Driving under the Influence

The day I went to pick it up Mark reversed it into a Chrysler. This was very disturbing. Luckily, all that was damaged was the stop light lens. He had another one in the garage (well, he had an amber indicator one that he sprayed with red paint...) so I was up and running (in a legal taxed and tested car) that night.

The engine ran a bit rough, the main problem was the choke which I fixed. Apart from that the car was reliable (for an imp) and there was always Mark there to help me out....

On the 8th December I went out to Wigan for a drink with Mark. I'd had a lot to drink and at about 11.30 pm I was about to drive home when the car was making a huge noise so I stopped. I looked into my rear view mirror and there was a police car with its lights on.... I was breathylised, but passed (mainly down to some hyper-ventilating) and they told me that the car was making a huge racket and I shouldn't drive it again. I started the car up - fine but noisy. Then tried to drive off, the revs increased, it was in gear yet nothing happened - I assumed the clutch had gone.

I called Marks place and they came and towed it back to the garage. I got a taxi home after an interesting conversation with a couple of drunks outside Wigan railway station.

The following day I went to the garage and Marks dad fixed it for me. The half shaft rubber donut had sheared - hence the non movement of the car. The noise had been caused by the exhaust being ripped by the rotation of the half shaft before I'd stopped the car.