How NOT to get your car to service & MOT

[jwigglesworth]

Following on from MOT failure, car booked in at Mat SMith TVR today so decided to take it in early. Got about 2 miles travelling at around 30 mph, changed from 4th to 5th and massive fishtailing. N/S rear hit the bank and spat me across the road desperately trying to control it; saw a dirty great telepraph pole heading straight at me so in desperation wrenched the wheel over hard right; this caused the car to spin on its axis stopping backwards in the hedge thankfully missing said pole. Next time I will have a cup of tea to wake me up!
It looks like there isn't too much damage to the car: scratches, driving lamp gone but we will see.
Stil need to get the car to Mat SMith though- not sure if i haven't damaged underneath so not sure how to do this as haven't got a car trailer. Any suggestions?
Hope your day is better than mine!
Cheers,
Jeremy

[SS2.]

Ouch.. But could have been a lot worse..

Bit surprised that it lost traction between 4th and 5th at only 30mph or so - icy, or crud on the road ?

How did you get it from where it spun to where the photo was taken ? If you drove it, did you notice any knocks or rattles coming from the back end ? If no, and assuming it still brakes OK, then can't you just drive it (carefully ) to the MOT centre ?

[glenrobbo]

Oh dear Jeremy

Hope your underpants came through unscathed!
As SS2 says, it could have been a lot worse.
Looks very frosty in the pic, was it black ice?

Looks like the indicator lenses will need replacing, so brace yourself for a hefty bill.
Apart from that driving lamp glass, hopefully the rest of your S is OK .

Take care,
Glen

PS. Old Mondeos are far better suited to off-roading.

Edited by glenrobbo on Friday 24th January 11:00

[S2Mike]

Ouch !!!!
.
Hope all is well with you and your "S"

[Oldred_V8S]

Ow - Glad you are OK and that the car looks relatively unscathed, it looks like it could have been much worse, especially with that telegraph pole lurking around.

[swimmerS2]

[quote=SS2.]Ouch.. But could have been a lot worse..

Bit surprised that it lost traction between 4th and 5th at only 30mph or so - icy, or crud on the road ?

Me too.
I would of thought Black Ice unless there has been some form of mechanical failure with the suspension, diff or prop.
Was it recovered home or driven?
At least your ok and lucky nothing was heading towards you!

Edited by swimmerS2 on Friday 24th January 13:15

[The Big G]

+1 to glad your ok. Accident does sound a bit stange but we can all have something go wrong, its just that we get away/lucky with it most times!

The car doesn't look too bad, hopefully no strange noises when you drove it afterwards. If your lucky it'll just be a few cosmetic fixes then you'll be back on the road in no time after the MOT. The scratches can always wait, at least they wont rust. May be worth checking the underside for new chips as they will! Glad you missed anything more solid as otherwise the conversation would probably be rather different!

[jwigglesworth]

Hi guys, many thanks for your posts. Update- waited until the weather warmed up and went out for a quick drive & all seemed ok. Have just got back from taking car to Mat Smith &, after a good poke around on his ramp, the only damage are the driving lamp, a bent bonnet bolt & light scratching that should just polish out; the indicator lenses were already like that so not worried about them. Lucky doesn't begin to describe it I think. Having had time to analyse things further, whilst waiting to be pulled out, various vehicles kindly stopped to check on our wellbeing & all of them had locking wheels & then spinning when pulling away; I also walked along the road & it was sheet ice for about 30-40 ft so once it had gone there was no way of getting traction back. This is a good old Norofolk back road which gets covered in Farmer crud which doesn't help matters. Still doesn't make me feel any better mind and the old ego will take some time to recover from this pasting.
Car now at Mat Smith for the chassis work & MOT (only a small hole on ths N/S outrigger which he will just replace), I have also asked him to service/tune the car, set up the suspension properly and check for any other ailments that may not have been apparent in the earlier inspection.
Good news is that there is no reason that she shouldn't be in top fettle for the Top Gear's Norfolk day out!
Bad news is I didn't dare ask what this is going to cost but I don't think it will be cheap. Perhaps I should nickname the car L'Oreal?

[v8s4me]

Great! A positive end to an otherwise crap day. Good luck.

[Jed-S]

I'm also rather surprised that you lost it because I found that my old S was very neutral on the slippery stuff. The wife's MX5 1.8i Sport on the other hand was scary.
However something like a binding brake will cause interesting handling characteristics when you hit icy bits.

[QBee]

Well done to miss that BT TVR destroyer, Jeremy. Mat had just taken your call ( i heard "hello Jeremy" - the beep noise was me exiting his office door) as I left his workshops this morning. Small world.

He will be pleased that you still got it there. Good luck with the bill. One good thing is that you can trust Mat to do a proper job AND keep the cost honest and sensible. And having totally stripped his own S you know he knows every nut and bolt. Top man..

[Mr Tank]

jwigglesworth said:

Following on from MOT failure, car booked in at Mat SMith TVR today so decided to take it in early. Got about 2 miles travelling at around 30 mph, changed from 4th to 5th and massive fishtailing. N/S rear hit the bank and spat me across the road desperately trying to control it; saw a dirty great telepraph pole heading straight at me so in desperation wrenched the wheel over hard right; this caused the car to spin on its axis stopping backwards in the hedge thankfully missing said pole. Next time I will have a cup of tea to wake me up!
It looks like there isn't too much damage to the car: scratches, driving lamp gone but we will see.
Stil need to get the car to Mat SMith though- not sure if i haven't damaged underneath so not sure how to do this as haven't got a car trailer. Any suggestions?
Hope your day is better than mine!
Cheers,
Jeremy

Hi Jeremy

You had some luck, it could have been a lot worse, if it was later in the morning they may have been more traffic on the roads and you could have hit somebody.
The first time I took a TVR for a MOT it was a 3000M going for it's first MOT in 1981. A tractor pulled out from a field and the Transit I was following hit it and I just stopped short of the Transit's rear bumpers. But unfortunatly it has a tow bar and that punched a hole in the nose of the car, which forced it open and gave the car a twist which cracked the screen. It cost over £2k back in 81 to sort out (By my insurance company.)

By the way the pic of your car in the hedge has an interesting vehicle behind it. From what I can see (With out my classes.) it looks like an Austin Champ.
Please correct me and say what it is if you know!

Andy

[mikel003003]

Glad you and your car is ok, on a lighter note I recon if we ever have a calender that photo would make an excellent january!

[jwigglesworth]

By the way the pic of your car in the hedge has an interesting vehicle behind it. From what I can see (With out my classes.) it looks like an Austin Champ.
Please correct me and say what it is if you know!

Andy

Morning all,

thanks again for all your kind remarks. Andy, I regret to have to advise that it's nothing as exotic as an Austin Champ- it is merely a LWB Defender Pickup belonging to the local farmer who I think was on the phone to his gamekeeper sorting out the day's shoot.
Glen, am pleased to advise that the boxers were not in need of a wash; not sure about daughter's undies though as she was doing a decent facial impression of a milky bar girl!

[jwigglesworth]

couple more photos for your amusement.

[Top Gear TVR]

i wondered what you had been up to at first glance………….as it looked like you were coming out of the foliage after a spot of off roaring.

Glad you and car have faired better than could be expected.

[glenrobbo]

Top Gear TVR said:

....... it looked like you were coming out of the foliage after a spot of off roaring.

You mean like Aslan?
Steve, It's Norfolk, not Narnia.

The S, the hedge & the ice patch.

[Top Gear TVR]

glen - not all mistakes are actually mistakes……….

Landrover and SJ110 = off roading

TVR, it would defo be OFF ROARING

[White S3]

Glad all unscathed and the S plot hasn't reduced by 1. Latter pics impressive- did the parking sensors say that you were close enough or was it intuition? Love the comments by the way. Down on the South Coast we just have to fit floaties at the mo rather that worry about ice.

[glenrobbo]

Fair play Steve, I'll give you that one


Ert made Oi chortle !



( Freudian slip I think it's called. )

Take extra care out there everyone....

Studies have shown that 83% of people are caused by accidents.

Edited by glenrobbo on Saturday 25th January 13:43