I enjoy reading Spiegel Online since many years. While in the US, it kept me linked to and informed about the ongoings in my home country Germany. Now from the UK, the "homeland" appears much closer, but I still often read the news there on Spiegel Online, to get the perspective from the other side of the Channel.
They do have a very interesting column about old cars, called "Altmetall", where drivers of old cars write about their experiences with so-called "New-Timers", which are somehat old cars which not necessarily are true classics. In February 2007 I decided to write something about my Ford Granada and sent it to the Spiegel Editors. Did not hear anything for a while... but 2 weeks ago I got an email with the question if I could send the article again. I updated it with the latest stories up to its end in July 2007, then sent it. And today the article is published! Is a bit shortened - in my original version I had put more details in. Also the wording is slightly different. Maybe my original version had a too rusty German...
There seems to be a controversy about the car: is it a Scorpio or a Granada? In the papers it is listed as a Granada. But also many people here in UK have named it a Scorpio, as these two cars appear to be identical. Not sure... but I go with the official version, as it was registered and listed as a Ford Granada.
Showing posts with label Ford Granada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ford Granada. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Monday, September 12, 2005
Getting life organised - car
Monday I joined the AA and phoned in for an insurance quote. Arranged everything over the phone. Tuesday I returned the rental car, and now I am on my own. No more safety net - now I really have arrived.
Now the trouble starts...
Wednesday, I play with the electric windows; then the rear right window does not move up anymore. In the evening I remove the door panel to access the interior parts of the window mechanism, but no use - I cannot lift up the window manually.
On weekend I find the equivalent of the US Pep Boys: Halfords. What a relief - now I can browse for all these car goodies. I find a few things: voltmeter, wires, clamps. Fully equiped, I now tackle the electrical issue. Turns out that the motor of the window works fine. I am able to wind it up again by connecting the motor directly to the electric power. Then I disconnect it - I will tackle this problem at a later time and repair the window switches then. For now, the right rear window is simply just disabled.
A few other things do not work at this car: some of the switches on the dashboard do not have a background illumination - so at night I do not see some of the settings there. The right mirror motor does not pull the mirror in the vertical direction - I have to adjust that by hand. The interval wiper setting does not work: the front wipers do not operate at all in the interval setting, and the rear wiper does something weird, whenever it thinks it should - and then stays in an arbitrary position. No huge problems, just minor annoyances - and I am willing to deal with them, for that great price.
Now the trouble starts...
Wednesday, I play with the electric windows; then the rear right window does not move up anymore. In the evening I remove the door panel to access the interior parts of the window mechanism, but no use - I cannot lift up the window manually.
On weekend I find the equivalent of the US Pep Boys: Halfords. What a relief - now I can browse for all these car goodies. I find a few things: voltmeter, wires, clamps. Fully equiped, I now tackle the electrical issue. Turns out that the motor of the window works fine. I am able to wind it up again by connecting the motor directly to the electric power. Then I disconnect it - I will tackle this problem at a later time and repair the window switches then. For now, the right rear window is simply just disabled.
A few other things do not work at this car: some of the switches on the dashboard do not have a background illumination - so at night I do not see some of the settings there. The right mirror motor does not pull the mirror in the vertical direction - I have to adjust that by hand. The interval wiper setting does not work: the front wipers do not operate at all in the interval setting, and the rear wiper does something weird, whenever it thinks it should - and then stays in an arbitrary position. No huge problems, just minor annoyances - and I am willing to deal with them, for that great price.
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