28.10.09: Snotter raises cash for charity
DRIVE a snotter of a scrapper, said Hyundai, and raise cash for WOMAC. Sounded pretty good to us, we reckoned.
After all, isn’t Bangers4BEN all about driving old cars over zany distances, and raising cash for charity? This would thus be good practice.
One Rover Maestro was thus duly delivered. Complete with exposed primer, smell of dog, approximate door locks and a warning to watch the temperature dial. Lordy.
Your man Richard Aucock was the chap set the task of driving it for the weekend. And, despite very low expectations, came away surprisingly not-completely-appalled.
Old cars – they sure are roomy, you know. Boast superb visibility. Prove easy to get in and out of (aided by the Maestro’s near-SUV-like ride height). Yes, they may be equipped to a level below that even of the cheapest Perodua, but who needs electric windows, anyway?
More challenges presented themselves during the drive, mind. No power assistance to the steering meant 900 turns lock-to-lock, and a near-miss within the first five yards (man, that clutch was sharp/throttle sticky/choke-influenced cold engine tantrums dramatic).
1.3-litres of raw power, coupled with 1970s standards of crash protection, combined to give reasonably sprightly pace, and the surprise inclusion of a fifth gear to the shockingly vague ‘box meant motorways weren’t the drama I was expecting. No, I couldn’t hear the stereo over the wind racket, but it was fine – wasn’t as if I had to drive to, say, Scotland and back.
Instead, I drove a mere 500 miles over the baking-hot weekend, only resorting to turning the heater on full, in an attempt to manage the flashing engine temperature warning light, five times. It even started first time, once. Completely reliable, see.
Yup, as I told Hyundai, after the highly amused chap came to collect it, the experience ‘wasn’t tortuous but it was different to a nice modern car.
‘All the sensations were so different – the choke, the smell of petrol, needing arm muscles to turn the wheel. I kept forgetting there was no central locking so I am surprised it didn’t get nicked.’
No danger of that, many pointed out. Stuff ‘em, I said. I survived – longing for a modern car, in all fairness – but proved that there’s still something to like in all those ropy old bangers many a car dealer currently has outside, plastered in scrappage promotional livery. Indeed, I wouldn’t be surprised if easy-wicket thieves start turning their attention to these.
But the best news is that, like next months’ Bangers4BEN challenge, I helped raise cash for charity. Hyundai promised to donate cash for every mile covered – meaning the cancer charity is now a healthy £750 better off.
BEN will be even richer when Car Dealer Magazine readers do as I did. Don’t worry, is my advice. There’s nothing to really fear.
Just a heck of a lot to daunt…
Richard
Tags: bangers4ben, charity, new car scrap, scrappage