Vince's xm - 2.1TD daily driver

[Vince]

Hi Will.....no I didn't...but ill double check my emails now ; ) Thanks

Charles....Im up for working through the night perhaps but do you have neighbours? Machining is a tad noisy when its quiet outside...early morning/late evening etc.
Believe it or not I drink gallons of water usually when I work on cars...its hot and tiring work ; )

[Vince]

Well, its update time again ..how long has it been? a couple of months

The thing is not much has changed yet, being this time of year

The xm is still parked on the drive and looking good Ive ditched the car cover for good and found the perfect parking spot so that the interior is staying damp free and fresh
I treated all the plastics last week which did it a world of good as they had faded quite badly in some areas and restored the nice black hue....Also fed the tyres aswell as they aren't rotating much at the moment

If it stays dry this weekend (I hope) then I might give it a wash and fire it up and give it some citaerobics I need to get round to putting the new back box on it at some point and the spare wheel carrier back on, but it hasn't been the time of year for doing that kind of stuff, hence why it hasn't been done yet.

On the work front, its still too much work and not enough play, but ive just taken on a new sales office manager who starts a week on Monday so that will make a dramatic difference to my life in the branch ....for the last 4 weeks ive been doing two full time jobs, mine and the sales office manager job, and its frankly been killing me and reverting me back to the way I was feeling last year Stress and Anxiety have been returning in bouts and im looking forward to kicking them away again.

On the Pallas front its been a lot of enquiries, but nothing immediate ...I have probably 4 to 5 jobs lined up from the end of march onwards and a guy to call back today, but until these jobs come in, no extra cash is available to do anything with, so its still bread and water until then

I'm looking forward to show season starting again this year and hopefully some damn dry weather for a while so that we can all start getting out and about again

Anyway....the day must get underway so im off again....

[Dieselman]

Good to hear from you Vince.

I'm sure some of those Pallas jobs will come in.

[citroenxm]

On the Pallas front its been a lot of enquiries, but nothing immediate ...I have probably 4 to 5 jobs lined up from the end of march onwards and a guy to call back today, but until these jobs come in, no extra cash is available to do anything with, so its still bread and water until then

I know how you feel it's been dead here. But not even got a job to fall back on. So not having a good time at the moment..

[Vince]

Thanks guys,

I do think about you at times Paul and wish you lived over this way so I could help you get back into some sort of work....If you need any kind of help with interviews, applications etc just give me a shout...ive been managing for around 15 years or so so have a good knowledge of what works and what doesn't

On the xm front, today dried up a bit so I enjoyed a good hour or so of playing with the xm I finally put the new back box on, although I didn't have a sealing ring gasket so that can get added in at mot time, whenever that comes around.....Ive also fitted a new clamp and rubber hangers so its been done right Next ill get round to putting on the spare wheel carrier which ive restored whilst off so it will look great once done.

Once the back box was on I gave it some citaerobics and then ran it up the temperature with all the electrics running...lights, fogs, heater etc, to run some current through all the cabling...then I drove it up and down our little empty street a few times over the speed bumps to work the brakes and suspension over. After then standing and admiring it for a few minutes I knocked it off and it goes back into hibernation again.

I must say though, it runs like a dream and still looks fantastic It so deserves to be on the road cruising it pains me to not be able to afford to run it....still at least ive got some good eye candy on the drive

Like you say Will....the Pallas jobs will come along and things will come good again im sure

[Charles M]

I suspect the weather isn't helping. Sun coming out gets people thinking about sprucing up their cars. My little Golf Gti had been up for sale for 3 months without a peep - then one sunny weekend and the calls started!

[Dieselman]

Will it be sold soon, then?

[Charles M]

Hopefully, the one that looked was going to go round all the ones he liked the look of. This could take some time.

[Vince]

God damn tyre kickers.....ive broken all the usual rules and tend to buy the first one I see....but then you can usually spot the good ones from the ads.

Ive only ever bought one dud using my method, but then I like fixer uppers

[Charles M]

I tend to buy the first one I see too. This might explain why I have a lot of good looking cars that go wrong all the time!

My Golf is definitely premium priced and I know it will go to the first person who wants a stunning one, but there are a hell of lot of cheap ones out there too, and I don't blame someone for having a good look round. However, they won't get one newly repainted, with new hood, new BBS wheels and newly leather covered Recaros for free, so it will go!