In My Humble Opinion
Mike on obsolete models.
Of the three cars in my household, two of them have zero support from the manufacturer for obvious reasons. First, there’s my Rover 75 1.8 and, second, a recently-acquired SAAB 9-3 cabriolet.
Whenever a car-maker goes to the wall, the first thing that happens is mass panic as frightened owners evacuate their motors as if they’re about to explode any second. However, I have never been afraid of buying a car even if the manufacturer is history. To this day, I maintain that a Rover is as good as any other old secondhand car. Even though my 75 hasn’t been built since 2005, all the consumables like filters, coolant and lubrication are available off the shelf. Locating items of trim can be tricky and a certain amount of militarystyle thinking has to be applied to some repairs, but that’s all part of the fun.
Where the wheels sometimes fall off, so to speak, is when it comes to dealing with the plethora of garages up and down the land who claim to be ‘specialists’. How my spirit falls when I hear a business described as such. A prime example of what happens was when I was prompted to phone a SAAB specialist after running the 12V battery flat.
Now, my 9-3 requires a fair bit of work to be used as a daily driver. The front suspension emits more clatters, bangs and groans than the upstairs room in a cheap motel. Having fitted some new speakers into the front doors and repaired the cigar lighter, I found the battery was flatter than Norfolk.
I used the 75 to defibrillate the SAAB and she fired up a treat. Only now, every time I started the engine, the display showed ‘Immobiliser knackered’ or words to that effect. Reading through the SAAB forums on the interweb, looking for similar hapless owners’ solutions, was like hitting my head against a wall. Bloody forums drive me insane! If I post a picture of a black car someone else will claim to have three. And two shades darker.
So out came my little black book of trusted garages and I was saddened to find that a former highly-respected local SAAB dealer, Turners Hill Garage, had closed down. A general search for SAAB folk in my area and the Home Counties then ensued. I spoke to four workshops. One told me I had blown up the ECU and could be looking at a bill for more £500, while another claimed to have never heard of such a problem. A third rang me back five or six days later, sounding as clued up as my ginger cat.
A seemingly intelligent bloke in the Brighton area told me to “just live with it for now” and, the next time I was in his area, to pop in and he’d plug in his TECH2 software and delete the error for less than the cost of a round of drinks. I asked him if my car would still run and function as normal with a blown ECU, only to be told: “Oh yeah, cars are funny like that”. Like I said, my heart breaks sometimes.
Needless to say, there are some top-class specialists out there. My pal Pedro runs In-autos in Newchapel, which caters for and restores Mercedesbenzes, and he has customers flocking to his door, sometimes from overseas. But it pays to be cautious. A sales friend of mine often jokes about being wary of company names – he says if a company has either ‘specialist’ or ‘solutions’ in its name, you will be in for bitter disappointment. While that’s a sweeping generalisation, it is true that some of the best mechanics operate from places you have never heard of.
I’m reminded of a tiny workshop in Carrington Street, Kettering, which specialised in Ladas, trading under the imaginative name of Carrington Cars. I got to know them when I owned one of the aforementioned commie clunkers. The workshop throughput was incredible, despite the place being smaller than a dot and blacker than the blackest hole you’d find this side of Calcutta.
With a little bit of creativity, running an older car can be just as enjoyable as a new one – I should know as I have been running wrecks for the best part of 30 years. But when it comes to relying on garages for obsolete brands you need to be informed and know who to trust.
“If a company name includes the words ‘specialist’ or ‘solutions’, you’re in for a disappointment”