P38, bought unseen from Ebay...what could / will go wrong?

[SlimRick]

What could possibly go wrong?

4.0 V8, on springs, 163k miles, 6 months MOT for less than a grand. The plans are to build a gun box in the boot and use it for shooting trips on Sunday mornings. The fact that it's from Manchester, it may have already had some experience with this type of activity

Being delivered on Monday morning by Shiply, I didn't fancy a 200 mile trip home in it myself.







Now to tell my wife...

[SlimRick]

Thesprucegoose said:

I thought gun boxes had to be certified.

Not just for transporting them. They usually just go in a gun slip in my car boot.

[SlimRick]

Mr Teddy Bear said:

My experience was that they continously go wrong and it's always expensive. The V8 weeps oil from the head gasket at the back of the head.

No air springs so that's 6 or £700 saved. The build quality of the interior fixtures and fittings for such a expensive vehicle is pretty rubbish imo.

They do around 14mpg, on a long run 19mpg.

Still being on the road with those sort of miles tells you that money has been spent on it.

Are you going to convert her to LPG & put the tank in the spare wheel well?

It’s already been converted to LPG but I probably won’t use that. I’ll only use it occasionally for 20 mile round trips to work, and sunday mornings for shooting. My daily was starting to get trashed using it for tip runs, throwing muddy boots in etc. so this will do those duties.

[SlimRick]

It arrived, and apart from a few niggles all seems to work. A quick wash and polish to make it look slightly more presentable:

[SlimRick]

Predictably, the list of jobs I'm noticing is growing:

Runs like a dog and stalls on petrol
A/C & heater uncontrollable (blend motors?)
Rough spray job on rear bumper
Cracked front bumper
Many, many scratches
Stinks like a 40 a day smoker's car


Fixed:
Passenger seat belt replaced
Sticking passenger window
Leaking LPG filler valve

[SlimRick]

I have the perfect solution for any reliability issues that may arise...carry a spare car.



And then it's been doing what it was designed to do:



Those eagle eyed amongst you may notice I've ignored any of the things that needed fixing, and spent my time tinting the rear windows...priorities!!!