Trip to Oxford to view possible FREE cougars
- Thread starter Pid_16V
- Start date
I'm so excited about this
Ditto.
Like Tony I don't need anything, but unlike him I do have spare time, (he's doing great things for friends). I'm looking forward to this.
Okidoki. I had another chat with Kevin tonight and explained our plan for Saturday morning ie: check viability of moving the two frosties, then if time allows head down to Pangbourne to check out the others.
Kevin was obviously a bit put out that no cars were moving this weekend but i explained the situation regarding trailers and he seemed ok with that so.
My intention providing we are all in agreement is to jack these cars up and see what condition the sills etc are in.
Either pump up the tyres or temporarily fit space savers on the V6 after removing the brake pads and if possible, move it across to allow access to the other cars and the garden entrance.
We may need boards to run the jacks on.
Kevin is also going to try to get this unknown car moved from in front of the garage door containing the last and most recent cougar so that we can at least get a look at it. It really would be a shame to go all that way and have to come away without seeing a car which is probably just behind that door.
Kevin will be there to meet us at 09.00 appx with a handful of keys.
Kevin was obviously a bit put out that no cars were moving this weekend but i explained the situation regarding trailers and he seemed ok with that so.
My intention providing we are all in agreement is to jack these cars up and see what condition the sills etc are in.
Either pump up the tyres or temporarily fit space savers on the V6 after removing the brake pads and if possible, move it across to allow access to the other cars and the garden entrance.
We may need boards to run the jacks on.
Kevin is also going to try to get this unknown car moved from in front of the garage door containing the last and most recent cougar so that we can at least get a look at it. It really would be a shame to go all that way and have to come away without seeing a car which is probably just behind that door.
Kevin will be there to meet us at 09.00 appx with a handful of keys.
Okay - T and I will get there around 10am or so.
We'll bring shears to do gardening, a compressor to see whether the wheels will hold air, and a general toolkit with some lifting equipment.
Is that okay with everyone?
We'll bring shears to do gardening, a compressor to see whether the wheels will hold air, and a general toolkit with some lifting equipment.
Is that okay with everyone?
Nice one guys, Im not sure my massive hedgetrimmer will really be necessary but i'll bring a general toolkit.
Pretty much same here Chris, I'll also have hedge trimmer with two fully charged batteries and rechargable grass strimmer, it's only a baby but it should cope for what we need. I should also have a new portable tyre inflator.
Who's bringing the spider gun
Anybody else up for this?
BTW, I see there is a pub/restaurant and a cafe in the village. [emoji57]
Sent from my C6903 using Tapatalk
BTW, I see there is a pub/restaurant and a cafe in the village. [emoji57]
Sent from my C6903 using Tapatalk
Bless you for taking this so much further.
We'll be there and we'll look forward to a nice lunch.
Excellent! Im sure i'll be hungry
- - - Updated - - -
Tools in car including some hand shears etc. Road trip on
- - - Updated - - -
Tools in car including some hand shears etc. Road trip on
Have you all checked the Pcode for Ardington? Best i can get is High Street, but it's near enough. Also done some checking for Pangbourne. Again the best i can get is the Pcode for The Swan Pub on Shooters Road. Nice day for a short walk.
I can see the cars on Google maps, so just dropped a pin on the road outside and i'll use that to navigate to. Technology eh?
I can see the cars on Google maps, so just dropped a pin on the road outside and i'll use that to navigate to. Technology eh?
Ok i'm off to bed and hope you get there ok. I'll be up and out at silly.oclock, 140 mile drive to go.
Well what an interesting and successful day!
The faithful Mondy and I left home reasonably early and motored south to Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse, where I was first to arrive and met our contact Kevin. The two Cougars were immediately obvious nearest the road, but what unfolded was the stuff you might see in a classic car mag or 'American Pickers'!
The owner of the house had collected various vehicles over the years, including Bonds, a Triumph Herald and a stash of rare Citroen BX 4x4s. The gardens at one point must have been beautiful, but had become seriously overgrown over the last 20 or so years.
Shortly afterwards Al, Chris and Tracey arrived and we got started. I backed the Mondy in to provide power for the air compressor to get the tyres inflated.....
Here you can see the Zetec has moved under its own power for the first time in a while, it runs really sweetly and despite the damaged bootlid (actually swapped from the V6 car), is well worth saving complete. Rear brakes were of course seized but we got them free, then parked it up until collection.
The V6 by comparison is in much poorer condition, and for now will not start although it turns over enthusiastically. Lots of good parts left to make it a decent breaker though.
All in all a successful mission - I'm sure the others will give their more succinct thoughts in due course. We elected not to visit the other cars in Pangbourne at this stage and instead retired to a local Hungry Horse, where I as usual tucked in unashamedly.
Hopefully our transport coordinator can get things sorted to move these two out next weekend.
The faithful Mondy and I left home reasonably early and motored south to Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse, where I was first to arrive and met our contact Kevin. The two Cougars were immediately obvious nearest the road, but what unfolded was the stuff you might see in a classic car mag or 'American Pickers'!
The owner of the house had collected various vehicles over the years, including Bonds, a Triumph Herald and a stash of rare Citroen BX 4x4s. The gardens at one point must have been beautiful, but had become seriously overgrown over the last 20 or so years.
Shortly afterwards Al, Chris and Tracey arrived and we got started. I backed the Mondy in to provide power for the air compressor to get the tyres inflated.....
Here you can see the Zetec has moved under its own power for the first time in a while, it runs really sweetly and despite the damaged bootlid (actually swapped from the V6 car), is well worth saving complete. Rear brakes were of course seized but we got them free, then parked it up until collection.
The V6 by comparison is in much poorer condition, and for now will not start although it turns over enthusiastically. Lots of good parts left to make it a decent breaker though.
All in all a successful mission - I'm sure the others will give their more succinct thoughts in due course. We elected not to visit the other cars in Pangbourne at this stage and instead retired to a local Hungry Horse, where I as usual tucked in unashamedly.
Hopefully our transport coordinator
can get things sorted to move these two out next weekend.
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Well done guys...
Any news on when we will be moving them?
Thought of towing got me looking at the Volvos limit.
2.2ton... shame we cant tow half of one and make it in 2 journeys haha....
Any news on when we will be moving them?
Thought of towing got me looking at the Volvos limit.
2.2ton... shame we cant tow half of one and make it in 2 journeys haha....
Okay. We've decided that the owner made a good car out of two bad ones. The V6 was apparently in a rear-end smash, but he used body parts (like the tailgate) from the Zetec to keep the V6 running. This explains why the boot badges don't match. Ironically the Zetec is the runner and the V6 is a non-running parts car.
The Zetec is worth keeping and the chassis is solid. I would like to see Al take this - as we discussed earlier - as a viable car that he can take home, restore, and either use or sell. It'll be a free car that he'll be in the hole for time and materials.
The V6 auto is scrap and been in a crash. No question. Parts car. As far as I can tell, Al, Matt, Tracey and I agree that this car should be owned by the club and will serve us well for spares. I'll let our mods agree how that should work.
As for the ones in the other location, LOL I dunno.
But what a great day!
First off, apologies for my late reply to this. A very near sleepless Friday night and the day left me completely knackered and virtually unable to keep my eyes open so it was dinner and early night for me last night.
Right, as has already been said, an absolutely great day with the guys and wow, what a collectors goldmine this garden could be, ideal location for an auction
To the point of the visit: Chris has stated it pretty much as is. We managed to get the zetec running and moving but the V6 remained sad apart from the fat that it does spin over. We just didn't have the time or equipment to suss the issue but bearing in mind the decision that the V6 is a breaker, we could check this out at a later date ie: possible good V6 engine for spares.
As i mentioned earlier, if the zetec is viable, i would like to bring it back to pid towers to work on, and apart from the interior being infested with life forms i'd rather not deal with and which appear to have been sharing their lodgings with some dog or dogs by the state of the seats, i will relish the job.
On my arrival,, a very exited Matt showed me how solid the sills are on both cars, and they are! I gave them all a good squeeze and a few good thumps. I couldn't even make the rust bounce in their so they really do sound good especially considering where these cars have been sat for years.
Plan:
All being well, we can get back down there next weekend with at least one trailer, ideally two.
Swap the tail gates over to their original bodies, (only the good one needs removing as the bad one is not attached)
If only one trailer is available, i would suggest use it to take the V6 over to the place Andy has available for breaking then return for the zetec and continue to Mansfield. Is that feasable?
Two trailers obviously requires two towing vehicles and is potentially more expensive but would make the day shorter and less labour intensive.
Ideally, we need dropdown trailer/s with winch as i don't think any of us would fancy trying to pull the cars out of that grass and up onto a trailer.
As for the cars at Pangbourne, they are a less urgent proposition so we'll see what happens with that.
We (UKCc) also have to consider the costs for the removal of these cars at Ardington ie: cost of trailer hire, towing vehicle fuel costs.
As a collective, this only applies to the V6 as i will fund the retreival of the zetec myself as this is my personal responsibility.
Suggestions/views please chaps:
=================================================
Now some more piccies, click to enlarge.
V6 first.
Sill and door are damaged but still surprisingly solid from what we could see:
Front bumper damage:
Rear wheel arches are all good:
===========================
Zetec:
===
Another solid rear arch/sill
Moved back under her own power but rear brakes are seized and pads were removed.
We may need to remove these lockers if the V6 brakes are also seized on.
Right, as has already been said, an absolutely great day with the guys and wow, what a collectors goldmine this garden could be, ideal location for an auction
To the point of the visit: Chris has stated it pretty much as is. We managed to get the zetec running and moving but the V6 remained sad apart from the fat that it does spin over. We just didn't have the time or equipment to suss the issue but bearing in mind the decision that the V6 is a breaker, we could check this out at a later date ie: possible good V6 engine for spares.
As i mentioned earlier, if the zetec is viable, i would like to bring it back to pid towers to work on, and apart from the interior being infested with life forms i'd rather not deal with and which appear to have been sharing their lodgings with some dog or dogs by the state of the seats, i will relish the job.
On my arrival,, a very exited Matt showed me how solid the sills are on both cars, and they are! I gave them all a good squeeze and a few good thumps. I couldn't even make the rust bounce in their so they really do sound good especially considering where these cars have been sat for years.
Plan:
All being well, we can get back down there next weekend with at least one trailer, ideally two.
Swap the tail gates over to their original bodies, (only the good one needs removing as the bad one is not attached)
If only one trailer is available, i would suggest use it to take the V6 over to the place Andy has available for breaking then return for the zetec and continue to Mansfield. Is that feasable?
Two trailers obviously requires two towing vehicles and is potentially more expensive but would make the day shorter and less labour intensive.
Ideally, we need dropdown trailer/s with winch as i don't think any of us would fancy trying to pull the cars out of that grass and up onto a trailer.
As for the cars at Pangbourne, they are a less urgent proposition so we'll see what happens with that.
We (UKCc) also have to consider the costs for the removal of these cars at Ardington ie: cost of trailer hire, towing vehicle fuel costs.
As a collective, this only applies to the V6 as i will fund the retreival of the zetec myself as this is my personal responsibility.
Suggestions/views please chaps:
=================================================
Now some more piccies, click to enlarge.
V6 first.
Sill and door are damaged but still surprisingly solid from what we could see:
Front bumper damage:
Rear wheel arches are all good:
===========================
Zetec:
===
Another solid rear arch/sill
Moved back under her own power but rear brakes are seized and pads were removed.
We may need to remove these lockers if the V6 brakes are also seized on.