Work has been, quite frankly, hellish! 2 years ago I started a HUGE project, which had been slowly consuming all my time. It completed just before Christmas and ended in a rather fantastic 84 hour week.
Whilst the business sees this as the "end" of the project, its actually the beginning of a whole heap of more work. The glimmer of hope is that 2026 could be the year I take early retirement. So, that's whats been keeping me away from the forum, but I've not been slacking in the 480 department.Project count going into 2026? 16 cars! Essentially, if I had an S and Paris edition, I'd have every 480 model made! Lets start with some of the known ones.
My blue turbo - 4 years ago it just need putting back together after its respray. Now? Yeah, still the pretty much the same! Currently planned to take me Germany, so I'm working on reinstating the AC, which involves converting from r12 to R134a.
Britney, the steel grey Turbo Auto? Yup, still needs that brake pipe and quick recommission.
My Green turbo? Currently Sorn'd and debating whether to finally paint it. Every panel has what I call "giffer repairs", where the previous owner parked by touch, then read that section in the Haynes book of lies about body repair and followed it. So it's kind of "original" but could be so much better.
The celeb Auto - Yup, still have it - Technically its up for sale.
Seymour? Yup, still have it - Technically its up for sale, for the same reason - I don't like red cars and have way too many cars!
Onto the lesser known stuff:
After helping Will get his GT back on the road, I then agreed to help Oli (yes, the infamous flipping bangers car).
That's coming along nicely, but I shall let him do an update once its all done.
I've also got a couple of Will's cars - a really nice grey early car (red stripe seats, B18e engine), that just needs (and this will become a theme), a touch of rear sill work before being MOT'd.
The second Will car is a marmite one. Its a metallic red, 2 litre manual. However, it's suffering from massive lacquer peel.
Its horrific, yet somehow adds to it's charm. It drives superbly so just needs a light recommission and MOT.
Celebrations? Yup! Got 2 of them on the go. A 30k mile red manual, and a storm grey auto.
The red one just needs some time and mechanicals, where as the storm grey is going to need some sill work.
A GT? Yup, got one of those too!
That's awaiting full paint, meaning arch/sill work is needed.
A two tone? Yup, got one of those too. Technically its up for sale after a quick rescue.
Currently MOT'd but may need sill work before next one.
Rescue cars? Yup, two of those here - R1 (the orginal) that's still got its infuriating idle issue as well as a busted fuel line. R8 the black turbo auto, which needs a little rear sill work,
And finally, and it will be getting it's own thread, I have the barn find car.
That too is being prepped for Germany so that one of my friends can come along for the experience.
I've also been keeping myself busy on the parts front. Some new plastic parts will be being released soon - Just undergoing testing. Then I'm also working with my bodyshop guy to see if we can produce repair panels for the infamous rear sill problem.
So.... hopefully all that explains the quietness; I'm still very much here and active, just less visibly so!
