Time for the Stagea to get belted

Gotta love interstate trips hey? Especially when just an hour in, something started to sound like an industrial vacuum cleaner going off when you put your foot down in the Stagea. The mechanic from the NRMA suggested it was a loose belt (which doesn’t explain the smoke from what also may be a cooked turbo..) and since only two of the three belts had been changed in the most recent service, now that we’ve arrived safely in Albury it’s time to change the third anyway, tighten them up and see if that’s solved one of the many things left on the to do list…

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Is it just me? Servo air edition

service station

Now is it just me or do we share the same problem here? Namely when I don’t want nor need to put some more air in the tires via the nearest servo, the bay is free. Wide open. Ready for business. Unoccupied for hours.

But as soon as I even think about checking the tire pressure or boosting up anything that looks like it needs some more pumping up, every man, woman and child that owns rubber suddenly decides they want to do that too?

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Top tips for selling your car online

selling your car online

Call this ‘Almigo’s grand search for what he’ll be parking at his house next’ (still working on that list), call it a public service announcement after wading through an ocean of strange car ads, call it what you will. But if you’re planning to sell your ride and you’re advertising the fact online, here’s a few things that will undoubtedly help you out.*

*May or may not sell your car any quicker but at least you’ll stand out from the strange.

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Another Rx40

Isn’t it amazing when you start on one place on social media and then with just a couple of clicks, a twist and turn here, a jump there and suddenly you find yourself looking at something completely different, all while asking the Talking Heads inspired question: How did I get here?

Case in point earlier this week when I was looking at a Facebook post after a damaged Ferrari project.

A link in the post later suddenly I find myself looking at a Series 1 Mazda Rx7 with prancing horse aspirations that have lasted almost three decades now…

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One loud little Laser

Remember when Sony Xplod sound gear was all the rage? You don’t? Well I remember. My first car was a 1989 Ford Laser GL (in fearsome Moroccan Beige) and one of the first things I did to it was add a Sony Xplod cd player and a few speakers. Considering the sound of the original Ford tape deck that it replaced, it was a magnificent upgrade. The rest of the car was pure Grandma spec, but at least Fatboy Slim’s ‘You’ve come a long way baby!’ boomed alright.

Flash forward to 2020 and I’ve come across another Laser with Xplod gear. Only a bit more modern and a million times louder than my first car..

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Class for days but not much room with a Viewt

Mitsuoka Viewt

So what’s it called when you’ve focused on something and suddenly, BAM, something similar pops up? I believe there was a movie with the term for it too?

The Matrix maybe? (Possibly Terminator 3) Or maybe it’s Facebook spying on me again and having realized my passing interest in a lunatic Micra last week, has coughed up this beauty.

Regardless of the slightly eerie phenomenon going on here, allow me to introduce the Mitsuoka Viewt…

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96 Micra Machine

Look don’t panic, I haven’t lost a bet here. Nor have the workers of the seventh layer of hell swapped their usual pitchforks for snow ploughs. Truth be told I never thought I’d be whipping up a quick article on a 96 Nissan Micra/March off all things either but but’s not very often that you come across one that’s both random and under the right conditions, possibly terrifying..

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Coffee and Cars Gold Coast 18/7/20

So we were lined up to visit our Coffee and Cars here on the Gold Coast a short while back, only for Covid-19 to really clamp down the anchors on it. However as restrictions eased, plans were put into place for the next one – the countdown on to this weekend just gone. And so on Friday night you could practically hear the Gold Coast car community frantically vacuuming and polishing their cars to perfection, ready for the big morning..

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Spending of many a pretty Kopek

Moskvitch

So with Covid-19 restrictions lifting ever so slowly, the burning desire to spend some of the money you’ve saved through a lack of social activity and travel increases. Maybe then it’s time to put it all towards and new ride.

And speaking of slowly, what about this thing above? Let me tell you all about it…once I work out what it is of course…

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No coffee, nor cars this weekend

Well that’s disappointing – I haven’t been to Coffee and Cars Gold Coast so far in my time in Queensland and I figured during the last weekend of my annual leave it would be the perfect way to cap off what’s been an eventful holiday. Now that the Stag’s back and not being a jerk I was planning to give it a clean and hopefully park it next to something else Japanese on the day.

But it’s not to be. The threat of Covid 19/Corona Virus has made the organizers think twice about running it this weekend. And even though they don’t usually hit the 500 people mark (anything more than that and it’s highly suggested you don’t run that event for the risk of infection) they’re still not keen to take that risk.

Which is fair enough and I can’t say I blame them either. So in my latest post you won’t be getting a rundown of what appeared out of the sheds of the Gold Coast early on a Saturday morning…but instead you can ooh and ahh over some Ferrari’s instead. Sounds like a pretty good compromise yeah?*

*Unless of course you don’t like Ferrari’s? In which case maybe you’d prefer something a little tamer?

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My wagon has become a bit of a jerk

It doesn’t rain, it pours. And that’s exactly what it’s been doing weather wise here on the Gold Coast. Which explains why my Nissan Stagea has suddenly come down with a strange cough and become very jerky after coming back from holidays. (Insert your own Corona virus joke here)
I’ve fixed it – although I can’t tell you exactly what did the trick. Possibly one thing, possibly a combination. But here’s a list of things to work through if your car has the same problem.

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