Game on Moggy!

On Friday, after an early morning spinning session for me and a trip to the doctor about his recent hernia for Lee, we met Granville (our mechanic) at Mom's house.

On the drive up to Birmingham I was told by a weather lady on the radio that there were severe weather warnings in the North and West Midlands and a month's worth of rain was due to fall over the coming 24 hours - an ominous sign maybe?

We (Granville) started by looking the car over and doing a few routine checks. Once we'd found the bonnet release the engine was checked over too (it was at about this point that the month's worth of rain started falling). Despite Granville insisting he needed no protection from the rain, Lee produced a Gazebo from his car boot which we threw up to make the day more bearable.

Having passed its MOT 'with flying colours' we weren't expecting anything too traumatic to turn up on closer inspection, and as I was preparing for the worst I think I can say the shopping list of bits was pretty easy to swallow. It comprised of:

1x new radiator
4x spark plugs
1x set of plug leads
1x bottle of engine coolant
1x can of vintage car oil
1x new spare tyre
1x foot pump
1x bottle of lead replacement additive
1x spare fan belt
1x bulb kit

After a short but wet trip to the Morris Minor centre in Oldbury we had everything we needed except the new tyre (which is being collected and fitted next week) and Granville set to work. Three sodden hours later 'she' was running as well as she ever could and confidence was restored in the Moggy's ability to carry us and our gear up and down the country. Nevertheless, on the advice of the 'expert' at the car centre I'm trying to acquire a spare fuel pump (from eBay), as this apparently is the only other component likely to catch us out.

So overall, despite the weather and shopping bill, it was a successful day - especially as we found that my bike rack fits the back of the Moggy perfectly, so no new acquisition will be required (this could have been a huge stumbling block as none of the rack manufacturers I contacted were happy to sell me anything that would definitely fit a Morris Minor).

The other small job for the visit was to get a photo or two of us wearing the CMA-supplied T-shirts for publicity purposes. I think you'll agree we look like real charity workers!!