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Captain Slow Charging
Another maroon car joins the fleet! It has to be said, some lighting conditions do bring out the brown in this one. But in spirit, the Belgian-built blob I just bought is one of luokyio's wafty Frog brethren.
Today, in glorious summer sunshine, I walked a few kilometers to a neighborhood built on a field in the middle of nowhere. I then paid a recently retired man some money and drove back in this ultra-basic 1990 Ford Sierra. I had taken a look at it some time ago, posted it in Our Own Car Reviews, mulled it over and decided to take it. Like I mentioned earlier in that thread, it's more or less sat for the last ten years and only has 114 000 km on the clock. Or 13 995, as these are five-digit. But the ownership history confirms the reading to have a 1 and not a 2 or 3 as the first number.
The three-door Sierra will be the recipient of my Saab Ronal cross-spoke wheels and some TLC. It's a fine runner as it is, but it desperately needs a new cam belt as the old one was mounted in 1993. There's a bunch of dings and dents and scrapes on it, but convincingly little rust, as the car was stored in a non-heated dry garage for ages after the earlier owner passed away. It's been recently inspected with no issues, and the only thing not working too well is the radio, which can be coaxed to find a station but not all too reliably.
I already binned the horrible seat covers with which I got the car, and the tired old tires will be the next thing to go. The interior needs a good cleaning, and the paintwork could use a proper buffing. There are a number of scrapes that just cannot be hidden, and the big gouge in the door will stay there until I find a fix for it, but the car is bound to freshen up nicely. I washed the engine bay a little, so it'll be a more pleasant place to spend time. I won't be driving the car much until the age-old cam belt has been swapped, but as it's road legal there's no reason not to drive it around when the car's had a proper service. I took a look at the belt, and while a visual inspection does not guarantee it won't snap on me, it didn't look all too horrible or dried out. Accessing the belt was such a simple job, I have faith in being actually able to tackle the swap myself as long as I limit the work to just doing the belt and the auxiliary belt and nothing else.
Despite the initially beaterish appearance, the car drives well. It's not saggy, clunky, creaky or shuddery, but just a good old jellymould Ford that seems eager to serve. It's hardly quick with the entry-level engine, but I actually like driving the thing. A spirited drive on my favorite bit of local road cost me a wheel trim, so I pulled the remaining two and will run on black steelies until the Saab wheels are on.
Proof pics:
