If it is ever desired to retire the venerable Commer (or restrict it to supporting historic race meetings) the modern equivalents may be at hand.........
Well here we are again. As some know, and other's probably don't, the eponymous Modern Commer Replacement is actually older although equally antiquated as our old pal the Commer. And this year I decided it was time to travel down by classic car for the first time since 2008. So I have been fettling Mr Evans (or Horace to those to whom he has been formally introduced) our Rover 110 ready for the journey. He is in good spirits although the poor old chap probably doesn't know what is about to hit him.
Anyhow as part of the preparations, I thought I would take the precaution of having him MOTed prior to the off, just to be sure. It doesn't really matter as he was built in 1963 and does not legally require one. Or so I thought... I was advised the cut off date for not requiring a test is 1960.
Mr Evans failed. Or rather, I failed Mr Evans. So the race is now on to rebuild the excessively complicated system of rods, levers, clevis pins, ratchets and linkages which make up the infamous Rover P4 shepherd's crook" handbrake sytem. And also somehow bodge the clapped-out old window wipers to work sufficiently to pass the test.
Components have been dispatched from as far afield as Accrington and Dudley and are eagerly awaited. There's a tension in the air, a last minute will-he-or-won't-he frisson of exitement. I had forgotten the exquisite cruelty, self-abnegation you might say, in such a lacksadaisical approach to the requirements of Ministry. I'm loving every minute of the drama, I feel sure the Commer would approve.
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