New smile for the saab

Some minor works to the saab whilst I wait for clarification of the scope of works for the bathroom refurbishment here in Totnes from our landlady.

New wing mirror, classic chrome radiator grill and light surrounds (replacing the horrible black plastic one it had before), spare wheel and tyre, some tinkering with the tick over, new passenger door lining and lastly the ignition which turned into an epic.

The existing ignition key was just a tiny stub as the rest of the key had long since snapped off in the lock. The key frequently falls out as your driving along - most disconcerting. I managed to find a replacement lock cylinder and key in a an old scrapped saab 95 - the key was jammed in the lock making normal cyclinder extraction methods impossible. We managed to disc-cut the dashboard apart and after much cutting on the bench retrieve it in tact. Some oil and gentle persuasion and the the key was removed and the lock working smoothly. It was quite a job to remove the existing cylinder from my our saab but eventually after a few hours struggle out it came. I put the salvaged cylinder in and the key immediately jammed!! It wouldn't budge. Disc cutting was not an option this time and in the end I had to drill out the cylinder. Fortunately, I've retrieved the snapped end of the original key which was still in the lock, so I am hoping that I'll be able to put the original lock cylinder back in and make a complete key.

Very cold here in Devon but not as cold as back in the Pyrenees - thank heavens I drained the central heating. Some snow at last so looking forward to skiing again soon.