Malc

I would find it all a bit disconcerting tbh. 123k miles is tiny really and especially with full history BUT new wrong tyres and sealant crap put somewhere to deceive a MOT Tester ...... sounds a bit odd to me ... and the expansion bottle cap falling to pieces too ....................... Just a bit odd .......... Malc

way down in Kent i'm afraid ............. the rubber covering should fee up some air flow / space ........... take it to your local servicing guy you usually use, it's a two minute job ............. a freebie i would think ! Malc

to dry it out just pop the cover off at the back and it should simply evaporate ............... how water got there in the first place heaven knows ..... is the glass cracked a little ? Malc

c'mon, who ever believes a politician Malc

errrm aren't we talking about headlamp beam alignment ! Malc

Alice, good afternoon many classic cars often have electrical issues and their local Owners Clubs could well have a good Auto Electrician in tow .. on a permanent basis. That might be a useful source of reliable info. Malc

I find it slightly amusing that they come with an unlimited lifetime warranty ..... and they also offer an extended warranty from that do they know something we don't about the longevity of the Ls400 Malc

I think the comparison could be " what do you get 10 years old for £14k " ................... notwithstanding that, the £66k depreciation over 10 years leaves you with amortisation over the next 2 years at £7k a year down to zero .. not too bad I guess for this quality car Malc

your travel insurance might cover the lost tickets cost ! Malc It used to be just the O rings or whatever on the pas pump that needed changing ! but I'm sure someone on here with more knowledge will tell all

almost exact;y the same place as mine went pop in the rain in my Mk1 Ls400 ( many years ago now ) ............ no warning of impending doom, the pas fluid had leaked onto it ........... as it does often eventually on the Mk1 ( and Mk2 ? ) ........... and I had to wait a couple of hours for the brand new recovery truck ( One Time ) brand new vehicle which the driver told me broke down immediately as he left the yard you couldn't make it up ! Malc

Lexus Ls is the way to go then ............ flights, hanging around, getting to the airport, plane changes ..... nothing at all pleasant about any of that crap IMHO The whole Lexus experience will be brilliant, exciting, possibly challenging from time to time BUT you will certainly enjoy it all .. especially in hindsight .......... lucky mum to be going too Malc

Jaffer, you sound a great Explorer .. well done, I don't know your age but if I was a tad younger I might consider such wonders ....... I did a fair bit of global travel in my time and can't think of anything much better than well considered travel, especially by car .... a Lexus Ls BUT having just turned aside the thought of a 3 month trip around India following my recent limiting experiences there I'm beginning to realise my age is definitely against me right now. Good Luck and while your chasing through Africa in summer 2019 I'll be bored stiff on a cruise and visiting ( inter alia ) St. Petersburg then .............. is that going to be safe do you reckon or am i going to be in the middle of a war zone there too Malc

ENJOY if I had the time and the energy I would think about such a trip BUT as you point out, news and media reports of multiple war zones do quite put me off. Strange how no one ever mentions Cyprus and proximity to Syria ............ and the UK MOD bases there .......... are they prone to aggression from nasty forces I wonder That whole part of the world would scare me tbh. Good luck with it all ... I find the ferry crossing from Dover to be quite the relaxing start to any vacation Malc

Blimey, and you're going from Dover or Folkestone ??? where in that neck of the woods are roads that are smooth and silky ......... and a couple of years ago travelling through Europe ( I presume that's the way to go ? ) I rarely encountered such roads ..... or is that where the UKs contribution to the EU budget goes, repairing their roads and not ours ! Malc

Hey guys, thought I'd quickly revive this ...... Well, had another month in India, started off at my office in Delhi then flew down to Trivandrum and had 3 weeks touring Kerala. Just fabulous and covered one of my bucket list ........... visiting a Tea Plantation ....... Munnar area just STUNNING ............ the tea growing areas of the south of India, just amazing I shan't dwell on the utter fabulousnes of my trip BUT I would say that I don't think I shall be planning a road trip around India. Our driver was great, the Toyota car was great but i was totally on edge the whole journeying ...... a calm, collected, great experienced ( ex ambulance ) driver tried to make it all peace and quiet but the challenging roads and other drivers made much of the journey " hell ". I would do Kerala again by car and driver for a limited time. On a prior trip we went to Shimla by car and that was about the same challenging journeying. Mumbai driving is far better than in Delhi BUT oh so not to be repeated too often. Even though I am beginning to actually love India and all it beholds. BUT the suggested road trip for 3 months ............... or even a month trying to get around India, is no longer on the cards. My sanity and being on those roads ........... I couldn't take it ! Malc

BRILLIANT ..... ENJOY Malc

if your USA visa is easy to get from time to time you can probably get an annual season ticket flying between your Ls430 and your boat Or maybe your both duel nationals Best of both world's comes to mind. Well done . just keep the right side of the NHS and life could be sweet Enjoy your retirement, spend all your money coz if you don't some other bugger will when you're gone Malc

is this a retro ' gangsters ' car now Malc

I believe mine was a simple but tricky welding job .. my indy mechanic did it along with his usual service of the car at the time

many owners just get a very simple cost effective welding job done ..... mine was rectified this way probably about 3 or 4 years ago now and seem quite OK since ( and still ) . cost me about £30/40 Malc

is this a new post ? my memory isn't great but i do remember sometime ago a very similar scenario being posted. maybe there's lots of these old Ls400s lying around with aged drivers ( older than us for heavens sake ) who need to find a happy home for our beloved cars Malc

such as ? I thought my last comment was quite helpful and positive Malc Am I the only one to have read the DVLA MOT stuff ?

I just read the DVLA MOT check stuff on-line BUT it's all passed since and no Advisories lately so you will surely be all ok. Maybe it got caught in some flooding somewhere at some time ... don't worry too much about it, just maybe get a fresh pair of eyes on it all from a new MOT tester if you have a friendly one that can give some useful and non negative and constructive feedback Malc

she looks brilliant ... I'm just amazed at where all that rust came from to earlier fail an MOT, and at such a young age and low mileage too ....... never mind, it's fixed by now I guess ! The very best daily driver car you can possibly have to enjoy. On my third in 16 years and wouldn't change her for, well, anything tbh Malc

Neil, never the one apart from the Jap imports to my knowledge Malc