A bit too much fun with my car

I've recently discovered the joy of handbrake turns. Pull the handle in a turn and slide (hopefully) controlled around a corner. It's rather fun, and i think it trains my feeling with the car, and might help me in a real case of loosing grip.

However, as my topic indicates, today i had a little bit too much fun. At a very slow speed, i slowly and nicely handbrake-turned around a lone corner, but then the car kinda dind't stop turning when the road did, and i ended softly and nicely with one wheel in a ditch. Damn my camera to hell for braking at the wrong moment, because this is something theat should have been documented on a picture. I was stuck, no motion in my car no matter what i did, and i couldn't move it a centimeter.

Now you'd expect me to get red and feel like an idiot, but though i realise the stupidness of what i just did, i'm so used to schrewing up and shitting myself on the leg, that i don't really react to it anymore. I just laughed, not even a manic laugh of dispair, but a hearthily laugh.

And by a strike of luck, i was in the ditch 10 meters from the closest gas station, and by even more luck, 10 minutes later a guy in a big 4x4 Toyota Hilux pulled in to that gas station, and got me out of the ditch with no problem at all. So i got a reason to buy a thugging rope, i got to use my warning triangle for the first time, i got to laugh a lot at myself, and i got to realize that i was getting too confident where i had insufficiant control.

All in all, a positive experience!

Getting into my car...

...is not such a easy task any more. Since i baught it there has been something strange with the driver-side lock, and the passanger side one has been completely broke from long before i baught it. About a month ago, the driver side lock jammed as well, so the only lock working on my car is the one in the trunk. So i allways have to lock and unlock my car from there!

And then recently starts the real issues. Winder, frost, and frozen locks! Getting in the car to go to work, i discover that the lock won't turn. I try all the tricks in the book - a bag of hot water, a lighter, defrost spray... nothing ever works before i take a bag of hot water and pour it over the lock. But this solution is like peeing your pants to keep warm - as you know, water and frost becomes ice, and it's even more stuck next time.

I'm yet to find a way out of this. Looking for a remote control for my central lock, but it costs about 2500 originally, so i'm hoping to buy a set and make it myself. Looking forward to the response from Elfa.

Oh... and i installed the new speakers and mounted extra headlights, but i'll show you that when my camera is back from repairs.

Painting my car

After the collition, my car got a severe wound. Until today, it's been looking like this;

To improve the looks and to defend against rust, i decided to paint it. I chose a matte black laquer, the matte color with the intention of making the contours (aka damages) less visible.

Cover the area not to be painted with tape and plastic bags, clean the car with a strong solvent - has the be really clean! Then matte down the old paint and remove any loose bits of paint with sandpaper. Spraypaint with grounding (above), let it dry for a couple of minutes and spraypaint with the matte black colour. Voila;

Okay, it's not pretty. But it's better, definitely! I've reached the effect i wished for with the matte black (at least as far as i can see in the artificual light), and when they start salting the roads i won't have to be as afraid of everything rusting to peaces.

Expensive car rant

I've just spent some time calculating how much money has been tossed into being able to drive around relatively freely. My car, so far, has cost me over 60 000 NOK. That's 30 000 buying it, 15 000 ensurance, 5 000 reregistration, 6000 repairs. Then theres an upcomming ~ 10 000 for additional repairs. 70 000! And then it's what i spent to get my drivers license, about 30 000. 100 000 NOK! And what do i have to show for it? I think if i'd known what i know now, i'd waited a year. 

Damn car

I've now just had the EU-control on my car. And, as you understand from the title, the result is not particularily uplifting. I suppose it could have been worse, but i've ended up with a offering from the garage at 7000 NOK to fix it just enough to pass! I'm trying to get parts of it done by, uhm, less expensive mechanics (*caugh*). But it's not looking too good right now. Bah. I can't afford this, i'm saving for my summerplans!

Something i never expected to find in my car

I've had a problem with a smell in my car since i bought it, particularily when it has been warm. I've just thought my seats were sweaty or something, not thinking about it anymuch. And then today i decide to do a intereor clean of my car, and... Ew! On the floor under the left rear seat, my car floor has molded and looks like a loaf of bread forgotten for a week, and on the floor under the front passanger seat there are actually something that looks like maggots! I was vacuuming the floor, and there were these strange white things that i couldn't get into the hoover. On a closer look, they were moving around and sort of slowly digging in and out of the floor. It was a rather unplesant revelation, but at least i now know why my car smells like crap.

I think i've managed to clean it though, using a lot of detergent, a scrub and a towel. Just hoping my car won't smell like a detergent for all time!

Gathering the pieces

My car has proved not to be too salvagable. It can be temporarily fixed so that i hopefully can drive it home, but it will never again pass a EU control (MOT). Fixing it temporarily will cost about 5000, and my insurance will cover 1500 of it, then i can maybe get the rest by selling it cheaply at home. The alternative is to wreck it here, wich will not give me anything, but i can go home for free by train. I am fixing it, to salvage things as best as possible, and be able to finish my holiday with some grace. This feels all but good, just one month after i baught it!

Car crash

A less fortunate ending to a splendid holiday - my car is crashed. Under a month since i bought it, i manage to drive in front of a car at a intersection. He hit my rear tire, and i was thrown armound 180 degrees on the wet asfalt and rolled back into a ditch. I'm okay, so is my passenger and the guy. But both cars are broken. Tomorrow i will hear with a mecanic, but hopefully i will be able to drive it home in some days.

Speed limits

I've now spent my first prolonged time on the road. All of yesterday and half of today i drove from home (Steigen) to Trondheim along E6, the main traffic artery along Norway. That's about 850 km. One thing i've learnt is that there is a general consensus on the road that speed limits are there to be broken.

Why is it so that when the speed limit is 80 km/h, and i drive 80 km/h, i allways get a long cue behind me wich roars past me every time there is a stretch? I try to be persistant, and not go over the speed limit. But somtimes it feels like i allmost have to, because people are driving past me dangerously or sticking on my rear bumper. Sure i'm in the right, and the others are taking liberties they don't have when braking the rules. And i don't want to use more gasoline just to follow a general consensus on doing wrong. I have enough time! But this is a problem. Why is it like this?

My car is home!

Finally! It's sitting in the driveway ready to be used. With a pretty blue color, 1.6 liters in the engine room and a very good fuel economy and driving comfort - it's all i could really want from a car right now.

Meet Anne!

Anne is a Mitsubishi Carisma wich has rolled on the roads for a meer 10 years. He is named after my grandmother, as i together with my grandparents found out that i couldn't give him a boys name. It is clear, however, that he is a he. I was thinking about what gender this car was, and as i fiddeled with the gearstick it all became perfectly clear.

He is a wonder to drive. I strongly prefer the experience from Anne to the experience of my fathers  Ford Mondeo or my mothers Escort. The only car that gets close in comfort is the Peugeot 406, but i would never trade this car for that.

Now i'm just looking forward to driving for hours on end down Norway to Trondheim and then to Karlstad. Whoop dee doo!