Tuesday, November 05, 2002
Kam’s Column - 05/11/02
Hello Again!
The newspapers have been having a field day this week with one thing or another. First of all, there’s the foiled kidnap plot against the very thin Posh Spice – surely a terrifying prospect and my heart goes out to the Beckhams. No matter what you think of either Victoria or David – yes regular reader, we’re on first name terms – no one deserves that. However, we can all be consoled by the presence of a certain tabloid newspaper – what a good job they were at hand to record the events… Do I sound cynical at all?
And then there was the Butler, who we now know didn’t do it (sorry to all Cluedo fans). The whole trial was quite a media spectacle and the questions it has raised are now going to the highest levels. Why did the Queen intervene when she did? Why did a flimsy police case ever get this far? Do we really care enough anyway? While the trial has all of the fun of a gladiatorial combat (but without the bloodshed), there are some far more important things going on in the world… I think I had best step down from my soapbox now, before I slip!
We had two more timing belt jobs come in this week, one for Mr Davis’s Ford Escort (no, this isn’t Steve Davis – our ‘Mr Davis’ is an alias, protecting the lucky man’s anonymity!). We were quite lucky with this job – Mr Davis’s belt snapped as he started the car up one morning, but he turned the engine off before any damage could be done. He had been warned at the last service that the timing belt needed replacing, but, as ever, there was just one last run to London that needed to be completed before the car could come in! After a thorough inspection, we were relieved to give the Escort’s CVH engine a clean bill of health.
The next belt on the list wasn’t quite so straight-forward. Unfortunately, Mr Walsh hadn’t caught his belt snapping and his diesel Astra wasn’t in the best of health. Again, we had advised him to have the belt done, but an urgent job had come in, so the van hadn’t! To keep him on the road, I handed the keys to our works van over, expecting the job to be done quickly. Alas, dear reader, the cylinder head that we require isn’t always stocked at Ford, so I’m having to search on the Internet for a reconditioned one – and that can take time!
The biggest job that arrived in the workshop this week was Maureen Scanlon’s Peugeot 205. Maureen is a friend of my Dad’s and loves her car – with she has fondly christened Colin due to its CLN number plate! Anyway, on Friday, the driver’s door lock mechanism collapsed, meaning she had to climb in through the passenger door. Peugeot didn’t have the parts in stock and quoted a hefty sum for all the new components, so Maureen naturally thought of yours truly – the only garage to offer ‘Mates Rates’ to the whole world! Things turned for the worse on Monday morning, when the passenger door lock collapsed too! Maureen was left climbing in through the rear hatch – not what you want when wearing your best office togs.
Anyway, we tried to source brand new parts for the car, but the costs were exorbitant. The only other option was to try a Peugeot specialist breakers yard – and of course we cleared this with Maureen first. Within an hour we had sourced a perfect and nearly brand-new mechanism at a fraction of the new price! If only installing it was that easy! It took two of us most of the day to get all of the door panels out, cut the old lock away and remove all of the seized mechanisms. The issue wasn’t the difficulty of the job itself, just that the space is so confined and the parts so fiddly!
Once all of the old components were out of the way, everything else went smoothly. Needless to say, Maureen was delighted when I called her and let her know that she could get in and out of her car gracefully again!
Pre-owned parts aren’t something that we often use here at Kam, but in this case, it made the repair economical and allowed Maureen to keep her beloved Colin! While Colin was with us, we gave him one of your comprehensive free brake checks, and found no problems at all!
So, at the end of this week’s missive, I’ll give you a few pointers for the week ahead: timing belts, anti freeze, brakes. All are hugely important items, and all can be checked for free here at Kam!
So, I’ll be seeing all of you shortly for your freebies then?
Dr Kev Allen
The newspapers have been having a field day this week with one thing or another. First of all, there’s the foiled kidnap plot against the very thin Posh Spice – surely a terrifying prospect and my heart goes out to the Beckhams. No matter what you think of either Victoria or David – yes regular reader, we’re on first name terms – no one deserves that. However, we can all be consoled by the presence of a certain tabloid newspaper – what a good job they were at hand to record the events… Do I sound cynical at all?
And then there was the Butler, who we now know didn’t do it (sorry to all Cluedo fans). The whole trial was quite a media spectacle and the questions it has raised are now going to the highest levels. Why did the Queen intervene when she did? Why did a flimsy police case ever get this far? Do we really care enough anyway? While the trial has all of the fun of a gladiatorial combat (but without the bloodshed), there are some far more important things going on in the world… I think I had best step down from my soapbox now, before I slip!
We had two more timing belt jobs come in this week, one for Mr Davis’s Ford Escort (no, this isn’t Steve Davis – our ‘Mr Davis’ is an alias, protecting the lucky man’s anonymity!). We were quite lucky with this job – Mr Davis’s belt snapped as he started the car up one morning, but he turned the engine off before any damage could be done. He had been warned at the last service that the timing belt needed replacing, but, as ever, there was just one last run to London that needed to be completed before the car could come in! After a thorough inspection, we were relieved to give the Escort’s CVH engine a clean bill of health.
The next belt on the list wasn’t quite so straight-forward. Unfortunately, Mr Walsh hadn’t caught his belt snapping and his diesel Astra wasn’t in the best of health. Again, we had advised him to have the belt done, but an urgent job had come in, so the van hadn’t! To keep him on the road, I handed the keys to our works van over, expecting the job to be done quickly. Alas, dear reader, the cylinder head that we require isn’t always stocked at Ford, so I’m having to search on the Internet for a reconditioned one – and that can take time!
The biggest job that arrived in the workshop this week was Maureen Scanlon’s Peugeot 205. Maureen is a friend of my Dad’s and loves her car – with she has fondly christened Colin due to its CLN number plate! Anyway, on Friday, the driver’s door lock mechanism collapsed, meaning she had to climb in through the passenger door. Peugeot didn’t have the parts in stock and quoted a hefty sum for all the new components, so Maureen naturally thought of yours truly – the only garage to offer ‘Mates Rates’ to the whole world! Things turned for the worse on Monday morning, when the passenger door lock collapsed too! Maureen was left climbing in through the rear hatch – not what you want when wearing your best office togs.
Anyway, we tried to source brand new parts for the car, but the costs were exorbitant. The only other option was to try a Peugeot specialist breakers yard – and of course we cleared this with Maureen first. Within an hour we had sourced a perfect and nearly brand-new mechanism at a fraction of the new price! If only installing it was that easy! It took two of us most of the day to get all of the door panels out, cut the old lock away and remove all of the seized mechanisms. The issue wasn’t the difficulty of the job itself, just that the space is so confined and the parts so fiddly!
Once all of the old components were out of the way, everything else went smoothly. Needless to say, Maureen was delighted when I called her and let her know that she could get in and out of her car gracefully again!
Pre-owned parts aren’t something that we often use here at Kam, but in this case, it made the repair economical and allowed Maureen to keep her beloved Colin! While Colin was with us, we gave him one of your comprehensive free brake checks, and found no problems at all!
So, at the end of this week’s missive, I’ll give you a few pointers for the week ahead: timing belts, anti freeze, brakes. All are hugely important items, and all can be checked for free here at Kam!
So, I’ll be seeing all of you shortly for your freebies then?
Dr Kev Allen
