stout few with no view

Let's get it started ..

<p>In honour of my mother and father-in-law and several workmates who have passed away due to cancer, “Stout Few with no View” has entered another Shitbox Rally.&nbsp; Those of you who followed us last time will remember that even getting to the start was an exciting event for the participants and entertaining for the followers. You can read all about it here&nbsp;https://www.facebook.com/stoutfewwithnoview/</p><p></p><p>This time the “Shitbox” is a little more interesting as Jade has started a family and we felt “Lancie” was no longer appropriate to transport any new members with its two-star safety rating (at the time).</p><p></p><p>As expected, a car with a name has an interesting history.&nbsp; Lancie was purchased from a uni student whose marks were good enough to encourage his family to upgrade his transport.&nbsp; Later we noted the front cover of the owner's manual had been removed, but indicated she had been registered in SA, so along with the high mileage, we suspect she was a lady for hire.</p><p></p><p>To reduce the cost of Lancie to a 16-year-old, Lancie participated in the Australian ethanol durability trial run by Orbital Engine Company.&nbsp; She spent months on dynos running on different ethanol blends with all sorts of people inspecting her insides for damage or other deterioration.</p><p></p><p>She was then released for driver training and spent the next six months training Jade.&nbsp; They both passed the test and driving hours and the next few years were reasonably uneventful until the great hail storm of 2010. </p><p></p><p>A little history of Jade.&nbsp; Jade hated sparks or anything electrical.&nbsp; The thought of pulling a plug out of the wall without turning it off horrified her.&nbsp; Lancie was bringing Jade home from uni at the peak of the storm and was caught in the epicentre. After we extracted Jade from the back seat, we found the insurance company had declared Lancie a total loss.&nbsp; We then had the decision to clean all Jade’s crap out of Lancie or buy her back from the insurance company – so we took the path of least resistance and kept her.</p><p></p><p>Lancie was never very good at going backward and tended to use external assistance to break her momentum. Then Lancie stopped for a red light, but the car behind didn’t.&nbsp; Despite having the registration number, the driver who “borrowed” the car never paid.&nbsp; We bought Lancie a new bumper to cover the fact that Lancie was quite a lot shorter than the average Lancer. Jade never saw the point in the new bumper, and sure enough, the same thing happened again.&nbsp; This time we could see the need to leave her as she was.&nbsp; </p><p></p><p>As Lancie was looking decidedly tatty now someone thought they needed her grille more than she did and relieved her of it.&nbsp; Then apparently a truck backed into the front right and saw no mention to mention it.&nbsp;Lancie’s windscreen was never so clean and one day she got a bit confused and took her mirror off on a traffic light.&nbsp; This was fixed with liquid nails and which is still working well today.&nbsp; Lancie, like most Lancers, is like a cockroach.&nbsp; Nothing would kill her, and she had no non-scheduled maintenance except for a broken fan belt.&nbsp; While there we replaced all the belts but then found not all the brackets fitted back in so we again liquid-nailed the cables.&nbsp; </p><p></p><p>Another car ran into the front door and panel, but after using a big screwdriver the door opened again perfectly. Lancie was then vandalised windows broken, and her registration expired.&nbsp; </p><p></p><p>Somehow with a few replacements and bulbs, she went over the pits and started a new life as a well-deserved shitbox thanks to Jade’s kind donation.</p>

on our way

On behalf of my mother who's friend passed from cancer, and my father in law who's pancreatic cancer has returned.

Great story, even better cause.

Good luck fellas

For Louise Sharp.

With a story like that why wouldn't you donate

Great work guys

Great work Geoff!

Hope you make it in the Shitbox cos it’s a great drive

Great work

What a grand adventure - great effort guys!

WELL DONE BELLY!