Don't tell my wife...

[K Simmonds]

yeah the mozzies can be **edit** **** mate. you can always hope you taste disgusting though, like me. For some reason they don't bite me. something to do with dirty foreign blood I think

I'll try to find out about abandoned military stuff. Probably loads of you cross over into Russia. The problem is you might not come back

The Scottish ******s love me, I must taste like Pringles to them. A couple of my trips to the highlands have been seriously marred by their presence, had to spend one holiday almost entirely on the coast or in towns to avoid them.

Yeah I'm a little apprehensive about venturing over the Russia border, I would love to go and check some site's on their soil though.

We'd be looking to go to the July Rudskogen Gatebil event in Norway, be cool if few of us could meet up there.

[Nj]

The Scottish ******s love me

I've got to wonder what you wrote that the forum bot finds so offensive

"The Scottish b.i.t.c.h.e.s love me"?

There are loads of good "make me taste bad to mozzies" products now. Plus you can hang around by a smoky fire, inside a smoke sauna, burn anti-mozzie candles etc. And you can pray for a decent wind. But yeah it takes the fun out of a holiday.

[Nj]

Forgot to update this thread. A couple of months ago my missus was saying we really need a second car.. so I told her "great news! we already have another one!"
I explained the details and she was reasonably happy. She didn't high 5 me or anything but she's not quite as obsessed as me The boys are very excited though. Somehow they seem to have gotten it into their heads that in 9 years it will be theirs. erm... will I give my 34 year old classic car to by boys when the first has passed his test? ehhhhhhh...... I think maybe I should just buy another car at some point for that purpose.

So now as the snow in north(ish) finland is finally melting I need to arrange the transport to get it from Wales (where Kit has done an outstanding job of rebuilding the brakes, fitting an exhaust, fixing a deaded cabin leak, fitting a new starter, fitting new rear diff mounts and a few other things) to Finland. Maybe stopping over in Germany. I wasn't able to find Brian (Tonks) a donor car in Germany so looks like I can't get him to drop my car off there. b*gger

[newsh]

[emoji4]

[ronaldvossen]

Hilarious... You STILL hadn't told her? Sounds like there is a happy end to that story... At least if you can keep those boys in line. (Back in the days I crashed my dads coupe GT... But it's because of that car I've become a 5cyl lover myself)

[Nj]

well you have to time these things properly you know?
I think another 5 cylinder coupe could be a good starting point for my boys. I'll keep an eye out... or buy myself another S2 and let them have the CQ20v after all

[K Simmonds]

So your good lady knows now Noel, glad she's cool about it

Will get on the case with an email this evening mate.

A five pot Coupe would be an awesome first car for your lad's, that's if they think it's 'cool' enough, apart from the water issues their as tough as old boots providing they haven't been kept in the sea or been poorly repaired.

Here's a pic of her resting in a safe spot, everyone loves a a photo.

Sorry about the quality.

[Nj]

ahhhhh be still my beating heart
with a clean, polish, Boleros fitted, slightly lowered.... woohoo!
God bless you sir. you've made an old man very happy by helping so much with this.

[K Simmonds]

No problem Noel, glad to able to help you get your hands on the car.

[jbh]

Im fairly lucky I too have a mate with a barn and plenty of space so I have the odd habit off collecting cars without the wife knowing.
the only problem I have is keeping my wife out my A4 quattro.. she has a habit of disappearing with it rather than using her seat leon...

[fourwh33ldriv3]

OK, a translation then:

Shut up ! Shut up ! Noel ---don't dare be gloating and plotting before you have the awesome machine home. Or your missus will be getting a handle on this wild news and it's yourself that will be hanging from the tallest tree in the area by your testicles as a prime example for all the other women in the area AND THEN the word will get out and around the world and the rest of us will be f**ked!

Remember now - on its arrival let the kids see it and sit in it first and you might just survive to see the aftermath

Oh, and I've told my son (that's Andy) to put another spoonful of water in the gruel just in case you come to visit

Cheers Sandy, sage advice. The information control is being strictly controlled and I know she doesn't frequent S2forum thankfully. The car will make its way to Germany to a good friend of mine who I believe I could, without exaggeration, call a car genius (he does bits of work helping the likes of VW and Audi and also custom builds engine components). My masterplan right now is to take my missus and the boys to Germany in spring to visit friends and family, in which case it will be bloody handy to have a car there waiting for us. And afterwards weäll drive back through Denmark, visit legoland, see a couple of friends in Stockholm, nip over on an overnight ferry to Finland and on home. You see I'm really doing this as a considerate husband and father

ahem...

[Nj]

Finally some progress after my working life has calmed down a bit. The car is being collected today from Kit's place and is being trailered to a friend in West Germany. It's undertaking the journey with a pair of leather Mk3 Golf Recaros and rear leather coupe/s2 seats. cabby door cards too so I believe the fronts will fit and the back I just have to figure out later.

Im planning to fly to Germany at the end of next week to collect the car and drive it up to Finland. Hopefully my friend in Germany will help me bend one of the legs so the Mk3 seats sit properly.

Of course the way things are looking now I'll need to buy winter tyres as soon as I drive off the ferry in Helsinki. I should be Ok for the short drive but as I head north I'm almost certainly going to be driving in snow.

[John.]

.......t as I head north I'm almost certainly going to be driving in snow.

Pictures of this please or know-one will believe you!

[Nj]

No problem There's a tyre place near the ferry terminal so I'm going to book in there for some new hakkapeliitta 8's. I'll get a couple of pictures en route to post. Hopefully they don't feature my CQ post head-on collision with a moose (disturbingly common enough to have moose collision on insurance policies)

[Nj]

Well finally the black beastie is in Finland. I arrived on Monday evening after doing a few km across Germany and Finland.
Kit has been amazing in prepping the car before it left the UK. It ended up being trailered to Germany and then after a few jobs in my friend's workshop there I drove it from West to North Germany (about 4.5 hours in the pissing rain doing at least 120km/h because it would actually have been dangerous to be the only idiot going less than 120).
Arrived in Travemunde around 23:30 on Saturday night, boarded the ferry and chilled out a bit for a while.

In the workshop
image by Miss Cooper Audi CQ20V, on Flickr

In the ferry
image by Miss Cooper Audi CQ20V, on Flickr

29 hours later (after a very calm Baltic crossing) I was in Helsinki. It seems that driving a French car into Finland right now caused a bit of interest so I was taken to the side and a spaniel had a good old sniff around. It was about that time that I started wondering about the previous owners and whether they may have been into anything "interesting". Maybe it was for the best that the old seats stayed in Wales.
I then went in to get a set of Hakkepelita 8 studded winter tyres fitted because I knew I'd need them as I got further north. A quick stop at the neighbouring service station for a cuppa and a sandwich before I left. Found this notice in the bathroom, which I found kind of interesting.
image by Miss Cooper Audi CQ20V, on Flickr

The drive started off wet, got wetter, and then slushy, snowy, back to slushy again... and the car handled it all amazingly well. The combination of quattro and those tyres is just amazing (I have the same on my A4).
image by Miss Cooper Audi CQ20V, on Flickr

It ended up taking me about 7 hours to do the 560km, which was good going in those conditions, plus 80km/h limits for a large proportion of the way. There are no speed cameras for the final 100km or so, and the snow was a bit firmer, so I was able to open it up a bit. I have to confess that I was grinning like an imbecile at the sound as I overtook each truck (of which there were plenty).

And here's Gabe, one of my boys, who has been asking me for a black "racing car" for years now and immediately asked if it will be his when he's 18. erm... yeah. we'll see.
image by Miss Cooper Audi CQ20V, on Flickr

I have a whole bunch of issues to sort out so I'll start a new project thread and ask for input there.