Related posts/information about cars For Sale.

[Jez Marsh]

MIKpierce's black ztt 260 on ebay at about 8495 is in very good nick. I went to see it but at 50k miles was more than I wanted but it is pretty much sorted. Some nice touches and immaculate. electric passenger seat and three memory on drivers side.

A great buy.

[AndyG]

.......... at 50k miles was more than I wanted ...................... .

Only just run in

[LeRoiDeLaRue]

Ze Mig Black Pearl is up now - has to go.

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifie...--2004/4256948

[Zt pony]

Jim ..very sorry to hear !

Always enjoyed your postings and input !
Keep us informed, let us know how it's all going, don't be a stranger !
Good luck with the sale.
Good luck with the Job hunting.

Regards.
Harry

Ze Mig Black Pearl is up now - has to go.

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifie...--2004/4256948

[LeRoiDeLaRue]

Regards.
Harry

Cheers Harry ... It's one of them innit lad. Better to have loved and lost ... (than to have never loved atall ..... ? Yes. But of course, far better to keep the love. Ah well, life goes on.)

[Redrover]

Nice car with 18" Vortex wheels and low miles. The Contemporary SE version is quite rare but don't think it justifies the price somehow.

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifie...--2006/4193402

[LeRoiDeLaRue]

Ah well, its off down south now to cross La Manche to deliver Ze MiG to new owner, in Dordogne. After wanting to make sure that all is well, I had spoken to my local mechanic, also Nick in Burton, and then had a local independent inspector friend take a drive to check things out on Thursday before the long journey ahead, and he said the car drives very well, all working fine, and car is in "excellent condition" in his opinion. Nice one :-)

So after an emotional, not say costly, 15 months of ownership, by the end of which we will have ridden over 21000 miles together, the Black Pearl is being handed over looking, sounding and driving better then when I took over as custodian, so I can feel good about handing over in good heart and good conscience. Thanks for all your help from time to time lads.

Au revoir!

[Zt pony]

Jim,

Pleased you've got a sale and sorry for your being minus your 260 now !!

Your posting has to be a testament to your character and integrity !
Most sellers only interest is to "get rid", no matter what the condition is, or ongoing problems are..cover up, bodge up ..to sell..and any " hand on heart " or "conscience " considerations don't enter into the selling process !!


i know you have put alot of cash and effort and "love" into that car !


You wanted to get her 100% " on the button ", and all up together ..for your "pride of ownership" and you can be proud of your efforts, and the new owner will be getting an excellent 260 !

Who knows, you could well be running 260 number two before to long !

Keep in touch with us all !

All the best.

Harry

Ah well, its off down south now to cross La Manche to deliver Ze MiG to new owner, in Dordogne. After wanting to make sure that all is well, I had spoken to my local mechanic, also Nick in Burton, and then had a local independent inspector friend take a drive to check things out on Thursday before the long journey ahead, and he said the car drives very well, all working fine, and car is in "excellent condition" in his opinion. Nice one :-)

So after an emotional, not say costly, 15 months of ownership, by the end of which we will have ridden over 21000 miles together, the Black Pearl is being handed over looking, sounding and driving better then when I took over as custodian, so I can feel good about handing over in good heart and good conscience. Thanks for all your help from time to time lads.

Au revoir!

[LeRoiDeLaRue]

ah ey Harry that's really kind of you, Thank you man (Correction - dunno where I got 21000 odd miles from - I had done by time of journey's end, 14700 since purchase)

It was an emotional journey. From home to Portsmouth - where I saw QM2 floating along after watching her leave from Liverpool only 3 weeks ago - I got the usual MWay 21.5 mpg.

Great overnight ferry crossing to Le Havre, some good people to chat with but a decent sleep, no lounging in the bar. Then the strangeness of the driving abroad experience. Wits to the fore. After nearly 450 miles, that little irritating squeak from the rear right started. It only happened since new brake pads were fitted back in March around 4 thou ago. On and off, not there all the while. But it was loud today. Brakes working great though, dab em and the squeak lessened. Having identified, but not booked, an hotel just this side of Nantes, I was delighted to make it there by 4pm; but it was not "overlooking" any river, although with hindsight I ought to have accepted the luxury and tranquillity and enjoyed the beautiful La Chapelle Sur L'Erdre village nearby, as let's face it, I have a river to overlook back home ... But I headed into Nantes, seeking a 4 star a pal had found using her posh phone from back home. But no chance. I spotted a Novotel opposite the Loire so called in and got me a room overlooking the river; hooray. Mission day one accomplis ... or so I thought. Blonde French receptionist, who had a go at the English tongue, proper decent n all, she gave me the code for the underground car park ..... down the twisting, corkscrew to the right, steep, narrow, granite-kerb-lined path to the elecky door ... where was the code pad ...? BACK at the top of the steep, narrow, twisting, granite-kerb-lined path .... reversed back up using each mirror, made it - a little whiff of clutch pad due to the steepness and need to hold on the bite due to steering niceties ... leaned over in neutral with (recently readjusted handbrake on of course), put the code in, green light, so carefully down the steep, narrow, granite-kerb-lined , twisting slope to the garage door , which opened and I carefully tried to get the car - whose turning foibles we all know and ... accept and learn to adapt to, to protect and be safe, and .... was that the rear right wheel touching the kerb there ... ? on the final sticky-out bit of the corner before the doorway ...??!! into the garage, leap out and ... greeted by a full third of the newly refurbed wheel paint ripped from the rim ... no damage atall to the tyre but .... gutted? I was in bits. Told the French bird, asked her to get me an alloy wheel repair man out , using franglais. But she came to the garage to have a look with me - I think she was enchanted cos I aint the prettiest but the car must have sounded sexy as when I had pulled up outside the door a little earlier (no spaces to park up top like ...) so she came to the garage with me and the wheel was well beyond local repair man yellow pages mobile guy stuff, which she spotted herself. So I started up to park better and of course, like sodding Herbie, the car decides for the first time since new fuel pump was fitted, to go all oh doctor, my furry front bottom is all hurty on me, with that fuel rail evap crap, in a hot garage, and ran like a bag of nails, with all throat clearing throttle blipping efforts making less dent on proceedings than a bladdered Loire smoking drunk farmer might achieve. So that was what promised to be a beautiful relationship gone for le Richard. Anyway I thought, get a grip , get to yer room and shower and stare at the carpet and wonder what the hell do I tell Paul, still 250 miles away.

The other hotel girl later said, as we were both together, in the lift, "so you come from San Francisco then ...?" ... nah, I thought, don't even go there ..... I corrected her, I am from the City by the Bay, but Liverpool I said. Her mate must have somehow sensed a little yank tongue lurking within. Darn it I was close ...

So after an emotional hour collecting my thoughts - weeks of prep, all hopes of resources for trip to Australia pinned on the sale, the desire to deliver in first class nick, all maybe up in smoke ... then seeing on BBC world service telly a centuries old basilica in Nantes, somewhere across the water out there, was ablaze ... - it put things into perspective. I rang Paul. Squeak in same wheel which has had rim paint damaged ... ouch!. Somberly but trying to reassure me he kindly says lets see how it is when I arrive and we can work something out .... So I grew a set, dried my eyes and went and ate.

Interesting to note that they ask you how you want your duck and are impressed when you ask for the rare side of medium ....

So after a glass of red and a ricard, I went up in that lift again and was cheered up by a third of my bottle of wine wot I brung with me and a read and a chuckle. Out loud, at some of the stuff in my Private Eye mag.

Anyway , after a crap sleep, and a smorgasbord brekky, which included posh chocolate - Jacky Mason is right, and all that was missing was alfalfa to get stuck between yer teeth - I asked the manager to guide me up the slope; he had some sympathy. So that was it, off I went to get lost around Nantes for half an hour before yippee! the road to Bordeaux led to all roads south, with a lessening angst as the car ate up the miles with relish.

The rest of the journey was made using a mix of toll A/Mways but mostly excellent D dual/single carriageways, with a diversion via the sleepy village of Angles where I visited a graveyard which purportedly holds a memorial to those who perished from their Halifax bomber on 24.07.1941 while bombing the Scharnorst. Locals were helpful to me finding the cemetery but I found no specific memorial yet alone a "cache", as I had no suitable phone to access the net to locate it; those who have and might wanna do the trip, use this:
http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/G...halifax-l-9527
The story of the mission is here:
http://www.archieraf.co.uk/archie/l9...story1941.html

But I said some prayers of thanks for their sacrifice and of hopes for peace between all peoples

I got off and made it to Les Ages, Brantome, after finding a cracking jet-wash set up outside Angouleme and filling the tank, as I wouldn't want new man to run the tank low.

Great driving roads around the area, which is just beyond Cognac - not time to visit La Rochelle or a distillery sadly but maybe some day ...

So after 4 visits to the petrol stations, I had got 21.6 mpg in UK; yesterday 23.5 mpg first day in France and today 24.8 mpg. Amazing! Best figures in the 14700 miles of ownership. I had driven at 70 mph on mways and anywhere up to 55 mph on the other a & b type roads, enjoying the gears, selecting the right one for gradients all the way. Never missed a beat, apart from that Herbie moment at the hotel.

Paul has a diesel ZT already. He and his wife Pam are great people, run a lovely guest house for those who want to improve their photography skills, within quintessentially French village scenery. They both loved the car when he took it out, I suggested he don't rely too much on the cruise control (which I had never even located yet alone tried :-D ) rather get changing gear and let her pop and burble to her heart's content. Well, he kindly offered me the full price we had agreed upon before I set off and will get the wheel repaired in time. He will look after the car properly I am confident of that. We had a bevvy and some gorgeous home cooked food; Pam dropped me off at Limoges airport next morning and home I came.

I will now bide my time, do without a car altogether til required; get to see the son in Oz for a month in a couple of weeks then come home, find work, save up and look forward to the day when I can find another V8, whether it be MG or TVR.

All I know is an MG 260 is a superb motor and has been a joy to drive every single day, no matter what the journey, work or pleasure. Thorough classic usable motor. Wonderful stuff. Shame about the loss but c'est la vie. Bon Voyage Le Pearl Noir. Bon Chance mon ami Paul. Good luck to all you guys on here. Safety Fast!!

[Nich]

Excellent read Jim, worthy of an entry into the Two-Sixties Blog methinks.

Nich.