| Author | Message | ||
     James Feller Unregistered guest Posted From: cpe-121-210-133-103.nsw.bigpond.net.au |
Good Morning All, I finally, after many years of thinking, procrastinating and generally 'farting' about, purchased my first Rolls. I looked all over the East Coast of Australia for a car good enough and suitable to my needs. Would you believe I ended up buying a car that was within 10 minutes of where I reside in North West Sydney. It's pedigree is without question, being delivered new to Australia in August 87 to York Motors Sydney who then delivered the car to its first owner. It is actually a Sept 86 build car, so in Aust that means EFI, which is a good thing. Colour is Cotswold with Cream interior with about 80K now. It has had 3 owners and has full books, papers and all its service history is without question. It truly is an immaculate car given it is now 20 years old. The 3rd owner I bought it from, owned it for 7 years and did only 7K in it in all that time!! he had 2 other vehicles so the Rolls was not used that much which did worry me a bit as most certainly these cars NEED to be driven more regularly. He was thankfully fanatical about maintenance and the car was serviced twice a year regardless of klms. Now, speaking of fanaticism with maintenance, I have new best friends in John Vawser Motors at Alexandria. After I collected the car from the now previous owner, one sunny afternoon about 2 months ago, I drove it straight down to this highly recommended Rolls mechanic in Sydney. Where upon I told him I want it right and don't want it back till it is. Needless to say it had a big service and lots of miscellaneous stuff done. It was away collectively for about 2 weeks. Heaps of stuff was done, services, 4 new Avons, many electrical bibs and bobs, spheres, too much to list really, but owing to the car's time sitting idle for so long to be expected. Needless to say, the bills were fairly brutal.... well into thousands.... but mechanically I realise most was preventative rather that desperate maintenance. My pet hate is oil leaks and it developed a weep the other week from the steering rack where apon it went straight to Vawsers again and a new or recon one was fitted without too much fuss. All this is leading somewhere and to the point I am going to make. Interestingly enough I started off, when I first got the car not liking it much to drive. Loved looking at it and washing and polishing it but actually driving it left me a bit cold. It was a bit creaky and a bit wallowy and its fuel consumption was horrendous! Now I know it is not going to be frugal with fuel thirst, having owned V8 Range Rovers for most of my adult life, fuel efficiency is near irrelevant but the Rolls was returning about 250klms to 80ltrs of fuel. This was simply profligate and I really assumed it would be better than this, god, it made the Range Rover look frugal! John, told me recently there was nothing more he could do or needed doing to it. In his opinion it was now near mechanically perfect, as any 20 year old Rolls could be. His parting words to me a few weeks back were 'drive the f+++ing thing', ' it needs driving'. Well, not to take his advice lightly I did just that and can report that over the last month or so the car, not my daily driver, has been regularly driven and on fast cruises, motorways and highways, it is simply astounding. Gone is the creaky feeling, wallowyness and general 'uncertain' performance. I can report that fuel consumption has improved 100%, literally! The car is simply so happy sitting at about 120, with cruise activated, climate control set, CD playing on the motorways that it hardly wants to stop. Its general handling is quite marvellous for a car of its size and age. Its goes, handles and stops with an alacrity that seems to be getting better the more I drive it. Clearly this is no Porsche 911 but neither was it meant to be. Simply cruising around in effortless comfort is its forte. I have enjoyed reading the many comments on this forum and can see that there are indeed enthusiasts everywhere. I would agree that these cars are meant to be driven and in fact, from personal experience, suffer if they are not. Happy Rollering and of course Bentleying around all. James (Message approved by david_gore) | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 753 Registered: 4-2003 |
Hi James, Welcome to the world of R-R/B custodianship and also to our Forum. I would appreciate you registering as a Forum member and also suggest you should consider joining the NSW Branch of the RROC[Australia] where you will make friends with our enthusiastic Spirit owners. I also suggest you should access and download a complete set of Bill Coburn's "Tee-One Topics" and Index as you will find a lot of useful information on Spirits for the hands-on owner. As my personal contribution, regular contributors would be aware of my "dirty weekend" preventative maintenance schedule to keep our cars alive, visible and above all happy. This schedule simply involves taking your partner for a round-trip of at least 500 Km every 2/3 months in your car to an overnight destination making sure the trip includes a high proportion of highway high-speed driving. The car will appreciate this and respond accordingly as you have found from what you have done already. Have fun and enjoy your vehicle as it will reveal unexpected benefits as you get to know it better. Kind regards David | ||
| James Feller Unregistered guest Posted From: cpe-121-210-133-103.nsw.bigpond.net.au |
Dear David, Thanks for the advice, where do I go to 'download' 'Tee One Topics' re your suggestion above? Although, to be perfectly frank, I am not really mechanically minded or of that bent.... True, I take a keen interest in odd noises, smells and warnings lights and routine checks et al that cars make and need so as to be cautious about the current condition of the vehicle. The obvious stuff like; oil and fluid checks, pressures and visual checks I do out of normal habit. I am fanatical about thorough maintenance of my cars no matter what it is I am driving. I really hate it when something does not work out of neglect or simply laziness in getting it rectified. I was brought up that way by my old man who always says, ' look after your cars mate and they will look after you '. To this I will say I am not a DIYer... frankly I don't have the patience or time and tinkering with major stuff on a Rolls or Bentley and even on my current Rangie Sport is simply a ' don't go there ' for me. Perhapes I need to make time?? The Roller does bring a huge smile to my face everytime I go down to my garage and I see it sitting there with a glittering sense of purpose! I am more interested in fostering a relationship with a trusted and knowledgeable mechanic who becomes if you like 'custodial' when I need things sorted out. However, advice and troubleshooting is most certainly welcome and I really have learned quite a bit from this forum about what to look for, keep and eye on and more importantly, what to ASK John about when he is servicing the car. I will register for this forum shortly, re RROCA, step ahead of you there old boy, already sent off the application and am just getting some photo's done this week for the 'car history' part of the application... do they want a blood sample too... Good idea re your 'preventative maintenance schedule' as all parties concerned, including the Spirit benefit huh! I look forward to attending some of the Club days and spending some time talking to other RR/B nutters, sorry, should say 'enthusiasts' like me. I intend, over the next few years, adding to my collection, not John Laws territory I am sorry to say, but an early 90's Turbo R and my looooong coveted mid 80's convertible Corniche will keep me very happy till I start loosing hair and need two inch thick glasses. Cheers for now. J (Message approved by david_gore) | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 754 Registered: 4-2003 |
Hi James, Just to reassure you that this forum is open to everyone not just DIY fanatics - one of our key objectives is to provide information in every-day language that will help interested owners understand the problems that may arise, what the professional repairer has to do to fix the problem and thus help explain the time and cost involved. A full set of "Tee One Topics" can be downloaded from: http://www.rrbew.co.uk/TeeOneMenu.htm Robert Wort's "Crewe'd Jottings" also contains useful help and advice arising from the activities of the Victorian Branch Self-Help Group. These can be downloaded from the following link: http://www.rrbew.co.uk/Crewed%20Jottings.htm I know you will find these very useful in getting to know your car better. Re your RROC club membership - the car history is an important part of our Club archives given the longevity of our vehicles. Most custodians are very interested in the history of their car and the archives allow this information to be available to them. The factory records covering manufacture of your car should be available from Hunt House in the UK through the following link: https://www.rrec.org.uk/website/public/history/Construction%20&%20Test%20Records.asp If your vehicle was delivered by York Motors, the service records should be available from the Sir Henry Royce Foundation through the following link: http://royce.org.au/SHRFServiceRecordsAndContact.html To prove how eclectic our club is; there was no way I would ever pass a blood test yet they accepted me as a member  . Regards David | ||
| RR Forums Administrator Board Administrator Username: admin Post Number: 63 Registered: 10-2002 |
You'll find Tee-One Topics a bit closer to home as well: RROC(A) Federal Web Site RROC(A) Victorian Branch Website We are spoiled for choice. | ||
| Jimmy Unregistered guest Posted From: 58.172.106.97 |
Thanks David, The related links are very interesting, I have checked these sites out. I have to go to OS for a period in about 2 weeks and will be in London for a time so will do some looking a searching for related stuff for my car while there. Cheers for now James (Message approved by david_gore) |
