PUMA SAVED FROM SCRAP
James buys our old £500 Challenge Puma, but is it going to cost more to save it than to kill it?
2000 FORD PUMA
It comes as no surprise that I’ve always been a big fan of our £500 Challenge Ford Puma. When we first bought the car, I was not only shocked you could get a low-mileage example for half a grand but also how much fun it is to drive. It’s a real driver’s car – you can throw it around all you want and it’ll just laugh at you and ask for more!
So when it was time for our bargain threesome to move on to pastures new, I immediately laid claim to the silver pocket rocket because I really wanted a modern classic for short journeys. The Mondeo is great but much more of a cruising machine for motorway driving.
There was just one problem – the Puma had failed its MoT magnificently. We’re not talking a smeary wiper blade here (actually, it did need new wipers) and a loose nut here and bolt there – oh no. It also needed new rear bushes, which would explain the year-long squeaking – that, or there was a rodent living in the wheel arches. The brakes were also below par and the headlamp switch on the dashboard had given up the ghost. At one point it looked as though some of the dash would have to be replaced completely; this was beginning to look like a very expensive £500 car.
I decided to take the risk given the low mileage and quality of the engine, which could last for years if I treat it well. So once in my caring ownership I took the second silver Ford on my fleet down to Dawson Motors in Peterborough. There the same issues were diagnosed but thankfully the work and parts prices weren’t too scary! Mr Dawson gave me a fair price for the parts and the work involved, and agreed to get it MoT’d once the Puma’s many maladies had been fixed.
The bushes, brakes and wipers were easy enough to find, and fitting them turned out be a simple process, too. Fixing the headlamp switch entailed fitting a whole new unit, however, which we eventually found at a local scrap yard. One man’s old discarded Puma is James Sadlier’s lifesaver! With the work completed, it sailed through its MoT and was ready for collection.
I couldn’t wait – not just for a year’s worth of fun driving, but also just to experience the ride now that the rear suspension bushes were functioning perfectly. Having taken Editor Simister for the run in the freshly fettled Ford he exclaimed: ‘The drive is far better now that it’s been sorted. It’s much more fun!’
So, happy Puma, happy owner – what could possibly go wrong? Everything was going swimmingly until I returned to the Puma one evening only to find that another car had clattered into one of the rear wheelarches and left a scuff and dent behind. At the risk of sounding like Victor Meldrew, I couldn’t believe it – I’d only had the car for a week and someone had bashed into the side of it, and just driven off without admitting any responsibility. Nice.
So, with one round of fixes complete, I now need to see about getting the accident damage fixed – I don’t want this car to look like it’s been banger racing!