Paul Coleman

The other thing to have is a realistic agreed valuation for the insurance

I've got a pair of those rubber cam cover gaskets that Gary Kemp sells ready to fit. Although mine have never leaked a drop I am going to replace the cam covers for a pair I've had powder coated as the old ones have the paint flaking off them. I also need to sort out my o/s rear caliper as it sticks when you leave the handbrake on and is annoying me. Although it's always been like it I haven't found the motivation to fix it Then there are the electric windows... oh dear!

@giorgio67 refurbished his gearbox and did it all himself I believe?

@Tony K is the US S1 expert.

For me, the journey was far more enjoyable than the destination. I enjoyed restoring my S1 more than I enjoy owning it and driving it. I have never been a petrol head and I'm far too old to be a boy racer and it was more about automotive art than horsepower but then I always was a bit odd!

Yeah I think you should do a white one next

I'm going on a company visit to Marshall's a week on Monday taking some of our students on a jolly. I'll see if there are any old cardboard boxes on the shelf covered in dust hahaha

It's in the workshop manual. What's the 'cannonball' S1?

Well at least it lived to fight another day. Must be a very rare car in Japan these days!

And what happened to it? DVLA says untaxed since 1994.

Cool let's have some pictures

It doesn't take long to get a car in and out really. If it snows they can collapse so you have to brush the snow off but they really do work as they blow dry air over the car which will always lift any moisture off the car and if you leave the windows down slightly it will also dry the interior out whilst it's in there. I currently have 3 cars in storage under cover and each of them is in an inside Carcoon to protect them. They work really well.

I used an outdoor Carcoon to store my e-type shell in for a couple of years and some of it was bare steel with no paint at all and during its time in the Carcoon it never got any worse. They claim it will even dry out a wet car so it should sort out your problem. The only downsides are the cost at about £600 and the fact that the outer cover will only last about 3 years before you have to replace it at a cost of around £250.

Are you absolutely sure? Have you actually added up all the invoices to check - I'm not so sure...

Your gear problems are probably down to adjustment of the linkages and crossgate cable. Don't be tempted to go down the poly engine mount route - the exhaust side will melt. @jonroberts can tell you all about poly mounts on an S1.