jamescorrado

And without any previous training, without a glamorous assistant in a spangly swimsuit, and without even the use of a safety net, I somehow manage to bring these two disparate subjects together in this: [align=center]What happens when you leave the handbrake off your donkey... [/align]

[align=center]Mind you, having said that... ..... tart![/align]

I changed one word there, on that last post. What could that have been, then? Well, I changed the initial 'donkey' to 'camel'. First for strictly practical accuracy: I mean, you just wouldn't need a buffet, would you, for a donkey? Second, if left as it was I didn't want anyone thinking that I was a dwarf. Never mind the implication that I'm shagging an animal - that clearly didn't bother me. Nice to see I've got my priorities right, then. Oh yeah, and of course I wouldn't look twice at a donkey. Just once...

Oh yeah and what are we missing here? Chris Don't worry - nothing sexual. But as I can't PM you... (sighs), you'll have to ask Chris. If his answer features a giraffe, a buffet and me in a state of arousal... I deny, I deny, I deny.

Chris, Re: your PM - Good move. And I've done mine also.

Oh dear oh dear. But no live babies were set on fire. Still. No one should under any circumstances tell the insurance company they might have left the handbrake off. This is known in the 'business' (the police and insurance business) as 'quitting'. And although it's not common for insurance companies to use any excuse they can think of no matter how trivial or small wwwwwwhatsover (Bill Hicks tribute) for voiding a contract... you may have one of the few that doesn't joyfully click its heels at the expensive repair of several cars. There is also some past suggestion of Corrado handbrake failure so play on that. ... or PM me and I'll edit it. What, paranoid? Me? See, if I hadn't had my PM ability disabled I could have... PMed you.

I like it. Let's call it metallic bronze and leave it at that. No, let's not leave it at that...

Or try NCR BODYCARE - (Contact: AVTAR/ RAVI - 0113 2449135 ) JACK LANE LEEDS I've read they resprayed the VW mag featured Corrado of the chaps at the local German&Swedish, and are very highly rated. And local to you.

Skimask/all - Thanks for the replies. Is there a database on the site of recommended/rated garages? (If there is I can't find it - if there isn't, might be an idea)

Thanks for all that. It wasn't actually a dealership who said replace the clutch but a VW specialist who, to be fair, have always seemed pretty good. I just would've expected more sign of shot clutch than sticking in reverse. By the way, I did the 'starting on a hill in 2nd gear test' a couple of times and it pulled away - the first time okay, the second time with a bit of judder... but no stalling. But then wouldn't the engine power enable this anyway? Can any of you fellas recommend the best place to go in the north for Corrado expertise? :? (ps: I still never get tired of seeing kids and teens walking past the C and wondering what it is. Childish, I know).

Okay: circlip - probably gearlever adjustment out / Clutch cylinder - test for seal pressure / Clutch - test in 2nd. Thanks for the help (though I may have to check back with you about the clutch cylinder check!). Really appreciate the advice. And if there's anyone else out there who's had similar problems and /or knows any solutions feel free to pitch in. I want my Corrado back running right!.... :(

Well, actually not five gears in reverse... sometimes barely one! Hi. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, (and hopefully will be of help to anyone else reading this with a similar prob)... 1) Got a 1.8 C (only 80k). All fine except for... I sometimes have trouble getting the gearstick out of reverse. The general members' opinion seemed to be - clutch master cylinder - change it. I was preparing to have this done. 2) Then I went to a VW specialist last week and they said - clutch going, change the clutch. I pointed out that in forward gears all was fine - no slipping, no judder, etc - so why would a dying clutch only effect reverse? They said because reverse doesn't have synchro. (Admittedly, Clutch is a bit low on bite point). I just don't want to go to the expense of a new clutch only to find it was the master cylinder after all, or visa versa. Can you diagnose the clutch purely on bite point and reverse sticking?... 3) This is the odd one. Gearstick didn't have that little circlip at the base (think it's the pivot shaft) so there was some side-to-side play in the gearstick (only a little). But when I put a circlip in place the stick wouldn't go into reverse AT ALL! - Eh? - That circlip's supposed to improve things not make it worse! (?) Any thoughts, ruminations, experiences, predictions, unwanted lottery wins greatly accepted. I'll circulate your ideas to anyone I know who is having the same prob. Cheers J

The one I saw was righthand drive so it must have been a press car, though the first owner had it for many years.

Is this right, or off? I've heard there are very early Corrados on an 'F' reg. I've seen a photo of one and it looked excatly the same as other 16vs but also kind of weird for having what seemed like such an old plate on it. (Got to go now, check back in an hour or two answers by people a good deal more knowledgeable than me. Hopefully).

At nearly 160k, and even though this is about average mileage, I think you'd definitely struggle to get the £2k mentioned for your C. There's nothing worse than paying for a car advert and then getting bugger all calls because you've pitched the price too optimistically. I think Ebay has really driven down the price of Corrados, particularly 16vs - which is good for buyers, not so good for sellers. Over 150k Corrados (even FSH ones) go on Ebay for about a grand. You could just hope the BBC repeat the Top Gear Corrado test to push prices back up!

Chubby, you've got PM. And how often do you service yours with it only doing that mileage - on schedule? (I presume you didn't carry on with the 2k services!)

I agree that I'd rather the cars had been serviced on the schedules, but then both of the Corrados had appeared to be wealthy mens' second or third car toys, and sometimes only done as little as 2k per year. Which would explain their low mileages. By the way, chubby, do you still have your 2k serviced C?

Looked at a couple of Corrados lately which were in good condition (apparently) but they had been serviced by mileage, rather than annually. Meaning that some of the services were 18 months or even over 2 years apart because in that time the cars had only done about 4k to 8k. Just wondered what peoples opinion was of cars serviced at such late intervals.

Isn't this an obvious one? People worry about resprays and accidents with good reason: resprays are unlikely to be as good as factory finish and unless the paint's been on long enough you never quite sure what's going to emerge; and repairs that are supposedly 'done properly' are difficult to completely verify. For example, we've already heard on the forum about how a previously reputable firm has been cutting corners on supercharger rebuilds, and also how disreputable many main dealers are, so how can you fully verify any work? Much better for a car not to have been damaged in the first place. Isn't that what we're all looking for...

"they all have this." If that's the case then does that mean that any Corrado that has a body-coloured VIN is the one to be wary of a respray then?..

Went to see a C last week which was clean and straight, but one thing I'd not seen before... the body-stamped VIN number (at the base of the windscreen) was in a rectangle of white paint, the rest of the car wasn't white.[/b] It made it look as if the car had originally been white and then been repainted everywhere but in a rectangle over the VIN! But I'm pretty sure the car is in it's original colour, and even on the original paint. Odd Any ideas - my last two C's have not had this...

A young life sadly wasted, but I was struck by how little mention there seemed to be of the poor bugger who was innocently, and unfortunatey, coming the other way, and was hit head-on by the Golf. Imagine how he feels...