TEAM BAKEWELL BOXER
Part 0 : Unregistered Import
Mandy, Connor and Johnny got out of Connors mum’s Ceder Korab 1.6 Diesel, how lovely…
Johnny: ‘‘It’s in the shipping container over there’’ said Johnny pointing to the container about 16 ft away.
Mandy : ‘‘it’s that one, you see it Connor? the red one’’
Connor: “I still don’t understand why you let Johnny choose the car, the last person I want to choose a car for a classic rally is Johnny”
Johnny: “It’s not even a classic rally it’s a track event”
Connor: “…But you said…”
Mandy pulled open the container doors with a hair raising squeal from the mechanism and told Connor to back the trailer up. He shuffled back over to the crossover
Mandy: “Christ I haven’t seen one of those for years”
Connor: “As long as it’s better than that bloody Egura we had in America, that thing was held together with sticky tape” said Connor sticking his head out of the Korab’s window whilst backing the trailer up
Johnny: “Don’t worry it will be, I have a feeling”
THE CAR
J.E.S.A Bianchi Nuova 300 Series - N316 Speciale
To be fair the car didn’t seem to be in bad shape considering who made it, designed by the Dutch and engineered by the Italians, what could possibly go wrong you may ask, well a lot considering the state of the company as of now, but regardless of that it has an under stressed 1.6 OHV Boxer 4 that only made 72hp when new and definitely didn’t feel like it when the car was unloaded as the workshop but after a bit of tweaking by Team Bakewell it seemed to be running decently enough.
Johnny had imported the car from Spain to the UK after finding it on the internet, without telling Connor or Mandy mind… Once back to the Jackdaw workshop in Blighty the car was given a full going over (see below).
Summary of Cars Condition
Regardless of whether Johnny had assumed the car was in original condition, it was not, it had been given the classic tart up and blow over of fresh paint that most classics suffer before resale. Mandy was still dubious of the cars longevity as 70’s J.E.S.A Bianchi’s were famed for their ability to rust instantly. Unfortunately the cylinder head had not been swapped out for the later twin cam head as is common practice in tuning circles.
Quickly done paint job
Poor re-sticking of vinyl roof
Slightly blowing exhaust
Carburettor was running to lean and had too much advance on the distributor and was idling at 1500rpm, likely to pass emmisions (now fixed).
Replacement air filter fitted in Spain
Worn and sagging seats
Crackeing steering wheel
Rust holes appearing on the chassis and bubbling under the new paint
Knocking on 90% of the body panels produced a hollow sound characteristic of dents and rust being slapped over with body filler.
Cheap make WanKing Chinese tyres on all 4 wheels
Moss growing around filler cap and windows (car had likely been tarted up then sat around somewhere damp)
Packet of cigarette and rosary beads left in glove box.
Now fitted with crosses on the headlights and racing numbers.
The Team Members
Mandy Carter - 24 years old : She and Connor have come home from a poor Once More Trip and now have been dragged on by Johnny to Sweden for the 24Hour race, which they still have not had all the details laid out to them.
Connor Johnson - 24 years old : Long time childhood friends with Mandy with no romantic feelings no matter how much both parties parents insist there existing. He has now become a full time English teacher at an awful primary school and has secretly been improving his driving skills for the trip… which were shocking. He has been with Mandy in all her driving trips and now can’t miss one.
Johnny Carter - 21 years old : The youngest Carter sibling, has already taken part in the 2nd Great Automation Run and failed but we’ll ignore that. He has a knack for buying terrible cars as is evident due to his current ride being a US imported slammed and very noisy Maesima Celento 1.5 “wangan wagon”.
Mandy and Connor hope to see some familiar faces on this trip, so do say hello if they have met before.