GVK.

Great story bro, 15 years later

Pythagorus

Hi...I miss the car. The hameau in which I own a property was very reactive against non French...They made my life hell. I'd packed everything in Australia to go there,
hire apprentices and start a business. It never happened....I bought through an English RE agent who represented as it turned out, their unsavoury reputation.
I decided against buying one of his cars..a lowered 'hotted' Benz brought across from 'this blessed plot..this earth this realm.England' which I discovered had
no chance of immatriculation.

Problems occurred which put me in contact with his principal and an array of lies. I stood my ground. In conference with him and the Notaire, I had recorded every detail
of conversations so the humbug fell away. He offered to forgo the commission...which pleased the Notaire and displeased the agent...it seems. How? Well I'd bought a
very nice standard BX Citroen after extreme temptation from a rarer one with factory side- draft webers. I parked the BX in my grange When I returned to France I
found all the lines to the shocks cut. No prizes for guessing who did that. I decided that giving him a good old Aussie hiding would not be wise if I wanted to stay. I
had sports shocks fitted to the carduring the repair and replaced the standard shocks them before selling it. Hmmm...where the hell are they!!?..

I bought then the Sapphire from eBay...(the BWW six series I bought from UK is another tale). I likes the Cosworth but missed the handling I was used-to. In Australia
every car from the Buick 8's I rebuilt to this day has been done at Heasman Steering in Sydenham NSW. They have no peer...I've been a client now for 56 years and
did try Pedars once and Selby...good people but Heasman is the Prince..and Bilstein agent with unsurpassable machinery.

I collected parts via eBay to do the head...expecting to be in France the next year. Then I began work overseas and time flew. The car is on blocks on a trailer on
blocks!!..If it's not too 'off the point' I'll one day tell the trailer-BMW story. One of the items I consistently missed on eBay was the electric apparatus for the sunroof.
(someone got one to spare?). By now....as well as worrying about any acid etching on the crank I will have clutch and brake issues...likely exhaust also....and radiator...
and mice?...and heartbreak really...or maybe it's all recoverable with tear-down.

Hopefully I'll get there this year and see where it stands. Meanwhile in 2007 I flew there from a job in Koreas (S)...another story...to find much of my roof blown-off.
Rain and snow had done a lot of damage over I suppose several years. Mes ^%$**&^%#@ 'riverains' didn't give a toss..'bad luck Australien heheheh'...no-one
tried to contact me they just cleaned up the fallen tiles in the general area and let it rot. I rewired it all using pvc conduit in lieu of the steel, replaced flooring and
much other work...It's almost fine now.. I wonder if any of you chaps are down that way (South of Limoges) and with whom I could make contact.

I spent many thousands having a new roof built (entirely), the windows changed to double-glazed and the tiles replaced for the grange. To protect the Cosworth
I built a carport inside the grange to hopefully stop any damage from falling tiles. I didn't expect to be away as long as I have so I hope the carport still stands...
I'd brought the wrong keys over so couldn't start the car...or get into it. Brilliant!! It has the leather seats, sunroof obviously also and is a nice car and on blocks
with blocks also under the wheels should not suffer too much suspension rubbers distortion or tyre damage though they are too old now to be used I think...

I wouldn't be surprised it Subaru copied the Cosworth concept and I recently bought a wrx here, which has survived very well though at some stage having a
315kW engine now replaced with some standard EJ20 with I believe, 'forged' pistons. The doors close like a "Rolls" on my 2001 Bugeye's 300,000kM chassis and the
horrible, repulsive practically and philosophically and in any other way, Chinese coil-overs are being replaced by 2004 STI shocks from a Japanese 'parts' import.
"Mmmm...lovely pink!...look nice with half stockings or suspenders...) It's hard to believe the delirious wrx owners buy this Chinese rubbish for their cars. Its
omnipresent on eBay. For me it's Bilstein "I take no less" though or on one occasion when unavailable for my Fiat sports......KYB. That said...it's only
'authenticity' which is placing the s/h but good STI parts on my wrx...next time it will be Bilstein. A genuine Fuji strut brace turned up (not pretty like 'aftermarket')
and extended caster arms and front sway bar from same STI.

Has anyone experience with the Bilsteins on their 4WD Sapphire? and what type?...presumably some sports-setting.I'm not a raving fan of strut braces but
on either 2wd or 4wd has anyone good/bad/waste of time/whatever experience with them and also with caster mods?

I'm on top of the theory of long term storage of Cosworth yet I wonder whether some of you might give me your own experiences of problems encountered
with long term storage. In the 'other story' I bought a Sierra (4 wd..not Cosworth...sound right?) which I think a much prettier car than the Sapphire. Unfortunately
it has some rust and the motor periodically declined starting. Typical Ford? and it also is in the grange. Here as well as the Subaru I have a Carlsson 2.3 and
an Anniversary SAAB both doing nothing. It's time to cut the umbilical!!...but when you love your cars...that's not easy is it!!I have no interest in 'hotting up' my
Sapphire..but I want to save it. Nice car.