"I told you so!"
Everyone has this friend. He is looking for advice and wants tips. It's usually something they find online somewhere, a classified ad that interests them or a product that piques their interest, something they want to find out more about, an opinion or a comment. I recently had a WhatsApp message from a friend who was looking for a solution for his partner's Bentley Arnage T, which she inherited from her father. The car has been parked for years and doesn't run. I first heard about it about a year ago, and at the time I was still somewhat delighted that someone obviously just had such a classy car in their garage - and had never driven it a single meter.
My suggestion was to take it to a specialist and have them collect the car. Because, as I said, it doesn't run. Well, they didn't want to do that, the argument was that they didn't want to invest anything more, but still wanted to get the maximum out of it. This raises the question of what has more chance of success: Trying to sell privately a car that is not roadworthy and extremely expensive to repair, or giving the car to a specialist who may be able to restore the car with little effort and the appropriate know-how, but won't offer too much for it. I have openly stated that I would go for the second option. Since the car was inherited, it doesn't really matter how much it will fetch if it's only worth something.
But my dear friends, although they asked me for advice, had obviously already made up their minds and let some amateur mechanic have a go at the car. Now, of course, the car still doesn't run - after all, you don't want to invest in anything, not even a battery. The car will probably be sitting around for a long time and they will continue to ask for advice, even if they then decide against the advice given. Too bad about the Bentley.
That reminds me of two other episodes. In the first one, we went to look at a Triumph Spitfire 1500. A horribly tinkered with thing with lots of edge rust and in a horrible purple metallic paint from a spray can. Of course I advised against it, because the "Spitfire" was supposed to cost 2500 francs, and I've already pulled perfect examples out of garages in their original paint for 5000. But the good friend bought the car anyway, dismantled it, then realized that there wasn't much to be gained and then gave the car away as a pile of parts.
Another time, it was a colleague's idea to install a 5-speed box in a car with a 4-speed gearbox. However, I was sure that this couldn't be done just like that, because it required a different gearbox carrier in the chassis, which had to be welded in, and a shorter cardan shaft, as the gearbox neck is longer. Nevertheless, he insisted on removing the engine and getting a suitable gearbox, which also didn't fit the engine's flywheel, only to realize that the whole thing was too complicated for him. After everything was laid out in my workshop, we finally reassembled the car as it was.
Nevertheless, I always keep it that way; if you ask me, you get an honest and direct answer. However, you have to expect that at some point I will say that I said yes.
In the case of the scrap cars on the demolition site in Dorenaz VS (picture), I would say no from the outset if someone asked me...
