video of the exhaust note after a few hundred miles of driving, nice and burbly, if you want it add me on msn or send me an e-mail. I think my address is in my profile, it cetainly will be when I check after this post. :p

On Monday I'm going to give 'im a good wash and pop to Mangoletsi to see if they have any roof bits and bobs.
 
e505jpy said:
oooohh, colour me impressed by that!

Does the selecta have a higher 'top' than a manual?

Just mine does seem to cruse a lot more quitely than anyother panda I've owned.

Jim

bigger engine, faster speed. i have easily cruised at 90 - 95 MPH in this car (airfield again), and hope to get to germany next year, so i can go on the autobahns, and the nurbergring (y)

i rang my insurers up, and my insurance went up by £1.20 a year for having the air filter, but they are not bothered about the other mods,
 
My panda shakes like hell at 85mph any ideas?

also that pands amazing condistion might give mine a T-cut and waxing at soempoint, being a metallic it comes up loverly after just a wash, unlike my mondeo which can be cleaned lovingly for hours and hours and still looks dull and white :(

thanks from john
 
John Lawley said:
My panda shakes like hell at 85mph any ideas?

also that pands amazing condistion might give mine a T-cut and waxing at soempoint, being a metallic it comes up loverly after just a wash, unlike my mondeo which can be cleaned lovingly for hours and hours and still looks dull and white :(
In no particular order:
carp tyres,
wheel balance,
engine mounting rubbers,
sloppy shock absorbers

Regarding the paintwork - take care with "T" cut.
The original stuff is/was a coarse abrasive and can leave the metallics clear varnish top coat looking like a used skating rink - it's designed to remove the oxidised top layer on "ordinary" paint.

Make sure the one you use is meant for use on metallics.
 
That little old lady had looked after that wee car soo well that I would of felt sooo mean trying to screw her to take less money! Thats the difference between you and me Richard 'fiatforum' Hillman! :D :D :D

Yesterday? I just thought your'd dumped me! :p

(We where out drinking last night and Alan pointed out to all my friends that I meet this guy at petrol stations and underground carparks to swap 'parts'. The Bas***d really left me with some explaining to do!!! :eek: )

Hehe!

Right, I'm going to find the Bear, the Haynes and portor manuals and go see if I can do something bout this bad timing/fuel mix problem on the new one.

No doubt I'll be back soon with a thread starting 'What happens when **** falls in the carb.......' :D

Jim
 
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