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A 'rescued' CX 'Grace' leads to:
1981 CX 2400 Pallas C-matic
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It is now October 2010 and after some weeks away the car was delivered to Bob Senn. He located the leak, a perished
rubber return hose, replaced it and so leak was gone!
Or so it seemed! My son discovered another pool of LHM. Car taken back to Bob and he located yet another perished
rubber return line. Replaced and no leaks. Still, after several weeks and some driving around, no leaks.
On arriving back from a trip, the Friday before the Perth French Car Show 2010, three of my grandchildren met me. My
granddaughter's first question was, 'Are you going to the French Car Day? Can I come with you?'
The next day she travelled by train and bus to Bob's to pick up the car. (He'd got it back to locate the second leak)
Jacinta enjoyed the train and also the car ride home: 'I'm the first to have a ride in it!'
My eldest grandson came and stayed with the other two on the Saturday night. Ready for an early start Sunday. Then
grandchild three (aged six) announced that he was coming also and wasn't dissuaded.
L: Ready to go!
C: 'Bronzey' with the bootlid 'tarted up'.
R: The black DS was the first I ever drove. Jacinta and Luke pose while Callum takes the photograph.
It belonged to Laurens Borg at the time. It was a surprise
to see it and it is still in immaculate condition.
One of the jobs to be done while I was away was the replacement of the tyres.
My son had a plausible reason for not having done it. Anyway, last weekend I was back in Perth
so arranged to have tyres fitted at 11:00 Sat morning. Picked up the car from my son on Friday evening.
Saturday morning when I went to start the car it was stone cold dead. (The same thing had happened the morning
after the PFCD)
Moved a car, used jumper leads and fired up immediately. Off to tyre place. Parked car and went to office. They
came and asked to move the car. Stone cold dead! Went to passengers side and pulled bonnet release. It went
backwards and forwards but no pop from the bonnet. Just what I needed - the cable was disconnected.
Called the RAC. Waited an hour. Serviceman arrived and after five minutes decided it was too hard. He also tried
to start the car. Nothing. Not even a dull light on the dash. Tow truck ordered and another 30 min wait. Driver (Young Turkish
student) was interested in the car and we chatted about my trip to his country a few years ago
Started to remove the panel under front bumper but found I needed 13mm socket with an extension to remove the
rubber 'over riders'. Had to wait until my son came home from work later that afternoon as my tools were in his garage.
When he came we soon had the plate off and then contorted ourselves to remove two bolts to turn shield covering
the bonnet release mechanism - an anti-theft device? - if so it works well.
Once at the latch saw cable had bent plate and come off.
Left hand side is how it was bent. Right side shows what it should have been like
We straightened up the plate and then found the release handle, in the cabin, was off its fitting. The RAC
serviceman had knocked it off its mounting. Rectified that and when reinstalling the cable fitted a large
galvanised washer as well as a cup head washer to ensure end of cable was seated and wasn't going to pull the
plate back again.
While returning my son-in-law's tools my son tried to start the car. I arrived back to find a silent car
and said I'd move my car to enable a jump start. Not needed my smug son informed me. He'd started the car and while doing so
discovered the reason for the intermittent no go. One of the aftermarket immobiliser keys was faulty. Whether the car
started or not depended on which set of keys one picked up.
So car has new tyres (185/65 x 14 Bob Jane Allrounders at $89 each - done in the car park while I waited for the RAC),
no faulty battery, drives nicely with the regassed spheres but pulls right. Now to replace front seat belts as webbing is frayed.
Quoted $120 per belt to replace webbing in existing inertia reels. Mmmmm! Maybe new ones then!?!
A worn bush in the front steering tracks right until power goes on. That is the next job for Bob when he is ready.
* The front tyres, Bridgestones, had plenty of tread BUT were manufactured in 2003. After my experiences with old tyres
on both Dees - 'Vicky' and 'Eloyse' - new tyres were unavoidable.
Have STILL NOT got the parts from the land of the long white cloud. Hopefully soon. Will it ever come? I was expecting
a full set of upholstery, rear window blind, both external mirrors (electrically operated), rear internal
sun shades above doors and hopefully for less than the car cost me. Too good to be true it seems!
Received an email from Bob yesterday asking if I would accept a registered (until end Nov) CX as a parts car. Was
told it belonged to one couple for twenty years and that it is too good to be left in the open. I'll have to re-evaluate
'Grace'. Probably remove all useful parts and scrap the badly rusted body. That would make room in the hay shed for another
CX.
My wife doesn't know yet!
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