So sorry to see you go

I didn't see much point in hanging onto a manual for a car that went to the tip about 10 years ago, but it was still wrenching to let it go.

Well, actually it was quite easy. I picked up the book and all the pages fell out, leaving me just holding onto the cover.

Roger did surprise me the other night by informing me that he knows where my Rover 3500S is hiding. I bought one years ago, and he arranged for a mate of his to store it until such time as we could do some work on it. Then bloody Roger got married and that was the end of that project. I mentally wrote the car off as a goner.

Now it has resurfaced. Hmm, what to do?

The 3500S is the manual version of the Rover V8. It's fairly rare, and for a good reason. The four speed is a brute to use and the clutch requires the legs of a weight lifter. Still, it makes a beautiful sound, and goes rapidly enough for an early 1970's beastie. And I still love the look of the P6 Rovers. People knew how to style things back then. Sure, it goes through the air like a finned brick, and the wind noise renders all conversation useless at speeds over 120, and it drinks leaded petrol like a cow, but what the hell. A man who doesn't have grease under his fingernails is gay.