Introduction

Today’s post by the Petrolhead is a little different in that it involves my daughter’s car.

One Owner – A Little Old Lady

We have the original logbook service record of the first owner (a little old lady!).

The Colt’s Journey Through the Family

The Colt has a long history in our family – it started os my mother’s car and ended up as Jess’s L-Plater.  Jess drove it to University for 3 years until she bought a nearly new Pulsar. Then the Colt was back in my garage (no one would buy it) until Jess decided to get rid of her new car(Nissan Pulsar) and save money with the old girl!

DIY Repairs and Restoration Begins

I will be running through a few of the repairs I have done over the years as an example of the type of things you can attempt yourself. The first is the facelift we gave the paint and a rusty door.

The Rusty Door Has to Go

When the Colt arrived from Albany,, it way very sound, having completed over 160000kms. Most of the driving it was used for was over long country miles rather than short city,suburbanb driving. The Colt had been kept in a carport or shed most of its life,, and so the interior was pretty good with a few chips on the paint outside.

In the Chook Shed… with Mice

Having said that, I do remember that the last place it was stored was the old chicken shed.  Dad was building a new double garage eventually (for his 4WD and caravan), but in the meantime, the old rickety shed that passed as a garage was for the old Subaru station wagon and his motorbike – oh yeah, and a tractor. So the Colt was parked under the old chook shed roof. Now, whilst there, it became a favourite home for a family of mice.

Here is the old shed when it was new – Dad and I built it in 1999.

Now mice like a warm place to live away from the cats and out of the weather. The inside of a car matches those requirements fairly easily. Over the next 12 months of infrequent use, the mice visited several times, and eventually, the inevitable happened: one passed away. Now the old fellow could not just drop dead on the floor mat, no, he had to crawl into the ducting inside the dash!

Here is a shot of the shed in 2003. It had been a chook shed and is now a carport!

We eventually rolled the car out and gave it a clean up and polish, and of course, the first day out in the head,t this dreadful smell rises out of the vents! I am sure it smells like something dead! I volunteer to get to the bottom of the problem and work my way through the dash looking for evidence of the smell’s source.

The Dash Tear-Down and Discovery

Well, after half an hhourur I decide it has to be in the duct, ing so I pull out the dash fascia and dismantle the vent system. Sure en,ough the mummified remains of a msit sits squarely in front of the heater core. I remove the mouse and clean up the best I can before spraying large amounts of eucalyptus oil into the tubing. This covers the bad s,mel and eventually, no trace of the pong is evident in the car.

The Aftermath and Eucalyptus Solution

I never told Jess about the mouse for a few years since it was to be her first car, and you never know how people might react when they know such details!

The Final Hand-Off

Shortly after all this dad bought his new Jackaroo and Caravan and so they offered the car to Jessica. We did not want to drive it all the way to Perth so I managed to get it on a back-loaded semi-trailer for $100.  A bargain, considering it would cost $200 to hire a car trailer and move it myself!