25 year rolling!

This is another non-Arty-related post... sorta. Somebody on the lovely Volksworld forum posted a link to an e-petition to get any classic car, over 25 years old, to be tax exempt!
This will also mean that, as it's a rolling term, your car will eventually become tax exempt- so if you've got an '88 registered car, it'll be tax exempt in a couple of years!
So, if you would like this petition to pass, follow the link below and siiiiiggnn! I certainly have!


http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/2622

Story Time

Sooooo... This is the first blog post in a while- sorry my university deadlines demanded my attention!

However, despite being bogged down with loads of work, speaking to the admin lady for my department proved to be very interesting- although not anything to do with my degree!

The admin lady, named Nanette (but everyone calls her Nan) told me a couple of wonderful stories of when she and her husband owned VWs- I can't remember how we started talking about it... it just came up (as it does). Anyway, we were discussing how much love people give to their VWs, especially when it comes to something breaking. The first story Nan shared with me was when her and her family owned a 60's Split screen bus (sorry I can't remember what year she said it was). They were living in America at the time and were taking a three day drive to their holiday destination, when the starter motor died. For the rest of the three day journey, Nan had to give the bus a bit of a push down a hill- her husband had to pop the clutch because she didn't like doing it- while leaving the cab door open so she could run alongside the bus and hop in. Every time she would do this,  her children would be chanting 'Mom, Mom, Mom' and when she jumped in they'd throw their hands in the air and shout 'Yaaaaaay!'. They continued this- and towards the end began only eating at fast food restaurants so they could leave the engine running while they hopped out to order- for the entire journey, until they made it to their destination and could buy a new starter motor.

They also had a '72 beetle whose clutch cable snapped one day. So, to take it to the garage, Nan had to sit in the back wearing a pair of leather gloves holding the clutch cable. Every time it was time to shift gear, her husband would shout 'shift!' and they made it to the garage. 

It just show what us VW owners are prepared to do for our little cars (or busses), and how we continue to love them no matter what they throw at us...

The Culprit

Yep! This looks like it was behind the engine stalling all along- If fresh air hoses had eyebrows, this ones would look like this: \ / .
When this problem first happened, I was advised by a fellow member of the VolksWorld forum that this could be the problem, so I looked and I didn't se anything wrong with the hoses- turns out the tear was hiding and I must have been looking with my eyes closed. 
But oh well, at least I know what's up now...

Did I ask for orange?... No!

As if over night- a lot of you old car owners will be able to relate to this- a lovely orangey speckle has appeared on my wing mirrors (grumble). Why does rust have to be so relentless?
Also, I did Arty a mischief- by accident!- when I parked him the other day. I was very poorly, but had to move him out of the way of the garage and didn't realise how close I had got to the holly bush when I went to put him back... until I went to reverse out again and the headlight surround trim thing was left behind hanging on the holly bush- my eyes fell out of my head a little bit at this point.
I was beginning to think I had been a bit rough earlier on but didn't notice in my ill/ delirious/ wimpy state. Fortunately, it had only come off because the screw holding it in place has worn, so it wasn't on very tight and there was no other damage by the evil holly bush which I hadn't ploughed into- phew!
Hopefully Arty won't hold this against me, but we shall see...

(Not) Just a Car Guy!

This is just a little post to say thank you to Jesse, who featured Arty and myself on his blog: 

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/

If you're a bit of a tinker (as well as a car lover), and love searching and finding all kinds of wonderful artefacts, you need to take a look at this blog! There are so many things to feed your mind- even those of you who aren't crazy crazy about cars can still get all bubbly over all of Jesse's incredible finds. 

Fingers Crossed!

From now on I shall hopefully not have to wriggle under the car in inconvenient places anymore- fingers crossed!

With this problem sorted, in true VW fashion, another oddity has occurred- sigh. The engine now does not idle, however some good guys over on the VolksWorld forum have given me some advice as to what it could be. Hopefully it is just in need of a bit of a tune up- which it is probably due for to be honest!

Anyway, we shall see what this is going to bring in the near future!

Sew nearly there!

So... the patchwork quilt I mentioned a while ago is coming along nicely- it's about the size of a double duvet now. I just need to get some wadding and backing fabric and then quilt away! 
It has taken a little while as I've sewn it all by hand (no hi-tec machines here!) and you can see which bit I did first- it's a little scruffier than the latest sections- but hopefully I shall soon be able to unite the it with Arty.