164 MAKE A WISH(BONE)...

The new year has seen Carl ramp up the work on Bert, his beautiful black Abarth. The little fella was in for a service and MOT. What he left with was £1200 worth of work! Ouch!

As part of the MOT inspection, the mechanic found a few jobs that needed to be done, including the strut top mounts on both sides, the wishbones on both sides, and the front discs and pads. The good news was that the parts were relatively cheap; the bad news was that the labour charges were crippling.

The parts came in at less than £300, but the labour was almost £700! Then there is the VAT on top of everything, making it an expensive trip to the garage. But as Carl said, it is stuff that needed to be done before the rally, and he is happy to pay for it, and I agree with him.

I plan to do something similar in April. I want to get the local garage to get Abbie, my beautiful white Abarth, up on the ramp and ask them to give it a good going-over to see if there is anything that needs doing before we do a punishing 2500-mile round trip in a car designed to pop the shops and back.

The last couple of times Abbie has been in, the mechanics have mentioned that she has had work done on her, which makes my teeth itch. Hopefully, it is just enthusiastic home modders and not someone trying to cover up crash damage. Nothing was mentioned in the AA inspection, though, so I might be worrying unduly.

While they have got the car in, I'll look to get the red brake callipers fitted and new discs and pads fitted all around. I promised my mum that Carl and I wouldn't have a go at changing them over a few cans of Guinness, as she was worried sick. I don't blame her!!!