Regular readers will know that I'd sold the RB to a very pleasant Scot, and had agreed to deliver it to him at Selkirk. Some may have also picked up on a few hints that the RB might soon be replaced by another 240 (RB2).
So, OP BARGE Phase 1 started on 230800A AUG22 when I collected a car transporter trailer from Barnwell and loaded the RB (with an AW71 gearbox in the boot) behind my trusty Skoda estate:
Bob came with me, so we were travelling a bit heavy for an overnight stay at a dog-friendly hotel. We crossed the line of departure at 10:00. The trip north up the A1/M was uneventful enough as far as Galashiels, where the roads got steadily narrower and stopped having while lines down the middle. We got to the stedding about 10 miles north and west of Selkirk to drop the RB at its new home:
... amongst some friendly Landrovers and a Pinzgauer. The new owner (John) is a top bloke, I've encouraged him to join the forum but he isn't computer literate at the mo (but I have a redundant laptop PC that I'll mail to him in case he feels like learning).
Our dog friendly hotel (The County) in Selkirk was fine - that was the successful end of Phase 1.
Bob and I began Phase 2 bright and early with a walk in the park at 06:30. We had collected the empty trailer from the stedding and were ready to go at 09:00. I chose to give the SATNAV the benefit of the doubt again, and ended up on an even narrower B road that somehow got us from Innerleithen to the A708 - I had rather expected the A road to be like an English A road, but the translation is different in Scotland. Here is a photo of the A708 just north of Moffat - and this was not even the narrowest bit!
Not wide enough to have white lines - but picturesque... and so on to the M6 'for a long time' (as the lady in the SATNAV tells me)... until we arrived to collect RB2:
... a 1983 240 GLE with 90,000 miles and 3 owners. A quick kick of the tyres convinced me it was worth the 2 grand so money was transferred and the change of V5 sorted out on my iPad, myself and the seller sitting on the trailer's mudguards in the Lancashire sunshine. After paying I asked the owner whether there was anything else wrong with it that he had not told me of (it being too late to pull out at that point). He admitted the O/D had stopped working, but claimed that only happened when the car valeter inadvertently pulled off the gear knob. I don't really believe that story, but at least I know of something that needs fixing.
We got home just too late to return the trailer to Barnwell, so that will have to wait until the morn. Clarkie popped round for a cuppa and a look at the new motor, it seems okay. The wheels have been refurbished and the tyres are new, the paint looks good and the chassis looks solid underneath, the only evidence of welding I could find was a neat patch over the closing panel at the back of the NS sill where they all rust. Being a GLE it is a bit more up-market and has electric front windows (which work) and central locking, it also has a plethora of gauges:
... I'll see if they all work tomorrow. RB2 has a period Volvo radio cassette player (which I think is original because the instruction book is with the early service records - which are very complete up to 1987).
The PO did say reception wasn't much good, but I noticed the electric aerial works fine. I doubt that it is worth trying to fix, so I'll probably swap it out for a nice modern Sony or Alpine (and store the old one in a shoe box in the spares shed just in case a future owner is more concerned about originality than I am).
It is a nice motor car, and I'm happy with it for 2 grand:
The project aim is much the same as the RB: I am not going to restore the motor car (and it doesn't need restoring), I'll just do all the service jobs it may have lacked in the 33 year gap in its history) - all the usual stuff (before anyone reminds me - I already have a cam belt waiting to be fitted) plus a bit more: I'll probably change the front seals, hushers and check the valve clearances. Once I'm happy it is sorted and running well I may do a few improvements. I thought an electric fan (as worked so well with the RB), plus electronic ignition (the points replacement type by Powespark) would be sensible things to do. After that I'll get a new MoT and see if anything more comes to light; the budget might be something like £500 until the time the motor car becomes an historic vehicle.
No Luke, you may not have RB2 to fit a turbocharger.
Overall OP BARGE has (I think) been a success. The RB has been a good project for nearly 3 years but went as far as I wanted to take it. The motor car has a good new owner. Bob and I had a nice (but tiring) 2 day adventure, and RB2 is home and will be a good project for me for the next year or so.
I changed the insurance from the RB to RB2 and it only cost about £45 (half of which was an administrative charge). I'll have to tax RB2 for a while, but that is okay.
:-)