Popular Post Poptosis Posted July 17, 2016 Popular Post Share Posted July 17, 2016 I'm am no longer a lurking imposter but the proud owner of a 2l zetec wide bodied westie! Just as ordered it is touring friendly and a very lovely entry into this mad world of yours. Our first 24 hours of Westfield ownership was however was more drama than we bargained for as I'll explain. Apologies for the lengthy post. Firstly I must extend my gratitude to clansman who replied within 15 minutes to my plea for an independent appraisal for a car over 600 miles from my home town. He went way out of his way to view the car, check it thoroughly and advise me through the purchase. Thank you Sir. You are a gent. My wife and I had an uneventful journey up to Aberdeen on Thursday. Traveling on Virgin first class meant we were plied with gin and cake at virtually every hour! Scenery was spectacular and we enjoyed the added luxury of reclining seats and a quiet cab, full in the knowledge that the return journey might not be quite so salubrious - how little did we know. We stayed at the Caledonian where we met clansman for the first time in person. We chatted cars over a pint but called it a night early so we could get up to Newburgh in the morning to view and hopefully collect a lovely blue and yellow factory build car. We caught a bus and arrived at the sellers house with the car all as described. We gave the car another thorough check and blasted it up the road, then exchanged cash and we were on our way - simple. We had planned to split the journey into two parts. 5 hours plus a couple of stops would get us to the Yorkshire Dales and a beautiful country inn, however about an hour after setting off our fortunes changed. The weather started to set in and rain began to fall. We found though at 40 mph no rain was entering the cockpit so we pressed on. Soon after this, disaster struck. The clutch cable snapped. We were on a busy A road in the rain with an all but dead car, 600 miles from home with conformation from the insurance company that our breakdown cover started 24 hours after the start of the policy (1 hour previous only). Fortunately the cable went just as we passed the only house on the stretch of road so pushed her into the driveway whilst we figured out what to do. My wife googled local garages and the first one we called took sympathy on us, dropped everything and came out with a recovery truck. After about 40 minutes they managed to load the car on but they were nervous minutes for me as they kept fouling the tow hook on the nose cone, jamming their winch and a whole host of other issues that weren't doing my blood pressure any good. Bear in mind for the majority of this time I was pointing at the sky with my handbrake on thinking who the hell are these guys !? We did finally get the car on the truck and back to the garage so that problem solving could begin. Clansman yet again was supporting from the wings, both practically by texting part numbers from Westfield and also by providing encouragement and emotional support! It became clear however we were not going to source a part. So a collective decision was made to A-team the sh*t of this issue - basically we needed a bodge. After some rummaging we found a couple of clutch cables knocking about in his garage off goodness knows what. We took the longest one and cut the pedal end nipple off. We then attached the clutch end first and fed it through the bulkhead offering it up to the pedal. The guys then found a bolt with an eye which they bored out to take the cable and screwed on bolts either end very tightly to sandwich grip the cable. Another pin assembly in place meant it rested neatly and securely on the clutch pedal. A quick test and tighten and we were in business. They had literally dropped everything for us and our new westie. Their regular customers kept calling in for their cars and they kept telling them they they had 'run into problems' so they could have their cars next week. I did feel quite guilty but was reassured that these customers would be fine waiting - who was I to argue anyway! Although the final fix was simple it took a long time to get there. The garage were supposed to close at 4pm but we rolled out of there at 6:30 - five hours after clutch snappage. This meant our hotel arrival time had been set back by the amount of time it was supposed to take to get there. It also meant we would be traveling at night and a storm was coming in. After a quick and dirty burger stop we got back on the road but after about another 30 minutes the 4 horses of the apocalypse managed to catch us up and they brought rain, a lot of rain. We got the wet weather gear on and quickly learnt its usefulness. I have slept in leaker tents but none that spray your face at 70 mph and immerse your right arm I a bucket of water. Visibility dropped to 100 metres and there was standing water everywhere. Night came and the whole experience intensified. One of our wipers was engaging with the glass, the other just waived around in the air. We had to slow to 40 or 50 mph and stay in the lane with the least water - mostly the middle. By this time it was 1 am so there was at least little or no traffic. We stopped every 45 minutes or so to rest, grab coffee and try and unjangle our nerves. Finally we pulled off the motorway, which we thought would relax matters, ohhhh no. The motorway was a breeze in comparison. It turns out our hotel is in the Shire and we would have to drive through Mordoor to get there. Immediately we got fog and if that wasn't bad enough there were enormous pot holes scattered everywhere like land mines. Fallen branches from the storm we strewn at every corner and flooded dips broached the entire width of the road. If that wasn't enough we had to contend with suicidal sheep running out of the fog into the road. You couldn't make it up. By now it is nearly 3 am and we are both exhausted. You can imagine our elation therefore when the sat nav sent us completely the wrong way and we had to back track for a couple of miles. We did eventually make it to the hotel of course but I have never concentrated so intensely for so long on anything. But all is well that ends well and the next morning was glorious. We had a superb breakfast and negotiated a late check out so we could have a restful morning. On setting off for leg two the sun was out. Having acquired more confidence in the bodged cable I was able to explore the car a little more and had a splendid drive out of the dales to join the motorway to bring our new toy home. We encountered no traffic and the sun shone almost all of the way. Never have I had such an enjoyable run on the M6! So we are official Westfield owners and there are many to thank for getting us here; the old chap who took us under his wing when the cable first broke, the good guys at the garage in Montrose who scraped us off the road and brought our car back to life and the hotelier who let us in at gone 3am and put rescue wine in our room. But if it hadn't been for the sage and sensible advice of the members of this club we might not have ended up with the right car for us. In particular though Clansman has earned the very highest of our gratitude for going way way beyond the call of duty. We are now looking forward to tinkering, driving and planning for a euro tour. Here starteth the real journey and lots of numpty questions from us! Paul and Amy 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup) Posted July 17, 2016 Share Posted July 17, 2016 What an adventure. Congratulations on the car and well done to all. You have now seen what this club is all about. The friendship is amazing and it never fails to amaze me on here, what people will do for others. It looks a very nice car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikef Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 What an initiation to Westfield ownership. Well done to you and all your helpers. It restores one's faith in human nature Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cheese Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Ha ha made me chuckle especially the bit about mordor When I purchased my first one I too caught for a bad storm and drove for four hours in the rain and I know what you mean about the right arm thing also my wipers packed in so vision wasn't great , but good story Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin (Mr T) Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Congratulations and a particular well done to Amy, if she is still going to co-pilot after that lot! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murraymint Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Sounds like you had a tough journey at the start, but worked out in the end...hope you enjoy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quinten Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 This is stuff of legends Well done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rab (bombero) Reid Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Well done Paul and Amy, and no more thanks for oor Campbell (clansman) - his heid will never fit back in his Westy! Well done to him though, really! Glad to hear that your baptism hasn't put you off ownership. So many buy the 'romantic ideal' of a Seven and then lambast them at the first sign of trouble .. embrace the angst, lol! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clansman Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Thank you Paul for the kind words...it was a pleasure to help and to meet you and Amy. We are all one big family in WSCC. You certainly had a baptism of fire for your very first Westfield journey. As they say onwards and upwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clansman Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howsafe Workwear and Safety Equipment Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 bl**** hell that makes my pick up story sound feeble Well done for sticking with it and what a great bunch of muggles and WSCC wizards you had to help you on your way 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingster Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Fantastic story and a true initiation into Westfield ownership - and one that sounds like it hasn't actually put you and (importantly) SWMBO off the idea for life! Top job by Clansman - goes to show what a great club we have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Barlow - Show and Events Co-ordinator Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Great Story Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhett Turner - Black Country AO Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 WoW what an adventure. Glad you made it home in the end. It good to see that there are still people who will go our of their way to help others. Lets home your future trips are less eventful. Welcome to the club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigHew Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Enjoyed reading your induction, talk about in at the deepend. You'll soon figure out what items should be in your "emergency" toolkit but you can never plan for every eventuality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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