It wasn't me!

Nope, not for a while now.

The old ragtop is off the road for a while for various reasons - tax, MOT, no wheels…

It all went wrong after the head gasket went.  I got it fixed, but in the meantime, during weeks of summer rain the front discs rusted and wouldn't clean up under normal use.  Braking felt lethal, in fact, so I took them off to clean them, and that's when my troubles really started.

One of the brake guide pins had seized in the carrier, and the hex socket rounded off so I had to cut the brake hose and dismantle it away from the car.  (While the bits were off, they were cleaned and given a coat of black Hammerite.)  Then of course the brake pipe broke, so I made new ones and changed both front hoses too.  After that, time to bleed the system… and the bleed nipple in the back cylinder broke off.  And the hex socket cap screw holding the cylinder to the back plate rounded off.  And the brake pipe broke when I tried to detach the whole back plate and cylinder assembly from the car.  And the bearings and shoes and drums all looked bad, so I got new ones and cleaned and sprayed the drum back plates too.

And then I lost the will to continue what with the rain and general domestic/family raising issues.  I'm hoping for some better weather now its winter(!) so I can get it back into one working bit.  I've got another car for the old to/from work issue- the 60-mile round trip wasn't doing the ragtop any favours.  When it is back together though - any suggestions for a good classic car insurer?

don't let it get you down, think at least when these  jobs are done it should last a lot longer. and if it were a modern car you would still have problems but would probly need to take it to a garage and get ripped off. so think of how much it would of cost if you had taken it to a garage, and the money you have saved yourself, good luck and keep at it.
 try footman james for insurance, if you are a member you get a discount too.

Thanks Jim.  

As I used to say, it is more a hobby than a means of transport, but it ended up doing nearly 18,000 miles in its last year of active service.  Too many more years like that would kill it completely

I am a paid member until January, but my 5 stars seem to have gone astray.  Thanks for the advice regarding FJ.