Humdrum has her bi-annual safety inspection today...

"RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars" (rallydarkstrike)
04/29/2016 at 07:29 • Filed to: Hyundai, Accent, Hyundai Accent, walking, safety inspection

...but they don’t know when they’ll fit my car in, so I have to drop the car off for 9am and walk 2.5kms to the bank and then another 500m to work like a pleb.

I will be fine with it, but it will feel odd not being coddled in the vast luxuriousness of the 2009 Accent. :P

DISCUSSION (5)

duurtlang > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
04/29/2016 at 07:52

Whenever I have work done on one of my cars by a legit company I take it to a business specialized in older French vehicles. I get a loaner bicycle for free. Or, when I ask nicely, a Citroën ZX (or Xsara) wagon . They also do the mandatory yearly inspections.

Edit:
Still looking for 126s? There are a few around here, like this enthusiast owned one for roughly €1500. One of the Dutch Oppos here, myself included, could get that to a RoRo port for a few hundred. Rotterdam port for most I guess, the cheaper Emden Germany is closer to me.

Svend > duurtlang
04/29/2016 at 08:11

‘A loaner bicycle’.

I miss Holland.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > duurtlang
04/29/2016 at 09:23

Hey man! The garage here did offer to take me to work, but I work at 11am AST this morning and they asked me to just drop my car off as they didn’t know when they would get to it today. I was fine with that, and it’s a little chilly, but otherwise nice here, so I decided to walk. I know I don’t get as much exercise as I should, haha. :) Don’t think this garage has loaner vehicles though....or loaner bikes!

Inspections used to be mandatory/annual here, but they changed it to bi-annual maybe 5 years ago (at least in my province, Nova Scotia...inspections are provincially regulated). In a way, I’d rather they will still annual, as it means less sketchy stuff taking up road space, but biannual is nice as it’s cheaper. Inspections are standard fee of around $35.00 CAD here, so not too expensive....I don’t THINK they’ll find anything to fail Humdrum, as she’s in good shape, but I do know I was hearing a little clunking coming from the front-left....could be the loose splash guard underneath that the snow wreaked havoc on in the winter, but it sounds more like a ball joint or bushing. We’ll see!

I am looking INTO 126p’s, yes, but I am (sadly) not in a position to buy one at the moment...I need my own place with a garage first (still living at home, unfortunately), and I need a full-time job somewhere (sub teaching, which is very random, plus working a part-time job at the local library, at a local restaurant, and doing computer repair on the side...)

I may have to hit you up when I start looking “for real” - could be a decent one in good shape around you! Everybody says don’t get one from Poland and get one from the UK or The Netherlands or somewhere like that as they are closer to a port and more likely in good shape. I actually find a classic car place in Poland that has a VERY good reputation and asked them for the pricing they’d charge on finding and shipping one from there and it was actually very reasonable, so I may end up going with them as well...they seemed to be really knowledgeable and passionate as well about what they do, so that was also nice to see - Classic Parts Staneszewski ( http://www.classicparts.pl/en/ - the same place that helped Mike Brewer on Wheeler Dealers: Trading Up while he was in Poland). I thought they’d be expensive, but their prices are actually really fair and barely higher than if I imported one from elsewhere or flew over to gind one myself. It’s all still up in the air though as to how I will get one in my grubby Communist-Polish-Italian Economy-City-Car loving mitts though! :D

duurtlang > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
04/29/2016 at 09:32

I will get one in my grubby Communist-Polish-Italian Economy-City-Car loving mitts though! :D

One? Get a Lada and a Trabant as well! Combined shipping is cheaper ;)

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > duurtlang
04/29/2016 at 14:51

I’ve thought about getting a Trabant sometime as well, as terrible as they supposedly are! :D

The fact most of them had such a long lifespan has to attest to something! Plus, this video is awesome :P