Colin Lindsay

I found out recently that when removing large, hot dishes from the oven, a wet tea towel is NOT an oven glove.

Have tried heat, and still have red fingers from the boiling water... but there's not enough coming through to get a grip on, even with fine pliers. I think gentle enlargement of the aperture will be the best bet.

That's probably the proper price for that car given its' history, but how many will ever pay it? S'funny, we have this 2.5 litre Vitesse Estate locally that has just come up for sale; this one is a Chic Doig conversion which I remembered seeing parked at the owner's house back in the 1990s, but had dropped off the radar in recent years. It's suffered a bit in recent times. Owner is looking for about £8000 if anyone is interested.

It does, and it's slightly more flexible as the original was harder, so it bends much more easily. I'll drill the hole out slightly... but not too much. I hope!

If the headlight works on full beam, but not on dip, it's not an earth as the earth is common. It won't be the switch - if the other side works as it should - so suspect the wiring on the dipped beam circuit on that side. Follow the wiring back from the bulb, check the bulb connector and all bullet connectors, and you'll find a break or a weak connection somewhere along the line.

That mishap of mine - after which the GT6 is STILL off-road, 12 months later - happened at traffic lights while static. I had just come back from a 200 mile run round some of the twistiest bends in the country, and had been commenting on how the GT6 handled at 60mph... and then a wheel falls off whilst stationary. It could have been a lot different... and THEN I'd be looking at how my Insurance really works.

The rear axle is fighting back! I gave up either trying to reuse the old brackets off the axle as they were very bent and slightly perforated, or else trying to find second-hand versions that weren't in the same state, so off I went to Robsport for a set of stainless brackets which are solid and too good to paint... so they can stay unmolested in stainless silver. Very solid - much more so than the originals - and superbly made. The only problem so far is that the bump stop will not seat, no matter what I try to persuade or threaten it with. I opted for polyurethane from Polybush and they are the most unforgiving sods I ever saw. They will go only so far before the stem bends, and nothing will persuade it to go any further - neither heat not grease. I think I'll have to cheat and redrill the hole slightly, but of course I have only similar sized drill bits, or grossly larger, so will have to raid the in-law's Engineering Works later in the week, either for a drill bit of the correct size, or else arrive with chocolate biscuits in which case someone will do the job for me. It's worked before...

I know you say you didn't like the hi-torque version that came with the car but I fitted one years back to the MK1 and it starts the engine so easily. It only makes noise for a few seconds, enough to start it up, so I can live with that. Problems with the original and slow cranking meant the battery was duff long before the car started, which usually took jump leads.

I bought one of those comb things that is meant to do the job on the fins, but found it never quite gave the finish I wanted. Approximate, but not exact, so doing it by hand is the preferred option. Is the missing screw from the motor cover? As you can tell from the remaining ones they're a slotted screw and quite an individual size. For the cover of the matrix box I bought stainless screws at Stoneleigh a few years back but think it might look too blingy with silver screws on a black box... so might just use the originals, blasted and repainted black. Join the club for scratches during refitting... I think I'm a founder member.

It's funny, but I personally look at a car like that and think: 'way overpriced.' Based on my own meagre budget of course! Others will look at that and think: investment, or tax relief, or tax offset, or even the old 'it must be better than everyone else's as it's more expensive' and buy it on those grounds. It may surprise most of us how often cars like this do sell to buyers who can easily afford to enjoy them at that sort of money. Not the circles I move in, though!

I thought the birth rate was falling?

My MK1 has gaps there, and that was the only area of the GT6 - rear wings and wheelarches - that wasn't restored back in 2003, so unless it was done by a PO and highlights a different angle between the rear wing and arch - maybe through pattern parts? - where the edges don't quite meet, I've no idea why a hole has been left here. It's on both sides and more or less identical on mine.

Nice to see he's prepared to keep it if it doesn't sell. I think he'll need to!

Just renewed my Insurance, so am broke next month as well... however they informed me that I can call out their recovery up to three times a year - but not for the same problem - and they'll either get the car going again, or else tow me home, or to their garage. The guy I spoke to in the local office didn't know who they used, but confirmed that it does not count as a claim.

I'm talking about banned from the airwaves!! Mungo Jerry (drink driving) Blue Mink (racist)... even "Daddy wouldn't buy me a bowwow" is apparrently gay or lesbian or whatever but at least it's not banned - yet. Gordon Giltrap - now THERE'S one I haven't heard in an age. I remember playing that on guitar back in the 1970s.

Does this include tunes that are now banned? (Mungo Jerry, Blue Mink, stuff like that....) My fav songs remind me of places I went on holiday - I can pretend I'm back there again - so I've a lot of Greek stuff - Orfeas Peridis, Paulis Paulidis, Thanassis Papakonstantinou and the like; a lot of Indian stuff like Malkit Singh, as I love the drum rhythms, and English folk such as Spiers and Boden or the Albion Band. Most recent 'normal' CDs I've bought were Big Country (Greatest Hits Collection) and Kraftwerk. One of my former workmates looked at my CD collection and commented: "God, you listen to some sh&t"...

No8 x 1 inch, black - DO NOT pay the exorbitant prices some suppliers are selling them for! I've already found them at 45p each from a Triumph supplier, 23p from an MG supplier, 10p each from an Industrial Fixings supplier, and (although possibly with a flat head, not domed) £10.80 for a pack of 200 from The Screwshop. I searched for Screw Black RSD CSK No8x1 and got quite a few listings.

77mm deep. I never looked, to be honest - just ordered by the main photo alone. I think a stickie on how to work these would be in the interest of a lot of others!

I can't take the risk and then find out I'm short of some, especially if they're not supplying them any more along with the valences. Sorry for tantalising you with the photo (which was to jog member's memories in case they have any lying about!) I'm still almost 100% certain Chic Doig can supply. I think there's only one valence made these days, the later one with the bulge for the radiator as per Herald 13/60 and Vitesse. Early Herald versions, the smooth rounded front, are almost impossible to get. Last one I managed to find cost me an arm and a leg and it was still second-hand even then.

Pity I hadn't known I was so close! I'd certainly have called. Found one seller pricing them at £13.97 who was happy to post to all of Uk, and was even happier to accept an offer of £11. I'm too easily talked into things. Next local meet will be a lecture on how to set them up... starring me with a 12v battery, lots of leads, and a manual translation.

If my Mk1 is anyway similar it just runs from the tank along the outside of the main chassis rail, between floor pan and chassis through the outriggers and to the front where it has the addition of a rubber pipe between the bulkhead and the outrigger to the pump. I can try for photos later?

Anyway, if I had to pick a name it would be Sadie.

Chrome screws on the wood, certainly, with that little dished washer in behind, and all my Heralds have had black screws on the vents and dashboard trim strips.

Beer mats +1 and for thicker foam gaskets use cheap exercise mats; I'd avoid the more lurid colours of pink or purple but black or charcoal grey works well.

ACDC on USB on the A4 in a GT6? Cool! Looks like I'll have to stick to the one I have for now... posts to UK and Europe but NOT to Northern Ireland? Anyone know where we are now? I'm lost.