News and Views from ROAR - April 2004

President's Report

The week before Easter my wife, Sue, arrived home about 11 pm from her weekly bridge (cards) night with the rear bumper of the 405 hanging at strange angle. From the damage, we surmise that someone side-swiped the bumper as they reversed out of the adjacent car parking space and disappeared under the cover of darkness. In daylight the next morning I could see that the bumper itself had very little visible external damage - nothing that a cut and polish could not fix. However, it was obvious that there was internal damage, and the bumper needed to come off.

After an enthusiastic, but uninformed start, I was soon stopped by the dreaded Torx head bolts that hold lots of important bits of newer Pugs together. Next day I purchased a set of Torx heads with a 1/4 inch socket drive and ripped into it again. Hidden screws and bolts in hard-to-get-at places were the order of the day, but the bumper finally came off, leaving a partial inner section of plastic box-work still attached to the car. When that came off it was obvious that the internal plastic rivets had fractured. Another day to contemplate the problem, and another 3 days for the good old fashioned Araldite to harden, and I was almost back in business. One of the mounting points was also badly damaged, but I screwed in a metal plate to take care of that, and the next day the bumper was reinstalled with little visible evidence of the accident. Bloody carparks!! 

This month we have decided to forego the normal club-night at the Italo-Australia Club. Instead we have arranged a "pleasant drive in the country" on Sunday 2 May for 1 pm lunch at the Cork Street Café in Gundaroo (see calendar). Read the instructions carefully, and please ring Graham Thompson to reserve your place by 10 pm 26 April. No reservation, no lunch!! Change is in the wind - this year we have decided to give our traditional French Car Day a rest. Instead we will be participating in a new event - the Battle of Waterloo, on 20 June 20.  More on that front next month.

Keep on pugging,

Brad Pillans

brad.pillans@anu.edu.au

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