Seayem

Oh no - I was there today too ... out and about shopping for my supplies to go home with :) ... Are you planning a return at all this week ..? I'm in Marple tomorrow afternoon and thought if you were heading for or around Cheadle Hulme ... assuming where that's where him indoors stil is ... Nobody's added more Corrado to that MSN page on cult cars yet ...

Hey there - how's my baby? Guess where I am for a week - feckin' typical ... I packed just t-shirts after getting told about the hottest day of the year etc ... but I landed on Saturday afternoon - 11 degrees and unsurprising rain ... when I left home, it was creeping up to around 30 degrees again ... :clap: I don't suppose you're planning a run to around Mancland, before I return to China ... it'd be nice to see how you're both doing, although I'm running around different appointments ... not sure where it'd fit depending on where you were going ... Meanwhile, I decided to answer a thread on MSN's car site ... never have before, probably won't again, but I always liked the Integrale and the opening shot got my interest ... I might have started something ... have a look: http://cars.uk.msn.com/features/photos. ... =153231071 Maybe see you around this week, if you get close at the right time ...

Oh, the joys of owning and running a Corrado, hey Kate ... this forum and tips from others is such a useful thing to be grateful for, isn't it ..? My fingers're crossed for you too ...I think you'll get to a point where you'll have done every bitty job there is to do and you'll have the most , bullet-proof, beautiful 'rado on earth - that's when I'll have it back off you ... haha ...

Same mix of good and bad points here too ... the first school year I couldn't have been happier, being made Director of Education within a couple of months or so, (which is a bit like a Deputy Head, except I still had my class full time as well), but the principal got ousted for financial and political reasons in the summer break and the replacement turned out to be a dishonest, conniving bastard and the same thing happened to me just before Chinese New Year, so I'm currently looking for a new job ... I've been doing some supply work at the local big international school near where I live, which is okay for now, but I may have to move in the new school year as options for decent paying teaching jobs are pretty limited where I live ... which isn't what I want - it's home now and I'm loving it, plus it's where my gf and her family are from, so we'll see ... I hope your stress eases and the good points start to outnumber the bad points soon ... A bit like owning a Corrado I suppose, where the bad points are few and far between when you get a good 'un like ours ... haha ... mad I know,but I still think of it as my car and you're just taking care of it ... I know you'll probably keep it forever and I'm glad to know that ... sounds like it couldn't be in better hands and you're gonna be able to make it last forever ... ... and Jon - how le ferk is it an ex-Corrado now? Don't tell me you let Kate put a Corsa engine it or something ... :pale:

... this made me smile - seems it wasn't as perfect as I thought, but it did sound better than anything on the road. Think a classy Aston Martinesque growl rather than a hooligan-like "look at me" noise in pimped Corsa style ... :D ... this didn't. I thought I was buying perfection too, but there were one or two things that I had to sort out as well ... mostly minor, but there was a biggie that Marcus really should've mentioned in the spirit of this forum. He didn't translate the "I'm selling it because there's another car in the garage now" accurately to "If you park or drive it in the rain, it also comes complete with its own swimming pool" ... loads done before, but that was a problem that cost me a lot of smiles-loaded miles driving it until I got the likely solution, (which turned out to be not such a biggie after all) from this forum some months after ... at the time and thinking I'd own it forever, it mattered less. It seems to matter more now I miss it (and driving, actually) so much ... :( Anyway, bygones ... hello you :) - it's been a while ... congrats on the job and the chance for both of you to get in some serious miles getting to each other ... Jon's probably filled you in on my mail ... I'm so pleased you took it over and kept with it ... I STILL wish it were mine, even with the stuff you'd had to do to it (and so sorry you had anything other than the battery to do) ... if, (and I can't think of one good reason why you would, but it's worth a go), IF you were considering selling it, will you mail me and let me know ... I'll look very hard at this HK option I told Jon about ..? Until that unimaginable day, keep on looking after it as you have ... and how about some more (still and action) pics as you're in new surroundings ..? :clap:

I am ... but you know, I've made the choice to go and that comes with the territory, I guess. :( I'm pretty sure that unless I get at least close to what its worth and I know that's a big enough ask with the economic bollox everyone is facing, I won't sell ... I have an old friend (I don't mean he's a gimmer - I mean I've known him since we were 5 ... :) ... ) and he can have it, with the understanding that if ... and it's another huge IF I come back to Europe to a country I can ship it easily enough to - I've lived in the Netherlands before and it's still the best place to date. so remains a distinct possibility at some point in the future and that's an easy enough drive having done it already ... then I can be reunited, if not ... it's his ... I'm 99.9% sure I won't be back living here though, and holidays will be few abd far between, so I'll see ... be nice to think I can get the right price AND it go to a good home, especially as I've just finished the last two jobs to make it just about perfect, (a new heater motor to replace the old 'works sometimes, sometimes not' one and a new heater scuttle 'foliage cover' seal, which means I can now park it in the rain :clap: )

As it turns out, yes ... it seems the dream is over ... just had it on good authority today that taking my baby with me really isn't an option - notwithstanding the cost of shipping, there's the difficulty in getting permission to take it, the massive cost of import tax, the not being an option if it's RHD like mine and even if it were LHD and I'd stumped up all the necessary and jumped through the required hoops, there would still be a chance of them saying no ... Looks like I may have to consider seling it after all ... my road tax is up the end of this month, so I can at least make the most of it for the next couple of weeks ... watch this space, non-bargain, quality VR6 hunters ...

Are you serious? I don't know if I'm brave enough to hand my keys over to someone else ... had a recent 'debate' with my girlfriend about driving the 'rado and she wasn't happy about being told no :D ... but if there really, and I do mean REALLY is no other way ... it's better than having to part with it, I guess :cuckoo: ... so I'll consider it and be in touch ... no promises though

Thanks and you too ...

I'm going to call first thing Monday (answerphone at the mo), so here's hoping and thanks ... I notice the 'commonwealth' country speciality, so it may be that even the bordering China (and it's the neighbouring province I'm going to, so that'd be frustrating if there IS no way ... ) isn't an option - we'll see :D

I took so long to get my hands on the VR6 of my dreams, I thought I would own it it forever. I still intend that to be the case, but I'm emigrating in the New Year ... to China! I'm serious when I say I want to take it with me - even considered driving it there, but there won't be time in between finishing my present job here and starting my new one, so am looking for more conventional ways of getting it there. It means a lot to me, but I'm not going to kid myself that it's a high value motor, especially at the moment ... does anyone know of a good, but reasonable shipper who could be up for this or has anyone had a similar experience and care to share any potential pitfalls ... any advice gratefully received, except for those that try and put me off so that there's another good VR6 in circulation and up for grabs again ... :nono: