9 years resting, recommissioning has begun

[Johno]

First off, feck me it’s quiet in here these days

A few months back we moved back to the UK after 11yrs away. 9yrs ago I tucked the Griffith under a blanket (metaphorically), as the 3rd car in a 2 car garage. Next to it was my Dad’s Chimaera. Cosy.

2wks ago I went and dragged the track day trailer I used for my Caterham out of a barn, in fine working order. Round to my folks and loaded the Griff onboard for its journey south.

So as the process to recommission begins, what will we find ….

22yr old car, 87k miles (84k I did before she went away), only started and run up and down the drive in last 9yrs every few months….

[Johno]

jeremyc said:

Hello stranger! Good luck with the recommissioning - hope to see you out and about in it in the UK.

Hello sir! Good to see you, virtually

Look forward to catching up.

[Johno]

Passed MOT today, 1584 miles done in the last 11yrs !!

Got some driving to catch up with.

Couple of little bits to finish off, but so far since November

Body off
Chassis refurbed
New carpets
Seats, dash, whale tail etc retrimmed
All the pipe work replaced, fuel lines, brake lines etc
New stereo, amp, speaker install completed and footwell project (tidying up) completed

Need some new tyres and then a bit of time sorting the paintwork and I’ll be satisfied …. For a while

[Johno]

bigandclever said:

Good stuff

Gives me hope for the future for mine .. 25 year old Griff, a mere 5 years unmoved on the drive

Like many, when we put the car away we were going to Singapore after we'd kept it with us in France for 2.5yrs. We thought we'd bring it over to the Netherlands when we got there, but very young daughter, no garage etc etc and it stayed in the UK.

Now we're back, if I didn't do it now then it'd continue to rest up. So I bit the bullet. Not for the faint hearted, but I have spent anything on it for 10yrs, so saved the money then

[Johno]

Popped in today, I finished fitting front speaker grilles, slid in the extended trickle charger lead through to the boot, sound deadening onto rear bulkhead fitted.

Collect it Monday. Just need a new screen, fuel sender and a pair of main beam lamps…. Off to see a man about a couple of paint elements I’d like done.

Then I’ll change the fuel pressure regulator as they now do the billet one in black and I can get rid of the naff looking blue one in there currently.

Being a tart I’ll then change the Moroso leads from blue to black to match and then there’s no blue bits in the engine bay at all.

If the weather gods could sort out some dry days I can some new tyres and some shakedown miles covered.

[Johno]

Insurance ....

[Johno]

BIG DUNC said:

Oh. Was it expensive?

It wasn’t outrageous, but tough ….

10yrs living abroad - risky driver not used to UK roads (FFS)

Haven’t driven the car for 10yrs - risky driver not used to the car (previous 80k miles I’ve driven in it aren’t considered, or any other performance car driving)

Parked on drive (in Carcoon in deepest Hampshire countryside, behind gates) - very risky

Agreed value - ouch

Modifications - ouch

And … no NCB (used on daily) - very ouch

At least I know it’s insured with full disclosure and it’ll get cheaper each year into the future, hopefully.

[Johno]

frontfloater said:

Photos .... ?

Will do ….

[Johno]

sixor8 said:

Classic car insurance policies don't use NCD, it's the whole point of them really. It's likely guaranteed value, modifications (mine has non original wheels but they accept that) and recent driving (as you mention) that cause it. They don't tend to go down in price. Switching providers can help but with classic cover, a guaranteed value is often expensive.

I understand the NCD comment, but it’s not over 25yrs old yet, so it’s not on classic car insurance. Recognising some definitions of classic car vary.

I’m not new to insurance or to insuring the Griffith having owned it for more than 20yrs. The list above I wrote is exactly as the specialist broker talked me through - with certain poetic license on my parts. The cost is reasonable, but it’s still expensive.

Using the club discount would mean joining the club, something I gave up on years ago, not seen many reasons to change the decision other than odd discounts.

[Johno]

Interesting definition of classic, 10yrs. Shame they weren’t competitive for me.

Went through Adrian Flux in the end. I was with Privilege for years until it went into storage. Hadn’t had any UK insurance for a decade until we came back 12mths ago. Then was able to use overseas company car NCD with a specialist broker as we did so much driving on the continent as well as here until we moved back full time.

[Johno]

sixor8 said:

I've been with Footman James a few times but not at the moment. There were always the most competitive but recently, not so much since being taken over by AIB (formally Towergate). They have a blanket rule of 15 y.o. for most cars but as mentioned above, it can be 10 y.o. for some brands. They are one of the very few companies who will actually do an online quote so you don't HAVE to talk to anybody Guaranteed value, salvage return, breakdown cover etc are all add-ons:

https://fjquotesonline.co.uk/footman/motor/#/pre-q...

They do, if you’re able to say you’ve been a resident in the UK since birth, which I can’t do, so you have to have a chat.

Mines a fairly unusual set of circumstances.

Was glorious to get 80 miles in today in the sunshine.