Mayday!
5^th May 2025

Not actually May Day, but a few days prior, was turning into what might be considered "a f*ck-up". I drove over to my brother's building-site of a house (in my 1978 Ford Capri) to help him shovel the remnants of the ground floor into a skip, but he wasn't there. I phoned, I txt'd, I drank some of the flask of coffee I'd taken with me. I even had a nice chat with his neighbour. But after 45 minutes I headed back home.

On the way back I called in at a hardware store but when I came to leave my car wouldn't start. It just turned over. It has had some hiccups before but I'd always been able to get it started again. Not this time. I tried all sorts, even going back into the hardware store for various sprays. A number of people came over and offered their assistance but one guy who lived nearby stuck with me, lets call him Glyn, and in the words of Usagi Electric, "he's an absolute legend". Glyn lent me a spark plug socket (we ascertained there was no spark) and suggested a local car parts place. I headed there on foot in the hope that they'd either have something in stock, maybe a distributor cap because someone had said mine looked a bit suspect, or perhaps they could get one in before the end of the day.

All they had in stock was an ignition coil, but they ordered me a distributor cap that I could pick up in a couple of hours. On the way back to my car I rested a little in a local park to eat some sandwiches I'd bought earlier to share with my brother - it was one of the hottest days of the year so far (perhaps why my car wasn't starting). Then at my car I swapped over the coil, but still it wouldn't start so I swapped it back for the original so I could return it later when I collected the distributor cap.

All parts easily accessible... orange dizzy cap, and coil being the canister to the right.

Another guy pulled along side in his Land Rover and provided much valued assistance before having to carry on with his day. Shortly thereafter Glyn then pulled up in his camper and after filling him in he offered me a lift back to the car parts place for that distributor cap. He even kindly waited outside to give me a ride back, even when progress was slow in the store. And then he also took me a little further up the road to call in at a garage who someone else had reminded me of, but they were out. As we neared my car Glyn asked again if I needed anything and since I'd been needing to spend a penny since back at my brother's house he took me round to his and even made me a cup of tea. As I said, an absolute legend. Relieved and refreshed once more I headed back to my car and did the simple task of swapping the distributor cab, being sure to swap over one lead at a time so I didn't mess that up. I wasn't hopeful that this would solve the not-starting issue, thinking instead it must be part of the electronic ignition system that had been fitted by a previous owner to replace the points (hence trying the coil), but... it friggin' started, just with a puff of white smoke from all the stuff I'd sprayed into the carburettor and the failed cranking attempts.

I drove round to Glyn's place to thank him and he beamed with delight when I pulled up, shaking my hand ecstatically when I got out to thank him for his help and if nothing else, the moral support; he really appreciated that I'd called round to report the success; I felt like I was not only thanking only him, but all the other people that had provided help (it help to drivie a classic car that people just love to come over and talk about!)

When cars break down they seem to turn my day and world upside-down while my brain churns through all of the possible solutions and "What am I going to do now?" and "How am I going to get home?". In other good news, I challenged myself with checking the valve clearances last week and this was the first drive after tinkering with them; somewhat miraculously I seemingly did a good job there (the last time I was involved in such a task was with my dad... 20+ years ago)... and with the addition of the new distributor cap "she's purring wonderfully" - Glyn said so.