Motoring Discussion > MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Falkirk Bairn	Replies: 42

New Fri 27 Jul 12 16:38   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - Falkirk Bairn

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2179851/MG-enthusiast-73-accidentally-torched-beloved-car-starting-blaze-destroyed-uninsured-home.html 73 yo pensioner's DIY oxy-acetylene burner. Car+house = total loss and uninsured! DOH! Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 27 Jul 12 18:20   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - madf

So no garage firewall then.? Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 27 Jul 12 18:22   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - rtj70

>> So no garage firewall then.? Well if there was it didn't work. Oops. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 27 Jul 12 18:32   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - Bill Payer

Wonder if insurance would have paid out anyway? Impressive turnout by the emergency services, but 6 fire engines damaged seems somewhat ridiculous if life wasn't in peril. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 27 Jul 12 18:53   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - Zero

I keep telling people those MGs are trouble. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 27 Jul 12 20:05   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - Armel Coussine

Poor old sod. Or rather poor verging-on-middle-aged sod, harrumph. I sometimes have impulses to learn to weld, with gas preferably although that electric stuff is all very well for fine sewing. Perhaps it's just as well I never have. But it's the only heavyweight aspect of automobile engineering I can't do hands-on, in theory at least. Actually there's electronics too. Goddam necromancy that stuff. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 27 Jul 12 23:36   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - BobbyG

Why no insurance??? Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 27 Jul 12 23:39   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - rtj70

Ask the house owner who apparently had to insurance? Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 27 Jul 12 23:43   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - Falkirk Bairn

>> Why no insurance??? >> Circumstances are unknown and there could be many explanations...........whatever the reason it would be a shattering loss to anyone, especially a pensioner. A neighbour's relative lost lots in recent flooding........no insurance as they could not afford the premiums. You and I might say the cost is buttons -£3/£4 / week is cheap but £150-£200 is a big bill if you cannot pay/get credit. If you are on credit blacklists /ccjs / criminal record ............Insurance costs rocket! Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 27 Jul 12 23:52   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - rtj70

But can you afford not to be insured. BobbyG has first hand experience from the actions of his neighbour. I might have a little too much contents cover (but you never know what you have really) and accident cover etc. So I probably pay about £8/week. Thankfully able to do that. But that's not even a bottle of champagne on special occasions. Last edited by: rtj70 on Fri 27 Jul 12 at 23:54 Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 00:06   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - BobbyG

Agreed, I had an aunt and uncle who lived in a council house and who could have paid an extra couple of quid rent to give them contents insurance but chose to spend it on fags instead. One of those fags burned the inside of their house and contents and they just sat back whilst friends and relatives bailed them out. As rtj says, I have first hand experience of why you need house insurance! Four years after the event, I am expecting a small cheque soon which will finally close the claim!! Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 00:59   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - Bill Payer

>> Agreed, I had an aunt and uncle who lived in a council house and who >> could have paid an extra couple of quid rent to give them contents insurance but >> chose to spend it on fags instead. >> >> One of those fags burned the inside of their house and contents and they just >> sat back whilst friends and relatives bailed them out. >> That happened to some council house dwellers in our village and those of us in privately owned property were leaned on to help them out. My suggestion of paying their house insurance for them wasn't well received! Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 00:08   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - ....

As FB states to a pensioner that is a lot of money. If you have to survive on £142 per week and out of that pay utility bills and grocery bills (forget luxuries like cars and bottles of champagne) then that is more than 5% of your income on one insurance bill. Last edited by: gmac on Sat 28 Jul 12 at 00:09 Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 00:12   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - BobbyG

If you have to survive on £142 per week and out of that you had to pay to restore your classic car collection, then home insurance is a luxury you can't afford. Reply to this message | Report message       1

New Sat 28 Jul 12 00:15   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - ....

It might be why there is the question over insurance. Vehicles acquired in more affluent times, sentimentality takes over, can't/not willing to dispose of them and boom, loose spark from a welder kicks in. Sad tale really. Last edited by: gmac on Sat 28 Jul 12 at 00:20 Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 00:17   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - Zero

If you have to live on 142 quid a week, you can't have classic cars to restore. Reply to this message | Report message       1

New Sat 28 Jul 12 00:22   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - ....

Whilst applying logic makes this plainly clear, not all people are ex-IT droids. These people are from a different era. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 00:27   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - Zero

Us droids haven't burned down our houses. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 00:28   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - BobbyG

Does that mean my neighbour is a droid??? Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 00:32   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - Zero

I seem to recall you had other names for him? Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 00:48   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - ....

>> Us droids haven't burned down our houses Yet...wait 'til (God forbid) the Alzheimers kicks in. OK, my example was unkind. My point is we are not all wired the same, don't all think the same and today's IT world does not allow "human". You can't model every scenario, the IT budget doesn't allow for it. Yes, this individual may be a silly old goat for hanging onto and attempting something he is no longer capable of but it's an awful price to pay. They'll both probably be farmed out to some local social services residence if they don't have (local) family. Sentimental ? Maybe, but human none-the-less and that's what's missing from the world today. The human touch, someone to pick you up, and help you recover. Doesn't exist without payment now. Last edited by: gmac on Sat 28 Jul 12 at 00:48 Reply to this message | Report message       2

New Sat 28 Jul 12 04:07   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - Pat

Well said gmac, my thoughts exactly. Pat Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 01:01   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - Bill Payer

>> These people are from a different era. >> An era where people had final salary pensions! Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 01:10   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - rtj70

If you bring Alzeihmer or similar into this... relatives need to make sure insurance is in place surely? Or even they are being looked after in a home or your home (or another relative)? With future pension prospects you'd be dead sooner no doubt - well said BP. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 01:22   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - Armel Coussine

What about referring to fifties or sixties MGs as 'vintage' though? Someone must have had Alzheimer's to write that. Vintage schmintage. Tchah! Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 06:38   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - Duncan

If you can't afford insurance, then you can't afford classic cars. You shouldn't expect other people to bail you out from situations of your own making. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 07:24   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - Bigtee

Animal lover Mr Cummins worked with the British Hedgehog Preservation Society. You wouldn't want that in the press.!! Quashed loads of the critters. :-) Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 09:00   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - Lygonos

T-Cut and some elbow grease and it'll be good as new. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 13:24   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - devonite

>>If you have to survive on £142 per week I used to survive on Incapacity benefit, which is just over £90 a week, and I manage to buy both Contents and buildings ins, so theres no excuse! Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 09:04   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - Dog

A really awful tragedy, I think I'd like to have gorn up with the MG's if it were me. As FB states "Circumstances are unknown" re: insurance, do we have any BMW owning members in the region who could carry out a recce. One of the comments from said esteemed daily: If he had 3 classic cars he should ave sold one to finance his house ins. - Rowdy, Cornwall - where everyone wants to be :} Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 11:44   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - WillDeBeest

Perhaps this is a wake-up for those of us with elderly relatives who might be making bad decisions for want of some tough-love advice. Home welding and no insurance would be a daft combination for a fully-fit 30-year-old; I think the son quoted in the report ought to be asking himself whether he knew his parents' situation and why he wasn't asking them some more searching questions. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 11:58   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - bathtub tom

Even if he did have the house insured, what chance the insurance company would look for a way to wriggle out of it? I wouldn't mind betting there's something in the small print about dangerous pastimes - must check my own! Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 15:44   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - madf

I have no doubt he stored petrol in cans in his garage as well... Reply to this message | Report message       1

New Sat 28 Jul 12 15:53   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - CGNorwich

In reality the house looked a bit on the basic side. I expect the plot will sell for nearly as much without the house as with it. Probably not as financially disastrous as a first it might seem Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 16:05   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - jc2

Trolley jack(not the smallest),welding equipment!!!!!! And it wasn't a vintage car. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 28 Jul 12 16:08   MG - An expensive DIY fix on a beloved MG - Dog

I'll keep my eyes on Escape To The Country then, which reminds me - we're in South Folk in 5 mins! Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 29 Jul 12 16:32   MG - Tools in the wrong hands ! - henry k

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-19035426 Another very sad event. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 29 Jul 12 16:48   MG - Tools in the wrong hands ! - Iffy

I've only seen a petrol tank welded a couple of times. On both occasions we filled it with water to evacuate the fumes. The guy doing the welding - far more experienced than me - was still a bit wary. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 29 Jul 12 19:58   MG - Tools in the wrong hands ! - henry k

>>I've only seen a petrol tank welded a couple of times. >> Many moons ago the petrol tank on my 1600E started leaking. ( I was pretty sure I had paid for water not petrol from a filling station and that caused the rusting) I could find nobody to weld a patch on it so had to buy a new tank. Eventually after a lot of aggro due parts numbers ( I had a very strange, genuine 1600E) I obtained the correct tank. Two long round trips on a push bike with a tank strapped on my back- a funny sight! Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 29 Jul 12 20:09   MG - Tools in the wrong hands ! - bathtub tom

>>Two long round trips on a push bike with a tank strapped on my back- a funny sight! I've done similar with a MK3 Cortina propshaft (albeit on a CD175). Remember the early days of 'spiked' UJs? The official answer was a new propshaft. I also got a (wedgie) Princess tank from a scrappy for a song to replace one that was leaking along a seam. They were a triangular, flat shape and held 16 gallons IIRC. The replacement looked like it had just been fitted shortly before the car rammed a tree. Due to its shape, they were difficult to syphon. I reckon the petrol inside was worth more than the cost of the tank. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 29 Jul 12 20:20   MG - Tools in the wrong hands ! - henry k

>>Remember the early days of 'spiked' UJs? The official answer was a new propshaft. Fortunately when I need one, there was a company nearby that did exchange prop shafts. My 1600E was so new, a scrappy was not an option for a tank. Spares were often a problem as the parts list frequently did not match what I needed. The most obvious non standard "feature" on mine was that although all UK models ( including mine) were four doors, mine came with two door seats fitted i.e. they unlatched and tipped forward. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 29 Jul 12 21:05   MG - Tools in the wrong hands ! - Harleyman

>> The most obvious non standard "feature" on mine was that although all UK models ( >> including mine) were four doors, mine came with two door seats fitted i.e. they unlatched >> and tipped forward. >> Common on Fords of that era, and usually ascribed to shortages due to strike action. My father's 1970 1600 Deluxe had Super seats. Presumably if the correct seats were missing they fitted the next ones up. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 30 Jul 12 13:32   MG - Tools in the wrong hands ! - Cliff Pope

>> I've only seen a petrol tank welded a couple of times. >> >> On both occasions we filled it with water to evacuate the fumes. I think steam is better, as from a wallpaper stripper. Reply to this message | Report message