On the road!

So after our first petrol stop and jump start (from my wife's grandmother :) we set off coughing a spluttering up the road with only 850 odd kilometers to go!

On the open road! ....

... 15mins later however....

We had come to a grinding halt at a set of traffic lights.. and after a little look under the bonnet I thought I'd cash in on the Roadside assist arrangement and get someone to come have a look/ get us started again!

The RACV guy said that the alternator was, in fact, actually not working and the battery was not charging as we drove. He said the brushes were probably stuck or wrecked so he gave it the bush mechanics whack with a hammer and it whirred back to life! He then said "How far have you got to go?" to which I again replied "Oh, a bit of a way.."

We had planned to go about 350kms in the first leg and so far had gone about 20... but with the alternator working (just) we were on the road again!

The car actually ran relatively well for the rest of the first leg; absolutely gutless, and if there was even a hint of an upwards incline it decided (against my urging) that it was safer to roll back 20-30km/hr, but overall relatively smoothly. It even started again when we stopped at Maccas without needing a jump!

We made it to the town where we were spending the evening but had come in just after dark (had to use lights :( ) and we weren't quite sure of the address. The car stalled as I pulled over for directions and wouldn't start again.. So after spending about 20mins trying to find someone to jump start us, a really nice bloke and his two young sons helped us out and we were able to make our way to our accommodation.

Day 1 = Complete!

The beginning!

So this whole saga started when I felt that nagging feeling that I would love to own a corolla again...

I learnt to drive in my parents 4 door Ke55 CS and have loved them ever since. 

I have now owned 5  Ke55's of my own. The first, a baby blue 4 door SE, next a white 4 door SE (that I converted from auto to manual), followed by a storm blue pillarless 2 door coupe SE, then a centre red pillarless 2 door coupe CS and finally my current 'Toyota red' pillarless 2 door coupe CS. 

When in my care I have always done little things to smarten up my corollas, but have never had the budget to really do what I'd like to in restoring them. So this time, while still having a relatively limited budget, I am endeavoring to do justice to this car in bringing it up to scratch.

Anyway, I did the unthinkable when purchasing this car and bought it through eBay, from interstate, without having had a look at it.... Luckily, I didn't pay a whole lot for it.. below are the photos I based my decision to buy on..

 Yep that's a gas fill plug just down from the petrol one :)

(very nice interior!!)

To make things more interesting, knowing the car was unregistered and had a few potential issues, I decided it might be fun to try and drive it back from interstate over a long weekend (usually about a 9hr journey). So I bought one way tickets for my wife and I (yes, that's right, my wife willingly signed up for this fools errand!), and the epic journey began.

When I picked up the car I was informed that the battery had run flat but was assured that the alternator was working.. It was started and it was pretty rough.. no smoke or any serious noises, but still pretty rough... and not for the last time in this journey I was asked "Are you going far?" to which I aloofly replied "Oh, a bit of a way.."

The first couple of photo's below show the first stop, about 200 meters from where we picked it up at a petrol station. Note the bonnet raised for the first of many jump starts!